Among the pastries the Ling family brought on this visit were “cream rolls,” which, according to Ling Yi’s mother, were Mu Yang’s favorite childhood treat.

Ling Yi was exceedingly polite, graciously offering gifts of skincare products and hair conditioner, with portions for both Teacher Mu and Fei Ni. Fei Ni found Ling Yi’s politeness rather uncomfortable. The last time Ling Yi had been this polite was when Fei Ni had waited for her at the university campus for three or four hours, finally catching up with her to tell her that Mu Yang had awakened. Ling Yi’s usually melancholic face had briefly lit up with a smile as she thanked Fei Ni for informing her, even offering to buy her a soda. But that smile hadn’t lasted long, as the awakened Mu Yang had proved disappointing to her.

“Thank you, but I’m not accustomed to using these things. It would be wasteful to give them to me—please keep them for yourself.” Refusing gifts delivered in person was somewhat awkward and could seem impolite, so to ease the tension, Fei Ni had to decline with a smile.

Ling Yi hadn’t expected Fei Ni to refuse—these items weren’t easy for her to obtain and weren’t things she gave away lightly.

Without insisting, Ling Yi smiled and said to Teacher Mu, “Aunt Fang, you’ll have to accept both portions then.”

Teacher Mu had never liked being addressed as Aunt Fang or Madam Fang… Her surname was Mu, not Fang. She used to frown when people introduced her as Principal Fang’s wife—she had her surname, and her profession wasn’t just being someone’s wife. But now she couldn’t be bothered to correct these things. When people addressed her this way, she just smiled, willing to give her husband this face since he was currently unemployed.

Teacher Mu detected something unusual behind Fei Ni’s smile. She keenly sensed that Fei Ni disliked Ling Yi. Fei Ni and Ling Yi weren’t familiar with each other, their only connection being Mu Yang. It was likely because Mu Yang and Ling Yi had been too close, and she was jealous.

Teacher Mu thought back to Old Fang in his younger days.

When Old Fang was young, he had been quite prominent, best known for his romantic poetry, which had earned him quite a following of admirers, naturally including young women. Those who directly expressed their love, he would openly reject, but he didn’t distance himself from others who harbored silent affection. He continued to teach and guide them, peacocking about with his grace, knowledge, and elegant manners. When they faced difficulties, Old Fang would help if he could. Teacher Mu had argued with Old Fang about this more than once, but each time he would act innocent, insisting he was faithful to Teacher Mu and that since marriage, his most intimate contact with other women had been merely handshakes. He would counter-question her: didn’t she have male students too? Gender shouldn’t be a barrier. These arguments ended shortly after Mu Yang was born. Whenever Old Fang would display his elegant manner and knowledge before his many admirers in the living room, Mu Yang would appear unexpectedly, shattering his father’s dignity and destroying his elegance. His knowledge proved useless in educating the child, and his vocabulary became remarkably limited and impoverished. Mu Yang destroyed not only his father’s image but also his admirers’ imagination of the perfect man. Old Fang’s admirers discovered that their idol had such a side to him, no different from other ordinary men, and their enthusiasm for seeking his guidance diminished considerably.

Because of these experiences, Teacher Mu could well understand Fei Ni’s feelings.

Teacher Mu smiled and said, “I appreciate the thought, but I won’t accept the gifts. Our family isn’t particular about such things. The face cream Fei Ni gave me last time—I’ve only used it two or three times, and it might take three to five years to finish. Take it back and use it with your mother.”

Ling Yi couldn’t help but hear the distinction being made in these words—Fei Ni was “our family,” and Teacher Mu would prioritize using Fei Ni’s face cream. She thought that Fei Ni’s so-called face cream was probably something like lemon honey, not comparable to hers. Before she could tactfully point out the difference, Old Fang spoke up.

Old Fang proved his wife indeed wasn’t particular about such things: “More than ten years ago when I went on a delegation visit to the Soviet Union, I bought your Aunt Mu a bottle of face cream. When they recently returned our confiscated items, that cream came back too. When we opened it, it was barely touched.” He had also bought a bottle of perfume, which Mu Yang had mixed with his watercolor paints—the unfilial son had wasted half a bottle of perfume just to see if the scent would maintain its original smell when mixed with paint.

Ling Yi realized that Fei Ni had quickly integrated into this family, her background and education not proving to be barriers to acceptance.

Having her carefully chosen gifts rejected, Ling Yi felt somewhat embarrassed. Aunt Mu’s coldness toward her made her suspect that Fei Ni had said something to Mu Yang’s parents.

Teacher Mu couldn’t completely ignore Ling Yi, so she asked about her work and whether things were going well. She knew nothing of Ling Yi’s recent circumstances.

Ling Yi answered everything. It seemed Fei Ni hadn’t mentioned her much to Teacher Mu—she wasn’t as bad as Ling Yi had thought.

“Is Mu Yang not home today?”

“He’s at work, doing overtime today.”

“Mu Yang is still working at the restaurant?”

Old Fang gave an affirmative grunt.

