Lumi messaged Tu  Ming again, “Who should I hand over my work to? Have you figured it out? Or when will the new person start?”

“It’s only been a day, it won’t be that quick to hire someone.” Tu Ming replied. He opened Lumi’s project files and looked through them. Each one was organized neatly, with clear processes, and beautifully done, just like her work style, always efficient and to the point.

“I’ll talk to HR about hiring someone tomorrow. Could you continue to follow up on your projects for now?”

“Okay.”

Lumi finished replying and packed up to leave work. She saw Wu Meng walk into Tu Ming’s office and turned her face away. Tang Wuyi packed up his things, and they walked out together.

Tu Ming saw Lumi and Tang Wuyi leave the office through the glass door. He turned back to Wu Meng, “Organize the projects you’re currently working on and leave some time for new projects.”

“What projects?”

“There are new projects in Luke’s folder, you can follow up on them with Daisy.”

“Okay.”

Tu Ming didn’t hand over Lumi’s projects. He didn’t want to do that. He wanted to wait for Lumi to figure things out. If it was because of him, he could leave. He needed to talk to Lumi face-to-face.

He packed up his things and left the company. He received a call from Wang Jiexing, who invited him and Luke to dinner tomorrow.

“Can you bring your project manager, my good friend Lumi?” Wang Jiexing brought up Lumi, and Tu Ming agreed and hung up the phone. He guessed that Lumi’s new job was probably at Wang Jiexing’s place. She hadn’t planned to change jobs before the New Year. All the companies were on holiday during the New Year, only Wang Jiexing, as the boss, had the authority to hire people. Or maybe Lumi knew someone like Wang Jiexing, and she could solve her job problem with a phone call. Tu Ming knew Lumi had that kind of ability.

“Wang Jiexing invited me and Luke to meet tomorrow to discuss projects, he specifically mentioned you, so come along.”

Lumi was soaking her feet and doing a face mask when she saw Tu Ming’s message. She called Wang Jiexing first, “You told him I was going to your place?”

“No.”

“Thank you, don’t mention it. Besides, you invited Luke and Will, why are you calling me?”

“Hehe, I wanted to see you.”

“Get lost!”

“Come on, it’s serious business. Let’s talk about product naming together.”

“Fine.”

Lumi finished talking to Wang Jiexing and then replied to Tu Ming, “Okay.”

“Are you at home?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you come downstairs? I have a few words for you.”

Tu Ming parked his car outside the neighborhood and walked to the building. There was an old tree planted in front of the building, with two benches underneath for people to rest. Tu Ming remembered a time when Lumi had been there, looking for Zhang Qing. It felt like not long ago, but today, he had become the ex-boyfriend, Zhang Qing, waiting downstairs to talk.

Time had passed in a flash, and he was back to where he started.

Lumi didn’t want to go downstairs, she didn’t want to talk to him. It was hard to predict what Tu Ming would say. In Lumi’s mind, Tu Ming was someone she couldn’t see through, someone she couldn’t understand.

She procrastinated, emptying the foot bath water, then going to the kitchen to wash fruit. As she turned on the faucet, water started to leak out. Lumi cursed, “Damn it! Again!”

“I can’t go out, let’s talk at the company tomorrow.” Her mood was clearly bad.

She directly rejected Tu Ming, squatting down and opening the cabinet door. She saw that the water pipe was leaking. The plumbing in this house had been in use for many years and often broke. Lumi had it fixed several times, but it would leak again after a few days. She thought she really needed to get new plumbing installed. The plumber who had come to fix it had unscrewed the pipe, wiped it down, and screwed it back on. He turned on the faucet and let the water run.  Damn, it didn’t work.

She was sprawled on the floor, struggling and sweating. Her nightgown was dirty.

The doorbell rang. She got up on her knees, “Just a moment!” She tossed the broken pipe on the floor and opened the door. She saw Tu Ming standing at the door.

Lumi braced the door with her foot and pulled at the front of her nightgown. It was wet and stuck to her body, uncomfortable. “Tomorrow at the company, okay? About the handover, right? Tell me who it should be handed over to, Erin, right? Okay. You don’t have to come here for this, don’t bother.”

