Qin Simu yanked the curtains wide open.
The person in the bed groaned and burrowed deeper under the covers. Simu’s bedroom faced east, and the sunlight streamed in, casting a warm glow.
“Have you had enough sleep?” Qin Simu tugged at the blanket.
“No,” a soft voice came from beneath the covers. “I’m far from done.”
“Shao Xue, get out of bed,” she pulled off the covers. “You haven’t eaten or had water. Do you plan to die in my bed?”
Shao Xue squinted against the sunlight, cracking her eyes open just a sliver, and looked pitifully at Qin Simu. Simu couldn’t stand seeing her like that and helplessly sat on the bed.
“How did I end up with such a hopeless junior like you? Come on, what do you want to do?”
“I’m bankrupt,” Shao Xue sniffled. “I’ve only got a penny left in my pocket.”
“It’s not that bad, my dear Xue,” Qin Simu ruffled her hair. “I know that bastard scammed you, but we’re capable people. You can bounce back. You just got back and don’t have a place to stay, so you’re staying here. But you need to find a job.”
“I don’t want to see anyone,” Shao Xue sat up and met Qin Simu’s gaze. “I don’t want to see anyone.”
Qin Simu stared at her for a long moment.
“Well, I’ve got a few translation gigs lined up that I was going to pass on because the pay was low. Want them?”
Shao Xue lowered her head and thought for a moment.
“I’ll take them.”
Qin Simu headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Her bags were already packed as she was leaving for Xi’an that afternoon to work as a translator for a foreign film crew. After quitting her job two years ago, she’d built a freelance career through her old contacts. With her reputation growing, she now earned more money and had more free time than she ever did before.
Shao Xue washed up in the bathroom. By the time she sat down at the table, Qin Simu had finished making breakfast.
“I must owe you from a past life, Shao Xue,” Qin Simu said, as was her habit, while swallowing the fried egg she had put so much effort into cooking. “I’ve never treated any of my ex-boyfriends this well.”
“You’ve had plenty of exes, but I only have one Qin Simu.” Shao Xue grinned shamelessly, showing no remorse. “I know you're the best.”
“Shut up!” Qin Simu cut her off just in time. “Now that you're back, why not go find Zheng Su Nian? You slept with him and then left, don’t let him have waited all these years for nothing.”
“Why would I go find him, so he can laugh at how miserable I am?”
“Why are you so cynical? The woman he loved is going through a tough time. You’re both single—why can’t he lend a helping hand?”
Unexpectedly, Shao Xue’s face darkened, and she put down her chopsticks.
“I won’t go,” she said weakly. “If I’m going to face him, I want to do it after I’ve made something of myself, looking radiant. I can’t go to him now, after being scammed and going broke, asking him to take me in. What kind of dignity would I have left?”
Qin Simu snorted. “You’re really proud, aren’t you?”
At Shao Xue’s house.
Yu Dong Ge poured a glass of water for Zheng Su Nian and called for Shao Hua, who was watching TV nearby. Zheng Su Nian had brought a large box of gifts, with a box of honeycomb on top.
“This is a real treat,” Shao Hua crouched down to inspect it. “It used to be hard to get. Did Zhang Qi send it?”
“Yes,” Zheng Su Nian nodded. “I think he went to New Zealand and bought a lot of stuff.”
“Sigh, that boy has really made something of himself,” Shao Hua said as she straightened up. “Successful and filial. Who could have imagined it back then? Unlike our daughter, who only calls during the holidays and never comes home.”
Zheng Su Nian lowered his head and stayed silent.
Yu Dong Ge wasn’t too happy to hear Shao Xue’s name mentioned either.
"Who wouldn't agree?" Gu Yun Jin sighed, "Raising this girl has been like raising an ingrate. She's already twenty-seven, and when I ask her if she has a boyfriend, she doesn’t give a straight answer. When I suggest setting her up on a blind date, she outright refuses. It's driving me crazy."
