Shao Xue stood at the bottom of Dou Si Yuan’s building and let out a loud yell, “Qiao Mu Jie—!”
Dou Yan Xi poked his head out from Zheng Su Nian’s car window and echoed, “Mom—!”
Zheng Su Nian hurriedly walked back to the door, carrying a lamp. “What are you two yelling for? You’ll disturb the neighbors.”
Dou Si Yuan was moving, and Zheng Su Nian had driven over to help transport some valuable items. The moving company had already taken a truckload of furniture out of the complex, but the couple was still upstairs, dawdling.
Shao Xue had been eager to help, but Zheng Su Nian instructed her to stay in the car and watch Dou Yan Xi, explaining, “This little rascal runs everywhere. If he gets hit by a falling box, we’ll be in trouble.”
“Why aren’t they down yet?” Shao Xue asked as she settled back into the passenger seat, with Dou Yan Xipeeking out from her lap.
“There are still a few boxes of old stuff they haven’t sorted through.”
“Just throw it all away.”
“You don’t get it. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. What if there’s a teacup from the Ming Dynasty in one of those boxes?”
“Look at you two, thinking you're so clever,” Shao Xue rolled her eyes. “Talking nonsense all day long. If those are stolen artifacts, you’ll all end up in jail.”
“Alright, let’s head out first,” Zheng Su Nian said as he pulled on his seatbelt and started the car. “Si Yuan said they’d catch up later.”
Fu Qiao Mu was upstairs, fuming over two boxes of miscellaneous items.
Dou Si Yuan had a quirk—he hated throwing things away. Souvenirs from trips, dry markers used by Dou Yan Xi, even old CDs that could no longer be read—he kept everything. The balcony was filled with cardboard boxes, where he’d throw anything he was unsure about tossing. Fu Qiao Mu had no idea all this had been accumulating.
Now that they were moving, everything was out in the open.
If it were all garbage, that would be one thing, but she had even found a few university graduation photos amidst the clutter. Old USB cables tangled with dusty wind chimes. The more Fu Qiao Mu tried to organize, the angrier she became. She kicked a box aside and sat down against the wall.
“What’s the matter?” Dou Si Yuan asked, knowing he was in the wrong as he diligently sorted through another box. “This is fun, like digging for buried treasure, just like pirates!”
“You dig it up yourself; I’m done with it,” Fu Qiao Mu huffed, annoyed. “If it weren’t for your junk, we would’ve left ages ago.”
“Take it easy. You’re in the restoration business; how come you’re so impatient?” He fished out a conch shell they’d bought during a trip to Qinhuangdao. “Look at this! It’s the little conch! Diddle-ee-dee, blow!”
Fu Qiao Mu turned her head away, not wanting to look at him.
From his side came the soft sounds of rustling as Dou Si Yuan continued moving things. He truly was patient—removing items, wiping them clean, placing the keepers to the left and the throwaways to the right. The box gradually emptied, and the room filled with floating dust particles.
Suddenly, Dou Si Yuan said, “Hey, take a look at this.”
Still upset, she snapped, “I’m not looking.”
“Come on, just a quick glance,” he coaxed, shamelessly inching closer. “I promise you’ll be surprised.”
Something red flashed before her eyes. Out of instinct, Fu Qiao Mu glanced toward his hand, through the dust and across the years.
It was the red Nokia flip phone.
For a moment, she was transported back to the entrance of the art school in 2003, where a boy stood in the sun, shoving a plastic bag into her hands without a word. The bag rustled as it crinkled, and she looked up, thinking her flushed face was due to the sunlight.
She reached out to grab it but missed, lunging instead into Dou Si Yuan’s arms.
“Qiao Mu,” he sighed longingly into her ear, “I’m so lucky to be married to you and have kids.”
“That’s right,” Qiao Mu teased, feeling a bit smug. “You’re lucky, and I’m cursed.”
He didn’t argue, rubbing his cheek against her shoulder and trailing kisses from her neck to her cheek, finally brushing her dry lips softly.
Qiao Mu kissed him back, biting him hard enough to make his eyebrow twitch.
“You’re still bad at kissing.”
“Not satisfied?”
“But I kind of like it.”
Dou Yan Xi, his mouth covered by Shao Xue, peeked through the door crack. The two of them had witnessed the entire post-marriage flirting session and had completely forgotten they came to get the keys to the new house.
“What are you staring at?” Zheng Su Nian snapped out of it first, nudging Shao Xue.
Shao Xue, still dazed, kept her hand over Dou Yan Xi’s mouth. “I… I’m just watching. Let them carry on.”
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