Tu Ming looked at the sweat on Lumi’s forehead and her wet nightgown. This was the first time he had seen her so disheveled. “The water is leaking?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me take a look?”

“No.”

Lumi stood in front of the door, “I don’t need you today, I’ll get someone to fix it tomorrow. It’s not convenient for you to come in, people will gossip.” She wouldn’t let Tu Ming in. Lumi had learned to be proper in just a few days. Who doesn’t know how to be proper?

Tu Ming didn’t say anything. He saw the stubborn look in Lumi’s eyes. He had seen this look before, when Zhang Qing came to the company to find her, when he came to her house, it was the same look. It was over, they were even, there was no need to dwell on it.

“I’ll take a look. If the leak is bad, the neighbors won’t be able to sleep.”

Lumi thought about the old lady downstairs who had a weak constitution.  Finally, she moved aside, letting Tu Ming in.  Tu Ming took off his jacket and handed it to her. He rolled up his shirt sleeves, “Where is the leak?”

“The kitchen.”

He went into the kitchen. First, he took a mop to wipe up the water on the floor. Then, he knelt down and saw an exceptionally old plumbing system.

“You need to get a new drainage system.” Tu Ming looked around and found some plastic bags to tie the pipe tightly. When he exerted force, his cheeks bulged slightly. Lumi stood there silently, her eyes fixed on his bent legs. She just wouldn’t look at his face.

“I’ll get someone to do it tomorrow.”

“Are you going to do it like this?  It leaks every few days. Let me help you, I redid the plumbing in my house myself.”

“No need to bother you.  Of course, thank you for your help.”

Lumi stepped back out of the kitchen, speaking politely, her chin slightly raised, with a “Lumi-style stubbornness.” She casually handed him a wet wipe to wipe his hands.

Tu Ming stood up and looked at her, “Lumi, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Go ahead.”

Tu Ming was amused by her proper demeanor, “Are you angry with me?”

“No.”

“You’re right to be angry. I shouldn’t have said those things. You drove to my building in the middle of the night, I should have gone to see you.”

“I’m really not angry, you’ve overthought it. Don’t apologize, it’s over, let’s not bring it up again, it’s embarrassing.”

Lumi actually cared about the two words “disgusting.” Those two words made her feel so terrible, she didn’t want to face him anymore.

“It’s getting late, go back.” Lumi walked to the door and opened it. “Let’s discuss work at the company, don’t meet or talk outside of work, I can do that. Don’t worry. The Lu family never clings to anyone.”

Tu Ming nodded, “Okay.”

He picked up his jacket and walked out. As he passed the door, he saw Lumi’s face slightly turn towards him. He suddenly felt a pang of heartache.  He put his hand on the back of her hand on the doorknob. He pulled his hand back, but then he grabbed it again.

“Let go, I’ll hit you!”

Lumi lifted her leg and kicked him. He caught her leg with his, and she took the opportunity to hug him and close the door.

She struggled in his arms, “You find people disgusting and then you get physical!  You’re the disgusting one!”

“Let go of me! I really will hit you!”

“Let go of me!”

Lumi’s arms and legs were restrained by Tu Ming, she couldn’t break free.  In a fit of anger, she bit down on his arm, hard. Tu Ming hissed in pain, and his grip tightened.

“I’ll bite you to death!”

Lumi shifted her bite to a different spot, and she didn’t hold back at all.  This time, she even had the illusion of tasting blood. But she didn’t let go. She engaged in a long, drawn-out struggle with Tu Ming.

“I’m sorry, Lumi. I was too harsh with my words. Can I apologize?”

“No!” Lumi’s teeth were embedded in his flesh. She didn’t release him, she mumbled a single word, her face flushed red. Her wet nightgown stuck to her chest, dampening Tu Ming’s shirt.

“I’m sorry, Lumi, I said some terrible things. It’s because I thought you weren’t serious about me. Can I apologize?” Tu Ming said again, can I apologize?

Lumi bit down harder. Tu Ming hissed, in pain.

