After Zhou Yu finished helping Ke Yu with his homework, she headed to the clinic near evening. Ke Yu had come on an electric scooter and volunteered to give her a ride back, but Zhou Yu avoided that situation. The end result was her giving Ke Yu a ride to the clinic instead.

The two of them went up to the second floor from the clinic. Zhou Yu saw Sun Youping was busy and called out: “Dad.” Ke Yu called out: “Grandpa.”

Sun Youping nodded and told them to use the residential complex entrance next time instead of going upstairs through the clinic.

Sister-in-law had already arrived upstairs and was helping Mother Sun in the kitchen. On the living room sofa, five or six children of various sizes were sprawled in all directions—some laughing, some making noise, some whimpering and sobbing.

The younger ones complained that the older ones wouldn’t play with them, while the older ones found the younger ones annoying and disruptive. The little ones smeared tears and snot on the sofa covers, then continued tilting their heads back and wailing. The older ones glanced toward the kitchen, secretly giving stern warnings—if you bring the adults over, you’ll just get a beating! The middle children looked at the older ones while comforting the younger ones, saying “Don’t cry, little brother… don’t cry.”

Just then, the kitchen door was yanked open. Mother Sun yelled at them, and seeing the sofa cover had been pulled to the floor, she went over and stripped it off completely.

Zhou Yu went to help in the kitchen and asked whose extra children those were. Among the children outside, one belonged to eldest sister-in-law’s family, two to second sister-in-law’s family. The remaining ones were unfamiliar faces.

“From the fourth and fifth floors,” eldest sister-in-law said while marinating shrimp. “Putting them together is deafening—gives me a headache.”

“Is this for lotus root sandwiches?” Zhou Yu looked at the minced meat chopped on the cutting board.

“You mix the filling—yours always tastes better,” eldest sister-in-law said quietly.

Zhou Yu smiled and chopped scallions and ginger to mix into the filling.

“Did you come up through the clinic?” eldest sister-in-law asked.

“Yes.”

“Did Dad say something to you?” Eldest sister-in-law imitated Sun Youping’s tone: “Don’t come upstairs through the clinic in the future…”

Zhou Yu laughed aloud. “Exactly, word for word.”

While the sisters-in-law chatted, mother-in-law Hu Suying came over, still warning the children in the living room, saying if they kept making noise, Grandpa would come up with needles and poke their bottoms.

The three women—mother-in-law and daughters-in-law—busied themselves in the kitchen for two hours, preparing twelve different dishes. Three cold dishes, six stir-fries, and three soups. The men got eucommia kidney soup, the women got black chicken yam soup, and the children got pork rib soup. Soon they’d be eating hot dishes at the table while soup simmered on the stove, and after eating their fill, everyone would have a bowl of soup.

The dishes were brought to the table one after another, but no one dared to start eating first. The children rushed downstairs to call Grandpa. Only after Sun Youping finished his work and came upstairs did everyone gather around the table to sit. Tonight there were seven adults and four children. When the Sun family was at full capacity, there would be eleven adults and four children, requiring the coffee table to be used for enough seating.

Sun Youping drank some water, then he and Mother Sun began using their chopsticks. Next came eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, Sun Jingcheng and his wife… following the order of eldest to youngest, with the children going last.

The eldest son couldn’t come because he was on a mission, and the second son hadn’t arrived yet.

The dining table had strict rules: no talking while eating, each person only took food from their side of the table. Even four-year-old Sun Yuyan would first touch her mother, then point at the dish she wanted. After Sun Youping finished eating, he wiped his mouth, rinsed it, and slowly went downstairs to the clinic. Mother Sun called after him, “There’s still soup.”

“You all drink it.”

