Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

Early morning, two days after returning to Hwaseong.

As the aroma of yam and pork rib soup filled the kitchen, Gu Fanxing was applying a physiotherapy patch to Pei Luonan's right leg. Her movements were much more skillful, her fingertips avoiding the bruises as she gently smoothed the patch, as if handling a piece of fragile porcelain.

"How do you feel today?" she asked, her eyes fixed on his knees - the swelling there had subsided a lot, and the doctor said that after another week, he could try going up and down the stairs.

Pei Luonan was flipping through her archaeological notes on the coffee table. Hearing this, she raised her eyes with a smile on her lips: "Better than yesterday. But you, when you counted the number of rehabilitation exercises this morning, you counted twice more. Were you distracted?"

Gu Fanxing's face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head to pack up her therapy supplies: "It's just... I remembered something else."

She didn't say that she was thinking of her grandmother.

When I called my grandmother yesterday, she kept saying, "Your aunt asked someone to bring some dried persimmons from the countryside a few days ago, saying that you loved eating them when you were a child..."

Before he finished speaking, Gu Fanxing's cell phone suddenly rang.

It was the number of the Gu family villa. Gu Fanxing's heart skipped a beat and her fingertips trembled when she picked up the phone.

"Xingxing," it was the voice of nanny Aunt Zhang on the other end of the phone, with a tearful tone, "You...you should come back soon! Your grandma just received a call, your great aunt in the countryside... passed away!" The therapeutic patch in Gu Fanxing's hand fell to the ground with a "bang".

"What's wrong?" Pei Luonan noticed that something was wrong with her and tried to stand up by holding the armrest of the sofa.

Gu Fanxing didn't hear what he said. Her hand holding the receiver couldn't stop shaking: "Aunt Zhang, can you say it again? My great aunt..."

"It's true," Aunt Zhang's voice was mixed with faint sobs. "The country just called. They said he passed away in the early morning, from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage... Your grandmother fainted on the spot after hearing that. Now she just woke up and is crying, wanting to go back to the country to see your aunt off. She won't listen to anyone's advice!"

Gu Fanxing's vision went dark. Her aunt was her grandmother's only sister, married in the countryside a hundred miles away.

When I was a child, my family was poor. My grandmother always said that it was because my great aunt gave her the saved food rations that she was able to survive the most difficult years.

Later, when grandma moved to the city, the two sisters would see each other several times every year. Every time they parted, my great aunt would fill grandma's bag with peanuts she grew and dried persimmon cakes, muttering, "You can't buy such real things in the city."

Last month, when we were video chatting, my aunt smiled and said, "I'll send you some new rice, it's delicious." How come she suddenly...

"Xingxing? Xingxing, are you listening?" Aunt Zhang's voice brought her back to reality. "Your grandma said she wanted to go back, but her legs are so bad that she gasps after walking a few steps. How can she do it alone? You need to think of a solution!"

"I'll go with her." Gu Fanxing's voice was dry as if it had been rubbed by sandpaper. "Aunt Zhang, please help me look after grandma. I'll book the ticket now and go back to my aunt's house tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, she stood there with cold hands and feet.

The pork rib soup in the living room was still bubbling, but her heart felt as if a piece of ice was stuffed into it, so cold that it hurt.

"What happened?" Pei Luonan had already walked in front of her. His right leg had not fully recovered yet, and he walked with a slight limp, but his eyes were unusually calm at the moment. "Did something happen at home?"

Gu Fanxing raised her head, her eyes reddened: "My great aunt... passed away. Grandma wanted to go back to the countryside to see her off, but she is old and in poor health, so I have to go back to accompany her."

She spoke intermittently, but the scenes hidden in her memory suddenly became clear - grandma and great aunt sitting on the threshold of the old house, each holding a palm-leaf fan, reminiscing about their childhood; great aunt stuffing dried herbs into grandma's bag, repeatedly reminding her, "This is for headaches, remember to soak it in water and drink it"; last year, the two sisters video-called each other, crying and laughing at the screen, saying, "I don't know how many more times we'll see each other, these old bones..."

