I sat in the passenger seat. The heating made my face feel hot. I crossed out the “textile factory” option on my notepad.

The remaining options weren’t very good either. I still had to find new places.

I let out a heavy sigh. Zhou Ting glanced at me and asked, “Is there anything you want to eat tonight?”

“Anything’s fine. How about we eat at my place,” I said.

The relationship between Grandma and me had become so tense that if I breathed a little too loudly at home, it could trigger one of her fits of rage.

The only respite came when Zhou Ting visited me.

Grandma stubbornly believed that my life had already rotted and gone rancid, and the only chance I had to come ashore in this lifetime was Zhou Ting.

“You treat Xiao Zhou well, and I’ll have something to look forward to in life,” she said calmly, speaking madness. “Otherwise what am I living for? I might as well hang myself.”

“I never said I wouldn’t treat him well,” I said with a forced smile.

Zhou Ting really was a very good person.

Mild-tempered, kind and warm-hearted, he would seriously listen to me speak and would also spend several hours accompanying my grandma for medical checkups.

If it had been ten years ago, I was crazily infatuated with Cheng Xia, with no eyes for any other man.

If it had been five years ago, I was crazily devoted to work and couldn’t see his goodness either.

But now, I was very tired. I couldn’t bear any intense love, hate, or emotional turmoil.

Zhou Ting’s plainness and gentleness were really very good.

Zhou Ting said, “I called Grandma and said we’re not eating at home. How about I take you to eat at our restaurant?”

I continued listing tomorrow’s to-do items and casually said, “Sure.”

His family’s restaurant was one of the more luxurious places in our small city. Right at the entrance was a large, wide glass tank with a pure white silver arowana swimming inside.

“Hey, cousin, why are you here?” The receptionist was a young girl who spoke crisply.

“Bringing my friend for a meal. Is the sea cucumber I brought today ready?”

The young girl glanced at me with an ambiguous look and smiled. “It’s in the kitchen!”

Zhou Ting told me to sit first while he went to the kitchen to arrange things.

I agreed and continued working with my notebook. Because the restaurant was too noisy, I had to concentrate completely to focus my attention.

So I didn’t notice the faint glances cast by those little servers.

Nor did I notice someone walking back and forth in front of me.

Until a woman sat across from me and asked with a smile, “Are you always this busy?”

I looked up, glanced left and right, then asked in confusion, “Uh, are you talking to me?”

“Ah, I’m Zhou Ting’s mother. I happened to see you two, and I’ve opened a private room. Let’s eat together, shall we?”

Huh?

Zhou Ting and I maintained a frequency of seeing each other once a week. We had never explicitly said anything like “being together.”

So meeting the parents was out of the question.

But since we’d run into each other, I couldn’t avoid it.

In my lifetime, I’d been through at least a few thousand drinking gatherings. If I made a “Social Death Ranking,” this one would compete for first or secure second place.

His father was a middle-aged man with a big belly. His eyelids drooped, making him look somewhat fierce. After greeting me, he didn’t say much, just drank by himself.

His mother, however, kept asking me questions. “Who else is in your family?”

“My parents are divorced, each with their own family. I live with my grandma.”

“Ah, well, they’re all retired, right? Do they have pensions?”

I hesitated for a moment and said, “No, but I’ve bought them insurance.”

His mother asked again, “I heard from Zhou Ting that you work at Xinsheng? How much do you make a month?”

“Ah, I’ve already resigned.”

His mother got a bit anxious. “Ah? Why did you resign? For what reason?”

“Because the company doesn’t really match my personal development, so I thought about starting my own business.”

His mother sighed and said, “Well… isn’t it a bit late for you to start a business now?”

I glanced at Zhou Ting. While eating, he looked at me, actually waiting for my answer too.

I smiled bitterly and tried to explain in terms they could understand. “I’m a project manager. In this line of work, after reaching a certain age, everyone goes independent. This way you can maximize accumulated connections and resources, and earn a bit more.”

“But that’s also hard work. Running around construction sites, through wind and rain—how will you have children later?”

I immediately stood up, filled his father’s empty wine glass, and grabbed a bottle of beverage to ask, “Auntie, what would you like to drink?”

