After getting in the car, Sun Jingcheng asked her, “What are you doing here?”

“Came to eat.”

“Came all this way to eat?”

“The food here is good.”

…

Sun Jingcheng didn’t ask further. He turned up the music volume, and the two had nothing to say. The atmosphere in the car set Zhou Yu’s thoughts racing. She asked him, “What are you doing here too?”

“Having dinner with someone.” Sun Jingcheng’s tone lacked its usual vitality and casualness, and had none of his nonsensical humor or sharp wit. It was just lifeless and bland.

Before marriage, Feng Yiqun had chatted with her, saying Sun Jingcheng was a very simple person—not scheming, easy to get along with. Whether happy or unhappy, his thoughts were all displayed on his face. Moreover, he had an upright temperament, wouldn’t be moody or take his anger out on others—living with him, you wouldn’t suffer pointless grievances or silent losses.

Based on Zhou Yu’s two years of experience getting along with him, Sun Jingcheng’s emotions weren’t expressed on his face but in his voice. Casual meant his mood was average; sharp-tongued meant it was okay—he was in the mood to banter with you; lively and nonsensical meant pretty good—he’d ramble nonsense with you; silence naturally meant anger, and the ultimate contempt for someone was to think “you can be stupid all you want, I’m not dealing with you.”

“School’s winter break is coming up soon, right?” Sun Jingcheng asked.

“After exams next Thursday, we’re off.”

“Then Friday let’s go to the Housing Authority and transfer ownership of the house.”

“I was joking that day. I don’t want the house.”

“Then what do you want?” Sun Jingcheng looked at her.

“Must I want something from you?” Zhou Yu asked back.

“I don’t have cash on hand, only two houses.”

“Then keep them. You can sell them later to save your company,” Zhou Yu replied.

“Go transfer ownership on Friday,” Sun Jingcheng repeated.

“I don’t care for your shabby house. Think one house will make me help you maintain your fake righteousness?”

“Let’s be clear—who’s being fake?”

“You! You’ve wronged me in this marriage, and giving me one house makes you feel at ease that we’re even?” Zhou Yu looked at him. “Later you’ll have a reputation for being honorable and righteous, while I’ll look like I got a great deal, as if I was after your house.”

Sun Jingcheng gave up. “Why are you so ungrateful? I’m thinking after divorce it’ll be hard for you as a woman alone…”

“Thanks, but no need. You should worry about your company…”

“Who are you looking down on?” Sun Jingcheng pulled over and stopped the car.

“Whoever knows who I’m looking down on,” Zhou Yu replied lightly.

“Zhou Yu, you’re fucking heartless!” Sun Jingcheng cursed at her.

“You feel guilty and blame me? Aren’t you heartless too?” Zhou Yu glared at him.

“You only show your claws in front of me! Outside you’re docile like a little white rabbit, but back in the nest you transform!”

“What about you? Why don’t you act tough in front of your dad!” Zhou Yu blurted out.

Sun Jingcheng looked at her with reddened eyes, got out of the car, and walked away.

Zhou Yu stared at his back, regretting it to death—why did she have to be verbally aggressive? They’d agreed to be dignified—agreed to be dignified.

Sun Jingcheng was furious with her and walked along the sidewalk back to the new district. He turned around to see the car behind him and quickened his pace. The faster he walked, the faster he went, until he simply started running. The car behind chased closely, even rolling down the window to curse at him—cursing fiercely! To shake her off, he turned around and ran against traffic. Only when he couldn’t see her car anymore did he take another route back to the new district.

He ran for nearly an hour before arriving at the new district out of breath. The anger in his body also gradually subsided with the sweat. He first went to the convenience store to buy water, only to discover he hadn’t brought his phone and had even left his jacket in the car. Only then did he understand why that goose in the car had been stretching her neck and wailing at him.

By the time he’d completely calmed down, it was an hour later—after he’d played tennis with someone at the residential complex sports center. He was exhausted and walked back slowly, thinking as he walked that he was really pathetic. She’s just a woman—why stoop to her level? In the end, he’d run back like a stray dog while she sat comfortably in the heated car. And tomorrow he’d still have to go back to her to get his phone.

Thinking this, he went upstairs. Coming out of the elevator, he was startled by the person at his door. Zhou Yu threw his clothes at him, stuffed his phone and car keys in his arms, and was about to leave. Sun Jingcheng instinctively grabbed her. “You came specially to bring me my phone?”

“I don’t have the energy to fight with you. I have class tomorrow,” Zhou Yu was also quite listless.

“Don’t go back. I’ll take you back to school first thing in the morning,” Sun Jingcheng blurted out, completely lacking the fierce but cowardly manner from two hours ago when they were fighting.

Zhou Yu also felt she was in the wrong, so naturally she took the offered way out and went back to the room with him. Sun Jingcheng said while changing shoes: “From now on when we fight, let’s save it up and fight on Friday nights and Saturdays, so neither of us affects our work.”

