The day before their departure, Fang Muyang's parents specially treated his colleagues from the agricultural machinery factory to a meal at a restaurant, expressing gratitude for their years of care. Items the family wouldn't take but were still usable had already been assigned new owners in advance, waiting to be collected on moving day. The luggage to bring was limited, half of which belonged to Fang Muyang. The most important items were a few books and a stack of manuscripts. Though the manuscripts weren't thick, the word count was astonishing—a single sheet of letter-sized paper, written on both sides, could hold five to six thousand characters, sometimes so tiny they required a magnifying glass to read. Some of the draft papers were even made of straw paper. Fang Muyang couldn't fathom how his severely nearsighted father had managed to write these secretly at night, filled with fear yet unable to resist.
Fang Muyang pulled out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and tossed it to his father, telling him to smoke while they talked.
Old Fang looked at the cigarette pack in surprise and asked, "Where did you get this?"
"I had a little money left from what Fei Ni gave me, so I bought you cigarettes. You must have been craving them all these years without being able to smoke."
"Is that any way to speak to your elder? So disrespectful." To maintain his dignity as a father, Old Fang said sternly, "I've basically quit smoking in recent years. If you don't believe me, ask your mother."
Old Fang wasn't lying. Over the years, he hardly ever bought packaged cigarettes, instead rolling tobacco leaves in paper like the locals.
Fang Muyang took out a cigarette, lit it with a match, and handed it to Old Fang, who expertly pinched it between his fingers, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled the smoke. As he smoked, he lectured his son, "I appreciate your filial piety toward your mother and me, but using Fei Ni's dowry money to buy us clothes and me cigarettes—what will Fei Ni and her parents think of our family? Once my back pay is issued, you must repay Fei Ni."
The Fang elders had first become parents-in-law over a decade ago, but this second time was vastly different from the first. When their eldest son got married, Old Fang still held an important position, and no one would have considered marrying into their family a step down, especially since their eldest was both talented and handsome. By the time their younger son married, although the family's most difficult period had passed, the situation was still far from optimistic. The rebellious son came from a problematic family background and had no job himself, so it was rare for a formal worker to marry him, let alone bring a house along. Upon receiving the news of Fang Muyang's marriage, Old Fang excitedly bought a bottle of cheap, unbranded liquor from a store and drank half a catty using the letter as a snack, feeling as if a burden had been lifted.
But Old Fang was, after all, a man of conscience, and his joy was tinged with guilt. In any marriage, if one side feels they've gotten a great deal, the other must have suffered a loss.
He asked again, "Did Fei Ni like the tea I mailed you last time?"
There wasn't much else in this area, but it was abundant in tea, and buying it didn't require tea ration coupons.
"She liked it; it's all gone." As for the Da Hong Pao, they hadn't drunk much of it, instead using it to brew tea eggs. Last time, Fei Ni's eldest brother bought a lot of eggs from villagers in the suburbs and gave them a small basket. Fang Muyang used the Da Hong Pao to make a pot of tea eggs, kept half for themselves, and sent the other half to Fei Ni's parents. The two types of black tea he sent were almost consumed daily by Fei Ni and were now finished.
"Then let's buy more to bring back this time, so the in-laws can have a taste too."Fang Muyang had secured two sleeper tickets for his parents, while he himself bought an ordinary hard seat ticket. Old Fang took out money to give to his son, telling him to upgrade to a sleeper ticket. Fang Muyang accepted the money but didn’t upgrade, saying he appreciated the gesture but preferred sitting.
Old Fang felt somewhat relieved. Since this rebellious son had started a family, he had learned to be frugal and thrifty.
As soon as Fei Ni stepped into the house, she saw Fang Muyang cooking noodles inside. "When did you get back?"
"This afternoon."
"Why didn’t you tell me in advance? I could have picked you up."
"Weren’t you at work today? My parents told me not to disrupt your schedule."
"Where are your parents staying this time?"
"The housing hasn’t been settled yet. They’re staying at my mother’s work unit’s guesthouse for now."
"Why are you cooking for yourself? Shouldn’t you be having dinner with them?"
"Don’t worry, our parents are eating better than we are." As soon as they got off the train, someone was holding up a sign to greet them, claiming to be a driver for some leader. Fang Muyang followed his parents into a nearly new Volga car. At five in the afternoon, the driver came to pick up the whole family for a banquet, which happened to be at the very restaurant where Fang Muyang worked.
He had taken personal leave, and during his time off, it wasn’t appropriate for him to dine at his workplace. So, he took the bus back by himself.
Fei Ni took a stack of shopping coupons from her bag and handed them to Fang Muyang. "These are from my brother and sister. Since your parents are back, you’ll need to buy a lot of things. Without coupons, you can’t get anything. Give these to them—they’ll definitely come in handy later."
Fang Muyang pinched Fei Ni’s cheek. "We’re meeting them tomorrow. You should give it to them yourself. Otherwise, they’ll think I’m exploiting and oppressing you every day, not just you but your whole family."
"You and your nonsense. Why would any parent think that of their child?"
Fang Muyang laughed. "You’ve never met my old man. Tomorrow, you must tell them that you haven’t been living in dire straits."
