The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

Chen Zhi leaned against the bathroom door frame, looking at Pei Ningxue in the mirror.

She had already changed her clothes, wearing a beige knitted cardigan and light gray wide-leg pants, her hair casually tied in a low ponytail. She had put on light makeup, including a thin layer of lipstick.

Chen Zhi didn't walk over; instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

Pei Ningxue didn't break free; she naturally leaned back, the back of her head resting against Chen Zhi's collarbone.

In the mirror, the two figures are superimposed.

Chen Zhi rested his chin on her shoulder, half of his face close to her ear.

Pei Ningxue looked at herself in the mirror for a few seconds, put away the lipstick, closed the cap, and returned it to her makeup bag.

"What are you looking at?"

"It's up to you."

"What's so interesting about it?"

"It's so beautiful."

Pei Ningxue glanced at him in the mirror, didn't reply, but couldn't suppress the smile on her lips.

She reached out and turned off the light above the sink, then turned around.

The two people were face to face, so close that they could feel each other's breath.

"Today," Pei Ningxue raised her hand and straightened Chen Zhi's pajamas collar, "you are not allowed to answer work calls."

"If that era's major event had happened..."

"No."

"And what about Mr. Wang from Beijing Investment Group..."

"No."

"What if it's education..."

Pei Ningxue immediately covered his mouth.

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

Chen Zhi blinked, reached out and took her hand away from his mouth, and kissed her palm.

"Understood, President Pei is on holiday today."

"It's not that President Pei is on vacation," Pei Ningxue corrected him. "It's you who's on vacation."

Chen Zhi thought for a moment and nodded.

"Okay, everyone get a holiday."

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

"By the way, I'm not taking the bus today."

"Not taking a car?"

"I'm not sitting." Pei Ningxue rummaged through her suitcase and pulled out two baseball caps, tossing one to him. "I checked, there's an old alleyway three blocks south of the hotel, and there's a pan-fried dumpling shop that's been open for forty years. It has a 4.9 rating on Dianping. I want to try it."

"Does President Pei want to experience life?"

"Call me by my name."

"Does Ningxue want to experience life?"

Pei Ningxue was stunned for a moment.

She rarely heard Chen Zhi call her that. He usually called her either "President Pei" or "Pei Ningxue" in a row, but the name "Ningxue" sounded different coming from his mouth.

"……Um."

She turned her head, and the tips of her ears turned red.

"Hurry up and change your clothes, stop dawdling."

The two changed their clothes and left the hotel.

In the early mornings of March in Shanghai, as the sycamore trees sprout tender buds, breakfast stalls along the roadside have already set up their stands, the aroma of cooking oil and scallions mingling and wafting from the alleyways.

Pei Ningxue was wearing a baseball cap, her hands in her cardigan pockets, and white sneakers, and her pace was much slower than usual.

Chen Zhi walked to her left, and the backs of their hands touched from time to time.

After touching three or four times, Pei Ningxue took her hand out of her pocket and hooked it with Chen Zhi's little finger.

Chen Zhi turned to look at her.

Pei Ningxue stared ahead, pretending to look at a roadside stall selling braised duck.

Chen Zhi didn't say anything, but took her hand completely and put it into his coat pocket.

The alley was very narrow, just enough for two people to walk side by side. Yellowed electrical wires climbed all over the blue brick walls, and overhead were crisscrossing clotheslines with colorful bed sheets and thermal underwear hanging on them.

An old man in pajamas walked past them carrying an enamel mug, his slippers making a clattering sound.

Pei Ningxue looked around curiously.

"Have you never been through a lane like this before?" Chen Zhi asked.

"I've been there."

"When?"

"Just now."

Chen Zhi smiled.

The pan-fried bun shop is located at the corner of an alley, with a pitifully small storefront; even the signboard is written with a brush on a wooden board. But the queue in front of the shop already stretches for more than ten meters, consisting entirely of local elderly people.

Pei Ningxue stood at the end of the line, looked up at the number of people in front of her, and frowned.

"It will probably take about twenty minutes to wait."

"Let's line up." Chen Zhi put his hands in his pockets. "Didn't President Pei say it's a 4.9-star restaurant?"

"Call me by my name."

"...Ningxue said it, it's a 4.9-star restaurant."

Pei Ningxue snorted and moved closer to him.

The line moved slowly forward, and the elderly people in front of them were chatting in Shanghainese, which Chen Zhi couldn't understand a single word of.

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

"The lady in front of me said that the pan-fried buns are thinner today than yesterday."

"That old man said that Old Wang's wife next door ran away with someone else."

"...This doesn't need to be translated."

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

The Shanghai woman, in her fifties, had her hair permed into small curls, and her hands moved with lightning speed.

"Little girl, how many ounces do you want?"

Pei Ningxue glanced at the price list.

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

The proprietress flipped a pot of pan-fried dumplings with a spatula, the golden-brown bottoms facing up, sizzling with oil. As she plated them, she glanced at Pei Ningxue, then at Chen Zhi, and smiled.

"Are you a young couple here for vacation?"

Pei Ningxue's hand stopped at the action of taking out her phone to pay.

Chen Zhi waited for her rebuttal.

"Yes, let's bring him to try Shanghai's breakfast."

Pei Ningxue's voice was softer than usual. After paying by scanning the QR code, she added:

"Thank you, Auntie."

The proprietress was delighted and added two more pan-fried buns to her plate.

"Newlyweds, huh? You two look so sweet together. Eat more, it's free."

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

Chen Zhi followed over with two bowls of soy milk and sat down opposite him.

"Honey, can you give me one of these pan-fried buns?"

Pei Ningxue looked up and glared at him.

Chen Zhi shrugged: "The boss's wife already said, we're newlyweds, what's wrong with me calling her 'wife'?"

