Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Back in the bedroom, I hauled Li Muzhou up from the bed. Fearing I might wake my parents-in-law, I kept my voice low. “You and Teacher Shen peeled an apple and made a wish today, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you wish for?”

“For our baby to be born safely, of course!” Li Muzhou pulled me into his arms and gently stroked my belly. “Don’t worry, honey, I made the wish in secret.”

I was only a month and a half pregnant. Because of a previous miscarriage, we wanted to wait until the three-month mark when things were stable before telling the family.

“And the apple peel?”

“I ate it.”

“You-you!” My mind filled with images of him and my mother-in-law sharing the apple peel in some bizarre, intimate display.

“It’s fine, really! Sister Yumei washed it very thoroughly. Besides, you have to eat the peel for the wish to come true.”

“You’re not allowed to call her Sister Yumei anymore. You have to call her ‘Mom.'”

“It’s all the same, isn’t it?”

“Of course it’s not the same.”

I pondered how to phrase my concerns.

In matters like this, the worst thing you can do is make accusations based on shadows. The closer you are to someone, the harder it is to ask certain questions. It’s like asking a roommate if they took the hundred dollars you lost; once you open your mouth, the friendship is effectively over.

I broke free from his embrace, sat up straight, and put on the serious face I used for editorial meetings at work.

“Right now, what is the biggest gap in early childhood education? It’s education regarding life, death, sex, and ethics.”

“Exactly!” As soon as the topic turned to this, he sat up cross-legged and pulled the duvet around his shoulders.

We were like-minded when it came to early childhood education; it was our shared ideals that had attracted us to each other in the first place.

“Think about it. Once the baby is born, if you call her Sister Yumei and I call her Teacher Shen, what is the baby going to call her? A child’s sense of ethics and family roles needs to be established from a young age.”

“That makes sense.”

“Then start using the proper title tomorrow, okay?”

“At your command, my Great Editor!” Li Muzhou gripped the corners of the duvet and threw his arms wide. “But we can’t just focus on our careers in the middle of the night. Let’s research something else.”

He pulled me under the covers, his nose gently grazing my earlobe. “I’ve been researching some new techniques lately. They won’t hurt the baby.”

As his mouth drew closer, I caught a faint scent of apples.

A wave of nausea hit me out of nowhere. I ran to the bathroom and dry-heaved for a while before grabbing a spare blanket to sleep in the study.

“Honey, are you leaving me?”

“You smell like apple peels. It’s making me sick.”

“I’ll change my apple-flavored toothpaste first thing tomorrow!”