Sun Youping’s 69th birthday happened to fall on Grain Buds. The children didn’t understand what Grain Buds meant, so Sun’s mother explained it to them at length. As for the birthday celebration, they deliberated again and again. These days with the pandemic, everyone was having a hard time, and outsiders, happy or not, wouldn’t come empty-handed. So they simply crossed all distant relatives off the list, inviting only close family, calling over Uncle’s household of three to five people, and having a chef from the restaurant come cook at home.
But unexpectedly, on the last day before the birthday, Uncle sent word that his children were all coming back. On the birthday itself, over a dozen people suddenly poured in. The house couldn’t accommodate everyone, so naturally they went to the restaurant.
That day, Feng Yiqun and Grandma also went to the restaurant. Early on the birthday morning, Zhou Yu had conveyed Feng Yiqun’s greetings and birthday gift on her behalf. The older generation valued etiquette, so Sun Youping immediately called Feng Yiqun, inviting her to bring Grandma that evening as well. Who knows what they discussed, but that evening Sun Jingcheng picked them up and brought them to the clinic, where Sun Youping took the opportunity to check their pulses.
Arranging the birthday banquet for the evening was especially suitable—it was Friday, so the next day the children who didn’t have school wouldn’t have to go, and the adults who had weekends off could rest.
That day was especially lively, with just the right atmosphere. Sun Youping sat in the birthday chair, holding a bouquet of flowers in his arms, letting his grandchildren run wild on his face with cake—drawing white beards on him, putting birthday hats on him.
The finale was the birthday greetings Zhou Yu had taught the children. Each one was different. When it came to Sun Yuyan’s turn, he got so excited he forgot, and improvised on the spot: “The thread in a loving mother’s hand, the clothes on a wandering son’s body…”
It made everyone laugh.
Afterward, Sun’s mother praised Zhou Yu endlessly—the pre-meal snacks, the longevity cakes and peaches, even the longevity noodles that day had all been thoughtfully prepared. Although the children’s birthday greetings were all stumbling and nonsensical.
The old couple was truly happy. Since their eldest son’s passing, they genuinely felt content and satisfied.
The next day, the couple slept with their butts sticking up until nearly noon. Zhou Yu had been exhausted lately and needed to catch up on sleep. Sun Jingcheng wouldn’t get up because she wasn’t getting up. Zhou Yu kicked him with her foot, telling him to hurry up and get up—he still had to go to the clinic to study with his teacher.
Sun Jingcheng refused, insisting he wouldn’t get up unless she got up. Zhou Yu scolded him, then slowly got up and sat on the edge of the bed, tied up her hair, and went over to open the floor-to-ceiling window.
The weather outside was really nice!
She stood by the window, contentedly stretching her limbs. Sun Jingcheng hugged her from behind, his chin resting on her neck, continuing to sleep. Zhou Yu turned her face to urge him, “Wake up.”
Sun Jingcheng wouldn’t wake up. His mischievous claws dishonestly covered her chest, kneading and squeezing forcefully, praising how nice the weather was.
Zhou Yu jabbed him with her elbow. He used it as an excuse to be even more unreasonable, lying on the bed and refusing to get up at all! Zhou Yu ignored him, took off her clothes and went to the shower to bathe, preparing to go back to the family compound.
While she was showering, Sun Jingcheng came over to use the toilet. She was disgusted to death and pulled open the shower curtain to scold him.
Sun Jingcheng had his reasons… “The guest bathroom toilet is clogged.”
“Can’t you hold it for a while?”
“You’re already disgusted with me now—can I still count on you when we’re old?” he said while wiping his butt and flushing the toilet, then standing in front of the bathroom mirror to brush his teeth.
“You’re really fast.”
“My intestines are good, not like you—squatting once means scrolling on your phone for over ten minutes before coming out.”
…
Zhou Yu didn’t argue with him. She wrapped herself in a towel and came out, applied a face mask, and went to the kitchen to start the stove. Then, after eating something light, one of them went back to the clinic to study with the teacher, and the other went to the family compound.
She stayed at the family compound all day. In the morning she rummaged through the wardrobe for Feng Yiqun and Grandma’s summer clothes, washed them all and hung them on the balcony to dry. In the afternoon she took Grandma to the park for a walk, letting Feng Yiqun rest for a while.
