Grandfather used to live in the countryside. Later, at the instigation of the step-grandmother, he had Huang Yuchan and Huang Yue buy them a house in town. He opened his mouth wide, demanding a 120-square-meter unit, saying they had already scouted the location.
That location was right next to the city's No. 1 Middle School—a school district property.
Huang Yue guessed at the time that the house was probably for the step-brother's son to use for his studies.
Huang Yue refused, and the old man cursed her over the phone every day. Huang Yue simply joined forces with Huang Yuchan to cut off his alimony payments. Only then did he lower his head, saying that a place a bit farther away would also work—now that he was old, living on the main street would make it convenient for him to see a doctor.
That remark gave Huang Yue something to latch onto. Since it was only for the convenience of seeing a doctor, Huang Yuchan had an old apartment in an older complex sitting empty. Huang Yue had the old man move in there, with all the utility bills covered by her.
Knowing that this eldest daughter was someone who followed through on her words, Huang Genmin didn't dare push back any further, but from then on, his words to Huang Yue were always laced with barbs.
The old residential complex was lined with a row of plane trees along the street outside. The unit door downstairs was open, and quite a few electric scooters were parked in the stairwell—all fire hazards.
Huang Yue stopped at the bottom of the building, turned around, and looked at Huang Ling: "On the way here, I think I saw a coffee shop. Go wait for Mom there, don't come upstairs with me."
Huang Ling knew her mother was trying to send her away, so she nodded: "Mom, what do you want to drink? I'll order for you."
"Iced Americano." Huang Yue said, watching Huang Ling leave before turning and heading upstairs.
The stepmother opened the door. Even when she smiled, her triangular eyes gave her a fierce look. At over seventy, she was still in robust health.
Huang Yue merely nodded at her and walked into the living room amid the blaring television and the sound of snoring.
The smell of baijiu still lingered in the living room. Huang Yue handed over the fruit and supplements she'd brought: "The doctor said he can drink like this?"
Wu Qiaoying's attention was all on the things Huang Yue had bought. The TV in the room was too loud for her to hear what Huang Yue was saying at all. She walked over to the living room, picked up the remote, and not knowing how to turn the volume down, simply switched the TV off.
The old man, who had been snoring on the sofa, woke up instantly and started cursing: "Why did you turn off the TV?"
Wu Qiaoying pointed at the person by the door: "Your eldest daughter is here."
Only then did Huang Genmin look over, letting out a light snort: "I thought you weren't coming until I was dead."
Huang Yue walked straight in without changing her shoes, crossed her arms, and stood by the sofa without any intention of sitting down: "I'm not here specially to see you. This trip back to Xunchuan is mainly to see my daughter and a client. I just stopped by on the way. My little sister called me and said you were planning to have her pay for a caregiver?"
Huang Genmin glanced at Huang Yue. He knew full well that if he wanted this to work, he'd have to go through his soft-hearted, indecisive younger daughter. Now that Huang Yue had gotten wind of it, the plan was probably doomed.
"Your auntie is getting on in years too—how can she possibly take care of me?"
Huang Yue: "What about Auntie's son?"
"Da Bin's grandson was just born—how would he have time?" Huang Genmin reacted even more agitatedly than Wu Qiaoying.
"Then it seems you've really hit a rough patch. Having a son or not makes no difference after all." Huang Yue gave a light snort. She'd heard this kind of talk from childhood all the way until she gave birth to Huang Ling—she was long sick of it.
Huang Genmin's eyes bulged with rage: "Am I your biological father, or is he?"
Huang Yue's face twisted with mockery: "A 24-hour in-home caregiver in Xunchuan costs at least seven or eight thousand a month. My little sister doesn't have a job and relies entirely on Jiang… on her husband alone. Their factory's business isn't what it used to be either. Besides, Jiang Xi is grown now—marriage and everything else will be expenses in the future. I don't agree with hiring you a caregiver. You have one way out: if you can't stay at home, then go to a nursing home."
