“Name?”
“Zhou Yu.”
“Age?”
“Thirty-three.”
“Occupation?”
“English teacher for seventh grade at Foreign Language Senior High School.”
“Please give an oral account of what happened.”
After Zhou Yu finished giving her statement, when she came out of the police station, the streetlights on both sides of the road were already lit. She stood by the curb in the cold, calling the school, when the officer who had taken her statement came out from inside, rolled down his car window and asked her: “Where are you going? It’s hard to get a taxi here, want me to give you a ride?”
Zhou Yu bent down slightly and responded, “Huaihai West Road, is it on your way?”
“Not really, I’m going to the hospital to see the involved party.”
Zhou Yu hesitated briefly, then pulled open the car door, “Alright, I’m also going to the hospital.”
On the road, the two chatted casually. The officer comforted her, worried she might face disciplinary action from the school. Zhou Yu looked down at the WeChat message Feng Yiqun had sent her, but didn’t reply. She continued chatting with him, “Probably not, right?”
The officer wasn’t as optimistic as she was, and changed the subject, saying that today marked the beginning of the coldest nine-day period, the coldest days of the year were about to begin.
Zhou Yu glanced out the window. The entire sky was gray and misty, with only bare tree trunks standing in the vast night.
“The vast sea laughs—tides surge on both shores, rising and falling with the waves—remember this day; The boundless sky laughs—countless tides in the mortal world, who loses, who wins—heaven knows;
Mountains and rivers laugh—mist and rain in the distance, waves wash away how much of the worldly dust and mundane affairs;
The clear breeze laughs—stirring up loneliness, what remains of heroic passion is the evening glow on my lapels…”
In a private room at the club, three men stood there singing together with great passion. One of them, in his late thirties, possessed a naturally commanding presence in every gesture, singing with complete immersion when someone holding a phone interrupted: “Old Sun, Old Sun, your mother-in-law is calling!”
Only when the song ended did Sun Jingcheng take the phone and leave the private room, finding a quiet place to return the call. After a while, he came back and said to everyone: “You guys continue, I need to leave first.”
“What’s going on with you, such a killjoy?” Everyone protested.
“I’ll organize another gathering another day, but I really have to go now.” Sun Jingcheng said with a smile.
“It’s still early, not even ten o’clock yet…”
“Let’s just all call it a night. We’ll get together at the full moon celebration the day after tomorrow. Old Jiang’s wife is still in postpartum confinement, let him go home early to look after her too.”
Everyone wasn’t quite satisfied yet, making plans for next time to have a proper good time, casually grabbing cigarettes from the table, stuffing them in their pockets, pushing and shoving each other as they left the private room.
“Old Sun, bring your wife the day after tomorrow too. Don’t hide her away, all shy and unwilling to meet people.”
Someone chimed in with the teasing, singing, “A shy rose blooms quietly…”
“Give us some face, you absolutely must bring Zhou Yu!” Old Jiang said excitedly: “Let you two as a couple also bask in some joyful energy. You’ve been married three years now, it’s time to have a child.”
“You’re all so concerned.” Sun Jingcheng said with a smile.
“Seriously though, keep it in mind, bring Zhou Yu to the full moon celebration.” Old Jiang put away the joking tone.
“Alright. I’ll pass on the message.” Sun Jingcheng agreed.
The group said their goodbyes in the parking lot, and Sun Jingcheng returned to their marital home. This year he had been living in the new district more often, firstly because it was close to his company; secondly because he frequently traveled for business, and with the pandemic constantly recurring, living in the new district also made it convenient for him to self-isolate. Zhou Yu, on the other hand, lived in the old city district’s marital home, just two blocks from the school where she worked.
The old district wasn’t really that far from the new district, only seven or eight kilometers, but some road sections were under metro construction, so what used to be a ten-minute drive now required at least half an hour of detours.
When Sun Jingcheng arrived at the marital home, he saw Zhou Yu eating dinner and asked her, “Just got off work?”
“Yeah, I’ve been back for about half an hour.” Zhou Yu responded.
Sun Jingcheng took off his coat and hung it up, then bent down to neatly arrange the shoes messily piled in front of the shoe cabinet, carefully rolling up the shafts of the knee-high women’s boots bit by bit before tucking them into the shoe cabinet.
Zhou Yu glanced over. After finishing her meal and wiping her mouth, she went to the shoe cabinet, took out the knee-high boots, looked at the boot shafts from both sides, and said to him: “This leather is delicate, it can’t withstand such rough treatment.” As she spoke, she stood the knee-high boots upright against the wall.
“Last time you forcibly stuffed my snow boots into the shoe cabinet, you rubbed all the fur off. Some of my boots have long shafts, forcibly stuffing them in the shoe cabinet will deform the shoes.”
Sun Jingcheng wouldn’t take the blame for this. He rolled up his sleeves and went to the bathroom, “That pair of furry boots was when we were at the family compound, a cat clawed the fur off.”
Zhou Yu finished with the shoes and tidied up the messy sofa and coffee table as well, “School’s been busy these past few days, haven’t had time to clean up.”
Sun Jingcheng didn’t mind. He sat down at the piano, removed the dust cover from the keys, his ten fingers moving back and forth across the black and white keys, but not playing.
Zhou Yu took the dishes to wash, asking from the kitchen, “My mom called you?”
Sun Jingcheng covered the piano with the dust cover, stood up and looked around the room. He had purchased this apartment ten years ago, 120 square meters, a standard two-bedroom. Originally there was also a children’s room, but during renovation he had the children’s room opened up to the living room, with half simply furnished as a study, and half specifically used to place his piano.
“The day after tomorrow is Old Jiang’s son’s full moon celebration, are you going or not?”
Zhou Yu had been wanting to mention this too, “A few days ago Sister Yingzi sent me a WeChat message to discuss how much to give as a gift for Old Jiang’s child’s full moon celebration. The general idea was that you brothers should discuss it among yourselves so everyone knows how much to give.”
“What’s there to discuss about that?” Sun Jingcheng asked, leaning against the kitchen door.
“If you all give different amounts as gifts, it would make the person who gives less feel awkward. Sister Yingzi said everyone should give 888.”
“Isn’t that too little?”
“That’s how gift money for weddings and funerals works.” Zhou Yu said: “Old Jiang’s having a second child, 888 isn’t little.”
“Alright, you decide.”
“There’s a lot of etiquette to gift money, if you don’t do it right you’ll offend a whole circle of people.” Zhou Yu said with her back to him while wiping dishes, “Last year when your cousin got married, your sister gave 2000, and your mom scolded her. Dad and Second Uncle only gave 2000.” Then she continued: “In autumn Sister Yingzi even said that people don’t usually hold full moon celebrations for second children anymore. A few days ago when she asked me to discuss it, she very readily said to give 888. Yesterday I found out that she had also discovered she was pregnant with her second child.” She couldn’t help but laugh.