On the first day of summer vacation, Sun Youping and his wife led their daughter-in-law and daughters to visit Zhou Yu’s home. Grandma had just rested. Sun Youping roughly asked Feng Yiqun about the situation and looked at the diagnosis results without saying much more.

The group came out from the family housing complex. On the way back to the clinic, Sun Youping, his wife, and Sister-in-law were silent. Sun Jingfei and Second Sister-in-law chatted behind them about Zhou Yu’s home décor and style. Although the house was small, you could tell the ornaments and decorations were all very thoughtful.

“Those little coasters, sofa blankets, table corner cloths… they’re probably either crocheted by Zhou Yu or Auntie Feng.”

Sun’s mother heard and chimed in, “They were crocheted by your Auntie Feng.”

“Her hands are really skillful.”

“Everything about her is good—just her fate isn’t.” Sun’s mother sighed. “People often say someone has good fortune when their whole life has scares but no real danger, darkness followed by light, small pains and minor troubles, but no major falls.”

“I think Auntie Feng is pretty good, she has a real sense of life…”

“I think it’s so-so.” Sister-in-law said carefully. “Their home does have a sense of life, but it seems deliberately created, not like she genuinely feels life is beautiful from the heart… The overall color scheme of their home is too plain—the sofa covers, tablecloths, bedroom bedding…”

“I knew something felt off—it’s too bland, not a single bright color.” Second Sister-in-law agreed.

“How was everything fine just a few days ago, and now suddenly she can’t control her bladder and bowels?” Sun’s mother said. “So fast.”

“When someone’s time comes.” Sun Youping responded.

“Zhou Yu is probably going to be busy from now on.” Sister-in-law said softly.

“Hey, how come we didn’t see Zhou Yu today?”

“The school organized teacher training or something?” Sun Jingfei said. “They say it’s summer vacation, but there’s still a lot to do.”

The scorching sun blazed, heat waves assaulted them, cicadas chirped.

The group tried to stay along the tree shade by the roadside, walking back to the clinic at a leisurely pace. The younger generation chatted about this gossip and that scandal along the way. Sun’s mother would occasionally stop them, “Less idle talk.” A few seconds after she spoke, they treated it as background noise and went back to whispering head-to-head.

…

Sun Youping walked for a while and rested for a while, looking at the cicadas in the trees, chatting a couple sentences with familiar neighbors on the street. Sun’s mother shielded the sun with her hand, looking at a summer quilt being dried at the top of a tree.

Sister-in-law was curious. “How did they hang it up so high?”

“It must be the third-floor residents drying it. They just open the window and drape it over.”

“The wisdom of working people!”

“Hey, someone selling old-fashioned popsicles!” Sun Jingfei crossed the street and bought five.

When she came back, Sun Youping wouldn’t eat, and Sun’s mother wouldn’t either—eating popsicles on the street wasn’t proper. Sun Jingfei said, “If you don’t eat it, it’ll melt—two yuan each!”

Sun Youping unwrapped the popsicle paper and took a bite, nearly knocking out his tooth. Sun Jingfei taught him, “Dad, you have to lick it!” After speaking, she stuck out her long tongue to demonstrate.

…

Sun Youping ignored her and continued walking forward. As he walked, the younger generation behind him laughed so hard they couldn’t straighten up. Sun Jingfei said their formation looked like Papa Chicken and Mama Chicken leading their chicks on a stroll.

…

At the clinic, Second Sister-in-law returned to the medical aesthetic center. Sister-in-law also packed clothes, preparing to take Yuyan back to her maternal grandmother’s home for a few days. After Sun Jingfei had called Ke Yong twice and he called back, he said now that summer vacation had started, he wanted Ke Yu to come back and stay for a while.

The two didn’t see eye to eye—after discussing business, they hung up. Sun Jingfei was fed up with the dragging and delaying. She went to the inner room and knocked on the door—several children were gathered playing games. Sun Jingfei called Ke Yu. Ke Yu said to wait until this round was finished.

