Before evening, Jiang Jin drove her back. She got out carrying a cake and quickly walked back to the clinic. Nodding to the father and son busy at the consultation desk, she went straight upstairs.

Upstairs, Mother Sun was pontificating, saying nowadays when dating, the most reliable method was to look at both parties’ elders. If the other party’s elders were reasonable, refined people, the child wouldn’t be too bad. But if the other family’s relationships were a complete mess, then you had to observe this child more carefully, couldn’t blindly rush into marriage.

“Take Ke Yong—your father and I didn’t like him at all from the start. The way he looked at people wasn’t magnanimous…” As she spoke, Eldest Sister-in-law frantically signaled her with her eyes.

Mother Sun abruptly changed the subject. “Hey… didn’t Zhou Yu say she’d come back today?”

Eldest Sister-in-law responded, “The school issued a notice requiring all teachers and students to be in the province for fourteen days before school starts. She’ll definitely come back today.”

“Then perhaps she went to the family compound first?”

“Possibly.”

Sun Jingfei put the cake in the refrigerator, tied on an apron, and started helping cook, saying whatever works, not taking your bait.

Mother Sun struck first, saying it was really rare—buying a cake to celebrate a divorce! After saying this, she dropped a line, “I’m going to buy sesame oil.” She nimbly went downstairs. Her steps were too fast. Not watching carefully, she missed a step. Fortunately, she cleverly grabbed the railing and didn’t roll down. Then with lingering fear, she cursed at Sun Jingfei—damn you! Always appearing silently, scaring people to death!

Sun Jingfei efficiently cut meat, marinated meat, preparing to fry small crispy pork. Eldest Sister-in-law was selecting vegetables beside her. She couldn’t help making small talk with her, asking if splitting the assets fifty-fifty, could she swallow this anger?

“What can’t I swallow? Things that can be solved with money aren’t problems.” Sun Jingfei said, “We worked so hard to save Eldest Brother, didn’t he still leave just the same?”

Eldest Sister-in-law froze for a moment and didn’t make a sound.

Sun Jingfei sensed something was wrong and said again, “I didn’t mean anything by it. How can everything go smoothly? As long as Ke Yu is willing to stay with me, what does money matter?”

“For our marriage to reach this point, I definitely bear responsibility. Nothing more to say. Besides, if I take this matter with him to court, I won’t get anything good out of it either.”

“Why?” Eldest Sister-in-law didn’t understand.

“The lawyer said in my situation I could demand divorce damages, but wanting the man to leave with nothing is simply impossible.” Sun Jingfei said while cutting vegetables, “It would be too easy to destroy Ke Yong—just report him for prostitution when he’s at a hotel. I did do that at first, but the moment the call connected, I hung up.”

Eldest Sister-in-law was shocked and couldn’t speak for a long time.

Sun Jingfei looked at her. “I was afraid that in a desperate struggle, dragging myself in would be a small matter, but what if he became desperate and came to the clinic with a knife… the old and young, a whole houseful of people. I couldn’t take that gamble.”

Then she slowly talked about something from two years ago. “That day his sister asked to borrow money, saying she’d return it in a month. I said no problem, but even with a good relationship, you still need to write an IOU, right? He was driving at the time. We argued for a few sentences. Just then a car wanted to cut in line, and he crashed into that car! We were arguing about family matters, and he vented his anger by crashing into someone else’s car… After sixteen years of marriage, I don’t dare say I understand him.”

“These past two years my mentality has changed, especially after Eldest Brother left. My courage has gotten smaller and smaller.” Sun Jingfei said calmly, “Money lost can be earned back. Bringing a disaster into the family is the greater crime. Besides, I was indecisive about this divorce matter—I played a good hand badly.”

Eldest Sister-in-law fell silent, not responding for a moment. A few days ago, Lin Jing had chatted idly with her, also saying Sun Jingfei’s divorce was a good hand played terribly. She said if it were her, she could make Ke Yong leave with nothing. From the moment she caught him cheating, directly throw out the evidence, cut the Gordian knot—negotiate conditions while he still had some guilt was the best timing. Now the two had been tearing at each other for half a year. All affection and guilt were exhausted. At this point, what use was Sun Jingfei throwing out evidence? Then she said none of the Sun family would do—if your heart isn’t ruthless, you can’t accomplish great things.

Eldest Sister-in-law just listened. Everyone could be rational and objective about others’ affairs, commenting with authority. But when it came to themselves, it was just as messy. Otherwise, with Lin Jing’s personality, she would have taken the money and divorced long ago. How could she be separating and reconciling, tangled and entangled with Second?

