Sun Yuyi didn’t want to come back for summer vacation—she wanted to stay in Beijing to work odd jobs. Everyone in the family understood and said nothing. After discussion, Sister-in-law and Sun’s mother went to Beijing together.
Originally Sun Youping wanted to go, but first, the clinic couldn’t spare anyone; second, it wouldn’t be convenient for him and Sister-in-law to go together. So in the end, Sun’s mother went on his behalf to see their eldest granddaughter.
They returned after two days. Sun’s mother was completely exhausted from the heat, saying they didn’t go anywhere—just stayed in the hotel the whole time. Everywhere required wearing masks and scanning codes, and she couldn’t breathe wearing a mask in the heat.
As she spoke, she got upset again, saying Yuyi had become so thin she was unrecognizable, standing under the blazing white sun handing out flyers, not even earning a hundred yuan a day.
She said this at noon in the clinic. There weren’t many people at that time, and Uncle had nothing to do so he came over for tea. Hearing her say this, no one was in the mood to drink tea anymore.
Sun’s mother calmed her emotions and said in a suppressed voice, “I’m fine, but her mother was so heartbroken she cried.”
Sun Jingfei came down from upstairs and heard this. “Mom, you’re exaggerating. How is she unrecognizably thin?”
“Where’s your sister-in-law?”
“Sleeping.” Sun Jingfei said. “She has a headache.”
“Did you give it to her?” Sun Youping asked.
“I did. That child is stubborn—it took forever to convince her to take it.” Sun’s mother said.
Before leaving, Sun Youping had wrapped ten thousand yuan in a red envelope from the drawer and had her give it to Yuyi for tuition and accommodation fees and such—they didn’t understand how to pay these things. Usually when they transferred money to her on WeChat, she always returned it.
“A while ago I transferred her money, telling her to go out and have fun during summer vacation. She wouldn’t take it.” Sun Jingfei didn’t mind. “The child is grown and has her own ideas. Too much concern is counterproductive.”
“Did she reply after not taking the money?” Sun Youping asked.
“She did.” Sun Jingfei said. “She even thanked me cheerfully, saying everything was fine, that she’d work odd jobs for a month, and once she saved money she’d go to Yunnan to travel.”
“Usually when I ask questions in the group, she doesn’t say anything.” Sun’s mother said.
“Your voice messages are too long—sometimes it’s inconvenient to listen.” Sun Jingfei took out her phone to teach her. “Generally we all set do-not-disturb. You have to @ her for her to see it.”
“Yuyi doesn’t have any problems, does she?” Uncle asked with concern.
“Nothing’s wrong, Uncle. My mom always exaggerates when she speaks.” Sun Jingfei said.
“You’re talking without experiencing the pain. You weren’t standing under that blazing white sun…”
“Mom, people handing out flyers all stand outside. I did it back in the day too. You only feel sorry because you saw your own granddaughter doing it.” Sun Jingfei said to her. “A couple years ago when someone handed you flyers, you grabbed them and tore them up…”
“Don’t talk back to me. I’ve never torn up anyone’s flyers.” Sun’s mother was a bit embarrassed—there were outsiders in the room.
Uncle felt it was about time. He drank the last sip of tea in his cup and prepared to leave. Sun Youping saw him out, saying it was too hot—rest at home for an afternoon nap and don’t keep running back and forth.
Uncle waved his hand, got on his bicycle to leave, then said, “When I get home I’ll ask Old Eight if he can find Yuyi a job in Beijing.”
“Don’t trouble yourself. She’ll start school in a month.” Sun Youping said. “Let her get some life experience—it’s good for her.”
“You go back. Take it slow on the road.”
Over there under the tree, the mahjong table was temporarily missing one player. Someone shouted for Sun’s mother to come out and substitute for a while. Sun’s mother didn’t want to play with them—she disliked their poor sportsmanship. One yuan per game, and when they lost and had to pay, they were stingy about it.
Sun Youping stood at the curb for a while, stretched his shoulders, came back to sit at the consultation desk, took out his phone and sent Sun Yuyi a WeChat. After fiddling for ten minutes or so, he finally composed: “Yuyi, this is Grandpa. Take care of your health. If you have difficulties, tell the family.” He thought it over—these two lines were sufficient.
Sun’s mother couldn’t resist the itch and went out to play mahjong after all. Sun Jingfei squatted beside her, chatting on WeChat while advising her on which tiles to play.
The person she was chatting with on WeChat was a blind date. He had posted on Moments, she liked it, and then he came over to chat. She had nothing to do anyway—might as well chat!
As they chatted and laughed, people at the mahjong table teased her, asking who she was chatting with. Sun Jingfei replied in a coquettish voice, “Auntie Hua, my lover!”
Sun’s mother slapped her and told her to go back to the clinic. She didn’t go back—she moved to another spot and continued chatting. This time it was serious business—Ke Yu had sent a message. He’d been at Grandpa’s house for four or five days and was now messaging saying he wanted to go to Beijing to find Yuyi.
Sun Jingfei said Yuyi was busy working—where would she have time to entertain you?
Ke Yu replied, “I’ve already discussed it with Sister Yuyi. She can arrange for me to stay in the boys’ dormitory. She can finish handing out flyers in half a day, and we’ll spend the other half playing.”
Sun Jingfei replied, “I’m afraid you’ll cause trouble.”
Ke Yu replied, “I won’t, Mom. We’ve already discussed everything. I want to keep her company too.”
Sun Jingfei hesitated.
Ke Yu replied, “Mom, trust me. I’m almost sixteen.”
Sun Jingfei replied, “When are you going?”
Ke Yu was very happy and sent her a string of dancing penguins, then replied, “I want to go tomorrow! Come pick me up tonight.”
Sun Jingfei was surprised. “You’re not staying a few more days?”
After a while, Ke Yu replied, “Or you could trouble Uncle to come pick me up instead.”
Sun Jingfei replied, “I’ll go tonight.”
Ke Yu replied, “Okay, Mom.”
Zhou Yu had recently been busy with school work in the mornings, then going to the family housing complex in the afternoons, busying herself with this and that—all trivial matters. Feng Yiqun also always took advantage of this time to nap for a bit.
After Zhou Yu finished those unimportant tasks, she would also lie on the sofa blowing the fan and sleep for a while. Actually, those trivial tasks were completely unnecessary. She was willing to do them mainly because when idle she didn’t know what to do—more bluntly, when idle she didn’t know what to chat with Feng Yiqun about.
This day she was half asleep on the sofa when Feng Yiqun turned on the living room air conditioning for her and covered her stomach with a blanket, then went to the bedroom to continue sleeping. That day she thought about many things. As she thought, she sat up, pulled out cigarettes from a compartment in her bag, and looked around through the smoke at the house she’d lived in for twenty or thirty years.
She squinted her eyes and in a trance saw her father—saw him sitting in the dining chair wearing his work clothes, saw him twisting open medicine bottles, saw him pouring medicine, saw pills dropping on the floor, saw her small self picking them up; saw her father smiling and stroking her head, saw her father holding her on his lap, saw herself insistently asking him where Cao Cao went after the Battle of Red Cliffs.
When the cigarette butt burned her hand, she came to her senses. The dining chair was completely empty.
She viciously stubbed out the cigarette directly on the coffee table and went to Grandma’s room. First she emptied Grandma’s excrement, then took a soft banana and fed it to her bit by bit. Grandma was still babbling and pointing at the window. She said it was too hot—they’d go out later.