Having her by his side, Zhang Jiren felt a bone-deep satisfaction and a sense that everything was right in the world. But a part of him kept reminding himself that it would soon be lost, as Li Meili would eventually leave him and wouldn't want him by her side anymore.
Zhang Jiren opened his eyes and watched his wife sleeping in his arms. He could imagine them like this in ten, twenty— or fifty years from now, but he really only had another year and a half with her before she brought up the divorce papers. Until then, he decided to fill his responsibility as a good husband and father to her child.
Was this love? He wondered. Was this instinctive need to protect her and to care for her considered as love? The feeling of peace and contentment as he found himself smiling at her— was this love?
