Chapter 3　The Missed Answer

Friday evening, rain began to fall in Taipei.

Raindrops slid down the large glass curtain wall of the office building, blurring the once-clear street view outside.

Zhang Yijia sat at her desk, staring at the Okinawa travel page on her computer screen.

Flight tickets, hotel, car rental, seaside café, aquarium.

She had even planned the entire itinerary.

Day one: arrive in Naha. Day two: drive north to Kouri Island. Day three: visit the Churaumi Aquarium. Day four: no plans, just find a café with an ocean view to sit and relax.

The mouse hovered over the “double room” option.

She suddenly felt a little dazed.

They hadn’t always been like this.

Before marriage, Zidong wasn’t the type to plan trips either.

The first time they went to Tamsui, he showed up in his work shirt and suit trousers, looking completely out of place among the crowd on the old street.

Yijia had laughed so hard she could barely stand straight.

“Are you here on a date or to visit a client?”

Zidong glanced at himself and answered seriously, “You only said we’d leave at nine. You didn’t say what to wear.”

“Who puts a dress code on a date?”

His ears turned red from her laughter, but he still silently accompanied her the whole day.

When Yijia wanted fish balls, he queued up.

When she suddenly wanted to take the ferry, he went to buy tickets.

When she spent nearly forty minutes picking out handmade accessories by the roadside, he never rushed her.

On the way back, she fell asleep on the MRT. When she woke up, she found herself leaning on his shoulder. The man had stayed frozen like a statue for half an hour without changing position.

Back then, she thought this man was incredibly adorable.

He didn’t know how to say much, yet he was willing to do anything with her.

Yijia looked at the ocean-view photos on the screen and suddenly wondered when “being with her” had turned into “whatever you want.”

“Yijia-jie, still not leaving?”

A voice pulled her back to reality.

Yijia quickly minimized the webpage.

Colleague Xiaomei stood beside her with her bag, glancing at the time. “It’s already seven. Isn’t Supervisor Chen working overtime too?”

“Yeah, he’s upstairs.”

Xiaomei chuckled. “You two are really something. One on the fourth floor, one on the sixth— even overtime is synchronized.”

Yijia smiled too.

“Yeah.”

“If I stuck to my husband like that all day, we’d probably divorce in three months.”

Xiaomei was just joking casually.

But Yijia suddenly didn’t respond.

Xiaomei noticed her expression and paused. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Yijia shut down her computer.

“It’s just… sometimes being too close doesn’t mean you’re truly close.”

Xiaomei gave her a puzzled look.

Yijia had already stood up and tossed her phone into her bag.

“Let’s go. Stop gossiping about me.”

She returned to her usual cheerful tone.

Xiaomei smiled and waved goodbye.

The office fell quiet again.

Yijia picked up her phone.

No messages.

After a moment’s hesitation, she sent one to Zidong anyway.

“How much longer?”

Less than a minute later, a reply came.

“About half an hour.”

Yijia stared at the line.

A few seconds passed.

“You should rest first.”

She suddenly felt like laughing.

Twenty years ago, she waited for him to finish experiments.

Twenty years later, she was still waiting for him to finish experiments.

Only back then, she called it companionship.

Now, she suddenly wasn’t sure.

---

In the sixth-floor lab, Chen Zidong removed his safety goggles and glanced at his phone.

He knew Yijia didn’t like waiting.

So every time she messaged him, he would instinctively speed up whatever he was doing.

“Supervisor, I can finish this data tomorrow,” Xiao Li said.

Zidong checked the time.

7:13.

“We’ll do the rest tomorrow.”

He shut down his computer.

Xiao Li looked surprised.

Chen Zidong was always the last to leave the lab.

“Supervisor, got a date tonight?”

Zidong paused.

“My wife is waiting.”

Xiao Li laughed. “Married almost twenty years and still this clingy—impressive.”

Zidong didn’t reply, just lowered his head to organize the papers on his desk.

