"But..." She poked my back with her hand, soft and gentle, just reaching my skin. "I think Chen Baozhu's personality, looking like she's deeply in love with Zheng Zhiwei, there must be a reason. Sometimes what women really want is not the respect that men think they're giving."

  I suddenly felt a numbness on my back, the soft feeling from her fingertips fell down and spread all the way to my heart. But she had already turned around with her hands behind her back, walked ahead of me and said: "Alright let's go, Ah Yu."

  On her way back to the main house, she maintained this posture all along, slowly and leisurely, as if nothing had been said, with a hint of complacency between her eyebrows.

  In my heart, there has always been a small flame that burns restlessly. I remain silent.

  As we returned to the front garden of the house, we saw Feng Yan sitting alone there, drinking tea. She was wearing a black skirt with a long white down jacket on top. When she saw us, she smiled slightly.

  I walked over with Tan Jiao, and she invited us to have tea together. In the icy snow, a cup of freshly brewed hot tea in hand, indeed made my heart feel warm and peaceful. I had always respected Professor and his wife, and in my heart, I secretly made up my mind to rescue them tomorrow night.

  "What about the professor?" Tan Jiao asked.

  Feng Yan smiled and said: "He should still be in his study. Sometimes I don't see him for a whole day."

  "Out of politeness, I asked: 'Has Ruyin's cold gotten any better?'"

  Feng Yan put down her tea and took a sip, saying: "Much better, nothing's wrong. She has a weak body and always catches colds. You don't have to worry."

  At this time, there was a commotion at the garden gate, and it turned out that the two workers had arrived. Feng Yan stood up and said to us: "You sit for a while." One of the workers shouted: "Boss's wife, we've come to work!" Feng Yan walked over, smiling and asked: "Have you eaten lunch?" The other person replied: "Not yet." Feng Yan said: "There are still some dumplings in the refrigerator that I packed this morning. You can start working first, and I'll bring two bowls over." Both of them said: "Thank you, boss's wife."

  Those two workers glanced at us a few times, walked into the depths of the garden, started working, and kept a pretty distance from us.

  Tan Jiao suddenly said: "Your professor and wife are really polite to each other. Throughout the day, they hardly exchanged a few words."

  I didn't think much of it at the time, but Professor's conservative and introverted personality, devoted to research, must have made him not attentive enough to his wife. Their current way of interacting is normal, though. But later facts proved that women are indeed more sensitive than men in some matters, especially a woman like Tan Jiao who loves to overthink things.

  At this time, Tan Jiao's mobile phone rang. This was still the one we temporarily bought in the town. She exclaimed: "Why did Zhuang Yu call me? Didn't he just leave?"

  She got up and walked out to the garden to meet him, after all, the content of her conversation with Zhuang Yu might be secret. I followed a few steps behind her. When she reached a small grove on the side, I lit a cigarette and smoked it in a not-too-distant place.

  Two women talked for a long time. Tan Jiao initially kept glancing at me from time to time, but later turned her back on me as she spoke, her voice not loud enough for me to hear clearly.

  After finishing three cigarettes, she finally hung up the phone and stood still on the spot.

  I stepped on the cigarette butt and walked behind her: "What's wrong?"

  Tan Jiao turned around and looked at me, with a warm smile in her eyes, and a hint of tears: "Zhuang Yu... She said she couldn't bear to part with me, originally she had already arrived home, but made a detour, deciding to come here again, to accompany and support me."