After Zhou Yu had lunch with Eldest Sister-in-law and chatted for about two hours, asking about Yuyan’s specific situation, she and Sun Jingcheng returned to the clinic.

Eldest Sister-in-law still worked at the immigration hall. No matter how difficult it was, she had to continue living, had to earn money to raise the children. Yuyan’s kindergarten let out at 4:30. After school, her sister-in-law first picked him up and took him to her maternal family home, then after work she’d go to her maternal family home to pick him up.

Her maternal family home wasn’t in the same district as Yuyan’s kindergarten. Her sister-in-law had to make a long detour to pick him up. She’d make another loop after work to pick him up from her maternal family home—extremely time-consuming!

After hearing this, Mother Sun asked, “Didn’t her mother just have surgery?”

Zhou Yu nodded. “Eldest Sister-in-law said it was breast cancer.”

Mother Sun deliberated for a long time, then spoke to her privately. “I’ve been worried about how Yuyan would manage when your eldest sister-in-law went to work. I really want to help take care of him, but I’m afraid she’d be sensitive… If Yuyan becomes too close to us… Your dad and I have already thought it through—children are better off with their mother. Our family won’t compete for this…” Speaking and speaking, she choked up. After calming down, she continued, “Among all these children in the family, you handle things most reliably. When you get a chance, ask Weihua what she thinks. She and Yuyan can move in together. I can help take care of them too. In the future, this clinic will still belong to their siblings.”

“Alright, I’ll feel out Eldest Sister-in-law’s thoughts.” Zhou Yu agreed.

Mother Sun patted the back of her hand, saying nothing. The family had many matters recently, and it was always Zhou Yu who came to help. Sun Jingfei couldn’t spare the time, and Second Brother’s wife was also extremely busy.

After seeing them downstairs and watching them leave, Mother Sun sat at the consultation desk. Sun Youping took out the blood pressure monitor to measure her blood pressure. Mother Sun sighed, mentioning Eldest Sister-in-law’s mother’s surgery, then discussed needing to find time to visit.

Sun Youping had no objections. Household affairs and social obligations had always been handled with her giving instructions and him following through.

Mother Sun also mentioned celebrating his 69th birthday. Sun Youping found these things bothersome, saying there was nothing to celebrate and he had no mood for it. Mother Sun stated emphatically that they must celebrate—precisely because of the family’s situation, they needed to celebrate even more! Eldest Brother had left, but there were still Second Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, and the grandchildren. Life had to continue. As the family elders, they had to set a proper example!

The family hadn’t been lively in a long time. Using this birthday as an opportunity to seek good fortune, to pray that family members would all be healthy and everything would go smoothly in the future.

Sun Youping agreed, saying they’d follow the children’s wishes.

Mother Sun went back upstairs, first took some medicine, then began preparing to stew spare ribs. Jiarui would be getting out of school soon. She wielded the knife chopping the spare ribs, tilting her head to wipe tears with her apron.

Her eldest son! Her poor little grandson!

These days she’d been living very fully. Besides picking up and dropping off her grandson, her emotional sustenance mainly came from religious faith. When free, she’d go listen to scriptures, attend services, pray for blessings for her living sons and grandsons, and pray for her departed eldest son.

Since having religious faith, she rarely played mahjong or went square dancing. She was either listening to scriptures at home, going to services, or volunteering in the community. A few days ago, seeing a homeless person going through garbage bins, she called him to the door, went upstairs to pack a bag of clothes for him, and gave him some food.

Sun Youping thought she was meddling. Naturally he wouldn’t let the homeless person into the clinic. He took a thermometer to check his temperature, sprayed him with disinfectant, saw the festering wound on his hand, went back to the clinic to get medicine to clean and bandage it. Seeing he wasn’t very old, he asked why he didn’t find work, and simply meddled to the end by asking someone to find him a manual labor job at a construction site.

Now Mother Sun wasn’t pleased, saying this person’s background was unclear—what if he caused some trouble? Sun Youping said she was just a housewife, and said people at the construction site weren’t fools either… As he was speaking, Uncle rode up on his bicycle, carrying several pieces of old tangerine cake, sitting there eating them with Sun Youping over tea.

After eating a piece, Uncle dusted off his hands and took out a photo album from his bag. Inside were group photos of the old brothers when they were young—many, many photos. He said the original photos weren’t in good condition, but his grandson had somehow restored them, uploaded them to his phone, and printed another set.

The two brothers sighed about the era’s reforms and changes, sighed about high technology, sighed about how infinitely wonderful the motherland was, sighed about those days when they drank pot-washing water to survive—who would have dared imagine they’d live such good lives?

Then silence. Silently drinking tea, silently eating tangerine cake. When Uncle had sat long enough and was preparing to leave, he told him this was his birthday gift.