“Okay.” Zhou Yu agreed wholeheartedly. If they made such a fuss like tonight, there’d be no way to work tomorrow.

“I didn’t lose the argument tonight—I just don’t stoop to a woman’s level,” Sun Jingcheng salvaged some dignity for his stray dog behavior.

“Mm, thank you,” Zhou Yu replied.

This “thank you” left Sun Jingcheng speechless. After a while, he felt her tone was wrong—as if she was the one not stooping to his level?

Zhou Yu opened the door to the secondary bedroom. Sun Jingcheng said: “The bed’s never been made up. Sleep in the master bedroom.”

Zhou Yu went to the master bedroom, preparing to take off her jeans. Sun Jingcheng looked at her. “Aren’t you going to wash up?”

“You’re the only one who knows about cleanliness. I’ll take off my outer clothes then wash,” Zhou Yu said, going to the bathroom in her pink thermal underwear.

Sun Jingcheng found her a toothbrush. As she washed her face, she asked: “Do you have a new bath towel?”

“No new ones. They’ve all been used by me.”

Zhou Yu reluctantly waved her hand, telling him to go get one.

“Always ordering me around.” Sun Jingcheng muttered as he went to get it, bringing back men’s underwear and a thermal set. “All new—make do with these after your shower.”

…

While showering, Zhou Yu also washed the thermal underwear and underpants. After washing, she hung them on the radiator, then went to bed. Her sleep wasn’t very good. This morning she’d woken up at four or five o’clock. Just now while waiting for Sun Jingcheng at the door, she’d been drowsy.

Instead, after washing up and getting in bed, that drowsiness disappeared. The more she wanted to sleep, the less she could. Sun Jingcheng also finished washing up and came over. This time he didn’t apply various creams and put on gloves before getting into bed like before.

“Turn off the light?” Sun Jingcheng asked.

“Mm.” Zhou Yu responded.

The two shared one blanket, lying back to back. Sun Jingcheng also rarely suffered from insomnia. After tossing and turning for a long time, he asked her, “Zhou Yu, do you also think deep down that I’m a complete failure?”

“A failed husband, a failed son…” Sun Jingcheng said softly. “Good thing we don’t have kids—I’d probably be a failed father too.” After speaking, hearing no response from her, he lifted his head to look. Zhou Yu had already fallen asleep.

Suddenly he felt fortunate. It was good that she’d fallen asleep—how could he have said such things? He stared at the ceiling, feeling lost for a while, then turned his head to look at the back of Zhou Yu’s head and gently moved closer to hold her.

The next morning, both woke up at about the same time. Zhou Yu rolled out of bed to wash up—she still had to rush to school to teach. Sun Jingcheng stretched, moved his limbs, got up slowly, then sat on the edge of the bed.

Zhou Yu urged him, “Hurry up and wash!”

Sun Jingcheng, the annoying one, said unhurriedly: “My mom says you can’t get up suddenly in the morning—it’s bad for your cardiovascular system. You should sit on the edge of the bed for a while…” Before he finished, Zhou Yu threw a pillow at him.

Sun Jingcheng wasn’t making it up. Since childhood, his morning routine had been good—after waking up, first move your limbs under the covers, then slowly get up and sit on the edge of the bed for a minute. After marriage, he’d corrected Zhou Yu’s habit of getting up abruptly multiple times. She didn’t listen, and they’d even fought about it. Zhou Yu had only developed the habit of getting up abruptly after she started working.

In the car, the two ate breakfast while rushing to school. Zhou Yu watched the last three seconds of the green light and urged him: “Quick, quick, quick.”

“What’s the rush?” Sun Jingcheng slowly coasted through.

Zhou Yu was so angry she cursed. “Just gun the gas and you’d make it through!”

“I’m a law-abiding good citizen,” Sun Jingcheng said unmoved. “You’re not in that much of a rush for thirty seconds.”

“You’re so righteous and glorious.”

“Ah—” Sun Jingcheng opened his mouth.

Zhou Yu fed him a bite of egg-filled pancake. “I said to buy two, you said you weren’t eating.”

“I only took two bites, didn’t I?” Sun Jingcheng said while chewing. “Look how stingy you are.”

“Your two bites ate half of mine.” Zhou Yu couldn’t be bothered with him. She hated those types who said they weren’t eating when buying, then ate more than anyone else.

“Hey, Teacher Zhou, do you remember what you looked like when you woke up this morning?” Sun Jingcheng looked at her after brushing off the bread crumbs that fell on his chest.

Zhou Yu ignored him.

“You were like a little pig burrowing into my arms, with one leg stretched over my body.”

Zhou Yu let him talk and just didn’t respond.

Sun Jingcheng wasn’t in a hurry either, saying leisurely: “I should have taken a photo to show you how you look when you sleep.”