"She's still young." Zheng Su Nian, feeling the need to respond, added, "I’m almost two years older than her."
"Can a man be compared to a woman?" Gu Yun Jin huffed like a frustrated old lady, "Look at Auntie Sun and Auntie Li from the Palace Museum. They're already holding their grandchildren. And here I am, without even a shadow of a son-in-law."
Zheng Su Nian smiled politely, noticing that the phone on the side table was off the hook.
"Hey, Auntie, why isn’t your phone hung up properly?" Zheng Su Nian reached out to fix it, but Gu Yun Jin quickly stopped him.
"The phone’s broken," Aunt Gu explained, "If we hang it up, it keeps ringing. Right now, the only way to make it work is to leave it off the hook and use the speaker when a call comes in."
"That’s odd." Zheng Su Nian found it strange, but as it was getting late, he finished the water in his cup. "Well, Uncle, Auntie, I should get going. My dad's waiting for me to join him for dinner."
Since he had brought a box of supplements, Zheng Su Nian had driven over. As soon as he stepped on the gas, his phone started vibrating incessantly.
He answered, surprised to hear Zhang Qi on the other end.
"What’s up?" He asked while steering the wheel, "What time is it over there? Why are you calling me now?"
Zhang Qi’s voice was hesitant. After a long pause, he finally asked, "Did the package arrive?"
"It did," Zheng Su Nian pressed the accelerator, "I just dropped everything off at Aunt Gu’s. As for Yan Qi’s Transformer, that’ll have to wait until the weekend since their place is far. I'll take it over then."
Zhang Qi continued to fumble with his words, testing Zheng Su Nian’s patience.
"What’s going on? If you have something to say, just say it."
"Su Nian," Zhang Qi took a deep breath, "Did you know that Shao Xue is back in the country?"
The sound of tires screeching filled the air.
Hearing the noise, Zhang Qi panicked. "Su Nian? Are you okay? Can you hear me?"
"I hear you," Su Nian’s expression remained unchanged as he shifted gears, "Keep talking."
"She visited the U.S. two years ago, and we met up. I added her on WeChat. A couple of days ago, I saw she posted a picture of an airport arrival gate in her Moments.
"It was daytime for us, which means it was late at night over there. She deleted it almost immediately. When I messaged her to ask if she was back in China, she denied it.
"Do you know what caption she used for that photo?
"'Stay strong.'"
Zheng Su Nian froze.
Stay strong. Stay strong.
He turned the phrase over and over in his mind, feeling more and more unsettled.
Zhang Qi had relayed this to his girlfriend, a psychology PhD student at Columbia University, whose expertise was making sense of such situations. After hearing about Shao Xue's recent years, she made an informed guess.
"Emotions need an outlet. Posting something like that in the middle of the night probably means she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
"Deleting it right after shows she doesn’t want anyone to know. If she’s back but hiding it, chances are it’s not for a good reason.
"I’d bet that your friend is going through some tough times."
With a psychologist’s diagnosis, Zhang Qi immediately reported everything to Zheng Su Nian.
The traffic on Chang’an Avenue stretched for miles. Su Nian’s eyes focused on the red light, while Zhang Qi’s incessant "Hello? Hello?" rang in his ears.
"I understand," he replied.
Since he was driving, Su Nian couldn’t continue holding the phone. When he parked under his father’s apartment building, he stayed in the car and opened his WeChat contact list to search for a name.
Zhang Yi Yi.
After the Wenchuan earthquake, Zhang Yi Yi had saved Su Nian’s phone number. Su Nian had been one of the last people to adopt WeChat, only doing so at the persistent urging of Bai Yun Sheng. Once his contact list synced, Zhang Yi Yi immediately sent him a friend request.
"Su Nian, guess where I am?"
Ever since Su Nian had scolded him, Zhang Yi Yi had shown him great respect, always eager to prove he wasn’t the kind of person Su Nian had initially pegged him as. Before Su Nian could respond, a picture arrived.
It showed Zhang Yi Yi standing in the blazing sun, holding a young African child.