"Filthy beast." Huang Genmin grew anxious at once. "A nursing home—is that a place for people? The caregivers there beat the elderly. Heartless little wretches—I slaved away raising you sisters, and I'd have been better off raising pigs. I should have drowned the both of you little girls in the river back then. I'm not asking you to pay for it—what business is it of yours? Both my daughters have been had by that Jiang family—what's wrong with having him pay to find me a caregiver?"
Before coming upstairs, Huang Yue had already steeled herself mentally. She wasn't here to negotiate with Huang Genmin.
She remembered going to work in the fields with her mother when she was very young. Later, her mother passed away giving birth to her third child. Huang Yuchan hadn't been much older at the time. With a stepmother came a stepfather, and those two step-siblings had always bullied Huang Yuchan. As soon as Huang Yue got married, the first thing she did was bring her little sister to live with her. She truly didn't know how Huang Genmin had the face to claim he'd raised them himself.
"With you shouting that loudly, it seems you're in good spirits and good health. Then I won't stay any longer." Huang Yue brushed off dust that didn't exist on her white pants and left without saying goodbye.
She went downstairs with a heavy heart, but the moment she saw Huang Ling standing downstairs holding coffee and waiting for her, all her sadness melted away.
"Isn't it hot? Why are you waiting for me here?"
Huang Ling handed her the coffee: "Mother and daughter think alike—I just got here too. I called a cab; let's head back to the hotel."
Whether it was Sun Qi acting out of spite, she had arranged a room near the elevator for Huang Ling.
Huang Yue didn't mind at all.
She always felt she owed Huang Ling a great deal. She had moved to Hangcheng to develop her career, but because Huang Ling's household registration was in Xunchuan, her senior year of high school coincided with the most critical moment for Huang Yue's promotion. Missing that opportunity meant the next chance for promotion was far off in the distance. Huang Ling had patted her chest and guaranteed that she'd be fine returning to Xunchuan alone.
Her grades had always been excellent. After returning to Xunchuan, her rankings in exams of all sizes remained stable. Unfortunately, she underperformed in the college entrance examination—what should have been a score for a second-tier university with hopes of a first-tier one barely scraped her into a third-tier college in Xunchuan.
Huang Yue always regretted that if she had been able to accompany Huang Ling back to Xunchuan for senior year, things might have been better. She had originally wanted Huang Ling to retake the exam, but Huang Ling had accepted the outcome calmly. Huang Yue respected her choice. Knowing that Huang Ling wanted to go abroad to polish her credentials after graduating from university, she worked desperately to earn more money. Fortunately, after all the hardship, things were finally looking up.
After taking a shower, Huang Yue changed into her pajamas and lay on the bed handling work matters on her phone: "When you went back to Xunchuan, did you see your little boyfriend?"
Huang Yue knew about Liang Wenpei's existence. Back then, during winter and summer breaks, if Huang Ling wasn't at the hotel working as free labor, she'd almost always return to Hangcheng. The high-speed rail between Hangcheng and Xunchuan took two hours, and Liang Wenpei had come to find her.
That day, Huang Yue had gone to work. The person who was supposed to come back in the evening returned in the middle of the day instead. The moment she opened the door, she saw Liang Wenpei being directed by Huang Ling to mop the floor.
Huang Ling was already twenty-one then, so dating was no issue. Seeing the two kids looking a bit awkward, as a parent she neither questioned nor scolded them. Instead, as if she'd known in advance he would come, she didn't reveal her surprise, went back to the study to grab her documents, and left.
Huang Ling hadn't expected Huang Yue to still remember Liang Wenpei: "I've seen him."
"Has he started working?"
"He seems to be working at his professor's firm. I'm not sure either." Huang Ling deliberately made it sound like she wasn't certain, as if that would make it seem like she wasn't paying much attention to him.
Hearing her daughter speak of him in such a distant tone now, Huang Yue's voice carried more curiosity: "Didn't he go abroad to find you too?"
Huang Ling: "He was taking his sister on a trip and happened to meet up with me along the way."
Huang Yue laughed and scolded her: "You silly child."
