“Who’s talking bad about me? I heard that,”
a short, plump woman walked in, wearing a deep blue Xiangyunsha silk dress with a white lotus flower at the waist—it was Shen Haoming’s mother, Yu Lan.
The short-haired woman said,
“Your son—he said you’re a very unpredictable woman.”
Yu Lan laughed and said to the boy,
“Sweetie, didn’t you say yesterday that I don’t even need to open my mouth, and you know what I’m going to say?”
The boy said,
“I know what you’re going to say, but I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
The woman with arched, thin eyebrows said,
“Your son is a philosopher.”
The boy looked up at Yu Lan and asked,
“Can I have Sister Xu Yan come play with me?”
Yu Lan said,
“Sure.”
She walked over to Xu Yan with a smiling face, saying,
“I didn’t even notice you’d arrived.”
Xu Yan smiled faintly and said,
“I bought some desserts—we can have them after dinner.”
“Wonderful,”
Yu Lan said,
“Then I won’t have Da Li go buy any more.”
In her mind, Xu Yan quickly calculated: four cupcakes—if she didn’t eat one, the four women could each have one.
She followed Shen Haochen to the backyard.
There were clusters of artificial rockeries and a pavilion, with a small frozen pond in front.
Shen Haochen asked,
“Do you think Bailey could ice skate on it?”
Xu Yan said,
“No, it would fall through. Let’s play something else—I’ll help you build with Legos.”
Shen Haochen shook his head.
“I want to keep Bailey company; it’s too lonely.”
Xu Yan said,
“It’s got a cold and needs to rest.”
Shen Haochen said,
“It’s all Mom’s fault—she insists on making it sleep in the greenhouse.”
Xu Yan asked,
“Why not let it come inside the house?”
Shen Haochen said,
“Mom says we don’t know its temperament yet—we need to observe it for a while. When Sister Huihui first came, she wouldn’t let her eat with us either, saying her breath smelled bad and she might have a stomach issue.”
Through this boy, Xu Yan learned quite a bit about their family.
Including how, right after Shen Haoming started dating her, Yu Lan had introduced him to the daughter of a bank president.
Maybe they even met—she’d never asked Shen Haoming.
In the future, there would probably be daughters of lawyers, daughters of doctors; she clearly wasn’t the ideal daughter-in-law, though they hadn’t openly opposed it.
Once, Shen Haochen had said,
“My mom says it doesn’t matter what girl Brother brings home—dating isn’t serious.”
Xu Yan believed Shen Haochen wasn’t stupid enough not to know these words shouldn’t be said to her; he did it on purpose, to make her feel bad.
He would also tell the nanny Xiao Hui what his mother said about her, then stand outside the door listening to Xiao Hui cry quietly in her room.
What kind of hobby was this? Xu Yan didn’t know. In Shen Haoming’s words, his little brother was a child with a dark heart.
They were eighteen years apart; when Shen Haochen was sucking on a pacifier, Shen Haoming was already tying a bow tie to attend charity galas with their father.
He didn’t have much affection for his brother—at first, he even forgot to mention him to Xu Yan.
Later, he brought him up casually once, and Xu Yan asked in surprise,
“Why?”
“Why what?”
Shen Haoming asked.
Xu Yan said,
“Why were they allowed two children?”
Shen Haoming said,
“Oh, my parents both became Canadian citizens. But even without that, they could just pay a fine.”
Shen Haoming pushed the door open and came out, saying to Xu Yan,
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
He swatted Shen Haochen’s behind twice.
“Stop clinging to people all the time—can’t you play by yourself for a bit?”
Shen Haochen pleaded,
“Can we go out for ice cream later?”
Shen Haoming ignored him and pulled Xu Yan away.
Shen Haoming’s father, Shen Jinsong, was sitting on the sofa in the side hall with a few male guests.
Shen Haoming led Xu Yan over and introduced her to two guests she hadn’t met before.
His father said,
“Haoming, bring your Uncle Li a cigar.”
As they left the room, Shen Haoming muttered,
“How does he have the nerve to show up?”
“Who?”
Xu Yan asked.
Shen Haoming said,
“That guy in the baseball cap—he’s screwed over all his friends in business; no one associates with him anymore.”
When Shen Haoming headed back to the side hall, Xu Yan held him back and said,
“Smile.”
Shen Haoming frowned.
“What for?”
Xu Yan said,
“Your anger is written all over your face—it won’t look good if the other guests see it.”
Shen Haoming forced a smile.
Xu Yan gave him one in return.
“Go on in—I’ll go ask your mom if there’s anything I can help with over there.”
