On the last day of November, millions of people struggled to squeeze across a narrow bridge leading toward an uncertain future.

When Lin Ke walked out after finishing the exam, she felt completely relaxed.

Si Yuming was away on a business trip, so Aunt Chen and Si Xiaotie came to pick her up at the testing center. The little girl held a bouquet of sunflowers in her arms, and the moment she saw Lin Ke, she rushed over.

“Mommy is amazing!”

Lin Ke picked up her daughter while Aunt Chen handed over a phone that was already connected to a call. Pointing at the screen, she mouthed silently: Sir.

Freeing one hand, Lin Ke answered, “Hello?”

A gentle voice came from the other end. “How did it go?”

The corners of Lin Ke’s lips lifted slightly. “Unless something unexpected happens, nothing unexpected should happen.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

That thank you wasn’t only for his congratulations.

With him around this past month, her life had become much easier. Aside from bathing Si Xiaotie, she hadn’t needed to worry about anything else at all. All she had to do was focus wholeheartedly on preparing for the exam.

Lin Ke asked, “When are you coming back?”

“A few more days.”

“Will you make it back in time for Meng Jing’s wedding?”

There was a brief silence before his voice lowered slightly.

“Yes.”

“Alright.”

Lin Ke officially entered vacation mode.

While waiting for the exam results, she didn’t plan to take on any work. She intended to spend the remaining time preparing carefully for the interview stage.

That weekend, she brought Si Xiaotie to visit Yuan Yuan’s house.

Yuan Yuan was indeed a very obedient child, but her parents were too strict. They never really allowed her to simply be a child.

While Si Xiaotie played with her friend, Lin Ke met up with Zhang Man.

She had been so busy these past two or three months that they’d only managed brief chats occasionally.

Zhang Man’s divorce had gone much more smoothly than Si Yun’s. Her ex-husband hadn’t wanted to make things ugly and had agreed to all her conditions. The house, the car, and half of their marital assets had all been left to her.

So when she walked in now, wearing bright red lipstick and high heels, she looked dazzling and flamboyant.

“Keke, I’ve finally figured it out. Love and marriage are all bullshit. Only the money in your own hands gives you confidence.”

Lin Ke laughed softly. “Money sounds so vulgar.”

Zhang Man shot her a look. “You think everyone’s like you? Talented, hardworking, full of ideals? I’ve got no great ambitions in this life. Making money—making lots of money—is my ultimate goal.”

Then she leaned closer, raising her brows suggestively.

“And besides… marriage didn’t just trap my freedom. It trapped my body too.”

Lin Ke shoved her away, laughing. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Hah, nonsense?” Zhang Man narrowed her eyes. “In your whole life, have you only ever slept with Si Yuming?”

“……”

“He’s thirty already, right?”

“……”

The next second, Zhang Man’s expression suddenly turned deeper and more serious.

“Keke, after going through all this, I finally understand. Men are just accessories. In my life, I’m the main character.”

Lin Ke smiled faintly and lowered her head to pick up her coffee.

In the evening, they went to pick up Si Xiaotie.

The little girl stood at the doorway saying goodbye to Yuan Yuan, hugging her tightly.

“Yuan Yuan, you have to miss me, okay?!”

“Miss…” Yuan Yuan replied slowly.

Si Xiaotie released her and planted a loud kiss on her cheek. “Bye-bye, Yuan Yuan! I’ll come play again next time!”

Then she grabbed her mother’s hand and walked away, turning back every few steps to wave until her arm nearly disappeared.

Back home, they had dinner.

Afterward, Lin Ke bathed Si Xiaotie and tucked her into bed. Before sleeping, the little girl lay there chattering endlessly.

“Mommy~”

“Mhm?”

“Mommy~”

“Yes?”

“I love you sooo much.”

“I love you too, baby.”

“I miss Daddy.”

Lin Ke rolled over to grab her phone. First she messaged Si Yuming to ask what he was doing, then after he replied, she called him.

“Wife.”

His voice was deep and magnetic, slightly different from usual. He had probably been drinking at a business dinner.

