After eating the jelly, the two didn’t go back. In this sky full of willow catkins, Sun Jingcheng carried her along the street browsing. They bought a large handwoven laundry basket with two smaller baskets stacked inside. Zhou Yu said one would be for dirty underwear, one for dirty socks.
She could say it was for turtles and he wouldn’t contradict her! Sun Jingcheng didn’t argue a single word.
The two always washed their underwear right after taking it off—would they really save it up for a basket?
If she wanted to buy it, then buy it.
Watching her squat there picking for ages, asking now if this one looked good, now if that one looked good, he didn’t respond, just sat on the electric scooter stretching his arm to scan the payment code, waiting for her to finish choosing so he could pay.
After she sat down properly holding the basket, only then did he turn around. “Teacher Zhou looks so beautiful!”
…
Teacher Zhou was indeed a teacher. Even wearing jeans, her squatting posture was very proper, her hand secretly reaching to her lower back to check if any skin was showing… or if her underwear edge was visible.
Teacher Zhou was truly adorable!
Thinking this, Sun Jingcheng laughed out loud. Zhou Yu thought he was crazy and ignored him. She only said the laundry basket at home was broken, and this one she bought was both cheap and nice-looking.
Sun Jingcheng was utterly baffled—how could a laundry basket break? He turned to tease her, “How did it break? Explode on the spot?”
…
Zhou Yu pinched his waist.
Sun Jingcheng laughed loudly, telling her, “Just buy it if you want, why make so many excuses?” He stopped at the entrance of an old-brand mutton soup shop, waited in line to buy a bowl of soup, then stood with her on the street drinking it. A clump of willow catkins fell into the bowl. He used chopsticks to skim it out and continued eating.
After finishing, he went across the street to buy water, rinsed his mouth, then raised his chin at Zhou Yu who was still drinking soup.
What an attitude. Zhou Yu drank her soup ignoring him.
The man stood there looking around in all directions. Seeing someone selling large kites, he pointed at Zhou Yu, casually stuffed the bottle of mineral water in his back pocket, and went over to choose a large kite.
Zhou Yu finished eating and returned the bowl, rode the electric scooter over, pulled the water from his back pocket, took a sip to rinse, and seeing the locust flowers on the tree across the street, couldn’t help sighing once again at the beautiful spring scenery! Blue sky, billowing clouds, gentle breeze, bustling streets, sky full of willow catkins, a tree of locust flowers.
Over there, the children secretly ran out of the clinic and went to the corner store near the school. The snacks in the supermarket weren’t as good, not as flavorful as the one or two yuan ones from the corner store.
Sun Jiaxing and Jiarui pinched spicy strips to eat, eating as they slowly returned the same way. They had to finish before going back, otherwise Grandma would scold them if she saw. Ke Yu, being older after all, found these small workshop snacks unsanitary and only bought a bottle of soda to drink. The youngest, Sun Yuyan, held bright red spicy strips in his hands, his mouth panting from the spice, his eyes still fixed on the spicy strips in his brothers’ hands, afraid that if he ate too slowly they’d be gone.
Jiaxing gave him the half pack of spicy strips in his hand. Only then did he feel reassured, clutching that half pack in his hand, eating a bit then resting a bit. But eating and eating, he suddenly thought of Dad, so he looked up and asked his brothers where his dad had gone.
Perhaps he didn’t really want an answer—probably just thinking of it and asking casually. After he was spiced enough to drink several gulps of soda, he’d thrown this matter to the back of his mind.
But the three children who were asked became nervous. Before coming, their parents had given them countless instructions to love their little brother from now on and not mention Dad in front of him.
Ke Yu naturally understood why. Jiaxing also understood. Although Jiarui didn’t fully understand, he knew he couldn’t mention it casually. After Yuyan asked, he hurriedly comforted him, “Your dad is on a business trip!”
The other two chimed in, “Right, right, your dad is on a business trip!”
The three said this while giving him all their snacks. Afraid they couldn’t finish before getting home, they sat on the bench by the bus stop to eat.
Jiarui seemed to sense the faint sorrow of being human and turned to ask, “Big Brother Ke Yu, is being an adult good?”
“Dummy, you’re only an adult at 18. Big Brother Ke Yu is the same as us, still… still a minor!” Jiaxing said.
Ke Yu was also very melancholy, replying in an old-fashioned way, “Both good and not good, I guess.”
“Is it good more often, or not good more often?”
Ke Yu was silent for a while. “Good more often.”
“I also think being an adult is good!” Jiarui was very happy. “You can decide to buy the toys you want yourself!” The adults always liked to control him. He really wanted Mom and Dad to be like Uncle—when he didn’t want to see them, they’d go to heaven, and when he wanted to see them, they’d come down.
