Sun Jingfei told her the final negotiation result with Ke Yong—fifty-fifty on assets, and she would have custody of Ke Yu.
Mother Sun cursed Ke Yong a few times, saying he shouldn’t get a single penny. This was naturally childish talk, and Sun Jingfei didn’t respond.
After a while, Mother Sun asked her, “Did you ask Ke Yu’s opinion?”
“Yes.” Sun Jingfei nodded. “He’s willing to stay with me.”
“Then that’s settled. Split it half and half—consider the money you give him as feeding a dog.” Mother Sun said to her, “At least it’s a lesson learned.”
What specific lesson, mother and daughter both understood. Ever since learning of Ke Yong’s infidelity, she’d been holding it in. At night, tossing and turning unable to sleep, she complained to Sun Youping, saying, “See? Didn’t listen to us no matter what back then, now you’re suffering the consequences! I could tell from the start that Ke Yong was no good!”
But she only dared say this to Sun Youping, to Sun Jingcheng, and to Eldest Son when he was alive. In front of her daughters-in-law and Sun Jingfei, she’d rather die than mention a word.
“Then let’s turn the page—won’t drag this out for you anymore.” Mother Sun said against her conscience, saying the opposite of what she felt, “Divorce isn’t a big deal nowadays—plenty on the streets. That so-and-so’s daughter got divorced and later married someone who’d never been married before.”
…
Sun Jingfei also sat on the edge of the bed, sitting close to her. Mother Sun held her hand and looked at it, saying how rough it was, not as smooth as Fourth Son’s hands. As she spoke, she shed two tears, heartbroken that her daughter was divorcing at this age, and heartbroken over the money being split away.
“Don’t mention to Ke Yu how we divided the assets.” Sun Jingfei instructed her.
“Like I have nothing better to do.” Mother Sun cursed Ke Yong. “Worse than pigs and dogs—so all that dragging and pulling for so long was just for the assets!”
Earlier, Sun Jingfei had offered Ke Yong one apartment and a car, but he insisted on having their son. The two had been fighting for half a year. A week ago, she sent all his infidelity evidence to his office. He tore off the mask and cursed at her. She was very straightforward, asking him—seventy-thirty on assets, Ke Yu stays with her. It wasn’t until the day before yesterday that he gave word—fifty-fifty on assets, Ke Yu stays with her.
She had no energy to drag it out with him. This morning the two went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to apply—they had to wait one month for a cooling-off period before they could divorce. She didn’t want to file a lawsuit and go to court. Whether for her son’s sake or for dignity’s sake, she wanted to cover this pile of shit with a plastic bag and gently shovel it out without harming herself or affecting the innocent.
“I haven’t said much outside, only that you’re divorcing due to incompatibility.” Mother Sun said.
“Say whatever you want.” Sun Jingfei didn’t care anymore.
“You still need to have some livelihood in the future. Raising a son is different from raising a daughter after all.” Mother Sun said to her, “You still need to care about Ke Yu’s studies—getting into a good university means better prospects.”
Sun Jingfei nodded. “Whatever he wants.”
“You can’t let children do whatever they want—there still needs to be discipline.” Mother Sun regretted, “If I’d disciplined your brother properly back then, would he have waited eighteen years to study medicine? Piano—I didn’t have the ability to guide him, but medicine is our family’s old profession…”
“Alright, alright Mom, here you go again.” Sun Jingfei lost her patience. “Can it be the same? If Ke Yu could really be like Fourth Brother, I’d be at peace too. Among us four siblings, he’s living the most comfortably!”
“I’ve noticed, among you three sisters in the end, Fourth Brother might turn out to be the most thoughtful.” Mother Sun said casually, “These past two months he’s really learned to be considerate of me—massaging my shoulders, making me happy, willing to listen to me talk…” She stopped there.
“And I’m not?” Sun Jingfei looked at her. “Haven’t I massaged your legs? Haven’t I rubbed your shoulders? Haven’t I made you happy?”
“You and Dad have favored Fourth Brother since childhood—don’t think we don’t know just because we don’t say anything. You save all the good food for him, always thinking of him. When I was little you couldn’t bear to buy me a dress, but turned around and bought him a piano! When we were working ourselves to death trying to earn money, he was running around the world playing. Now his career isn’t going well and you start feeling sorry for him again. How can all the good things in the world go to him?” Sun Jingfei had originally meant to stick to the facts, but as she spoke, she felt more and more wronged. She’d worked so hard at life, worked so hard to earn money and support the family, and in the end her family fell apart. Sun Jingcheng on the other hand—when he should have been working hard, he ran around everywhere, and now except for his career not going so well, everything else was fine.
“He’s so good at everything, he’s the most thoughtful and considerate of you, massaging your shoulders and willing to listen to you talk… He’s really amazing! He’s a good son and a good husband…” Sun Jingfei turned her face away, reaching up to wipe tears. “I’m not as good as him at anything. I’m a failed daughter and not a good mother either…”
Mother Sun also turned her face away and cried. She didn’t mean it that way—it was just words leading to words.
After Sun Jingfei finished crying and wiped away her tears, she said viciously, “Tomorrow I’m going to beat him to death!”
Mother Sun burst out laughing, wiped her tears and said, “Tomorrow you go beat him to death. It’ll save some food too.”
“You lie down, I’ll massage your shoulders too, so you won’t nag all day long.” Sun Jingfei said, half-kneeling on the bed.
Calculating all total assets and debts, Sun Jingfei had to give Ke Yong two apartments, one car, 900,000 yuan in stocks, and 500,000 yuan in cash. She wouldn’t give the cash, saying it offset the money he’d spent keeping mistresses outside these past few years.
Ke Yong didn’t say anything. The two held their tempers and went to the lawyer to sign the agreement.
In the evening she went to the high-speed rail station to pick up Ke Yu. She reached out to hug him, saying he was darker and thinner, and grabbed his luggage to head back to the car. Ke Yu didn’t ask anything about their divorce, as if afraid to ask. He kept talking about how he now had a target university. He also said Sister Yuyan had taken him to tour Tsinghua and Peking University, and also toured other universities and so on—saying a whole bunch of insincere words.
After listening, Sun Jingfei asked him, “Do you want to go out and have fun too?”
“Where to?”
“To Yunnan, to Guizhou, to Guilin, to Gansu and Qinghai… wherever you want to go.”
Ke Yu thought for a long time. “I don’t particularly want to go anywhere. I want to get tutoring in Chinese in August.”
“Who’ll tutor you?” Sun Jingfei looked at him. “Little Aunt will tutor you?” Without waiting for his response, she added, “Your little aunt is trying to get pregnant…”
“At an outside tutoring center. My classmate is at a tutoring center that’s really good.” Ke Yu looked out the window and said softly, “Won’t trouble Little Aunt.”
“Oh, oh, oh.” Sun Jingfei responded. “A center is good too—you’ll have company with your classmate.”
“But I think my classmate said something about ‘double reduction’—tutoring isn’t allowed anymore?”
“Every year they say no tutoring, every year tutoring continues as usual.” Sun Jingfei said indifferently, “Up to you. If you want tutoring I’ll sign you up—worst case we can hire a teacher to come to the house.”
“Let’s do tutoring.” Ke Yu leaned against the seat back with a worried expression. “They say you need 704 points to get into Tsinghua or Peking University.”
“What’s so great about Tsinghua or Peking University?” Sun Jingfei said. “The most capable people in our family are me and your Second Uncle, and neither of us even entered a university. I’ll say it again—when the east isn’t bright, the west will be. Study to the best of your ability, whatever you score is what you score. A talented person is talented anywhere.”
The reason she said this was because Ke Yu’s ability was far from Tsinghua or Peking University. Zhou Yu had chatted with her, saying that with Ke Yu’s current level, if he worked hard, setting his sights on a first-tier university would be fine.
“A while ago Little Aunt looked at my grades and talked to me, asking if I wanted to join her honors class when school starts.” Ke Yu said.
“That’s great—your little aunt can look after you.” Sun Jingfei asked, “Did you agree?”
Ke Yu nodded. “Yes, I want to work hard.”
Sun Jingfei silently sighed—having connections really helps get things done. No wonder there are so many corrupt officials.
Ke Yu called out again, “Mom.”
“Hm?”
“Can I discuss something with you?”
“Go ahead.”
“From now on, I want to buy my own clothes, underwear, and shoes. Without my permission, don’t casually tell people my private matters.” Ke Yu said.
…
“Did I tell people your private matters?”
“You had Little Uncle observe me peeing…”
“Oh, oh, oh.” Sun Jingfei remembered. The year before last she’d had Sun Jingcheng observe Ke Yu’s penis to see if he needed circumcision. Then she’d discussed this matter at the dinner table.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. From now on Mom won’t manage these things anymore.”
Sun Jingcheng acted on whims. This afternoon at three o’clock he suddenly sent Zhou Yu a WeChat saying he wanted to go camping. Said he couldn’t take it anymore—he needed to go to the mountains to breathe fresh air.
Zhou Yu was busy at the family residential building. After receiving the message, she told Feng Yiqun and returned to the new district to pack things. At five o’clock Sun Jingcheng came to pick her up, and the two headed to a mountain over a hundred kilometers away.
The car was still parked at the foot of the mountain. The two carried their equipment and climbed step by step. Sun Jingcheng was fast. Before long he was far ahead of her, then even farther ahead. After surpassing her twice, he simply held her hand and climbed slowly with her.
Mountain climbing wasn’t really suitable for holding hands, and it was hot and sticky besides. Sun Jingcheng, covered in sweat, asked her, “You brought mosquito coils, right?”
“I did.”
“You brought sulfur, right?”
“You’re really annoying—you’ve asked three times already.” Zhou Yu was dying from the heat.
“I don’t trust you.” Sun Jingcheng, seeing it was getting dark, simply rolled up his T-shirt, exposing most of his belly. The sweat was streaming down in rivulets.
Zhou Yu was very worried and asked him, “I feel like sleeping in a tent in this weather will be very stuffy.”
“It won’t be.” Sun Jingcheng said, “It’ll be cool once we get up there.”
“I don’t believe it. At this elevation, how cool can it get? It’s not like it’s deep in the mountains.” Zhou Yu said, “We haven’t run into a single person along the way.”
Sun Jingcheng stuck to his line, “It’ll be cool once we get up there.” Then he added, “Sweating more is good—detoxifying.”
Zhou Yu asked, “Are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
Zhou Yu pulled out a pack of nuts from her pocket and gave them to him to eat while climbing.
Once they got up there, it was indeed much cooler. Sun Jingcheng set up the tent while she walked around it in a circle pouring sulfur, then lit two mosquito coils. As for the scenery, it was pitch black and you couldn’t see anything. Walking forward a bit and standing at a high point, you could see the myriad lights of homes below the mountain. She suddenly thought of a poem and turned to recite it to Sun Jingcheng. Sun Jingcheng naturally picked it up and continued reciting.
After the tent was set up, the two ate a bit of food to fill their stomachs. On the mountain, no open flames were allowed, otherwise it could have been more romantic. After eating, they walked around the area a few times. Zhou Yu said with just their one tent, she felt rather uneasy.
Sun Jingcheng laughed at her—what was there to worry about?
The two rinsed their mouths and entered the tent, each holding a book to flip through. Did they read for even three minutes? Sun Jingcheng started nonsense, saying her leg hair was long and poking him.
Zhou Yu was exasperated, telling him to take his foot off her leg so she wouldn’t poke him. He wouldn’t move it and completely sprawled on top of her to read.
“Aren’t you hot?” Zhou Yu said to him.
“Not hot.”
“As if—your sweat is dripping on my neck.”
Sun Jingcheng stopped reading and hugged her to sleep. Zhou Yu turned around and talked about Yuyan saying there was a little sister in her belly. Sun Jingcheng’s hand felt her flat abdomen. Thinking that a life would be conceived inside, he marveled that it was truly incredible. As he spoke, he turned off the tent light and bent down to kiss her belly.
Zhou Yu’s hand stroked his hair. Sun Jingcheng kissed all over her belly, then continued upward to kiss her chest, her neck, and finally her lips.
The kisses weren’t fierce—they were soft and gentle. Sun Jingcheng hugged her tightly, and Zhou Yu deeply embraced him back. It was stuffy in the tent, and both their bodies were sticky, but neither let go.
Zhou Yu’s fingers wrote characters on his smooth back. Sun Jingcheng felt comfortable and couldn’t help moaning.
Zhou Yu was also like a slippery fish, her limbs tightly wrapped around him, rubbing back and forth against his body. Sun Jingcheng kissed her, kissed her until she was aroused, listened to her moving moans, then entered her, wanting her to sit on his waist, embracing and kissing and making love inseparably while sitting.
This lovemaking was unexpected, because it was really too tender. Who could resist it? Camping on the mountain with no water, unable to wash up promptly after finishing—normally when camping you’d honestly just sleep and not cause trouble.
The next day they didn’t see the sunrise because it started drizzling at four or five in the morning. The two packed up the tent in the rain and headed back, going down the mountain in the rain. They were quite happy along the way—Sun Jingcheng sang her love songs. Two hours later, when they got in the car looking like drowned rats, they both looked at each other’s bedraggled appearance and laughed heartily. Neither complained once—why didn’t we check the weather before coming?