Before going to bed, Huo Zihong came to find Mu Dai.

Mu Dai now lived with Yan Hongsha, with a small bed added to the room. When Yan Hongsha first moved in, she felt it was extremely desolate and said: “Mu Dai, your bed is so big you could run horses on it, while I sleep on such a small one – I’m like a servant girl keeping you company.”

Mu Dai was very fair and generous: “Then let’s play rock-paper-scissors.”

From then on, the two played rock-paper-scissors every night, gleefully switching beds with their bedding. As Uncle Zhang put it, it was like emperors taking turns sleeping on the dragon bed – the room continuously experienced dynastic changes and struggles of restoration and counter-restoration.

When the door was pushed open, a dynastic change had just ended. Mu Dai had ascended to power and was kneeling on the big bed pulling the sheets.

Huo Zihong sat on the bed and got straight to the point: “Little Luo came to propose today. I didn’t respond to him.”

Mu Dai had already learned the news from Yan Hongsha. She kept smiling with pursed lips, finally saying: “Hong Yi, we can be appropriately reserved, but let’s not scare Luo Ren away.”

Between the lines, she was clearly taking his side.

Huo Zihong asked her: “Do you want to get married?”

Mu Dai nodded.

Huo Zihong sighed: “What’s the use of raising a daughter?”

“In earlier times, some places had the custom of ‘crying at marriage.’ When getting married, the more fiercely the daughter cried and the more tears she shed, the more sensible and filial she was considered. Look at you – not only are you not reluctant to leave, you’re smiling like this. These twenty-plus years of rice have all been wasted.”

Yan Hongsha suddenly interjected from the side: “That’s right, all wasted.”

Mu Dai glared at her: “What’s it got to do with you again?”

Yan Hongsha spoke slowly: “Hong Yi, forget about Mu Dai. Let me be filial to you instead. I’m not like her – I’m very attached to home and won’t run off with some handsome guy.”

Huo Zihong had always quite liked Hongsha. She felt this suggestion was good – one leaves, another comes. It was a deal that wouldn’t lose money.

“I also want to keep someone by my side. Mu Dai’s performance is poor, so I don’t want her anymore. Anyway, forced melons aren’t sweet, and you can’t keep someone who’s determined to leave. Hongsha will be the little proprietress of this shop from now on. But I have one condition.”

“What condition?”

“Don’t be like Mu Dai, running off whenever you please. You can’t marry out. If you fancy someone, bring him in as a live-in son-in-law. Can you do that?”

Yan Hongsha said: “Isn’t that a small matter?”

Huo Zihong said: “You’re agreeing just like that? Then fine, there’s a successor. I don’t care about Mu Dai anymore. Come, call Little Luo. I’ll give instructions on the follow-up work and state my position.”

This phone call was quite important. The phone was on speaker at maximum volume, with Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua both called over as witnesses.

Huo Zihong’s meaning was that she could agree to the proposal, but with one condition: engagement first, and when they would marry would be up to her.

“Mu Dai isn’t that old, so there’s no rush to get married. I’m thinking of her. This is exactly the time to gain experience and see the world. I don’t want to see her spending next year revolving around baby formula and diapers – in my heart, she’s still a child herself.”

Luo Ren agreed readily.

He himself wanted more time to spend with Mu Dai. This past year or so, running around from place to place through strange and dangerous situations, as Mu Dai put it, the two of them hadn’t even watched a movie together.

He really wanted to make up for this ordinary romantic courtship.

However, regarding exactly when would be the right time for marriage, he asked Huo Zihong to give some hint: they couldn’t wait indefinitely, after all.

Huo Zihong glanced at Yan Hongsha with serene composure: “Let’s wait until our Hongsha has a steady boyfriend.”

What?

While others were either silent, digesting, or shocked, Yan Hongsha and Yi Wansan almost simultaneously started shouting.

“What’s it got to do with me?”

This was Yan Hongsha.

“Second Fire has a boyfriend? What lifetime would that be?”

This was Yi Wansan.

Huo Zihong calmly straightened her clothes and unhurriedly left the room, leaving behind a tumultuous mess. Yan Hongsha had already turned her fire on Yi Wansan: “You explain to me clearly – what do you mean by ‘what lifetime’…”

Young people were still too inexperienced and didn’t understand the older generation’s capabilities. This move was like killing three birds with one stone, playing two games at once – the situation was developing in the direction she wanted.

She was satisfied with Little Luo but was reluctant to have Mu Dai marry so quickly. She hoped to delay things as long as possible, but feared that delays might bring complications, so she opted for “engagement” first.

In this courtyard, one flower blooming alone wasn’t spring – a hundred flowers blooming together was lively. What was the point of just Mu Dai and Little Luo being in love? The others should also become active. She’d start with Hongsha – a good girl deserved to be loved. If Little Luo wanted to marry Mu Dai soon, he would naturally care about Hongsha and help her find someone carefully.

Mu Dai and Luo Ren didn’t seem very interested in the bar. Hongsha had readily agreed not to marry out and would find a “live-in son-in-law.” This was perfect – the bar would have reliable people to take over operations, and she would essentially be establishing relatives for Mu Dai. The little girl had been “picked up” from an orphanage and had been so lonely in earlier years. But from now on, she would ensure she wasn’t lonely, with warmth and liveliness always around her.

The next morning, Brother Mao got up to clean the backyard and saw Shen Gun squatting by the door doing handicrafts, taking an awl and punching several more holes in his belt.

Pitifully, when he put it back on, his waist had shrunk by a full circle.