“Just stop there, don’t stop at the school entrance,” Zhou Yu pointed to an inconspicuous spot.

Sun Jingcheng deliberately stopped right at the school’s main entrance and even blocked her way. “Manage your expression—don’t look too fierce. These are all your colleagues and students here.”

Zhou Yu gracefully got out of the car and waved goodbye to him with a beaming smile.

Sun Jingcheng laughed heartily.

Sun Jingyue came to the clinic early in the morning to mooch a meal. At the dining table, he chatted with Sun Youping: “Dad, really—you’re more than half his age older, and you’re still holding a grudge against him.”

“I’m not holding a grudge,” Sun Youping said steadily while drinking his porridge.

“You two, stop causing me trouble. I’m busy enough with things at the bureau.” Sun Jingyue slurped his soup. “Years ago I was caught between you and third sister. Now I’m caught between you and fourth brother.”

“You just manage things at the bureau.”

“I’m distracted, Dad. They feel wronged and call me. I’m the eldest brother—can I not care? Other families have discord between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law—our family is great: discord between father and son, father and daughter. Tell me, you’re all men—what can’t be resolved?”

“Look at it another way—third and fourth haven’t killed anyone, rebelled against society, or caused trouble for our Public Security Bureau, so they’re good citizens! Last year we arrested a child who killed his father—only sixteen years old. The method was extremely cruel…”

“So because he didn’t kill me, I should thank him?”

“Oh, where are you going with this?” Sun Jingyue frowned. “I’m talking about today’s kids… I won’t say anymore. You two do whatever you want.”

Sun Youping became sullen and went down to the clinic, put on his white coat, and sat upright at the examination desk. Between the lines of what the eldest said was that he, the father, was wrong—that he stubbornly held grudges against his children.

His right hand on the desk trembled slightly. The back of his hand was covered with age spots. His left hand squeezed his right hand, rubbing it back and forth while staring blankly at the leafless plane tree in front of the door. Calculating—how much longer before it would sprout and grow leaves again.

Over there, Sun Jingcheng parked his car under the plane tree and went up to the second floor from the clinic. Sun Youping stood at the stairway entrance and called for the eldest. Sun Jingyue heard and came down. Sun Youping pointed upstairs: “Tell him not to come upstairs through the clinic anymore.”

“I’m not saying it,” Sun Jingyue didn’t meddle. “He didn’t go through my living room.” After saying this, he went upstairs.

Upstairs, he criticized Sun Jingcheng: “You should also restrain yourself. In the family, you and third sister cause the most trouble. Dad’s so old, and you still stoop to his level.”

“We barely see each other once a month, and when we do you criticize me?” Plus, Mother Sun had just scolded him a few days ago, so he couldn’t control the sharpness in his tone.

“Did you eat gunpowder?” Sun Jingyue said to him.

“I’m never coming back to this home again!” Sun Jingcheng made as if to leave.

Sun Jingyue grabbed his clothes. “Alright, alright. You all just grow tempers but no ability. I just talked with Dad. He really regrets it and says he won’t… have a bad attitude toward you anymore.”

Sun Jingcheng came back to sit down. “Where’s Mom?”

“Mom just went to take the kids to school.” Sun Jingyue also sat down and said: “You and third sister should both settle down.”

“A few days ago she messaged me asking if failing to save someone constitutes a crime. I said it depends on the situation. She said if someone was about to jump off a building and she sat on the side eating sunflower seeds watching the excitement, would that count as a crime.” Sun Jingyue’s head hurt. “You contact her later—she hasn’t been back in two months. See what she’s up to.”

“You also contact second brother and see what he’s busy with all day.”

“Second brother’s living the high life,” Sun Jingcheng tattled. “He went to Hong Kong.”

“Fine.” Sun Jingyue cut him off and got up to leave. “Not one of you gives me peace of mind.” He remembered something and turned to instruct him: “From now on, you’re not allowed to come up through the clinic. Come up through the residential complex.”

After speaking, he scratched his scalp and went downstairs. Seeing Sun Youping sitting at the examination desk angry, he went over to comfort him: “Dad, I just scolded fourth brother. He really regrets it and says he’ll never have a bad attitude toward you again.”

“You should also be more open-minded. Fourth brother is still young—if the east isn’t bright, the west will be.” Sun Jingyue thought for a moment and said: “Two months ago I went to his place. More than half his study was filled with medical books.”

Sun Youping was indifferent. “Whatever he wants to do, let him do it.”

“Alright, I’m heading back to the bureau first.” Sun Jingyue left.

That morning he spoke more than he had in a whole month. On the road, he wanted to call his wife but hesitated for a long time without making the call. Last night the two had bickered over trivial matters. His wife complained that she did all the housework and still had to take leave to attend parent-teacher meetings at the kindergarten. Now their daughter in college wanted to go abroad as an exchange student, and the family had no spare money. Plus, they’d had another little one, so expenses went without saying.