It was hard to get a taxi on New Year’s Eve. By the time I finally got home, it was already nine o’clock at night.

The Spring Festival Gala had already started. The residential complex was filled with bright red lanterns everywhere, and a few children were secretly setting off firecrackers.

When I pushed open the door, Grandma was leaning on the sofa, asleep, with only the television still making noise.

Her hair had been dyed a few days ago, but the dye job wasn’t good—still more white than black. The chandelier cast shadows that revealed the deep creases on her face, clear to the point of cruelty.

As I took off my scarf, I said: “Grandma, if you want to sleep, go sleep in your room.”

She startled awake and mumbled: “Why are you just getting back now… That, um, have you eaten?”

“I ate. Our boss treated us to dinner tonight.” Afraid she would get up to start bustling about, I lied, thinking I’d just cook some instant noodles later.

Just then, a girl poked her head out from the kitchen, saying: “That won’t do! The dumplings would have been wrapped for nothing!”

It was Ha Rina. I was startled, then relieved, saying: “You’re not going out today?”

Ha Rina had been living at my place all along. At first it was to study English, later she found herself a job as a Taobao model, always going out to do photo shoots.

This was the good thing about cities—nothing goes to waste, and beauty absolutely never goes to waste.

“Got off work early.” She said: “Had to keep Grandma company for New Year’s. You’re not coming home!”

Another person poked their head out from the kitchen—it was Yu Shixuan, with shallow dimples: “And me too.”

Yu Shixuan could charm anyone she wanted to charm. Grandma was grinning from ear to ear, explaining to me: “Little Yu came over this afternoon, said she’d give you a surprise, made a whole table of dishes.”

Ha Rina rolled her eyes, undermining her: “Too bad aside from the boiled shrimp, not a single dish was edible.”

“Grandma, you testify for me, wasn’t it pretty good? Little sister is slandering me for no reason!” Yu Shixuan said coquettishly.

Grandma fell for this completely, saying repeatedly: “Delicious, delicious.”

Ha Rina rolled her eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky: “Delicious what! If I hadn’t come back and stir-fried everything again for you, you’d have food poisoning by now.”

The two still couldn’t stand each other. Seeing they were about to start fighting, I quickly put on an apron, saying: “Alright, alright, thank you both for your hard work. Go watch TV, I’ll do it.”

Yu Shixuan breathed a sigh of relief, threw down her apron and ran faster than a rabbit. Ha Rina watched TV with Grandma for a while, then came back to the kitchen to help me.

The sound of the Spring Festival Gala echoed from the living room, outside the window were the sounds of exploding fireworks, and inside the house there were two pretty young girls keeping her company and talking. I breathed a sigh of relief—fortunately Grandma’s New Year’s wasn’t too desolate.

As I kneaded the dough, I chatted with Ha Rina about everyday things.

I said: “How’s your modeling work going?”

“Pretty good. They all say I was born for this.” She pulled out photos on her phone to show me—a free-spirited sprite on the grasslands, after heavy makeup like a cold and stunning rose.

What hadn’t changed was that vigorous life force in her eyes and brows.

“It’s just really exhausting. I can only eat one slice of apple a day.” She said: “But people still think I’m fat!”

“Maintaining your figure is expected. Is anyone giving you a hard time?”

She laughed and said: “When clients get anxious, some even slap people in the face. What would you do?”

“I’d slap them back!” I said: “I’m here to make money, not to get beaten!”

This was of course to set an example for her. In reality, with my personality, if someone slapped my left cheek, I’d immediately offer my right cheek, and throw in a compliment about their manicure while I was at it.

Ha Rina smiled and said: “I want to slap them too, but I’m already too hungry to have the strength.”

We both smiled bitterly at the same time.

Although this line of work paid well, you were eating youth rice. I had always wanted to persuade her to switch to a different track to compete in.

Ha Rina skillfully wrapped a curtain of dumplings. After putting them in the pot, she said with her back to me: “Sis, I want to discuss something with you.”

“What is it?”

An ominous premonition faintly rose in my heart.

“I want to go home.” She said.

I was stunned.

After she came here, she adapted like a fish to water, often putting on beautiful makeup to check in at various internet-famous scenic spots. Many boys drove luxury cars to pick her up.

I had always worried that the city’s dazzling lights had dazzled her eyes, but—go back?

“Why?”

“I feel this isn’t my hometown.” She said: “Also, my grandpa and grandma really miss me. They don’t have that many more New Year’s to celebrate…”

…Yes, she had depended on her grandparents since childhood. Although I hired villagers to take care of them, they still thought of Ha Rina every single day.

This was understandable.

But I still felt a vague, indistinct anger.

Like, I had already used all my strength to lift her up.

When I was her age, no one told me which direction to go, and no one was willing to pay for my education.

I worked desperately hard just to get a single opportunity.

I said: “If you miss this chance, the city’s door might close to you forever.”

“I don’t think it’s meaningful.” She said while wrapping dumplings with her head down: “In the city, work hard, save money to buy a house, have children, then save money to buy another house… I have an entire grassland.”

In the end I still didn’t say anything, just said: “So what are your plans after going back… Don’t tell me you’re going back to get married! I’ll beat you up!”

She laughed and said: “Don’t worry, I’m not getting married.”

She had saved up one hundred thousand yuan and planned to buy another house to use as a guesthouse, specifically to host tourists.