Over there, Sun Jingfei tagged Zhou Yu in the group chat, asking if she’d come back. Zhou Yu replied, “At the family compound. I’ll come over in the evening.”

Sun Jingfei instructed her, “You handle the important things first. Remember to buy a bottle of red wine when you come back. I just forgot.”

Zhou Yu replied, “Alright.”

Sun Jingfei put down her phone, casually tied up her hair, and called to her, “Sister-in-law.”

Eldest Sister-in-law looked at her.

“Mom said last month someone introduced you to someone. Why didn’t you meet them?” Sun Jingfei said, “If you meet someone suitable, Eldest Brother would be willing for you to meet too.”

“Who does he think he is?” Eldest Sister-in-law threw the vegetables into the basin. “Left such a mess and walked away, and still wants to control me?”

“You should meet them. Not for anyone else, just for yourself.” Sun Jingfei said.

“I don’t have that inclination.” Eldest Sister-in-law said while washing vegetables, “The good ones don’t like me, the bad ones I don’t like. Being alone is so good—don’t have to serve anyone.”

“Being alone is indeed comfortable.” Sun Jingfei agreed.

“Do you have that inclination?” Eldest Sister-in-law looked at her.

“What inclination?”

“Remarriage.”

“Remarry my ass!” Sun Jingfei was enjoying herself. “Messing around alone is so comfortable—mess with one today, another tomorrow…”

Before she finished, Eldest Sister-in-law hit her shoulder. “You really speak without restraint, lawless.”

Sun Jingfei seriously replied to her, “I’ll introduce you to one later.”

Eldest Sister-in-law blushed and spat at her. “Old indecent thing!”

Sun Jingfei laughed loudly.

Eldest Sister-in-law couldn’t hold back and also laughed. “The forest is really big—all kinds of women exist! Messing around… playing with men… I can’t believe you can say it out loud.”

While the sisters-in-law were talking nonsense on this side, over there Mother Sun was carrying a jug of sesame oil and a large watermelon weighing about twenty-some pounds, walking and resting all the way back from the grain and oil market. The watermelon was heavy, straining her hands. They said it was from Ningxia—each one twenty to thirty pounds.

Mother Sun wiped the sweat from her forehead, hands on her hips, resting for a bit. This time she truly admitted she was old. Last year she could carry such a watermelon home in one breath. Now for half a mile she had to rest three or four times.

Sun Youping, coming out to use the public toilet, saw her and came over from afar. First taking the sesame oil from her hands, he said there was still watermelon in the fridge—why buy such a big one? Mother Sun said, “Third loves eating this melon. Last time he was clamoring to eat it. That half watermelon in the fridge—those kids scooped out all the heart.”

The old couple talked, each holding one side of the bag, working together to carry the watermelon home.

Upstairs, Sun Jingfei saw and said, “On such a hot day, why buy such a big watermelon?”

“I wanted to buy it.” Mother Sun found a large washbasin and soaked the watermelon in it.

“You’re also looking for trouble. Later when you’re exhausted, you’ll complain again. So heavy—I don’t know how you carried it back.” Sun Jingfei said.

Mother Sun only focused on soaking the watermelon and didn’t respond to her.

Zhou Yu arrived at the family compound at noon, just running into Feng Yiqun coming out to dump garbage. She wanted to take the large backpack from her shoulder. Zhou Yu shook her head. “Not heavy, just two sets of clothes.”

“Did you have fun?” Feng Yiqun asked.

“Happy.” Zhou Yu replied.

“Your face is all tanned.” Feng Yiqun laughed at her.

Zhou Yu touched her face. “Really darker?”

Mother and daughter chatted as they went upstairs. Feng Yiqun asked, “What do you want to eat?”

“Stuffed bitter melon.”

Feng Yiqun washed her hands, took a bamboo basket, and went to the market.

Zhou Yu returned to the inner room to see Grandmother, just in time for her bowel movement. She didn’t wait for Feng Yiqun to come back—she fumbled through changing her herself. Then she wiped with wet wipes. Finally, she learned from Feng Yiqun’s method—rolled all the wiped wet wipes inside the diaper, bundled it up, carried it out and threw it away. Then she washed her hands and returned to the living room, poured herself a large glass of mint water to drink, suppressing that uncomfortable feeling in her heart. This was her first time cleaning Grandmother’s excrement. Usually Feng Yiqun did it.

Then she tidied up the living room, mopped the floor with disinfectant, and finally sprayed perfume in Grandmother’s room. In the evening, she bathed Grandmother and cut her hair. After getting everything in order, she bought red wine and returned to the clinic.