Su Nian replied, "Where is this…?"
Zhang Yi Yi gleefully responded, "After graduating, I became an international volunteer. Now I’m in Africa, working in education support."
He didn’t update his Moments often, only occasionally posting pictures from his travels around the world. Su Nian scrolled through his feed, finally finding him and diving straight into the question: "Do you know Qin Simu?"
The reply came quickly: "Yeah, she's my senior."
"Can I have her number? I need to contact her."
Qin Simu was dozing off at Terminal 2.
She had a habit of arriving at least two hours early for flights. When her phone rang, she glanced at the unfamiliar number and ignored it.
It rang again.
This time, her curiosity got the better of her, and she picked up.
"Is this Qin Simu?" The man's voice on the other end of the line was polite but had an underlying hint of urgency. "This is Zheng Su Nian."
When Zheng Su Nian arrived at Qin Simu's apartment, Shao Xue was blissfully unaware, soaking in the bathroom. Qin Simu was someone who appreciated life's little luxuries. Her apartment wasn’t even 50 square meters, but the bathroom was spacious. Hot water had just filled the tub, and Shao Xue gingerly dipped a toe in.
"Hot, hot, hot!"
She pulled her foot back and reached for the cold water tap. As the faucet gushed, the doorbell rang.
It was already late, and the apartment complex, full of young professionals, had little sense of community. People came and went at odd hours, and the crime rate was higher than in older neighborhoods. Shao Xue, feeling a chill, shivered as she walked into the living room.
The window was slightly ajar, letting in a cold draft. Shao Xue was only wearing a thin white nightgown, her heart racing as she peeked through the door's peephole.
As she approached the door, her hand instinctively unlocked her phone. She scrolled between Qin Simu’s number and her parents’ before deciding on the latter. In moments of real danger, it was better to rely on her parents.
Just as her finger hovered over the call button, a heavy knock resounded from the other side of the door.
"Coming, coming!" Gu Yun Jin hurried to open her home’s security door and was surprised to see Zheng Jin standing outside in a deep gray jacket.
"Mr. Zheng? What brings you here?"
Hearing the commotion, Shao Hua put down his newspaper and rushed out. Zheng Jin, who had likely walked over in the freezing cold, had a healthy glow to his face, evidence of some post-dinner exercise.
"I was out for a stroll after dinner and ended up near your neighborhood. Thought I’d drop by."
Gu Yun Jin sighed, "If only we knew you were coming, I’d have asked Su Nian to stay for dinner. The four of us could’ve eaten together. He was just rushing off home earlier."
"Rushing home?" Zheng Jin’s hand froze as he was taking off his shoes. "He didn’t go home. He called earlier, telling me to eat on my own."
The front door to Qin Simu’s apartment creaked open slightly, and a gust of cold wind chilled Shao Xue to the bone.
Zheng Su Nian stepped forward, and the wind pushed the door inward. He reached back and pulled it shut with a loud clang.
Shao Xue’s fingers brushed the phone screen, and the call interface appeared.
There was something about the intensity radiating from Zheng Su Nian that made Shao Xue step back. Her phone slipped from her grasp, flipping over as it hit the floor.
"Your phone’s still broken? You can only use speaker mode to answer calls?" Zheng Jin had taken off his jacket and turned around to see the phone off the hook.
Shaohua nodded, "I scheduled a repair, but it’s been days, and no one’s shown up. The service nowadays is really lacking."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the phone started ringing loudly.
The sound was deafening.
Gu Yun Jin rushed out from the kitchen. "Two grown men standing here, and neither of you can answer the phone? I’m busy over here, and now I have to come out and do this."
She wiped her hands on her apron and pressed the speaker button.
A young woman’s voice, tinged with stubbornness and frustration, pierced through the peaceful atmosphere of the living room: "Did I ask for your help?!"
Zheng Su Nian’s patience snapped. The words Qin Simu had spoken earlier echoed in his mind, and he grabbed Shao Xue’s shoulder. "You’re broke and crashing at someone else’s place. How can I not be concerned?"