Pei Ningxue glared at him for three seconds, then lowered her head, picked up a pan-fried dumpling with her chopsticks, and placed it on the plate in front of Chen Zhi.

"Eat yours."

Chen Zhi took a bite.

The scalding hot broth made him gasp for breath, but it was indeed delicious. The crust was crispy, the filling was sweet and savory, and it had a fragrant aroma of scallions.

"How is it?" Pei Ningxue took a spoonful of salty soy milk.

"It's better than the cafeteria downstairs at our company."

"Nonsense, the cafeteria at IAPM can't even make decent boxed lunches."

The two of them ate a quiet breakfast at the creaky little table in this greasy pan-fried dumpling shop.

Pei Ningxue's eating habits were completely different from those at Wanliu Academy. At home, she was always reserved when eating, taking small bites and keeping her chopsticks neatly arranged.

But here, she bit a hole in the pan-fried bun, sucked out the soup, dipped it in vinegar, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth to chew, her cheeks puffing out round.

Chen Zhi watched her chew the pan-fried buns with her cheeks puffed out and pushed the sweet soy milk next to her.

After breakfast, the two walked out through the alley and arrived at the river embankment of the Bund.

At 10 a.m., the Huangpu River was split open by the sunlight, half of it bright and half dark.

The river breeze was much stronger than in the alley, and a few strands of Pei Ningxue's hair were blown out of place.

The two walked slowly along the riverbank, not in a hurry, and with nowhere in mind.

"What was it like for your family to celebrate Chinese New Year when you were a child?" Pei Ningxue suddenly asked.

Chen Zhi thought for a moment.

"My dad was playing cards, my mom was watching and criticizing the Spring Festival Gala, and I was playing video games in my room. On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, my mom dragged me out of bed to kowtow and wish me a Happy New Year. After I finished, she gave me 100 yuan as a New Year's gift, and then in the afternoon, she found an excuse to take the 100 yuan back."

Pei Ningxue smiled.

"And what about you?" Chen Zhi asked in return.

Pei Ningxue remained silent for a while.

"During Chinese New Year, the servants would paste couplets and the character '福' (good fortune) all over the inside and outside of the villa, but my dad wasn't there. The housekeeper would cook a table full of dishes, and I would eat alone in the dining room."

She paused.

"The TV is on, and the volume is turned up really loud, so it doesn't feel too quiet."

Chen Zhi did not respond.

He took Pei Ningxue's hand out of his pocket and held it tightly.

Pei Ningxue looked down at the two people's clasped hands.

"Your palms are so hot."

"Your hands are too cold."

Pei Ningxue didn't say anything more.

The two walked for a while longer, and when they came to a side road, Pei Ningxue suddenly stopped.

At the crossroads, there is a small shop with a handwritten sign above the door that reads "Old Times in Light and Shadow - Retro Photo Studio".

Several old-fashioned film cameras were displayed in the glass window, along with a row of Polaroid sample photos, their colors warm and grainy.

Pei Ningxue pulled Chen Zhi inside.

"Take a picture."

"What are you filming?"

"Take a picture of us."

The shop owner was a middle-aged man wearing a beret, and there was a Fujifilm Instant Camera and a Hasselblad on the table.

"Instant camera or film?"

"Instax camera," Pei Ningxue said crisply.

"One sheet or a set?"

One is enough.

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

"Take off your hat." She pulled off Chen Zhi's baseball cap, and then took off her own. Her hair was flattened by the hat, and she brushed it aside with her fingers.

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

"Are you teaching me how to do things?"

"Shut up, look at the camera."

The boss held up a Polaroid camera, "Three, two—"

Before Pei Ningxue could shout "One," she tiptoed, turned her head, and kissed Chen Zhi on the cheek.

The shutter clicked.

The photos slowly emerged from the machine.

In the scene, Chen Zhiwei tilted his head slightly, his expression showing a hint of surprise. Pei Ningxue closed her eyes, her lips pressed against his cheek, her ponytail swinging behind her shoulder.

The white wall background is clean and tidy, the lighting is soft, and there are no filters or beauty effects.

The two most authentic people.

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

"Let me see." Chen Zhi held out his hand.

Pei Ningxue hid the photo behind her back.

"No."

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

Pei Ningxue ignored him. She looked around, walked to Chen Zhi's side, unzipped his coat, and took out his wallet.

Why are you going through my wallet?

Pei Ningxue opened her wallet and rummaged through several compartments—her ID card, bank cards, and the note Lin Wanwan had written earlier.

Her finger paused on the note for half a second.

Then continue flipping through the wallet until you reach a hidden compartment at the very back that you've never used before.

She stuffed the Polaroid photo inside, flattened it, closed her wallet, and patted it.

"Put it at the very back." Pei Ningxue stuffed the wallet back into Chen Zhi's hand, "In a place where no one can find it."

Chen Zhi held the wallet and felt that it was a little thicker inside.

It's a very thin photo, but it feels quite heavy.

Pei Ningxue patted his chest, looked up, and smiled with her eyes crinkling.

That smile was different from the composure she displayed when signing contracts at the company, different from the coquettishness she showed at Wanliu Academy, and even more different from the earnestness she displayed when making a wish under the fireworks last night.

I'm just happy.

Pure joy.

"Let's go, let's continue along the river." Pei Ningxue took his hand.

Chen Zhi put his wallet back in his inner pocket and followed her.

The two walked a long way along the riverbank until the sun moved from the side to its zenith.

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

"Chen Zhi".

"Um."

"I'll take you somewhere this afternoon."

"where?"

Pei Ningxue turned around and gave him a mysterious wink.

"Go back to the hotel to change clothes and put on the outfit I bought yesterday."

"Whom are you going to see?"

Pei Ningxue did not answer.