After Sun Youping left completely, the dining table rules crumbled instantly like dead trees. The children pushed and shoved each other, all claiming to be squeezed, and one by one they took their bowls to the coffee table to eat while watching TV. Second sister-in-law, while eating, pulled out three large skincare gift boxes—one for eldest sister-in-law, one for Zhou Yu. She said these skincare products were jointly developed by the Medical Science Institute and a certain university, not available in stores, only supplied to hospitals and medical aesthetic institutions.

Second sister-in-law’s other claims might be exaggerated, but she truly understood skincare. She worked in medical aesthetics, commonly called “medical beauty.” Her own skin was dewy, not from injections, but from years of internal and external care. Nearly forty years old, she only looked like she was in her twenties or thirties.

Eldest sister-in-law opened the gift box to look. Second sister-in-law praised how wonderful the face masks were, lauding them to the heavens. Then she taught them a skincare technique—proper technique was very important, you couldn’t just slap it on casually. Women absolutely couldn’t be lazy; being lazy would make them ugly.

Then she pulled out another men’s set for Sun Jingcheng, and specially selected several hand masks, commenting on his delicate piano-playing hands, saying if this were ancient times, he’d definitely be in some special place. Big brother didn’t need any—he didn’t have time to sit there applying things like a woman. Big Brother Brand soap was enough for him.

One sentence offended two people.

Zhou Yu glanced at that “woman,” who was earnestly studying the hand mask.

Seeing that she’d finished distributing everything, Mother Sun wasn’t too pleased and tapped her bowl with chopsticks. “Hurry up and eat.”

Eldest sister-in-law glanced at Zhou Yu. The two wanted to see how second sister-in-law would recover. Second sister-in-law was clever—she served Mother Sun a bowl of black chicken soup. “Mom, we’re so fortunate you help look after the two children on regular days, otherwise Sun Jinghui and I would be exhausted to death! Your skincare products have even more advanced and complex ingredients, and they’re even harder to get. Last week I asked someone for them—I’ll bring them back next week.”

“I’m old. No matter what I apply, my face is still full of wrinkles. If you can get some… get a set for Jingfei too,” Mother Sun said.

“I didn’t bring any for Jingfei today because he wasn’t here! I’ll bring them for you both next week! Being older is all the more reason to apply things, to learn to enjoy life,” second sister-in-law said. “You should come to my place sometime, and I’ll have a senior consultant give you a full-body spa.”

“Mom doesn’t understand foreign language—speak Chinese,” Sun Jingcheng said while sipping his soup in small mouthfuls.

“Full-body massage with essential oils and back treatment,” second sister-in-law said concisely.

“Forget the essential oils, they’re too oily and uncomfortable.” Mother Sun patted her shoulders and waist. “If you can do cupping or acupuncture, I’ll come by when I have time these next few days.”

“Well…” Second sister-in-law hesitated. “I can arrange that for you too!”

“But cupping and acupuncture—can’t Dad already do…”

“I don’t want to trouble him. I want to go to an upscale place and enjoy… experience it once,” Mother Sun said.

By the time they finished eating and cleared the table, two more hours had passed. Second sister-in-law patted her bottom and left. Her two children lived at the clinic year-round. She and Sun Jinghui were each busy with their own work and had no time to look after them even if they took them home. Before leaving, she hugged and kissed the children, telling them to call her “Mom.” After a round of maternal kindness and filial devotion that satisfied both parties, she instructed her two sons to listen to Grandpa and Grandma, then efficiently departed.

Her eldest son was fourteen, in second year of middle school; her youngest son was seven, in second grade of elementary school.

Zhou Yu helped eldest sister-in-law clean up together. Mother Sun told them not to bother, complaining about second daughter-in-law under her breath, saying she didn’t understand propriety, always arriving right at mealtime without lifting a finger to help. She said this every time, afraid that if she didn’t complain a bit behind their backs, these two daughters-in-law would feel unfairly treated.

Eldest sister-in-law washed dishes and said: “It’s fine, Mom. Second brother and his wife are busy anyway, washing dishes is nothing.”

