Sun Yuyi didn’t want to come back for summer vacation—she wanted to stay in Beijing to work odd jobs. Everyone in the family understood and said nothing. After discussion, Sister-in-law and Sun’s mother went to Beijing together.
Originally Sun Youping wanted to go, but first, the clinic couldn’t spare anyone; second, it wouldn’t be convenient for him and Sister-in-law to go together. So in the end, Sun’s mother went on his behalf to see their eldest granddaughter.
They returned after two days. Sun’s mother was completely exhausted from the heat, saying they didn’t go anywhere—just stayed in the hotel the whole time. Everywhere required wearing masks and scanning codes, and she couldn’t breathe wearing a mask in the heat.
As she spoke, she got upset again, saying Yuyi had become so thin she was unrecognizable, standing under the blazing white sun handing out flyers, not even earning a hundred yuan a day.
She said this at noon in the clinic. There weren’t many people at that time, and Uncle had nothing to do so he came over for tea. Hearing her say this, no one was in the mood to drink tea anymore.
Sun’s mother calmed her emotions and said in a suppressed voice, “I’m fine, but her mother was so heartbroken she cried.”
Sun Jingfei came down from upstairs and heard this. “Mom, you’re exaggerating. How is she unrecognizably thin?”
“Where’s your sister-in-law?”
“Sleeping.” Sun Jingfei said. “She has a headache.”
“Did you give it to her?” Sun Youping asked.
“I did. That child is stubborn—it took forever to convince her to take it.” Sun’s mother said.
Before leaving, Sun Youping had wrapped ten thousand yuan in a red envelope from the drawer and had her give it to Yuyi for tuition and accommodation fees and such—they didn’t understand how to pay these things. Usually when they transferred money to her on WeChat, she always returned it.
“A while ago I transferred her money, telling her to go out and have fun during summer vacation. She wouldn’t take it.” Sun Jingfei didn’t mind. “The child is grown and has her own ideas. Too much concern is counterproductive.”
“Did she reply after not taking the money?” Sun Youping asked.
“She did.” Sun Jingfei said. “She even thanked me cheerfully, saying everything was fine, that she’d work odd jobs for a month, and once she saved money she’d go to Yunnan to travel.”
“Usually when I ask questions in the group, she doesn’t say anything.” Sun’s mother said.
“Your voice messages are too long—sometimes it’s inconvenient to listen.” Sun Jingfei took out her phone to teach her. “Generally we all set do-not-disturb. You have to @ her for her to see it.”
“Yuyi doesn’t have any problems, does she?” Uncle asked with concern.
“Nothing’s wrong, Uncle. My mom always exaggerates when she speaks.” Sun Jingfei said.
“You’re talking without experiencing the pain. You weren’t standing under that blazing white sun…”
“Mom, people handing out flyers all stand outside. I did it back in the day too. You only feel sorry because you saw your own granddaughter doing it.” Sun Jingfei said to her. “A couple years ago when someone handed you flyers, you grabbed them and tore them up…”
“Don’t talk back to me. I’ve never torn up anyone’s flyers.” Sun’s mother was a bit embarrassed—there were outsiders in the room.
Uncle felt it was about time. He drank the last sip of tea in his cup and prepared to leave. Sun Youping saw him out, saying it was too hot—rest at home for an afternoon nap and don’t keep running back and forth.
Uncle waved his hand, got on his bicycle to leave, then said, “When I get home I’ll ask Old Eight if he can find Yuyi a job in Beijing.”
“Don’t trouble yourself. She’ll start school in a month.” Sun Youping said. “Let her get some life experience—it’s good for her.”
“You go back. Take it slow on the road.”
Over there under the tree, the mahjong table was temporarily missing one player. Someone shouted for Sun’s mother to come out and substitute for a while. Sun’s mother didn’t want to play with them—she disliked their poor sportsmanship. One yuan per game, and when they lost and had to pay, they were stingy about it.
Sun Youping stood at the curb for a while, stretched his shoulders, came back to sit at the consultation desk, took out his phone and sent Sun Yuyi a WeChat. After fiddling for ten minutes or so, he finally composed: “Yuyi, this is Grandpa. Take care of your health. If you have difficulties, tell the family.” He thought it over—these two lines were sufficient.
Sun’s mother couldn’t resist the itch and went out to play mahjong after all. Sun Jingfei squatted beside her, chatting on WeChat while advising her on which tiles to play.
The person she was chatting with on WeChat was a blind date. He had posted on Moments, she liked it, and then he came over to chat. She had nothing to do anyway—might as well chat!
As they chatted and laughed, people at the mahjong table teased her, asking who she was chatting with. Sun Jingfei replied in a coquettish voice, “Auntie Hua, my lover!”
Sun’s mother slapped her and told her to go back to the clinic. She didn’t go back—she moved to another spot and continued chatting. This time it was serious business—Ke Yu had sent a message. He’d been at Grandpa’s house for four or five days and was now messaging saying he wanted to go to Beijing to find Yuyi.
Sun Jingfei said Yuyi was busy working—where would she have time to entertain you?
