Stealing a Half-Day's Leisure from the Floating Life

Chen Zhi leaned against the bathroom doorframe, watching Pei Ningxue in the mirror.

She had already changed into a creamy-white knit cardigan and light gray wide-leg pants. Her hair was casually tied back in a low ponytail. She wore light makeup and a thin layer of lipstick.

Chen Zhi didn't step closer. Instead, he slid his arms around her waist from behind, holding her in an embrace.

Pei Ningxue didn't pull away; she naturally leaned back, her head resting just against Chen Zhi's collarbone.

In the mirror, their silhouettes overlapped.

Chen Zhi rested his chin on the crook of her shoulder, one side of his face pressed against her ear.

Pei Ningxue looked in the mirror for a few seconds, put away her lipstick, capped it, and placed it back in her makeup bag.

"What are you looking at?"

"Looking at you."

"What's so interesting to look at?"

"You look really beautiful."

Pei Ningxue shot him a glance through the mirror, not saying a word, but the corners of her mouth curved up unstoppably.

She reached out to turn off the light above the sink and turned around.

They faced each other, standing so close that they could feel each other's breath.

"Today," Pei Ningxue said as she raised a hand to adjust the collar of Chen Zhi's pajamas, "no answering work calls."

"What if Dai Damai..."

"No."

"What about President Wang of Jingtou..."

"No."

"What if it's education..."

Pei Ningxue directly covered his mouth.

"Chen Zhi, don't you understand human language?"

Chen Zhi blinked, reached up to pull her hand from his mouth, and kissed her palm.

"Understood. President Pei is off duty today."

"It's not President Pei who's off duty," Pei Ningxue corrected him. "It's you who's off duty."

Chen Zhi thought for a moment and nodded.

"Alright, we're all off duty."

Pei Ningxue patted his chest with satisfaction, pushed him away, and walked out. After taking two steps, she stopped and turned back.

"By the way, we're not taking a car today."

"Not taking a car?"

"No." Pei Ningxue dug out two baseball caps from her suitcase and tossed one to him. "I checked. There's an old alley three streets south of the hotel with a pan-fried bun shop that's been open for forty years. It has a 4.9 rating on Dianping. I want to try it."

"President Pei wants to experience life?"

"Call me by my name."

"Ningxue wants to experience life?"

Pei Ningxue froze for a moment.

She rarely heard Chen Zhi call her that. Usually, it was either "President Pei" or her full name, "Pei Ningxue." But hearing just "Ningxue" pop out of his mouth felt different.

"... Yeah."

She turned her head away, the tips of her ears turning red.

"Hurry up and change, stop dawdling."

The two of them changed and left the hotel.

On a March morning in Shanghai, the branches of the plane trees were just sprouting tender buds. The roadside breakfast stalls were already set up, and the smell of cooking oil mixed with the aroma of scallions drifted out from the entrance of the alley.

Pei Ningxue wore her baseball cap, both hands tucked into her cardigan pockets, stepping in her white sneakers at a much slower pace than usual.

Chen Zhi walked on her left, their hands brushing against each other from time to time.

After three or four times, Pei Ningxue took the initiative to pull her hand out of her pocket, reached over, and hooked her pinky around Chen Zhi's.

Chen Zhi turned to look at her.

Pei Ningxue stared straight ahead, pretending to look at a soy-sauce duck shop on the side of the street.

Chen Zhi didn't say anything, but he grabbed her whole hand and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

The alley was very narrow, just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. The blue brick walls were covered with yellowing electrical wires, and overhead was a crisscross of clotheslines hung with colorful bedsheets and long johns.

An old man in pajamas walked past them holding an enamel mug, his slippers going flip-flop, flip-flop.

Pei Ningxue looked around, her expression full of curiosity.

"Have you never been in an alley like this before?" Chen Zhi asked.

"I have."

"When?"

"Just now."

Chen Zhi laughed.

The pan-fried bun shop was at the corner of the alley. The storefront was pitifully small, and even the signboard was just a piece of wood with characters written in ink brush. But the line outside stretched for over a dozen meters, consisting entirely of local elderly folks.