Zhou Yu wiped the dining table with detergent and chimed in with a few words of agreement.

Only then did Mother Sun feel somewhat reassured. She complained about the second son’s family a couple more times, then began urging the children to wash up and go to bed. Sun Jingcheng sprawled on the sofa playing video games with Ke Yu while waiting for Zhou Yu to finish washing up so they could return to their marital home.

In the bathroom, eldest sister-in-law’s youngest son was wailing. Washing his face was like slaughtering him. Mother Sun pressed a hot towel over his nose to soften the dried boogers in his nostrils.

Eldest sister-in-law’s youngest had just started kindergarten, while her eldest daughter was already in college—the two children were fifteen years apart. Originally she’d decided to have just one, but when the two-child policy opened up a couple years ago, she went along with the second-child trend and had another. Eldest sister-in-law worked at the Entry-Exit Administration Hall of the Public Security Bureau. While she was at work, her youngest son was looked after by Mother Sun; on weekends, she took care of him herself. Her eldest daughter had also been raised with Mother Sun’s help.

Those who held government positions didn’t dare overstep. The policy could control the eldest son and his wife, but couldn’t control the second son and his wife. The second son would have children whenever he wanted; he’d just pay the fine.

On the way home, they passed through a street full of New Year atmosphere. On a whim, Zhou Yu said: “Let’s buy some window decorations later and decorate the house.”

Sun Jingcheng glanced at the trees decorated with colorful flowers, red willows, and lanterns, saying it was a bit vulgar and detracted from the cityscape. Zhou Yu was in a good mood and didn’t argue with him.

Sun Jingcheng said the color matching wasn’t good—red and green together was like dogshit. Zhou Yu had a different opinion: “Red and green are actually popular these last couple of years.”

“But you have to consider which red goes with which green,” Sun Jingcheng said insightfully. “Bright red and dark green is fine, but bright red with secondary green looks terrible.”

…

“What’s secondary green?”

Sun Jingcheng looked around. “Traffic light green.”

“Bright red is pure red, dark green is deep green—these two colors need to be matched well to stand out.”

…

Zhou Yu didn’t argue with him. Gazing at the crowds outside the window, she casually said, “I really wanted to eat the braised ribbonfish Mom made tonight.”

“You didn’t say anything when asked,” Sun Jingcheng criticized her. “Learn from second sister-in-law—say what you want to eat confidently and directly. You and eldest sister-in-law don’t make a sound, and in the end you both worked so hard…”

“I’m hypocritical, not as genuine as you all,” Zhou Yu replied.

Sun Jingcheng said nothing more. The atmosphere grew tense for a moment, then he freed his right hand to take Zhou Yu’s hand. Zhou Yu struggled briefly but couldn’t break free, so she let him be.

At the intersection, Sun Jingcheng made conversation: “Did you go shopping and buy new clothes?”

“Mm.” Zhou Yu responded, then after a long pause said: “I wasn’t complaining—just mentioning it casually.”

“If a married couple can’t even say things like that, then it’s really meaningless,” Zhou Yu said lightly. “I don’t have any international news or current political events to discuss with you. All I’m exposed to is this kind of common folk’s marketplace atmosphere.”

“Next time when Mom asks, I’ll still say anything is fine, I’m not picky. I can’t be like you all and state my preferences without any psychological burden. You people who never cook wouldn’t understand how complicated some dishes are.” Zhou Yu stopped there and changed the subject. “What should we eat tomorrow morning?”

“I’ll take you out to eat,” Sun Jingcheng said. “A Hong Kong-style tea restaurant opened in the new district—shall we check it out?”

“Okay.” Zhou Yu nodded.

“How about staying in the new district tonight?” Sun Jingcheng suggested. “There’s a fitness club inside. We can play ball and burn off some energy—we ate too well just now.”

“Mm.” Zhou Yu looked at him. “Do you usually work out there?”