Sun Youping rarely smiled, saw Uncle out, and watched him ride away on his bicycle the whole time.

The siblings discussed in the group chat and decided to still buy a gold brick as a birthday gift for Father! A gold brick was practical, retained value, and Mom loved it most! What if they gave something unsatisfactory and earned a scolding instead? What for? So they unanimously decided to buy a gold brick and split the cost.

Eldest Sister-in-law, informed of this, also wanted to contribute a share. Zhou Yu consulted Sun Jingcheng’s opinion. Sun Jingcheng said Eldest Sister-in-law was in difficulties and didn’t need to contribute. Eldest Sister-in-law insisted on contributing—for no other reason than that before Eldest Brother left, he was still thinking about Father’s birthday. This share was her fulfilling filial duty on Eldest Brother’s behalf.

Zhou Yu also took the opportunity to mention Mother Sun’s thoughts, saying it would be much more convenient for her to move to the clinic for living. With Jiarui at the clinic, Yuyan would have a playmate. She also tactfully mentioned Mother Sun’s meaning—if she remarried later or something, the family wouldn’t oppose it. As for child custody and such, the family wouldn’t compete either. She said there was no rush, to think it over carefully—this was a major matter.

Zhou Yu thought this decision was too difficult. Moving over would be very good for Yuyan, but for Eldest Sister-in-law… the situation was particularly awkward. Living together with her in-laws would also be inconvenient in many ways. She thought Eldest Sister-in-law wouldn’t move, while Sun Jingcheng thought for Yuyan’s growth environment, Eldest Sister-in-law would move.

Unexpectedly, that very night Eldest Sister-in-law replied: willing to move.

Zhou Yu was deeply moved. If it were her, she wouldn’t move. But she wasn’t Eldest Sister-in-law and couldn’t understand Eldest Sister-in-law’s predicament. Her mother was chronically on medication due to illness, the family atmosphere was miserable, plus there was a sister-in-law above and a younger brother’s wife below… Having her sister-in-law help pick up Yuyan from school wasn’t a long-term solution either. In short, a woman raising two children was no joke. Especially since Yuyi was already in college—living expenses and daily necessities were all expenditures.

Zhou Yu told Mother Sun the result. Mother Sun was very pleased, only praising Zhou Yu to Sun Youping for being capable, far better than that good-for-nothing Sun Jingfei. Getting divorced—half a year now and still not finalized.

Besides her busy work, Zhou Yu also had to find time to plan Sun Youping’s birthday—how many people would come, how many tables to set, where to set them up—everything required careful thought. Second Sister-in-law washed her hands of it early on, saying this kind of detailed work had to be done by Zhou Yu. Not that she wasn’t helping, but she was far inferior to Zhou Yu at managing things. Sun Jingfei also chimed in, saying Zhou Yu really had to do this—she was meticulous and handled everything thoroughly!

This time the two weren’t being slippery—they genuinely felt they weren’t up to the task.

Second Brother and Sun Jingcheng also thought this matter could only be handled by Zhou Yu. Only with her handling things could the whole family feel most at ease! Zhou Yu was elevated high up and had no choice but to agree, asking Feng Yiqun whenever she encountered something she didn’t understand.

Wherever Sun Jingcheng went, people praised him for having a good wife, for marrying well. In the relatives’ circle, Zhou Yu had the best reputation, all credit to Mother Sun’s boasting. She said her daughter-in-law was well-educated, reasonable, and sensible. She said her daughter-in-law’s maternal family had once been fallen nobility… three generations back were all intellectuals… this was truly excessive exaggeration!

In short, what she wanted to express was—my daughter-in-law isn’t an ordinary commoner, but a proper young lady from a good family!

After consistent observation by the relatives’ circle, they had nothing to say. The daughter-in-law had ordinary features, but she had that temperament and bearing of a refined young lady.

From then on, Zhou Yu’s persona was—refined young lady from a good family!

Sun Jingcheng’s friends thought Zhou Yu was the perfect wife, impeccable. But they couldn’t say they were envious—they felt she was too formal, couldn’t live life together. But they considered themselves respectful of her. Usually when friends gathered, the loose-lipped ones would jokingly tease each other’s wives in person, but no one ever dared tease Zhou Yu.

This was their self-perceived respect.

Behind her back, they called Zhou Yu “Xue Baochai.”

Someone who’d never gotten along with Sun Jingcheng since childhood joked about Zhou Yu at a drinking session one day, saying something about how even lying in bed she’d be hard to desire. When Sun Jingcheng got wind of it, he went over and flipped his drinking table! What trash!

