“Name?”

“Zhou Yu.”

“Age?”

“Thirty-three.”

“Occupation?”

“English teacher for seventh grade at Foreign Language Senior High School.”

“Please give an oral account of what happened.”

After Zhou Yu finished giving her statement, when she came out of the police station, the streetlights on both sides of the road were already lit. She stood by the curb in the cold, calling the school, when the officer who had taken her statement came out from inside, rolled down his car window and asked her: “Where are you going? It’s hard to get a taxi here, want me to give you a ride?”

Zhou Yu bent down slightly and responded, “Huaihai West Road, is it on your way?”

“Not really, I’m going to the hospital to see the involved party.”

Zhou Yu hesitated briefly, then pulled open the car door, “Alright, I’m also going to the hospital.”

On the road, the two chatted casually. The officer comforted her, worried she might face disciplinary action from the school. Zhou Yu looked down at the WeChat message Feng Yiqun had sent her, but didn’t reply. She continued chatting with him, “Probably not, right?”

The officer wasn’t as optimistic as she was, and changed the subject, saying that today marked the beginning of the coldest nine-day period, the coldest days of the year were about to begin.

Zhou Yu glanced out the window. The entire sky was gray and misty, with only bare tree trunks standing in the vast night.

“The vast sea laughs—tides surge on both shores, rising and falling with the waves—remember this day; The boundless sky laughs—countless tides in the mortal world, who loses, who wins—heaven knows;

Mountains and rivers laugh—mist and rain in the distance, waves wash away how much of the worldly dust and mundane affairs;

The clear breeze laughs—stirring up loneliness, what remains of heroic passion is the evening glow on my lapels…”

In a private room at the club, three men stood there singing together with great passion. One of them, in his late thirties, possessed a naturally commanding presence in every gesture, singing with complete immersion when someone holding a phone interrupted: “Old Sun, Old Sun, your mother-in-law is calling!”

Only when the song ended did Sun Jingcheng take the phone and leave the private room, finding a quiet place to return the call. After a while, he came back and said to everyone: “You guys continue, I need to leave first.”

“What’s going on with you, such a killjoy?” Everyone protested.

“I’ll organize another gathering another day, but I really have to go now.” Sun Jingcheng said with a smile.

“It’s still early, not even ten o’clock yet…”

“Let’s just all call it a night. We’ll get together at the full moon celebration the day after tomorrow. Old Jiang’s wife is still in postpartum confinement, let him go home early to look after her too.”

Everyone wasn’t quite satisfied yet, making plans for next time to have a proper good time, casually grabbing cigarettes from the table, stuffing them in their pockets, pushing and shoving each other as they left the private room.

“Old Sun, bring your wife the day after tomorrow too. Don’t hide her away, all shy and unwilling to meet people.”

Someone chimed in with the teasing, singing, “A shy rose blooms quietly…”

“Give us some face, you absolutely must bring Zhou Yu!” Old Jiang said excitedly: “Let you two as a couple also bask in some joyful energy. You’ve been married three years now, it’s time to have a child.”

“You’re all so concerned.” Sun Jingcheng said with a smile.

“Seriously though, keep it in mind, bring Zhou Yu to the full moon celebration.” Old Jiang put away the joking tone.

“Alright. I’ll pass on the message.” Sun Jingcheng agreed.

The group said their goodbyes in the parking lot, and Sun Jingcheng returned to their marital home. This year he had been living in the new district more often, firstly because it was close to his company; secondly because he frequently traveled for business, and with the pandemic constantly recurring, living in the new district also made it convenient for him to self-isolate. Zhou Yu, on the other hand, lived in the old city district’s marital home, just two blocks from the school where she worked.

The old district wasn’t really that far from the new district, only seven or eight kilometers, but some road sections were under metro construction, so what used to be a ten-minute drive now required at least half an hour of detours.

When Sun Jingcheng arrived at the marital home, he saw Zhou Yu eating dinner and asked her, “Just got off work?”

“Yeah, I’ve been back for about half an hour.” Zhou Yu responded.

Sun Jingcheng took off his coat and hung it up, then bent down to neatly arrange the shoes messily piled in front of the shoe cabinet, carefully rolling up the shafts of the knee-high women’s boots bit by bit before tucking them into the shoe cabinet.

Zhou Yu glanced over. After finishing her meal and wiping her mouth, she went to the shoe cabinet, took out the knee-high boots, looked at the boot shafts from both sides, and said to him: “This leather is delicate, it can’t withstand such rough treatment.” As she spoke, she stood the knee-high boots upright against the wall.