Hearing her mother scold her, Huang Ling was still confused when a knock came at the door, interrupting the question she was about to ask. When she opened it, it was Luo Shuang holding a fruit platter.
"Using work for personal gain, huh." Huang Ling took the fruit and stepped aside to let Luo Shuang in.
"Just buttering you up." Luo Shuang came in and greeted Huang Yue, who had sat up: "Hello, Auntie."
"Hello." Huang Yue knew the two of them were currently sharing a rental: "Busy today?"
"Not too bad." Luo Shuang thanked her, "Thanks for the snacks you brought us, Auntie."
Since it was still work hours, Luo Shuang didn't stay long. Huang Ling asked a couple of questions about the department, and when she heard that Zhao Bing was still on night duty tonight, she was a bit surprised.
"Manager Zhao has already done several night shifts since coming back these past two weeks, hasn't he?"
Luo Shuang made a disgusted face: "He calls it night duty, but he goes to sleep in the guest room early. If something happens at night and we call him, he won't come to handle it—he always tells me or Xiao Li to deal with it ourselves. From now on, I'm only working shifts with you, or I'll end up killing someone."
With that, Luo Shuang suddenly remembered something. Hidden from Huang Yue's view, she secretly gave Huang Ling a wink, signaling her to step outside to talk.
Huang Ling walked out half-doubtfully, and Luo Shuang waited until she closed the door before speaking.
"Where did you go today?"
Huang Ling found the question a bit odd: "I went with my mom to meet a client. After lunch, my mom went to see my grandfather, and I waited for her at a coffee shop. Why?"
"Wen Hanchi asked me if you were pregnant." Luo Shuang was equally baffled.
Huang Ling was even more confused: "Why?"
As she said it, she suddenly thought of running into Liang Wenpei at the postpartum care center—could he have been the one asking?
"Who knows what's wrong with him." Luo Shuang shook her head, but was curious: "You think maybe he's asking on someone else's behalf?"
Seeing that they'd both had the same thought, Huang Ling gave a light snort: "Would you call that defamation? If I sued, could I win a Porsche wheel?"
"Then I hope he comes and asks me too. Based on my years of experience riding bicycles and electric scooters, two wheels are easier to handle. Unicycles are unstable." Luo Shuang joked with Huang Ling in a deadpan tone, "Alright, I'm off. There's still work at the office."
After Luo Shuang left, Huang Ling instinctively pulled out her phone again. Recalling how pathetic she had looked at the postpartum center, the corners of her lips curled up uncontrollably. Finally, as if playfully scolding herself, she muttered, "Idiot."
She opened the door and returned to the room, where Huang Yue had just hung up the phone.
Seeing her mother's slightly solemn expression, Huang Ling placed the fruit platter on the bedside table between them and asked, "Who was that?"
"Your aunt." Huang Yue turned sideways and picked up a piece of cantaloupe with a fork. "She asked when we're heading back to Hangcheng. Tomorrow noon, she wants to bring Jiang Xi and have lunch with us."
Huang Ling instinctively avoided Huang Yue's gaze, lowered her eyes, and forced a light, casual tone: "Isn't your company busy?"
The person on the adjacent bed was silent for a while before finally speaking: "Lingling, find a nice restaurant nearby, book a table, and send the address to your aunt."
There was a highly-rated creative cuisine restaurant nearby, conveniently located for her aunt's residence and not far from the hotel either.
The next day, Huang Yue got up early to work out. By the time she finished her run and returned to the room, she had more energy than Huang Ling, who was young enough to be her daughter.
By the time the two of them got ready and arrived at the restaurant, Huang Yuchan and Jiang Xi were already there.
When Jiang Xi saw them, she obediently called out "Auntie" and "Sister."
The last time Huang Ling had seen her, she had been Jiang Xi's age. Four years had passed, but Jiang Xi's appearance hadn't changed much. Her style was somewhat androgynous, with a pair of black-framed glasses on her nose, still looking like a student.
The mall had heavy foot traffic, and with the weekend crowd, the restaurant was noisy—which conveniently diluted the awkward silence at their table.