Yesterday Sun Youping had checked Grandma’s pulse and blood pressure, saying the old lady was in great health, with better energy than Feng Yiqun. Zhou Yu didn’t doubt it at all, because when she was tired and wanted to sit down and rest, Grandma was still full of energy wandering around aimlessly—watching people’s children fishing for turtles for a while, then standing in front of the zodiac sugar sculpture stall and refusing to leave.
Zhou Yu wanted to buy one for her, but she said there was no rush. She watched for a good half hour before finally saying to the vendor: “I’m a Dragon. Draw me a dragon.”
“Oh my, you’re quite advanced in years, ma’am. Your descendants are greatly blessed!” the vendor flattered.
Grandma didn’t care about blessings or not. After observing for so long, she only knew that the dragon was the biggest and used the most sugar syrup. She was actually born in the Year of the Snake, but the vendor drew the snake like an earthworm—not worth the money.
…
Zhou Yu naturally understood Grandma’s little scheme and cooperated, telling the vendor to draw it a bit more elaborately, to capture its imposing spirit of summoning wind and rain, overturning clouds and stirring seas!
“Yes, yes, yes, my granddaughter is right!” Grandma chimed in. “Don’t draw it like a dragon that’s been starving for three years.”
…
In the end, Grandma held up a huge dragon, walking and licking it. She kept offering it to Zhou Yu to eat, instructing her to lick it to make it last longer.
The old lady licked that one dragon for two hours.
In the evening, Zhou Yu also took her to eat lamb soup with stewed noodles—one bowl had two portions of noodles and one liang of meat. She ate for a full hour, eating every bit clean before returning home satisfied. She was very happy on the way, praising how delicious the stewed noodles were—fresh soup, fragrant meat, chewy noodles, and most importantly, lots of meat! She said these days really felt like celebrating the New Year!
The grandmother and granddaughter arrived home before dark. In the kitchen, two people were chatting in low voices—it couldn’t be more heartwarming. When Sun Jingcheng saw her return, he said to her, “Only Mom thinks about me, specially made delicious food. Not like some people who love eating alone.” After speaking, he continued bustling about helping Feng Yiqun.
The kitchen was full of talking and laughing. She sat on the sofa watching TV while Grandma, probably exhausted, dozed off beside her. She got up to help Grandma back to the bedroom, served the old lady until she was asleep, and came out to find all the dishes on the table.
Jade eel segments, scallion-fried lamb, blanched asparagus, fresh mushroom soup, stuffed bitter melon. Except for the stuffed bitter melon, everything else was to Sun Jingcheng’s taste.
Sun Jingcheng was so pleased—he could even taste that these were the first batch of eels to emerge from their holes. Then he praised the white asparagus, praised the fresh mushroom soup… praised each dish in turn. His mouth never stopped—taking a bite and praising, taking a bite and praising.
Zhou Yu found the noise unbearable and couldn’t eat. She put down her chopsticks and moved to the sofa to play on her phone. Sun Jingcheng called to her, “You’re not eating?”
“I’m full,” Zhou Yu responded.
Sun Jingcheng wanted to say something, but thinking it wasn’t his place to interfere with her family matters, he continued eating and chatting with Feng Yiqun, no longer paying attention to her.
Zhou Yu sat there for a while, loathing herself for a while, then went to the balcony to collect the laundry, hanging up the summer clothes one by one and folding the spring clothes piece by piece.
After eating, Sun Jingcheng dismantled and washed all the air conditioner filters—summer was coming after all. Then he helped Feng Yiqun take down the spring and autumn curtains and replace them with thick summer sunshade curtains. When he finished and went to the bedroom to seek Zhou Yu’s approval, he was unexpectedly cursed at with “Get lost.”
It wasn’t a playful, teasing curse—it was an angry outburst like venting frustration.
Sun Jingcheng froze for a few seconds, then turned and left.
On the drive back to the new district, the two didn’t speak the entire way. When they got home, Sun Jingcheng changed clothes to go to the sports center. Zhou Yu asked him, “Hey, what do you want for a late-night snack?”
Sun Jingcheng slammed his palm on the table and cursed at her, “Am I a dog you’re raising?!”
“Kick me away when you’re annoyed, feed me a piece of meat when you want to coax me?”
Zhou Yu pressed her lips together and said nothing.