Near the clinic entrance, several neighborhood children were squatting there playing. Yuyan was the first to see her and ran over from afar calling, “Auntie.”

Zhou Yu touched his head and smiled. “Want ice cream?”

“Yes! But I already ate one today. Mommy won’t let me eat more.”

“Then want an egg tart?”

Sun Yuyan nodded vigorously.

Then Zhou Yu was surrounded by several children going to the bakery. Each one happily picked one out. One of the children said to Sun Yuyan, “Your aunt is so nice!”

Sun Yuyan experienced for the first time what it meant to “have face.” Originally they all thought he was too young and didn’t want to play with him. After Auntie bought them egg tarts, everyone was fighting to play with him.

…

Sun Jingcheng was writing study notes. Seeing Zhou Yu come back, the two smiled at each other. Zhou Yu signaled for him to stay busy—she’d go upstairs first.

In the kitchen, they were chatting heatedly. Not knowing where they’d gotten to, Eldest Sister-in-law was talking about a case Eldest Brother had handled many years ago. “The son had been missing for over ten years. Later when the family renovated the building, the father found skeletal remains under a tree in the courtyard.”

“The father reported it to the police, saying he suspected that mother-daughter pair had killed his son. The mother had remarried long ago, and the only daughter had also married and moved away…”

“So it really was that mother-daughter pair who killed him?” Mother Sun was greatly shocked.

“The mother confessed, but the daughter said she didn’t know…”

“Really didn’t know?”

“This wasn’t easy to investigate. She said she didn’t know… but Eldest suspected she knew.” Eldest Sister-in-law said, “Anyway, in the end only the mother was arrested. Seems she was sentenced quite heavily.”

“Sentenced too heavily.” Sun Jingfei said, “This case was in the papers back then. The cause seems to have been alcoholism and domestic violence or something… The biggest point of controversy was whether it was intentional homicide or manslaughter. According to neighbors’ testimony, they said this mother-daughter pair was too calm and composed, completely didn’t look like they’d killed someone. When the skeletal remains were dug up, their whole village was shocked!”

“The daughter said she was sleeping deeply at midnight and didn’t know her parents were arguing. But this explanation doesn’t hold up. When parents fight, there’s such a commotion—how could she sleep through it? Your eldest brother said eighty percent the daughter saw it but chose to protect the mother.”

“Hey Zhou Yu, throw half a green onion in the pot. My hands are dirty.” Eldest Sister-in-law said.

Zhou Yu was tying knots in cut tofu skin sheets—later she’d fry them in oil, then simmer in chicken broth, and tomorrow sandwich them in flatbread to eat. Hearing Eldest Sister-in-law call her, she broke off a section of green onion and threw it in the pot.

Mother Sun was still sighing, saying it was truly sinful. Sun Jingfei said, “This man deserved it! He was the one who threatened with a knife first. This mother and daughter were also unlucky. Two more years and the statute of limitations would have passed.”

“Your eldest brother said the same thing. Two years later and this matter would have passed.”

“Burying him in their own courtyard—their courage was big enough.”

“The most dangerous place is the safest place.” Sun Jingfei said, “If I accidentally killed Ke Yong, I wouldn’t say anything either. Saying it out loud, having a murderer for a mother—how would that affect my son’s future…”

Mother Sun slapped her, telling her to get lost. Then she talked about a close friend from when she was young who married into a poor remote area. Three years after marriage, she disappeared. Her maternal family went to demand her back. The in-laws said she’d run away to work in the south.

“Her courage was so small—how could she possibly run away to work in the south? Later her family reported it to the police. In the end, nothing was found.” Mother Sun said with difficulty, then went to the bathroom to get washed clothes.

“Our company used to have an intern. His dad was a rapist. I found out unintentionally. I was afraid this would negatively affect the intern, so I kept it suppressed and didn’t dare say anything.” Sun Jingfei said, “I felt the father is the father, the son is the son… Later someone found out and it spread.”

“And then?” Eldest Sister-in-law asked.

Sun Jingfei didn’t elaborate, only saying, “For rapists and murderers, once their children are exposed, it’s basically a death sentence for them too—they can’t enter society.”

The atmosphere became somewhat heavy. Eldest Sister-in-law changed the subject. “Is Lin Jing coming?”

Sun Jingfei bit into a cucumber. “Said she has something going on.”

Eldest Sister-in-law thought for a while and said, “Tomorrow shall we three go see her?”

“Sure. I have no objection.” Sun Jingfei looked toward Zhou Yu. “Are you free tomorrow?”

After asking, she didn’t respond for a long time. She asked again. Only then did Zhou Yu come to her senses and ask them, “What’s wrong?”

