A while later Zhao Lihua and Mei had settled into the sofa and hadn't stopped talking since. Old stories, missed moments, the kind of conversation that picks up exactly where it left off no matter how much time has passed. Zhao Lihua was laughing at something Mei said, the kind of laugh that reached her eyes.
"I'll put the tv on," Li Feng offered, moving forward.
Mei didn't look at him. "We're fine."
He put it on anyway and stepped back quietly.
He had tried everything. Everything he had read the other night. Offered tea — she said she wasn't thirsty. Brought out snacks — she moved them aside. Asked if she needed anything — she looked straight through him like he hadn't spoken.
Mei did not simply dislike him. She had elevated it into an art form.
He sat back down. Xian climbed immediately into his lap.
Mei watched her niece for a moment, then leaned forward with a smile and held out her arms. "Xian, come to Aunty Mei."
Xian looked at her. Then looked up at Li Feng. Then back at Mei.
"No."
Mei blinked. "Xian, come on. It's Aunty—"
"Aunty Mei is mean to Daddy." Xian said it with complete seriousness, arms folded, Baozi pressed to her chest. "Xian doesn't like that."
The room went very quiet.
Zhao Lihua pressed her lips together.
Li Feng stared at the television like his life depended on it.
*This did not help.*
"I'll be in the next room," Li Feng said. He picked Xian up and moved toward the dining area.
"Aunty Mei isn't being mean," he said quietly, more to himself than to her. "If anything, Daddy deserves it."
Xian leaned back to look at his face. "But why?"
He had no answer to that.
---
Mei waited until she heard him move away before she turned back to Zhao Lihua. The lightness from earlier was still there but something else had settled underneath it.
"Jiejie." Her voice was calm. Careful. "Please tell me you are finally leaving him."
Zhao Lihua stared at her. "What?"
"I didn't come all this way just to see you." Mei folded her hands in her lap. "I came to take you out of this marriage. Both of you. You and Xian."
Zhao Lihua was quiet for a moment. "Mei—"
"I know what he did to you." Mei's voice didn't rise. It stayed even, which somehow made it heavier. "I know what the last few years looked like. You didn't have to tell me everything over the phone. I already knew. I knew long before you called."
Zhao Lihua looked at her hands.
"I'm not saying this to upset you," Mei continued. "I'm saying it because I mean it. Whatever you need — a place to stay, help with Xian, anything. I am here. I have always been here."
The room was quiet.
Zhao Lihua looked up at her sister. "He's changed, Mei."
Mei held her gaze and said nothing.
"You might not believe me," Zhao Lihua said. "Or think this is like before. But it's true." She paused for a moment. "Sometimes I'm not even sure he's the same Li Feng I married."
Mei watched her quietly.
"If this was a month ago," Zhao Lihua continued, "I would have packed a bag and walked out with you. Right now, today." She looked down at her hands. "But it's not a month ago."
Mei didn't respond immediately. She studied her sister's face the way she always had, looking for the thing Zhao Lihua wasn't saying out loud.
"I'm saying give it time," Zhao Lihua said. "That's all I'm asking."
Mei didn't answer straight away. She looked at her sister's face for a long moment. The apartment. The sofa. The television on the wall. The laugh that had reached Zhao Lihua's eyes earlier — the kind she hadn't seen in years.
She didn't want to admit any of it.
"How long," Mei said finally.
Zhao Lihua looked at her. "What?"
"How long has he been like this."
Zhao Lihua was quiet for a moment. "About a month."
Mei said nothing.
"I know what you're thinking," Zhao Lihua said. "I thought the same thing. Every single day. Waiting for it to stop." She looked down at her hands. "It didn't stop."
Mei studied her. The resistance was still there but something underneath it had shifted slightly, not enough to show, but enough.
"And you," Mei said slowly. "How do you feel."
Zhao Lihua's face went red.
Mei stared at her.
*No.* She sat up slightly. *What kind of dark magic does this man have on my sister.*
It had always been like this. From the very beginning Li Feng had given her that feeling. Snake under the grass. Something she couldn't name but couldn't shake either. And every single time she had brought it up, every time she tried to make Zhao Lihua see it, the moment Li Feng's name entered the conversation her sister's brain simply switched off. Completely. Like a light going out.
*You can't understand love,* she always said.
Mei looked at her sister's red face.
*Love.* She almost snorted. *Love is dead.*
Zhao Lihua reached over and held her sister's hands gently.
"Mei." Her voice was quiet. "No one loves me like you do." She squeezed her hands. "And I promise. This will be the last time."
Mei looked at her for a long moment. The resistance was still there but something underneath it had shifted.
"Do you mean it?"
"Yes," Zhao Lihua said. No hesitation.
Mei held her hands back and said nothing for a while. Then she let out a slow breath and leaned back into the sofa.
She didn't say she believed her. But she didn't let go either.
Seeing her sister finally settle, Zhao Lihua reached for the remote. "There's this new show I found—" Her face lit up immediately.
Mei looked at her. She didn't need to know the title. One look at her sister's expression and she already knew. Romance series. Absolutely a romance series.
*That explains so much.*
---
In the dining area Li Feng had set Xian down quietly. He had caught enough of the conversation to piece the rest together.
He couldn't help but smile.
*So that's what it takes.*
He looked down at Xian who was watching him with her head tilted, waiting.
"Xian." He crouched to her level. "How would you like Daddy to cook another delicacy?"
Xian's eyes lit up immediately.
He stood up and moved toward the kitchen.
*No more research. No more strategy.*
He would just do what he knew best.