The day Liang Meng left Longquan, riding in Daiwei’s car.

Longquan just happened to be taking down its signage that same day.

Liang Meng leaned back against the rear seat, watching everything outside the window with a wistful, faraway expression.

“Uncle Daiwei, do you think that every company, when it gets a new owner, has to replace all the signage? Even if Longquan is still called Longquan, changing the font is still a change.”

Daiwei sat in the passenger seat and turned back to look at her, then said with a weight of meaning: “Not just anyone could endure a scene like this. So, Liang Meng — don’t resent your parents.”

Liang Meng drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly: “Resent them? I can barely even remember what they looked like.”

“Back then when Longquan was on the verge of bankruptcy, your parents were truly at the end of their rope. They reached out to many people, tried every solution they could think of, and in the end the capital chain still broke.” Daiwei said. “But later, for Longquan to come back from the dead, there was a mysterious injection of funds. If that money had come just a little sooner, perhaps…”

There are no ‘perhaps’ in this world.

“A mysterious injection of funds?” Liang Meng asked curiously.

“Yes. On the day after your parents’ fatal fall — a mysterious sum of money was transferred into Longquan’s account. Jiang Han took control of that money, and it was that which allowed Longquan to get back on its feet.” Daiwei said.

These were all old, old stories. Liang Meng had no desire to dwell on them.

She looked out the window, and the more she thought, the more agitated she became. She turned to Daiwei: “Hang the ‘Baoquan’ sign in the most prominent spot at Ling Xue! And the new packaging — change everything, from the colors to the font!”

“That’s already in progress — we’ve got a design firm working on it.” Daiwei tried to calm Liang Meng down.

But Liang Meng was determined to vent her frustration: “Give me the most eye-catching colors for the packaging — either red or gold on the can body! I want to blind everyone who looks at it!”

“Xiao Meng, don’t be rash. You’re a post-90s girl who studied abroad, after all — your packaging should reflect your taste and sense of aesthetics.”

Daiwei spoke in the gentle tone of a senior advising someone younger.

“The tackiest thing is the trendiest thing.”

The idea of a red can with gold finish actually wasn’t born out of spite — for Baoquan Herbal Tea to break through quickly, they needed some kind of bold, arresting gimmick.

“Lin Qing once told me that the post-2000s generation loves a word called ‘rustic-chic.’ Our Baoquan is going to be gloriously, defiantly rustic-chic!”

Before long, they arrived at Ling Xue SOHO.

Daiwei, who had been chatting and laughing with Liang Meng all the way there, suddenly composed himself and fell quiet.

“Uncle Daiwei, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Let me go over there and get you a coffee.”

Liang Meng asked with concern.

Daiwei stood with his hands on his hips, gazing up at the glass curtain wall that stretched far above them, not moving for a long time.

“Nearly twenty years have passed, and every time I walk in here, I still feel my legs go weak.”

Liang Meng didn’t understand, and handed Daiwei a bottle of water.

Daiwei didn’t take it. Instead he said: “Get me a can of herbal tea.”

Liang Meng quickly had someone bring over a can of Baoquan Herbal Tea.

Daiwei pulled open the tab, pointed toward a café not far away, and said: “Xiao Meng, do you see that café?”

Liang Meng nodded.

“That’s where your parents landed.” Daiwei said quietly. “I couldn’t forget it even if I tried. At the time, their outlines were marked on the ground in chalk, and there were three phoenix trees nearby.”

Liang Meng felt a jolt in her chest. So this was what Daiwei had come to say.

With great solemnity, Daiwei poured the herbal tea onto the concrete ground, murmuring under his breath: “Old Liang, Ning Yanhong — Xiao Meng has brought Baoquan Herbal Tea. May your spirits watching over us from above bless her — prosperity in business, success in all things.”

When he had done this, Daiwei straightened up, summoned his authority, waved his hand, and called out to the workers: “Move it!”

Liang Meng looked up at Ling Xue. She suddenly understood why Jiang Han had bought it, even at a loss.

If one day we could stand together beneath Ling Xue, this life would count as growing old side by side.

Liang Meng hoped that Jiang Han would always be by her side, helping her, growing old alongside her…

…

The next day.

Lin Qing came to pick up her mother for a follow-up appointment at the medical center.

She arrived at the apartment building and pressed the intercom frantically — no one was home.

With no other choice, she wandered over to a small park nearby, hoping to run into her mother dancing in a square-dancing crowd.

Lin Qing had only walked a few steps into the crowd when she heard a group of older women sitting on stone benches under a tree, idly gossiping.

“What’s the deal with that new woman? She’s only been here a few weeks — how is it that all the old men in the area are eager to dance with her?”

“Who, the one over there in the purple top with the floral scarf?”

Lin Qing followed their gaze — and realized the “new woman” they were talking about was none other than her own mother.

Lin Qing pretended to tie her shoelace, crouched down, and stretched her ears out as far as they could go to catch every word.

“Let me tell you what’s really going on here.”

One of the older women covered her mouth as she spoke, but her voice carried easily to anyone within ten paces.