Si Xiaotie pressed the phone against her ear. “Not wife, it’s Xiaotie~”

The speaker wasn’t on, so Lin Ke could only hear her daughter talking sentence by sentence.

“Daddy, what are you doing?”

“Mommy and I are sleeping.”

“Daddy, I love you~”

“And Mommy?”

Lin Ke lowered her head just in time to see the little girl giggle mischievously before hanging up the call. Then she burrowed into her mother’s arms and inhaled deeply twice.

“Mommy smells nice~”

As if suddenly remembering something, she jumped off the bed and rummaged through her mountain of stuffed toys until she found her little dinosaur plushie. Then she climbed back onto the bed using both hands and feet.

“Sleeping with Dino Baby~”

Lin Ke tucked the blanket around her. “Goodnight, baby.”

“Goodnight.” Hugging the plush toy happily, Si Xiaotie closed her eyes and spoke softly.

“Mommy, Daddy loves you too.”

Lin Ke froze.

By the time she looked down again, the little girl was already fast asleep, her soft cheeks squished into a chubby little puff against the pillow.

Lin Ke smiled helplessly and bent down to kiss her.

……

Meng Jing’s wedding was on Wednesday.

Lin Ke picked Si Xiaotie up early to dress her in beautiful clothes before heading over.

Si Yuming went directly there after getting off the plane.

Meng Jing worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so the wedding ceremony was kept simple. Only a few tables of close relatives and friends had been invited.

The wedding venue was the old courtyard house where they used to live.

Back when they were children, several families had shared the same courtyard. Later, everyone gradually moved away, leaving the entire compound to the Meng family.

Now, after renovations and redesigning, the courtyard had transformed into a classical Chinese-style garden.

It was Si Xiaotie’s first time attending a wedding. The moment she entered and saw the dreamy flowers and flowing drapery everywhere, she gasped in amazement.

“Mommy, it’s sooo pretty!”

Lin Ke looked around as well, and memories of her own wedding several years ago surfaced in her mind.

Back then, their ceremony had also been simple.

In front of family and friends, they exchanged wedding rings and promised to stay by each other’s side for life.

When he leaned in to kiss her amid everyone’s cheering, her heart had nearly stopped beating.

“Mommy!” Si Xiaotie tugged on her hand excitedly. “I want to get married too!”

Lin Ke snapped back to reality and laughed immediately. “You’re still tiny. What marriage?”

“Then I want to grow up quickly!”

Lin Ke didn’t crush her enthusiasm. “Alright then. When Xiaotie grows up, Mommy will give you the most beautiful wedding too.”

“Yay!”

As the mother and daughter chatted, the groom came over to greet them.

Meng Jing rarely saw Si Xiaotie because he spent most of the year abroad, so the two were slightly unfamiliar with each other. But Si Xiaotie wasn’t shy at all.

“Uncle, you’re so handsome!”

Meng Jing crouched down to meet her eye level and smiled. “Then who’s more handsome, Uncle or your daddy?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the little girl grinned widely.

“Uncle!”

The instant those words fell, the atmosphere nearby dropped several degrees.

Lin Ke turned around and saw a man with a dark expression standing there.

Meng Jing saw him too.

Smirking triumphantly, he picked up the little girl and glanced sideways at the man by the doorway.

“Then come be Uncle’s daughter. Forget your daddy.”

Si Xiaotie also spotted her father and giggled happily. “Okay, okay!”

Si Yuming’s gaze shifted from Lin Ke to his daughter. He simply stretched out one hand.

A second earlier, the little girl had declared she didn’t want Daddy anymore. Now she immediately threw herself into his arms.

Meng Jing laughed. “I thought you wouldn’t make it back in time.”

“But I did.” Si Yuming smiled faintly, holding his daughter in one arm while reaching out with the other to take the hand of the elegantly dressed woman beside him. “Let’s go.”

Meng Jing’s wife also came from their social circle, though she was much younger. Apparently she was still in university, around the same age Lin Ke had been when she married.

Inside the main hall, Meng Jing introduced the couple to his bride.

“This is Yuming and Lin Ke.”

Si Xiaotie noticed her own name wasn’t included and loudly added, “And Xiaotie!”

