Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lost in pain and uncertainty, I got a call from home and only then remembered it had been ages since I’d called my parents.

Apologetically, I said, “I’ve been busy lately and forgot to call you.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. The two of us are doing just fine at home.”

“Here’s the thing. Your mom and I were thinking of going to Beijing to see you in a couple of days. Would that be okay?”

My dad’s careful, tentative tone made my nose sting.

I said, “Come. When you’re here, I’ll take you around.”

My dad was delighted. “Then I’ll hand the phone to your mom, okay?”

I’d only just called out, “Mom,” when she asked, “Why do you sound so stuffed up? Did you catch a cold?”

“I didn’t.” I held back my tears, forced myself to chat for a few more minutes, then hung up.

A week flew by in the blink of an eye. I went to the station to pick up my parents.

They recognized me from far away and waved happily. When they reached me, they said in unison, “Qiuqiu, you’ve lost weight.”

My mom pulled me into a hug, and the gentle scent of her perfume wrapped around me. It was still the one I’d bought her with my very first paycheck; ever since then, she’d insisted there was no perfume in the world that smelled better.

My dad asked with a smile, “Is Xiao Lu at home?”

When Lu Zhi’an heard yesterday that my parents were coming, he didn’t volunteer to pick them up with me like he had before. Instead, he phrased it as a question: “Am I going too?”

I told him there was no need. The relief on his face was visible to the naked eye, and he slung on his backpack and went to the company to work overtime.

This time, he hadn’t come to pick them up. My dad said, “Work comes first. We’re already happy to have our daughter here for us.”

My parents had always liked him. Even Lu Zhi’an often sighed and said, “Uncle and Auntie are such good people.”

That time he came to my home, his buddies had scared him by saying he might be forced to drink. But in reality, my parents hadn’t made things difficult for him in the slightest.

On the way to the hotel, my parents found everything novel. Even when they saw a Qingfeng Baozi Shop, they had to point it out to each other.

I took my parents out for Yunnan cuisine and ordered the signature steam-pot chicken.

My mom said, “The chicken soup in Beijing is so delicious.”

My dad nodded. “It is. And they really know what they’re doing. They fish out the chicken and pour sauce over it, and that’s a whole other dish.”

Aside from the steam-pot chicken, my parents only allowed me to order two more dishes. They said, “This is already plenty.” “You have to save money where you can.”

I went with my parents to Yuyuantan Park and bought my mom a cherry blossom-shaped ice cream. She said an ice cream this pretty absolutely had to be posted on Moments.

My dad hurriedly took out his phone to take a picture for her. It was cloudy and the lighting was bad, so the photo came out dark. Seeing that, I took out my own phone and snapped one too.

My mom looked at it again and again, then said, “Qiuqiu’s still the one who knows how to take pictures.” My dad stood off to the side, scratching his head with a sheepish grin.

Being with my parents was so happy, yet there was worry mixed in with that happiness-because deep down, I knew these good moments were like sand in an hourglass, rushing away with a hiss.

When I saw my parents off on their return trip, at the high-speed rail station, my mom kept looking at me longingly. My dad held my hand as if it were something precious and said to me, “Girl, keep going.”

In front of them, I would always be unique in all the world, cherished like a priceless treasure.

The two of them went through the security gate and stepped onto the escalator, still smiling at me from midair.

I stood in the chilly air of Beijing South Railway Station, hands stuffed into my pockets and shoulders hunched, feeling lonelier than I ever had before.