Ling Yi’s father said, “It’s such a waste of talent for Mu Yang to work at a restaurant. I particularly loved his paintings when he was young. He even gave us one before, though unfortunately, it was lost.”

Old Fang modestly responded on his unfilial son’s behalf, but couldn’t help adding, “He does have some natural talent in that area.” That’s why even when he wouldn’t feed Mu Yang, he would still buy him painting materials.

Mu Yang became the focus of the conversation.

The two families reminisced, talking about Mu Yang in the past, and how he used to love visiting the Ling household.

Old Fang thought to himself, that not only did he like visiting their home, but he’d been to every household in the building, always claiming everyone else’s cooking was better than his home’s. His unfilial son had embarrassed him everywhere, forcing him to ensure his son was well-fed and send him to the countryside for training during long holidays.

To Fei Ni’s ears, it suggested something else—perhaps Mu Yang’s giving up his university spot to Ling Yi wasn’t purely out of sympathy. But she didn’t like dwelling on the past; Mu Yang was hers now.

After the small talk, Ling Yi’s father brought up the matter of Mu Yang’s work, mentioning a vacancy at the pictorial magazine that Mu Yang could take immediately if he didn’t mind. The implication was that even working at the pictorial would be beneath Mu Yang’s talents.

Though the Ling family didn’t mention their role, anyone perceptive would know they had pulled strings.

Old Fang had enough confidence in his unfilial son to not consider this position as some great favor. However, lately, there had been more visitors than usual, with rumors circulating about his imminent reinstatement or promotion. Some had come to offer premature congratulations, leaving Old Fang both amused and frustrated, having to explain that he hadn’t received any news about reinstatement. The well-wishers assumed he was just being discreet. When seeing guests out, Old Fang would ask them to take their gifts back. He knew these people were opportunistically bringing gifts, modest ones at that, and he had denied the rumors. But if he wasn’t reinstated later, these gift-givers would badmouth him behind his back, and rumors would spread that he had deliberately circulated news of his reinstatement. Such frame-ups were commonplace, happening constantly.

Although Ling Yi’s father was both Old Fang’s former subordinate and old acquaintance, during this period, Old Fang didn’t dare casually accept gifts from others, and a job for his son counted as a kind of gift.

Old Fang expressed gratitude to his former subordinate but stated that he didn’t interfere with his son’s career choices, leaving the decision to Mu Yang.

Old Fang said, “Wherever one works, it’s all about serving the people.”

“That’s certainly true.”

Old Fang smiled again: “As for where he serves, let him decide for himself. You know my younger son never listens to me.” Then, in a joking tone, he added, “Now there are rumors about me taking up an important position—there’s nothing to it. The only important position I hold is at home, where I’m led by Little Yang in doing household chores. Stories change as they spread.”

It took Ling Yi’s parents a moment to realize that Little Yang was the Fang family’s housekeeper, and they remarked on how humorous their old leader was, adding that with Old Fang’s talents, he would surely be reinstated sooner or later.

Old Fang waved his hand dismissively: “I’m just a scholar, only suited for staying in my study. Right now, my most important task is organizing my manuscripts.”

Ling Yi volunteered to help with the manuscripts: “Uncle Fang if you don’t mind, I can help you organize your manuscripts.” She then added that she currently worked as an editor at a publishing house, and manuscript organization was her specialty.

Though Old Fang didn’t fully trust Ling Yi’s abilities, he quite appreciated her attitude.

“You can let me try, and if it doesn’t work out, you can take over yourself. How does that sound?”

Teacher Mu glanced at Fei Ni, thinking about how Ling Yi would frequently visit their home if Old Fang agreed.

Old Fang remembered that Ling Yi had attended university. Despite coming from a similar background as his unfilial son, she had been recommended for university admission, surely indicating she was an extremely ambitious person.

He expressed this praise in his words.

Ling Yi’s father thought Old Fang was being sarcastic and hurriedly explained, “If Mu Yang hadn’t given up his rightful spot, Xiao Yi couldn’t have gone to university, no matter how excellent she was.”

The Ling family quickly realized that Mu Yang’s parents knew nothing about him giving up his university spot.

He had made such an enormous sacrifice yet hadn’t even told his parents. Ling Yi abandoned the desire to impress that she’d brought with her, reverting to the expression she’d worn that day at the hospital visiting Mu Yang. Back then, she felt she had lost Mu Yang, but today that feeling was even stronger—she had missed her chance with him completely. She would never again meet a man willing to sacrifice his future for her sake and keep silent about it. Though many pursued her, she knew no one would ever be as good to her again. She suddenly hated her past weakness; if only she had been stronger then, had persisted a little longer, she could have held on until Mu Yang regained consciousness, held on until they could be together.

She thought if only Fei Ni were a bit worse—if she were more terrible, Ling Yi would have reason to steal Mu Yang away from her. But she had to admit that Fei Ni wasn’t as bad as she had imagined. Though Fei Ni knew about her past, she hadn’t said anything to Mu Yang’s parents.

This realization made her gaze turn sorrowful.