The bride burst into laughter. Seeing how adorable the little girl was, she asked affectionately, “How old is Xiaotie?”

Si Xiaotie tilted her head back and smiled with narrowed eyes. “Four.”

Lin Ke corrected her gently. “Not quite four yet.”

“Still four anyway!”

“Hahahahaha alright, four it is.”

The women quickly fell into conversation while Meng Jing and Si Yuming headed inside to greet the elders.

Jin Yang had arrived long ago and was already charming the elders into endless laughter.

The moment Grandpa Meng saw Si Yuming, he sighed. “None of you boys are as successful as Yuming. If you’d all married earlier, your kids could already be playing together by now.”

Jin Yang laughed loudly. “What’s the rush? In the future I’ll just have a son to chase after Xiaotie. Isn’t older woman-younger man romance trendy these days? Younger men know how to pamper people, Grandpa, don’t you know that?”

Si Yuming immediately glared at him. “Keep dreaming.”

After chatting for a while, the three men headed toward the bridal room.

It was still the same room Meng Jing had used years ago. Aside from the added red wedding decorations, everything looked almost unchanged.

Looking at the bed covered nearly completely with red dates, peanuts, longans, and lotus seeds, Jin Yang burst out laughing.

“Your grandpa really wants a grandson badly. You’d better get moving.”

“Shuxia’s still young. No rush.”

“Oh? Feeling protective already?”

Meng Jing shot him a look. “You should settle down yourself.”

“Hah, settle down? No way. This gentleman here believes in lifelong bachelorhood.”

The conversation drifted onto other topics, and neither of them noticed the silent man taking a handmade peace charm from the bookshelf.

At the bottom right corner, a clear embroidered character stood out unmistakably:

珂 — Ke.

……

By early December, Beijing had fully entered winter.

The branches stood bare, and at night the outdoor wind felt like dull blades scraping painfully across the skin.

The wedding banquet ended around nine o’clock.

After playing all evening, Si Xiaotie was already half asleep.

Lin Ke carried her in her arms. “Do you want to stay longer and hang out with Meng Jing and the others? I can take her home myself.”

Si Yuming didn’t answer.

He simply took the child from her arms. Si Xiaotie mumbled twice before automatically curling against her father’s shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

The ride home was silent.

After arriving, Si Yuming carried Si Xiaotie inside while Lin Ke went to shower first.

When she came back out, the living room was empty.

But there was a dark figure standing on the balcony.

The lights from the apartment complex outside mixed with the faint glow of the cigarette burning between his fingers, making him seem strangely lonely.

Lin Ke glanced at the unfinished vodka she had left on the dining table earlier, then at the shadow hidden in darkness.

After standing there quietly for a moment, she walked over.

He seemed lost in thought. Only when she got close did he turn around and extinguish the cigarette.

Their gazes met in the darkness.

Weak neon light from outside illuminated the side of his face, but his eyes remained buried in shadow. She couldn’t clearly see his expression, but she could feel it—

He seemed very sad.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen at the company? Or is there still trouble with your sister’s situation?”

Si Yun and Qin Ru’s divorce had already entered legal proceedings. Winning the case wasn’t really a concern anymore, and Si Yun’s mood had calmed considerably. She had already taken Manman back home as well.

Judging from the photos on social media a couple days ago, she had even taken him traveling somewhere.

He didn’t answer.

He simply looked at her silently.

Once again, Lin Ke saw an unfamiliar emotion in his eyes.

Something resembling sorrow.

The night deepened further, so quiet that they could hear each other deliberately softening their breathing. That breathing had once intertwined countless times during endless nights, but now it merely rose and fell calmly.

“I have something to tell you,” he suddenly said.

“Mhm.”

“Can I ask you a question first?”

“Of course.”

“Were you very afraid of me when we were little?”

Lin Ke hadn’t expected such a random question and smiled faintly.

“Kind of.”

The young Si Yuming had always been stern and unsmiling. Honestly, he really had been intimidating.

But among all the children, he was also the smartest one.

It felt as though he understood everything. While Jin Yang was still getting spanked by his grandfather, Si Yuming was already competing in Olympiad math contests and programming competitions.