Since she was about to meet her in-laws the next day, Fei Ni felt a bit nervous. She didn’t know much about them and was only kind to them because they were Fang Muyang’s parents. Her visit to the Ye family had left a bad impression—Mrs. Ye’s meanness had been completely unexpected. Although she thought Fang Muyang’s parents couldn’t possibly be that bad, she still prepared herself for the worst. At the very least, they could just reduce contact. After all, she and Fang Muyang were living their own independent life.
"Which one do you think I should wear to meet them?" Fei Ni couldn’t decide between two outfits and asked Fang Muyang to help her choose.
"Neither is suitable."
"Why?"
"Not just these two—none of your other clothes are suitable either. The problem isn’t with the clothes."
"Then what is it?"
"It’s you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You’re too beautiful. The moment they see you, they’ll think I’m not good enough for you."
Fei Ni couldn’t help but laugh. "You—not a single serious word from you. What parent would think their own child isn’t good enough for someone?" Besides, his circumstances weren’t bad at all. Parents always viewed their children through rose-colored glasses.
Fei Ni met her in-laws for the first time at the guesthouse.If her in-laws were walking down the street, Fei Ni would definitely take a second look. Fang Muyang had actually inherited features from both of his parents. However, his temperament was entirely different. Fang Muyang’s parents, especially his mother, exuded a sense of "earnestness"—not the kind of pettiness that haggles over pennies at the market. They didn’t seem like people who cared much about money.
The first thought that crossed the minds of the elderly Fang couple upon meeting Fei Ni was that she resembled their family more than Fang Muyang did. Fang Muyang was the odd one out in the family.
Fei Ni followed Fang Muyang’s lead and addressed them as Mom and Dad.
Teacher Mu handed Fei Ni a red envelope as a meeting gift. She had made the envelope herself using red paper. To make it more formal, she had asked her husband to write a few words on the cover. Old Fang spent half the night pondering what to write and finally settled on the most common four-character phrase: "A harmonious union lasting a hundred years." Once the words were written, Teacher Mu placed the hundred yuan she had prepared inside the envelope. Their back pay had not yet been issued, and their salaries had not been restored to their original levels. They had originally planned to give more once the back pay was distributed, but since it was their first meeting, they couldn’t show up empty-handed, so they settled on a hundred yuan for the time being. After taking out this hundred yuan, their savings were nearly depleted.
Fei Ni knew that their salaries had not been restored and that they were short on funds. She hesitated about whether to accept the envelope when Old Fang said, "Don’t think it’s too little."
Fei Ni had no choice but to accept it and thank them.
For this visit, Fei Ni had specifically brought along two volumes of sequential pictures that Fang Muyang had previously published to show his parents.
Fang Muyang hadn’t expected Fei Ni to "sell melons" right in front of his parents.
Old Fang took the sequential pictures and carefully flipped through the first few pages. It was indeed his son’s work. That unfilial son hadn’t even mentioned it. After browsing a few pages, he closed the book and handed it to his wife to see as well.
He had thought his son had abandoned his painting, and sometimes he even felt guilty about it, believing he had held him back. Aside from painting, the only thing that unfilial son had ever stuck with was playing around. Even playing the violin was just a pastime, not something to be taken seriously as a profession...
Old Fang began praising his son in front of Fei Ni.
Fang Muyang realized that his father truly had a talent for public speaking—even the reasons he used to beat him had now been twisted into virtues.
His scribbling on the walls at the age of two, turning the house into a mess, was now described as "showing extraordinary artistic talent from a young age." Using household plates as paint palettes became "making use of every available resource to create art." In short, he had apparently been a delightful child who brought his parents nothing but joy.
Fang Muyang looked at his father and smiled, as if to say, "Aren’t you ashamed to say such things?"
Old Fang was having a hard time too. How could he speak ill of his unfilial son in front of his daughter-in-law? If he presented such a worthless son as a husband, what would she think of him as a father?
Fei Ni listened to Old Fang’s exaggerated sales pitch, maintaining a smile on her face the entire time.
She used the money from the red envelope and some industrial vouchers to purchase additional items for the Fang parents, including daily necessities like towels, soap, toothpaste, and shampoo, all brand new.
These items were delivered to his parents by Fang Muyang.
When the elderly couple received the gifts, they were touched by their daughter-in-law’s thoughtfulness and attention to detail, but they also felt deeply embarrassed.
Old Fang hadn’t been in a hurry about the back pay before, as they still had some money to get by. But after repeatedly receiving gifts from his daughter-in-law, he couldn’t help but make a phone call to hurry things along. It was one thing for that unfilial son to live off his wife, but they couldn’t keep freeloading along with him.Before long, the Fang family secured housing with the same layout as before, only this time they lived on the third floor. All previously confiscated items that could be found in the warehouse were fully returned. Old Fang wasn't too concerned about the lost furniture; what truly pained him were the calligraphy, paintings, and ancient books from his collection, many of which had disappeared. Yet, reflecting on his past experiences, he consoled himself that preserving even a portion was fortunate enough. Hadn't he managed all these years without them anyway?
Along with the housing came back wages and his old savings passbook. Since his family had never been good at holding onto money, the amount in the passbook didn't even come close to matching the spare change from the back pay.
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