“Said we’d go see Second Sister-in-law tomorrow. Seems like ever since she had the surgery, her condition has been very poor.”

“Sure, I’m free tomorrow.” Zhou Yu agreed.

“At first when she got pregnant, she didn’t seem to want it much. Why is she so upset now?” Sun Jingfei didn’t understand.

“She always wanted it very much, especially since it was a girl…” Eldest Sister-in-law couldn’t help saying to her, “You and Fourth are a perfect pair of five hundred.”

“What five hundred?”

“Each person two hundred and fifty.” (idiom meaning foolish)

Sun Jingfei, silly as she was, even laughed loudly.

After dinner, Sun Jingcheng and Second were downstairs with Sun Youping drinking tea, also discussing matters. The women washed up, cleared the dining table, and cut the cake. Sun Jingfei was very happy, humming in her mouth… boom-boom-boom… boom-boom-boom…

Eldest Sister-in-law said to her, “Why are you happier about divorce than marriage?”

Sun Jingfei announced, “From now on, feel free to introduce fresh young meat. Focus on good physique and fine temperament, let me also taste their wonders…”

Mother Sun heard and came out with a fruit knife. Sun Jingfei ran to the balcony with her plate of cake to eat. Mother Sun cursed at her, “If I ever hear any gossip in the future, I’ll break your legs!”

Sun Jingfei leaned against the balcony railing laughing. She laughed too hard—a plate of cake fell all over herself.

Eldest Sister-in-law said to her, “What’s gotten into you today?”

Mother Sun cut the soaked watermelon for them and brought a plate down to the first floor. Zhou Yu ate absent-mindedly. After eating two bites, she went downstairs to stand by the street.

This street, because the parasol trees were lush, was relatively much cooler. In the evening, many people sat out to enjoy the cool air. She stood there listening to idle chatter for a while. Her mood slowly calmed. Sun Jingcheng came out from the clinic, looked at her for a long time and said, “You got tanned.”

“Have you finished discussing business?” Zhou Yu asked.

“Finished.”

“Shall we go for a walk?”

“Sure.” Sun Jingcheng prepared to return to the clinic, then turned back to ask, “Did you have fun?”

“Happy.”

Only then did Sun Jingcheng return to the clinic, but was called back by Zhou Yu, who said she wanted to smoke a cigarette.

…

Sun Jingcheng went upstairs to steal cigarettes and a lighter from his sister’s bag, also told Sun Youping, then came out to walk with Zhou Yu.

The two didn’t go far—they went to a nearby night market. Inside it was like a sundries street, selling everything. Zhou Yu hooked one of his arms, her other hand holding a cigarette, strolling with the flow of people.

Sun Jingcheng sensed she was in a bad mood and asked her, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Zhou Yu took a drag of her cigarette, held up a large T-shirt against herself. “Does it look good?”

“Looks good.”

Zhou Yu asked how much? The vendor said 58 yuan. She picked out a men’s style, held it against Sun Jingcheng, saying to wear it for evening walks later.

Sun Jingcheng scanned to pay. Zhou Yu bargained. “110 for both.”

“Alright, alright, selling at a loss to you.” The vendor said and nimbly wrapped them up for her.

Coming out of the noisy night market stalls, they strolled along that row of quiet willow trees, chatting while walking. Sun Jingcheng said that last quarter because of relocating the company and so on, expenses were high, and receipts were just over a hundred thousand. He transferred all the money in the card to her. “I’m not good at financial management. From now on, you manage the household money.”

“Alright.” Zhou Yu agreed. Then she stretched out her arms. “Hug.”

Sun Jingcheng hugged her and comforted, “Don’t feel sad anymore.”

Zhou Yu’s face leaned against his shoulder. She nodded.

Sun Jingcheng lowered his head to kiss her, one kiss after another in gentle comfort. She didn’t say why she was sad, and he didn’t force her.

Zhou Yu hooked his neck for a deep kiss. After kissing for a while, she rested on his shoulder. Sun Jingcheng held her tightly, insisting she stand on his shoes. After she stepped onto his feet, he gestured and said, “You only reach my mouth.”

Zhou Yu opened her mouth to bite his lip. “Reaching the mouth is enough.”

Sun Jingcheng wasn’t used to being intimate in places outside home. He said softly, “Shall we go home?”

“Alright.” Zhou Yu’s mood had improved considerably. She interlocked her ten fingers with his and slowly walked back.

On the way, Zhou Yu thanked him.

Sun Jingcheng didn’t understand. “Thanks for what?”

“Thank you for being considerate.”

Sun Jingcheng laughed loudly and fiercely kissed her once.