After the door opened, Jin Qiang rose from the sofa and took the suitcase from Jin Chao. Peering at Jiang Mu behind him, he had imagined an emotional reunion between father and daughter after years apart—at the very least, a long-awaited hug, with Jiang Mu tearfully calling out "Dad."
But none of it happened. The anticipated scenes never unfolded. Jiang Mu was no longer the clingy girl she once was; more often than not, she kept her emotions buried deep inside. Jin Qiang merely politely urged her to come in. Despite being connected by blood, their interaction felt as awkward as a first meeting.
A slightly plump middle-aged woman emerged from the kitchen. Her skin was dark, and she wore a red floral apron, though her appearance was somewhat untidy. Jiang Mu met her gaze and awkwardly addressed her, "Auntie."
Zhao Meijuan nodded without much warmth. "You're here."
Then she said to Jin Chao, "Drain the noodles."
Jin Chao went to scoop the noodles. Jin Chao rubbed his hands together, glanced uneasily at the sofa, and said to Jiang Mu, "You must be tired. Have a seat and rest."
Jiang Mu attempted an unnatural smile, but since she rarely smiled, her expression only grew stiffer.
She quickly scanned the room. The living room held a three-seater sofa covered with camel-colored cushions. To the left stood a rectangular wooden dining table, one corner propped up with folded paper. In the corner sat a slightly worn baby chair, seemingly unused now, piled high with clutter that made the already small living room feel even more cramped.
Just as Jiang Mu was about to sit down, a child suddenly dashed out of a room and crashed into her. The sharp pain made her stagger, and breaking into a cold sweat, she steadied the child—only to see a hairless creature covered in large white patches all over its head and face. She instinctively gasped in shock.
Zhao Meijuan strode out of the kitchen. Jin Chao looked up from scooping the noodles. Jin Chao pulled the child aside. Everyone’s eyes fixed on Jiang Mu’s horrified expression, and time seemed to freeze.
Then, the child abruptly burst into tears. Zhao Meijuan rushed over, shot Jin Qiang a fierce glare, and carried the child back into the room, slamming the door shut. Jiang Mu flinched at the sound.
Jin Qiang rubbed his hair uneasily and explained to Jiang Mu, "Xiao Xin developed vitiligo a few years ago and is still undergoing treatment. Did it startle you?"
Jiang Mu quickly composed her frightened expression but felt utterly disconcerted. She suddenly realized her gasp had plunged everyone into an awkward situation.
As she stood there helpless, Jin Chao turned around, placed an empty bowl on the table, and said to her, "Wash your hands and come over. Serve yourself as much as you want."
Finally offered an escape, Jiang Mu hurriedly followed Jin Chao’s suggestion to flee the scene. She entered the kitchen, turned on the faucet, and splashed water on her face. Leaning against the sink, it took her a while to recover.
By the time she stepped out of the kitchen, she had successfully masked her panic. Her eyes instinctively drifted toward the closed door—the crying inside had gradually subsided, and Zhao Meijuan hadn’t reappeared.
Growing up in a single-parent household had made Jiang Mu acutely sensitive to interpersonal dynamics. Distractedly, she picked up an empty bowl and began transferring noodles from the large bowl to her smaller one with chopsticks.Jin Chao turned around to see Jiang Mu absentmindedly scooping noodles from his bowl. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you doing?"
Jiang Mu looked up blankly and replied, "Getting noodles."
"If you want noodles, get them from the pot. Why are you scooping from my bowl?"
Jiang Mu stared at the large bowl and tentatively asked, "Isn't... this a soup bowl?"
Jin Qiang and Jin Chao fell silent for a moment before Jin Qiang spoke up: "Mumu, that small bowl in your hand is for garlic."
Seeing that Jin Qiang also had an equally large bowl in front of him, Jiang Mu felt so embarrassed she was about to return the noodles to Jin Chao. He blocked her hand and said to her, "Just eat them."
He then scooped another bowl of noodles and sat down not far from Jiang Mu. There were only two dishes on the table—Braised Lamb Ribs and Cabbage Stew with Glass Noodles. Unlike at home, where even when it was just her and her mother eating, Jiang Yinghan would prepare three dishes and a soup served on delicate plates, the bowls containing these two dishes seemed to Jiang Mu almost as large as washbasins.
The glass noodles had been out of the pot for a while and had clumped together. When Jiang Mu tried picking them up with her chopsticks, she couldn't manage it. Seeing this, Jin Qiang directly scooped a large spoonful and dumped it over the noodles in her bowl, stunning Jiang Mu. She stared blankly at the portion—three times her usual amount—unsure where to even begin eating.