Finally, she got tired. She released him and panted against his shoulder.

“Are you over it?” Tu Ming asked.

“No!”

“Bite me again, anywhere you want.”

Lumi pursed her lips and didn’t say anything. She had been wronged for so many days, and he hadn’t said a single word.  He hadn’t even said anything hurtful, which Lumi didn’t like. But his apology was sincere, and she accepted it.

They were both imperfect people, both prickly. Lumi’s thorns were obvious, everyone could see them. Tu Ming’s thorns were hidden, they came out occasionally, and they were dangerous.

“You’re not going to bite me anymore, are you?” Tu Ming patted her head. He finally let go.

“I know I said some really bad things today. You must have felt awful. I’m sorry. I apologize.”

“You know, Lumi, I feel like we’ve never been on the same page. You seem to just want a physical relationship with me, but I want to develop a relationship with you. I wanted to confirm with you today, is it really just desire you have for me? Is there anything else, like, liking me?”

“There was.” Lumi finally spoke, “Now there isn’t.”

“I’m just like that, I get hotheaded and I do things. Now I’m not hotheaded anymore. I’ve seriously considered it, we’re just not on the same page. It was wrong of me to flirt with you before, I won’t do that anymore.”

“I’m a bit of a jerk. There’s nothing else in my head, I think about something and I do it, I want to do something and I do it.”

“You, on the other hand, require a girlfriend with absolute high moral character, someone who is well-educated and refined, someone who is on the same wavelength as you. I don’t meet any of those requirements. I only look at the present. If I’m happy in the moment, I feel like everything is worth it. If I’m not happy, I feel like it’s not worth it.”

“I’m not happy in a relationship with you.”

“So, it’s good that we broke up when we were still in the early stages of our relationship. It’s better than breaking up after we’ve developed deeper feelings. If you break up then, it’s like breaking bones and tendons, people really lose half their life.”

Tu Ming looked at Lumi, “So in your heart, you never thought about the future, did you?”

“No.”

“I understand.” Tu Ming nodded, “Since I saw the plumbing, I’ll fix it for you. The plumbing in your house is probably all old. I’ll replace the bathroom and kitchen plumbing for you. Once I’m done, I won’t come back.”

“Okay.”

Lumi glanced at him, then turned her head away.

“Do you want to see the plumbing in my house?”  The atmosphere was quite heavy, but Tu Ming suddenly said this. Lumi thought, what’s there to see about plumbing?

“Sure, I’ll take a look.”

Tu Ming took out his phone and opened his photo album. Lumi glanced at it. A science and engineering guy’s photo album is full of strange things, guns, machinery, assembled things. She scrolled through it, and there was a photo of the plumbing he had installed himself. A complete set, a clean, organized, and scientific drainage system. He held it up to Lumi, “Would something like this work?” His plumbing style was like him.

Lumi took a look at it, then thought about the pipes in her house, wrapped in tape and plastic bags. She nodded seriously, “It’s really good. You know how to do this?”

“It’s not difficult. It’s actually quite fun. You can watch when I install it for you.”

“Come on, you’re telling me it’s not difficult? I can’t even screw in a screw.”

Tu Ming heard her say, “Come on, you’re telling me it’s not difficult?” He looked at her seriously, a smile playing on his lips.  Finally, he didn’t say anything.

“It’s getting late, I’m going.”

“Oh.”

Lumi leaned on the windowsill again to watch Tu Ming leave. He was so strange. Who would want to install plumbing? Why was he so eager to fix plumbing for someone else?

When she lay down in bed, she saw a link Tu Ming had sent, “I bought this set for you. It should be enough for the kitchen.”

“What about the bathroom?”

“Send me a picture of the bathroom?”

“Okay.” Lumi got out of bed and opened the cabinet door under the bathroom sink. She took a picture and sent it to him.

“I see it, no problem. I’ll have it delivered tomorrow, and I’ll go install it for you after work tomorrow.”

“You’re so kind.”

“No problem.”

Tu Ming got home and took off his shirt. He saw the two deep bite marks on his shoulder and arm. He remembered Lumi’s fierce look, and his heart tightened again.