No one knew who started it, but gradually Huang Yue and Huang Yuchan began chatting.
The topics revolved mostly around their father's recovery. Huang Ling ordered two dishes she liked, then asked Jiang Xi what she wanted to eat. Jiang Xi didn't say much in front of Huang Ling either, seeming a bit reserved, as if she was afraid of her.
"I'm fine with anything," Jiang Xi said softly.
Huang Ling had to guess her aunt's and Jiang Xi's tastes and ordered two non-spicy dishes.
Meanwhile, Huang Yue had already finished recounting the general situation of her visit with their father yesterday afternoon: "Don't give Dad money when you visit him in the future. Just buy him some food. You're soft-hearted and easily swayed. If Dad needs anything, tell him to call me."
Huang Yuchan sat across from her and obediently nodded. With a ten-year age gap, the two sisters had long felt more like mother and daughter. Perhaps due to overwork, Huang Yuchan hadn't aged well—the ten-year difference between them looked much smaller.
The restaurant served food quickly.
Huang Ling kept her head down, eating the whole time without joining the conversation at the table. Perhaps because she had studied abroad for a few years, Huang Ling always showed an extraordinary reverence when faced with good food.
Huang Yuchan didn't eat much; she kept serving food to the other three.
Huang Yue stared at her for a long moment. "Is it not to your taste?"
"No, the restaurant Lingling picked is excellent," Huang Yuchan quickly denied.
Huang Yue served her some food. "You're someone who tends to overthink and worry too much. That's not good for your health. How's the factory been lately?"
Huang Yuchan's voice was soft: "The factory hasn't been doing well these past few years. We've lost a lot of the money we made before… Zong Ji decided he'll close the factory once he finishes the current orders. After that, I'll go find a job outside. Zong Ji is getting older and his health isn't great—I want him to find work as a gatekeeper or security guard. We've saved up some money over the years, so retirement won't be a problem. We'll even have some left over for Jiang Xi's wedding in the future."
The way mother and daughter spoke really was exactly the same.
Huang Yue listened and nodded slightly, seeming somewhat helpless: "As long as you have a plan."
Hearing her mother and aunt's conversation, Huang Ling's appetite gradually faded until it felt like a wad of cotton was stuck in her throat. She put down her chopsticks and made an excuse to go to the restroom.
After using the restroom, she didn't rush back. She didn't want to listen to the topics at the table.
She tried hard to make the image of that man in her head disappear, but the more she tried to ignore him, the more stubbornly he lingered, refusing to leave.
She raised her hand and gently tapped her temple with her wrist. The manual method still failed.
She lowered her eyes, slumping onto the waiting chair outside the restroom like she had lost a battle.
She stretched her legs out in the most comfortable position and saw a pair of black-and-white LV trainers stop at her feet. Thinking her outstretched legs were in the way, she pulled them back—but the owner of those shoes didn't leave. Only then did she slowly look up.
Liang Wenpei stood with his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants, dressed entirely in black and white. His top was a short-sleeved casual shirt, and a thin silver chain hung quietly across his collarbone, not disturbing the small brown mole resting beside it.
He looked down at the seated Huang Ling from above.
The wound on his forehead had already scabbed over, but his skin was fair, so the scar was still somewhat visible.
Huang Ling tilted her head back. She was already in a bad mood, and now discovering that even from such an awkward angle, Liang Wenpei's face still didn't look distorted made her even angrier.
"I already recognized that you're wearing LV trainers. You can leave now."
Today both Pei Wenliang and he had the day off at home. Her friend Tang Yan had come over to hang out with Pei Wenliang—the two of them had planned to grab a meal and catch a movie. Pei Wenliang's internship salary wasn't nearly enough to cover it, and she'd already asked Pei Xiaomei for money last week, so she was too embarrassed to ask again.
As it happened, Liang Wenpei had been acting completely off since yesterday, like he was possessed. Afraid he'd drive himself crazy cooped up at home, she put on a facade of sibling harmony—her real motive being to get him to come along and foot the bill.
