We were in the same grade but different departments. He was a sports star, let's call him Brother Yuan. We would occasionally greet each other and chat when we met at school, and we had meals and watched movies together. Some people speculated that there might be some progress between us. Brother Yuan was tall and handsome, and I was not bad looking, but strangely, we were just friends. Maybe neither of us was each other's cup of tea.

After knowing each other for over half a year, at a university social event, he met Xiao Jing, the flower of the accounting department from a neighboring school. He fell head over heels in love with her, pursued her relentlessly, defeated numerous rivals, and finally won her over. There were fewer girls in our department, and there were vacant beds in the girls' dormitory. Sometimes, after they had a date at our school, Xiao Jing wouldn't return to her school, so Brother Yuan arranged for her to stay in our dormitory (at that time, there were rarely any cohabiting university students). Xiao Jing had delicate eyebrows, big eyes, her hair draped over her shoulders, true to her name, gentle and quiet. She was the kind of girl that everyone would like, and after staying in our dormitory a few times, we became good friends.

The two of them loved each other passionately. Every time they parted, it felt like a life-and-death separation. I remember one winter break when Xiao Jing's train left first, Brother Yuan went to the station to see her off. They couldn't help but cry on the platform, and after she got on the train, Xiao Jing rushed to the window. In front of many classmates returning home, she reached out from the window to hold Brother Yuan's hand. The two of them held hands, tears in their eyes, speechless, not knowing how many people they disgusted. After the train started moving, Brother Yuan ran after the train for a long distance until he was stopped by railway security who couldn't bear to watch, and then he stopped his show of infatuation.

One thing left a deep impression on me. I remember it was in March when the school held a sports day. During that period, Yuan was very busy, so Xiao Jing went to the shoe city with her roommate to buy shoes. On the bus to the shoe city, both of their money was stolen by a thief without them noticing. When they arrived and started shopping, they realized they had no money in their pockets to pay for anything. The thief was really mean, not leaving them a single cent, so they didn't even have money for the bus fare or to make a phone call.

The shoe city was on the outskirts of the city, nearly twenty kilometers away from their school. The two girls looked at each other, feeling desperate. Communication was difficult at that time, with no mobile phones or pagers. They were too embarrassed to take an unauthorized taxi, so they had no choice but to walk back on foot, even though they were wearing high heels. By the time they realized they had no money, it was already past three o'clock in the afternoon. They started walking back but soon their feet began to hurt too much. They had to take breaks frequently, and by nightfall, they had only covered less than half of the distance.

To make matters worse, they got lost while walking. They took the wrong turn at a corner and walked a long way before realizing their mistake. After asking for directions, they found out they had been going in the wrong direction. Tired and hungry, they felt extremely frustrated and cried for a while before continuing their journey back.

Meanwhile, Yuan went to Xiao Jing's school after finishing his work. They had planned to have dinner together, but Yuan waited and waited until late at night, and Xiao Jing never showed up. He asked people in their dormitory and found out that Xiao Jing and her roommate had gone to the shoe city in the early afternoon. Yuan became increasingly anxious as time passed, and when Xiao Jing still hadn't returned by half-past nine, he couldn't sit still any longer. He was convinced that something must have happened to Xiao Jing and asked her dormitory mates and classmates at the school to help search for her. Despite some classmates thinking nothing serious could have happened, they split into groups and went out to look for her. Yuan decided to conduct a thorough search from the school to the shoe city. As he searched the streets, his fear grew, prompting him to call their dormitory and his own dormitory for help, as their residents had seen Xiao Jing and knew her.

