The snow had been falling continuously from the sky. Although we were driving on the expressway, our speed remained very slow. When we reached the Jiangdu section of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, we encountered a rather serious traffic jam. Our car was often stuck between six-axle and seven-axle trucks, moving forward in a heart-stopping manner. When we finally arrived at the service area, Mi Cai absolutely refused to drive anymore, so I took over and continued driving through the heavy trucks, struggling toward Xuzhou.
This hardship made both Mi Cai and me feel that once we returned to Xuzhou, we must be forgiven by Father and Mother, because to some extent, we had come back to Xuzhou risking our lives.
It had already become completely dark. When we passed through Suqian, we exited the expressway because of the heavy snow accumulation on the road. Thus, our arrival time in Xuzhou was delayed again. If it weren’t for the remaining 100 kilometers of the journey, both Mi Cai and I would have stayed overnight in Suqian.
After another two and a half hours of driving, we finally saw the road signs indicating our imminent arrival in urban Xuzhou. Once entering the city, I parked the car by the roadside, leaning against a streetlight that illuminated the entire city, lighting a cigarette to relieve the tension accumulated throughout the journey. Mi Cai also stood beside me, breathing in the fresh air outside the car.
The snow had already eased compared to the beginning, but it was still falling sporadically, just like the anxiety in our hearts—insufficient to cause panic, but enough to make us feel uneasy. Because shortly, standing in front of Father and Mother, we would need both courage and explanations—reasons for them to forgive us.
Sure enough, Mi Cai said to me, “Zhaoyang, I’m already a bit nervous. What should I do?”
“You’re afraid they’ll greet us with cold faces, right?”
“It’s very likely!”
I took a deep puff of my cigarette before replying, “I’m not as pessimistic as you are. Maybe they aren’t as resentful toward us as we imagine… Besides, I really think you’re a good person; it was just some personal difficulties that caused misunderstandings. Now we’ve put everything behind us, everything is calm and settled. They’ve always advocated stability, so why wouldn’t they accept us now that we’re stable?”
“It sounds reasonable, but I’m still a bit nervous…”
Actually, I was also very nervous, but I still pretended to be confident and said, “Don’t worry. When we knock on the door later, just stand behind me. If there are bullets, I’ll block them for you!”
“You seem very confident?”
“I must be. Come on… Let’s buy some hotpot base from the supermarket later. We’ll have hotpot tonight. Then, when they open the door, we’ll rush in without hesitation. You go directly to the kitchen to prepare the hotpot, and I’ll stay in the living room to talk to them.”
“Here you go again with your unreliable ideas!”
“Who’s unreliable? You’ll see, I really will do exactly that.”
…
The closer we got to home, the more anxious we felt. Entering the residential community, I parked the car next to Father’s car. After turning off the engine, Mi Cai and I seemed to share an unspoken understanding—neither of us opened the car door, just sitting there in the car.
Through the sunroof, I saw the lights in our home were all on, an overly bright scene that made me even more nervous. I assumed Mi Cai felt the same. At this moment, we were like two guilty sinners afraid of being exposed.
Finally, I opened the car door before Mi Cai, then went to the trunk to take out the two largest suitcases, one in my hand and the other on my shoulder. I then signaled Mi Cai to carry a few smaller suitcases as best as she could. The reason we hurriedly carried the luggage upstairs was to help us mask some of the embarrassment, and also to show our determination to stay in this house.
Thus, I carried and dragged the luggage while Mi Cai also carried two suitcases, following me with difficulty as we climbed the stairs. Eventually, we arrived at my floor. I lowered my voice and said to Mi Cai, “I’ll press the doorbell first. Once they open the door, we’ll rush in without hesitation. You must remember, in front of them, I’ve always been a lively and cheerful son. The livelier we appear now, the more nostalgic feelings we can evoke in them. If we successfully redirect their attention to nostalgia, the following conversation will be much easier…”
“But I still think this approach is somewhat unreliable!!… Let’s just talk properly, okay? Don’t act like a bunch of hooligans!”
I clicked my tongue and replied, “Can you think more strategically? Besides, who knows them better—you or me? Don’t worry about anything later. Just close your eyes and follow me, got it?”
Perhaps due to nervousness, before Mi Cai could respond, I pressed the doorbell. I immediately felt my blood rushing upward, wishing I could dash into the living room in a heroic posture the next second.
My heart was pounding faster and faster as I heard footsteps approaching the door, and behind me, Mi Cai had already tightly grabbed the corner of my shirt, seemingly ready to charge in with me.
As my breathing quickened, the door finally opened. I swallowed hard and rushed into the house with my head lowered, but unfortunately, the suitcase was too large and got stuck in the doorway. Worse still, Mi Cai behind me, at this moment, displayed strong execution ability, charging into me in a heroic manner. As a result, she cried out in pain, while I abandoned the suitcase stuck in the doorway, stumbling forward into the living room. If not for my good physical control, I would have almost fallen to the ground. Despite managing to stay upright, I still ended up making a spectacle of myself, spinning around once before stabilizing my posture. Then I saw Li Xiaoyun, Wang Zheng (Li Xiaoyun’s husband), and Father sitting at the dining table eating dinner. The three of them looked at me with the same astonished eyes as if seeing a bandit, but their expressions soon returned to normal upon confirming it was indeed me…
At a loss for words, I coughed twice to cover my embarrassment…
Looking at me with a mixture of laughter and tears, Li Xiaoyun asked, “Zhaoyang, what’s your intention? How come you entered the house dancing like that?” She then turned to her husband and said, “Wang Zheng, didn’t Zhaoyang’s devilish steps and spinning just now resemble Michael Jackson’s moonwalk?”
“It kind of did…”
Seeing this couple, I quickly found a topic and furrowed my brows, asking, “How come you two are having dinner at my house?”
Li Xiaoyun replied, “Today is a day off, right? We just finished playing Mahjong here, and my parents went back to the countryside to visit relatives, so Uncle and Aunt invited Wang Zheng and me to stay for dinner…”
I muttered, “In other words, you’re just here to mooch off the meal, right? Well, our food does smell good…”
While saying this, I was actually thinking about Mi Cai, who was still being kept outside by Mother. She must be even more embarrassed than me…
Looking sideways, I indeed saw Mi Cai standing awkwardly outside the door, with Mother’s gaze never leaving her. Even when Mi Cai called her “Aunt,” Mother didn’t respond, making Mi Cai even more at a loss.
I turned back toward the door, ignoring the scattered luggage, took Mi Cai’s hand, pulled her into the house, and then looked at the hotpot on the table and said to her, “See, I told you we’d have hotpot today… Where’s the hotpot base we just bought?”
Still feeling awkward, Mi Cai hesitated for a moment before taking out the hotpot base from her handbag and handing it to me…
Holding the hotpot base, I walked toward the dining table, still shamelessly saying, “Wow, the hotpot base you’re using isn’t good enough. It doesn’t even look flavorful. Come on, use mine—it’s authentic Chongqing spicy hotpot base!”
After all, a father knows his son best, and finally Father spoke to me, “Stop acting. Go to the kitchen quickly and get two sets of bowls and chopsticks. First, sit down with Xiaomi and eat. We can discuss other things after dinner!”
It felt like I had received a royal pardon. I threw the hotpot base aside and hurriedly fetched bowls, chopsticks, two extra chairs from the kitchen, and had Mi Cai sit next to Father while I sat near Mother. I arranged it this way intentionally because it was the safest and most reasonable.
Meanwhile, Wang Zheng and Li Xiaoyun had already collected our luggage left outside and placed them by the wall corner…
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