Still on Sunday morning, there is a bright and clear sky scenery in Park, a perfect place where a lot of people spend their time there too. One of those people, there is a man wearing a hoodie with his hood up, listening to music through his earphones, and his body covered with sweat from his morning jogging. None other, that person is Enlai. Seems like he has been jogging for a while because right now his breath becomes a bit unsteady. He heads toward the nearest bench that caught his sight to rest for a little bit and drinks his energy before going back home.
Not long after he stays there for a while, enjoying the park view, Enlai recognises someone from a far distance on the same road that looks familiar to him. A female. She wears casual clothes, not suitable for exercising, meaning that she comes to this park only to enjoy this relaxing atmosphere. He squints his eyes in order to get a better sight and to make sure what he caught is correct. Fortunately, that woman walks toward Enlai’s direction so he doesn’t need to stand up and follow her from behind. It turns out, he is right. That person is familiar to him because she is one of the objects he has been investigating, the third child of Bèi’s family, Liao Bèi.
Such a rare view if it’s according to what he hears from people around in Lijiang, especially in their residential area. Liao Bèi, who is married to a strict husband and barely gets a chance to go outside, can walk around in the Park alone even without her kids around. There is a grocery bag hanging on her right shoulder which Enlai concludes that she probably just went shopping somewhere nearby for her family. Enlai doesn’t want to look like he is a stalker or some weirdos who keeps looking and watching her from afar. However, he still wants to know how come on Sunday morning, where most likely her husband must be at home right now, but she can wander around freely like this. A snowball’s chance in hell.
How lucky Enlai can be, from all of the benches that are empty in this park, Liao sits on the bench that is only a few steps away from him. Moreover, aside from how many people are around and their distance, he is still able to hear Liao’s voice even if it's just slightly unclear. Sometimes Enlai glances at her and catches that she seems to be fond of something that is going on her phone. To be more precise, she is texting with a certain someone with that wide smile on her and giggles frequently. The texting lasts for a few minutes until she brings her phone close to her ear.
“Hello?” Liao greets with a bright smile but she looks like trying to endure and cover her happiness to answer the phone. Who could this person be to make such a gloomy person like Liao be this happy this early in the morning? Is it Quan?
“Yes, I’m already here, Jagi~” Another reply from Liao with such a playful voice tone which automatically makes Enlai’s eyebrows furrow and glances at her for a second. That sounds completely odd and the opposite from what he heard from the rumors around. What goes around is that she doesn’t have a quite harmonious relationship with her husband because he is just too strict with the family. However, what caught his attention more is what she just called that other person. Why would she speak like Korean lovebirds?
While Enlai is busy with his mind, suddenly Liao gets up from her seat and thankfully Enlai can get back on track quickly. He waits for at least a few seconds before tailing her in order not to make such an ambiguous movement in public. Based on what he heard from Liao’s short conversation earlier, it seems like she is planning to meet someone in this park. Hence, there is no need for him to get closer.
After walking for a bit, Liao puts her phone back into her pouch and there is an ear-to-ear smile on her face. Enlai looks a little bit in front of her direction, trying to predict who that mysterious person is. However what he found out is that a car with white on black plate parked at the side of the road. That plate means the car is owned by a foreigner. Obviously this is such a surprising discovery that makes Enlai even more curious, wanting to dig more about it. When he is about to take a picture of the plate, a phone notification suddenly pops up. It’s a call coming from Dwei which automatically closes his camera application. At the same time, there is no way he is going to reject a call from his boss, right? What a luck.
“Good morning, Mr. Dwei.” Enlai greets once he picks up the phone.
“Hey, are you busy today? Got any plans?” Dwei asks and it seems like he is currently in his best mood. Nothing’s better than Sunday morning where no one needs to think about work, right? Before answering that, Enlai glances at the car that Liao just got in. As expected, it drives away once she gets in and now he can no longer see its plate because it gets covered by another car.
“No, sir. What may I assist you with today?” Enlai answers, then goes to another direction where he parked his own car. Getting himself ready for today Dwei’s orders.
**Back to Niu’s house**
“Alright, Kids! Time to go!” Niu shouts from downstairs to call Heng and Jieru. Then soon after, people on the first floor can hear the loud footsteps from the upper floor heading toward the stairs.
“Coming!” The two of them shout with the same volume excitedly while running down the stairs.
“Careful! Careful!” Niu warns them. Not in the intimidating or irritating ones, her voice is always soft toward them. Like most parents, she is just worried if one of them gets hurt because it seems like they are having a race of who gets down first.
“I win!” Jieru exclaims once she jumps on Niu from aside to hug her which actually caught Niu off guard and almost lost her balance. Thankfully, Jieru’s weight is still the average of a 10 year old kid. If she keeps doing this as both of them are getting older in the future, there might be another problem.
“Agghh peanut!” Heng whines and acts dramatically, feeling defeat from his own younger sister.
