After eating two dumplings, Sun Jingcheng left, feeling irritable. He planned to go back to the family compound to pick up Zhou Yu and go to the new district. Passing the crossroads where the roasted goods were sold, this time he found a parking spot, stopped, and queued to buy a bag of roasted chestnuts and frosted hawthorn.
After buying them, he wrapped the roasted chestnuts tightly and securely stuffed them in his down jacket pocket.
Zhou Yu originally hadn’t planned to go back to her parents’ home, but Feng Yiqun accidentally sprained her wrist. She got several medicated plasters from the clinic for her to apply. Then she efficiently chopped meat, mixed filling, kneaded dough, and rolled wrappers. Feng Yiqun made the dumplings. The sprain wasn’t serious—making dumplings was no problem.
The mother and daughter spoke little and didn’t gossip about other families. Usually, they spoke if there was proper business; if not, they each minded their own affairs. The mother-daughter relationship hadn’t always been this strained—it only gradually became strained after Zhou Yu’s father passed away.
Zhou Yu’s father died when she was only in eighth grade, just thirteen or fourteen years old. She had a good relationship with her father… Actually, the family of three had been very harmonious—outsiders praised them. The year her father died, Zhou Yu’s face broke out in acne, and her menstrual cycle became severely disrupted, coming only once every three to five months. Feng Yiqun took her to the hospital many times, seeing both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine doctors, but no cause could be found. Finally, it was Sun Youping who suggested she take the child to see a psychologist.
For the next two years, Feng Yiqun took Zhou Yu to Beijing every month. It did work—her face stopped breaking out, and her periods became regular. The doctor’s diagnosis was stress disorder—the child temporarily couldn’t accept the sudden death of a loved one. Some children undergo drastic personality changes and become rebellious; some don’t yet understand the true meaning of death; while children like Zhou Yu who mature early keep it bottled up inside, and when the psychological burden becomes too much, it manifests physically.
After Zhou Yu finished tidying up and came out, Sun Jingcheng honked at her from the roadside. Zhou Yu opened the door and got in: “You don’t need to honk—I can see you anyway.”
“It’s dark at night, I can’t see you clearly.” Sun Jingcheng pulled out the roasted chestnuts like presenting a treasure: “Still warm.”
“I’m too lazy to peel them—my hands get sticky.” Zhou Yu wouldn’t eat them.
“I’m telling you…” Sun Jingcheng was unhappy. “I queued for two hours, and on the way back I specifically wrapped them in my down jacket to keep them from getting cold…”
“Okay, okay, I’ll eat them…”
“Don’t dirty your paws. When we get back, I’ll eat them myself.” Sun Jingcheng tried to take them back.
“You’re the one with paws.” Zhou Yu snatched them back and peeled them herself.
“In a good mood, I see.” Sun Jingcheng said to her.
“I got the lucky coin in the dumplings.” Zhou Yu said.
“Coins are filthy.”
“I’m a person of the dust, not as noble as you.”
“Look at that little mouth going blah blah blah…” Sun Jingcheng was also in a good mood. He opened his mouth, gesturing for her to feed him a frosted hawthorn.
Zhou Yu fed him one and ate one herself, then praised how good they were. She didn’t really like frosted hawthorn, but the one Sun Jingcheng bought from this shop was indeed good.
Sun Jingcheng was even happier.
“You talk as fake as your mom.” Zhou Yu said: “You queued for five minutes at most.”
“How long I queued isn’t important. What’s important is that we can happily eat together.” Sun Jingcheng said.
“If it’s not important, why lie? Five minutes is five minutes…”
“What’s wrong with you? I buy them for you and you complain the queue time was too short?” Sun Jingcheng was speechless.
“I’m not complaining the queue time was short.”
“Then why do you keep harping on my time?”
“I’m saying lying is bad.”
“Isn’t that still harping on my time?”
“Can harping on your time be the same thing as lying?”
“It’s the same thing!” Sun Jingcheng was getting a bit angry. “I happily bought you frosted hawthorn. On the way, I resisted eating even one, thinking I’d wait to pick you up so we could eat together…” As he spoke, a frosted hawthorn was stuffed in his mouth.
“Okay, okay, I was wrong.”
Sun Jingcheng glared at her, finding her tone perfunctory.
Zhou Yu kissed his bulging cheek. Sun Jingcheng’s ruffled feathers were instantly smoothed. The car became quiet. Zhou Yu continued peeling chestnuts, and Sun Jingcheng focused on driving.
The car reached the residential complex parking spot. Zhou Yu raised her hands preparing to get out but was pulled back by Sun Jingcheng, who wiped them with wet wipes. Zhou Yu said to him: “Why didn’t you say earlier there were wet wipes in the car?”
Sun Jingcheng didn’t respond. He locked the car and held her hand as they went upstairs.
But—the two didn’t get along well for even three minutes.
They changed clothes to go to the sports center to play badminton. On the way, they saw a coach who played really well, that kind of effortless technique that made her stop and couldn’t help watching. When it was her turn to play with Sun Jingcheng, he treated her like the daughter of his father’s killer—smack, smack, smack—jumping up to smash with full force, ruthlessly spiking at her.
She just served normally and harmlessly, but he attacked with intense aggressive smashes. She couldn’t understand—the ball she sent over didn’t warrant him jumping up at all…
After ten minutes, she had no energy left. Like a ball girl, constantly picking up balls, constantly picking up balls.
Sun Jingfei had been very busy these past few days, busy with transfer procedures. The apartment was settled—a small three-bedroom in the same complex as Sun Jingcheng’s marital home. Just one was in Phase One, the other in Phase Three. She had committed the great taboo of buying property—being hasty. Originally, she could have negotiated the price down more, but the seller wouldn’t budge a cent.
She spent a bit more money, but Sun Jingfei felt comfortable inside. The interior had only been renovated two years ago. The aesthetic couldn’t be called poor, nor outstanding—decent level. If the procedures went smoothly, after New Year and before Ke Yu started school, mother and son could move in.
The day before yesterday, Eldest Brother and Second Brother came to see the apartment. Hearing she’d already paid the earnest money, they could only say nice things. This afternoon she’d arranged to meet Sun Jingcheng. He came over to look around, walked through, and said aside from the price being a bit high, there were no other problems.
“As long as the apartment has no problems.” Sun Jingfei didn’t care. After viewing it, the siblings returned to the clinic.
On the road, Sun Jingfei mentioned that no one was at their place. Sun Jingcheng said these past two days they’d been staying in the new district. Zhou Yu had opened a gym membership and would go practice whenever she had time. What he didn’t know was that Zhou Yu had done more than just join a gym—she had also secretly signed up for badminton lessons, quietly practicing two hours every day. She was someone who would repay every slight.
When the two arrived at the clinic, Sun Jingfei gestured for him to go upstairs first—she was going to buy cigarettes.
Sun Jingcheng said: “I’ll go with you…”
“No need, no need. You go up first. Mom fried several baskets of delicious things.” Sun Jingfei urged him.
Sun Jingcheng put on his mask and got out of the car, preparing to go up through the clinic. Sun Jingfei reminded him that the clinic required not only scanning codes but also simple personal information registration.
Sun Jingcheng looked fearless. He scanned the code, had his temperature taken, registered his personal information, and swaggered upstairs.
…