Like Song Ci, Song Fei also liked bacon and sausages very much. The two dishes on the table were almost entirely eaten by the two sisters.
Han Zhan and Yan Jiang stared at each other and didn’t dare to say anything. After the meal, the two of them still had to roll up their sleeves and wash the dishes without complaints.
In the living room, the two sisters were gathered together. Song Ci was muttering something to herself. Song Fei played with her cell phone and occasionally replied to Song Ci.
Holding a cigarette in his mouth, Yan Jiang took a plate with his left hand and a rag with his right, quickly washing the dishes one by one. Hearing Song Ci’s incessant chatter in the living room, Yan Jiang pitied Han Zhan quite a bit. “The one at your house has never stopped talking the entire day. Don’t you think it’s noisy?”
Han Zhan said, “I like the atmosphere of the world. It’s heartwarming to have someone to talk to at home.” To be honest, Han Zhan liked Song Ci’s enthusiasm for everything.
Song Ci was always intrigued by small matters. Han Zhan could feel the beauty of life from her.
Hearing this, Yan Jiang bit his filter and seemed to smile. He picked up another bowl and washed it twice. Yan Jiang suddenly turned to look at Han Zhan and asked him, “Why am I the only one scrubbing? Are you going to stand aside and be a human-shaped mold?”
Han Zhan raised his gloved right hand and shook it innocently. “I am handicapped.”
Yan Jiang nearly laughed out of anger. “This is the first time I’ve seen someone speak so self-righteously about being handicapped.” Alright, he had his reasons.
Han Zhan didn’t think there was anything wrong. Recalling something, he asked Yan Jiang, “I heard from Song Ci that you and Song Fei are planning to have a child?”
Yan Jiang stopped washing the dishes.
He turned back to sneak a peek at Song Fei. Seeing that the two sisters weren’t paying attention to the commotion in the kitchen, Yan Jiang then said softly to Han Zhan, “She’s a competitive person who always hopes that our child will be born earlier than yours. But I don’t think there’s any way around this.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Song Fei has been in a coma for too many years and is very weak. I went to ask the doctor and he advised her to recuperate for at least another three years before considering giving birth. It will be very detrimental to her health if she gives birth now.” Yan Jiang would never let her have a frail body, as she would easily fall sick.
“Is that so?” Han Zhan comforted Yan Jiang. “You guys are still young. It doesn’t matter if you guys wait a few more years.”
Yan Jiang crushed the cigarette butt with his wet hand and threw it into the dustbin. “Of course. I will only be 27 next month. What’s the hurry? Unlike you, Mr. Han, who is already 33.”
Han Zhan’s chilly eyes shot straight at Yan Jiang’s face.
It didn’t matter even if Yan Jiang saw it. He said, “Don’t threaten me. It’s useless. My contract with your Aviation Company has expired. You are no longer my sugar daddy. I don’t need to depend on you.” Yan Jiang was beyond arrogant.
Han Zhan was so angry that he wanted to hit someone, but he controlled himself.
At night, when they were sleeping, the two of them stood beside their wives in tacit understanding. They were afraid that it would be like the previous time when Song Ci and her sister huddled together in bed to chat, and the two of them would squeeze together in bed to kick each other.
Song Ci and Song Fei were no longer as intimate as they were during their first reunion. They naturally wouldn’t sleep together at night. Seeing that it was getting late, they both returned to their rooms and went to sleep.
Before going to bed, Han Zhan told Song Ci that Song Fei was weak and it was not easy for her to get pregnant early. Hearing this, Song Ci heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s good, that’s good. She won me in everything when she was young. Now that she is older, the tables have turned.”
Han Zhan couldn’t understand why Song Ci and Song Fei liked to fight to the death.
The winter nights in the countryside were especially quiet, unlike the chirping of insects in summer. Song Ci switched off the lights. Han Zhan suddenly turned around and pulled her into his arms. Han Zhan’s body was hot, like a huge thermos flask. Song Ci was also very warm in his arms.
“Brother Han, are you afraid of ghosts?”
Han Zhan remained silent.
Song Ci patted the back of Han Zhan’s hand and teased him. “What are you afraid of? There are no ghosts in this world.”
“If rebirth can happen, why isn’t there a ghost?” Song Ci’s rebirth broke Han Zhan’s worldview.
Song Ci was speechless. “Alright then, you won’t be afraid if you hug me.”
“Mmm.”
They had a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, Song Ci woke up and realized that Han Zhan didn’t go for his morning workout. Instead, he was playing with his cell phone under his blanket. It was cold in the winter and Han Zhan’s breathing was all over the screen.
When Song Ci woke up, Han Zhan was wiping the screen of his cell phone with the back of his hand.
Song Ci asked him, “How long have you been awake?”
“Over 20 minutes.”