Xu Yan returned to the main living room and discovered that two more female guests had arrived.
The cupcakes wouldn’t be enough to go around, and she stared uneasily at the white box on the table.
Dinner was served, and Yu Lan said to her,
“Let’s go sit down.”
This kind of family banquet was a Shen family tradition, happening once or twice every week.
The guests knew each other well and didn’t feel constrained.
Xu Yan glanced around and asked Shen Haoming in a low voice,
“Uncle Gao isn’t here?”
Shen Haoming said,
“He has a meeting—he’ll come later.”
The woman draped in the shawl asked,
“Where’s Haochen?”
Yu Lan said,
“He’s eating with the nanny. That child chatters on and on—the adults can’t even have a proper conversation.”
The man in the baseball cap sat next to the women, maintaining his silence the whole time; whenever the dish of peanuts rotated to him, he’d pick up one.
“Is your antique shop still open?”
the woman beside him asked.
“No,”
he replied, pausing for a few seconds before adding,
“But I’m planning to reopen it.”
The woman asked,
“Still in the same location?”
“Ah, yes,”
he said.
One of the male guests smiled.
“Are you sure? They’ve built new buildings in that area—the rent’s gone up four or five times.”
Everyone turned to look at the man in the baseball cap, and the room fell quiet for a moment.
Xu Yan felt that the share of awkwardness she bore was greater than the others’.
She understood the man in the baseball cap—he must desperately crave success, but his luck had just been poor.
Halfway through the meal, Uncle Gao arrived.
Xu Yan wasn’t entirely clear on what Uncle Gao actually did for work; she only knew he wielded great power and had smoothed over plenty of troubles for people.
The man in the baseball cap suddenly perked up, keeping his eyes on Uncle Gao, listening as he spoke to those around him.
When they laughed, he laughed along.
After dinner, everyone moved to the side hall for tea.
Shen Jinsong and Uncle Gao went into another room, and the man with the baseball cap followed them in.
Shen Haoming said to Xu Yan,
“He’s definitely got something he needs Uncle Gao’s help with.”
Xu Yan asked,
“Will he help?”
Shen Haoming said,
“Who knows? Want to go catch a movie?”
Xu Yan said,
“If we leave early, your mom will be unhappy.”
Shen Haoming said,
“Who cares about her?”
Xu Yan smiled faintly.
“You can not care—I can’t.”
She pulled Shen Haoming into the living room, where the women were sitting and chatting.
Shen Haoming heard they were all talking about clothes and bags, so he said,
“I think I’ll head over to the men’s side.”
Xu Yan sat beside Yu Lan for a while and noticed there weren’t enough fruit forks on the table, so she got up to fetch some.
“Have Pepe open the sweet wine,”
Yu Lan said from behind her.
As she passed through the corridor, she saw that Shen Jinsong and the others were still in that room, seemingly discussing something about houses.
She came out of the kitchen with the forks and heard strange sounds coming from the nearby room—like dry heaving, accompanied by faint, shrill whimpers.
She knocked twice and pushed the door open.
It was Shen Haochen, lying flat on his back on the floor, crying.
The room had been unused for a long time, vast and empty, with only a bookcase standing against the wall.
She crouched down and said,
“You really know how to pick your spots.”
Shen Haochen ignored her, closing his eyes and continuing to cry.
Xu Yan asked,
“All because he didn’t take you out for ice cream?”
Shen Haochen wiped his tears and said,
“I’m used to it by now.”
Xu Yan asked,
“Why not invite your friends over to play?”
Shen Haochen said,
“If you were constantly changing schools, would you have any friends left?”
He shook his head.
“No one in this house really cares about me.”
Xu Yan said,
“Don’t have expectations of others—you need to make yourself strong.”
Shen Haochen twisted his mouth.
“I’m still a child.”
Xu Yan said,
“So what if you’re a child?”
Shen Haochen pleaded,
“Can you let me be alone for a bit? I don’t want to go back to my room—Sister Huihui is like a parrot, chattering nonstop.”
Xu Yan closed the door to the room.
She truly hadn’t considered that Shen Haochen might have any suffering.
Born into a family like this—shouldn’t he be laughing out loud even in his dreams?
But now it seemed he might be an extraneous child too.
His parents had wanted him merely to embellish their lives; in truth, they no longer had the patience to raise another one all over again.
Yu Lan couldn’t give up her ladies’ gatherings and trips; Shen Jinsong couldn’t abandon his golf and social obligations.
Shen Haochen was always with the nannies—one after another.
The ones he liked, his mother didn’t; the ones his mother liked, he didn’t.