“Last time you forcibly stuffed my snow boots into the shoe cabinet, you rubbed all the fur off. Some of my boots have long shafts, forcibly stuffing them in the shoe cabinet will deform the shoes.”

Sun Jingcheng wouldn’t take the blame for this. He rolled up his sleeves and went to the bathroom, “That pair of furry boots was when we were at the family compound, a cat clawed the fur off.”

Zhou Yu finished with the shoes and tidied up the messy sofa and coffee table as well, “School’s been busy these past few days, haven’t had time to clean up.”

Sun Jingcheng didn’t mind. He sat down at the piano, removed the dust cover from the keys, his ten fingers moving back and forth across the black and white keys, but not playing.

Zhou Yu took the dishes to wash, asking from the kitchen, “My mom called you?”

Sun Jingcheng covered the piano with the dust cover, stood up and looked around the room. He had purchased this apartment ten years ago, 120 square meters, a standard two-bedroom. Originally there was also a children’s room, but during renovation he had the children’s room opened up to the living room, with half simply furnished as a study, and half specifically used to place his piano.

“The day after tomorrow is Old Jiang’s son’s full moon celebration, are you going or not?”

Zhou Yu had been wanting to mention this too, “A few days ago Sister Yingzi sent me a WeChat message to discuss how much to give as a gift for Old Jiang’s child’s full moon celebration. The general idea was that you brothers should discuss it among yourselves so everyone knows how much to give.”

“What’s there to discuss about that?” Sun Jingcheng asked, leaning against the kitchen door.

“If you all give different amounts as gifts, it would make the person who gives less feel awkward. Sister Yingzi said everyone should give 888.”

“Isn’t that too little?”

“That’s how gift money for weddings and funerals works.” Zhou Yu said: “Old Jiang’s having a second child, 888 isn’t little.”

“Alright, you decide.”

“There’s a lot of etiquette to gift money, if you don’t do it right you’ll offend a whole circle of people.” Zhou Yu said with her back to him while wiping dishes, “Last year when your cousin got married, your sister gave 2000, and your mom scolded her. Dad and Second Uncle only gave 2000.” Then she continued: “In autumn Sister Yingzi even said that people don’t usually hold full moon celebrations for second children anymore. A few days ago when she asked me to discuss it, she very readily said to give 888. Yesterday I found out that she had also discovered she was pregnant with her second child.” She couldn’t help but laugh.

Sun Jingcheng was thoroughly convinced, “For these social etiquette matters, we still have to rely on you women.”

Zhou Yu didn’t bother to judge whether this was praise or criticism, and continued: “In these three years, you’ve spent about 40,000 on gift money for weddings and funerals, in and out.”

“You’re keeping track of everything?” Sun Jingcheng said with amusement.

Only then did Zhou Yu face him, “Try hard, have two children and you’ll get it all back.” Then her tone took a sharp turn, “When are we going to get our divorce certificate?”

Only then did Sun Jingcheng understand that her words had barbs hidden in them. After pondering the meaning for a while, he asked her, “How come I feel like ever since we agreed to divorce, you’ve just given up completely and shown your true colors?”

Zhou Yu brushed past him to the living room, picked up the hand cream from the coffee table and applied it, not responding to his comment. She stared expressionlessly at the piano in a daze, then heard Sun Jingcheng say from the kitchen: “When we have time I’ll transfer this apartment to you.”

Zhou Yu was clearly taken aback, then said without any courtesy: “Great, I’d be foolish not to take it.”

“The mortgage on this apartment is paid off, it’s close to your school, convenient to live in.”

“Thanks, really thinking of me.” Zhou Yu said without much sincerity.

“We can never stay on good terms for more than three minutes.” Sun Jingcheng brought over a plate of cut kiwi fruit.

Zhou Yu couldn’t be bothered to respond to him. She poured herself a glass of room temperature water and stood by the dining table drinking it. Sun Jingcheng told her to drink less cold water. Zhou Yu replied, “I want to, is it any of your business?”

……

Sun Jingcheng didn’t bother with her either. He first went to the bathroom to run water in the bathtub, then came back and sat on the sofa with his eyes closed to rest. Zhou Yu ate two pieces of kiwi and leaned against the edge of the dining table, lost in thought.

Without opening his eyes, Sun Jingcheng said: “If you think this apartment is too old, I can transfer the East District apartment to you?”