If Yijia heard that, she’d probably find it ironic.

Everyone thought their relationship was great.

He used to think so too.

No third party. No financial problems. No mother-in-law conflicts.

Both had stable jobs, a house, a daughter.

They commuted together every day, ate dinner together, occasionally went grocery shopping on weekends.

After so many years of marriage, he barely had any nightlife.

Except for necessary business dinners, he never stayed out.

Wasn’t that enough to be a good husband?

But recently, he had started to doubt for the first time—

Maybe “not doing anything wrong” and “doing enough” were two completely different things.

---

In the underground parking lot, Yijia leaned against the car door, scrolling on her phone.

Zidong walked over from a distance.

“Waited long?”

“Twenty-something minutes.”

He frowned. “Didn’t I tell you to rest first?”

Yijia looked up at him.

“Chen Zidong.”

“Hm?”

“You’re really bad at chatting.”

Zidong stopped.

Yijia couldn’t help but smile, though it was a bit helpless.

“Forget it. Get in the car.”

Today it was Zidong’s turn to drive.

The rain was heavy; the wipers swung rhythmically.

Old songs Yijia liked played in the car.

After driving for a while, Zidong suddenly said, “Did you book the Okinawa tickets?”

Yijia turned to look at him.

Surprised.

“Not yet.”

“I checked. After I come back from Chongqing next month, I have four days off.”

Yijia froze for a moment.

“You looked?”

“Yeah.”

Zidong kept his eyes on the road ahead.

“Checked last night.”

Something in her heart was gently touched.

Yijia didn’t speak.

Zidong continued, “If we go for four days, running both north and south would be too rushed. We can stay in two places—first night in Naha, then Onna.”

Yijia looked at her husband’s profile.

His expression remained neutral.

Like he was reporting work.

“We can do the Churaumi Aquarium on the second day. Kouri Island isn’t far. You wanted to see the ocean, right? Don’t schedule too much on the third day.”

Yijia’s gaze softened.

“Didn’t you always say I could decide?”

Zidong was silent for a few seconds.

“You don’t like it when I say that, do you?”

That one sentence left Yijia stunned.

She hadn’t expected him to know.

“You knew?”

“I did.”

“Then why did you keep saying it?”

Zidong’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly.

“Because I really am fine with anything.”

Yijia almost laughed out of frustration.

“That’s exactly the problem!”

“What?”

“I’m asking where you want to go. It’s not an exam, and I’m not looking for a standard answer.”

Red light.

The car stopped.

Zidong finally turned his head.

Yijia looked at him.

“I’m asking—do you want to go with me?”

Zidong froze.

Rain kept hitting the windshield.

Car lights outside blurred into patches of light through the rain.

It was as if he was hearing this sentence for the first time and truly understanding it.

“Of course I do.”

Yijia’s nose suddenly stung.

She lowered her head, looking at her hands on her lap.

“Then why can’t you just say that?”

Zidong opened his mouth.

But for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.

Green light.

A car behind honked.

He stepped on the gas again.

After a long while, he said quietly,

“I thought you knew.”

Yijia closed her eyes.

That sentence again.

“I thought you knew.”

How many things in these twenty years had been buried under these five words?

“Zidong.”

“Hm.”

“No one can know everything.”

She gazed out the window.

“Even after living together for twenty years.”

Zidong didn’t speak.

But this time, he didn’t rush to explain himself.

---

By the time they got home, it was nearly eight.

Strangely, the living room was pitch dark.

Yijia turned on the light.

“Tingxuan?”

No answer.

Zidong glanced at the shoe cabinet.

Their daughter’s shoes weren’t there.

He immediately grabbed his phone.

“Didn’t she say there was a school event today?”

Yijia wasn’t too worried.

“Maybe she went to eat with classmates.”

“It’s already eight.”

“High schoolers staying out till eight is normal.”

Zidong dialed.

No answer.

He tried again.

Still no answer.

His expression darkened quickly.

“She didn’t say where she was going or who with yesterday.”

