Bai Fumei in the 70’s

Both of them ate until their stomachs were nearly bursting. Finished with their meal, both Tang Qing and Jiang Li felt an oncoming food-coma, exhaustion and laziness oozing from their bloated tummies. They just wanted to sit quietly in this narrow log house and rest against the wall. They licked their lips for residual oil and patted their stomachs, already reminiscing about that heavenly taste.

As if the tip of their tongue hadn't had time to properly process the delicious noodle soup just now.

Tang Qing pointed to a little noodle sticking on the side of Jiang Li's mouth, and the girl who loved her beautiful image, hastily wiped her mouth with a handkerchief in embarrassment. She saw the teasing smile in the boy's eyes and giggled. "You too."2

She pointed to the oil stains on Tang Qing's face, and the two laughed.3

...

On the other side, Zhao Lanxiang brought the piping hot bowl to He Songbai's room. At the moment, his hands and feet were wrapped in casts and fixed in place by a wooden board, a white bandage was tied around his head, the skin around his eyes were an alarming shade of blue and purple, and his bottomless black eyes looked straight ahead. The whole person looked despondent and miserable.

He Songbai's swollen eyes seemed lifeless and dull, but his heart was very chaotic at the moment.

Uncontrollably, he recalled the madness that started in this room yesterday, and the tips of his ears burned red, and he felt waves of remorse wash over him. It wasn't that he regretted the kiss he shared with Zhao Lanxiang, despite how anxious and confused he'd been yesterday. She was always sticking so closely to him, even her breath was sweet, and he could no longer act indifferent as a man.

But He Songbai regretted that he was poor and had a bad reputation. How could he even begin to talk about a relationship with her?

He couldn't even promise her the bare minimum.2

Zhao Lanxiang put his bowl of noodles on the table and coughed lightly, "Get up and eat noodles."

He Songbai licked the wound at the corner of his mouth and said vaguely, "Take this apart, I'm not a lame..."

He raised his hand wrapped in planks, and he looked at her helplessly.

As he said that he bowed his head and bite the bandage with his teeth, attempting to dismantle the contraptions himself. The next moment however, Zhao Lanxiang grabbed his arm.

Zhao Lanxiang said, "The doctor said that it needs to be fixed in place for at least three weeks. Would you please try to tolerate it?

Zhao Lanxiang looked up at him and flashed him a dazzling smile. "Don't you want to experience being nursed by me?"

He Songbai's complexion changed suddenly, and he couldn't keep his calm.

He coughed, his pale face flushed pink with a faint blush, and his voice said hoarsely, "You are a girl, how can you talk like that all day, even more than the men."5

He Songbai turned his head away and said, "I can eat myself."

Zhao Lanxiang knew that He Songbai couldn't accept acting like a crippled, needing the help of others for even such simple things like eating and drinking.

If it were a burden he could bear, he would never complain. Yesterday, Zhao Lanxiang pulled him out of bed. At that time, he was injured and after being tossed about, his brain was muddled from fever.

Zhao Lanxiang glanced at him, took a few breaths, and delivered his bowl to him. She caught a strand of noodle, took a bite, and sucked it up sizzlingly.

"Okay, eat it yourself."

He Songbai's two broken hands held the porcelain bowl. He He lowered his head, brough the rim of the bowl to his lips, and slurped up the noodles, swallowing them whole without even chewing.

He finished the noodle soup in silence and then said quietly, "I want to tell you something."

"Hmmh?" Zhao Lanxiang glanced at him.

He Songbai said, "It's not impossible to talk about a relationship. But I have a condition."

He resumed his previous aloof attitude, and said lightly, "You can't tell my family about we are being together, let alone others. If you can do this for a year, then we can talk about other things."

No matter what kind of thoughts this woman had about him, she had grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth and she was still young. How could she stand the hard days in the countryside and the finger-pointing from others?

For one year, their relationship would not be made public, and no one would know that she had talked to a man from a landlord's family. This way, it would not stain her for life.7

But he didn't believe that she would be able to keep it up for a year. Soon she would be disillusioned, she would realize he was simply a dull man from the countryside and would soon run back to the city.1

He Songbai's eyes flashed with a fierce and domineering light.

After listening, Zhao Lanxiang felt an unbelievable anger, she even contemplated smashing the empty bowl on his head to sober him up. How dare he want to play a "secret love" game? Those who were all talk and no action, pretending to be together but didn't plan to marry, those sorts of people were simply rogues.2

In her memory, her old man had never been so irresponsible!

However...she saw the guilt that quickly blinked across He Songbai's bruised face, and she understood immediately.

Zhao Lanxiang seemed to comprehend some things, but her heart ached and she wanted to cry.

She stuffed some noodles into her mouth and murmured, "So... what about after a year?"

One year later?

He Songbai had already decided she would run away before then, so did it matter what happened in a year?

As he sipped the mellow broth he said lightly, "If you could withstand it for a year, I will be your man."22

Not as your boyfriend, but as your man.4

Zhao Lanxiang's eyes glittered and suddenly her appetite returned. She gobbled up ate her noodles with a smile.

After He Songbai finished his bowl, Zhao Lanxiang picked out the bones from her share to let him eat meat and suck the bone marrow. She knew that He Songbai particularly likeds to eat fatty meat. It's better to choose the kind that he could bite and suck the oil, or the kind of stewed meat that would liquify when gently sucked.

He Songbai's lips moved quickly. Zhao Lanxiang's hand was holding the bone as he crudely gnawed away the meat, and sucked clean the marrow, leaving not a single drop.

He glanced at the oil dripping on the woman's hand and shook his head and said in a hoarse voice, "I don't want to eat anymore, it's hard to eat... just eating noodles and drinking porridge is good enough."

Zhao Lanxiang threw his clean bones into the empty bowl with her chopsticks and glanced at him.

He clearly ate happily.

Zhao Lanxiang couldn't help but laugh, shaking the bones in the bowl and said, "There are three pieces left here. Don't waste it. If you can't finish it yourself, do you expect me to eat what you left?"