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The setting sun dipped below the horizon, its afterglow painting the streets before receding like a tide.
A vast, azure sky unfurled above, as birds glided past, their calls piercing the quiet air.
After He Lichun departed, Bai Sha made her way back home.
The moment she opened the door, she found an interview from her world championship playing on the television, with Zhou Haochen holding their little one, both utterly engrossed in the broadcast.
Bai Sha’s lingering sadness was instantly overwhelmed by a wave of embarrassment.
‘I’m on TV, and I can even show off (TL Note: “装13” is Chinese slang for showing off or bragging) to my friends with this,’ she thought, ‘but once my family sees something like this, the embarrassment factor goes through the roof!’
“Welcome home.” Seeing Bai Sha’s flushed face, Zhou Haochen assumed her discussion with her mother had gone well, unaware that she was simply ‘red-lined’ (TL Note: “红温” is internet slang, originally from computer hardware overheating, here meaning extremely embarrassed or flustered).
“Mama! Welcome home!” The little one, too, scampered to Bai Sha’s feet.
Bai Sha’s initial exasperation subsided.
‘Never mind,’ she thought, ‘if they like watching it, let them.
So many people wish to be on TV but never get the chance.’
“Why are you suddenly watching my old matches?” Bai Sha, holding the little one’s hand, glanced at the screen; it appeared to be the World Championship from the year she won, already at the interview stage.
Zhou Haochen chuckled, “Just letting her know how amazing Mama is.”
“Mm-hm!” The little one nodded excitedly.
Though she hadn’t understood a thing after watching for ages, she could always spot Mama’s face popping up in the corner of the screen.
And Papa said Mama was a world champion!
‘What is “world”?’ she wondered.
Papa said it meant both home and abroad.
“Mama is super, super awesome!”
Bai Sha gently pinched the little one’s nose, asking with a smile, “Do you even know what ‘awesome’ means?”
The little one crossed her arms, “It’s like Ultraman fighting monsters, that’s what awesome is!”
“But what if Mama isn’t Ultraman?”
“Mama can hit Papa.” The little one pointed at Zhou Haochen, who was smiling nearby.
Zhou Haochen’s smile vanished.
‘?? What a good daughter,’ he thought, ‘truly a “leaky, black-hearted cotton” (TL Note: “漏风黑心棉” is a humorous Chinese idiom for someone who betrays family secrets or sides with outsiders)!’
After some more laughter and chatter, Bai Sha’s mood brightened once more.
She settled onto the sofa with the little one, changing the TV from the match to ‘Boonie Bears,’ and the family of three then settled down to watch.
Zhou Haochen subtly edged closer to Bai Sha, asking, “What did your mom want? If anything happened, tell me.”
The little one was absorbed in the TV, while her parents whispered secrets.
Bai Sha murmured softly into his ear:
“Nothing much, just came to see me.
She also gave me a passbook to give to my sister when I see her later.”
“That’s good, then.”
Watching him sigh in relief, Bai Sha asked curiously, “What did you think they would want from me?”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhou Haochen replied, “For someone like you, they usually come crying and making a scene, then demand alimony!”
Bai Sha pondered this, realizing there were indeed many cases of ‘original family kidnapping’ (TL Note: “原生家庭绑架” refers to emotional manipulation or financial exploitation by one’s birth family) in their circles.
“In that case,” she mused, “they seem relatively normal.”
“Tell me, if Xiao Yu refused to study, ran away from home, and went somewhere far away in the future, what would we do?”
Zhou Haochen knew Bai Sha was lost in a spiral of hypothetical worries.
In essence, she was projecting herself onto a future Zhou Yuying, and then imagining herself as the parents.
Zhou Haochen gently stroked her hair, murmuring, “Everyone’s experience is unique, but if a problem arises, the first thing we should do is communicate properly.”
“Nothing happens overnight.
When you asked to drop out of school back then, your parents should have discussed it with you: what were your reasons, and what were the pros and cons?
Instead of simply denying your request and making you follow their every command.”
“It’s not that their mistakes only count because you succeeded and became a world champion.