Jin Chao had just twirled some noodles with his chopsticks but hadn't eaten them yet when he noticed Jiang Mu staring at her bowl as if she'd encountered a prehistoric creature. He set down his chopsticks, pushed his untouched bowl of noodles toward her, and hooked the bowl piled high with glass noodles over to himself with one hand.
Jin Qiang saw this and scolded Jin Chao: "Why did you swap them for no reason?"
Jin Chao replied flatly, "She has hands. She can serve herself what she wants to eat."
Jiang Mu remained silent. Jin Qiang urged her, "Don't be shy."
Jiang Mu nodded and buried her head in eating noodles. However, being unaccustomed to scallions, ginger, and garlic, she could only pick them out with her chopsticks and set them aside on the edge of her bowl.
Jin Qiang noticed this, took a sip of soup, and as if recalling some unpleasant memory, suddenly remarked, "Raised by your mother, just like her. She used to argue with me if I even put a slice of ginger in my cooking. So fussy for no reason."
Jiang Mu choked slightly and stopped picking out the scallions. Jin Chao tapped his bowl with his chopsticks, looked up expressionlessly, and said two words: "Eat your food."
Suddenly, the room door opened, and Zhao Meijuan walked out holding Jin Xin's hand. Jin Qiang said to Jin Xin, "Xiao Xin, this is your sister. Say hello."
Although Jiang Mu didn't want to look directly at the oddly-featured little girl, out of politeness, she set down her chopsticks and lifted her gaze to her. Only then did she notice the girl's sharp, monkey-like face and protruding ears. Perhaps because her head was shaved, her eyes appeared unusually prominent and unsettling, instantly reminding Jiang Mu of the hairless little creature Dobby from Harry Potter.
The little girl ignored Jin Qiang and went up to Jin Chao without even glancing at Jiang Mu.
Jin Qiang scolded more sternly, "I told you to say hello!"
No sooner had he spoken than Zhao Meijuan shouted, "Can't you see the child was just frightened? Why are you yelling? She doesn't know anyone here."
An awkward silence filled the air. Jiang Mu didn't really care whether the girl greeted her or not—she was more worried the child might start crying again. But Jin Chao abruptly pulled the little girl over and sat her on a nearby chair, his voice cool as he said to her, "Say hello."With those two words, the previously awkward atmosphere reached its peak. Just as Jiang Mu was about to say "forget it," the little girl looked at her swinging feet and suddenly called out: "Sister."
Jiang Mu was somewhat surprised. She could tell the little girl didn't particularly like her, but she listened well to Jin Chao.
After Jin Xin sat down, Jin Chao went to wash his hands, then grabbed the lamb bone and tore the meat into small pieces into an empty bowl. Jiang Mu watched him absentmindedly. At home, her mother would chop rib dishes into small pieces for easy eating, so when suddenly faced with such a whole bone, Jiang Mu had no idea how to start eating it. As a result, she only ate the noodles in her bowl without touching any of the dishes.
Jiang Mu only realized he was picking meat for his sister when Jin Chao finished tearing all the meat and placed it beside Jin Xin. This scene felt both familiar and strangely alien, as if fragments from past dreams were magnified before her eyes. Her expression remained unchanged, but an indistinct emotion stirred within her.
Jin Chao looked up and met Jiang Mu's dazed gaze. Lowering his eyes, he casually grabbed another clean empty bowl, directly poured more than half of the lamb meat from Jin Xin's portion into it, and slid it along the table toward where Jiang Mu sat. The bowl glided smoothly across the wooden table, coming to rest precisely against her bowl with a clear "clink."
Jiang Mu was slightly stunned, looking at the lamb meat in the bowl before her. Just as the restless feeling in her heart had begun to subside slightly, she heard Jin Xin across the table complain: "Why does she get more than me?"
Without even lifting his eyelids, Jin Chao replied: "She's a guest."
The word "guest" suddenly pierced Jiang Mu's heart, and the recently faded restlessness surged back again.
That one sentence made Jin Xin stop complaining, but Jiang Mu didn't feel particularly pleased about it. Then she felt a gaze resting on her face. The moment she looked up, she met Jin Chao's eyes. He ate noodles quickly, and his large bowl was already empty. Leaning sideways against the back of his chair, he looked at her with a seemingly casual yet penetrating gaze, as if he could see right through to her heart. Jiang Mu's face flushed as she averted her eyes.