Ke Yu replied, “I’ve already discussed it with Sister Yuyi. She can arrange for me to stay in the boys’ dormitory. She can finish handing out flyers in half a day, and we’ll spend the other half playing.”
Sun Jingfei replied, “I’m afraid you’ll cause trouble.”
Ke Yu replied, “I won’t, Mom. We’ve already discussed everything. I want to keep her company too.”
Sun Jingfei hesitated.
Ke Yu replied, “Mom, trust me. I’m almost sixteen.”
Sun Jingfei replied, “When are you going?”
Ke Yu was very happy and sent her a string of dancing penguins, then replied, “I want to go tomorrow! Come pick me up tonight.”
Sun Jingfei was surprised. “You’re not staying a few more days?”
After a while, Ke Yu replied, “Or you could trouble Uncle to come pick me up instead.”
Sun Jingfei replied, “I’ll go tonight.”
Ke Yu replied, “Okay, Mom.”
Zhou Yu had recently been busy with school work in the mornings, then going to the family housing complex in the afternoons, busying herself with this and that—all trivial matters. Feng Yiqun also always took advantage of this time to nap for a bit.
After Zhou Yu finished those unimportant tasks, she would also lie on the sofa blowing the fan and sleep for a while. Actually, those trivial tasks were completely unnecessary. She was willing to do them mainly because when idle she didn’t know what to do—more bluntly, when idle she didn’t know what to chat with Feng Yiqun about.
This day she was half asleep on the sofa when Feng Yiqun turned on the living room air conditioning for her and covered her stomach with a blanket, then went to the bedroom to continue sleeping. That day she thought about many things. As she thought, she sat up, pulled out cigarettes from a compartment in her bag, and looked around through the smoke at the house she’d lived in for twenty or thirty years.
She squinted her eyes and in a trance saw her father—saw him sitting in the dining chair wearing his work clothes, saw him twisting open medicine bottles, saw him pouring medicine, saw pills dropping on the floor, saw her small self picking them up; saw her father smiling and stroking her head, saw her father holding her on his lap, saw herself insistently asking him where Cao Cao went after the Battle of Red Cliffs.
When the cigarette butt burned her hand, she came to her senses. The dining chair was completely empty.
She viciously stubbed out the cigarette directly on the coffee table and went to Grandma’s room. First she emptied Grandma’s excrement, then took a soft banana and fed it to her bit by bit. Grandma was still babbling and pointing at the window. She said it was too hot—they’d go out later.
Hearing sounds, she sensed Feng Yiqun had gotten up. After a while, she triumphantly went out. The cigarette butt on the coffee table had already been cleaned up. Feng Yiqun was slightly squatting on the balcony lighting mosquito coils.
She stood leaning against the wall, watching her calmly and unhurriedly light the balcony mosquito coil, then go to Grandma’s bedroom to light a mosquito coil, then pick a few mint leaves to steep in the cooling pot, then open the refrigerator and casually ask her, “Are you eating dinner here?”
Zhou Yu said nothing sullenly.
She didn’t ask again, took out the Chinese medicine liquid from the refrigerator, first soaked it in warm water for a while, then unscrewed the straw cap and drank.
Mother and daughter gazed at each other for a long time. Zhou Yu looked away first.
…
In the evening, Sun Jingfei went alone to pick up Ke Yu. Originally she was going to call Sun Jingcheng, but thinking he’d been busy recently, she simply went by herself. When she was almost there, she sent Ke Yu a WeChat and honked the horn. Usually when they heard the horn, they’d come out to greet her, but this time it took quite a while before Ke Yu came out carrying his bag, followed by his grandparents with unpleasant expressions.
When the old couple saw her, their expressions became even more unpleasant. They barely managed to greet her. Just after driving out a stretch, she received a WeChat from Ke Yong questioning why, when they had originally agreed Ke Yu would stay at Grandpa’s house for a month, she was picking him up after just a few days.
Sun Jingfei didn’t reply. She turned to glance at the dejected Ke Yu and reminded him, “Fasten your seatbelt.”
“Oh.” Ke Yu fastened it and pretended to ask casually, “Whose WeChat was that?”
“Your dad’s.” Sun Jingfei said.
“What did he say?” Ke Yu blurted out.
“Nothing much, just asking why you’re not staying a few more days.”
Ke Yu tightly hugged the backpack in his arms and said vaguely, “I don’t want to stay anymore.”
Sun Jingfei didn’t ask why and gestured at the bag in his arms. “Put it in the back seat.”
Ke Yu turned sideways to put his backpack in the back seat, looked out the window for a while, then after a long time explained, “I didn’t tell Grandpa I didn’t want to stay. I said I had urgent business to come back for…” Then he choked up and said no more.
“I’ll tell your dad later that I was the one who told you to go to Beijing.” Sun Jingfei said.