He carried such authority too. A single sentence from him could make the other children obedient instantly.

Si Xiaotie’s little leadership qualities were obviously inherited from him since childhood.

But he wasn’t always frightening.

He used to bring her little candies and small gifts. Whenever children fought, he was always the first one to stop them, then afterward he’d pull candy out of his pocket to comfort everyone.

Yet he didn’t seem satisfied with her answer.

His expression darkened slightly.

Just as Lin Ke was about to say something else, Si Yuming spoke again.

“Lin Ke, before, you asked whether what I felt for you was responsibility or love. Later, I seriously thought about that question.”

“I think love can turn into responsibility, but responsibility can also turn into love. I can’t lie to you and say I married you purely because of love. But I’m also not the kind of person who would casually build a family with a stranger.”

“I selfishly followed Grandpa’s wishes and married you. I never planned to divorce you, and I did look forward to our future together. For that… I’m sorry.”

Those few sentences alone were enough for Lin Ke to process for a long while.

Especially the apology at the end—she didn’t understand where it came from.

He continued, his deep eyes fixed on hers.

“When we first got married, Si Xiaotie hadn’t unexpectedly entered our world yet. I think that was a beautiful period of time.”

“We went to Northern Europe for our honeymoon. You were always shy. You wouldn’t even dare look me in the eyes.”

“During those first months of marriage, you were busy with your graduation thesis—busier than I was. But you couldn’t drive by yourself, so I had to pick you up from school. To get from the company to the Foreign Languages University, I had to cross two major roads and drive onto the elevated highway. Your school entrance was always crowded.”

“But that stretch of road was the most relaxing part of my entire day.”

“Later, we had Xiaotie. That day I was at work. Actually, Grandpa had secretly told me about the pregnancy already, but he told me to pretend I didn’t know.”

“That entire day, I have no idea what reports people gave me or what documents I signed.”

A faint smile gradually appeared on the man’s face.

“When I got home, you looked nervous… and scared. You couldn’t even speak properly while looking at me. When I hugged you, you were trembling.”

“Even though Xiaotie was unexpected, she’s still one of the greatest gifts in my life.”

“After that, Grandpa passed away, Xiaotie was born, and I could no longer balance both family and work at the same time. Over all these years… I really do owe you an apology.”

“Lin Ke, you’ve worked hard all this time.”

“So whether it’s love or responsibility… they became impossible to separate long ago.”

Lin Ke listened quietly.

Her eyes gradually reddened, and when the wind blew past, a tear finally slipped free.

Si Yuming stepped closer and gently wiped away the tear from the corner of her eye. Then he opened his coat and wrapped her inside his arms.

“Are you cold?”

The woman in his embrace shook her head.

He held her tighter.

When he spoke again, his voice seemed difficult to force out, yet still gentle and calm.

“Si Yun told me that you signed an agreement before the marriage?”

Having known her for years in childhood, then been married for years, then worked together again for several months, Si Yuming understood clearly that her dreams were never for the sake of someone else.

She treated every translation with seriousness and precision. Sitting at the interpreter’s desk, she was confident and radiant.

She truly loved her work.

This past month of exam preparation had been the same. She had given it everything without relaxing for even a moment.

He understood and respected her ambitions.

And now, the reason for the emotions in his heart had become painfully clear.

He had missed an enormous portion of her life.

Just as Si Yun had said—he knew nothing about who she had once liked, who she had once loved.

Meng Jing?

Maybe.

But who it was didn’t matter that much.

What mattered was that someone like that had existed in her world.

What mattered even more was that perhaps that person still remained in her heart.

Lin Ke tilted her face upward slightly. “You know already?”

“Yes.”

“That agreement…”

He asked softly, “Did Si Yun force you to sign it?”

Lin Ke was silent for a moment before pressing her lips together.

“No.”

Another long silence followed.

The wind seemed to howl even harder, and every gust of cold made the beating of their hearts feel clearer and clearer.

After a long while, Si Yuming lowered his eyes to look at her.

“Lin Ke… after all these years, have you ever liked me?”

“Si Yuming…”

His hand gently cupped her face as he spoke softly.

    “If you have feelings for me… then let’s truly live our lives together.”