“This one is fine.” Zhou Yu said.

“You won’t use the piano anyway, I’ll move it out later.”

“Go ahead and move it.”

“I’ll leave the car, it’ll be convenient for you when you take Mom and Grandma out somewhere.”

“You won’t need it?”

“I’ll buy another one later.”

“Whatever you want.”

“Let’s not mention this to our elders first. After we get the certificate, we’ll slowly tell them after New Year’s.” Sun Jingcheng discussed with her.

“Mm.” Zhou Yu had the same intention.

“If there’s anything with your family in the future, let me know, I’ll help if I can.” Sun Jingcheng said.

“No need. From now on we’ll each go our separate ways. If we see each other from afar we’ll sensibly avoid each other.” Zhou Yu replied.

Sun Jingcheng looked at her, “We don’t have any deep hatred, we just can’t live together. If the relationship is too strained, it’ll be awkward for the elders to see each other later.”

Zhou Yu thought seriously for a while, and was quite magnanimous in her words, “Then let’s maintain appearances in public. Business fails, but goodwill remains.”

The two discussed many more details about the divorce, both agreeing to have a good New Year first, then tell the elders after the new year. After finishing the discussion, neither had anything more to say.

Zhou Yu was about to go back to the bedroom to wash up when Sun Jingcheng called out to her, “Oh right, Mom wants you to come back tomorrow. She says Grandma wants to go to the bathhouse to wash…” Before he could finish, Zhou Yu had already run quickly to the bathroom.

Sun Jingcheng realized something and immediately followed. The water in the bathtub had long since overflowed all over the bathroom floor.

The two had a busy time of it. Only after they had completely cleaned up and dried everything did Zhou Yu look at him, “This is the third time you’ve done something like this.”

Sun Jingcheng was in the wrong, so naturally he kept quiet.

That night Sun Jingcheng lay on the sofa watching TV, and fell asleep while watching. When he opened his eyes again, it was already six in the morning. He threw off the blanket covering him, went to the balcony to gaze out for a while, then stretched his arms and legs, changed his clothes and went for a morning run.

Sun Jingcheng had developed two habits since childhood. One was starting to play piano from age six, going from initially playing two hours every day, to now—apart from business trips or social engagements—playing whenever he had time; the other was the morning running habit he developed with his older brother starting in middle school. Unless the weather was terrible, whether at home or abroad, on business trips or after staying up late, nothing affected his morning run.

Playing piano wasn’t something Sun Jingcheng’s parents had intentionally cultivated, but rather when he was young, their neighbor was an elderly gentleman who could play, and Sun Jingcheng always loved going to his home. Over time he learned a piece from him, and later the old gentleman felt he had talent and privately taught him some basics.

It wasn’t until after studying for a year, when Sun Jingcheng could play quite well in class, that his parents were shocked to discover it was the old gentleman upstairs who had been teaching him. The couple felt embarrassed, so they took gifts to visit, and later he became Sun Jingcheng’s first piano teacher. This old gentleman was originally from the south. After teaching Sun Jingcheng for three years, he introduced another teacher to him, then returned to the south.

Going back eight generations, the Sun family were all common folk without any great achievements. Unexpectedly with Sun Jingcheng, everyone praised the Sun family for raising a phoenix from a chicken coop, becoming the city’s renowned “Piano Little Prince.” Mother Sun was very proud—Little Prince! She willingly emptied the family coffers to get Sun Jingcheng a piano, planning to cultivate him to follow the path of an “artist” in the future.

The path wasn’t wrong. In his youth, Sun Jingcheng’s piano playing was indeed astonishing, and he was praised to the point of having grandiose fantasies. But as he grew older and his interests broadened, in middle school Sun Jingcheng successively fell in love with guitar, cello, erhu, flute, kuaiban, and other popular instruments of the time. Anyway, whether refined or common, he was interested in trying them all out.

But it was just trying them out.

The result was—he knew a bit about every instrument, but wasn’t proficient in any. In the end, even the piano suffered. In Mother Sun’s words: a bottle that doesn’t slosh is full; a half-full bottle sloshes around.