“Weekkk!” Jieru looks at Heng and stretches out her tongue to mock him. Getting taunted by his sister, it only makes Heng go forward to counterattack her action, to be more precise tickling her. Knowing that, Jieru quickly hides behind Niu and now both of them are now circling around Niu as Heng keeps trying to catch his sister. Shoi-ming as the oldest sibling quickly gets into action to hold Heng’s body in order to stop him running around to catch his sister. Once his body gets held by Shoi-ming, he stops his motion right away.
“Hey, hey! Stop!” Shoi-ming says slightly, raising his voice. He is not irritated at all though, there is a big smile on his face. Probably he also finds this situation funny.
“Hehe…” When Jieru is no longer getting chased, she raises her head to look at Niu with that sweetest wide smile until her eyes are almost completely closed. Niu’s heart just gets attacked by a pure cuteness as she just melts deeply into it.
Seeing her children always acting childish with one another, it totally makes the atmosphere in the house more lively. Shoi-ming is the oldest and the one who separates them while Heng and Jieru who always play around together lovingly. This is what Niu is looking for. This is what she missed. This lively and lovely situation from her children. Even without the presence of the head of this family here, Niu already can't be grateful enough.
“Alright! Packs your bags boys and girl. We’ll head out now!” Niu shouts energetically to express her excitement.
“Let’s go!!” Obviously she gets the exact same energy as hers, actually it’s more because multiplied with three people. Her children immediately run toward the car that is already parked outside the garage with their belongings in their hands. Even without Niu asking for help, they are already willing to give a hand for bringing it, such a pure soul.
“Alright. Please take care of the house while we’re gone, Qiu.” Niu says toward the housemaid after she is done cross checking all of the required items.
“With pleasure, ma’am.” Qiu replies with a smile on her face and bows a little bit to bid goodbye to them. With that being said, they are off to one of the fishing spots where it’s always been their favorite place. It’s quiet, not many people there, just perfect for relaxing and chilling to spend their time together. Once again, when they arrive there, all of her children quickly run to the back of the car and take out some of the belongings as if they already planned out who is going to bring which one. And at the end, there are only a few things left behind and all of it is light weighted.
“Let’s go, Mom!” Heng shouts to call Niu and Shoi-ming who are left behind because he and Jieru already run off toward their best spot. Hearing that, Niu chuckles and quickly takes out the left items.
“Coming~” She answers softly. When she is about to close the trunk, she doesn’t notice that her oldest kid is still right behind her.
“Careful, Mom.” Shoi-ming says as his right hand is already on top of his mother’s head, protecting her from being bumped by the trunk. Niu doesn’t say anything, instead she is just amazed by how much her children have grown up to be like this. When did they learn to be so gentle?
“Alright. That should be all, right?” Shoi-ming’s words just snap Niu out of her astonishment toward the children.
“Oh, yeah. That’s all.” Niu answers then Shoi-ming closes the trunk right away.
“Good.” Another surprising action Shoi-ming does after closing the trunk and picking up all of his items is lending his arm for Niu.
“Let’s go, Mom. Heng and Jieru are already waiting there.” He says with that warm smile on his face while waiting for Niu to hold him. Seriously, just how fast does the time march by?
“Just who am I talking with right now?” Niu replies jokingly as she links her hand with Shoi-ming’s.
“Hmm… not sure… maybe not so little sunshine anymore?” Of course, Shoi-ming always has the idea to answer Niu’s jokes around them which makes her giggle. They take some time to walk slowly as they have a small chit chat together until they reach their usual spot. Again, Heng and Jieru are almost done unpacking the loads and setting up the place for all of them. How come these two settle up so fast? Or does Shoi-ming purposely slowly walk with her so there will be more time for them? Whichever it is, it is proven already that their teamwork is just on another level.
“Welcome!” Heng and Jieru greet them as soon as they arrive. Another heartwarming emotion just hits Niu differently about how badly she missed these moments. They sit there for a bit, chit chatting and eating snacks, while enjoying the cold breeze circling around them. After that, still the same as before, Heng and Jieru are the one who go off first to get to their fishing spots. As Shoi-ming always wants to stay beside her mother like a newly born baby bird. Simply said, he just wants to spend all of his time around her.
Minutes after minutes, an hour passes by quickly but none of them are bored from this simple activity. Instead, they are all still fired up as the passion inside their heart is still burning. Their eyes look sharp as if there is a flame that flaring while looking at their opponents. Meanwhile Niu just finds this as another amusing moment spent with her children because she is not taking a part of it.
“Yahoo! Something on it!” Jieru exclaims excitedly as she gets into her position to pull her jackpot which takes the other three attention in an instant.
However, something looks wrong as Jieru seems to be struggling because it feels like instead of a fish, it's a shark just biting it. The fish movement is so fast and aggressive that Jieru gets into trouble following its flow. Realizing that, Niu quickly stands up from her seat but the person who sits beside her goes there first. Shoi-ming runs toward his sister's place and immediately helps to take control of her fishing rod. He doesn’t take full control of it because he wants Jieru to still feel the adrenaline and learn something from it. On the other hand, Niu, who witnessed this action from her first child, gets struck with another fascinating side of him.
