For a child, choosing Mom naturally meant betraying Dad. And vice versa. For Ke Yu, choosing her meant betraying the grandparents who had raised him since childhood.
Children saw things in the most black-and-white terms. It wasn’t as simple as adults said—that you could choose one side and still visit the other. When he chose one side, it meant abandoning the other, and he felt guilty toward the abandoned party, with no way to face them. Over time, they would grow distant.
Sun Jingcheng saw her spacing out and asked why she wasn’t going up to help cook.
Sun Jingfei shot back, “I don’t want to!”
…
Sun Jingcheng wasn’t easy to provoke either, responding, “If you don’t help, don’t eat.” He’d been exhausted lately too. After the company partnership, he wasn’t as free. He’d planned to go to Mount Hua but kept being unable to get away, and had to come observe at the clinic on weekends.
He hadn’t gone out for three months now and was thoroughly stifled. Ever since Grandma got sick and they moved the company, all comfortable rhythms had been disrupted. Zhou Yu was tired, he was tired—they were both so tired they had no time for baby-making. Last night they were just about to get started when—damn it—they were startled by a phone call!
Sun Youping was writing prescriptions for patients. Sun Jingcheng stood behind watching, copying down all the symptoms, then took the prescription to fill it. As soon as he had a moment to drink some water, Sun Jingfei came over with her phone, showing him last night’s chat record with Ke Yu.
After reading it, he returned it to her, only saying that Ke Yu had grown up. Sun Jingfei agreed, “Yes, some of his views make me proud.”
She had never had high expectations for Ke Yu. As long as he wasn’t too rebellious, didn’t form gangs to bully people at school, didn’t mistreat girls, and didn’t do things that harmed others or were antisocial, that was enough.
She understood her own son and didn’t place high hopes on him. She didn’t expect him to become a great talent, but also hoped he wouldn’t cause trouble. If he could be like his uncles, she could be content.
“Their generation has real ideas and insights, stronger than we were at that time,” Sun Jingcheng said. “They also have empathy, which is a very rare and precious thing.”
Sun Jingfei didn’t make much of it. “Those who wear shoes can naturally sympathize with the barefoot.”
“It’s different.” Sun Jingcheng said. “Regardless, this is something worth praising and encouraging. It’s better than saying ‘let them eat cake.'”
“I’ve seen truly evil children, the same age as Ke Yu—taking nude photos of girls to blackmail them into having sex with different boys, while he collected fees from it.”
Sun Jingfei was shocked. “Where were the girl’s parents?”
“Her mother couldn’t stand the long-term domestic violence and ran away, her father went out to work.” Sun Jingcheng said, “This happened over ten years ago. Because they were all minors, it ultimately came to nothing.”
Sun Jingfei said nothing more.
“Human nature is both inherently good and inherently evil. It’s just that most people are guided well, with good suppressing evil. While in some people, evil suppresses good. Otherwise why do people need to receive over ten years of school education first? Our family’s children all have good natures. When they make mistakes, criticize them, but when they have something worth encouraging, we should encourage them.”
Sun Jingfei looked at him for a long moment, then said sincerely, “Little brother, you’ll definitely be a good father in the future.”
“Need you even say it?” Sun Jingcheng was quite pleased with himself.
…
“Little brother, do you have some unspeakable difficulty? It’s been so long without conceiving?”
Sun Jingcheng couldn’t be bothered with her. “Don’t worry about nothing—we’re living happily!”
“Little brother, there’s something I don’t know if I should ask…”
“If you shouldn’t ask, then don’t.”
“Is your marital bedroom quality of life high?” Sun Jingfei laughed first before finishing her question.
…
Before Sun Jingcheng could respond, Sun Youping said from the consultation desk: This is a prescription area—idle people keep out.
Sun Jingfei came out laughing, the knot in her heart gradually loosening. As she sat down to look at Ke Yu’s social media posts, she inadvertently noticed through Sun Youping’s leather sandals that he was wearing patched socks. Her feelings were immediately complicated. She walked along the tree-shaded street to a nearby mall and bought five or six pairs of socks in one go, also buying several pairs for Mother Sun while she was at it.
When she returned, Mother Sun scolded her, saying she really had nothing better to do—there were so many socks at home they couldn’t even wear them all. When she saw the label showing 28 yuan per pair, she insisted on having her return them all. Sun Jingfei was so annoyed she directly tore off the packaging—now they couldn’t be returned even if they wanted to.
Second Sister-in-law also chimed in from the side, saying that Jiaxing and Jiarui’s socks were all ten or twenty yuan per pair—that’s what socks cost these days. Mother Sun was angry at her for buying ten pairs at a time, then wearing them twice and throwing away a pair, wearing them twice and throwing away another… the drawer was full of patched socks she couldn’t bear to throw away. Her anger flaring up, she scolded Sun Jingfei for being spoiled by good fortune, grabbed the socks and threw them in the trash can.
Sun Jingfei got angry too—her good intentions treated like dog’s liver and lungs. “Wear them or don’t, I don’t care—I bought them for Dad! Does it look right for my dad to sit in consultation wearing patched socks?”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It just doesn’t look right—it’s embarrassing! Embarrassing to us four siblings! If others see they’ll think we’re so unfilial!” Sun Jingfei said to her, “You’re just used to poor days, you don’t even know how to enjoy blessings.”
Eldest Sister-in-law quickly called her to the kitchen. Even in the kitchen her mouth didn’t stop. “Really rare! Getting scolded for buying socks!”
Eldest Sister-in-law nudged her secretly—say less.
Sun Jingcheng heard the commotion and came up, asking what happened. Sun Jingfei felt completely justified and explained the whole thing. Sun Jingcheng also spoke to Mother Sun, “Mom, since they’re bought just wear them, how big a deal is it?”
Second Sister-in-law also chimed in, “Exactly.”
Mother Sun said nothing, bent down to pick the socks out of the trash can, dusted them off and returned to the bedroom. After a while Sun Youping came up and asked her, “What’s wrong?”
Mother Sun broke down in tears, said nothing, only asked him to change from leather sandals to cloth shoes.
Sun Youping saw the new socks on the bed and roughly understood what had happened. He turned back to the living room wanting to say a few words to Sun Jingfei, but seeing the sisters-in-law chatting and laughing while cooking, he ultimately said nothing. Forget it. He poured a cup of hot water, added a small spoonful of brown sugar, and carried it back to the bedroom for Mother Sun.
The old couple sat together for a while. Sun Youping still had to go down to the busy clinic. Passing by the shoe cabinet at the entrance, he bent down to find his old cloth shoes and changed into them, then slowly went downstairs.