Chapter 56

Shu Qing was of average height. Her face had filled out a bit with age. Free from her family’s interference, her whole being radiated energy, without a trace of misery.

After getting her divorce certificate, she had even smiled when she saw her husband’s affair partner at the door.

She came to Banyan City alone, planning to start a new life.

Her younger sister, far away in Bramble City, had traveled a great distance to support her. But Shu Qing hadn’t expected Shu Chi to actually come to Banyan City in person.

On the first day Shu Chi arrived, Shu Qing didn’t ask anything. She made a good meal, and in the evening, she went for a walk with Shu Chi.

The next day, Shu Qing continued looking at shops. She had shortlisted a few and was still comparing them. Shu Chi silently followed her around, never saying why she had come.

On the third day, Shu Qing couldn’t hold back anymore. She asked Shu Chi, “Do you owe money? I’ve spent half of the money you gave me. Want me to give it back first?”

Shu Chi shook her head. It wasn’t until the afternoon, after Shu Qing had finished haggling with a landlord, that Shu Chi said she wanted to stay a few more days.

The Second Sister had rented a one-​bedroom place here. Her child was still back in their hometown; even transferring schools would have to wait until she was settled here.

The two sisters hadn’t spent this much time together in many years. Shu Chi had always been alone. Shu Qing just said, “Oh, it’s no problem. Then you keep your big sister company for a bit.”

Her eldest sister would help look after her child for a while. Last time Shu Chi had gone back to settle things, the whole family hadn’t objected.

Their parents were old, after all, and couldn’t interfere much anymore. They even depended on their children for support.

It was as if the absolute power dynamic of their childhood had been reversed.

But Shu Qing felt no sense of triumph. After Shu Chi arrived, she talked with her a lot. Most of the time, Shu Chi just hummed in response.

It was that afternoon, after Shu Qing signed the contract, that the two of them stood by the roadside for a while. Shu Chi suddenly said, “Sis, I have something going on.”

Shu Qing thought she needed to use the bathroom. “Oh, okay.”

Only after a long pause did she realize that the “something going on” Shu Chi mentioned was a matter. An issue.

Shu Qing felt immediately honored.

Her Third Sister stood beside her, half a head taller.

Shu Chi was very tall. When she worked odd jobs before, she never wore long coats because they were inconvenient for manual labor.

After starting the company, Jing Yuqi had initially managed her wardrobe. Long coats became her standard, naturally exuding a cold sharpness that encased her heavy personality, making it not so easy to see through.

She watched a car pass by on the street, dead leaves floating up, and sighed. “I was deceived by someone.”

Shu Qing nearly spat out her water. She quickly snatched up the lid of her thermos that had fallen to the ground. Without time to lament the new dent on it, she almost yelled, “How much did you get cheated out of? Not enough money left? It’s not a loan shark, is it?”

Shu Chi was shoved by Shu Qing and stumbled into a tree pit on the sidewalk, scattering leaves on herself. She brushed them off. “No.”

Shu Chi had always been slow and deliberate, ever since she was little.

Shu Qing figured she’d never see Shu Chi in a rushed, frantic state in her entire life. After all, the child is father of the man—Shu Chi knew how to herd geese at the age of three.

While a pack of boys was still wrestling with angry geese, Shu Chi could slowly amble past, herding her geese, casually grabbing a goose by the neck that was biting someone’s behind.

Her chubby face and calm, unruffled eyes made Shu Qing, watching from the side, think she looked a bit like a cartoon animal from the show playing at the village store.

“Ah, you’re so slow, you’re killing me! Can’t you just say it all at once?”

Shu Qing anxiously twisted the thermos lid back and forth, urging Shu Chi.

But Shu Chi seemed to still need a moment to organize her words.

She was half-​heartedly kicking the curb with her boot. For some reason, Shu Qing detected a hint of embarrassment.

That couldn’t be right.

Shu Qing was four years older than Shu Chi. When Shu Chi was in elementary school, Shu Qing was in elementary school. But by the time Shu Chi was in middle school, Shu Qing had already gone off to work.

She was completely in the dark about her little sister’s adolescence.

But Shu Chi didn’t seem like the type to have a precocious love life anyway. Even when she went to work, she was the type to just hold her bowl and wait for mealtime.

When they watched martial arts dramas together as kids, she was only focused on power rankings, with absolutely no mind for romance. She just wanted to watch more championship fight episodes.

“The person I like deceived me.”

Shu Chi squeezed out a sentence. Just then, a street sprinkler passed by, its music bizarrely arrogant.