Pei Ningxue stood at the end of the line, looked at the number of people ahead, and frowned.

"It's probably going to take twenty minutes."

"Let's just wait," Chen Zhi said, stuffing both hands in his pockets. "Like President Pei said, it's a 4.9-rated place."

"Call me by my name."

"... Like Ningxue said, it's a 4.9-rated place."

Pei Ningxue snorted and leaned closer to him.

The line inched forward. The uncles and aunties ahead were chatting in Shanghainese, and Chen Zhi couldn't understand a single word.

Pei Ningxue, however, could understand some of it and would translate a couple of sentences from time to time.

"That auntie ahead says today's pan-fried bun skin is thinner than yesterday's."

"That uncle says Lao Wang's daughter-in-law next door ran off with someone."

"... You don't need to translate that one."

When it was their turn, the proprietress behind the stove looked up and scanned them.

She was a Shanghainese woman in her fifties, sporting a head of small curls, her hands moving with lightning speed.

"Little girl, how many do you want?"

Pei Ningxue checked the price list.

"Two portions of pan-fried buns, one bowl of savory soy milk, and one bowl of sweet soy milk."

The proprietress flipped a pan of buns with an iron spatula, the golden crusts facing up, sizzling with oil. As she plated them, she looked Pei Ningxue up and down, then glanced at Chen Zhi and smiled.

"Young couple here traveling?"

Pei Ningxue's hand paused as she was taking out her phone to pay.

Chen Zhi waited for her to deny it.

"Yeah, I brought him to try Shanghai's breakfast."

Pei Ningxue's voice was softer than usual, and after scanning the QR code to pay, she added:

"Thank you, Auntie."

The proprietress beamed and added two extra buns to their plate.

"Newlyweds, right? Look at you two, so sweet. Eat up, these are on the house."

Pei Ningxue carried the plate to a wobbly little table in the corner and sat down.

Chen Zhi followed with the two bowls of soy milk and sat across from her.

"Wifey, give me a bun, will you?"

Pei Ningxue glared at him.

Chen Zhi threw his hands up. "The proprietress said it herself, we're a newlywed young couple. What's wrong with calling you wifey?"

Pei Ningxue glared at him for three seconds, then lowered her head, picked up a bun with her chopsticks, and placed it on the small plate in front of him.

"Eat your food."

Chen Zhi took a bite.

The scalding hot soup made him gasp for air, but it was undeniably delicious—the crust crisp, the meat filling fresh and sweet, carrying the fragrance of scallions.

"How is it?" Pei Ningxue asked, taking a sip of the savory soy milk with her spoon.

"Better than our company's cafeteria."

"Obviously. That cafeteria in IAPM can't even get a boxed lunch right."

The two of them sat at the creaky little table in this greasy pan-fried bun shop, eating a quiet breakfast.

Pei Ningxue ate very differently here than she did at Wanliu Academy. At home, she ate everything with restraint, taking tiny bites, her chopsticks arranged perfectly.

But here, she bit a small hole in the bun, sucked out the soup first, dipped it in vinegar, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth, her cheeks bulging round as she chewed.

Chen Zhi watched her chew with puffed cheeks and pushed the sweet soy milk toward her hand.

After breakfast, the two walked through the alley and arrived at the riverbank of the Bund.

At ten in the morning, the surface of the Huangpu River was split by the sunlight, half bright, half dark.

The river breeze was much stronger than in the alley, blowing a few strands of Pei Ningxue's hair loose.

The two of them walked slowly along the riverbank, in no rush and with nowhere in particular to go.

"What was Chinese New Year like at your house when you were a kid?" Pei Ningxue asked suddenly.

Chen Zhi thought for a moment.

"My dad played cards, my mom watched the Spring Festival Gala while complaining about it, and I played video games in my room. On the morning of the first day, my mom would drag me out of bed to kowtow for New Year's greetings. After that, she'd give me a hundred yuan as lucky money, and then she'd find an excuse to take it back that afternoon."

Pei Ningxue laughed.

"What about you?" Chen Zhi asked in return.

Pei Ningxue was silent for a moment.