Sun Jingfei collapsed on the sofa patiently waiting. Sun’s mother busied herself with housework while lecturing her that she should find some kind of work—anything was better than wandering around all day like this. It wasn’t that Sun Jingfei hadn’t considered it. First, she hadn’t encountered suitable business opportunities; second, she didn’t have spare money. The money she had lent out couldn’t be recovered anytime soon.

A while ago when she had nothing to do, she submitted résumés to other real estate companies, wanting to see what position she could get. Without exception, whether in terms of position or salary, all were far inferior to her previous company. They tactfully indicated that if she were ten years younger, the situation would be different.

On the surface she was relatively calm, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious. She gradually came to understand what Sun Jingcheng meant by “midlife crisis.” From a bull dominating the battlefield, she thought of herself as an old ox plowing fields. She even imitated the old ox’s wheezing appearance, lying on the sofa entertaining herself. After amusing herself, she saw Ke Yu come out and led him downstairs to buy cold drinks.

Ke Yu followed her for a stretch, found it too hot, understood she had something to say, and was annoyed by these adult tactics of hemming and hawing and hesitating. He said impatiently, “Mom, if you have something to say, just say it.”

Sun Jingfei snapped back to her senses and asked him, “Have you thought about who you want to stay with?”

Ke Yu fell silent.

“I hope you’ll stay with me.” Sun Jingfei said. “In the future if you want to see your grandparents… I won’t stop any relationship with your dad’s side.”

“I can’t guarantee whether I’ll remarry in the future, but I won’t have another child.” Sun Jingfei looked at him. “You’ll be my only child.”

“I hope you can seriously consider Mom.”

Ke Yu remained silent the whole time.

Sun Jingfei had nothing else to say. She ordered a few cold drinks and walked back slowly, arm in arm with him. Thinking of Ke Yong’s call, she asked if he wanted to go back to Grandpa’s place. He nodded—he didn’t want Ke Yong to come pick him up, he still wanted her to take him.

Sun Jingfei was extremely unwilling but couldn’t refuse.

Actually, Ke Yu didn’t really want to go back anymore. Since the last couple times he went back, Grandma kept intentionally or unintentionally saying that Mom only cared about making money and neglected the family, which led to Dad’s affair. He had gradually started to feel resistant. He was even more unwilling to ride in Dad’s car—aside from endless silence and awkwardness, there was just his feeble attempts to justify and excuse his affair.

Thinking about these things made him irritable. Without thinking, he lifted his foot and kicked a shared bicycle. Unexpectedly, when one fell, dozens behind it toppled over with a clatter.

Everyone looked over. Ke Yu stood there mortified. Sun Jingfei gave him the cold drinks in her hand, urging him to take them back to his younger cousins. Then she bent down to lift them up one by one.

Zhou Yu listened to lectures while sending WeChat messages to Sun Jingcheng, asking if he’d bought the wheelchair. Grandma was already incontinent and completely unable to get out of bed. Feng Yiqun suggested buying a wheelchair so that when Sun Jingcheng was free on weekends, he could come carry Grandma downstairs for a stroll.

Zhou Yu didn’t respond. The company was busy now, and he still had to find time on weekends to apprentice at the clinic—how could he have time to keep carrying Grandma up and down stairs?

She suggested to Feng Yiqun that they might as well rent a first-floor apartment. Feng Yiqun didn’t respond. She didn’t say anything more either.

Of course she was sad about Grandma’s illness, but she had gradually learned to accept it. She had experienced her father’s sudden death, her brother’s sudden death, her maternal grandparents’ deaths, her paternal grandfather’s death… naturally she could also normally regard Grandma’s illness and the possibility of her sudden death some day.

After a while, Sun Jingcheng replied that he’d go buy it after work.

She replied, “I’ll buy it.”

Sun Jingcheng replied, “I haven’t forgotten. I’ve really been busy these past few days.”

She replied, “Then keep being busy.”

During lunch break, Sun Jingcheng asked someone to buy a wheelchair and nursing bed and had them delivered directly to the family housing complex. He didn’t stay long—after installing the bed and lifting Grandma onto it, he returned to the company.

