The man had lost his job. He didn't tell the woman, but still went out and came home on time every day, fabricating small stories to deceive her. He said the new boss was very capable, and the new female college student was quite pretty... The woman pinched his ears and laughed, saying: "You'd better be careful." As he was about to leave, the woman pulled him back and helped him straighten his shirt collar.
The man, with his briefcase in hand, squeezed onto a bus, got off after three stops, and sat down on a bench in the park, looking at the flock of pigeons on the square with a worried expression...
In the evening, the man returned home with a smile. He knocked on the door and shouted loudly: "I'm back!" The man kept this up for five days. Five days later, he found a short-term job at a small cement factory. The environment there was terrible, and the flying dust made his throat always dry. The labor intensity was high, and when working, he was drenched in sweat. The team leader said: "You'd better quit, your physique can't handle it." The man said firmly: "I can do it." He gritted his teeth, his legs trembling slightly. The man was covered all over with thick dust, like a tired clay sculpture in motion. After work, the man took a quick shower at the factory, changed into his neatly pressed suit, and went home light-heartedly.
He knocked on the door and shouted loudly: "I'm back!" The woman rushed to open the door. The smell of scallions filled the room, putting the man's mind at ease. At the dinner table, the woman asked if his work was going well. He replied: "Yes, the new female college student is very pure." The woman playfully scolded him but still placed a chopstick of black fungus on his plate. She asked: "The water is hot, would you like to take a bath?" The man replied: "I've already taken one, with my colleagues after a sauna." The woman hummed a song lightly and began to clear the dishes. The man thought: "Close call, almost got caught." The exhausted man hurriedly washed his face and brushed his teeth, then fell asleep immediately.
The man worked at that cement factory for more than twenty days. It was nearing the end of the month, and he wasn't sure if the meager salary could fool the woman. That night after dinner, the woman suddenly said: "Don't work at that company anymore. I know another company is hiring, I've already inquired, all the requirements match you, go try tomorrow!" The man was ecstatic but asked: "Why should I change?"
The woman said: "Isn't changing the environment a good thing? Besides, the pay is quite nice here."
So the next day, the man went for the interview and was successfully hired. That day, the man cooked a lot of dishes and drank a lot of alcohol. He knew that all this couldn't escape the woman's notice, perhaps from the day he started working at the cement factory, or even from the day he lost his job, the woman already knew the truth.
Was it his evasive eyes that betrayed him? Was it his weary body that betrayed him? Did the woman see him get on a bus heading in the opposite direction from the window? Or was his attempt to appear relaxed too clumsy and exaggerated? He could fabricate stories to deceive his woman, but he couldn't make the meticulous woman believe them.
Actually, when someone deeply loves the other, what secrets can truly be hidden? Over these past twenty days, there was always a dish of scrambled eggs with black fungus on the dinner table. The woman knew that black fungus could cleanse the lungs, and the man surrounded by flying dust needed a dish of scrambled eggs with black fungus. Sometimes, the woman would force him to eat two spoonfuls of pear syrup, which the man realized was also carefully planned by her. And these days, the woman no longer insisted on him accompanying her to watch TV dramas because he was so exhausted.
Now the man fully believed that the woman had long known his secret. She quietly did things for him without ever revealing it. The sudden unemployment of a once successful man, reducing him to nothing, was a secret, both his and hers. She had to bite her lip and keep it tightly sealed. She couldn't let anyone know, including the man who created the secret. Standing on the balcony looking at the city's night view, a tear finally fell from the man's eyes.
In marital life, there is a kind of moving called mutual affection, a kind of moving called sharing weal and woe. In fact, there is also a kind of moving called keeping silent.