"For New Year's at my house, the servants would cover the villa inside and out with couplets and 'Fu' characters. But my dad was never around. The nanny would cook a whole table of food, and I would eat alone in the dining room."

She paused.

"I'd leave the TV on with the volume turned way up, so it wouldn't feel too quiet."

Chen Zhi didn't say anything.

He pulled Pei Ningxue's hand out of her pocket and held it tightly.

Pei Ningxue looked down at their clasped hands.

"Your palm is so hot."

"Your hand is too cold."

Pei Ningxue didn't say anything else.

They walked a bit further and passed a small fork in the road, where Pei Ningxue suddenly stopped.

At the corner was a tiny storefront with a handwritten sign above the door: "Old Times of Light and Shadow - Retro Photo Studio."

In the glass display window sat several vintage film cameras and a row of Polaroid sample photos, their tones warm and grainy.

Pei Ningxue grabbed Chen Zhi and dragged him inside.

"Let's take a picture."

"Of what?"

"Of us."

The shop owner was a middle-aged man wearing a beret. On the table sat a Fujifilm Polaroid and a Hasselblad camera.

"Polaroid or film?"

"Polaroid," Pei Ningxue answered decisively.

"Just one, or a set?"

"One is enough."

Pei Ningxue stood in front of a white wall and pulled Chen Zhi to stand next to her.

"Take off your hat." She pulled Chen Zhi's baseball cap off and then removed her own. Her hair was a bit flat from the hat, so she fluffed it up with her fingers.

"Don't force a smile, just act natural," she instructed.

"Are you telling me what to do?"

"Shut up and look at the camera."

The owner raised the Polaroid. "Three, two—"

Before "one" was called out, Pei Ningxue stood on her tiptoes, tilted her head, and kissed Chen Zhi on the cheek.

The shutter clicked.

The photo slowly slid out of the machine.

In the picture, Chen Zhi's head was turned slightly, his expression showing a hint of surprise. Pei Ningxue had her eyes closed, her lips pressed against his cheek, and her ponytail tossed over her shoulder.

The white wall background was clean and simple. The lighting was soft. No filters, no beauty enhancements.

Just the two of them, in their truest form.

Pei Ningxue held the photo in her hand, looked at it against the light, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Let me see," Chen Zhi reached out.

Pei Ningxue hid the photo behind her back.

"No."

"My face is on it, why won't you let me see it?"

Pei Ningxue ignored him. She glanced around, walked up to Chen Zhi, unzipped his jacket, and pulled out his wallet from inside.

"Why are you going through my wallet?"

Pei Ningxue opened the wallet and flipped through several compartments—his ID card, bank cards, and that sticky note Lin Wanwan had written before.

Her fingers paused on that sticky note for half a second.

Then she continued flipping until she reached a hidden, never-used compartment deep inside the wallet.

She tucked the Polaroid photo in there, flattened it out, closed the wallet, and patted it.

"Keep it in the deepest part," Pei Ningxue said, shoving the wallet back into Chen Zhi's hand. "A place where no one will ever find it."

Chen Zhi gripped the wallet, feeling the slight extra thickness inside.

It was a very thin photo, but its weight felt incredibly heavy.

Pei Ningxue patted his chest, looked up, and smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.

That smile was different from the composed look she had when signing contracts at the company, different from the coquettish way she acted spoiled at the Wanliu Estate, and even more different from her earnest expression when making a wish under the fireworks last night.

It was just pure joy.

Absolute happiness.

"Let's go, let's keep walking along the river," Pei Ningxue said, taking his hand.

Chen Zhi tucked the wallet back into his inner pocket and kept up with her pace.

The two walked a long way along the riverbank, walking until the sun moved from their side to directly overhead.

Pei Ningxue leaned against the railing, squinting at a ferry in the distance.

"Chen Zhi."

"Yeah."

"I'm taking you somewhere this afternoon."

"Where?"

Pei Ningxue turned around and blinked at him mysteriously.

"Go back to the hotel and change. Put on that outfit we bought yesterday."

"Who are we meeting?"

Pei Ningxue didn't answer.