After the meal, Jin Qiang asked Jiang Mu to give him her documents so he could find time tomorrow noon to go to Tonggang Affiliated Middle School and submit her transfer procedures for her.
Jiang Mu took the document folder from her luggage and placed it on the table, then unzipped it and began taking out the materials one by one. When she looked back again, she saw Jin Xin holding her identification materials and lying on the floor, preparing to fold them into paper crafts.
Jiang Mu's face turned pale as she was about to rush over when suddenly a figure appeared before her, lifting Jin Xin from the ground and then pressing the identification materials flat on the table. Jin Qiang happened to come over to look at that moment, and in that instant, the clearly visible characters "Jiang Mu" in the name field made both of them pause, as if reminding everyone that she was no longer part of their family.
However, Jin Qiang didn't say much, just sighed and put the things away.
Before coming, Jiang Yinghan had prepared some high-quality tea leaves and a learning tablet for her to bring to her half-sister, since she would be troubling them for a while.
She distributed the gifts to them respectively. Jin Qiang politely declined a couple of times, while the little monster showed no reaction whatsoever - neither thanking her nor appearing particularly happy.Just then, someone knocked on the door. A young man came looking for Jin Chao, and it seemed everyone knew him. Jin Qiang invited him inside, but the man didn’t enter, standing outside the doorway and saying, “No need, Uncle. I’m just here to ask You Jiu out for a smoke.”
Jin Chao stepped out with him, and the door was left ajar. Inside the suitcase was a gift Jiang Mu had secretly prepared for Jin Chao, tightly wrapped in black camouflage paper. After waiting a while and seeing that Jin Chao hadn’t returned, she took the gift out, glanced at the partially open door, and walked outside.
The hallway was filled with the smell of smoke. Holding the special gift, her emotions were complicated. Before she could approach the stairwell, she suddenly heard a man’s lowered, agitated voice: “Are you really going? Do you have a death wish?”
With a sharp “snap,” the dim yellow motion-sensor light in the hallway flickered on. Jiang Mu’s footsteps shattered the darkness. Before her stood Jin Chao, leaning against the wall of the hallway with a cigarette in his mouth. Hearing the noise, he tilted his head slightly, his brow furrowing as he fixed his gaze on Jiang Mu, who stood with her hands behind her back.
In front of him stood the tall, lanky man who had come looking for him earlier, dressed in shorts and slippers, unkempt and sporting a beard.
The two men’s voices abruptly ceased. The bearded man eyed Jiang Mu with a roguish curiosity. She wore a white chiffon blouse and high-waisted, wide-leg beige shorts. Her fair, cool-toned skin and delicate frame were characteristic of women from the Jiangnan region, her features refined and striking.
The bearded man flashed an intrigued smile and asked Jin Chao, “A relative of yours?”
Jiang Mu’s gaze slowly drifted to Jin Chao. She wanted to hear how he would introduce her to others. But Jin Chao said nothing, merely tilting his chin toward the stairwell. The man sighed in resignation and said, “Alright, think it over. I’ll head out first.”
As he turned to leave, he glanced at Jiang Mu again and said, “Let’s hang out sometime, pretty girl.”
Before Jiang Mu could respond, Jin Chao lifted his eyelids and shot the man a cold, dismissive look. The bearded man chuckled and swaggered down the stairs.
The hallway fell silent once more. Jiang Mu watched quietly as Jin Chao took the last drag of his cigarette. His sharp, clean jawline extended to a distinct Adam’s apple. The cluttered hallway served as a backdrop, his silhouette tinged with the dim light, like a scene from an old film. This version of Jin Chao felt utterly unfamiliar to Jiang Mu, as if he were cloaked in an impenetrable barrier of thorns.
When the motion-sensor light in the hallway automatically turned off, a spark of ember glowed in the darkness. Jin Chao extinguished his cigarette and slowly turned his head, asking, “Looking for me?”
By the time the light flickered back on, his dark, intense gaze had already locked onto her. Though she was merely delivering a gift—a simple task—Jiang Mu felt inexplicably uneasy. She took two steps closer, extending the wrapped item from behind her back, and said, “This is for you.”
Jin Chao’s gaze dropped, settling on the small rectangular box. He took it with one hand, his eyes still fixed on Jiang Mu, and said flatly, “Don’t waste your money buying things for us.”
Jiang Mu’s gaze lingered on the rectangular gift box, her expression shifting slightly as she replied, “It’s still necessary. After all, I’m a guest.”
As she lifted her eyes, she saw Jin Chao twirl the long box in his palm. A faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his eye.
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