Eight o’clock!
The morning ferry to the island departs at 8:30, and time was running short.
Lin Zhilan quickly changed her clothes, but Su Lang was nowhere to be seen.
On the dining table were boiled corn and rice porridge, with a note pressed beside them.
Lin Zhilan picked it up—the handwriting was unmistakably his.
“I’ve gone to pick up the kids. Remember to eat breakfast. You can go back to sleep afterward if you like.”
A soft smile spread across Lin Zhilan’s face as she calmly began to eat.
This time, Chen Dongfeng was the one bringing the children back. Su Lang had wanted to invite him to stay on the island for a few days, but Chen Dongfeng couldn’t take too much time off from work and had to return the same day.
So Su Lang treated him to a meal at the state-run Yangcheng restaurant before seeing him off.
Just before leaving, Chen Dongfeng sighed. “Tell my sister I and Miao Yue really want to visit her, but we just don’t have the time. Please make sure she doesn’t hold it against us.”
“Of course not,” Su Lang smiled. “Once your sister and I retire, we’ll go back to visit our godparents.”
Chen Dongfeng smiled back in agreement, said goodbye to the kids, and turned toward the train station.
The children were already eager to get home.
Su Li, flustered, tugged at Su Lang. “Where’s Mom? Why didn’t Mom come to pick me up?”
Su Lang laughed. “Who do you think you are—the big shot that needs your mom’s personal welcome?”
“I’m the third son!”
Su Lang lightly tapped the youngest’s head. “Mom’s waiting at home for you. She said she’s making a big feast.”
Hearing this, Su Li let out a cheer.
Su Lang looked at his daughter and his nephew. “How was it? Did you have fun in Zhouxin County?”
Linlin replied with a sweet smile. “It was fun, but we missed Mom and Dad so much.”
Su Lang’s lips curled upward. “Mom and Dad missed you too. Next time, we’ll all go out together.”
He exchanged a glance with Jiang Chengzhou.
Jiang Chengzhou nodded at his uncle.
Only then did Su Lang feel reassured.
It seemed nothing went wrong in Zhouxin County—at least nothing that affected Linlin’s spirits.
Su Lang caught the last ferry back to the island with the children.
The setting sun hung heavily over the sea, its gold-flecked light stretching across the sky and water. The ferry trailed a long white wake as it carried them to the familiar dock.
The moment they reached the alley, Su Li was already shouting, “Mom! We’re home!”
Hearing his voice, Lin Zhilan hurried out of the house.
“Mom!” Su Li bolted like a little cannonball and hugged her waist.
Linlin ran over too and wrapped her arms around Lin Zhilan’s other side. The two pressed their little faces against her, rubbing back and forth in a sweet display of affection.
Lin Zhilan was pinned in place by the two children. She stroked Linlin’s cheek with one hand and gently squeezed Su Li’s arm with the other, asking repeatedly, “Was Zhouxin County fun? Did you eat well?”
She wanted to say something like the old folks—“Oh, you’ve lost weight”—but seeing Su Li’s rounder face, she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Linlin, in the middle of a growth spurt, hadn’t gained weight, but her complexion was rosy and her eyes sparkled. She was full of energy.
The two little ones chattered endlessly around Lin Zhilan, as if making up for all the days they hadn’t talked.
After she’d soothed them, Lin Zhilan’s gaze fell on Jiang Chengzhou, who was walking up to her.
It had been over a month since she’d seen him. For a moment, Lin Zhilan felt a strange sense of déjà vu—as if she were looking at a young Su Lang stepping out of an old memory.
“Auntie!” Jiang Chengzhou grinned and gave her a hug. “Don’t recognize me?”
“Hmm, I honestly didn’t for a second,” Lin Zhilan said with a laugh. “I was just thinking—who is this handsome young man?”
Jiang Chengzhou’s ears turned slightly red at the compliment. He raised a hand to his mouth and coughed lightly, a gesture so much like Su Lang that it struck her again how alike uncle and nephew were.
“We’re having barbecue tonight,” Lin Zhilan said. “I got your uncle to set up a grill. There’s water in the courtyard heated in the sun all day. You kids go wash up quickly, and then we’ll enjoy a nice meal.”
It was midsummer, and the children had only been able to wipe their hands and feet with water on the train. They’d been itching for a proper wash.
Su Lang set up a curtain in the yard so the boys could bathe outside.
Lin Zhilan took her daughter inside the bathroom.
Linlin sat obediently on a small wooden stool, tilting her head back to let her mother wash her hair.
As Lin Zhilan massaged the shampoo into her daughter’s hair and gently pressed the acupressure points on her scalp, Linlin closed her eyes in contentment.
By the time she finished rinsing out Linlin’s hair, Lin Zhilan’s own clothes were soaked.
Linlin patted the bathtub. “Mama, come in too. You haven’t bathed with me in so long.”
When Linlin was younger, mother and daughter had often bathed together.
Lin Zhilan couldn’t refuse her. Thinking she was already wet anyway, she stripped off her clothes and stepped in to wash, too.
The bathroom was filled with steam. Linlin stared at her mother, her cheeks flushing. “Mama, are you a fairy?”
Lin Zhilan gently pinched her cheek. “Our baby is the little fairy.”
Linlin shook her head. “No, you are. My mom is the most beautiful person in the whole world.”
Lin Zhilan picked up a towel to dry her back, unable to keep from laughing. “You’ve been away, and now your words are even sweeter.”
Linlin basked in her mother’s affection, then suddenly remembered something. “Mama, do you know a girl named Zhou Yue?”
Lin Zhilan’s hand paused in the middle of wiping her back before resuming its motion, though her voice stayed calm. “Zhou Yue? Did you make a new friend in Zhouxin County?”
Linlin shook her head. “No, but it seemed like she knew me. The first time she saw me, she called me Zhou Lin, and she even knew your name and elder brother’s name.”
She paused, then added, “She even knew Gu Zhiyuan from our class.”
“What did you talk about with her?”
“I didn’t talk much with her, but elder brother spoke with her for a while. He didn’t tell me what about.”
Lin Zhilan stopped moving. She looked down at the crown of her daughter’s head, countless thoughts surging through her mind.
Drops of water fell from her hand, sending up tiny ripples.
She suddenly remembered the second call Jiang Chengzhou had made. It must have been connected to this Zhou Yue.
“Mama?” Linlin glanced back, sensing her mother’s silence, her eyes full of confusion.
Lin Zhilan cursed the fates under her breath, then gently turned Linlin’s head forward. “It’s okay, Mama just remembered who Zhou Yue is.”
“Hmm?” Linlin turned around, curious.
So Lin Zhilan recounted Zhou Jianjun and Song Fang’s story, along with the grudge between the families.
“This all belongs to the generation before you. It has nothing to do with you kids,” she said. “You won’t have much to do with them going forward, honey. No need to dwell on it.”
Linlin nodded thoughtfully, then closed her eyes, perfectly docile as she let her mother take care of her.
Lin Zhilan gazed at her daughter’s fair little face and long, curling eyelashes. The storm of emotions inside her slowly began to settle.