Yuyan swung his little short legs, drinking soda and saying, “I don’t want to grow up. I want to be your little brother forever and ever.” After saying this, he giggled foolishly. He was so worried that when he grew up he’d become a big brother.
Jiarui happily hugged him. “Little brother, I also want to be your big brother forever and ever!”
“Big brother—”
“Little brother—”
Oh my… the two affectionately embraced each other, completely forgetting how often they’d fought over toys.
Jiaxing told these two dummies, “Even if you grow to a hundred years old, you’ll still be little brothers! When you grow up, we’re growing up too.”
Yuyan happily bounced around. Being able to be a little brother forever was really great!
Over there, Ke Yu saw three blind people feeling their way over with guide canes. He quickly called Jiaxing, and the two moved the shared bicycles parked on the tactile paving.
Jiarui also wanted to come help, but he was too small and couldn’t move such large bikes. Fortunately, before the blind people arrived, all seven or eight bicycles were moved aside one by one. Then they silently followed behind, and only after the blind people turned a corner into a blind massage shop did they feel relieved enough to return to the clinic.
On the way, Jiarui didn’t understand why they didn’t just lead them around instead of expending effort to move the bicycles. Jiaxing scolded him, “You dummy, that’s the tactile paving exclusively for them! If they leave that path, they’ll… they’ll lose their direction! Right, Big Brother Ke Yu?”
Ke Yu pointed at the prominent yellow tactile paving bricks on the sidewalk to explain, “Any brick on the road with vertical strips is all directional tactile paving! It means you can proceed forward. If it’s the kind with round dots, that’s warning tactile paving, indicating to stop.”
“Where’s the warning tactile paving?” The children all looked for it.
Ke Yu led them to the bus platform and pointed at several warning tactile bricks. “This is it.”
“Big Brother Ke Yu is so amazing! I only know traffic lights!”
“My uncle taught me this too.” Ke Yu said.
On the way back to the clinic, the four played and fought while stepping on the tactile paving to experience it. Seeing some tactile paving suddenly break off or be occupied, they discussed why this would happen. The unanimous conclusion they reached—it must be that the government hasn’t had time to maintain it yet!
The weather was too good. After lunch, Sun Jingcheng and Zhou Yu took the children to the park to fly kites. Before evening, they had to send them back one by one. Probably because they hadn’t seen each other in too long, these children were extremely excited. If it were like usual… they’d have been wailing and fighting long ago!
Zhou Yu sat on the picnic blanket watching them fly it. Back and forth for over half an hour… the kite never flew higher than five meters. Sun Jingcheng was losing patience, the children had long been anxious, so they simply snatched the kite from his hands to fly it themselves.
Sun Jingcheng came over, standing with hands on hips for a long time, saving face by saying, “No wind, can’t get it up.”
“Right, not a bit of wind.” Zhou Yu played blind, not seeing the full seven large kites in the distant sky.
Sun Jingcheng looked around in all directions at the children’s smiling faces—some blowing bubbles, some piling sand, some on slides. He seemed to instantly comprehend the true meaning of that phrase “children are infinite hope.” Especially when a little girl stuck her bottom up digging a sand pit, huffing and puffing for ages, and when she was finally satisfied, stood up too quickly and fell headfirst into it—he looked up and laughed foolishly. Then his heart softened beyond measure, carrying a bag of snacks over to share with them. The parents were wary of him as a strange uncle and didn’t dare accept, but couldn’t withstand his enthusiasm and had to randomly pick one item.
…
When he came back, Zhou Yu told him, “You really are your mother’s son.”
He wasn’t in a hurry. He wanted to calm down, wait for that surging emotion to settle before speaking! Then he lay down on the picnic blanket, head pillowed on Zhou Yu’s thigh for a nap.
Zhou Yu pushed him—what kind of appearance was this?
Sun Jingcheng slept his sleep, not caring about others’ gazes.
Zhou Yu was afraid he’d get sunburned, took off her jacket to cover his head, then supported herself with both hands behind, letting him sleep more comfortably.
Sun Jingcheng’s face pressed against her belly, secretly rolled up her t-shirt and kissed it. Zhou Yu said lazily, “I should hit you.”
“If you pat me… I’ll sleep.” Sun Jingcheng was utterly shameless.
Zhou Yu adjusted her posture and patted his shoulder lightly. After Sun Jingcheng fell asleep, she looked at the children in the distance and also slowly nodded off, dozing.
Sun Yuyan chased after his brothers’ kite, ran for ages and got tired, then turned to go to the sand pit to pile sand. Piling and piling, he thought of Dad again, thought of the Great Wall Dad had piled for him. Looking around at companions all with their fathers accompanying them, he crawled back up the half-slope to find Uncle, shaking him awake from sleep.