Heard him said it was quite serious. I and the third and fourth roommates in our dormitory rode our bikes to join the search. However, the provincial capital is so big, and it was nighttime. It's not easy to find two people in such a large place, especially because we are girls. The task assigned to us by Yuan was to patrol the streets near Xiao Jing's school. We rode back and forth on these streets several times, chasing after any girl with long hair we saw, but we couldn't find anyone. It was already 11 o'clock, and we didn't dare stay on the main street for long, so we returned to the school. After returning to the dorm, we called Yuan's dormitory, only to find out that Yuan hadn't come back. We speculated that Xiao Jing must have really encountered something. After guessing for a while, we fell asleep. The next morning, Yuan called our dormitory, and we found out that at around 11 p.m. the night before, Yuan had found Xiao Jing and her roommate. We felt relieved and went to class. On the weekend, Xiao Jing came to play, stayed overnight in our dormitory, and told us about what happened that day. We finally learned the whole story. Xiao Jing, with tears streaming down her face, recounted the events of that night: Yuan rode his bike while crying and shouting her name. His throat was hoarse from shouting so much. Xiao Jing and her roommate were exhausted by the time they heard someone hoarsely calling her name. At first, Xiao Jing thought it was her imagination, but as the voice got closer and she heard the sobbing, she believed that someone was really calling her. She quickly responded, and Yuan, following the sound, saw their disheveled appearance. He immediately jumped off his bike, threw it aside, and ran towards her like crazy, hugging her tightly without letting go for a long time.

Yuan and I are a year older than Xiao Jing. After graduation, we both tried to stay in the provincial capital. At that time, it wasn't too difficult for university graduates to find work. Yuan got help from his family and smoothly entered the provincial government's administrative agency, while I joined a state-owned enterprise. That year, they both met each other's parents. Both families were satisfied with each other, and they were considering marriage after Xiao Jing graduated. Xiao Jing, majoring in finance and accounting, was helped by Yuan to secure a position in a state-owned enterprise for her final semester. At this time, they started living together and rented a small house in a suburban village. I visited their cohabitation home, where Xiao Jing had already learned to cook several dishes. I remember that day she made shredded pork noodles for us, and it tasted good.

After Xiao Jing started working, the topic of their marriage was put on the agenda. At that time, there were housing benefits, and the wealth gap in our generation was not so pronounced. As most of us were fresh graduates without houses or cars (but after working for a few years, the company would allocate a small house to you), most marriages were basically simple without buying a house and dealing with renovations. Xiao Jing's family consulted a fortune-teller and scheduled the wedding for the end of the year in the Gregorian calendar. However, in September of that year, a major incident occurred in Yuan's family. His brother-in-law, who was a deputy director of a bureau in Yuan's hometown, offended his superior, was falsely accused, and arrested. Yuan and his sister went everywhere to seek help, spent a lot of money, and finally managed to get him a light sentence of probation. However, this incident also depleted Yuan's family's savings. Yuan's family didn't want to inconvenience Xiao Jing's family, so they discussed postponing the wedding until the situation improved a bit before celebrating it.

Xiao Jing had no objections and understood the difficulties of Yuan's family. Every girl wants to have a decent wedding, so the matter of marriage was temporarily put on hold. To show their apologies, during the Spring Festival that year, Yuan's parents personally went to Xiao Jing's home to pay respects to the parents, which deeply moved Xiao Jing. After the New Year, Yuan's unit had a big task and didn't have enough manpower. The leaders informed the city and borrowed dozens of people from the lower-level units to help. Among them was a girl named Xiao Qian. After meeting Yuan, she completely changed Xiao Jing's destiny.

Xiao Qian is a bright and cheerful girl. She went to help at the unit where Yuan worked and happened to be placed in the same group as him. Yuan is a smart and capable person who is polite and courteous, and with his handsome appearance, Xiao Qian quickly fell for him. Instead of privately expressing her love, the girl first arranged for her parents to meet Yuan. After her parents were satisfied with Yuan, she directly asked a leader at Yuan's unit to act as a matchmaker.

The leader did not delay and personally arranged a meal for Yuan on a Sunday. When Yuan saw that it was Xiao Qian's family, he was very surprised but couldn't say anything. During the meal, the leader hinted at something, and Yuan understood everything. However, he couldn't say "No, I have a girlfriend" in front of the unit leader, so he planned to talk to Xiao Qian privately after the meal. After the meal, Xiao Qian didn't say much to Yuan but went back with her parents, which surprised Yuan. The next day at work, Yuan couldn't say anything. At lunchtime, he specifically invited Xiao Qian to eat and told her that he already had a girlfriend.

Xiao Qian was not surprised and said, "I am not surprised at all. A boy like you would be strange if no girl liked you. Since you are not married yet, I felt I had a chance. Don't worry, if you choose her, I can completely understand. If we can't be lovers, we can be friends." According to Yuan, his response at the time was, "Thank you for understanding."