There’s no mistaking your own child’s voice, even if it’s through a speakerphone. Hearing Zheng Su Nian’s voice, as well as recognizing Shao Xue’s, both Zheng Jin and Gu Yun Jin’s faces changed. The three of them held their breath, gathering around the phone.
The window was still open, and Shao Xue shivered from the cold. Zheng Su Nian’s sudden appearance had caught her completely off guard. All she felt was a wave of shame.
She was the one who had left, the one who had boasted about how great the world outside was. Yet now, she was the one who had returned in defeat.
"Who do you think I am?" Her tone softened, but she still refused to look at him. "Do you think I’m the kind of person who would come crawling back to you just because I failed? Do I look that shameless to you?"
Zheng Su Nian couldn’t stand it anymore and gently turned her face toward him.
"So what if I want to take care of you?"
Shao Xue froze.
She didn’t respond, and Su Nian was left at a loss for words. He had imagined many scenarios where they might reunite—at the airport, in the restoration studio, or even at Gu Yun Jin’s house—but he hadn’t expected it to be this sudden or awkward.
But maybe Qin Simu had exaggerated her situation a little too much. Seeing her so full of life, arguing with him, gave Su Nian a sense of relief.
Shao Xue’s eyes welled up with tears before she quickly blinked them away. Finally, Zheng Su Nian couldn’t hold back any longer. "Do you think I don’t have enough money?"
Shao Xue took a deep breath, her voice booming: "Zheng Su Nian, we haven’t seen each other in over six years, but you can’t possibly think that of me! Let me tell you, even though I’m between jobs right now, I can still make good money, probably more than you. Do you think I care how much you make?"
Her confidence wasn’t unfounded. Even in her current state, avoiding people and doing translation work, her qualifications could easily land her a high-paying teaching or interpreting job.
Zheng Su Nian was silent for a moment. "Shao Xue, that was a little harsh."
Shao Xue: "…"
Meanwhile, back in a nearby old apartment complex along the Fourth Ring Road, Zheng Jin let out a long sigh. "My son’s really hopeless…"
Gu Yun Jin and Shao Hua quickly shushed him: "Shh, keep listening."
The wind howled, and the sound of running water echoed through the room.
Zheng Su Nian’s tone softened, and he took a step closer to Shao Xue.
She didn’t back away.
The scent of Qin Simu’s shampoo lingered, making her smell different. Zheng Su Nian leaned in closer to her ear, his voice soft: "Does Aunt Gu know you’re back?"
"No, I didn’t want to tell anyone."
"You can’t hide it forever. They’ve been worried sick about you. It’s not right to be a child like this, disappearing for so many years without coming home. It’s unfilial."
Her parents were her weak spot. Shao Xue’s nose tingled with emotion, and she didn’t even realize how close he was getting. "I’m scared to go back… Every time I finish a video call with them, I cry for ages. I’m afraid that if I go home, I won’t want to leave again."
"Is it tough being alone out there?"
"It’s okay."
"If it’s ‘okay,’ why did you come back?" Zheng Su Nian started to bait her. "You’re back now, so you might as well see your parents properly. No one’s stopping you from leaving again afterward."
Shao Xue didn’t respond, and Zheng Su Nian pressed further: "Don’t make life harder for yourself. Money is just a material thing—if you lose it, you can always earn more. But once relationships are gone, no amount of time or money can bring them back."
"I’m scared to go back…"
The fear of returning home—it was real.
"Then take it slow," Su Nian said softly. "Stay at my place for a couple of days first. It’s not right to keep imposing on Qin Simu like this. She’s not family, after all."
Shao Xue’s voice was so soft that even Zheng Jin and the others by the phone could barely hear her. They leaned closer, straining to catch her words: "Why should I stay at your place?"
Zheng Su Nian smirked, "Well, you slept with me, didn’t you?"
Shaohua whispered, "When did that happen?"
