“You finally came back.” Wang Yujun walked over and stood beside Shao Wu. “Mom’s been hoping you’d come back this whole time.”
“Then why…” Shao Wu hiccupped from crying and suddenly felt a little embarrassed. “Why couldn’t I get through when I called you or Dad?”
Wu Yan’s expression dimmed. She said quietly, “We got divorced.”
Shao Wu: “…Why?”
“All right, all right.” Wang Yujun tugged at Shao Wu’s sleeve. “Kids shouldn’t ask about grown-ups’ business.”
Shao Wu: “…”
“Mom.” Wang Yujun untied the plastic bag. “I didn’t get anything with chili oil. You can’t eat spicy food these few days. The clear broth is good too. I had a bowl myself.”
“All right, good boy.” Wu Yan reached for the bowl of chaoshou, but Wang Yujun immediately stopped her. “It’s a little hot. I’ll hold it.”
“Son.” Wu Yan lovingly stroked Shao Wu’s hair. “Have you eaten?”
“No…”
“Mom, you eat first,” Wang Yujun said. “I’ll take him out for food afterward.”
Shao Wu stared at Wang Yujun in confusion, almost wondering whether he had gone off and attended one of those “women’s virtue” classes Tang Heng had mentioned. They had not seen each other for years, but Wang Yujun had changed far too much. He seemed like a completely different person. The rebellious young man who had once kissed a man in a noodle shop was now standing here holding a bowl of chaoshou for their mother?
And why had he come back?
Shao Wu blew his nose and stayed quiet for the moment, waiting beside them. After their mother finished eating, Wang Yujun went into the bathroom, poured out the leftover broth, washed the food container clean, and said, “I’ll take Shao Wu out to get something to eat, Mom.”
“Go have hotpot.” Wu Yan took her wallet from the handbag on the table and pulled out five hundred yuan. “It’s too cold. Eat something hot. Here, Mom’s treating.”
Shao Wu suddenly remembered how Wu Yan used to press money into his hands when he was in university, telling him to go shopping for clothes when he returned to Chongqing or to treat his classmates to a meal. His nose stung again. He did not know what was wrong with him. He had thought he was calm the whole trip from Zhuhai back to Yongchuan. Now that he had seen Wu Yan and learned it had all been a false alarm, he kept wanting to cry instead.
“Mom, no need,” Shao Wu said. “I have money.”
“Oh? You’ve made big money out there, so now you’re being polite with your mother?”
“All right, all right, hotpot.” Wang Yujun hurriedly took the five hundred yuan. “Mom, do you want any fruit? We’ll bring some back.”
“Buy some strawberries.” Wu Yan smiled.
“Okay.” Wang Yujun patted Shao Wu. “Let’s go.”
Shao Wu followed Wang Yujun out of the hospital, his head still foggy and his voice carrying a trace of his crying. “Bro, why did Dad and Mom get divorced?”
“Think about it.” Wang Yujun sighed. He was no longer as solicitous as he had been in the hospital, his voice turning lazy. “We have the same mother but different fathers, and we’re both gay. What do you think your dad would assume?”
Shao Wu stopped walking. “I…” He truly had never thought of that.
But once Wang Yujun said it, he understood immediately. One woman had sons with two different men, and both sons were gay. What would Shao Wu’s father think? Naturally, he would assume the problem lay with Wu Yan.
Wang Yujun looked at Shao Wu and gave a bitter smile. “Good thing you only came out to the two of them and didn’t tell anyone else. Otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have stopped at divorce.”
It was nearly five. The sky had begun to darken. A gust of wind made Shao Wu shiver. This damp, cold wind was exactly the Yongchuan winter wind he knew so well. He rubbed his icy hands together and realized that even this wet cold felt overwhelmingly familiar and dear.
He had been gone a year and a half. Yongchuan now had high-speed rail. Bright-red lanterns hung from the roadside trees with the words “Happy New Year’s Day” printed on them. Shao Wu knew that before long, they would be replaced with “Happy Spring Festival.”
Spring Festival was coming again so soon.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness he had come back.
“Let’s buy you a coat first,” Wang Yujun said. “You’re not wearing enough.”
“Mm… okay.”
Maybe it was because they were related by blood. Even after not seeing Wang Yujun for years, Shao Wu did not feel awkward around him. It was almost as if they were children again, meeting during New Year while Wang Yujun took him out to play, clutching a box of snap-bangs and throwing them everywhere so they went crack-crack-crack. Shao Wu had been timid and afraid to play with them, so he simply followed behind Wang Yujun like a little tail.