At least in my eyes, even if you hadn’t succeeded and had remained ordinary, I would still believe they held undeniable responsibility.”
Bai Sha hugged her knees and nodded.
Her thoughts drifted back to the ‘her’ in her dreams, to a past as hazy as a fog, where everything seemed to begin with meeting Zhou Haochen.
‘Perhaps, was that the Bai Sha who hadn’t succeeded?’
“What do you think would have happened if I hadn’t made it to the professional stage back then?”
“Do you believe in yourself? In your perseverance, your ability, your determination?”
Bai Sha paused, taken aback.
The moment she embarked on her journey, she had, of course, believed in herself, in her ability to excel in an unfamiliar field.
Like in ’17, the moment she lifted the trophy, even earning the FMVP, she could even be said to have scorned the world, believing, ‘I am the best in the world!’
“Of course.”
“Then you would have succeeded.
Perhaps your achievements wouldn’t be as grand as they are now, but you definitely wouldn’t have slinked back home in shame.”
The ‘her’ in her dreams could never truly be her, and the Zhou Haochen in her dreams could never truly be him.
Bai Sha knew it was time to draw a clear line.
“Do you really not have any strange dreams?” ‘Surely I’m not the only one dreaming these things?’ she wondered.
“Are you talking about the dreams you’ve told me?” Normally, if she had a dream one night, she would immediately share it with Zhou Haochen.
“Exactly! They’re all about you and me.
Don’t you ever dream them?”
Zhou Haochen shook his head; he had never had such dreams.
“I think it’s very likely that those are us from the little one’s world!”
Zhou Haochen tapped her head, chuckling, “Why are you still so uncertain?”
Bai Sha clutched her head, finding him utterly baffling.
“How can I be sure? It’s not like I can travel through…”
As if struck by a sudden revelation (TL Note: “醍醐灌顶” is an idiom meaning to be enlightened or suddenly understand), Bai Sha turned her head to look at the little one, who was quietly watching TV.
‘That’s right! Isn’t there someone who *did* travel through right here?!’
“Figured it out? Doesn’t seem you’re entirely dumb.” The clever Master Zhou (TL Note: “周大人” is a respectful, slightly teasing way to address Zhou Haochen, implying he’s superior or authoritative) had once again triumphed over the adorable, naive Madam Bai (TL Note: “白女士” is a respectful, slightly teasing way to address Bai Sha, implying she’s a bit clueless or simple) in the realm of intellect.
“You’re the dumb one!” Bai Sha retorted, puffing out her cheeks.
Then, with a beaming smile, she asked the little one, “Baby, do you know how Papa and Mama met!?”
The little one turned her head, looking bewildered, then nodded and said, “I know!”
“Then can Baby tell Mama?”
Seeing the expectant gleam in her mother’s eyes, the little one felt a bit confused.
‘How Mama and Papa met, why would she ask *me*?’ she wondered.
“Mama said Papa is Mama’s sun, and he cured Mama’s leg, so Mama married Papa.”
Bai Sha nodded, exchanging a knowing smile with Zhou Haochen.
‘Confirmed,’ she thought, ‘it’s definitely them.’
“From a laborer to a boss! Master Capitalist Zhou (TL Note: “牛马” literally means ‘ox and horse,’ referring to someone who works tirelessly like a beast of burden; “周大资本家” is a playful, slightly teasing title for Zhou Haochen, implying he’s a big capitalist).”
“What are you talking about! I’m an entrepreneur of the people!”
“The youth who slays the dragon eventually becomes the dragon.”
Zhou Haochen sighed helplessly; there seemed to be no way to refute her.
‘But it was for these two that I fell into this “demonic path,” so let them mock me,’ he thought.
****
“You look so beautiful today, wouldn’t it be a waste not to kiss you?”
“Go away, don’t be so handsy; our daughter is still watching TV outside.”
“Who are you to say whether I can kiss my wife?”
“Who’s your wife?! You shameless man!”
In the kitchen, the young couple shared intimate moments, a little flirtation behind their daughter’s back.