“That woman is a country girl — fresh off the boat to Shanghai. She says she’s come to live with her daughter. She even sold off her house back in her hometown!”

“She sold her hometown house? Did she buy one here?”

“That’s the clever bit! This old lady is quite something! She hasn’t bought a place — she’s keeping the money in her own pocket. Says she refuses to slave away for her children, she wants to live her own life!”

“What?! She’s actually like that?”

“So you understand why all these unattached old men are so happy to dance with her? No children to support, pockets full of several hundred thousand! And never mind those old men — I’ve seen several of the young men handing out flyers literally winking at her.”

“Now you’re exaggerating!”

“The young men, alright, that bit’s a stretch. But she really does attract people — that much is true!”

“She attracts people? Don’t make me laugh. If you’re walking around with several hundred thousand in cash and the whole park knows it, you’d attract people too. Or rather — you’d lure them! “

“Oh, I’m not that showy! Flashiness is nothing compared to cold hard cash! This old lady is no fool. Tsk tsk tsk.”

Lin Qing couldn’t listen any more. She stood up and marched straight toward her mother.

“Mom, come with me right now!”

Lin Qing grabbed her mother — who was still in the middle of wiggling her hips — and pulled her away!

“What? What’s going on? I still have four beats left! Hey, hey, hey — what are you pulling me for?”

Her mother was dragged unwillingly away from the sound of the loudspeaker.

Lin Qing pulled her all the way to the base of a large tree. Her mother grumbled that Lin Qing’s grip was too strong and that her wrist was nearly dislocated.

They stopped. Before Lin Qing had even said a word, she whipped out her phone and fired off a call to Liang Meng.

“Liang Meng, I asked you to look after my mother. How exactly have you been looking after her?”

“How have I been looking after her?”

Liang Meng, on the other end, held up her phone, equally baffled.

“She’s out here every day at the park, flirting with old men — did you know that?!” Lin Qing accused her.

“What?!?!”

Liang Meng was even more baffled.

Without waiting for her to respond, Lin Qing hung up and immediately turned to interrogate her mother: “You — what are you actually getting up to in this park every day?”

Her mother stood her ground without a hint of shame: “Dancing.”

Lin Qing, fuming, recounted every word of the gossip she had just overheard, from beginning to end, and then asked her mother: “Are you really going around telling everyone that you’ve got several hundred thousand from selling your house and you’re keeping it all for yourself?!”

“That’s right!” Her mother puffed out her chest without a shred of remorse. “I did say that when I was chatting with people. Isn’t it the truth? You’re off with Jiang Han now, eating well and living in luxury in that riverside penthouse. You’ll have no use for the few pennies in your mother’s pocket from here on out.”

“Mom!!” Lin Qing stamped her foot. “Are you out of your mind?”

“What do you mean, out of my mind?”

Her mother looked like a defiant teenager being scolded by a parent — indifferent, head bowed, idly picking at her fingernails.

“You—” Lin Qing was so exasperated she didn’t even know where to begin.

Making a great effort to calm herself, she decided to start slowly and rationally.

“Mom, do you know that the way you’re behaving attracts scoundrels? And scoundrels come in all age ranges! A bad person doesn’t turn into a good person just because they got old. When you go around announcing this to everyone, the only kind of old man it draws in is the kind who has his eye on your wallet — how many of them are genuinely interested in you? No wonder those women just now were saying you don’t have any sense — because you don’t!”

“Lin Qing!”

After holding herself back for a moment, her mother finally erupted!

She did not think there was anything wrong with how she was behaving at all.

“When did you get the right to lecture me? You crawled out of my belly, you little worm! Now you’re here putting on airs and talking a big game. Let me tell you — I’ve swallowed more salt than you’ve eaten rice! I’ve crossed more bridges than you’ve walked roads!”

Having said her piece, her mother gave her chin a defiant, deliberate jerk upward.

Lin Qing was utterly speechless. Still, she patiently persisted: “But we eat rice every day — who do you know who eats salt every day? And crossing more bridges — doesn’t the bridge still count as a road? Who’s the one talking a big game now? Being wrong is being wrong — don’t use your age as a shield.”

Her mother wouldn’t yield, crossing her arms and looking pointedly away.

“People always say don’t flaunt your wealth, make your money quietly… and what you have wouldn’t even amount to much in Shanghai. So I’m asking you — the kind of old man who’d have his eye on your small sum of money, what sort of man do you think he is?” Lin Qing pressed on, exasperated.

Then, suddenly, her mother’s mood shifted.

In the shade of the tree, her expression grew serious, and she turned to Lin Qing with gravity: “My affairs are none of your business. I am me, and you are you. The house isn’t being bought, so the money is my money — it’s nothing to do with you. I don’t have many good days left anyway. Before I go, I intend to spend every last penny of it!”

“It’s not about the money!” Lin Qing waved her hand, frustrated. “I’m afraid you’ll get conned!”

“What is there to con out of me?” Her mother gave a dismissive laugh. “I’m an old woman with half my body already in the ground. Whether I’ll live to see next year’s calendar, who can say! I’m afraid of being conned? I’m not even afraid of death — you think I’m afraid of that? Besides, I live in the moment. All I want is to be happy. What do I need ‘genuine intentions’ for? You have far too much time on your hands!”

