The next day, at 10 o’clock, Su Jianan woke up. Lu Boyan had already gone to the company. She had nothing to do after breakfast and remembered that she had not visited Tang Yulan for a long time, so, she drove to the Orchid Gardens.

Tang Yulan and a group of wives were playing mahjong happily at home.

Tang Yulan was keen on charity, and when she was in her spare time, she still had a full schedule—playing mahjong, gardening, and going to beauty salons and tea houses. Sometimes, she would suddenly become interested in traveling and sign up to travel with a group.

Everyone had the impression of her to be a kind and life-enjoying lady who had good temperament and taste and who looked even more beautiful when smiling.

Everyone thought that an old lady like her must have a rich and comfortable life without going through hardships.

However, Su Jianan knew that during the month before she met Lu Boyan, great changes had taken place in the Lu Family —Lu Boyan’s father, a well-known lawyer, died in a car accident suddenly.

Tang Yulan was crushed by losing her beloved husband and could hardly recover from the comedown.

Later, somehow, she lived in the old house of Su Jianan’s grandmother with Lu Boyan, so, there had been the first meet between Lu Boyan and Su Jianan.

Su Jianan only knew that Tang Yulan finally walked out of the haze of life and took Lu Boyan to the United States to start a new life. She took care of Lu Boyan and found another way of life that was completely different from the past.

After so many years, she grew old and became a kind and lovely old lady.

In Su Jianan’s memory, Tang Yulan was always smiling, her eyes full of peace, and even the wrinkles on the corners of her eyes made people feel peaceful.

“Mom.” She called Tang Yulan. “I am back.”

“Jianan?!” Tang Yulan was surprised and happy. She rubbed her hands, stood up, and said to her friends, “My daughter-in-law has come. Let me introduce her to all of you.”

After the introduction, the ladies surely blessed Tang Yulan that she had such a beautiful daughter-in-law who came to see her from time to time.

“I have chosen her a decade ago. She is surely so good.” Tang Yulan asked others to help her continue to play mahjong and took Su Jianan to the living room. “Jianan, are you not going to work today?”

Su Jianan told Tang Yulan that she had been busy helping Lu Boyan with the company’s anniversary celebration in the past few days, and she would go to work next week.

Tang Yulan nodded with a smile. “It’s good. It’s almost noon, what do you want to eat? I will cook for you.”

Su Jianan rarely came to see Tang Yulan and was not willing to let her cook, so, she said, “I’ll do it. Go playing mahjong with Mrs. Wang.”

Tang Yulan had already heard from Uncle Xu that Su Jianan was good at cooking and that Lu Boyan’s picky appetite was so conquered by her. “Alright, let Aunt Wang help you and make more dishes. Today, I’d like to treat Mrs. Wang and others for dinner. Let them see how good my daughter-in-law is.”

Su Jianan responded with a smile. She rolled up her sleeves and went to the kitchen. Tang Yulan smiled and walked back to the mahjong table and said, “Please stay here at noon, my daughter-in-law is cooking. You must try the dishes she makes.”

“Wow, she can cook.” Mrs. Wang drew out a card. “I heard that she is the girl of the Su Family. In terms of her age and family, it is rare for her to know how to cook. My son married an immature princess who is picky about everything. Even looking at her makes me angry.”

Tang Yulan smiled and pushed her Mahjong down. “I win!”

Mrs. Wang widened her eyes. “Yulan, it seems that your daughter-in-law brought good luck to you. You haven’t won even once during the whole morning, and now, you win at once after she arrived.”

Tang Yulan looked at the door of the kitchen. “You are right. Maybe she really can bring good luck to our family.”

She could see the changes in Lu Boyan after he married Su Jianan. Now, she only hoped that Lu Boyan could let go of everything that happened more than a decade ago because of Su Jianan.”

In the kitchen, Su Jianan was cutting tomatoes when her phone suddenly rang in the pocket of her apron. She dried her hand and took it out. It was Lu Boyan calling her unexpectedly.

“Uncle Xu said that you went to see Mom?” Lu Boyan’s voice sounded as soon as she answered the phone.

“Yes, I came here after breakfast. What’s the matter?”

Lu Boyan said, “Check your e-mail to see if you have received an email of a design draft.”

Su Jianan checked her mailbox and saw a few printed design manuscripts among the unread mails.

She was confused. “Is this… a design draft of a dress?”

“Yeah.” Lu Boyan said. “Choose the one you like and reply it to the designer. If you like none of them, ask the designer to redesign them.”

“I will check it out first.”

Su Jianan hung up the phone. There were five design drafts in total, and one of them was a strapless dress, which took her breath away at a glance.

She replied to the designer that she wanted this one and then sent a text message to Lu Boyan saying that she had picked one. Lu Boyan should be busy at that time as he did not reply her.

Su Jianan threw the phone back into her pocket and continued to cut the tomatoes.

At around 12 o’clock, six dishes and one soup were served on the table that had perfect combination of color, aroma and taste and did not lose to the dishes made by any chef. Those ladies praised and expressed their admiration for Tang Yulan and envied that she had a son like Lu Boyan who had a good sense both in business and picking wife.

These comments were more like compliments, but Tang Yulan just smiled at it and asked them to eat more.

After the meal, the ladies took some tea and left. Tang Yulan took Su Jianan’s hands and chatted with her. “Jianan, how are you and Boyan doing?”

“We’re doing good.” Su Jianan said, “Mom, you can rest assured that we will not make too much trouble even if we have an occasional quarrel. Besides, we usually don’t quarrel.”

