"You stay in a shady place, and I'll pick you up!"

Wu Qi Qiong closed his cellphone, wiped his hands with a cloth, and went to the inner room to change clothes.

"Coming?" Wu Mother asked as she stepped into the room.

Wu Qi Qiong looked down at his mother. His thick brown hands were damp, his waistcoat stuck to his body with sweat. In the middle of winter, his big round eyes sparkled, and a grin spread across his face.

"She’s coming here."

Today was Wu Qi Qiong’s girlfriend’s first meeting with his parents.

---

Under the scorching sun, he noticed a large garbage can near the entrance of his house. By this time of the month, the rotten odor would drift into the kitchens of every household. Wu Qi Qiong walked past the garbage can with an ice cream bag stuck to the bottom of his foot. He stomped hard on the ground, so hard that hundreds of flies scattered.

At the entrance of the alley, Yue-Yue stood with her arms crossed, her face full of impatience and annoyance.

Watching Wu Qi Qiong approach, she had no real reason to be tired of him—yet she wasn’t sure if it was the layer of fat jiggling on his stomach, the two tufts of hair left on his head, or just the worn face of a man always soaked in smoke.

"Come on, the food is almost ready," Wu Qi Qiong said, reaching out to pull her hand.

Yue-Yue suddenly flung his hand away. Her face sank into the tree's shade, her pair of peach blossom eyes cold and distant.

"What happened? Are you still nervous?" Wu Qi Qiong laughed warmly. "It's all right. My mother is a rural woman, she won’t trouble you. She knows you’re happy to be here. She's been looking forward to this—went out shopping early this morning."

"Or not... Let’s break up," Yue-Yue said abruptly.

Wu Qi Qiong stared at her, stunned. He didn’t speak for a long time.

Yue-Yue continued, "We are so... really boring."

"Why? I feel very energetic!" Wu Qi Qiong protested.

Yue-Yue gave a bitter smile. "That’s you."

She turned to leave, but Wu Qi Qiong grabbed her arm.

"Yue-Yue, we’ve been together for seven years. You can’t just tell me we’re done. Give me a reason."

Yue-Yue looked at him sidelong. "Seven-year itch isn’t a reason?"

"I can scratch if you’re itchy!"

"Go scratch your uncle!" Yue-Yue suddenly exploded, her beautiful little mouth full of crude words. "I tell you—give me less of your stinky poverty! I’m not kidding anymore. From now on, we’re officially broken up. Let’s just be friends."

"Wait... how do you say we’re breaking up just like that?" Wu Qi Qiong was still reeling. "What do you think is wrong with me? I can change."

Yue-Yue rolled her eyes. "It’s not just one thing—it’s everything. You’d better reincarnate!"

Wu Qi Qiong stood his ground. "I don’t believe it."

"Don’t believe it?" Yue-Yue’s delicate face flushed with anger. "Why not? I'm not even trying to save your pride anymore. You’re still begging like nothing’s happened. You’re not even afraid to lose face? Fine—let’s really talk."

Wu Qi Qiong stood respectfully, silently, as his face changed.

Yue-Yue took a breath and pointed at his chin. "Tell me—how many kilos have you gained since we got together? You were so thin back in college! So smooth! Look at you now—one big lump after another. When I go out with you, it’s like I’m walking a Tibetan mastiff!"

Wu Qi Qiong cried out, "Didn’t you say that men who were too thin didn’t make you feel secure?"

"Yes, I said that." Yue-Yue wrestled her bag up onto her shoulder. "But do you think what you’ve become is ‘secure’? It’s so ‘safe’ I want to cry."

She looked away. "You know what? These days, I see our son in my dreams. A little boy between us. And every time I wake up..." she paused, voice breaking, "...I laugh

Yue-Yue had a sharp tongue. Wu Qi Qiong had long grown used to seeing this side of her. He bent down, picked up the bag she threw, and smiled, leaning softly into her arms.

“If you don’t like me like this,” he said gently, “I can lose weight for you.”

