Chapter 101 His Goodnight "Goodnight, Liu Shuang. See you tomorrow."...
As dusk faded, the last rays of the setting sun disappeared, and a thin mist rose in the air.
Looking around, everything seemed veiled by an old gauze curtain. Zhu Liushuang had only been away from home for a few days, yet she had already entertained the absurd thought that "things have changed."
The mud pit at the entrance of Donghu Residential Complex had been repaired sometime ago, so she no longer needed to carefully avoid it. The motion-sensor lights on the ten buildings, which used to frequently short-circuit, had regained their sensitivity and would turn on with a stomp of her foot. Even the peeling and mottled walls in the stairwell had been painted with brand-new white paint, which shimmered faintly under the lights, as if it hadn't completely dried.
As Zhu Liushuang stepped onto the second floor, the sizzling sound of oil frying in a wok, as usual, echoed from Grandpa Qiu's kitchen. The enticing aroma of garlic wafted through the crack in the door, causing Zhu Liushuang to pause unconsciously. She placed her heel on the handrail; upstairs, Aunt Wang's grandson, a second-grader, was reciting his multiplication tables, stumbling and getting stuck on "seven times nine equals sixty-one."
"Sixty-three! Seven times nine is sixty-three! How many times have I recited it, why can't I remember it?"
Zhu Liushuang lowered her head and silently recited, her mouth movements perfectly matching the roar that suddenly came from the third floor.
She looked up at the gap in the middle of the stairs, her gaze passing through the spiraling handrail, gradually clearing. Some things will never change. For example, the everyday warmth and life here.
With a slight smile, she shook off the vague sense of melancholy in her heart and quickened her pace toward her home.
I had just popped my head up on the sixth floor when I heard my mother's overjoyed shouts.
"Xiao Shuang!"
Zhu Liushuang looked up and saw her mother's thin figure leaning against the door frame. She blurted out a scolding.
"Mom, why are you dressed so lightly?" Her eyes involuntarily reddened.
Gu Chunling brandished the spatula in her hand, her smile undiminished: "I got a little hot while cooking, so I took off my coat. I figured you should be back soon, so I decided to wait for you at the door..."
Zhu Liushuang rushed up the stairs, taking three steps at a time, and hurriedly pushed her mother's shoulders into the house: "Go and put your clothes on quickly!"
Gu Chunling did not respond. She unconsciously rubbed her palm on her apron, then turned her head to cup her daughter's face and examine her closely.
"She seems to have lost weight..." she murmured, gently stroking her daughter's cheek with her fingertips.
Feeling the rough touch, Zhu Liushuang slowly covered her mother's hand with her own, and retorted with a smile, "Where have you lost weight? I just weighed myself yesterday, and I've gained a pound!"
"Your chin is so sharp now..."
"Is your presbyopia getting worse again?" Zhu Liushuang deliberately shrank her neck, forcing out a double chin, and said, "Look, so much flesh on you!"
"You're such a chatterbox." Gu Chunling glanced at her daughter, then turned and went to the kitchen. "I was so busy talking to you that the soup in the pot was almost empty."
Zhu Liushuang bent down, picked up the black down jacket from the sofa, and followed her mother into the kitchen.
"What delicious food did you cook?" she asked, draping a down jacket over her mother's shoulders.
"Taro with pork ribs, stir-fried rapeseed with meat, and pickled bamboo shoots with pork... these are all your favorites." Gu Chunling lifted the lid of the casserole and sprinkled some chopped green onions into the pickled bamboo shoots with pork.
"Glug glug—" The milky white soup was boiling in the hot clay pot.
Zhu Liushuang glanced at it briefly, then turned around and found the refrigerator. Opening the refrigerator door, a plate of stir-fried green peppers and pickled vegetables, about a third of which remained, was placed in the most conspicuous spot.
A pang of sadness welled up in her eyes, and she strained to keep them open so the tears wouldn't blur her vision. She raised a hand to cover her cold cheeks, then casually closed the refrigerator door, pretending she knew nothing.
"It smells so good! To be able to eat my mother's cooking in the dead of winter, I must be the happiest child in the world..." She suddenly leaned against her mother's back and sniffed.
"Sycophant!" Gu Chunling slapped her daughter's forehead, clearly enjoying the gesture but saying it against her true feelings.
There was no heating in the house, so the food would get cold quickly once it was on the table. Therefore, during the meal, Gu Chunling kept putting food on her daughter's plate and urging her to eat quickly.
Zhu Liushuang sighed deeply as she looked at the mountain of ribs piled on top of her bowl: "Mom—eat more yourself, don't just save it for me!"