The next two weeks were calm. Xiao Qian continued to work diligently as usual, occasionally joking with Yuan, as if nothing had happened. However, one day, a leader at Yuan's unit called him and after discussing work matters, casually mentioned, "So you and Xiao Qian didn't work out? It's a pity, she is a very nice girl. And you know what? Her uncle is the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of ** City, and he will be transferred back to the province next year." This information caused a stir in Yuan's heart, and from then on, Yuan had trouble sleeping at night.

Sensing that Yuan had something on his mind, Xiao Jing asked him what was going on. Yuan didn't hide anything and told Xiao Jing about Xiao Qian. Xiao Jing felt uneasy after hearing this and asked Yuan about his plans. Yuan's response was still, "Don't worry, I won't disappoint you."

In theory, this answer should have satisfied Xiao Jing, but she felt increasingly forced because Yuan had visibly lost weight and was speaking to her less. Unable to bear it, one morning, Xiao Jing took leave from work and went to Yuan's unit to find him. She saw the rumored Xiao Qian, who was even more beautiful than she had imagined, confident and graceful. Xiao Qian greeted her and even offered her a glass of water, which made Xiao Jing feel uncomfortable.

Yuan was in a bit of a dilemma, knowing why Xiao Jing had come. After a few words with Xiao Jing, he made an excuse to leave soon after. As they went downstairs, Xiao Jing asked Yuan, "How long will she be at your unit?" Yuan replied, "Probably two or three months."

Feeling a sense of crisis, Xiao Jing was very worried about the situation, and her work suffered as a result. She made mistakes in calculations twice in a row, but fortunately, her colleague, the elder sister responsible for reviewing, was attentive, and Xiao Jing didn't make any major mistakes. The elder sister asked her what was on her mind, and Xiao Jing told her about the situation. The elder sister advised her to take action first, suggesting that she and Yuan obtain a marriage certificate first, have the wedding later, which would prevent Xiao Qian from having a chance.

Thinking it was a good idea, Xiao Jing discussed the idea of obtaining a marriage certificate with Yuan when she got home. At the time, marriage certificates required a certificate from the unit, so Yuan said, "If I go to get the certificate, everyone in the unit will know, and we will have to have a wedding immediately. Colleagues will want to celebrate, you know. With the money we have now, we can't even afford a set of furniture. It will be so embarrassing. Let's wait a bit longer."

Yuan makes sense. Xiao Jing also cares about her reputation, but at this point, she has no choice but to put aside her pride. That's why she insists on her opinion, saying, "If it comes to it, we'll just skip the wedding. We can just hand out some candies to our colleagues. There are practical issues at home, so let's not be so vain anymore." Seeing her say this, Yuan couldn't push any further. He promised to go to the office to handle things in a couple of days.

Xiao Jing quickly got the certificate at the office, but a week passed, and Yuan's certificate still hadn't arrived. Xiao Jing urged him, and Yuan hesitated, saying, "Could we wait until Xiao Qian leaves before I get this certificate? I'm afraid getting married at this time might upset Xiao Qian. Her family is close to our leaders, and it might affect my career." The career of a man, the love life of a woman – how much unspoken sadness lies in between? Tears welled up in Xiao Jing's eyes, unable to express her heartbreak and anger in words.

As a young woman, she already had her certificate, but he was unwilling to get his, delaying the marriage. How was she supposed to face those colleagues who already knew? She was so beautiful, always like a princess, admired wherever she went. Yet, for this man, she had to humble herself, but he remained unmoved. Is it because she had given him everything, or because she didn't have the influence of another woman's family?

All the past memories came flooding back – how Yuan had been so humble and eager to please her to win her over. The tender moments of these years felt like yesterday to her, while to Yuan, they might have faded like a dream. Seeing Xiao Jing cry so heartbreakingly, Yuan realized he had gone too far. But he thought Xiao Jing's reckless behavior was irrational. So he spoke up, saying, "Xiao Jing, this is not the time for being reckless like when we were in school. Please wait a bit longer, maybe two or three more months. Once she's gone, I'll immediately get the certificate."