On the first day of summer vacation, Sun Youping and his wife led their daughter-in-law and daughters to visit Zhou Yu’s home. Grandma had just rested. Sun Youping roughly asked Feng Yiqun about the situation and looked at the diagnosis results without saying much more.
The group came out from the family housing complex. On the way back to the clinic, Sun Youping, his wife, and Sister-in-law were silent. Sun Jingfei and Second Sister-in-law chatted behind them about Zhou Yu’s home décor and style. Although the house was small, you could tell the ornaments and decorations were all very thoughtful.
“Those little coasters, sofa blankets, table corner cloths… they’re probably either crocheted by Zhou Yu or Auntie Feng.”
Sun’s mother heard and chimed in, “They were crocheted by your Auntie Feng.”
“Her hands are really skillful.”
“Everything about her is good—just her fate isn’t.” Sun’s mother sighed. “People often say someone has good fortune when their whole life has scares but no real danger, darkness followed by light, small pains and minor troubles, but no major falls.”
“I think Auntie Feng is pretty good, she has a real sense of life…”
“I think it’s so-so.” Sister-in-law said carefully. “Their home does have a sense of life, but it seems deliberately created, not like she genuinely feels life is beautiful from the heart… The overall color scheme of their home is too plain—the sofa covers, tablecloths, bedroom bedding…”
“I knew something felt off—it’s too bland, not a single bright color.” Second Sister-in-law agreed.
“How was everything fine just a few days ago, and now suddenly she can’t control her bladder and bowels?” Sun’s mother said. “So fast.”
“When someone’s time comes.” Sun Youping responded.
“Zhou Yu is probably going to be busy from now on.” Sister-in-law said softly.
“Hey, how come we didn’t see Zhou Yu today?”
“The school organized teacher training or something?” Sun Jingfei said. “They say it’s summer vacation, but there’s still a lot to do.”
The scorching sun blazed, heat waves assaulted them, cicadas chirped.
The group tried to stay along the tree shade by the roadside, walking back to the clinic at a leisurely pace. The younger generation chatted about this gossip and that scandal along the way. Sun’s mother would occasionally stop them, “Less idle talk.” A few seconds after she spoke, they treated it as background noise and went back to whispering head-to-head.
…
Sun Youping walked for a while and rested for a while, looking at the cicadas in the trees, chatting a couple sentences with familiar neighbors on the street. Sun’s mother shielded the sun with her hand, looking at a summer quilt being dried at the top of a tree.
Sister-in-law was curious. “How did they hang it up so high?”
“It must be the third-floor residents drying it. They just open the window and drape it over.”
“The wisdom of working people!”
“Hey, someone selling old-fashioned popsicles!” Sun Jingfei crossed the street and bought five.
When she came back, Sun Youping wouldn’t eat, and Sun’s mother wouldn’t either—eating popsicles on the street wasn’t proper. Sun Jingfei said, “If you don’t eat it, it’ll melt—two yuan each!”
Sun Youping unwrapped the popsicle paper and took a bite, nearly knocking out his tooth. Sun Jingfei taught him, “Dad, you have to lick it!” After speaking, she stuck out her long tongue to demonstrate.
…
Sun Youping ignored her and continued walking forward. As he walked, the younger generation behind him laughed so hard they couldn’t straighten up. Sun Jingfei said their formation looked like Papa Chicken and Mama Chicken leading their chicks on a stroll.
…
At the clinic, Second Sister-in-law returned to the medical aesthetic center. Sister-in-law also packed clothes, preparing to take Yuyan back to her maternal grandmother’s home for a few days. After Sun Jingfei had called Ke Yong twice and he called back, he said now that summer vacation had started, he wanted Ke Yu to come back and stay for a while.
The two didn’t see eye to eye—after discussing business, they hung up. Sun Jingfei was fed up with the dragging and delaying. She went to the inner room and knocked on the door—several children were gathered playing games. Sun Jingfei called Ke Yu. Ke Yu said to wait until this round was finished.
