“Gassed out already? Looks like you haven’t practiced much in college.” Li Genan, his hair tightly permed, came over and sat down.

“When would I have time? It’s not like I made the university team.”

Chen Yuan twisted the cap back on his bottle. The hoop above his head swayed, and he clapped, cheering for the basket.

“You can still play for fun even if you’re not on the team. You looked pretty rusty just now. Even dribbling seemed like a struggle for you.”

“It’s not as bad as you make it sound…” Chen Yuan shot his best friend from high school a sideways glance. “But yeah, I haven’t been playing much.”

‘It was true,’ he thought. After starting college, he’d had time to play League of Legends with Wei Zhen and the guys at first. But after he started dating Jiangg, he’d completely lost the desire to party up for games. The sweet bliss of his relationship with Jiangg had become the main focus of his life.

“You’re in a relationship?” Li Genan grinned.

“How did you know?” Chen Yuan flinched.

“I saw you glued to your phone, texting someone back. You never used to be like that when you were playing ball. Tsk tsk tsk.”

“Yeah, I am,” Chen Yuan said, suppressing a smile that threatened to spread across his face. He took a sip of water to hide it. “For over half a year now.”

“That long, and you didn’t even tell your bro? What kind of friend are you…”

“I was afraid you’d die of envy. My girlfriend is gorgeous.”

“For real? Got a picture? Let me see what my ‘sister-in-law’ looks like.”

“Call me ‘Dad’ and I’ll show you.”

“? You asking for a beating?!”

The two young men, in the prime of their youth, started wrestling. Chen Yuan went for a chokehold, but Li Genan fought dirty. The moment he was in the hold, he reached back and went for a low blow!

Chen Yuan had no choice but to scramble away.

They roughhoused for a while, knocking over the water bottles on the side.

This was how all the patches of ice had formed on the court.

“You got my damn pants dirty.” Being with his best friend, Chen Yuan didn’t hold back, casually letting a crude remark slip out. He pointed at his pant leg. “Now get over here and lick them clean for me.”

“Alright, I’ll lick ’em.”

Li Genan gave him a suggestive look and made a move to lift his leg.

“You’re something else,” Chen Yuan said, quickly kicking him away.

“HAHAHAHA…”

After a while, the court finally quieted down. The group of guys sat on the stage that the school used for assemblies back in high school.

Li Genan pulled out a lighter, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag. He then nudged the pack toward Chen Yuan.

“What are you doing? I don’t smoke.”

“I know you don’t.”

“It stinks. Get away from me.”

“You’re lucky I’m not charging you for the secondhand smoke, and you’re complaining?”

Chen Yuan ignored Li Genan’s nonsense and pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening his chat with Jiangg Ning.

Ningning had just replied. She said she was swamped, so busy she didn’t even have time for a sip of water.

She was a bridesmaid today and had a ton to do. She’d been up since six in the morning helping the bride get ready.

“Remember to eat a proper lunch.”

Chen Yuan typed out the words and sent them. A wave of melancholy washed over him. ‘The age gap really does make our lives so different.’

‘All his friends were still college students.’

‘But in the short time Jiangg Ning had been back in Mingzhu City, she had already attended two weddings.’

Chen Yuan remembered the time he went to pick up a drunk Ningning. Her friends were the mature type, too. ‘They probably have families of their own.’

By the time he graduated from college, Ningning would already be twenty-nine and a half.

“What are you spacing out for? Chatting with your girlfriend?”

The sudden voice snapped Chen Yuan out of his daze. He quickly tucked his phone away as Li Genan watched him with a mischievous grin.

“What’s up? You don’t seem too happy today. You keep zoning out.”

“I do?” Chen Yuan replied.

“Honestly, it’s so obvious I couldn’t miss it if I tried.”

“Well… I was actually wondering what life is like for two people after they get married.”

“You’ve really fallen hard, Yuan. Already thinking about marriage. Marriage isn’t all that great, you know? It’s just two people living together, dealing with the daily grind.”

“Then how is that different from just living together?”

Chen Yuan thought about it. When he was staying with Jiangg Yao, there had also been daily chores, and it hadn’t felt like anything special.

“There’s a difference. Marriage means taking on the responsibilities of a husband. Or, to put it another way, having the ability to support a family.”

You had to hand it to him, Li Genan had really hit the nail on the head.