“I happen to have the advantage of English, so I can specifically host foreigners.” She said: “Also I want to open an online shop to sell our grassland’s cheese, lamb, and beef jerky to the cities, to sell abroad!”

I wanted to say something, hesitated, then swallowed it: “That’s a good idea.”

She had only worked for a few months and already saved up one hundred thousand yuan, which meant if she continued as a model in the future, she would definitely make a fortune, but she said she’d give it up just like that.

Having this kind of boldness was also a kind of capability.

After the dumplings went in the pot, we had a lively meal together eating New Year’s dumplings. Under the flattery of two beautiful sycophants, Grandma quite rarely drank a small cup of baijiu: “I used to be able to drink. A small bottle of Erguotou every day! Dongxue won’t let me, now I can’t anymore.”

“What Erguotou, just that kind of inferior loose-grain liquor. Winter was too cold, drinking it to ward off the cold.”

“It’s called Erguotou!” Grandma insisted stubbornly with her neck stiff.

“Fine, fine, fine, Erguotou.”

Grandma had really drunk too much. With a flushed face she said: “Me, I don’t have much ability. The best thing in my life was raising a good child. In the surrounding villages, who doesn’t envy me? Such a big house…”

Yu Shixuan laughed so hard she was swaying back and forth. Ha Rina gave her a look: “It’s true though! My sister is so capable!”

“Stop drinking, eat your dumplings! The old lady is just talking nonsense!”

I was so embarrassed I tried to stuff dumplings in her mouth. Grandma dodged me and said: “Right now I’m only worried about one thing. I’m afraid that one day when I’m gone, leaving her all alone, how desolate that would be.”

The atmosphere suddenly quieted. Yu Shixuan smoothed things over: “Grandma, you’ll definitely live to a hundred.”

Grandma shook her head with a flushed face: “I can’t accompany her for a lifetime… You’re all good children, take care of her more, Grandma is grateful to you…”

“You’ve had too much to drink.” I said loudly: “I’ll help you back to your room to rest.”

Grandma broke free from my hand, pointed at me and shouted: “You… find a boyfriend! Then work properly, otherwise you’re killing me!”

Then she laid on the table and started crying, crying and scolding me at the same time: “You and Xia Xia were doing so well, why didn’t you stay with him?”

“Can’t you make money at home! Why do you have to run outside! Once you leave it’s several years!”

“Don’t call me Grandma. If you knew you had a grandma, you wouldn’t run yourself to death!”

I finally managed to drag the drunken Grandma to the bedroom. To avoid continuing to agitate her, I had Ha Rina take care of her while I ran out to smoke a cigarette.

Yu Shixuan came over and said: “The old lady’s heart feels bad. Crying it out is a good thing.”

“I know. Could I be angry with her?” I said: “I’m the one who wronged her.”

Young people always have all kinds of things to be busy with.

While the elderly are lonely by themselves, worrying about me for all three hundred and sixty-five days.

“Where did you go after work? When I came, she was sitting there alone eating leftovers. It was quite pitiful.”

I sighed and said: “Old Feng’s wife came looking for me.”

“Looking for you for what?”

“Her heart is bitter. She didn’t know who to talk to, so she found me.”

Apparently Old Feng was quite handsome when he was young. After returning from military service, he drove for a construction crew.

Then by chance, he met his wife.

You could say he was a phoenix man and indeed he was—his father-in-law was a minor leader at S Construction, and Old Feng was only able to enter the company because of him.

But it wasn’t quite that standard either. Mainly his wife herself was a cold and proud person, so she was still unmarried in her thirties. When she agreed to Old Feng’s pursuit, she also made it very clear—they were each getting what they needed, partnering up to live together.

“In twenty years of marriage, he never made me wash clothes even once. At night the foot-washing water was always prepared. Not because he loved me, but because he felt this was an equal exchange.” She said with a cold laugh.

This was indeed Old Feng’s way of thinking, but I still awkwardly tried to smooth it over: “Between husband and wife, how can it be so clear-cut…”

“What kind of husband and wife were we.” She said: “To be precise, in his entire life, he had no wife, no daughter, no friends… only business partners.”

Everything Old Feng did was to climb upward.

He didn’t have even a little bit of his own life. His marriage, family, emotions—all were sacrificed to this goal.

“He didn’t want children, but if I delayed any longer I wouldn’t be able to have them. I promised this child would be mine alone. As a result, when the child turned three, he left for Africa without looking back.”

“He originally had a master, also an old colleague of my father’s. There was a project that went wrong, and he directly pushed all the blame onto his master. His master went to prison and later died in jail. He never felt guilty for even a minute.”

“Tell me, does he count as human? He was just a machine for climbing upward.”

She laughed to herself, then stared at me and murmured: “But one day, he actually had something he liked. Isn’t that strange?”

“The two of us agreed to take our daughter on a trip, then get divorced. But he got a phone call and went crazy trying to get off the plane. That was the first time I saw him so agitated.”

“I watched him. You were being resuscitated in the hospital room, and he smoked outside all night. In weather more than ten degrees below zero, pure self-torture.”

“At that time I really didn’t want to divorce anymore… Why should I? I bore most of his life’s coldness, stubbornness, oh, and malice. Then when he achieved success and fame, he went to find true love. So what does that make me?”

“But later I found out you don’t like him at all.”

She said: “When you think about it, it’s quite tragic. His whole life he gave up everything for his career, his career ended in complete failure. He finally liked someone, and that person hated him.”