The melody was unmistakably the ringback tone Jing Yuqi had once brainwashed Shu Chi with at work—

“Breakup happiness, wish you happiness.”

Shu Chi nearly bit her own tongue.

Shu Qing asked, “The person you like also cheated you out of money?”

Her mind was full of the thought: This younger sister of mine is truly too easy to fool.

Shu Chi shook her head.

Her Second Sister was very certain as she continued, “Then how did he deceive you?”

Shu Chi simply couldn’t craft a poetic, beautiful story. She flatly narrated the past events between her and Ding Ya.

Shu Qing didn’t find it strange at all.

She took a sip of hot water, glanced at the old man playing Chinese chess across the street, and sighed. “Didn’t you deceive him too? Online dating was so trendy back then. Girls working with me all had several online boyfriends.”

The three Shu sisters didn’t look much alike at first glance.

The eldest and second sisters both had their father’s eyes. Shu Chi’s eyes took after their mother.

Their grandmother had never liked this “outsider” daughter-​in-​law, and by extension, didn’t like the granddaughter who looked like her.

Shu Chi lowered her eyes slightly. Those eyes were the only feature she shared with her mother, but her own eyes were far more spirited. “She recognized me and still didn’t tell me.”

The sisters stood by the roadside. Shu Chi was also holding a thermos. That day when Ding Ya was exposed, Shu Chi hadn’t stayed. After working for half a week, she slipped away.

Anyone could tell she was in a bad mood.

Bramble City wasn’t far from Banyan City. Shu Chi took a sip of tea. “I feel sort of…”

Shu Qing very naturally finished the rest of the sentence: “Played with, right?”

She laughed out loud, raising her eyes to look at this blood sister. “In love, it’s give and take. Back when I was with…”

She paused. “Not Little Ju’s dad. The one before, when I was dating, it was like this. He tricked me too, said his family owned a factory. Turned out to be even poorer than ours.”

Shu Qing’s romantic experience was richer. Although her marriage to her ex-husband was a whirlwind, it didn’t mean she had no exes.

Shu Chi asked: “So you broke up?”

The Second Sister shook her head, laughing. “I tricked him too, saying my family ran a supermarket.”

Shu Chi let out a small laugh. The woman, who had put on a full face of makeup today to sign the store lease, said, “We were young then, just liked to play around. But the liking was quite real.”

After she spoke, she looked at this unfamiliar city, her tone tinged with a bit of regret. “But his family was too far away, up in the Northeast. Too cold.”

Shu Chi glanced at the sky. “Maybe it would have been better with him.”

Her Second Sister shook her head. “We’ve lost contact. But thinking back, it still gets me a little fired up.”

She didn’t have much education either, but compared to the eldest, she was much more boisterous. At this moment, she nudged Shu Chi’s foot with her own. “You’re different from me. Your life is better now; you’ve even been abroad. What’s there to be afraid of?”

Shu Chi felt Shu Qing hadn’t caught on. “The person I like is a woman.”

Shu Qing showed no strong reaction. Instead, she went on nudging Shu Chi’s leg. “A woman’s a woman. There aren’t many good men anyway.”

Her tone carried a hint of smugness. “Your sister has seen the world too. I’m not that narrow-​minded.”

Her face was a bit older than in her wedding photo. When she smiled, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes lifted. But the weariness was swept away. Getting divorced seemed to have brought her back to life.

Shu Qing said, “Our family hasn’t had it easy, starting with Mom and Dad. Look at Eldest Sister, also decades of chaos and quarrels.”

After speaking, she stretched out her hand and looked at her fingers. She had barely even worn her wedding ring.

A working person was afraid of dirtying it. In the end, she’d never had the right to wear it.

“When you’re not married, everyone asks why you’re not married yet. No one ever told me that married life wasn’t as good as I imagined.”

The water in the thermos was still very hot, sending up curling wisps of steam.

The weather in Banyan City was fine, not very cold. The Second Sister stamped her feet. “As long as you like her, it’s fine.”

“But sulking is normal too. That young lady has got you completely figured out.”

Shu Qing chuckled and asked, “How old is she?”

Shu Chi said, “Oh. Younger than me.”

Shu Qing asked again, “Have you ever thought about being with anyone else?”

Shu Chi shook her head.

Her bangs had grown a bit longer, slightly covering her eyebrows. Only when a cold wind blew as they walked back did her full face show.

That evening, Shu Qing asked again. After finishing her rice noodle roll, Shu Chi went home with her and asked, “Sis, I can’t bear to break up with her, but it still hurts. What do I do?”

Shu Qing was messaging her child on WeChat. Hearing Shu Chi’s question, she laughed out loud twice. “You want to play hard to get?”