“Don’t waste your time,” Yue-Yue shot back. “It’s not about ten or twenty kilos of fat. You can lose weight, but your stinginess is hopeless! Shopping with you means chasing discounts. At the supermarket, you’re always asking for special prices. You rent rooms without air-conditioning. My friends all have their own cars—and me? I’m still squeezing onto the bus and subway like a fool!”

Wu Qi Qiong, still calm, tried to coax her: “Beijing traffic is awful. Oil prices are so high—driving isn’t even worth it.”

Yue-Yue wasn’t angry—just cold. “Exactly. You earn just over 2,000 yuan a month. With prices in Beijing? It’s not cost-effective to even have a girlfriend. So let me help you save money—let’s break up.”

Wu Qi Qiong’s voice dropped low. “It’s not about money. I don’t mind spending it on you.”

“Oh yeah? What’s there to even spend? A couple thousand yuan?” Yue-Yue scoffed. “You live like a beggar. If you tried hard enough, you’d be snoring into a bowl of bean juice and pickles! Graduates from top universities are barely scraping by, while junior college dropouts are driving BMWs. You can’t afford one? Fine. At least a Passat?”

Wu Qi Qiong took out a paper towel and gently wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry. We’ll buy one in a few years.”

“In a few years?” Yue-Yue’s eyes burned. “You plan to buy a car on your dead-end salary? Just look at your family's broken-down bungalows—are you not ashamed bringing me here for dinner? Wu Qi Qiong, you’re endlessly poor. How poor? Just saying your name makes me choke. Fine, go in and tell your mother we’ve broken up.”

She turned to go, but Wu Qi Qiong pulled her back. They struggled. From the yard next door, dogs began barking at the commotion.

“There’s really no room for change?” Wu Qi Qiong’s eyes reddened.

To be honest, Yue-Yue had a foul mouth, but her heart wasn’t truly cruel. If she were, she wouldn’t have waited until today to say goodbye. Seeing Wu Qi Qiong’s face—still soft, still pleading—tugged at her heart. She felt intolerable guilt. But deep inside, it all felt… not worth it. Sooner or later, she would need to wield this knife. Might as well cut clean now.

“Wu Qi Qiong,” she said, voice quieter but firm, “I don’t think you’re poor. I hate you for not being ambitious. You haven’t done anything in all the years we’ve been together. Even if you shouted at me or fought back once in a while, it’d at least feel like something! But no—you’re always steady and silent. And frankly, it’s exhausting.”

She paused.

“You’re a pestle in a nest. Solid, dull, and immovable.”

Under the streetlight pole behind Yue-Yue, there was a broken brick. Wu Qi Qiong stared at it blankly. Suddenly, he remembered a novel he once read—Changing the Done Deal (朝三暮四). The hero had smashed a brick over his own head again and again to prove his love.

“I can die for you,” Wu Qi Qiong suddenly whispered.

Yue-Yue blinked, then burst out laughing. “If you’re not going to die for me, maybe give me a show. Cut your arm or something—I’ll honor you!”

Wu Qi Qiong trembled. He walked slowly toward the pole, bent down, and picked up the broken brick. His hands shook like dry bamboo in the wind. He turned back to Yue-Yue, his lips trembling.

“I… I really will do it. Don’t regret this.”

Yue-Yue glanced at him sideways, unimpressed. She didn’t take him seriously. She turned her head and walked away.

BANG!

Yue-Yue stopped short, her feet slamming the pavement. She spun around. Her face went pale with shock.

Wu Qi Qiong had collapsed on the ground, his body twitching. Blood trickled from a gash on his forehead.

“Da-Qiong! Da-Qiong! Don’t scare me! Someone—help! Someone’s tried to kill himself!”

Wu Qi Qiong woke up to find himself lying in a small clinic. Next to him stood a young doctor disinfecting a pair of tweezers and scissors.

Hearing movement on the bed, the doctor turned and smiled gently, showing two rows of neat, white teeth.

"Awake?"

Wu Qi Qiong blinked at the doctor. He was surprised—he was a very handsome man.

"Who brought me here?" he asked.

As Jiang Xiao Shuai put his instruments away, he replied calmly,

"Your girlfriend asked two guys to carry you over. She also asked me to give you the cheapest medicine—said it must be something you could reimburse."

Wu Qi Qiong let out a helpless laugh. "She knows me too well."

