Wan Wei hadn’t expected Gao Yan to lay his cards on the table so quickly. As expected, they were both mature adults now. She smiled. “Thank you for driving me back. I’ll head in now. You should go back and rest early too.”

Gao Yan laughed low. “I expressed myself so clearly, yet you have no reaction at all?”

Wan Wei said, “You have the right to pursue me, and I have the right to choose. After all, we haven’t seen each other for ten years. To be honest, we are practically strangers.”

Gao Yan understood what she meant and chuckled again. “You have become much more honest. But it’s cute.”

In the past, she was obedient, clingy, and easily shy.

But now wasn’t bad either. Time hadn’t just changed him; she had changed too.

Gao Yan smiled. “Alright, go on in. I’ll call you on Saturday.”

Wan Wei breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”

She opened the door and got out. Her other ex, the ex-husband, was staring intently from nearby. She glanced at him, then walked away in her high heels.

Leaving the two men behind. Neither car moved, neither person moved.

Yang Xun felt that he, the ex-husband, was much more… advanced than Gao Yan, the ex-boyfriend! Could an ex-husband be the same as an ex-boyfriend? An ex-husband had a marriage certificate and a divorce certificate. What did the ex-boyfriend have? A fart! He just couldn’t stand Gao Yan’s behavior.

Yang Xun walked over, knocked on the Mercedes window, and tossed a cigarette in.

Gao Yan caught it, opened the door, and got out, raising the cigarette in his hand. “Thanks.”

Yang Xun smiled. “Let’s smoke this, then scatter.”

Gao Yan agreed. “Sure.”

Two men, whose combined age was over sixty, smoked a cigarette together, then got into their respective cars and drove away.

Proximity counts for getting the moon first.

Early the next morning, Yang Xun brought breakfast for Wan Wei. Pushing open her office door, he found her drinking milk. He frowned. “Why are you only drinking milk?”

He placed the breakfast on the table. “Eat this. Your favorite Zhou’s Shrimp Dumplings.”

Wan Wei looked up at him, biting her straw. “If I wanted to eat it, I would buy it myself. Take it back.”

Yang Xun smiled. “Alright, stop pretending. When have you ever gone to buy it yourself?”

She was incredibly lazy in her daily life. Zhou’s didn’t deliver, and it was far from home. Every time she craved it, she would beg him to drive two streets over to buy it. She had never gone once herself.

Wan Wei stopped acting up. “Fine, leave it there.”

No reason not to eat free food.

Yang Xun sat opposite her, watching her finish eating before leaving.

After he left, Wan Wei called Yang Xiaole. “Would you say Yang Xun is bowing his head to me?”

Yang Xiaole: “Yes. How could he not be? What do you plan to do? I think Gao Yan is nice too, but he just came back from abroad. After staying overseas for so many years, there will definitely be differences in habits and mindset. You’d need to compromise on a lot.”

That was true.

But undeniably, Gao Yan was a good man.

Wan Wei: “That bastard Yang Xun keeps emphasizing that I can’t leave him, saying I still love him! What gives him the right to be so self-righteous!”

Yang Xiaole knew Wan Wei too well. She just wanted Yang Xun to admit his mistake, bow his head, and coax her a bit. “Yang Xun also said he couldn’t leave you. Oh right, I forgot to tell you, he called me last night.”

Wan Wei: “Did he say I couldn’t leave him first? And then say he couldn’t leave me?”

Yang Xiaole: “Yes.”

Wan Wei: “Heh.”

Why did he have to say she couldn’t leave him first? Self-righteous! He’d never change!

…

Yang Xun didn’t know where he had gone wrong again. He provided three meals a day, yet the Little Princess was still unhappy. On Saturday night, with a toss of her face, she left with Gao Yan and Yang Xiaole to attend the nostalgia class reunion.

Yang Xun looked at her slender back, at the perky hips and long legs wrapped in the short skirt, cursed under his breath, and followed them.

Gao Yan had booked a large private room at a high-end club. The others had already arrived. Wan Wei and Yang Xiaole walked in, followed by the main character, Gao Yan. The atmosphere instantly lit up. “Hey, President Gao is here! Come, come, come, have two drinks first.”

Gao Yan knew he couldn’t escape, so he raised his glass. “Fine, but don’t be in a rush to get me drunk. Being drunk too early gets in the way of things.”

The old friends all nodded knowingly. The focus today wasn’t on them; it was on Wan Wei.