She'd planned to pay the check, buy movie tickets for the two girls, and then leave. But as it turned out, she ran into Huang Ling the moment she turned around.
Without the stiffness of the hotel work uniform, her style of dress seemed unchanged from her university days—a simple white crew-neck short-sleeve shirt paired with dark blue jeans, her long hair casually clipped back with a shark clip.
Liang Wenpei felt a daze wash over him, as if he were seeing the Huang Ling who used to wait for him by the basketball court when they were dating.
Seeing her from afar, her head drooping, lightly tapping her temple with her hand in a weary gesture, a faint trace of loneliness radiating from her. When Huang Ling had no expression on her face, the corners of her mouth always turned downward, making her look like she was deeply sad.
Walking over to her was purely his subconscious doing.
But the moment they met, the moment she spoke, her words were heavy with gunpowder.
Liang Wenpei: "Are you feeling sad?"
Huang Ling thought of what Luo Shuang had told her yesterday, and at that, she forced a smile, then placed her hand on her belly: "Nothing. Our pregnant women's moods just come fast and go fast."
Liang Wenpei choked. The moment he'd asked Wen Hanchi to inquire with Luo Shuang, he'd guessed there was a good chance Huang Ling would find out.
It was just that he'd cared too much at the time.
His gaze fell on her belly, which she was gently stroking. He hadn't been calm back then—now he realized just how stupid he'd been.
He gave a light cough to mask his awkwardness, still stubbornly refusing to back down: "Oh, seeing as we're good friends, I could persuade my mom to give you a discount."
His unnatural movements and expression were too easy to see through at a glance. Huang Ling was already feeling gloomy from her bad mood, so she deliberately teased him: "If I acknowledge a thief as my father, does that make it free?"
Acknowledge a thief as her father?
"Is that the right idiom for this situation?" Liang Wenpei laughed in spite of himself, a low, deep chuckle squeezing out of his throat. "Did you go abroad back then because the national literacy campaign was too aggressive and you fled to dodge the heat? No wonder tutoring you for finals was so hard back then. Teacher here is deeply pained to see you still so unimproved after four years."
His words landed in Huang Ling's ears like a spark igniting dry tinder—her competitive fire was instantly lit.
"You were never fit to be a role model anyway." Huang Ling sneered. "I ran into your sister last time, and she said you had an open injury and active bleeding. She said you were at the level of needing someone to take care of you. Teaching people to lie—utterly lacking in teacherly virtue."
Open injury?
Active bleeding?
If Liang Wenpei hadn't been the one who'd personally sustained the injury, he wouldn't have known he was that badly off. But the terms didn't feel unfamiliar—after all, he'd seen case injury assessment reports that used a bunch of terrifying language, only for the final assessment to come back as minor injury.
Huang Ling raised an eyebrow: "Why aren't you talking? Conceding defeat?"
The smile on Liang Wenpei's face deepened again: "Who's conceding defeat? Isn't it acknowledging a father? A father's love is silent—haven't you heard that one?"
"Sorry, I lost my father at three. I wouldn't know." Huang Ling fired back.
He knew she'd grown up in a single-parent household, and Huang Ling had always been open about it. But he hadn't expected her to wound herself to attack his morals this time.
Seeing Liang Wenpei fall silent, Huang Ling gloated: "Conceding?"
As she said it, she even provocatively leaned in and shook her head.
"Fine, I concede." Liang Wenpei raised his hands in surrender. "Let me treat you to a movie."
Huang Ling scoffed. Not interested.
"No need. I came out with my mom today—I have to take her to the high-speed rail station in a bit." Hearing him concede already made her feel completely refreshed, her bad mood swept clean away.
Calculating that her mom and aunt should be done eating by now, Huang Ling patted off the nonexistent dust on her hands and stood up.
Liang Wenpei changed his tune: "Then let me drive Auntie to the station. Who says I lost, after all."
As he said it, he gave a helpless shrug, as if it were such a burden.
"Fine." Huang Ling would save on cab fare anyway. "I'll go get my mom."
But two steps out, Huang Ling felt something was a little off—though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.