Tang Yulan seemed to think of the past and sighed. “When Boyan’s father and I were young, we wanted to make a lot of money, live in a bigger house, and drive a better car. His father suddenly passed away, which woke me up. Nothing is more important than health. Now, I only hope that you two can live a good life. You don’t have to be rich or powerful, and I just want you two to be healthy and safe for the rest of your life.”

Every time when Tang Yulan mentioned Lu Boyan’s father, there would be sadness to cover her smile. Su Jianan suddenly thought, “Maybe… Lu Boyan’s father’s car accident is not as simple as it seems.”

Out of uncertainty, she dared not to ask Tang Yulan about it and was not sure whether Lu Boyan and she could live a good life as Tang Yulan had expected.

Lu Boyan and she had already discussed about a divorce before they even started to live their life. Although none of them had mentioned it these days, she still had a hunch that the life of her and Lu Boyan… would not be as smooth as Tang Yulan hoped.

But, in order to make Tang Yulan feel at ease, she could only promise her that they would definitely live a good life and told her not to worry about them.

“It’s all about you two. Nothing I do will work.”

Tang Yulan rubbed her shoulder and smiled helplessly.

She did not know others, but she knew Su Jianan and Lu Boyan well. Although they didn’t go against her, once they had made a decision, it would be useless for her to change their mind.

Su Jianan decided to end the topic and went behind the sofa to massage Tang Yulan on her shoulders. “I know how to relax your shoulders through massage, I will help you.”

After a while, Su Jianan received a text message from Lu Boyan. “I will come after work and wait for me.”

At this time, it was nearly four o’clock in the afternoon. Tang Yulan thought that the sun was not hot and changed her clothes to go to the garden to weed the grass. Su Jianan also took some tools and followed her interestedly.

Therefore, when Lu Boyan came back, he saw Su Jianan wearing a big sunhat, squatting on the edge of the flower bed, using some tools to skillfully weed and loosen the soil, and talking with Tang Yulan happily.

Tang Yulan noticed Lu Boyan first and smiled at him while putting down the small shovel. “Boyan, you’re back, then I am going to cook.”

“Mom, I-”

Before Su Jianan could finish her words, she was held down by Tang Yulan, who said, “You have made lunch for us, so, you must try my cooking tonight.”

After Tang Yulan returned to the kitchen, Lu Boyan came over to Su Jianan, who looked at him and didn’t know what to say for a while.

Her sunhat was really big, which made her face look even little. The thin sweat on her forehead stuck to a few strands of her hair, and her cheeks were reddish because of the heat. Lu Boyan could not help rubbing her face.

Su Jianan was somewhat unaccustomed to being watched by Lu Boyan. “Is there anything on my face?”

She touched her face unconsciously, and the dirt on her hand was brought to her clean face and the tip of her nose.

Lu Boyan frowned. “Silly girl.”

He took her hand and wiped the dirt off her face with his thumb.

Su Jianan had thin skins, and the sand ground her face with pain. She couldn’t help but grab Lu Boyan’s hand and said, “My skin is going to be broken. Do it gently. Do you think your wife is too beautiful?”

Lu Boyan smiled and said, “I only see your narcissism.”

Although he said that, his hands on her face became gentle. Su Jianan found that they stood close to each other, and Lu Boyan’s familiar breath was lingering in her breath.

If it was before, so close to each other, they would be embarrassed, and she would want to escape.

But now, they somehow felt it a natural thing. Lu Boyan wiped her face as if he had done it thousands of times before.

Soon, her face was as clean as ever, and Lu Boyan retracted his hand. “Okay, it’s done.”

Su Jianan felt that Lu Boyan caused her stupid behavior of soiling her face with dirt, so, she held Lu Boyan’s arm and wiped her face with his sleeves while saying, “Thank you.”

She tried to leave after she did it.

Lu Boyan grasped her hand quickly, pulled her into his arms and wrapped her waist. He looked at the shirt cuffs stained with dirt. “You did it on purpose?”

Right then, Su Jianan caught the sight of the kitchen, which made her hair stand on end—Tang Yulan could see them from the kitchen from the beginning.

She struggled. “You let me go first. Mom is in the kitchen.”

Lu Boyan raised his lips and said, “She will be happy to see us like this.”

Su Jianan stared at him. “Rogue! I will clean your sleeves, let me go first.”

Tang Yulan indeed could see them, so, Lu Boyan couldn’t be too much. He let go of Su Jianan and followed her to the faucet in the corner.

She wetted her finger with a small amount of water and gently wiped the shallow mud on his cuff. “Well, I always wanted to ask you that why didn’t mom move to live with us? She is living here alone, and if something bad happens to her, we won’t know.”

Lu Boyan was silent for a moment –

“She has lived here since she has married to my dad. All the furniture was picked by her and my dad. The garden was designed by them together. In the past few years abroad, she could not ask someone to take care of the house. When she was back, she didn’t hire people help her but restored it by herself little by little. She said that she would not live in another place for the rest of her life.”

Su Jianan seemly understood what this house meant to Tang Yulan.

“As long as she lives here, she could find traces of her husband.”

For so many years, she was always smiling towards life. That did not mean that she had forgotten her husband.

On the contrary, she never forgot her love.

Just as Su Jianan was distracted, Lu Boyan raised his lips. “And, if mom moves to live with us, you will have to live with me in the same room. Jianan, how long have you thought about this?”

—————