“I signed up for personal training sessions. For a while I trained there every evening,” Sun Jingcheng said. “Haven’t you noticed my physique is more toned this year?”

“I haven’t noticed.”

“That’s because the clothes are thick. You’ll see the results when the weather gets warmer,” Sun Jingcheng said as he turned the car around toward the new district.

Zhou Yu rarely went to the new district—she’d only been there three or four times during their newlywed period. Later, first, she found it troublesome, and second, the new district’s supporting services weren’t yet complete, making life very inconvenient. Within three hundred meters of their marital home, all daily necessities—firewood, rice, oil, salt—were readily available. To buy everything in the new district, you still had to drive out to the old district.

The new district’s decor style was completely different from the marital home. Sun Jingcheng liked minimalism. The living room furnishings were obvious at a glance: sofa, coffee table, dining table, two decorative objects, nothing else. Those two decorative pieces were the finishing touches, preventing the living room from seeming too cold. Actually, the entire decor scheme wasn’t cold at all. The color coordination complemented each other perfectly, appearing sophisticated without seeming deliberately contrived.

But Zhou Yu didn’t feel comfortable. Every time she came, she sat upright on the sofa, unlike at the marital home where she could sit cross-legged, sideways, or lie down—whatever was most comfortable.

Her sense of space from childhood had always been cramped. The family compound apartment had two rooms: one for her parents, one for her and her brother. After high school, when Grandpa and Grandma moved in, by then Father and her brother had successively passed away, so on weekends when she came home she had to share a room with Feng Yiqun. Occasionally when they quarreled, she’d sleep on the sofa. Everywhere you looked in the house, besides furniture, were endless miscellaneous items, though they were all neatly organized in various corners. Even the narrow communal hallway was occupied by various households, stacked with piles of coal briquettes. If you accidentally stepped on coal residue and tracked it into your room, you’d leave black footprints with every step.

The Sun household was the same way, only more cramped than Zhou Yu’s home. The Sun family’s upstairs had three bedrooms. The eldest and second son shared one room; Sun Jingcheng shared one with his sister. Later, when they reached middle school age and became more aware, the eldest went away to school, the second son also went out to make his way, and only then did Sun Jingcheng move back to their room. If both brothers came home, they’d sleep in the IV room of the clinic downstairs. But the clinic had a fake skeleton hanging up, so no one dared sleep there—they’d rather squeeze onto sofas or sleep on the floor. Now the four siblings were each married and living elsewhere, but the rooms weren’t idle—they housed their children.

Sun Jingcheng changed clothes in the bedroom while Zhou Yu examined the open kitchen. From the first time she saw this kitchen, she understood that Sun Jingcheng was someone who only cared about style, not practical living. She looked at the gas stove burner, touched the range hood, then opened the refrigerator to check, confirming that this kitchen had never been used once. This also proved from another angle that only Sun Jingcheng lived alone in this house.

Divorce due to personality incompatibility and divorce due to extramarital affairs were fundamentally very different. The former gained understanding, the latter sympathy.

Zhou Yu was lost in thought when Sun Jingcheng came over with rackets. The two changed shoes and left. In the elevator, each stood on one side, silently watching the elevator doors. Sun Jingcheng found this amusing, tilted his head to look at her, then reached out and took her hand.

Zhou Yu continued watching the elevator doors, saying to him: “So random.”

“A married couple holding hands is random?” Sun Jingcheng teased her.

Zhou Yu couldn’t be bothered with him but didn’t shake off his hand either.

“I also thought of a movie line: Even after divorce, we’re still good friends—the business deal may end but the friendship remains,” Sun Jingcheng quipped.

“I’m vulgar, I don’t have such lofty principles,” Zhou Yu replied. “I have plenty of friends—I don’t need you as one more.”

“Your little mouth goes on and on—you can really talk too.”

“Is that any of your business?” Zhou Yu stepped out of the elevator before him.