My boyfriend Lu Shiyu and I were shopping. I wanted a bottle of mineral water. He said it was a waste. Then he filled the cart with expensive fruit and imported snacks for his "dry sister," Lin Chuchu. At the checkout I added a two-yuan pack of spicy strips. "Chuchu does not like those." He did not even look up as he took them out. I put them back. "I am eating them." "Still no. Chuchu cannot stand the smell. Last time you ate them, she felt sick for days. Besides, they are bad for you." He tossed the packet aside again. I looked at the cart: durian, mangoes, beef jerky. Then I looked at Lu Shiyu, carefully checking the shopping list. I lost my appetite. I did not whine or act cute or beg him to pay this time. On the way home I said nothing. He thought I was sulking. Then his phone rang. He braked so hard the car stopped at the curb. "Chuchu is not feeling well. I am going to see her." "You know her health is poor. We need to take care of her. Take a taxi home. I will be back after a quick look." He left me in the rain and drove in the opposite direction. Standing there, I felt something go out. Perhaps the wedding should not happen at all.0

The sky darkened and the rain came harder. I waved for a long time before a taxi stopped. I had my hand on the door when I remembered the balance in my phone wallet: sixty-nine cents. I froze. After we moved in together, I had given Lu Shiyu my salary card. Since then money had become harder and harder to use. I earned thirty-five thousand a month. He gave me ten yuan a day. After meals, there was not enough left for a bottle of water. Even normal social expenses required repeated applications. "Are you getting in or not?" the driver shouted. "Sir, I do not have enough money. Could I..." I wanted to ask whether I could leave my bracelet as collateral. Before I could finish, he drove away. I stood in the rain and watched the taillights disappear. My knee had been hurting since I slipped on the curb. I did not know how I walked home. It took three hours. When I finally limped through the door, the living room lights were on. Lu Shiyu was not back. The apartment was warm and bright and completely empty. I sat on the floor in my wet clothes and looked at the keychain on the table. It was the only gift he had given me in months.0

The next morning Lu Shiyu came home at nine. He smelled of someone else's laundry detergent. "Chuchu had a fever," he said. "I stayed to watch her." I did not ask why a grown woman needed a man to watch her sleep. I had asked before. The answer was always the same: her health was poor, she had no one else, I should be more understanding. Once, my mother was in a car accident while I was out of town. The hospital called me. I called Lu Shiyu dozens of times. He did not answer. I drove three hundred kilometers and reached the hospital after the surgery. My mother survived. Later I learned that he had been at the movies with Lin Chuchu. That was the first time I shouted at him. He cried and swore it would never happen again. His promises were true only at the moment he made them. "You are still angry?" he asked now. "I brought you something." He handed me a square velvet box. I recognized the logo of my favorite car brand. My heart, numb as it was, still jumped. I had asked to replace my ten-year-old car a few weeks ago. He refused. "Why change it? It still runs." I opened the box. Inside was a small acrylic keychain with the same logo. "You said you liked the brand," he said. "We cannot afford the car, but the keychain is nice, right?"0