“Tell him I wanted to go myself. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell Grandpa and Grandma…” Ke Yu said, then crossed his arms over his head in play, turned his face, and wiped away tears with his sleeve. He had no way to say to Grandpa and Grandma’s faces that he didn’t want to stay at their place anymore, that he wanted to go back to Mom’s. It was too difficult—he couldn’t say it, especially when Grandma had wholeheartedly prepared a table full of delicious food for him.
Sun Jingfei said nothing and reached out to stroke the back of his neck. He covered his eyes with his arm, sobbing. It was so hard—it was already this hard before even becoming a real adult.
…
Over there, Zhou Yu walked all the way from the family housing complex back to the new district, walking for an hour and a half, completely drenched in sweat. When she got home, she kicked off her shoes and headed straight to the master bedroom. Sun Jingcheng heard the commotion and came out from the study carrying a mop. He didn’t see anyone—only saw a pair of crooked shoes.
He went over to arrange the shoes properly and said to her, “Didn’t you see I just mopped the floor?” As he spoke, he mopped the spots she’d dirtied. After mopping, he straightened his nearly broken old back and went to the bathroom to rinse the mop.
After rinsing, he systematically mopped: the master bedroom, side bedroom, study, living room, kitchen, balcony… everything. Mopping to the master bedroom, he heard the shower running in the bathroom and loudly praised himself from top to bottom, inside and out. Then he lit incense and mopped his way out of the room backwards.
He wasn’t usually this diligent!
When he got home from work and saw the house was a bit messy, thinking Zhou Yu had been tired recently from taking care of Grandma, he started tidying up bit by bit. This person had OCD and was a neat freak—either don’t do it, or do it thoroughly.
As he organized the house, the sweep-and-mop machine cleaned the floor. When he finished organizing, he noticed no sound from the floor—the machine he bought had broken again! Afraid Zhou Yu would blow up, he had no choice but to find the backup mop and mop himself.
He looked at the spotlessly clean, gleaming floor, bursting with a sense of accomplishment! Then he went to the master bathroom. While urinating, he talked to the person in the shower, “I’m so exhausted…” As he spoke, the shower curtain was suddenly pulled open, and that despicable person stared at his brother. He held it in and moved to the guest bathroom to continue urinating.
…
After her shower, Zhou Yu came out and sat exhausted on the edge of the bed to rest. She saw the faint, dim yellow aromatherapy candle, then looked at the newly changed bedding. The floor was also slightly gleaming. She rubbed it with her toes—very clean.
She went out barefoot. The living room had also been organized. Sun Jingcheng was rinsing the mop in the guest bathroom humming a song. Seeing her come out, he quickly claimed credit, “Honey, look! I helped you organize the living room, organized the bedroom, and organized the kitchen and balcony too!”
Normally, Zhou Yu would definitely retort: It’s not that you helped me organize—you should have organized it.
But today she didn’t say that. She only replied softly, “Thank you.”
Sun Jingcheng was so proud, hands on his hips. “I’m really exhausted!”
“I thought the all-in-one machine didn’t mop clean enough, so I personally bent over and mopped bit by bit.” After speaking, he followed the water traces of her footprints mopping all the way back to the master bedroom.
Zhou Yu said nothing and went back to the bedroom to sit on the edge of the bed. Sun Jingcheng sensed she wasn’t in high spirits and asked her, “Very tired today?”
Zhou Yu lifted her nightgown to show him the bruise on her knee. “When carrying Grandma downstairs, I knocked it and almost dropped her.”
“I already said I’d go carry her…” Sun Jingcheng couldn’t be bothered with her. He went to the living room to get the medicine box, then sat on the floor to apply medicine to her.
“Grandma is okay, right?”
“She’s fine.”
Sun Jingcheng went to the chest of drawers to get a pair of socks and put them on for her, saying she couldn’t walk barefoot on the floor. Then he went to the bathroom to shower, casually asking when teachers would be completely on summer vacation.
Zhou Yu leaned back flat on the bed and replied, “Tomorrow I’ll be completely on vacation.”
“Then let’s go climb Mount Hua?”
“Sure.” Zhou Yu said. “Whenever you’re free.”
Over there, the sound stopped and was replaced by the rushing of water.
At this moment, Zhou Yu’s mood was very calm, even producing a bit of gentleness. This was uncommon. What was common was having nowhere to turn and conscious suppression.
She found the Chinese medicine powder Second Sister-in-law had given her and learned to mix it into a paste. When Sun Jingcheng finished his shower and came out, she put a headband on him, had him lie on the bed, and applied a deep-cleansing face mask to him.
Sun Jingcheng enjoyed it very much. The mask was cool and refreshing, making him want to chat. Zhou Yu wouldn’t let him talk, saying to wait fifteen minutes for it to set before peeling it off. Then she mixed a deep-hydrating face mask and applied it to him, continuing to wait fifteen minutes.
Sun Jingcheng was curious. “Why aren’t you doing one?”
Zhou Yu said, “To reward you.”
Sun Jingcheng got carried away and praised her, saying she was really acting human today.
Zhou Yu smiled without speaking.
Sun Jingcheng felt something was off. Coming to his senses, he asked her, “Are you using my face as a test subject?”
Zhou Yu laughed heartily.