Uncle rubbed his eyes and sat up properly, asking what was wrong.
He imitated the last time he saw Dad—clutching his chest and falling after being shot—and asked, “Uncle, where did Dad go after he fell?”
Until much, much later, even after he became a brave and fearless adult, he never forgot what happened that year when he was four. Such as—after Father slowly fell to the ground and never got up again; such as—Uncle’s reaction when he made that gesture; and at the kindergarten parent meeting, after he skillfully performed this action, Mother’s collapse again.
When he was still a child, time and again, repeatedly, he tore at the adults’ bloody wounds. And those wounded adults unconditionally, mercifully forgave him. At the same time, they infinitely tolerated him, cared for him, taught him, until he also became a brave and fearless adult.
Because of Yuyan’s gesture, Sun Jingcheng, who hadn’t cried even at Eldest Brother’s funeral, held Zhou Yu that night and wept. His heart ached when those clear eyes of Yuyan looked at him, asking when Dad would come back. He didn’t know how to answer.
Because he would never come back.
A few days later, the three siblings went to three different places and saw three different strangers. They didn’t presumptuously go forward to greet them, only quietly looked, then returned.
Eldest Brother’s organs were donated to three people respectively.
The night they returned, at the dinner table, he solemnly discussed with Zhou Yu about having a child. Zhou Yu didn’t object. The two calculated dates and thought they’d first recuperate their bodies for two months, planning to conceive during summer vacation.
Summer vacation was the best time—favorable timing, geographical advantage, and harmonious relations. First, the two could settle down to have a child; second, if they conceived successfully, the child would be born in spring the following year.
Spring was so wonderful!
The earth returns to spring, all things renew!
Sun Jingcheng blurted out, “Then the child will be called Sun Renewal!”
…
Zhou Yu nearly fainted! Then she said the surname “Sun” was too… that, stopping there, meaning for him to figure it out himself.
This offended Sun Jingcheng. He cited countless historical greats: Sun Wu, Sun Bin, Sun Quan, Sun Simiao, Sun Yat-sen… Sun Wukong!
Then attacked her surname “Zhou” as also common!
Oh ho—Zhou Yu also blurted out countless greats: Zhou Yu, Zhou Dunyi, Zhou Enlai, Zhou Shuren! Tracing back further, Zhou and Ji were inseparable—King Wen of Zhou, Ji Chang—also surnamed Zhou!
The child wasn’t even conceived yet, and the two had fallen out over surnames. That night Sun Jingcheng was chased to the guest bedroom.
…
In a blink, it was Labor Day. The pandemic in this province hadn’t settled down yet, and that province had discovered confirmed cases. The two honestly stayed home. During the day they returned to the clinic or family building to eat, at night returned to the new district to play badminton.
Zhou Yu’s badminton skills had advanced by leaps and bounds! Smash, smash, smash—a barrage of smashes, making Sun Jingcheng constantly bend down to pick up shuttlecocks.
When Sun Jingcheng learned that to beat him, she’d secretly hired a coach and practiced hard for four or five months, he completely gave up, directly admitted defeat, and refused to deal with this kind of person.
Sore loser!
Also on the last day of the holiday, the two were shopping at the mall when they ran into Eldest Sister-in-law, whom they hadn’t seen in a long time. This was the second time seeing Eldest Sister-in-law since Eldest Brother passed away.
Second Brother had previously instructed them, saying women were more attentive and to visit Eldest Sister-in-law often. She, Second Sister-in-law, and Sun Jingfei had privately discussed it, and none went. Eldest Sister-in-law’s personality was actually not suited for deliberate comfort.
Some pain, left to time, letting nature take its course, would always pass.
When their eyes met unexpectedly, Zhou Yu instinctively called out, “Eldest Sister-in-law.”
Xu Weihua was obviously stunned, managed a strained smile, wanting to chat gracefully for a few sentences, but found she didn’t know where to start. Before speaking, tears came first.
Zhou Yu gently hugged her, then showed her the bag in her hand. “Yuyi keeps praising my good taste. She’s about to return to school, so I was planning to send her two summer outfits.” She took a tissue to help wipe her tears and invited her to lunch together.
Xu Weihua’s emotions inexplicably calmed considerably. She was afraid of losing composure in public, more afraid of people laughing at her. Zhou Yu naturally helped pat her back, asking what she was planning to buy.
Xu Weihua thought of the real matter, saying Sun Youping was about to turn 69, and she’d come out to see what to buy. The two chatted as they went to the upstairs restaurant. Sun Jingcheng was very perceptive—when Eldest Sister-in-law choked up, he went off to buy fruit tea.
Life—just when your wound has barely scabbed over, just when you’re about to get carried away, it unexpectedly gives you a blow.