Sun Jingcheng had also been in a daze wondering what dog shit luck he’d stepped in to marry such a capable wife. Later thinking about it, not entirely true. Zhou Yu was Xue Baochai to outsiders, but at home that sharp tongue was clearly Wang Xifeng. Moreover, she had a split personality, a twisted character, loved to hold things in and sulk…

That night he dreamed of arguing with Zhou Yu, and arguing extremely fiercely—so fierce Zhou Yu jumped out of the car directly on the highway. He was suddenly startled awake. Not feeling the person on one side, he turned to look at the time: 1:50 AM.

He got out of bed barefoot to look. Reaching the living room, he was stunned by the scene before his eyes. Zhou Yu leaned obliquely against the balcony railing in the moonlight. The silk robe on her body hung loosely at her waist, about to fall or not. Her breasts stood erect. One hand held a cigarette, one hand held liquor. She shook her wind-tousled hair, then downed the liquor in one gulp, swished it around her mouth, and spat it into the large flower pot beside her. Then she extended her big toe to press out a deep hole, threw the cigarette butt in, covered it with her toe with soil, pulled up the robe that had slipped to her waist, and went to the kitchen with bare chest and wild abandon. She put down the wine glass, went to the guest bathroom to rinse her feet, and returned to the bedroom.

The entire process was conducted in the dark, so practiced as if she’d done it thousands upon thousands of times. Fortunately they lived on the 22nd floor, and fortunately the spacing between buildings was large—large enough for her to be this unrestrained.

Sun Jingcheng pretended to sleep with his heart pounding like thunder. Before he’d figured out how to handle this, a hand touched his face. A cool tongue tip pried open his lips and kissed him, then pulled his hand to her waist. Her ice-cold body burrowed into his embrace, preparing to sleep peacefully.

Sun Jingcheng touched her slippery buttocks and was greatly shocked again—too bold and unrestrained. Before he’d figured out what to do, his mouth honestly kissed her, his knee separated her legs, and drove straight in. Then he picked her up, opened the bedroom balcony door, let her lean against the railing, and vigorously thrust.

Finding it unsatisfying, he held her, his hands forcefully kneading her breasts. Still not enough, never enough. Sun Jingcheng changed positions again, his forearm lifting one of her legs, using animal-like movements to thrust.

This time he knew he’d gotten it right, because Zhou Yu’s reaction was extreme, literally trapping him there unable to move. He persisted despite difficulties, kneeling on one leg on the lounge chair to the side, intensifying by hoisting one of her legs onto his shoulder, forming a split.

Too tight, couldn’t thrust in. His fingers reached over to help. He knew where her sensitive spot was. Zhou Yu suddenly leaned on the railing, her body convulsing continuously.

Sun Jingcheng didn’t wait for this wave of climax to pass before immediately attacking forcefully. Zhou Yu’s whole body went limp, dizzy and disoriented, waves of heat flowing down through her body. Sun Jingcheng turned her around and held her. By their ears was nothing but the sound of their alternating panting. He was even more wickedly making her watch with her own eyes how he thrust into her like an animal, thrust after thrust.

From Zhou Yu’s bodily reactions, Sun Jingcheng judged what positions she liked—unseemly, vulgar and obscene, contemptible. She could deny it verbally, but her body’s reactions couldn’t lie.

She leaned back against the railing panting, covered in sweat, her breasts trembling with her violent heaving. Seeing she really couldn’t handle this position anymore, and not satisfied himself, he returned to the room, pulled the blanket from the bed and threw it on the balcony, patted her, wanting her to support herself on her elbows and lie there. He knelt behind her pressed tightly against her buttocks, gripped her waist, and thrust again and again to the deepest point!

The two had always maintained a frequency of once every three days. The positions were also quite traditional—not man on top woman below, then woman on top man below, or seated facing each other. Sun Jingcheng understood somewhat, knew where to stimulate, where to caress to arouse her. Achieving mutual satisfaction was very easy for him, didn’t require effort playing with any fancy moves.

He and Zhou Yu were always happy each time, but after three or four years of marriage, back and forth just those two or three positions—over time it indeed lacked something. Occasionally wanting to try some fresh positions, but he couldn’t gauge whether Zhou Yu was willing.

If he hadn’t accidentally seen tonight, they’d probably still be using those old positions. Zhou Yu released three or four times, in explosively good condition. He was still able to exercise some restraint. Mainly to serve her, devoting all his energy to pleasing her.

He wasn’t particularly greedy for desire. Sun Youping had separately taught their three brothers during adolescence how to reasonably relieve excess hormones. Simply put: masturbate less, excessive indulgence drains the body, must exercise restraint. Sun Jingcheng knew these things without being told. He also read medical books and understood the reasoning. From that time on, he learned to exercise restraint, deeply knowing that indulgence was bad.