She clearly had no intention of letting this topic go and continued, “Auntie speaks bluntly. You’re not young anymore. This major life event needs to be on the agenda.”

I said, “Yes, but my work is just getting started now, so it probably won’t be too soon.”

His mother anxiously patted me. “This is still early? This isn’t early anymore…”

His father suddenly laughed, then tilted his head back and drained his glass. “Kids these days just have sky-high ambitions. Starting a business, heh, thinking everyone can get rich.”

The table fell into an awkward silence.

“My son is the same, but if a boy can’t think clearly, he can delay a few years. If a girl’s mind gets muddled, her whole life is ruined. Don’t you think so?”

I didn’t speak. Something inside me just relaxed.

It was like facing a job interview where you couldn’t give a satisfactory answer to any question they asked. Of course you’d be nervous.

But now I knew that the interview results had long been predetermined. There was nothing to feel anymore.

Zhou Ting looked at me uneasily, then glanced at his father. “Dad, you drank too much, didn’t you?”

“Ah, yes. I’ll leave first to avoid making your meal uncomfortable.” He grabbed the keys from the table and said to Zhou Ting’s mother, “You take good care of Xiao Ren. If she wants to eat anything, have Lao Zhou make it, okay!”

What could I do? Could I immediately stop him and give a speech on “women’s value doesn’t lie in childbearing”?

I could only stand up and smile while seeing him off.

Zhou Ting’s mother glanced at Zhou Ting, then put food in my bowl. “Xiao Ren, your uncle drank too much. Don’t mind him.”

Then she said tactfully, “Our family isn’t wealthy or noble, but it’s enough for you two to live leisurely. Even without work, it’s fine.”

“Auntie, actually I wouldn’t starve even without work now,” I smiled. “When I was nineteen, I went to work on construction sites in Africa. At twenty-five, I independently led projects. Financial freedom isn’t quite there, but at least in our small northeastern city, it’s enough to spend.”

“But I didn’t fight desperately for so long just to live a leisurely life, at least not to stay home having children.” I stood up and gathered my things. “Sorry, Auntie. My family is urging me. I need to go home.”

I walked out the door and quickly hailed a taxi. When I got home, Zhou Ting had also followed.

He looked at me with reddened eyes and said, “I didn’t know my parents were coming today. I’m sorry. It’s all my fault for not being prepared.”

“That’s not important, Zhou Ting,” I interrupted him. “So why didn’t you help me speak up just now?”

Zhou Ting’s eyes widened. He stared at me blankly, as if he hadn’t expected me to ask so directly. “I didn’t know what to say…”

“Because you also think what they said makes sense,” I sighed. “You don’t know how to refute it, right?”

The more harmonious the family, the more consistent their values.

Zhou Ting took a deep breath. He said, “If you don’t want children, even if you never have children your whole life, it doesn’t matter.”

After saying this, his face flushed. Yes, his parents’ appearance had accelerated things. We clearly weren’t at the stage to discuss this yet.

“But I really can’t understand why you’d resign when you were doing so well. I’d feel very unstable, very anxious,” he said in a low voice. “We’re not young anymore. Just living like this—isn’t that good?”

I looked at him for a long time, remembering when he found out I resigned, he asked in astonishment, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

At the time I thought it was baffling. Why should I tell him about my affairs?

Thinking about it now, the foreshadowing had already been laid then. My resignation was completely different from his vision of future life.

I opened my mouth, wanting to explain my ambitions, but then I thought—what was the difference between explaining my ideas to him and teaching Americans about the distinctions between legitimate and concubine-born children in ancient China?

We were people from two different worlds to begin with.

I could only smile and say, “Zhou Ting, I’m very tired today. Let’s talk another day.”

After I got home, I just felt extremely exhausted. I wanted to take a bath and go to sleep quickly.

But I discovered Grandma wasn’t home. Just as I was wondering about this, I found my bedroom door wide open with obvious signs of things being disturbed.

My head buzzed. I quickly rushed in to look for my wallet.

It was gone. Gone along with it was my bank card.

—That contained all the money Yu Shixuan and I had.