Yijia took off her coat. “Don’t treat everything like a major incident.”

“She should at least say something.”

“She’s fifteen, not five.”

“Fifteen means we need to know where she is even more.”

“So are you going to call the police now?”

Zidong suddenly looked at her.

Yijia was also taken aback.

The atmosphere that had just eased in the car felt like it had been abruptly cut.

“I didn’t say I was calling the police,” he said, lowering his voice.

“Your face says it all.”

“I’m just worried.”

“But your worry always comes out as control!”

Zidong’s expression froze.

Yijia regretted it the moment she said it.

But the words were already out.

The living room was so quiet only the ticking of the wall clock could be heard.

8:11.

8:12.

Zidong picked up his phone again.

This time, the call connected.

“Hello?”

Tingxuan’s side was noisy, filled with teenage laughter.

Zidong’s brows immediately furrowed.

“Where are you?”

“Eating.”

“Where?”

“Ximending.”

“With who?”

The other end was silent for a second.

“Classmates.”

“How many? Boys or girls?”

Tingxuan was clearly getting impatient.

“Dad, you’re so annoying!”

Zidong’s voice deepened. “Chen Tingxuan, I’m just asking—”

“They’re just classmates! I’ll be back around nine!”

The call was hung up.

Zidong stared at his phone.

His face darkened.

Yijia sighed.

“See?”

“See what?”

“You sound like you’re interrogating a criminal the moment you open your mouth.”

“She left without saying where, and didn’t answer her phone.”

“You could’ve asked if she was having fun first.”

Zidong looked at her, unable to understand.

“Right now I need to confirm safety.”

“But that’s not what she hears!”

Yijia’s voice rose too.

“She hears that you don’t trust her!”

Zidong fell silent.

Yijia suddenly felt this conversation was familiar.

She slowly stopped.

The two of them stood in the living room like that.

After a few seconds, she said softly,

“You treat her the same way you treat me.”

Zidong looked up.

“You care a lot.”

“But the moment you get nervous, all that’s left are rules, reminders, and risks.”

Yijia’s voice was no longer sharp.

Instead, it carried exhaustion.

“In the end, we all know you’re doing it for our own good. But the people you love always have to translate everything themselves.”

This sentence left Zidong silent for a long time.

---

9:47.

Tingxuan finally came home.

When the door opened, she was still laughing and talking on her phone.

The moment she looked up and saw her father sitting on the sofa, her smile vanished.

“What?”

Zidong looked at her.

The scolding he had prepared suddenly stuck in his throat.

Yijia sat at the dining table, not interfering.

Tingxuan took off her shoes.

“Didn’t I say I’d be back around nine?”

Zidong glanced at the clock on the wall.

9:47.

If it were his usual self, his first words would have been—

“This is what you call ‘around nine’?”

But he remembered what Yijia had said earlier.

The people he loved always had to translate everything themselves.

After a moment of silence,

he asked,

“Did you have fun today?”

Tingxuan looked visibly stunned.

She even doubted if she had heard correctly.

“…Huh?”

“Was the event fun?”

The girl’s guarded expression softened a little.

“It was… okay, I guess.”

“What did you eat?”

“Hot pot.”

“Did you drink?”

“Dad!”

Tingxuan immediately rolled her eyes.

Yijia couldn’t help but laugh.

Zidong himself realized he had gone too far again.

He coughed.

“As long as you didn’t.”

Tingxuan looked at her dad, then at her mom.

She felt something was off with them tonight.

Just as she was about to head to her room, Zidong spoke again.

“Tingxuan.”

The girl turned around.

“Next time you come home late, send a message.”

He paused.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to go out.”

Tingxuan didn’t speak.

“I’ll worry.”

This time, there was no command.

No scolding.

Just four simple words.

I’ll worry.

Tingxuan stood holding her backpack strap for a moment.

Finally, she replied softly,

“…Got it.”

Then ran to her room.