Hearing her daughter's words, Gu Chunling, who was about to bring a small bowl of braised pork and bamboo shoots to her daughter, paused slightly. She put down the bowl, symbolically picked up a piece of taro for herself, and said with an awkward smile, "I'm eating! It would be even better if Xiao He came over to eat. More people...it would be more lively."
When He Ming was mentioned, Zhu Liushuang lowered her head shyly and hummed in response, avoiding her mother's probing gaze.
"Is Xiao He so busy with work that he can't even have time for a meal?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Liushuang nodded seriously and said, "Yes, I'm quite busy. I've been working overtime almost every day lately. I have a dinner party tonight, and I don't know how late I'll be entertaining them."
Her casual remark reached Gu Chunling's ears, but it came across as a complaint about the lack of companionship. In the older generation, the man was usually the breadwinner and the woman stayed home, and Gu Chunling was an extremely traditional woman. She comforted her daughter, "Xiao He is busy with work, you have to be understanding... But staying up all night every day isn't a good solution; it'll ruin her health and that wouldn't be worth it! Xiao Shuang, you should also try to persuade Xiao He more often, not just focus on making money."
"Okay, okay," Zhu Liushuang mumbled, glancing furtively at her mother. Inwardly, however, she thought: "But he has to be willing to listen!"
However, at this stage, she doesn't seem to be in a position to control his work.
Seeing that her daughter hadn't even opened her eyes and was completely focused on the food in her bowl, Gu Chunling shook her head helplessly. She continued to ask, "Tomorrow is Sunday, is Xiao He also working overtime?"
"No, he said he's free tomorrow and will come with me to the night market to set up a stall tonight." Zhu Liushuang blurted out the truth without realizing it.
Oh no! She quickly looked up and, unsurprisingly, her mother's gaze was filled with resentment.
"Then why didn't you say he could come over for dinner?" Gu Chunling asked seriously. "You didn't tell him not to come, did you?"
Zhu Liu was overwhelmed and quickly defended herself: "How could that be! He said he didn't want you to have to work too hard..." Her voice gradually weakened, making her seem unsure of herself.
Gu Chunling's face inexplicably paled. Zhu Liushuang didn't understand why her mother's expression changed so drastically. She clenched her fists and silently ended the unpleasant conversation.
After a long pause, she heard her mother speak with suspicion: "Xiao Shuang... is it because Xiao He looks down on our family's conditions that he refuses to come?"
The glaring incandescent light overhead illuminated her mother's ashen face. Zhu Liushuang stared blankly at the furrowed brows of her mother's face, as if a sharp needle were hidden there. Each tremor of the brow gently scraped against her heart.
She sadly realized that the various changes and experiences her family had endured over the years had already instilled a deep-seated inferiority complex in her mother. As a result, she was sensitive, suspicious, anxious, and always thought the worst of everything.
Tears welled up in her eyes again. Zhu Liushuang held her mother's hand and comforted her, "Mom, what are you thinking! If he looked down on our family, he wouldn't have registered our marriage... He Ming isn't that kind of person."
"That's good... Mom was just overthinking things." Gu Chunling said hesitantly, pretending to bury her head in her food. "Yesterday, I ordered a cage of wild eels from Lao Liu, who sells seafood. Why don't you ask Xiao He again, and ask him to come over for dinner tomorrow night?"
Her mother kept bringing up the topic of food, and Zhu Liushuang felt helpless, pursing her lips and remaining silent for a long time.
Gu Chunling continued to persuade him: "The two of us can't finish it... Why don't you give him a call and ask?"
"Now?"
"Whatever you want." Gu Chunling finished the food in her bowl, picked up the empty bowl, and stood up.
"Let's eat later... He's probably still at his dinner party!" Zhu Liushuang muttered to her mother. "Is he already finished eating? He hasn't even touched the food..."
The kitchen tap was turned on, and Gu Chunling's voice, mixed with the sound of running water, said, "The square dancing is about to start at seven o'clock..."
"When did you start square dancing? Can your knees handle it?" Zhu Liushuang asked, frowning.
"Just these past few days... Aunt Wang downstairs took me there. It just so happens... the doctor said I should get some exercise."
Zhu Liushuang was still worried: "Aren't you cold dancing in the middle of winter?"
“There’s no wind at the senior center.” Gu Chunling finished washing her dishes and quickly walked out of the kitchen. “Just put the dishes in the sink after you finish eating. Mom will wash them when she gets back.”
"I just got home, and you're already in such a hurry to leave..." Zhu Liushuang said, deliberately pouting.
"You'll be back before eight." Gu Chunling chuckled as the door closed. "Now that you have your own family, Mom needs to find some entertainment for herself..."
