Chapter 33
Aunt Chen was passing the supermarket with her basket of groceries when she saw Mother Li hanging bed sheets outside. The sheets rustled in the morning breeze, and the faint water stains on them made her frown.
"Sister Li." She walked over quickly and lowered her voice, "Those two children... still live together?"
Mother Li shook out the last sheet, the snow-white fabric gleaming in the sunlight. Without turning around, she said calmly, "Yes, we'll live together."
Aunt Chen's basket shook, and the potatoes fell to the ground. Without bothering to pick them up, she grabbed Mother Li's sleeve and said, "How can this be! Didn't you say..."
"What did I say?" Mother Li finally turned around, a smile on her face. "I said, let the children decide for themselves."
"But they're two men!" Aunt Chen stamped her feet anxiously. "If this gets out, will your family still be able to do business? How will Xuanxuan talk about her in-laws in the future?"
A motorcycle passed by the alley, kicking up a cloud of dust. Mother Li bent down to help her pick the potatoes back into the basket one by one, her movements neither hurried nor slow.
The sound of Li Xuan humming a song came from the supermarket. The girl's voice was clear and bright, like chopsticks knocking on a porcelain bowl.
"Children must be allowed to walk their own paths." Mother Li patted the back of Aunt Chen's hand. "We, the older generation, just need to make sure they don't go astray."
Aunt Chen opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but her eyes suddenly fixed on the depths of the alley.
Li Ruiyuan and Wu Ye were moving goods from the warehouse. The young men wore matching tank tops, sweat dripping down their spines. Wu Ye, carrying heavy cardboard boxes, his arm muscles tense, yet he was distracted enough to nudge the person next to him with his shoulder:
"I told you not to lift anything heavy."
Li Ruiyuan sneered and put out his cigarette butt against the wall: "Who are you looking down on?"
He pretended to grab the box from Wu Ye's hand, but the other party dodged it flexibly. The young man leaned over slightly and whispered something in the man's ear. The next second, Li Ruiyuan's ears turned red and he kicked him:
"Get lost!"
His eyes were fierce, but there was an irrepressible smile on the corner of his mouth.
Aunt Chen watched this scene and suddenly remembered that when she was buying groceries this morning, the butcher was still praising her: "The boy from the Li family is much more reliable now. He comes to buy goods every day and doesn't fight anymore."
She was silent for a long time and sighed softly: "But..."
"It's nothing to worry about." Mother Li looked at her son and Wu Ye walking away side by side with a gentle look in her eyes. "Old Chen, tell me honestly, has Yuanzi become a better person since Xiaoye came here?"
Aunt Chen was stunned.
Indeed, the devil who used to run around the streets with a machete now honestly moves and sorts goods; the troublemaker who was impatient with everyone now patiently teaches his sister to do her homework; he even remembers the supermarket account book clearly now.
"What's the point of two people being together?" Mother Li said softly, "Isn't it just to support each other and live a stable life?"
As he was speaking, Wu Ye came trotting back. The young man's hair was wet with sweat, and he was holding a paper bag in his hand.
"Auntie, these are freshly baked egg tarts." He smiled shyly, "You and Auntie Chen, please try them."
The paper bag exuded a sweet fragrance and was warm. Aunt Chen took the egg tart and saw the red marks on the young man's palm from the cardboard box. Suddenly, she was speechless.
Mother Li broke open the egg tarts, and the golden filling flowed out. She took a bite and nodded. "Not bad, save two for Yuanzi."
"I kept it." Wu Ye's eyes sparkled. "He likes sweet things."
Watching the young man running away, Aunt Chen murmured, "But in this world..."
"There are so many roads in this world," interrupted Mother Li. "There's not just one path to the end."
Li Ruiyuan's voice came from the depths of the alley: "Wu Ye! What are you dawdling about?"
"Coming!" Wu Ye responded, ran a few steps, turned back, and waved to them shyly.
Sunlight shone on the bougainvillea, fell on the young man's sweaty back, and shone into Aunt Chen's dazed eyes. She looked down at the egg tart in her hand, the pastry falling off like some stubborn idea loosening.
"Actually..." she said softly, "Xiaoye is a really good kid."
Mother Li smiled, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes relaxed, like a lake caressed by the autumn wind.
In the supermarket, Li Xuan was tidying the shelves. A young girl hummed a tuneless song while arranging chocolates into the shape of a heart. Outside the window, the figures of two young people gradually disappeared into the alleyway, only their laughter lingering in the September air.
Aunt Chen finally left with her basket of vegetables. Before leaving, she whispered, "...By the way, my yellow tangerines are ripe now. I'll bring some over next time."
Mother Li stood at the supermarket entrance, watching her old neighbor disappear around the corner of the alley. The morning breeze blew, and the sheets drying on the shelves swayed gently, like white flags.
She knew the gossip in this alley would never stop. But it didn't matter. She had her own life to live. Just like these sheets, if they got dirty, they would wash, and if they were washed and dried, they would always be clean.
When she turned and went into the house, she heard her son's muffled laughter and scolding coming from the direction of the warehouse, and Wu Ye's gentle response.
That's enough.
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