At that time, Sun Jingcheng’s understanding of instruments was very pure—he simply liked them. He’d play when happy, not play when unhappy, never thinking about striving for excellence, getting a valuable certificate, or developing it as a skill to add points for college entrance exams. But his mother, who wanted to cultivate him into a “pianist,” didn’t see it that way. Following the teacher’s instructions, she strengthened time management for Sun Jingcheng, going from two hours a day, to three hours, then to five hours on weekends. Gradually Sun Jingcheng stopped feeling joy, just practicing piano for the sake of practicing, and quickly lost interest. Even now Mother Sun still constantly mentions it, blaming herself for not guiding Sun Jingcheng properly, causing him to veer off the artistic path and miss becoming a “pianist.”

But Sun Jingcheng’s twin sister didn’t see it that way. She believed it was a matter of roots—if the ancestors weren’t royal, the descendants couldn’t produce nobility.

When Sun Jingcheng was even younger, Father Sun had his heart set on him studying medicine. Because Father Sun had opened a clinic at their doorstep, he would always have Sun Jingcheng help prepare Chinese medicines and memorize their effects, wanting to subtly influence him to study medicine. Sun Jingcheng did have some talent, and he did study medicine in university, but by his sophomore year he found it boring, stubbornly dropped out to repeat the year, and finally got into the university he wanted.

This incident nearly caused a complete break between father and son. It’s been twenty-some years, and the two still hardly speak to each other.

After his morning run, Sun Jingcheng received a call from Feng Yiqun asking what they wanted to eat for lunch. She happened to be at the market and could buy it for them. Zhou Yu was cooking breakfast when she heard the commotion and glanced over. Sun Jingcheng was listing dishes: “Braised rice noodles with preserved vegetables, cold bitter greens salad, old broth tofu, braised oxtail…”

Completely without formality!

Zhou Yu turned back around and continued cooking porridge while checking the WeChat group. Last night the group had discussed until eleven, saying the school leadership had suddenly called a meeting, planning to install surveillance in each classroom. Some supported it, some opposed it, and the final decision would be announced on Monday. A colleague had tagged her asking for her opinion. As usual, Zhou Yu stayed out of it, not getting involved. She grabbed a handful of red dates from the cupboard and threw them in the porridge.

After finishing his phone call, Sun Jingcheng transferred 20,000 to her, saying it was this month’s household expenses. Zhou Yu didn’t accept it, “There’s more than half left from last month.”

“Then buy Mom something. Usually we’ve imposed on them quite a bit.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of it.” Zhou Yu accepted it.

“Made porridge?” Sun Jingcheng came toward the kitchen.

“Made some sweet porridge.” Zhou Yu served him porridge, also prepared a dish of pickled cucumbers, and peeled a salted duck egg. The two sat at the dining table eating quietly.

Zhou Yu’s pickled cucumbers were exceptional—sour, spicy, refreshing and crispy. Sun Jingcheng drank two bowls of porridge with them. After eating, he said he’d go handle some business first, and would come back in the evening to pick her up and go to the family compound together.

Zhou Yu leaned on the balcony railing watching him leave the building. He was walking and listening to a phone call when he suddenly seemed to remember something and looked up. Zhou Yu quickly turned aside.

Sun Jingcheng shouted from downstairs, “Zhou Yu—”

A dozen or so seconds later Zhou Yu responded, “What did you forget now?”

“I forgot to bring the car keys!”

Zhou Yu found a newspaper to wrap the car keys in, crumpled it up, and threw it right into his arms. Sun Jingcheng shook it open to get the keys, waved at her, and strode toward the parking spot.

This residential complex was old and a bit noisy, but very conveniently located—turn left or right out the door and you’d reach a metro station. And it was in a school district, with the city’s best educational resources concentrated here.

Last month a unit on the top floor sold for 24,000 per square meter. Their section was low-rise, six floors total, and she and Sun Jingcheng lived on the fourth floor with the best lighting.

Sun Jingcheng’s twin sister had always worked at a real estate company. Ten years ago, under her strong intervention, Sun Jingcheng had purchased this apartment for just a few thousand per square meter.

The sun was excellent today. Zhou Yu brought out the quilt to air it out, and also gave the place a thorough cleaning. This semester had been especially busy. She taught one honors class and one experimental class, and also had to rotate through supervising morning and evening self-study sessions. Finally getting a weekend off, she was either at Sun Jingcheng’s parents’ home or her own home, rarely having leisure time to herself.

After finishing the cleaning, she sat on the balcony with a book to enjoy the sun. She had only turned two pages when she started to doze off. Her phone rang beside her. Feng Yiqun sent a WeChat message asking her to buy a bottle of Friendship Snowflake Cream. Her grandmother was used to using it and had run out at home.