The two returned to the new district, and Sun Jingcheng collapsed onto the sofa after changing his shoes. He neither exercised nor washed up.
Zhou Yu went to take a shower first. Coming out, she remembered the clothes she’d washed in the morning still weren’t hung up, so she hurried to take them out of the washing machine, shaking each piece vigorously before hanging them on the balcony.
Sun Jingcheng found her noise too loud and covered his ears.
After hanging the clothes, she went to the counter and opened the Musang King durian Second Sister-in-law had given her. First she pried open a crack, pressed her nose to it and took a deep sniff, then reverently opened it fully, picked out the most plump and adorable piece to put on a plate, and carried it back to sit on the sofa and watch a movie.
Sun Jingcheng smelled it and looked up, then pinched his nose shut.
Zhou Yu urged him to go shower. He said he was tired, wasn’t going to, and pillowed his head on her lap while pinching his nose.
Zhou Yu ignored him and focused on eating her durian. After finishing and wiping her hands, she took out her phone to cast a movie she wanted to watch, then lowered the volume, turned off the living room light, and patted his back saying, “Go to sleep.”
The two-and-a-half-hour movie was almost over when Sun Jingcheng woke up and watched the last part with her, asking as he watched—who was the murderer in the end? Zhou Yu was annoyed with him. “Can’t you just watch? You ask endless questions.”
“Then rewind it, I want to watch from the beginning.”
“In your dreams.”
“Then tell me who the murderer is?”
“How would I know before the ending? The plot keeps reversing.”
“So who do you think it is?”
“It’s you!” Zhou Yu said. “Why are you just like your mom—nag, nag, nag…”
“What did my mom do to you?”
Speaking of his mom, Zhou Yu said to him, “You shouldn’t have spoken against your mom today.”
“When did I speak against my mom?”
“Your sister and Second Sister-in-law were going on and on, and you came up without understanding the situation and just followed your sister in criticizing your mom.” Zhou Yu lectured him. “There were so many people in the room—son, daughters, daughters-in-law all criticizing her at once. Even if she really was wrong… If a student in my class is criticized by the Chinese teacher, the math teacher and I won’t pile on.”
“But Mom was fine in the end, wasn’t she? Still laughing and chatting at the dinner table.”
“Could she argue with all of you?” Zhou Yu said. “Didn’t you notice her eyelids were swollen? Dad even came up once to pour Mom a glass of brown sugar water. And when Dad went back down, he changed his shoes too.”
“Mom cried?”
“Yes, I’m guessing she cried.”
“Over such a small thing.”
“The matter isn’t big. Your sister wasn’t wrong, but your mom absolutely wasn’t wrong either. This is an insurmountable chasm between two generations.” Zhou Yu said. “Our parents all came through the 1950s—the trauma of the era they experienced is beyond our imagination… Every Spring Festival when firecrackers go off, Grandma shouts asking if the Japanese are attacking. That says enough—no need to elaborate.
Sun Jingcheng fell silent, pinching the flesh on her belly, quickly putting this matter aside and saying her current belly fat was just right, very suitable for pregnancy.
“I’m not a cow.” Zhou Yu slapped his hand away.
Sun Jingcheng hesitated. “We’re already this tired—won’t we be even more tired after having a child?”
“You don’t want one anymore?”
“Of course I do.”
“Raising children is very mentally exhausting.” Zhou Yu said carefully. “If we have one, your mom probably won’t be able to help much with childcare.”
“Mom said just a few days ago she’d help us.”
“Your mom cooking meals for Yuyan and Jiarui is no problem, but taking care of an infant is too tiring. If we’re going to have one, we need to be prepared to take care of it ourselves.”
“You don’t want to have one?” Sun Jingcheng looked at her.
“I’m about eighty-twenty. Eighty percent want to.”
“Then let’s have one. We can hire a nanny later.”
“With you earning that eighty thousand a year?” Zhou Yu said to him.
…
“What’s wrong with me earning eighty thousand?” Sun Jingcheng sat up and looked at her. “Just because I earn eighty thousand means I don’t deserve to raise a child?”
…
Without waiting for Zhou Yu to respond, he said, “How boring!” and got up to go to the bedroom to wash up.
Zhou Yu hadn’t expected such a strong reaction to one sentence. She also went back to the master bathroom to wash up and prepare for bed. She was brushing her teeth when Sun Jingcheng suddenly yanked open the shower curtain. “Why is it that when I’m showering you can freely come and go, but when you’re showering I can’t?”
“Because I’m not taking a shit.”
“Look how civilized you are!”
“I am more civilized than you.”
Sun Jingcheng ignored her.
After Zhou Yu finished washing up, she went back to bed. Sun Jingcheng also finished washing and came out. He first grabbed the mop and dried the bathroom floor, saying as always, “I mopped the bathroom for you.”
…
You can say you mopped it for whoever you want. Zhou Yu didn’t respond to him.
He sat down at the vanity, spraying toner on his face. He’d previously found it too troublesome to pour toner into his palm and pat it on his face, so he’d specifically bought a spray bottle for it. Then he looked at himself in the mirror, checking whether his chin had sprouted any stubble.
…