Brother Mao thought to himself: absolutely cannot waver, cannot be moved by the enemy’s pitiful act. Must be like a strong pine that bites the green mountains and won’t let go, regardless of winds from east, west, south, and north.

After cleaning, he went to the kitchen for breakfast. Inadvertently glancing back, he saw Shen Gun with his head lowered, making a phone call.

For some reason, Brother Mao felt something ominous.

This foreboding soon came true. Halfway through breakfast, Yue Feng called.

Shen Gun was habitually good at categorizing and ranking his friends. The ranking was divided by gender, and among his male friends, Brother Mao could only rank second in importance.

First place went to Yue Feng.

Yue Feng asked Brother Mao: “Did you abuse Shen Gun?”

Damn it, for the sake of some friends he’d just met, he had escalated this to the level of “abuse.” Brother Mao was furious.

Yue Feng laughed: “It’s just a few rooms, is it worth it? Put it on my tab.”

Brother Mao said: “So you’re taking his side?”

Sister-in-law Mao beside him couldn’t help but laugh out loud. This situation often occurred between Brother Mao, Yue Feng, and Shen Gun. Grown men, when they argued, were actually as petty as kindergarten children playing house, calculating exactly whose side you were on.

Yue Feng didn’t take sides: “I’m afraid he’ll starve to death. What are you competing with him for? You have a family, a wife, a son, living a comfortable life. What about him? All year round, he wanders around remote places in wind and cold, sometimes hungry, sometimes full. Only when he gets to your place can he live comfortably for a few days, put on airs, and act like a master. Just let him do it.”

Brother Mao stopped talking. After thinking about it, he felt Yue Feng made sense.

After hanging up, he sighed deeply and said: “I owed this grandson in my previous life.”

Having said that, he got up and ladled a bowl of rice porridge, then used a porcelain plate to arrange some flower rolls to take to Shen Gun.

Pushing open the door, Shen Gun was on the phone with Luo Ren.

“Next week? That’s fine, it’s good to settle those miscellaneous matters first.”

“Right, I invited Little Pocket’s senior brother.”

“Convenient, how could it not be convenient? I already said it’s just a matter of saying hello. He’s so welcoming, he’s right here constantly urging me to have you come sooner…”

Speaking so grandly, not afraid of biting his tongue. Brother Mao made a “ptui” gesture beside him.

Shen Gun’s expression suddenly became hesitant: “Tell him what? Just tell me, I…”

Probably couldn’t argue his way out of it. After a while, he hesitantly handed over the phone.

Brother Mao rolled his eyes: “What?”

Shen Gun smiled apologetically: “Little Mao Mao, he says he wants to thank you. You… you need to speak politely.”

Brother Mao put on full airs and slowly took the phone, very impolitely saying “Hello,” making Shen Gun tremble with fear.

Luo Ren said: “Is this Brother Mao?”

“It’s like this – we have quite a few people, and when we come, it probably won’t be just a day or two. Although Shen Gun says you’re friends, even blood brothers settle accounts clearly, let alone you’re running a business. So we don’t want to take advantage of this favor.”

Brother Mao was somewhat surprised and made an “mm” sound. Beside him, Shen Gun was so nervous he didn’t dare breathe.

“I mentioned this to Shen Gun once, and he said we were being too formal. So I’m thinking this way – you just need to know yourself. We appreciate his kindness, but we want to settle the room fees clearly with you. Just don’t tell him about this.”

Brother Mao said: “No need to thank me. Shen Gun’s friends are my friends. When you come, I’ll be very welcoming. No trouble at all.”

Shen Gun’s eyes widened like saucers. It wasn’t until the call ended that he reacted, overjoyed.

“Little Mao Mao, I knew it! At the crucial moment, you absolutely won’t drop the ball!”

“Acting all high and mighty, you little rascal, making me go hungry for several days for nothing!”

…

Brother Mao went to the front desk and checked next week’s room availability with Sister-in-law Mao, freeing up several rooms with good locations and lighting, including the “Peak Hall Room.”

Sister-in-law Mao thought he was making unnecessary trouble: “If you’d agreed to him earlier, wouldn’t there have been so much fuss? Why did you two have to be so stubborn with each other?”

Brother Mao chuckled.

He had become interested in Shen Gun’s new friends.

He thought: Really quite sensible.

It wasn’t because Luo Ren had offered to pay, but because he had a clear head, understood human relations and worldly wisdom, knew how to consider others’ feelings, mediated between parties, didn’t make things difficult for anyone, and didn’t take advantage of monetary favors.

This kind of friend, he felt, was worth making.

Brother Mao went outside the inn’s main gate and did some chest-expanding stretches facing the rising sun, then took a deep breath. The ancient city’s air was crisp and clean, with a lung-cleansing coolness.

On the bluestone path in front of the door, an old man with a hunched back walked by tap-tap-tap, carrying a rice bowl. His head and face were wrapped in hemp cloth, about sixty years old, with a bamboo pole tucked under his arm. A flag was attached to the pole, half-unfurled, with the words “Fortune Telling” written on it.

This was Ge Er the Blind Man. In earlier years, he had set up a stall in the ancient city to tell fortunes. Later he disappeared for a while, and when he reappeared, he looked like this – his head and face forever wrapped in cloth, never showing his face to anyone. Some people had whispered privately that something unknown had bitten his face, leaving scars crisscrossing it.

Brother Mao took out his wallet and pulled out a five-yuan note: “Old Ge, over here.”

Every time he saw Ge Er, he would give him some money – not much, just as a gesture of help. They were all long-term residents of the ancient city. Though they had no friendship, they were at least familiar faces.

Ge Er came over to take the money and, as usual, said: “Boss is a good person, thank you.”