After the door closed, Yijia sat at the dining table watching her husband.

Zidong looked a little uncomfortable under her gaze.

“What?”

Yijia raised an eyebrow.

“Supervisor Chen improves pretty fast.”

He ignored her and got up to pour water.

Yijia chuckled softly behind him.

It was the first time she had truly laughed in days.

---

After showering, they lay in bed.

Yijia still had her back to him.

Only the bedside lamp remained on.

Zidong lay awake for a long time.

He was thinking about something.

Longer than he thought about experiment data.

Finally, he reached out.

This time, he didn’t stop halfway.

His hand covered the back of Yijia’s hand.

Yijia’s body tensed slightly.

But she didn’t pull away.

After a while, Zidong said quietly,

“Okinawa… I want to go.”

Yijia didn’t turn around.

“Mm.”

“With you.”

Her eyes suddenly turned red.

This man probably never knew how long she had waited for such an ordinary sentence.

Yijia turned over.

The two faced each other in the dim light.

Zidong’s expression was even a little awkward.

A forty-five-year-old man who led a team of over ten people and could make decisions without hesitation on multimillion-dollar R&D projects was now nervous over the words “go with you,” like he was twenty years ago on their first date.

Yijia looked at him and suddenly asked,

“Do you think I’ve been difficult lately?”

Zidong thought seriously for a moment.

Yijia’s face immediately fell.

“You actually thought about it?”

“No.”

He frowned.

“I was thinking how to answer so you wouldn’t get angry.”

Yijia burst out laughing.

“Chen Zidong, you’re hopeless.”

Zidong smiled faintly too.

It was shallow.

But long-awaited.

Yijia looked at him.

In that moment, she saw again the young engineer from twenty years ago who didn’t know how to talk and whose ears turned red whenever she teased him.

She had liked him so much back then.

The thought made her chest ache slightly.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love him anymore.

Maybe it was precisely because she still loved him that there was so much disappointment.

Zidong held her hand.

“Yijia.”

“Hm?”

“If there’s anything about me…”

He paused for a long time.

“That you don’t like, just tell me directly.”

Yijia looked at him.

“I’ve said it many times.”

Zidong’s expression stiffened slightly.

But she didn’t pull her hand away.

“It’s just that you never understood before.”

After a moment of silence,

Zidong nodded.

“Then say it again.”

Yijia’s heart softened a little.

She smiled.

“It’s tiring.”

“Mm.”

“I’ve been saying it for twenty years.”

“Then say it for another twenty.”

Yijia froze.

The man’s tone was as calm as stating the most ordinary fact.

No sweet words.

No romantic confession.

Even his gaze at her was still a little clumsy.

Yet it was exactly this sentence that nearly brought her to tears.

She was silent for a long time.

Finally, she just buried her head a little deeper into the pillow.

“Let’s sleep.”

Zidong didn’t press further.

But his hand still held hers.

That night, the distance between them seemed to shrink a little.

Just a little.

But it was real.

----------------

Around midnight.

Yijia was already asleep.

Zidong’s eyes remained open.

The phone on the nightstand lit up.

It was a company email.

“Chongqing Project Itinerary Confirmed—Expected 7-Day Business Trip.”

He opened the email.

At the bottom of the itinerary was a note.

Due to a last-minute adjustment by the partner, some R&D and procurement personnel may need to travel together. The list will be confirmed next week.

Zidong glanced at his sleeping wife.

He didn’t wake her.

He put the phone back on the nightstand.

The rain outside had stopped at some point.

Twenty years of marriage wouldn’t suddenly return to the beginning because of one conversation.

Some words had been said.

Some words still hadn’t.

Some tacit understandings they thought they had long understood had never truly been completed.

And no one knew that the business trip originally planned for only seven days would be the first time they truly left the familiar track of their lives.

And would slowly bring to the surface a problem that had been ignored for many years...

If one day, someone else understands the words you never said before your partner does,

Is that considered betrayal?

《End of Chapter 3》

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