The iron gate was tapped softly, and she stared blankly at the door, feeling a deep sense of loss.
————
Zhu Liushuang dialed He Ming's call right at the appointed time.
It was 9:30 p.m., and I figured he should have finished his dinner and returned to Chunhua Lane.
Outside, it was pitch black, casting a dim, yellowish light on the bedroom. The person sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapped in a fleece blanket, patiently waited for the phone to be answered.
A few dozen seconds later, the man's lazy yet magnetic voice vibrated in her ear.
"Hello? Liu Shuang..."
"Senior...Senior." The silence intensified her nervousness, and her tongue began to tie itself in knots again.
"Hmm—" the man responded very softly, his voice rising slightly at the end, with a faint hint of amusement.
Her heart clenched as if struck by lightning. Zhu Liushuang was caught off guard by that alluring chuckle.
He seemed to be in a very good mood!
"Is the social engagement over?" She covered the receiver, a blush creeping up her cheekbones.
There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by the man's gentle voice: "Just finished, about to go home... hiccup, sorry, I drank a bit too much tonight."
After he finished speaking, he let out another uncontrollable burp.
Zhu Liushuang didn't mind his loss of composure at all. Instead, she asked with concern, "Won't your stomach feel uncomfortable after drinking so much?"
The question was pointless, and she instinctively bit her tongue, not expecting him to respond.
"It hurts a little..." The man's voice grew softer and softer, as if he were talking to himself, "Don't worry, I've already taken some stomach medicine."
Her fingernails scraped across her palm as Zhu Liushuang stared blankly into the receiver. He Ming rarely revealed his vulnerable side to others; his gentle and honest manner towards her tonight might be... a little drunk?
"Does someone drive you home?" Her voice grew increasingly gentle and considerate.
"I called a designated driver and am waiting for... Liu Shuang?"
His voice tickled her eardrums as she listened to his dreamlike murmurs. Zhu Liushuang couldn't help but clutch her chest, unable to control her heartbeat.
The sound of the wind, carrying heavy breathing, brushed against her ears. She took a deep breath before speaking haltingly, "Senior... are you still listening?"
"exist--"
"My mom asked me to ask you again if you want to come over for dinner tomorrow. She said... it wouldn't be a hassle. She... went to the market yesterday to pre-order some wild eels..."
She warmed the phone case with her palms, and her hands were sweating in the near-freezing winter night.
If she hadn't wanted to disappoint her mother, Zhu Liushuang probably wouldn't have made that phone call to him.
Fortunately, the man didn't take long to think, so she didn't have to suffer the agony of waiting.
"Okay." The person on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then said gently, "Tell the aunt not to cook so many dishes, I'm not a picky eater."
"Hmm." Although she knew that He Ming most likely wouldn't put her in a difficult position, thinking it in her heart was one thing, and hearing him agree in person was another.
Sitting on the bed, she counted her chaotic heartbeats, burying her face in the pillow. She mumbled a couple of suppressed laughs, her gaze peeking out from between the pillows and landing directly on the writing desk.
There lay a thick notebook—her little-known "flower-picking plan."
The pages were open, and the words "love grows over time" were newly added, the ink still wet.
The silence continued to build in the receiver as they listened to each other's breaths, neither of them uttering a word.
The call lasted for seconds, and before the busy tone even sounded, she couldn't bear to hang up first.
"Liu Shuang, the designated driver has arrived."
The man's voice came suddenly, as if through frosted glass.
"Oh, be careful on your way home, and get some sleep when you get home," Zhu Liushuang whispered, pinching her earlobe.
With the car engine humming, the man responded softly.
While waiting for him to hang up, she habitually glanced at the call time: 5 minutes and 51 seconds.
The numbers on the phone screen were still changing when Zhu Liushuang suddenly realized that this string of constantly changing numbers had exceeded the total duration of all their previous calls.
Warm tears welled up in her eyes, and she pressed her earlobe even closer to the receiver.
Goodnight, Liu Shuang. See you tomorrow.
Her tightly closed eyes suddenly widened, and Zhu Liushuang incredulously held her phone up to her face, quickly switching it to speakerphone mode. If she could, she hoped he would repeat what he had just said.
He Ming never said "goodnight" to anyone.
On that one and only time, he simply replied with a moon emoji to her "goodnight." And she, presumptuously, took that crude system emoji as his return gift.
"Goodnight—" Her eyelashes trembled on her eyelids, and Zhu Liushuang finally managed to find her slightly trembling voice.
"Beep beep beep—" Her response was a busy signal that filled the entire room.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