After a while keeping the pace, repeating and following how the fish react, it finally slows down and doesn't fight back as much as before. This is what Shoi-ming is looking for as he looks at Jieru’s fishing rod condition and how long the strings are. Just right on the spot. Hence, he uses this chance to pull out the fish with all of his remaining energy left. As expected, that giant looking fish comes out, then Shoi-ming quickly steps back and turns his body to the side in order to make its whole body come out to the dry place, makes it vulnerable.
“Wippiiieee!!” Jieru cheers happily and her eyes shine with sparkles by seeing how huge her catch is. Meanwhile the one who helps her just now, seems to be exhausted because in the middle of the battle, Shoi-ming takes over full control of her fishing rod. Of course, he needs to do that since he is worried that Jieru might be unable to bear with her opponent. However, the one who gets helped seems to be more cocky as she smirks toward the other side where someone has been watching them with jealousy eyes, the other rival.
“Your spot seems to be getting dry, Gege Heng~” Jieru teases her second brother who seems not getting anything for the past ten minutes. Obviously the person, who gets mocked, glares at her but he doesn’t move a bit. Instead, he shows his smug face like he is underestimating Jieru.
“Heh, you won’t get that if Gege Shoi-ming doesn’t help you. That’s supposed to be Gege’s fish, not yours.” Heng returns her mocking which gives slightly red color on Jieru’s face.
“I just needed a lil help, okay?! I can do that but Gege Shoi-ming didn’t let me do the rest!” Jieru tries to deny it with her childish voice. From the way she acts, it only makes Heng chuckle and Shoi-ming shakes his head lightly with a smile on his face while taking off the hook from the fish’s mouth.
“Pfftt… Even the fish is much bigger than you. Be grateful that the fish doesn’t eat you up!” Another counterattack from Heng and now it’s his turn to stretch out his tongue. Now Jieru’s face is just as red as tomato as she rushes toward Heng’s spot.
“I’M NOT THAT SMALL!!” She yells irritatedly while running and Heng quickly takes out his hook from the fish pond to run away from a kitten attack.
“Weeekkkk! You can’t even catch me with those tiny hands!” Heng mocks her once again. When Jieru is close enough to hold him, he quickly dodges and runs away as fast as possible, trying to have some distance between them.
“COMEBACK HERE!!!” Jieru keeps trying to catch her brother as now they are running around the fish pond which makes the other two giggle just by seeing them. After taking off the hook from the fish’s mouth, Shoi-ming walks back to his previous spot where Niu is sitting.
“Please be careful!” Niu shouts from the side and doesn’t notice that her oldest child is already standing right beside her.
“Good work out there~” Niu praises him and pats the empty space beside her, telling him to sit down.
“Always on duty, ma’am.” Shoi-ming replies jokingly with a salutation like a policeman giving his report to the chief. Just a single gesture never fails to make her giggle.
“I’m going to the restroom for a bit.” Shoi-ming says. Niu looks toward the other two first, it seems like they are just playing around together, tickling one another as punishment. No longer running around on slippery platforms, it should be safe to leave them alone for a few minutes.
“I’m coming too.” Niu says when Shoi-ming is already halfway as she quickly catches him up.
Now they are at the restroom area, Shoi-ming gets out first as he waits for his mother outside while sitting on the bench right in front of the restroom. Closing his eyes and letting his body completely feel this pleasant ambience running down the place. Not long after the wait, Niu comes out while whipping off her hands with tissue.
“Sorry for the wait. Let’s hea–” Niu’s words get cut off when she raises her head. Instead of looking at Shoi-ming’s face, her eyes catch the person who is far behind him.
Seeing that, Shoi-ming raises one of his eyebrows in confusion then turns his head to follow where Niu’s eyes are staring at. Their eyes drop at the exact same spot, toward a certain someone who is walking with linked hands. None other that person is Liao Bèi who has been rumored to have another affair. Now it seems like it’s no longer just a rumor since they already see it with their own eyes.
“Mom… is that…?” Shoi-ming turns his head to look at her mother but what he is seeing is more shocking than discovering the truth behind that rumor. Her eyes look blank as if she stares into a void and somehow her tears are flowing nonstop without her notice as well. There is a slight gap between her lips, no words come out, and her breath just seems to be stopped. Terrified is not the right word because her eyes just show an emptiness as her body is also not shaking at all, just standing still like a stone.
“Mom?” Shoi-ming calls her softly as he quickly approaches Niu and gently reaches her hand. Just like waking up a person, her body startles from the touch up and Niu blinks her eyes for a few times until she realizes her face is drenched with tears.
“Huh? Oh. Sorry, Shoi-ming…” Those are the words that can come out from Niu while whipping up her tears. Meanwhile Shoi-ming just stands right beside her, giving gentle rubs at her back, without saying anything.
At this moment, Shoi-ming doesn’t have a slight idea about what’s going on inside her mother’s mind but he might be sure about one thing. The feeling of getting cheated, betrayed, and trashed by your partner. The one who you vow to live with until the last breath turns out to be just a formality of life. No one can relate or understand how hurtful such a position is unless they stand on the exact same stone. Seems like there will be someone who is going to get on Niu’s side.
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