Jiang Xiao Shuai’s handsome face barely moved, but a subtle smile tugged at his lips. He handed Wu Qi Qiong a glass of water.

"Take your medicine first."

After swallowing the pills, Wu Qi Qiong asked quickly, "Where’s my girlfriend?"

"She left a long time ago," Jiang said. "Stayed for three or four hours after I cleaned up your wound, then left. Hey—what did you do to your head, anyway?"

"Brick smash," Wu Qi Qiong said proudly.

"You got into a fight?"

"No, my girlfriend wanted to break up with me. I wanted to give her a dramatic love gesture."

Jiang Xiao Shuai stared. This was the first time he had heard of someone showing love by smashing bricks onto their own head.

"Was it worth it?" he asked dryly.

Wu Qi Qiong didn’t answer. He picked up his phone and called Yue-Yue.

"Do you still want to break up with me?" he asked quietly.

There was a long silence on the other end. Then:

"Get better first. We’ll talk about it then."

Wu Qi Qiong put down the phone, grinned, and waved it in front of Jiang Xiao Shuai.

"She said don’t break up first. Worth it, right? It must be worth it!"

Jiang Xiao Shuai hid the contempt in his eyes and kept a polite smile.

"Doctor, how long until I recover?" Wu Qi Qiong asked.

"At least two months."

"Two months?" Wu Qi Qiong winced. "How much will that cost..."

---

As night fell, only Wu Qi Qiong and Jiang Xiao Shuai remained in the clinic. Wu Qi Qiong sat playing Zuma on his phone with one hand, tapping dots with the other. Jiang Xiao Shuai stood beside him, watching the colored balls roll endlessly, while Wu Qi Qiong failed again and again.

"I say..." Jiang coughed lightly. "Head injury aside—why are you playing games like this?"

"It’s boring to lie here all day. I just can’t beat this game," Wu Qi Qiong replied.

Jiang Xiao Shuai smirked. "You’re always getting beat like this—how do you expect to win?"

"I’m not fooling around. I’m playing by the rules!"

Jiang watched for a while and suddenly realized something.

"Wait... are you color blind?"

"No, I can see colors."

Still suspicious, Jiang asked him to pause the game and pointed at a red ball.

"What color is this?"

"Yellow," Wu Qi Qiong answered seriously.

He pointed to a green one.

"This one?"

"Also yellow."

Finally, he pointed to a purple one.

"This?"

"Blue."

Jiang Xiao Shuai patted him on the shoulder.

"Dude, you're color blind. Save your brain—you’ll never beat this game."

But Wu Qi Qiong just held up his phone and smiled.

"It’s okay. I’m training my eyes."

Jiang laughed, finding him unexpectedly amusing.

"So... why did she really break up with you?"

Wu Qi Qiong’s smile faded. "I’m fat."

He tossed his wallet to Jiang, who opened it and saw a photo from Wu Qi Qiong’s freshman year. Back then, he was nearly 50 kilograms lighter.

Jiang Xiao Shuai looked at the photo, then back at the man in front of him.

"You’re not hopeless. You looked great—big eyes, sharp face. Now you’ve still got the eyes, but..."

He sighed. "Bro, you need to lose weight. Look at that photo—you were a stock with potential. Now? No wonder she snapped. No one could take that big of a drop."

Wu Qi Qiong turned his eyes toward him. "Really?"

"Would I lie to you?" Jiang said as he pulled out the IV needle.

"Besides, you’re injured—you’ll need to avoid certain foods anyway. Might as well take advantage of it and lose weight."

---

Two months later, Wu Qi Qiong’s head wound had healed cleanly without a scar. He had followed Jiang’s advice, stuck to a vegetarian diet, and lost over 20 kilograms. He looked noticeably better and moved with lightness he hadn’t felt in years.

He bought two packs of cigarettes and returned to the clinic.

"I’ve come to change my medicine for the last time. Kinda don’t want to leave."

Jiang Xiao Shuai laughed.

"Don’t say that. If you really miss me, just smash your head again and we can meet every day."

They both burst out laughing.

Wu Qi Qiong waved goodbye and walked off, striding confidently toward the distance.