Shu Chi didn’t even understand the phrase. But Shu Qing bumped into her. “Then just ignore her. Wait for her to come to you.”

Shu Chi thought: She contacts me every day. I just don’t know how to reply.

But she still couldn’t bear to block her.

Her Second Sister said, “Think about it again. What else do you want from her?”

Shu Chi went back and thought for a very long time.

The place Shu Qing rented was in an urban village. It wasn’t expensive, and it was on the top floor with a little courtyard outside.

After showering, Shu Chi opened a bottle of beer and stood outside drinking.

Messages kept coming in on her phone. Shu Chi glanced at it. Jing Yuqi had sent a video.

It was a video of Ding Ya slumped over the bar counter. Just then, someone approached her.

Jing Yuqi: Your little girlfriend asked me where you are. I told her you’re not in Bramble City.

Jing Yuqi: I told her you’re in Banyan City.

Jing Yuqi: That singer really seems to like her, you know. But she got rejected.

Another mischievous grinning emoji.

Jing Yuqi: Although I don’t know what happened, are you going to break up with her? The little sister looks a bit pitiful, oh.

Ding Ya was dizzy from the alcohol. She was slumped over the bar when Su Dinghun came over to find her, cheerfully calling out, “Sister.”

Ding Ya asked, “Where’s Shen Mu?”

Su Dinghun pointed with her chin. “Over there.”

Ding Ya looked. Shen Mu was sitting next to Jing Yuqi with a lecherous expression, saying who knows what.

The blonde singer with the choppy bangs let out a whoop and asked curiously, “Got your heart broken? Why do you look so awful?”

Ding Ya retorted, “Didn’t get my heart broken. And even if I did, I still wouldn’t be with you.”

The little resident singer wasn’t disappointed. She rubbed her nose and sighed. “Is my charm that low? Too bad. I wanted to take advantage of your vulnerability.”

She didn’t lower her voice, and Jing Yuqi, off to the side, heard it all.

Shen Mu, mid-sentence, twitched her mouth, thinking this character was a real oddball.

Ding Ya nudged Su Dinghun away and called out to Shen Mu. “Let’s go back.”

Shen Mu reluctantly looked at Jing Yuqi.

Su Dinghun waved. “I could take you home too. I have a car, Sister Ding Ya.”

Her voice was very pleasant to listen to, and the way she called out “Sister” had teasingly exaggerated inflections.

Ding Ya scoffed. “What kind of car? A ‘luxury car’ for Parking Wars?”

Su Dinghun didn’t get it. “Huh?”

Ding Ya was dizzy, her face flushed. Her eyelids were fighting each other, but she still didn’t forget to complain. “Generation gap. I told you, younger just doesn’t work.”

As a staunch defender of younger love interests in manga, Shen Mu protested, “Hey! Isn’t that a bit of an unfair generalization?”

Ding Ya: “Mind your own business.”

Her tongue was tied in knots. Jing Yuqi laughed. “Go on, get home safe.”

Shen Mu stumbled away, pulling Ding Ya with her.

Shen Mu kept looking back over her shoulder, trying to catch another glimpse of her beloved goddess, only to find that singer with the blonde see-through bangs now sitting beside Jing Yuqi, chatting.

The two even had a drink together.

Getting into the car, Shen Mu looked at Ding Ya slumped against her. She felt this scene was truly a once-​in-​a-​century spectacle.

The heartless, rational schemer buying herself drunk for love. She really must like her a lot.

After dropping Ding Ya off at home, Shen Mu, lacking all conscience, recorded a video of Ding Ya failing to unlock her own door, her laughter in the recording particularly outrageous.

“There’s no one home, why are you ringing the doorbell?”

Shen Mu asked the person who had forgotten her passcode.

Ding Ya: “The dog is home!”

Shen Mu laughed out loud. “How can a dog possibly open the door?”

Ding Ya: “Shu Chi can.”

Shen Mu fell silent for a moment. “She’s a human being.”

Ding Ya cast her a scornful glance. “What the hell do you know?”

In the night breeze, Shu Chi tilted her head back and took a swig of beer.

Listening to Ding Ya’s drunken, slurring words, she remembered when they had slept together, the other had also had moments of senseless babbling—

“Shu Chi is my dog.”

Shu Chi had asked why, back then.

Ding Ya had said, “She can protect me.”

Now, Shu Chi thought: Even when you own a dog, the owner has to risk everything at least once, right?

She finally understood what she wanted.

She wanted Ding Ya. And she also wanted Ding Ya to—

Come at her with everything.

For her.