He exhaled a cloud of smoke and patted Chen Yuan’s shoulder. “Hey, you know how there are so many people who get divorced in less than a year? Doesn’t matter if it’s the guy or the girl, they aren’t ready to take on the responsibility. They still have that dating mindset, and that’s why they split up so fast.”

“How are you such an expert?”

“I haven’t even told you, my older brother got married last year and divorced this year. He’s a total screw-up, and his wife complained every day that he was immature and irresponsible.”

“So… being mature is a prerequisite for marriage?”

“Pretty much. But that’s not so easy. A guy like me could be out in the real world for who knows how many years before I become a ‘mature man’.”

Chen Yuan mulled over his best friend’s words. Even though Li Genan was usually a goofball, what he’d said today really gave Chen Yuan a lot to think about.

‘He desperately wanted a future with Jiangg Ning.’

‘Jiangg was twenty-six now. She said they could talk about marriage after he graduated, but by then, she’d be pushing thirty.’

‘Even though she never said it, Chen Yuan knew his girlfriend had her own concerns.’

‘The longer they dated, the more unfair it was to Jiangg. Chen Yuan was young; he had plenty of time to spare. Even if they broke up after he graduated, he wouldn’t have any baggage. He could find any kind of girlfriend he wanted without any pressure.’

‘But a thirty-year-old Jiangg would have lost the best years of her youth, having given them all to him.’

‘In the end, all she would have left were painful memories and the reality of getting older.’

‘In other words, Jiangg Ning was carrying a certain weight as she dated him.’

…

“CLACK—”

“I took your horse!” Mr. Chen said triumphantly, picking up the wooden chess piece and tossing it aside. With his other hand, he lifted his cup of hot tea.

Chen Yuan froze for a second.

‘The phrase sounded a bit like a curse, but it was coming from his own dad…’

Chen Yuan shook his head and refocused his attention on the chessboard.

“Move elephant.”

“Advance soldier.”

“…”

Mr. Chen held up a hand, signaling that he needed to think. He crossed his arms, rubbing a finger against the stiff stubble on his chin.

Chen Yuan clutched two captured pieces in his hand, squeezing them tightly as he watched his pensive father.

The seconds ticked by, but his dad didn’t make a move.

This was a rare, idle afternoon. Because Mrs. Chen had gone out shopping for clothes with her group of friends, Mr. Chen, for once, didn’t flee the house and was just lounging around at home.

He was utterly bored, so he’d grabbed Chen Yuan, who was playing games in his room, to play a game of chess.

It was the very picture of a loving father and a dutiful son.

“Dad?”

“Hang on, I’m thinking.”

“Alright…” Chen Yuan continued to wait, resting his chin on his hand. After a moment, he couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Dad, what do you think… makes a man ‘mature’?”

“Good question!” Mr. Chen finally reached out and moved a piece, his eyes still fixed on the board as he answered casually. “When you start asking that question, it means you’re not far from maturity.”

“Huh?”

“Because immature people often think they’re very mature. They would never ask a question like that.”

“So when did you know if you were mature or not, Dad?”

“It was probably when your mom praised me for ‘finally acting like a man’,” Mr. Chen said, scratching his head. “She never said that in the first few years we were married.”

“What did you do to earn that kind of approval from her?”

“Actually, she said it a few times. Let me think… The first time was when I seized the opportunity to take a teaching job in the county seat, moving from the countryside. My salary more than doubled, and she said it on that payday. Then, when she had surgery, I stayed with her at the hospital and took care of her, and she said it then. And the time I remember most clearly, I took you on a trip when you were little. We were at West Lake in Hangzhou, and the restaurant was packed. Someone cut in line, and I cussed them out and fought with everything I had to grab one of the last few meals.”

“Are the requirements really that strict?!”

After hearing his dad’s words, Chen Yuan’s brow furrowed immediately.

‘Of those three conditions for maturity, he couldn’t meet a single one.’

‘Forget the last two—the tenderness during sickness and taking a kid on a trip—the first one alone was hard enough to achieve.’

‘Is having a salary a necessary condition for maturity? No, that’s not right. It must be the ability to earn money.’

‘This lined up perfectly with what Li Genan had said that morning: the prerequisite for marriage is to not be a slacker. Having a basic ability to support yourself financially is the first requirement.’

‘But I’m just a student…’

Chen Yuan thought to himself.

‘It was true. If he wanted to get married right after graduation, how could he possibly support a warm and loving home without an income?’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep