The two got home and first took hot showers. Sun Jingcheng didn’t take a nap either—he went straight to the company. Passing by a breakfast shop on the way, he braved the rain to go in and order a bowl of congee and a plate of pan-fried buns. The filling in the pan-fried buns wasn’t good—not as tasty as the xiaolongbao Zhou Yu made. Thinking of this, he was about to message Zhou Yu saying he wanted to eat xiaolongbao, but thinking of how tired she’d been lately taking care of Grandma, he didn’t send it.

He didn’t send it, but Sun Jingfei sent him a message. After seeing the content, he felt Sun Jingfei was like a black crow with nothing to do all day, circling in the sky, and as soon as she got news, she’d definitely land at your window first thing in the morning to caw twice.

Never around for good news, first to report bad news.

Yesterday Second Sister-in-law had gone to the hospital for a Down syndrome screening. The doctor recommended terminating the pregnancy. Second Brother immediately called Uncle, who made a trip over. After looking at the results for a long time, he said the child wasn’t meant to be with them.

Zhou Yu received the news in the evening from Eldest Sister-in-law, saying Uncle had arranged surgery for her in the next couple days. They were discussing going to visit her together after the surgery.

It had been raining outside all day. After feeding Grandma water, Zhou Yu sat in the living room and replied to her, “How could it develop unhealthily?”

Eldest Sister-in-law replied, “I’m not clear either.” Then another message: “But this morning I heard Mom muttering to Dad, asking if it was because of the vaccine.”

Zhou Yu asked, “When did Second Sister-in-law get vaccinated?”

Eldest Sister-in-law replied, “February or March? Calculating the dates, it seems like she got pregnant right after vaccination.”

Zhou Yu asked, “What did Dad say?”

Eldest Sister-in-law replied, “Dad only said the fate was shallow.”

Zhou Yu didn’t reply.

Eldest Sister-in-law replied again, “Mom insists it’s the vaccine, and told Second Brother it was the vaccine too.”

Zhou Yu replied, “Whether it’s the vaccine or not, blaming the vaccine will make Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law feel better.”

Eldest Sister-in-law replied, “Right. I think so too.” Then another message: “It was a girl.”

Zhou Yu was surprised, “They found out it was a daughter?”

Eldest Sister-in-law replied, “Yes. I heard from Mom that Second Brother hasn’t eaten or drunk since yesterday.”

Zhou Yu didn’t reply for a moment.

Eldest Sister-in-law changed the subject, “Got stuck at work after my shift—the rain’s heavy right now.”

Zhou Yu replied, “Take a taxi and come straight back, don’t take the subway.” Big Brother had left behind a car, but except for going back to her natal home, Eldest Sister-in-law rarely drove it. With all the usual restrictions and whatnot, taking the subway to and from work was much more convenient.

Ten minutes later, Eldest Sister-in-law replied, “Really lucky, got a ride with Fourth Brother. He happened to be doing business nearby.”

The rain outside had lessened. Zhou Yu stood on the balcony thinking. After thinking for a long time, she counted on her fingers—she’d gotten her first shot at school in late March, her second shot in early April. Now it was May, June, July… just over three months.

She felt uncertain, having completely forgotten about the vaccination. At the time the doctor had instructed that for three months… or was it six months they recommended not getting pregnant? In July they’d stopped using contraception. Sun Jingcheng was even earlier—he and Sun Youping had gotten vaccinated in January and February.

Her mind unsettled, she immediately grabbed an umbrella and went to the clinic. When she left, the rain wasn’t too heavy, but halfway there, raindrops came crashing down. She had to stand under a storefront to take shelter. Probably because of the rain there were no customers—several shirtless old men in the shop were playing cards.

It was already dark. Except for the curtain of rain, the street was deserted. Zhou Yu lowered her head to reply to Sun Jingcheng’s WeChat. He asked if she was at the family residential area. She sent her location saying she was taking shelter from the rain.

After putting away her phone to watch the rain, with this look, she once again saw her father. He stood silently in the rain, looking straight at her. She instinctively wanted to avoid him as before, but inexplicably didn’t. She looked directly at him and said softly, “I’m sorry.”

After she spoke, her father turned and left.

Someone else also taking shelter nudged her and handed her a tissue, telling her to wipe the tears from her face. Only then did Zhou Yu realize she was already crying.

Before long, Sun Jingcheng came wearing a raincoat and holding an umbrella to pick her up. Like a magic trick, he pulled another raincoat from his chest for her, chattering on about why she’d come out in such heavy rain.

Zhou Yu didn’t hear clearly at all. Like a puppet, she let him put the raincoat on her and pulled her along, hurrying back to the clinic.

At the clinic, Mother Sun scolded them—why run around in such heavy rain? Zhou Yu sneezed three times in a row. Eldest Sister-in-law found her own clothes for her, urging her to quickly take a hot shower. Only after warm water poured over her body did she seem to come back from a dream.

In the kitchen, Mother Sun had boiled ginger soup—one bowl for those two kids, one bowl for Zhou Yu. Those two kids too—ran out to play all afternoon and came back soaked through.

As Zhou Yu drank the ginger soup, Mother Sun instructed her, saying she already had nasal congestion, and during pregnancy preparation she couldn’t take medicine casually.

Speaking of taking medicine, Zhou Yu finally remembered why she’d come. She went downstairs to find Sun Jingcheng, saying she’d only been vaccinated three months ago. They should avoid it for now and plan again after the new year.

Sun Jingcheng didn’t say anything. He’d also only remembered because of Second Sister-in-law’s situation. He knew a bit of medicine himself. These things were hard to say—they were greatly related to individual physiology. His cousin was a medical worker. Before the new year, the hospital had been in the first batch to get vaccinated. Two months after vaccination she accidentally got pregnant. Now at five or six months, all her checkups showed no problems.

But just because others had no problems didn’t mean they wouldn’t either. This kind of risk was completely controllable—just plan a few months later.

After thinking, Sun Jingcheng still told her, “Second Sister-in-law’s situation isn’t because of the vaccine. It’s her physical condition—later when the fetus gets bigger, the mother’s life will be in danger.”

“Only Second Brother, Uncle, Dad, and the two of us know about this.”

Zhou Yu nodded, indicating she understood.

That evening the two didn’t return to the new district. Taking advantage of the lighter rain, they drove back to their wedding apartment, which was close to the clinic. That night Zhou Yu developed a fever. Combined with the previous night’s soaking in the rain on the mountain, her high fever reached nearly 39 degrees.

Because they hadn’t been using contraception before, the two were worried about pregnancy and didn’t dare take medicine randomly. Sun Jingcheng stayed up all night giving her physical cooling.

At dawn he made congee. Zhou Yu barely managed to drink a bowl before sleeping. The rain outside hadn’t stopped—more accurately, it hadn’t stopped all night.

At noon he called Zhou Yu from the company asking how she was. Zhou Yu said the fever had broken, she’d just heated and drunk the congee, and was about to sleep some more. Sun Jingcheng told her to rest easy—he’d stop by the family residential area first after work.

Before he got off work, Sun Youping called him, telling him to come to the medicinal herb warehouse first after work to help move the Chinese medicine to another location. There was already standing water at the warehouse entrance. If the medicinal herbs touched polluted water, they’d all be ruined.

When Sun Jingcheng returned to the warehouse, he detoured several times—some road sections and culverts were flooded. In the warehouse, Sun Youping had been busy for a long time, packing the medicinal herbs in waterproof plastic film, one bag at a time.

Sun Jingcheng observed the terrain, then called Second Brother, telling him to drive to the warehouse to help. After hanging up, he finally caught his opportunity and said to Sun Youping, “Dad, I’m not saying anything bad, but I said from the beginning this location wouldn’t work…”

“Back then we weren’t talking—who did you tell it wouldn’t work?” Sun Youping shot back.

…

“Anyway this place…”

“Just get to work.” Sun Youping said to him, “You’re most like your mom—talk too much.”

…

The three of them worked until eight at night. There were still some cheap medicinal herbs left, but they really couldn’t move them in time, so they simply gave up on them. The warehouse was in the basement, and the rainwater on the ground surface was streaming down the steps in waves. Besides their family moving Chinese medicine, other families were also busy moving this and that.

The three wrapped their feet tightly in plastic film and waded out through the pouring rain. Sun Youping said this water was too dirty, especially what flowed into the basement—rats, bacteria, all kinds of things.

Because the rain was too heavy, there was no way to drive, and both cars were stuffed full of Chinese medicine. The three wrapped themselves in raincoats and supported each other against the storm as they walked back. When they got to the clinic, they were all urged to shower. Sun Jingcheng went to the side to call Zhou Yu—three calls, none went through.

Mother Sun urged him again to shower. He called Sun Jingfei, wanting her to help go check on the house. Sun Jingfei said the neighborhood had suddenly lost power. He didn’t say anything more, hung up, wrapped his raincoat tight, and prepared to go back.

With such heavy rain outside, Mother Sun scolded him for being willful! Sun Youping drank his ginger soup and waved his hand, telling him to go. Second Brother had also called home, instructing Second Sister-in-law to lock the doors and windows—he’d take a taxi back when the rain stopped. He lived far away—at least six or seven kilometers from the clinic.

Sun Youping made tea. Father and son sat facing each other. Just drinking, with nothing to say. Before, when Big Brother was around, he was good at lightening the atmosphere, always able to make their father happy. But the more he racked his brains searching for conversation, the less he had to say.

In the end, it was Sun Youping who generously found conversation, chatting about Lin Jing’s surgery, telling him to rest assured—the surgery wasn’t major, and Uncle had found an experienced doctor.

He nodded, was silent for a while, then chatted with his father about wanting to get a vasectomy. Sun Youping didn’t object, saying a vasectomy was fine too. He lifted the teapot to pour tea for his father. Sun Youping moved his cup and asked how the restaurant business was going.

Zhou Yu had broken out in a sweat. She was taking a shower in the evening when the power suddenly went out. She finished washing in the dark and came out, lying on the bed not daring to go anywhere. Outside the window, the storm was like an open faucet—whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Her phone was ringing on the sofa outside, but she didn’t dare go out.

She hadn’t been timid before—she’d even been quite bold. It was probably after her father’s death, when she frequently saw him appear, that she began to feel fear.

Fear of what exactly?

When Sun Jingcheng waded through the water to return, Zhou Yu had completely wrapped herself in the blanket. Her hair was wet, her body was sticky, and the sheets had large sweat stains.

Sun Jingcheng took off his pants to wash. On the way back, there was a section where the rainwater reached his calves—he’d literally waded through it to get back.

Zhou Yu sat on the toilet lid holding an aromatherapy candle, watching him wash. As Sun Jingcheng washed, he said, “When I just came up, I saw property management piling sandbags at the garage entrance.”

“Did you ask them when the power would come back?” Zhou Yu chatted with him.

“They said probably tomorrow.”

“When will the rain stop?”

“Probably in the second half of the night. Storms never last long.”

Zhou Yu didn’t ask anymore.

After Sun Jingcheng finished washing, he felt her forehead—the fever had broken. He got dressed and went to cook noodles for her. When he came back, he’d brought meat sauce from the clinic—just cook plain noodles and pour a spoonful over them.

Zhou Yu followed him back and forth with the candle. He found it funny and pulled her into his arms to wait for the water to boil together, to add the noodles together, and after cooking, to sit and eat together.

After eating, he carefully dried her hair bit by bit, then changed the sheets and lay down with her, casually saying, “This is really nice!”

“What’s really nice?”

“Being able to be with you is really nice!” Sun Jingcheng said contentedly. “Back then I wasn’t thinking about anything, I only had one thought—I must come back. Otherwise what if an evil dragon came down and snatched you away?”

Zhou Yu pinched him. “If there really was an evil dragon, it would snatch you first.”

Sun Jingcheng laughed heartily, half-seriously saying, “I’d rather it snatch me first. While it’s eating me, you run quickly, run as far as you can…” He imagined that scene, slowly getting into character. “Run far, far away, then forget me, find someone better than me to marry. Have two more kids, live a noisy, happy lifetime.” As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.

“Why find someone better than you?”

“Only if you find someone better can you forget me, dummy.”

“Makes sense.” Zhou Yu agreed.

“Little heartless thing.” Sun Jingcheng couldn’t be bothered with her. “I’m still alive.”

Zhou Yu interlaced her ten fingers with his, saying nothing.

“The beneficiary of my insurance is you. If something really happens to me, all the assets under my name—you keep them.” Sun Jingcheng thought of how Big Brother had left without a word, and also thought of a friend who suddenly passed away, whose creditors took IOUs and contracts to sue his wife…

“After you get the money, go enjoy yourself. Don’t be like Eldest Sister-in-law—acting fine during the day, secretly crying at night.” Sun Jingcheng said slowly, “Mom said the other day that Eldest Sister-in-law has cried in her sleep several times at night, scaring Yuyan.”

Zhou Yu didn’t respond the whole time, listening to him ramble on, feeling incomparably peaceful and secure in her heart. Only after he’d finished his complete instructions did she slowly respond, “Got it. After getting all your inheritance, I’ll go enjoy myself and keep a young pretty boy like Timothée Chalamet.”

Sun Jingcheng felt uncomfortable and sat up asking, “Who’s Timothée Chalamet?”

Zhou Yu searched for pictures to show him—what a healing, fresh young man!

Sun Jingcheng lay back down, saying the opposite of what he meant, “Not bad. A spirited young fellow.”

Zhou Yu laughed heartily, hugged him and said, “But I still prefer old cured meat.”

Sun Jingcheng pretended to viciously bite her nose, hugging her tightly without saying a word.