The two entered a shopping mall. It was New Year’s Day, and everyone was out shopping or watching movies, packed shoulder to shoulder. Shao Wu bought a down jacket to get by, then Wang Yujun took him to a hotpot restaurant on the fifth floor. It was not even mealtime yet, but every table seemed full. The steaming scent of chili rushed into Shao Wu’s nose and made him wrinkle it. In an instant he felt ravenously hungry, as though his body had become an empty sack, as though he had not eaten once in the entire year and a half he had spent in Guangdong.
Luckily there were only two of them, and they found a table.
Wang Yujun handed Shao Wu the menu. “You order.”
“Mm.” Shao Wu barely needed to look. He told the server, “Crispy pork, brown-sugar glutinous rice cakes, ice jelly, fried dough twists, filefish, spicy beef, beef tripe, aorta…”
“Take it easy,” Wang Yujun warned. “The portions here are big. I already had a bowl of chaoshou.”
“Bro, don’t worry,” Shao Wu said quietly. “I can finish it.”
The dishes arrived one after another. Before the broth had even come to a boil, Shao Wu started eating the crispy pork and ice jelly. The pork was fried golden and crisp, with a pinch of bright-red chili powder scattered over it. The ice jelly was sweet and tart, with raisins, chopped hawthorn, white sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, brown-sugar syrup, and soft fermented glutinous rice.
Shao Wu alternated mouthfuls of crispy pork and ice jelly. His lip split open again, but he did not care.
“Slow down. There’s no rush.” Wang Yujun ordered a glass of sour-plum drink and sipped it lazily. “How did you know Mom was in the hospital?”
“My friend came to visit a relative and ran into her.” Shao Wu’s cheeks were stuffed with food, making his words a little muffled. “When was she admitted?”
“Almost a week ago, I think. Her period cramps got so bad she couldn’t stand it, so she came in for an ultrasound. The doctor said the fibroid had gotten too big and had to come out.”
“How big?”
“A little over six centimeters. This time they also found endometriosis. She discussed it with the doctor and decided to have the uterus removed altogether. Luckily they can do it minimally invasively.”
“Endometriosis.” Shao Wu had never heard of the condition before.
“It’s not a serious disease. It just tends to cause painful periods.”
Wang Yujun picked up two slices of beef tripe, swished them through the broth, then put them in Shao Wu’s bowl. “I didn’t expect you to leave too… She told me she felt you’d done all of that because of someone. Changing your university choice back then, and later not going to graduate school.”
Shao Wu lowered his eyes guiltily. He thought Wang Yujun had probably already guessed.
Sure enough, the next second Wang Yujun asked, “Was it because of that guy? The one who used to go to the internet café all the time? Yang something?”
Shao Wu gave a very quiet “Mm.”
Wang Yujun sighed. “You’re really something. So how are things between you now?”
“…He’s getting married next month.”
“…” Wang Yujun put down his chopsticks. He seemed to hold it in for several seconds, but still cursed. “What did I tell you back then? Don’t mess with straight guys, don’t mess with straight guys. You fucking refused to listen.”
At this point, Shao Wu had nothing to say. Wang Yujun was hardly the first person to scold him.
“Forget it. Go back and have a proper talk with Mom. After you left, she went to a psychologist and asked some questions about homosexuality. She’s accepted it a little more, I guess… I think she only went because she suspected something was wrong with her genes.”
His mother had actually taken the initiative to learn about homosexuality?
Because she suspected there was something wrong with her genes…
Shao Wu’s chest felt painfully swollen. He felt unbelievably fortunate and also terribly guilty toward his parents. It was only the instant he learned his mother was ill that a sudden urgency had surged through him. While he had been throwing himself wholeheartedly into loving Yang Shuyi, his parents had also been slowly growing old.
“I’ll talk to Mom properly,” Shao Wu said. “Bro, thank you.”
“Hey, don’t make that face.” Wang Yujun looked helpless. “I’m not lecturing you. My own life’s a mess too… Anyway, while Mom has surgery and recovers, the two of us will take good care of her.”
“Mm.”
At last Shao Wu’s frantic heart settled back into place. He and Wang Yujun talked while eating hotpot. Wang Yujun said he had spent these past years in Chengdu and done all kinds of jobs. Now he worked as a receptionist at an internet company. He had returned to Yongchuan this time to transfer his household registration, only to arrive just as their mother was about to undergo surgery.