On the way, he received WeChat messages from Sun Jingfei and Ke Yu one after another. Sun Jingfei asked him to help guide Ke Yu—the child had something on his mind but was unwilling to talk to her about it. She was considering whether to take him for psychological counseling. Ke Yu was tired of playing games and had nowhere to go, so he wanted to come to the company to find him.

…

He replied to Ke Yu, “Come over. Buy me lunch while you’re at it.”

He felt that ever since moving the company, his whole pace of life had sped up. All day long, this person looking for him, that person looking for him, this matter, that matter…

After training ended, Zhou Yu returned to the family housing complex and sat by the bed keeping Grandma company. Feng Yiqun peeled an apple, saying this nursing bed was very convenient—it had an elimination hole and could be turned back and forth, saving a lot of effort. Then she made the apple into mush and had her help feed it.

Grandma’s speech was unclear, but her eyes kept looking toward the window, and she stretched out her finger making babbling sounds, as if she had regressed to infancy. Zhou Yu saw it was still early, put a diaper on her, called Feng Yiqun over to help, and bent over to successfully carry Grandma onto the wheelchair.

Feng Yiqun was quite happy, saying from now on the two of them could manage and wouldn’t need to trouble Jingcheng to keep running back and forth.

Zhou Yu made another effort and carried Grandma downstairs. Feng Yiqun carried the wheelchair behind her, then nimbly unfolded it, and Grandma successfully sat in the wheelchair once again. Zhou Yu was also faintly happy and pushed her out to buy a bowl of hot tofu pudding, sitting there feeding her spoonful by spoonful.

The person selling huoshao across the street recognized Zhou Yu and chatted with her, saying last month her grandma had come to buy huoshao with vegetarian chicken. “I asked if she wanted an egg in it, and she said she didn’t like eggs.” As she spoke, she gave Zhou Yu a tea egg.

Zhou Yu peeled the tea egg, broke it into pieces to feed Grandma. She was still quite alert and even knew to suck the juice from her fingers—not stupid at all.

In the evening, after settling Grandma at home, Feng Yiqun was busy in the kitchen, saying she’d cook two small dishes tonight. Zhou Yu said she had something to do tonight and told her to cook and eat by herself.

Coming out of the family housing complex with nowhere to go, she went alone to a nearby café for a rare quiet moment of rest. She hadn’t been sitting for half an hour when Sun Jingfei created a WeChat group with six people total: Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law, Sun Jingcheng, and her.

Sun Jingfei tagged her, asking how to stew fish soup to make it most fresh and nutritious. Ke Yu said her fish soup was the best. She lowered her head, edited a long string of text and sent it. When she looked up at the window again, a flower vendor with a bicycle loaded full of fresh flowers had stopped at the intersection, with people gradually gathering around.

The flowers were cheap—ten or twenty yuan per bunch, with the most expensive being sunflowers at eight yuan per stem. Zhou Yu thought about it, picked six of the brightest sunflowers, and headed back to the family housing complex with them.

Feng Yiqun was eating dinner. She hadn’t expected her to come back. When Zhou Yu saw on the table a bowl of leftover porridge from the morning and a plate of pickled vegetables, she said nothing, first threw away the sunflowers in her hand, then threw away the vegetables bought from the refrigerator, turned around and went downstairs.

Feng Yiqun picked up the sunflowers, trimmed the branches and leaves and inserted them in a vase, then picked up all the vegetables and put them back in the refrigerator. Afterward, she sent her a WeChat: “The sunflowers are beautiful.”

Then she finished drinking the leftover porridge, cleaned up the kitchen, went to Grandma’s room to clean up her excrement, then drew hot water, preparing to wipe her body.

It was hot—if the room wasn’t cleaned diligently, it would smell.

Over there, Zhou Yu received the WeChat and immediately edited a very long string of text denouncing her. But because there was really too much to say, as she typed, her typing speed slowed… Thinking about it, she decided to forget it. The moment she was about to delete it, she accidentally sent it. She immediately fumbled to recall it.

Praying she hadn’t seen a single word.

Just when her mood was troubled and she had nowhere to turn, Feng Yiqun sent her another WeChat: “Didn’t you want placemats? What color?”