“Why didn’t you go for your morning exercises?”
Han Zhan said, “It’s snowing.”
“Is it heavy?” Song Ci lifted the blanket and walked to the window. She pushed the window open and a gust of cold air rushed into the room. Han Zhan’s neck quivered from the cold. Song Ci stared at the snow all over the floor and shouted in surprise at the room next door. “Song Fei, get up and build a snowman!”
In the room next door, Song Fei immediately woke up.
After waking up, she didn’t even put on her jacket. Wearing her pyjamas, she walked over to the window. Seeing that the ground was covered in snow, Song Fei was also rather agitated. The two sisters loved to play in snow.
As a result, early in the morning, the two sisters didn’t even eat and just walked into the snow with a shovel. Song Ci didn’t even put on her gloves and just pinched a small round snowball. She placed it on the ground and kept rolling it.
The snowball got bigger and bigger until it was the head of a snowman.
Meanwhile, Song Fei had already finished preparing the snowman’s stomach with a metal shovel. Song Ci placed the snowman’s head on the stomach, and an honest-looking snowman was formed. They made the snowman’s eyes and nose, while Song Ci cut it into slices with carrots and made a carrot-colored mouth for it.
There were four snowmen in total—Song Ci, Song Fei, and their parents. Song Ci’s father loved to wear glasses when he was alive, so Song Fei used a wooden stick to make glasses for him.
Han Zhan and Yan Jiang finished preparing breakfast and stood under the roof drinking hot tea. Han Zhan looked at the four snowmen and suddenly said, “We are still short of two.”
Yan Jiang nodded. “Mmm, there are still two more.”
The two of them put down their drinks, walked up to Song Ci and the rest, took their shovels, and piled a boy on each side of the two little girls. Han Zhan was thoughtful and even let the boy hold the girl’s hand, saying that they were a couple.
Song Fei stared at the two snowmen holding hands and snorted disdainfully. She then said,
“So coquettish.”
With that, Song Fei pulled Song Ci into the house for breakfast.
Han Zhan stared at the snowman he made and didn’t find it slutty at all. However, he couldn’t refute his sister’s claim.
After breakfast, the four of them each carried a basket of offerings and went up the mountain to pay respects to Father Song and Mother Song. Their graves were close together and there were no photos on the tombstone. Their names were written on it.
Jiang Mengmeng and Song Tingyun.
]Han Zhan stared at Jiang Mengmeng and Song Chengyun’s names, his eyes flashing.
Yan Jiang secretly told Han Zhan, “Auntie Jiang is very beautiful. In the past, in our community, whether it was married or unmarried uncles and brothers, when they saw Auntie Jiang, they didn’t dare to speak too loudly.”
“At that time, Auntie Jiang was the public enemy of all the women in the neighborhood. But Auntie Jiang was especially good at socializing and treated everyone well. Knowing that she was very pretty, Auntie Jiang usually dressed very plainly. Only then did those women accommodate Auntie Jiang.”
“When we were young, my mother always said that Auntie Jiang was a vixen and a femme fatale. Actually, I know very well that my mother was jealous of her.”
Han Zhan had never seen Jiang Mengmeng before, but from the way Song Ci and Song Fei behaved, he could tell that Jiang Mengmeng was definitely a very charming beauty.
The grave had not been cleaned for a long time. The four of them worked together to clean up the area, burn paper money and ingots, and then kowtowed. Song Ci and Song Fei both knelt down. Yan Jiang, the lackey, also knelt down. He couldn’t wait to call her mother.
Han Zhan stared at Jiang Mengmeng’s name and just stood there without kneeling.
After Song Ci finished kowtowing, she turned around and saw Han Zhan still standing there, staring at her parents’ tombstones in a daze. He didn’t look like he was going to kneel down. Song Ci felt slightly unhappy. She thought to herself, I’ve already knelt down to your grandmother, but you didn’t kneel down to my parents. What kind of logic was this?
Song Ci suppressed the unhappiness in her heart and asked Han Zhan calmly, “Brother Han, aren’t you going to kowtow to them? They are also your parents.” After asking, there was a tinge of anger in her eyes but she didn’t vent it out in public.
Sensing the change in Song Ci’s mood, Han Zhan felt slightly conflicted.
Kneeling before Jiang Mengmeng…
Han Zhan glanced at Song Ci. In the end, he still took a step forward and knelt down. Han Zhan kowtowed a few times to Song Chengyun before standing up. Seeing that Song Ci’s eyes were still ablaze, Han Zhan suddenly said, “My knee joint hurts.”
Song Ci was stunned. “Why does your joints still ache?”
Han Zhan lied. “In the past, when I was in the military, I had to lie on the ground to train under the snow. Now that the weather is cold, my joints ache.”
Song Ci’s heart ached slightly for Han Zhan, and she felt even more guilty for misunderstanding him just now. “Then go back quickly. The house is warm.”
