Sun Jingcheng was preparing to return to the new district when he ran into Mother Sun coming back after dropping off the children. Mother Sun was carrying several bags of groceries, pounding her waist as she sat at the dining table sorting through them.
“Should I hire a housekeeper for the family?” Sun Jingcheng said.
“Money to burn?” Mother Sun said. “I’m just making them a meal—how tired could I get?” She then pointed to a dining chair. “Sit down. Mom wants to discuss something with you.”
Sun Jingcheng sat down.
“Years ago when we were getting houses for you three brothers, your dad and I kept something in reserve—we got ourselves a unit too, thinking we’d give it to whoever was most filial in the future.” Mother Sun said while sorting vegetables. “This year, your dad and I have been thinking about giving this house to your eldest brother. You all know eldest brother’s situation. Your eldest sister-in-law’s family… better not mention it. Two public servants raising two children—how much money can they have left?”
“Fine, I have no objection,” Sun Jingcheng stated his position.
“You have no objection, but can your wife have no objection? Your dad and I discussed this for a very long time. We’re not worried about your second brother—he’s better off than any of you. He wouldn’t even look twice at one house. We’re not worried about Jingfei either—even if her own daughter loses out, she’ll handle it and won’t take offense. Plus she’s better off than you too…”
“Mom, get to the point,” Sun Jingcheng interrupted her.
“I’m talking about you and you’re still unhappy?”
“Would you be happy if Dad talked about you?” Sun Jingcheng asked back.
Mother Sun slapped him. “You’re the most unfilial.”
“I can be filial, I just can’t be obedient,” Sun Jingcheng tilted his head away.
“Your dad and I discussed giving your eldest brother the upstairs and downstairs of the clinic. The other house we’ll leave to you. It’s also in the new district, seems like it’s in your same complex? At the time your sister took us to buy it. I was so confused I couldn’t tell which was which—back then it was wilderness and I didn’t think much of it. Your sister said it had the most potential… and looking at it now, she was right! The price has gone up several times! That unit is even bigger than yours—it has four bedrooms!”
“There’s another consideration for leaving the clinic to your eldest brother—it’s in a school district, convenient for Yanyan’s schooling in the future. Your marital home is also in a school district, plus you have your wife, so your family won’t worry about education. I’ll talk to your second brother later. Once we’ve discussed it, your dad and I will make a will. It’s best to plan these things early.”
“I don’t want it,” Sun Jingcheng refused outright.
“Why are you so ungrateful?” Mother Sun scolded him. “I’m giving you a safety net, in case in the future you can’t make it…”
“Mom, my life is really quite good,” Sun Jingcheng was exhausted. “It’s not as hard as you all think.”
“You can’t always compare me with second brother. I can’t live second brother’s life, and second brother can’t live mine. People have different aspirations and different paths.”
“What kind of path is yours, a rat’s path?” Mother Sun said to him.
“Mom, am I really such a failure?” Sun Jingcheng looked at her.
Her son’s gaze made her heart ache, but it also made her feel wronged. “I’m your mother—would I harm you? I’m just afraid you’ll end up as nothing in the future. One more house gives you one more guarantee!”
“I’m giving you a house and I have to beg you with sweet words? What kind of logic is that! You just don’t know how good you have it. You’ve had it too comfortable from childhood—you don’t know how to be grateful to your parents…”
“Fine, fine, fine. I’ll take it, I’ll take it,” Sun Jingcheng compromised.
Mother Sun got upset just looking at him and took the vegetables to the kitchen to sort. While sorting, she said: “I’ll tell your sister tomorrow, tell your eldest brother, tell your second brother—no one finds having an extra house burdensome. How many people get divorced because they can’t afford to buy a house, can’t stand being poor…”
Sun Jingcheng went downstairs. Sun Youping was at the hundred-drawer cabinet getting Chinese medicine, having it prepared for decoction. Sun Jingcheng didn’t leave but sat down by the heater. He picked up a cicada shell that had fallen under the chair, blew off the dust, and placed it on the back of his hand. After playing with it for a while, he placed the intact cicada shell on the counter and turned to leave the clinic.
Sun Youping watched Sun Jingcheng standing under the plane tree by the roadside. He methodically finished preparing the medicine, then looked up again—the person had already left. He gently picked up the cicada shell and put it in the hundred-drawer cabinet, took off his white coat, and went upstairs, saying to Mother Sun: “He’s in his thirties or forties—stop managing him like he’s a little kid all day long.” After saying this, he went back downstairs.
