“Many years later, Lin Fu would still remember the instant the boat reached shore. It was as if a switch had been flipped. With a soft thud, the briny smell of the sea, the harsh cries of seabirds, and the low, scattered houses before her all unfolded at once.”
“That was Nanyu Island. It had a language she couldn't understand, an unbearable heat and humidity, delicious food she never tasted anywhere else, and a person she missed on countless nights, yet never saw again.”
_
“Cut! Great, this take is full of emotion!”
Lin Fu let out a long breath, took her phone from her assistant and glanced at it, then smiled and looked toward the edge of the set. There stood a tall, slender figure, holding an insulated food bag. He looked as fresh and crisp among the crowd as the breeze on Nanyu Island.
She ran over excitedly. The man reached out with his free hand and patted her head, the corners of his mouth curving into a faint smile. “Can you take a break now?”
“Yeah! Have you been waiting long?”
“No, I just got here.” Shen Zaisi lifted the food in his hand, stopping her from trying to rummage through it. “You can eat once we're in the car.”
Tonight's dinner was lettuce hearts with sesame sauce, braised beef short ribs, and a small jar of bitter melon soup with lean pork and dried scallops. Lin Fu eagerly opened the lunch boxes. The air conditioning in the camper van was cranked up, so Shen Zaisi picked up the shawl from the back of a chair and draped it over her shoulders.
“Did you film a crying scene today?” He noticed that her eyes were a little red.
“Mmm. There was a scene where my character looks back on her life just before dying. When I thought about how I never got to see ‘Professor Shen’ again, I started crying without needing to prepare.” Lin Fu spoke around a mouthful as she ate. “Good thing you said you were coming to bring me dinner after we finished filming, or I wouldn't have been able to come out of character.”
“Silly.” Shen Zaisi sighed and wiped the corner of her mouth with a tissue. “After all this time as an actor, how can you still not tell acting from real life?”
“Because the story is based on us. If I can't be with you, can't you at least let me cry about it?” Lin Fu pouted and glared at him.
“Do I need to remind you? We've been married for two years, darling.” Shen Zaisi's fingers shifted on the table, the ring on his left hand glinting faintly.
Lin Fu's eyes curved into a smile. “I know! So, Professor Shen, how long are you planning to stay with your wife this time?”
Shen Zaisi looked at her. She was still wearing her old-age makeup, yet she smiled like a radiant young girl. The contrast was jarring, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.
So he didn't mention how, just to see her sooner, he had stayed up all night finishing revisions to his students' papers, then hurried onto the earliest flight to Shenshi on the first day of summer vacation. Nor did he mention how, after dropping off his luggage, he had gone straight to the market to pick out fresh ingredients, cooked dinner to her taste in the apartment kitchen, and timed his arrival just right to bring it to her.
“All summer. Happy now?” He only smiled, rewarded by the light that appeared in her eyes.
Theme: Love and good food are both too precious to pass up.