“Mom! What are you even saying?!”

Lin Qing couldn’t listen any more.

After a long while, mother and daughter finally calmed down.

Lin Qing looked at her mother — dressed up so colorfully and vibrantly — and couldn’t help it. A laugh burst out of her.

“Mom, this scarf — is it Liang Meng’s?”

Her mother looked down at it with a puzzled expression. “How did you know?”

Lin Qing took her mother by the arm, found a wooden bench, and sat them both down.

“Liang Meng sent me this scarf the day before yesterday. She said the color was too flashy for her taste, so she passed it along to me, along with a few bags she asked me to carry out shopping.”

Lin Qing smiled at hearing that, fingering the scarf, and enlightened her mother: “This is Hermès. A scarf like this runs four or five thousand yuan! And those bags Liang Meng gave you — if they’re the same brand, that’s something else entirely. A car’s worth of money!”

“Good heavens.” Her mother clutched her chest, then seemed to remember something. “No wonder every time I come out wearing this scarf, so many people stare at me. Especially that Lawyer Gu — ever since he spotted me in this scarf, he’s been pestering me to go for coffee.”

“Which Lawyer Gu?” Lin Qing asked.

Her mother flicked a hand lazily. “Oh, just some old man I met on my walks. It’s nothing.”

“Ah.” Lin Qing nodded.

“Right, Lin Qing — let me tell you something. Don’t worry about me. Has your mother ever been conned out of her feelings, or let anyone take advantage of her?” her mother said with conviction.

“That’s true, honestly.”

Lin Qing thought about it and couldn’t recall a single time her mother had been tricked.

“My dear girl, you young people these days love to talk about a concept — it’s called… called… that’s it, emotional value!” Her mother remembered, giving her knee a slap. “And your old mother — with not much time left — has grown rather attached to this so-called ’emotional value’ herself! Just now you called those old men ‘scoundrels.’ Well, strictly speaking, your mother would be what you’d call an ‘old scoundrel’ too!”

“Mom, what on earth do you mean by that?”

Her mother gently patted Lin Qing’s hand: “The money in my pocket is there to look at — not for them to spend. You see me making all that noise, but the bank card has been with Liang Meng this whole time. I never carry it on me. I’ve never even set up mobile banking. Even now, it’s Liang Meng who withdraws 2,000 yuan for me each month, for groceries, meat, and coffee.”

Lin Qing nodded. Liang Meng had done the right thing.

“My dear girl, don’t laugh at your mother.” Her mother sighed softly. “Your mother has never had a good life, truly. You know this — your father left when I was still so young. And before he left, honestly, the marriage was just so-so — a matchmaking arrangement, a wedding by procedure, having a child on schedule. There was some feeling between us, but as for love — the feeling of butterflies, your mother has truly never known it.”

Lin Qing had heard these words tens of thousands of times, but every time, for the sake of comforting her mother, she listened as though it were the very first time.

“So now my life is nearly over. I want to go completely wild one last time!” her mother said with a quiet sigh. “I’m doing quite well right now, quite fulfilled actually. In the morning I dance with retired Dancer Brother Zhang; at noon I have lunch with Investor Brother Li from a securities firm; in the afternoon I have coffee with Lawyer Gu; and in the evening I go to see a stage play with Traditional Medicine Doctor Liu from the university for the elderly. Life is very sweet and full. As for whether they’re trying to deceive me, or just after the few coins in my pocket — I truly don’t care!”

Having laid herself bare, her mother gave a decisive wave of her hand in conclusion.

This declaration of “one final moment of madness” struck Lin Qing right in the heart.

The ginger really is spicier when it’s older — her mother was a seasoned fox now, playing a game of letting the enemy walk right into her trap.

Her worry eased. She offered some gentle reassurance: “Mom, please don’t talk like that. With your illness — Jiang Han said he’s found a specialist in Hong Kong, and they say as long as the medication can keep it under control, living another ten or twenty years is no problem at all. Jiang Han and Liang Meng have both already mobilized their overseas contacts to help find the right medicine.”

Her mother listened, then said unhurriedly: “How thoughtful of them, truly.”

Lin Qing reassured her: “And isn’t Liang Meng your ‘adopted goddaughter’? You claimed her yourself — don’t go back on it now! Jiang Han is your ‘adopted son-in-law.’ They’re being good to you, so don’t feel any burden about it.”

Hearing that playful remark, her mother’s face finally broke into a smile.

“I claim her! Of course I do! Liang Meng is such a good girl!”

“Mom, that has to come from the heart.”

Lin Qing pointed to her mother’s earlier little thoughts.

Her mother sat up straight, looked at Lin Qing, and said honestly: “It does come from the heart. Truly. Right now, if you and Liang Meng both fell into a river, I wouldn’t even know which one of you to save first!”

“Ha. Mom, the car’s waiting outside the park. Let’s go.”

Lin Qing accompanied her mother to the medical center for her first trial of the new medication.