Mother Sun found it baffling and didn’t know what he was talking about. Only after a long while did she realize he was criticizing her for managing Sun Jingcheng too much. Instinctively she went downstairs wanting to argue with him a couple times, but seeing there were patients, she went back upstairs resentfully. Before, he said she was too lenient, said she didn’t know how to raise children, said a kind mother spoils her children. Now he was criticizing her for being too controlling. He’s the only one with a mouth—he has something to say about everything.
That evening Zhou Yu was dizzy with busyness. At eight o’clock she received a WeChat message from Sun Jingcheng: “Why aren’t you home yet?”
Zhou Yu found time to reply: “Evening study supervision, grading papers, making up exams.”
Sun Jingcheng asked: “What time do you finish?”
Zhou Yu replied: “Ten o’clock. Don’t reply anymore, I’m busy.”
Sun Jingcheng didn’t reply again. Instead, he turned and asked his mother-in-law: “Mom, is there still dinner?”
Feng Yiqun replied: “Yes, come over.”
Sun Jingcheng was preparing to drive to the family compound, then realized at this hour the roads would be congested and there wouldn’t be any parking spaces, so he simply rode Zhou Yu’s little white electric scooter. By the time the wind on the road had frozen him into making faces, he suddenly understood why that little woman didn’t ride it—facing the headwind, it was really too cold, too cold!
Arriving at the family compound, he was blown silly by the wind. He rubbed his frozen face and bounded up the stairs two steps at a time. Feng Yiqun made him a bowl of sesame leaf mixed noodles. The house always kept dried sesame leaves and sweet potato leaves—Grandma loved eating them, and Sun Jingcheng loved them too.
While eating, Sun Jingcheng asked: “Mom, did you just cook this?”
Feng Yiqun didn’t answer, only saying: “There’s plenty in the pot. When you finish, go get more.”
“Okay.” Sun Jingcheng buried his head in the noodles. This was also the first time he realized—was he really too self-centered? Coming whenever he was hungry, regardless of whether it was past mealtime or if he was causing trouble for others.
Grandma was sitting there soaking her feet. Rarely lucid, she asked why Little Yu hadn’t come. Sun Jingcheng said she hadn’t finished work yet. Grandma dried her feet, shuffled in her slippers slowly back to the inner room, and after a long while came out clutching a plastic bag that she secretly gave to Sun Jingcheng, telling him to take it back to Zhou Yu, but to be quiet about it—don’t let Zhou Qi know.
Zhou Qi was Zhou Yu’s deceased older brother.
After Sun Jingcheng solemnly put the plastic bag in his pocket, Grandma sat back down to continue soaking her feet and watching TV. Sun Jingcheng felt sad for Zhou Yu. Grandma was always lucid when she wasn’t around, but often when she was right there, Grandma couldn’t recognize her.
After Feng Yiqun finished in the kitchen, she came to sit down and asked him: “How has Zhou Yu been lately? I heard the school let her rest for a few days.”
“She’s already finished resting and taught for four days. She says final exams are next Tuesday,” Sun Jingcheng said.
“That’s good.” Feng Yiqun nodded. She had excellent posture. Even sitting in a dining chair, she habitually kept her legs together and her back straight. Zhou Yu was very much like her in this regard.
When the two got married, everyone praised Zhou Yu for having the temperament of a refined lady—standing with proper posture, sitting with proper posture, smiling with proper posture, with a bearing so good it made people overlook her features. Even now it was still like this. In the relatives’ circle, whenever someone’s family was looking for a daughter-in-law, the elders always used Zhou Yu as the standard.
Sun Jingcheng also often felt confused, always feeling Zhou Yu had a split personality—one way in front of others, another way at home. At first when he mentioned it she’d get angry. Now gradually she’d also thickened her skin, with a thoroughly broken jar attitude, occasionally extending her long-waiting claws to scratch him. And her tongue had become quite sharp too—when angry she’d bare her fangs and bite wherever she could reach.
Thinking about this, Sun Jingcheng felt a chill down his back. He also remembered a case his eldest brother had solved—a wife had drugged her husband’s food and dismembered him, with methods so cruel they were outrageous… Thinking of this, he couldn’t eat anymore. His mind was filled with images of Zhou Yu calmly wielding a knife.
Learning that he’d ridden the electric scooter, Feng Yiqun went to the room to get one of Zhou Yu’s red cashmere scarves, then saw him downstairs. Sun Jingcheng wrapped the scarf well and urged her: “Mom, go back up. Zhou Yu and I will come see you this weekend.”
“Drive slowly.”
“Okay.”