What surprised Old Fang most wasn’t that his unfilial son had given up his university spot to someone else, but that someone from his background had been recommended for university in the first place—he knew all too well how difficult that was. His surprise gave way to gratification; though his son was obstinate, he was still his son. This gratification bloomed into joy that he couldn’t help but show on his face. He had been struggling over how much money to give his unfilial son, but after this discovery, he decided to be more generous.

Ling Yi’s parents had prepared themselves for a cold reception but hadn’t expected their old leader to seem even happier than before.

This was beyond their understanding.

Teacher Mu’s reaction was more like that of typical parents; her upbringing wouldn’t allow her to show obvious coldness. Smiling, she excused herself, saying she needed to prepare for class in her bedroom, and asked Fei Ni to come with her.

When Mu Yang was young, Teacher Mu didn’t care whether he attended university—the family didn’t lack university graduates. Since Mu Yang had no interest in university, she had let him neglect his studies. But in the countryside, a university spot meant a future, and he had worked so hard to earn that spot only to give it to Ling Yi. Ling Yi was perfectly capable; what right did she have to accept such a huge gift? People with proper upbringing and principles wouldn’t accept it. For this, she looked down on Ling Yi. She attributed her son’s giving up his spot to his poor judgment of people, wrongly developing feelings for Ling Yi, while Ling Yi hadn’t returned his love—in the crucial moment, it was his current daughter-in-law who had cared for him. She sympathized with her son’s experience but couldn’t approve of his judgment of character.

She fully understood Fei Ni’s coldness and dislike toward Ling Yi.

Teacher Mu took out a watch she had bought for her son—suitable for both men and women—but now decided to give it to Fei Ni.

“Mom, I have a watch.”

“You can alternate wearing them.”

“You’ve worked so hard.”

“Why do you suddenly say that?”

Teacher Mu changed the subject: “What books would you like to read? Make a list, and I’ll borrow them from the library for you.”

The Ling family sensed the hostess’s coldness, and though the old leader remained courteous, they tactfully took their leave. Before leaving, Ling Yi’s father mentioned the job matter once more, saying if Mu Yang was willing, he could help arrange the transfer procedures.

Old Fang repeated his earlier response: “Let’s wait for Mu Yang to return before deciding.”

As soon as the guests left, Teacher Mu called her husband into the study: “Don’t let Ling Yi help you organize your manuscripts. I don’t want her coming to our home.”

Old Fang rarely saw his wife so agitated and tried to comfort her: “Mu Yang never wanted to go to university anyway, and Ling Yi grew up with him since childhood. She’s a girl, always delicate, unsuited for heavy physical work. I can understand why Mu Yang gave her his spot.”

“Delicate because she’s a girl? Tell me, when we were at the farm machinery factory, in what way did you work harder than me?”

“Let’s not bring up the past.”

“If Ling Yi had any principles at all, she wouldn’t have accepted an opportunity bought with someone else’s sacrificed future. I don’t like such people, and I don’t want Mu Yang to have any further contact with her.”

“Doing a good deed only to create resentment—I don’t think that was Mu Yang’s intention. Shouldn’t we just let things take their natural course?”

“Natural course?” Teacher Mu sneered, “Why do you think your son gave up his spot to Ling Yi? Surely you can guess. If Ling Yi had visited him a few more times when he was struggling, do you think your current daughter-in-law would be who she is? We can’t wrong Fei Ni.”

Old Fang couldn’t help but pity his unfilial son, never expecting him to be such a romantic, and one who had been betrayed.

Mu Yang got off work on time and saw the old man sitting in the living room. The old man’s gaze today was unfamiliar, strange—if he wasn’t mistaken, it was pity.

The old man pitied him.

Not just the old man, even his mother looked at him strangely. And Fei Ni was colder than usual.

Before dinner, he went to wash his hands in the bathroom. Fei Ni had just entered but hadn’t closed the door when Mu Yang squeezed in, shut the door, and took her hands, helping her apply soap and work up a lather. “What’s wrong today? What mistake did I make?”

He washed her hands meticulously, “Or did the old man make you angry? I can’t imagine my mother upsetting you.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not angry at all.” Fei Ni pulled her hands away, “I have good news to tell you later.”

“But your expression doesn’t look like good news.”

“You’ll know soon enough.” The only good news Mu Yang could think of that would make Fei Ni unhappy was pregnancy—she didn’t want to have children so early, and neither did he. But they had been careful with protection; it couldn’t be that.

She hurried out of the bathroom, taking a deep breath at the door, waiting for the flush to fade from her face before returning to the dining room.

During the meal, the old man unusually picked up some food for Mu Yang with his chopsticks, telling him to eat more.

As the meal drew to a close, Old Fang finally brought up the job the Ling family had found for him.

Before Mu Yang could say whether he would take it or not.

Old Fang said, “Your mother and I hope you’ll refuse this job. We’ll try to find you one comparable to it.”

At this point, Fei Ni spoke up: “I think Mu Yang should take the job at the pictorial.”