“Junior Sister Weiwei is still as beautiful as ever.”

“Exactly. A career woman really has a different aura. The little girls in school can’t compare.”

“Tsk, who didn’t transform from a little girl? Back when Sister Weiwei was dating Gao Yan, wasn’t she a little girl too? Speaking of which… back then, everyone watched you two dating every day and died of envy.”

…

Everyone chimed in, drinking and singing. They talked mostly about university days, revolving largely around her and Gao Yan. When funny stories came up, everyone laughed together. Then, some thoughtless person mentioned Gao Yan going abroad.

If Gao Yan hadn’t gone abroad, he and Wan Wei wouldn’t have broken up.

The topic fell silent.

Wan Wei’s phone happened to ring. She glanced at it and rejected the call directly.

Yang Xun persevered and called a few more times. She still rejected them.

A text message came in: Princess Weiwei, can you come out for a moment?

Who is your Little Princess! Wan Wei pressed her lips together, wanting to laugh.

She held it in and didn’t smile.

Gao Yan looked at Wan Wei and noticed she was distracted again. He turned his face slightly and whispered in her ear, “What’s wrong? Work?”

Or was it that ex-husband calling? It was eighty percent likely.

Wan Wei put away her phone and smiled at him. “Nothing.”

She picked up a glass of wine and stood up. “Come, let me toast everyone.”

Everyone raised their glasses. At this moment, Gao Yan’s close friend smoothed things over. “If he hadn’t gone abroad, maybe there wouldn’t be the Gao Yan we have today. Sister Weiwei is single now too. Everything is destiny. Don’t you agree?”

Everyone jeered in agreement. “Right, right, right. Unmarried man, unmarried woman. Nothing wrong with that.”

Gao Yan smiled, looking down at Wan Wei. “Well said.”

Wan Wei looked away slightly and smiled at everyone. Her phone vibrated again. She sat down and took it out: Princess Weiwei, I’ll give you one minute. If you don’t come out, I’m coming in.

Come in my ass!

Would it be exciting to have the ex-husband and ex-boyfriend on the same stage?

Wan Wei gripped her phone tight and smiled at the group. “I’m going to the restroom.”

As soon as she stepped out the door, she was dragged away.

She was dragged all the way to another private room, an empty one.

Wan Wei shook off his hand. “Let go. Who allowed you to barge into private rooms?”

Yang Xun smiled. “Who said I barged in? Can’t I be a customer here? Just because Gao Yan can book a room, I can’t?”

Wan Wei glanced at the empty luxury room. “You’re sick!”

Yang Xun: “I am sick. Sick in the head.”

“What do you want?” Wan Wei didn’t want to argue with him and asked directly.

“Weiwei.” He called her name. His voice was low, just like when he used to bow his head to admit his mistakes in the past.

Wan Wei pressed her lips together and looked at him quietly.

Yang Xun was silent for a few seconds. “Let’s stop fussing, okay?”

Wan Wei: “Who is fussing?”

Yang Xun raised both hands in surrender. “Me. I’m fussing. I surrender.”

“Surrender? You seem very unconvinced.” She sneered.

“…”

After another few seconds of silence, Yang Xun leaned over and hugged her, looking down at her. Wan Wei tipped her head back and glared at him.

It had been a long time since he enjoyed her glaring at him from such a close distance. Yang Xun felt he was quite masochistic; he actually enjoyed this feeling. He enjoyed it so much he felt an impulse. He pinched her chin and kissed her lips.

Wan Wei made a few muffled sounds. Acting like a rogue again! They hadn’t even talked things through clearly!

Yang Xun was strong. He pinned her against the corner of the wall, kissing her forcefully, pinning down her struggling hands.

The kiss was like a fight. When they separated, they were both panting. Wan Wei’s face was flushed red.

Yang Xun buried his chin in the crook of her neck. “Weiwei, I’m going soft [submitting], okay?”

Wan Wei twisted her waist and hips, her lower abdomen brushing against him there. Her hand reached down and squeezed hard. “Didn’t you say you were going soft? Why are you so hard?”

NOTES

Ex-husband vs Ex-boyfriend: Yang Xun considers himself superior because their relationship was legally binding and deeper, viewing Gao Yan’s history as less significant (“a fart”).

Going soft (服软 – fu ruan): Literally “submit soft,” meaning to apologize, yield, or soften one’s stance.

 Hard: The pun at the end plays on the physical reaction versus the metaphorical submission.