Lin Yue was climbing out of his white BMW X5 just as I was seeing the children off at the kindergarten gate.



He had vanished for a week. His first act upon reappearing wasn't an explanation-it was announcing in front of all the parents, in a tone reserved for subordinates: "Su Qing, we're not right for each other. Yuwei is back from abroad. I'm going to be with her."



Yuwei.



The name stabbed into my ears and bounced around inside my skull for several seconds before it landed. Zhao Yuwei. His white moonlight from four years of college. She had dumped him the day she got her offer to go abroad, and he had lain in his rented room for half a month, not coming out. It was me who went out of my way after work every day to cook congee, brew soup, stew pork ribs-shoving food into his mouth in every form I could manage. After half a month, he finally looked human again.



Three years. He ate at my place, lived at my place. Now that his white moonlight was back, suddenly "we're not right for each other."



In the BMW's passenger seat, Zhao Yuwei watched me through the half-open window. Black loose curls draped over a white thin jacket. Her face was full of smugness.



The parents around us all went quiet. Teacher Zhang from the neighboring class let her canvas bag slip from her hand. An innocent child looked up and asked, "Teacher Su, are you getting a divorce?"



"Don't talk nonsense. Teacher Su isn't even married yet." A parent yanked the child away.



I untied my apron, folded it twice, and put it in my bag. I looked up at Lin Yue: "Give me back my key."



He clearly hadn't expected that: "What key?"



"My house key. Back then you said your rented place was far from the company, and it was convenient to live with me. You moved in and never paid rent. Three years' rent: forty thousand. Utilities and miscellaneous: nine thousand. Total: forty-nine thousand. WeChat or Alipay?"



His face began to flush, spreading upward from his neck: "With so many people here, Su Qing, don't make a scene."



"So many people? Make a scene?"



Three years. This man had stirred up three years of my life. He chose the kindergarten gate to break up, announcing in front of a crowd of parents that he was going after his white moonlight. And you say I'm making a scene?



I pulled out my phone and opened the WeChat payment code: "Forty-nine thousand. Now. Otherwise tomorrow I'm changing the locks, and all your things are going in the hallway."



Zhao Yuwei pushed the car door open and got out. Tight blue jeans, brown high heels, walking carefully with each step, afraid a pebble might scratch the soles. Only when she got close did she lift her head. A face like Gao Yuanyuan's-truly stunning.



"Su Qing, feelings can't be forced. You're a good girl. You'll definitely meet someone better in the future."



I knew this line too well. Three years ago at the airport, she had patted Lin Yue on the shoulder and said exactly the same thing. Today she was passing that line to me, word for word, too lazy to even change the wording.



"Forget the money." I put away the payment code. "Give me back the key. Leave it under the doormat before tomorrow, or I'm changing the locks."



I turned and walked toward the road. Behind me, Lin Yue called out to me once. I didn't catch what he said, and I didn't care to.



I didn't look back.



Across the street from the kindergarten was a café. I went there every day after dropping off the children. Today there was a knot in my chest, and I couldn't tell if it was anger or something else. I needed a place to sit and digest it.



I pushed the door open. Cool air mixed with the bitter smell of roasted coffee beans hit me in the face. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. Three or four people sat scattered around the shop.



At a table by the window sat a man. Seen in profile, the lines of his face looked as if they'd been carved with a knife. He was tall and straight, wearing a deep blue suit, leaning back lazily in his chair. Two empty coffee cups sat in front of him. In his left hand was a phone; his right hand pinched the handle of a coffee cup, turning it.



He looked like he'd been there a long time.



I walked over and sat down across from him.



He looked up at me once. In those few seconds, I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't know who this person was. But everything that happened afterward told me-



At that moment, what I sat down on wasn't a chair. It was a chessboard where the game had already begun.