On the way home, Song Ci had to carefully hold on to Han Zhan when they encountered a downhill road, treating him like a fragile vase.
Yan Jiang and Song Fei were walking in front. Seeing the two coquettish people behind them, he complained to Song Fei. “Look at Han Zhan’s pretentious manner. Isn’t he a man?”
“I am different. I can walk like…” In order to show his strong physique, Yan Jiang lifted his leg and kicked ahead. But the snow under his feet was too slippery and he just sat down.
“…I’m flying!”
He was running as fast as he could, but he had fallen.
The way he fell was very comical. Song Fei couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Get up.”
Yan Jiang remembered, but…
He looked up and his face was slightly pale. He said to Song Fei, “My butt hurts so much and I can’t get up. Wait for me to recover.”
Song Fei was speechless.
Han Zhan and Song Ci caught up to him. Han Zhan looked down at the comical man on the ground and praised him. “Mr. Yan, your landing position is very handsome.”
Yan Jiang ignored Han Zhan completely.
Only when Yan Jiang recovered did the four of them return home. Once they reached home, Yan Jiang had just stepped into the house when he heard Song Fei say, “Go upstairs and take off your pants for me to see.”
Everyone in the room was shocked.
Yan Jiang’s face reddened. He asked Song Fei softly, “Ah Fei, why are you like this?” He was not used to being so wild.
Song Ci snapped out of her trance and looked down on Yan Jiang. “Be more normal. Song Fei wanted you to go upstairs and take off your pants so that she can see your bruises.”
Yan Jiang felt even more embarrassed at her explanation.
Yan Jiang followed Song Fei back to their room. She had taken off his pants and laid down on the bed. Song Fei looked at his buttocks. They were bruised. Song Fei pulled the blanket over Yan Jiang. She said, “You rest first. I will go to the neighbor’s house to ask if there is any red flower oil.”
“Okay.”
After about 10 minutes, Song Fei returned to the room with a bottle of red flower oil. Yan Jiang had already fallen asleep. He woke up again the moment Song Fei lifted the blanket. “How did I fall asleep?” Yan Jiang felt that something was off.
Song Fei said, “Perhaps my father despises you, so he manipulated the bed.” As expected of biological sisters, they spoke the same language.
However, Yan Jiang was not afraid of ghosts. The scariest ghost he had ever seen was his grandmother. All these years, he had often dreamed of his grandmother turning into a malicious ghost, so Yan Jiang was no longer afraid of other ghosts.
He said, “The psychiatrist told me that there are no ghosts in this world. The grandmother I saw was just a scary memory.”
“Ha…”
Song Fei unscrewed the cap and smacked Yan Jiang’s bottom.
Only a massage could fully bring out the effects of the medicine. Song Fei used too much strength and Yan Jiang cried out in pain. Song Ci and Han Zhan heard Yan Jiang’s screams downstairs and their scalps went numb.
At this moment, the middle-aged woman next door knocked and asked Song Ci to tutor her grandson.
“My son and his wife are still working in the city and will only be back on the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month. My grandson is staying here alone. He is doing a Mathematics paper today and discovered that he doesn’t know how to do two of the questions. His grandfather and I are both boorish people and don’t know how to do Mathematics questions. Since you are back, I would like to invite you over to help him with his homework.”
The middle-aged woman next door was very warm-hearted. Yesterday, when Song Ci had just returned, she had taken the initiative to send over sausages and bacon.
Since Song Ci had nothing to do, she agreed.
“Brother Han, are you going?”
Han Zhan didn’t like to go to strangers’ houses, much less to tutor unfamiliar children. He said, “Let me send you there.”
“Alright then.”
Han Zhan sent Song Ci to the house next door. Upon seeing the other party’s grandson, he greeted the child and returned. He gave the child an advanced red packet for the new year and went home.
As he walked home through the thick snow, his feet made crunching sounds. Walking under a pine tree, Han Zhan suddenly stopped and squinted at the girl in the middle of the road ahead.
The knitted cap was covering Song Fei’s short hair, revealing a pair of beautiful, cold eyes. She looked at Han Zhan with an extremely cold expression. Han Zhan was somewhat surprised to see Song Fei here.
Song Fei was truly the smartest and scariest woman Han Zhan had ever met. She was even more frightening than the female criminals he had encountered in the past.
After pondering for a moment, Han Zhan walked up, stood in front of Song Fei, looked down at her, and called out, “Sister Fei.”
Song Fei looked up at Han Zhan.
He’s handsome and steady, a dependable and outstanding man. Song Ci and Han Zhan are a match made in heaven. At least, Song Fei had always thought so until this morning.
But…
“Han Zhan, do you know my mother?” Although she was asking, Song Fei’s tone was full of certainty.