After they finished eating, Wang Yujun went to pay. Shao Wu leaned tiredly back in his seat and took out his phone, planning to send his boss a WeChat message. Wang Yujun had said the hospital scheduled their mother’s surgery for the fourth, and she would need around ten days afterward before discharge, so Shao Wu would have to ask for half a month off.
Actually, Shao Wu wanted to resign outright.
He planned to find work in Chongqing. He did not want to leave again.
But almost as if heaven itself had arranged it, just as he took his phone in hand and before he could send the WeChat message, a call came in.
The hotpot restaurant was noisy. Shao Wu stared for several seconds, then declined the call.
But less than half a minute later, the caller stubbornly tried again.
Wang Yujun was still at the counter paying. Shao Wu had no choice but to answer. “Hello?”
“I received the card and money you had Longlong give me.” It was so quiet where Yang Shuyi was that his voice sounded unnaturally clear in Shao Wu’s ear.
Shao Wu said, “Good. I’m glad you got them.” Couldn’t he have said this on WeChat? Why did he have to make me hear his voice?
“Our wedding has been moved earlier, to January seventeenth.” Yang Shuyi paused, then asked in the same calm voice, “Can you come?”
Shao Wu stood and walked straight out of the hotpot restaurant. The entrance was crowded with people waiting for tables. He looked left and right, then had to hurry onward. He wanted to find somewhere with no one around, but at this hour the mall was somehow full of people every single place he looked.
With the phone pressed to his ear, Yang Shuyi said nothing and did not press him for an answer. Shao Wu even felt that Yang Shuyi was doing it deliberately, deliberately wanting to watch him make a fool of himself, because Yang Shuyi knew that any tiny thing he did was enough to leave Shao Wu in complete disarray.
Shao Wu stopped walking and stood beside a tall artificial flower arrangement, ignoring the three high-school students sitting nearby. He forced himself to stay calm. “January seventeenth?”
“Yes. January seventeenth.”
“Yang Shuyi, do you know I’m in Yongchuan right now?” Shao Wu said through clenched teeth. “But I don’t want to go. I don’t want to watch you marry someone else. Is that really so hard to understand?”
Yang Shuyi was silent.
“Do you think I still haven’t given up, so you need me to personally watch you get married? But whether I give up or not has nothing to do with you, Yang Shuyi. Really. Don’t worry. I know I’m never going to be with you in this lifetime. I know that already.”
The three high-school students had gone quiet and were secretly glancing at Shao Wu.
But Yang Shuyi asked, “Why did you come back to Yongchuan?”
“My mom’s having surgery. Once it’s done, I’ll go back to Zhuhai.” Shao Wu had to lie. He thought that in the end he was still pathetic. Forget watching Yang Shuyi marry someone else. Even answering his phone call could reduce him to this.
“Where are you now? People’s Hospital?”
“I sincerely wish you two a successful wedding. Really. I just won’t come add to the crowd…”
But Yang Shuyi hung up directly.
Shao Wu was about to call him back when Wang Yujun walked toward him holding a small teddy-bear plush. “Free gift for spending over three hundred.”
“…Mm.” Shao Wu put his phone back in his pocket. “Then let’s go. Didn’t Mom want strawberries?”
“There’s a supermarket on basement level one. You can see if you’re missing anything and buy it while we’re there.” Wang Yujun stuffed the plush into Shao Wu’s hands. “Go home and rest tonight. I’ll stay at the hospital.”
Shao Wu clutched the furry plush and nodded uneasily.
The supermarket was just as packed. Only after hearing the announcement did they learn there was a New Year’s Day promotion, fifteen yuan off every hundred spent. The two of them were trapped in a long checkout line.
Shao Wu had no idea why Yang Shuyi was so determined to make him attend the wedding, nor did he understand why the wedding had been moved earlier. He had heard of weddings being postponed. Who moved a wedding forward?
“Hello, Mom.” Wang Yujun answered his phone. “Yeah, we’re still in the supermarket. It’s packed… His classmate?”
Shao Wu whipped his head toward Wang Yujun.
“Okay, okay, we’ll hurry… Right, okay…”
Wang Yujun ended the call and gave Shao Wu a meaningful look.
“That classmate of yours surnamed Yang is at the hospital visiting Mom.”