The next morning, Ding asks to be excused from class so that he can take care of some personal matters. The teacher tells him that he is not a tyrant and that he should take leave whenever he needs it. Ding asks if he can ask his second uncle for approval of his plan, but the teacher says that he does not know when they will meet again. He tells Ding that he will assign him homework and send him photos, and they can go through the photos via video call. Ding says that if he is still not getting married, he really doesn't know if they will ever meet again because he has not seen his mother in a long time. He wonders who the groom is, and wonders why he is marrying an older man. He says that she knows that things give a sense of security, and that some things are more ephemeral than others