Lin Yongnian listened to the sounds coming from the other side of the wall, frustrated, turning over restlessly.

He reached into his pillow, pulled out two tufts of cotton, rolled them up, and stuffed them into his ears.

“This second son… how many times has it been already? Really, young people just don’t know how to control themselves. Once they get older, they’ll understand…” Lin Yongnian muttered as he pulled the blanket over his head.

Liu Qinxian lay sweaty against Lin Jianshe’s chest, tracing circles on his skin with her fingers.

Panting heavily, Lin Jianshe grabbed her mischievous hand. “Don’t tease me, or I’ll take care of you all over again.”

Liu Qin smiled slyly, “Go ahead, then.”

Lin Jianshe: “…”

“It’s getting late. We have work tomorrow.”

If they went again, he was afraid he wouldn’t even be able to walk properly tomorrow.

“By the way, you still have to get up early to cook breakfast tomorrow.”

Hearing him bring that up, Liu Qin immediately felt annoyed.

“No one makes the new daughter-in-law get up early to cook!”

Lin Jianshe squeezed her hand gently. “My poor wife. They say the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, and with my mom not at home, it should be my big sister-in-law cooking. But she’s too lazy, and my big brother just protects her. I really don’t understand — that ugly thing, what’s worth protecting?”

He really thought his sister-in-law was quite unattractive — big face, small eyes, only slightly fair-skinned — and couldn’t understand what his brother saw in her.

Liu Qin giggled, then pouted, “She even looks down on me, saying my family’s poor and I’m just a temporary worker.”

“You just wait,” Lin Jianshe boasted, unwilling to see his wife suffer. “Once my dad finishes paying back all the money he owes my mom and sister-in-law, I’ll have him spend money to get you an official job at a state-run store, something even more respectable than hers.”

“Muah!” Liu Qin planted a kiss on Lin Jianshe’s face. “Jianshe, you’re the best. You deserve another reward.”

“N-no, that’s really not necessary…”

“What do you mean? It’s still early.”

“Qin Qin — mmph…” Lin Jianshe’s words were smothered under the covers.

…

The next morning, Zhang Jiao got up and found the kitchen still cold and untouched.

She walked over to Lin Jianshe’s door and started knocking.

Knock knock knock knock…

“Who is it, knocking so early in the morning?” Liu Qin grumbled, rolling over in bed.

“Liu Qin, it’s your turn to cook breakfast today! Why aren’t you up yet? If you don’t get up now, it’ll be time to head to work already!” Zhang Jiao shouted as she banged on the door.

Annoyed, Liu Qin sat up in bed. “I heard you! Stop knocking already, are you trying to summon the dead?”

Hearing this from outside, Zhang Jiao’s face darkened, and she turned back to her room.

Liu Qin glanced at Lin Jianshe, who was sleeping like a dead pig beside her, sighed, threw off the blanket, and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

..

At Courtyard No. 23, Lin Xiaoyu was already enjoying the scallion pancakes her mom had fried that morning, paired with thick millet porridge.

By the time she got up, her mom had already finished breakfast and even gone to the supply store to buy fresh vegetables.

Li Shuping(Old Madam Li) munched on a piece of pickled radish. “Eat slowly, there’s still time before school.”

Lin Xiaoyu nodded, took a sip of porridge, and then asked, “Mom, you’re not thinking about getting back together with Dad, are you?”

Even though her parents were already divorced, her dad and second brother still felt her mom was just throwing a tantrum, making a fuss — that once she calmed down, she’d return to that house.

Li Shuping rolled her eyes. “What, I haven’t had enough miserable days, and I’d go back to him? Once I left that house, there’s no going back.”

“You should remember too — if you ever get married and your man hits you or treats you badly, if you’re unhappy, leave. Don’t wait until you’re my age to get divorced.”

In her past life, Xiaoyu’s miserable marriage with Zhang Tiejun hadn’t ended in divorce, and honestly, some of the blame lay with her and Lin Yongnian.

They thought divorce was shameful.

Zhang Tiejun was her own choice, so she had no one else to blame, and even if life was hard, she had to endure it.

Li Shuping thought, if only she’d encouraged Xiaoyu and supported her to leave, maybe Xiaoyu wouldn’t have suffered the way she had.

Lin Xiaoyu nodded. “So, Mom, all these years you were married to Dad, you were never happy?”

“What was there to be happy about?” Li Shuping sighed. “I was an orphan, never went to school, no education, grew up living off others’ kindness. As a kid, I helped out in a tailor shop, learned to use a sewing machine, and when the garment factory was hiring, I got in.”

“The garment factory had a mixer event with the steel factory, and that’s how I met your dad. Back then, the women’s supervisor at the factory introduced me to him. At my age, I didn’t know how to refuse, and I wanted a home of my own, so muddle-headed, I married him.”

“At first, your dad treated me okay. But when I was pregnant with your eldest brother, he started hitting me. I had no family, no backing, no one to stand up for me, so I just endured it. It wasn’t until you kids got older and understood things that your dad finally toned it down. What’s there to be happy about in a life like that?”

Back when Lin Yongnian used to hit her, she’d even thought about ending her life.

But when she saw her kids crying beside her, she’d think, the children can’t lose their mother — and that kept her going.

The older women at the factory all said they went through the same.

How many men didn’t hit their wives?

Just bear with it, and it would pass.

She used to think, once the kids were older, life would be better.

Once they were grown, she thought, once they married, things would improve.

Once they married, she thought, once they had their own kids, they’d understand their parents’ hearts, and life would be good.

But even by the time she died, she’d never lived a truly happy day.

Lin Xiaoyu looked at her mother with red-rimmed eyes, heart aching.

“Your dad — in front of others, he’s a righteous, kind man. In front of you kids, he’s a good father. But only in front of me, he’s never been a good husband.”

Lin Xiaoyu pressed her lips together.

Honestly, Dad was only a good father in front of her brothers — to her, he wasn’t.

He never hit her, but he didn’t value her either.

It was as if having her in the family didn’t matter — she was just extra.

And before, her mom had always overlooked her too, only focusing on her two brothers.

In such a home, she had been unhappy, suffocated, and had even wished she could leave as soon as possible.

“Alright, enough of that. Eat up, eat up.”

..

“Mom, I’m off to school.” Lin Xiaoyu slung on her schoolbag, calling out to Li Shuping, who was washing dishes in the kitchen.

“Go on, make sure you come home early after school. Don’t run around everywhere.”

“Okay.” Lin Xiaoyu smiled as she headed out.

She was already in high school, not a little kid, and her mom was still nagging her about coming home early.

Feeling cheerful, Lin Xiaoyu walked to the courtyard gate — and bumped right into Qin Ye coming in.

Her pupils shrank, and she quickly stepped back, shrinking against the wall.

Qin Ye glanced at her, then lifted his foot over the threshold and walked past her.

“Sorry.”

Lin Xiaoyu suddenly looked up, watching his back.

Was he apologizing for bumping into her yesterday?

Then maybe he wasn’t such a bad person after all.

After all, someone who would apologize after bumping into someone couldn’t be all bad, right?

Tilting her head, Lin Xiaoyu happily continued on her way to school.