Sun Jingfei collapsed on the sofa patiently waiting. Sun’s mother busied herself with housework while lecturing her that she should find some kind of work—anything was better than wandering around all day like this. It wasn’t that Sun Jingfei hadn’t considered it. First, she hadn’t encountered suitable business opportunities; second, she didn’t have spare money. The money she had lent out couldn’t be recovered anytime soon.
A while ago when she had nothing to do, she submitted résumés to other real estate companies, wanting to see what position she could get. Without exception, whether in terms of position or salary, all were far inferior to her previous company. They tactfully indicated that if she were ten years younger, the situation would be different.
On the surface she was relatively calm, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious. She gradually came to understand what Sun Jingcheng meant by “midlife crisis.” From a bull dominating the battlefield, she thought of herself as an old ox plowing fields. She even imitated the old ox’s wheezing appearance, lying on the sofa entertaining herself. After amusing herself, she saw Ke Yu come out and led him downstairs to buy cold drinks.
Ke Yu followed her for a stretch, found it too hot, understood she had something to say, and was annoyed by these adult tactics of hemming and hawing and hesitating. He said impatiently, “Mom, if you have something to say, just say it.”
Sun Jingfei snapped back to her senses and asked him, “Have you thought about who you want to stay with?”
Ke Yu fell silent.
“I hope you’ll stay with me.” Sun Jingfei said. “In the future if you want to see your grandparents… I won’t stop any relationship with your dad’s side.”
“I can’t guarantee whether I’ll remarry in the future, but I won’t have another child.” Sun Jingfei looked at him. “You’ll be my only child.”
“I hope you can seriously consider Mom.”
Ke Yu remained silent the whole time.
Sun Jingfei had nothing else to say. She ordered a few cold drinks and walked back slowly, arm in arm with him. Thinking of Ke Yong’s call, she asked if he wanted to go back to Grandpa’s place. He nodded—he didn’t want Ke Yong to come pick him up, he still wanted her to take him.
Sun Jingfei was extremely unwilling but couldn’t refuse.
Actually, Ke Yu didn’t really want to go back anymore. Since the last couple times he went back, Grandma kept intentionally or unintentionally saying that Mom only cared about making money and neglected the family, which led to Dad’s affair. He had gradually started to feel resistant. He was even more unwilling to ride in Dad’s car—aside from endless silence and awkwardness, there was just his feeble attempts to justify and excuse his affair.
Thinking about these things made him irritable. Without thinking, he lifted his foot and kicked a shared bicycle. Unexpectedly, when one fell, dozens behind it toppled over with a clatter.
Everyone looked over. Ke Yu stood there mortified. Sun Jingfei gave him the cold drinks in her hand, urging him to take them back to his younger cousins. Then she bent down to lift them up one by one.
Zhou Yu listened to lectures while sending WeChat messages to Sun Jingcheng, asking if he’d bought the wheelchair. Grandma was already incontinent and completely unable to get out of bed. Feng Yiqun suggested buying a wheelchair so that when Sun Jingcheng was free on weekends, he could come carry Grandma downstairs for a stroll.
Zhou Yu didn’t respond. The company was busy now, and he still had to find time on weekends to apprentice at the clinic—how could he have time to keep carrying Grandma up and down stairs?
She suggested to Feng Yiqun that they might as well rent a first-floor apartment. Feng Yiqun didn’t respond. She didn’t say anything more either.
Of course she was sad about Grandma’s illness, but she had gradually learned to accept it. She had experienced her father’s sudden death, her brother’s sudden death, her maternal grandparents’ deaths, her paternal grandfather’s death… naturally she could also normally regard Grandma’s illness and the possibility of her sudden death some day.
After a while, Sun Jingcheng replied that he’d go buy it after work.
She replied, “I’ll buy it.”