Gu Yun Jin gritted her teeth, "That little rascal hasn’t been home in forever."
Zheng Jin, feeling both guilty and a bit proud, tried to downplay it, "Su Nian said Shao Xue slept with him…"
"Shut up!"
Shao Xue suddenly realized she’d fallen into his trap, her face flushing with anger. "What do you mean I slept with you? That was mutual, okay!"
Zheng Su Nian retorted, "Was it mutual when you just left afterward like nothing happened?"
Shao Xue shot back, "Don’t act like a martyr. What, are you telling me you haven’t been with other women since then?"
Zheng Su Nian, now visibly upset, fired back, "What other women have I been with?"
Shao Xue, caught off guard, stammered before weakly replying, "Aren’t you afraid of… getting pent up?"
Zheng Su Nian was speechless.
At this point, Gu Yun Jin could no longer contain herself. Despite Shao Hua’s attempts to quiet her, the small apartment was suddenly filled with the loud, staticky voice of a middle-aged woman shouting through the phone: "Shao Xue! What’s going on between you two? Tell me right now!"
The echo of her voice reverberated through the room.
Shao Xue, panic-stricken, frantically scanned the room and finally located her phone on the floor. Zheng Su Nian was still looking out the window, bewildered. In a rush, she darted over and grabbed the phone.
"Shao Xue!"
"Mom…"
Gu Yun Jin took a deep breath, her voice booming: "When did you and Su Nian—no, wait—when did this happen?!"
Shao Xue’s voice trembled, almost on the verge of tears. "How did the phone even connect?"
"It’s not us; you called!" Gu Yun Jin barked.
Shao Hua chimed in from the side, adding fuel to the fire, "Yeah, yeah, you called us."
Zheng Su Nian stood behind her, watching as Shao Xue’s neck turned red with embarrassment. But it wasn’t over yet. From the phone came the voice of Zheng Jin: "Um, Shao Xue…"
"Uncle Zheng…"
Zheng Jin cleared his throat awkwardly, "Shao Xue, I just wanted to say one thing. Now, I know Su Nian doesn’t make much money, but I have a rental property. The rent’s always been deposited into my account, but if you two need it, I can have it transferred to Su Nian’s account instead…"
Bang!
The phone call ended abruptly.
Shao Xue turned toward Zheng Su Nian and, without any warning, began hitting him. He didn’t fight back, letting her fists land on his chest, shoulders, and arms.
When she finally got tired, Zheng Su Nian calmly asked, "Want to take a break?"
"Get out."
"I’m not going anywhere."
"I said, get out!"
She began pushing him toward the door. A gust of wind blew through as she gave him one last shove. They both stumbled, crashing through the doorway together.
A cold gust of wind hit them.
Thud!
Clang!
For a solid thirty seconds, they stood there, staring at each other in silence. Zheng Su Nian’s expression was a mix of emotions. "That wasn’t my fault…"
The wind howled through the hallway. Shao Xue, in nothing but her thin nightgown, finally felt the biting cold.
The cold crept up from her feet, making her entire body shiver. She crouched down, hugging her legs, at first softly sobbing, but soon, her cries echoed uncontrollably through the stairwell.
She couldn’t even tell why she was crying.
Crying because, after seven years of wandering, she had nothing to show for it. Crying because she had left boldly, yet returned so furtively. Crying because, despite being in the same city as her parents, she didn’t have the courage to go home. Crying because she was staying at someone else’s place, and now the door was locked, and she had no place to go.
All the false bravado, all the self-deprecation.
A jacket was placed over her head, and Zheng Su Nian crouched down beside her. He had never liked to wear too many clothes, so in the dead of winter, after giving her his coat, he was left with only a thin sweater.
He said, "Let’s go home."
Shao Xue nodded, scooting forward a bit and burying her head into his chest.
Zheng Su Nian’s hand gently traced from her back to her long hair. His voice was soft, but reassuring.
"I’m here, Shao Xue. I’m here."
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