Zhou Yu didn’t want to reply. But in the end she did: “Yellow.”

Feng Yiqun asked, “What kind of yellow?”

Zhou Yu replied, “Sunflower yellow.”

Feng Yiqun replied, “Your grandma has gone to sleep. I’ll watch TV for a bit before sleeping.”

Zhou Yu replied, “Oh.”

This tantrum of hers had started inexplicably and ended inexplicably.

Returning to the new district and preparing to go upstairs, Zhou Yu ran into a classmate’s mother. That mother was a corporate executive. She stood there chatting with Zhou Yu about her daughter’s studies, about seeing on the school’s public account that Zhou Yu had won honors again—first place in the teacher quality competition and one of the school’s top ten backbone teachers.

The other party was much older than her and chatted with ease, praising her just right—passing with two sentences, not making anyone uncomfortable. Finally she tactfully asked if Zhou Yu could tutor during summer vacation.

Zhou Yu smiled and also tactfully indicated the school had regulations—all teachers had signed guarantee letters.

She patted Zhou Yu’s shoulder, saying to contact her if anything came up, and she’d invite her for tea later. She quite approved of Zhou Yu—her words and actions were all very proper, and she had the bearing of a teacher. Her question about tutoring had another layer of meaning. She felt teachers should be teachers, especially backbone teachers, and should try not to tutor outside.

Zhou Yu most feared encountering this type of parent. Every sentence they spoke was meaningful, and she didn’t know which sentence might be wrong. Moreover, these parents were confident in their abilities—if their child had any issue in class, some of them wouldn’t give any warning and would go directly over the teacher to the principal.

Because teachers had no voice, going to the principal could efficiently solve problems.

Once they went to the principal, the teacher suffered. The school directly determined the teacher was incompetent. And the teacher had no idea how the parent had gotten to the principal.

…

At home, Sun Jingcheng was frying steak with Ke Yu watching beside him. When Sun Jingcheng saw her return, he urged her to wash her hands—the steak would be ready soon.

Ke Yu’s expression was quite unnatural. He followed Uncle closely—wherever he went, he followed. He didn’t want to come at all—Uncle had insisted he come.

Zhou Yu greeted him and asked, “How do you feel you did on the exams?”

“Pretty good, Aunt.” Ke Yu didn’t look at her either.

“Tomorrow I’ll look for your test papers to see how your grades are.” Zhou Yu said, opening the refrigerator, planning to make two small cold dishes.

Sun Jingcheng brought the steak to the table and called him to sit down.

Ke Yu sat down stiffly. To appear not nervous, he tried to make conversation. “I feel my essay wasn’t good. My word choice and sentence construction foundation is poor, and it lacks aesthetic appeal.”

“If you want to focus on aesthetic writing, you should read more ancient poetry and classical literature later, and get the basic skills solid first.” Zhou Yu suggested.

“Oh, I mainly read manga… occasionally I read some foreign classics too.” Ke Yu said.

Zhou Yu quickly smashed a cucumber, mixed some okra, sat down and said, “Right now just read what interests you. Don’t deliberately pursue classics or masterpieces. Once your reading habit is cultivated, then you can require yourself to read things with more depth.”

“Oh.” Ke Yu nodded. “I’ll start by reading some ancient poetry.”

Zhou Yu changed the subject, asking Sun Jingcheng, “I heard Yuyi isn’t coming back for summer vacation?”

“Says he wants to work a summer job.” Sun Jingcheng said. “Sister-in-law says she’ll go to Beijing to see him in a few days.”

Zhou Yu nodded and focused on eating.

Perhaps because the atmosphere was harmonious, Ke Yu was no longer nervous or ashamed and gradually settled down to eat.

Sun Jingcheng couldn’t eat a meal in peace—one moment saying her okra was too salty, the next moment saying the cucumber was too sour. Zhou Yu didn’t respond, forcefully and with difficulty cutting the steak that was fried like a shoe sole.

Ke Yu was also chewing it over and over in his mouth. The two exchanged glances and simultaneously laughed out loud.

Sun Jingcheng enjoyed himself alone, one bite of steak after another, feeling he’d fried it just wonderfully!