It turns out that some goodbyes are really the last time.

Pei Luonan looked at her red eyes and was silent for a moment. He knew that she had always had the idea of ​​leaving in her heart. He saw all those bus route maps she secretly hid and those moments when she stared at the calendar in a daze.

But at this moment, the sadness in her eyes was so real, like paper wet by rain, so fragile that it would break at the slightest touch.

"When are we leaving?" he asked, his voice lower than usual.

"I'll check the tickets now." Gu Fanxing turned around and tried to get her cell phone, but he grabbed her wrist.

His palms were warm, carrying the residual warmth of the therapy patch. "Don't worry, pack up first. Also, don't forget grandma's regular medication. I'll have my assistant go to the pharmacy and get some more motion sickness medicine and blood pressure medication."

Gu Fanxing was stunned and met his eyes when she looked up.

There was no retaliatory or questioning in his eyes, only genuine concern, like the warm sun in winter, which gradually dispelled the chill in her heart.

"You..." She opened her mouth and wanted to say "You don't have to do this", but was interrupted by him.

"Grandma is old and can't stand the hardship." He let go of her hand and turned to go to the study. "I'll ask my assistant to book the fastest high-speed rail tickets and arrange a car to take you to the countryside. Accommodation there may be inconvenient, so I'll ask my colleagues from the local branch to help book a nearby B&B."

His detailed arrangements made her panic. She had thought he would at least say something, even just "come back soon", but he didn't.

He just helped her deal with everything silently, as if he was fulfilling her wish to "leave", and as if he was making sure that she would come back.

While packing his luggage, Gu Fanxing's movements were a little dazed.

She packed her grandmother's favorite soft cakes into her suitcase, and also stuffed the persimmon cakes that her aunt had sent her last year into her bag - perhaps, she should bring something familiar to her aunt to see her off for the last time.

Pei Luonan's assistant was very efficient and sent the ticket information half an hour later: a high-speed train at 8 o'clock the next day, a four-hour journey.

"I'll have the driver take you to the Gu family villa to pick up grandma, and then go to the station."

Pei Luonan handed over the printed ticket, on which the carriage and seat number were marked in red pen. "Send me a message when you get to the countryside. Call me anytime if you have anything. Don't force yourself."

On the way to the high-speed rail station, Gu Fanxing looked at the street scene receding outside the window, feeling mixed emotions.

She finally got the chance to leave, in a way that no one could refuse - life and death are partings, blood is thicker than water, Pei Luonan had no reason to stop her.

But she didn't feel relieved at all, instead she felt like she had lost something.

When the high-speed train started, Gu Fanxing sent a message to Pei Luonan: "We are on the train." She soon received his reply: "Have a safe journey." There were no extra words, but it made her stare at the screen for a long time.

She knew that Pei Luonan was aware of her little thoughts. He just didn't say it out loud because he was sure that as long as her grandmother was there, she would definitely come back.

After sending her aunt off and settling her grandmother down, she would eventually return to this city, to be with him, and continue the unfinished "accompanying treatment agreement".

The funeral in the countryside was simple and solemn. My grandmother, hugging my great-aunt's portrait, cried until she nearly fainted, repeating over and over, "Why didn't you wait for me... We agreed to celebrate my 80th birthday together..."

Gu Fanxing supported her grandmother and looked at the black and white photo in front of the mourning hall - her grandmother's face was wrinkled with smile. She suddenly remembered what Pei Luonan said: "Some feelings are more important than distance."

At night, she lay on the bed in the B&B, feeling empty inside.

She wanted to tell him about the situation here and ask him if he had been lazy during his rehabilitation training today, but her fingertips hovered over the screen again and again, and finally put it down.

She was leaving again, after all. Using a funeral and family ties as an excuse, and an upcoming archaeological excavation as an opportunity.

However, when Pei Luonan learned that she had escaped again, he did not show any surprise or panic.

Perhaps, Pei Luonan was certain that she would come back.

This farewell, in the name of farewell, will eventually start anew with new thoughts. And Pei Luonan's waiting, perhaps from the very beginning, was not without a chance of success.