In a small courtyard in the Northeast County, a thousand miles away, not far off men and women, old and young, sat around cooling off in the evening air: a palm fan, a pot of tea, a long pipe in hand, gossiping away in little groups of three or five.

Talking and talking, someone asked, "Brother Old Zhang, is your Xiao Wu coming back this year?"

"Yeah, if he comes back, can he bring some things for us?"

"He didn’t come back last year because they had the baby. Now it’s summer vacation, they should almost be coming back, right, Brother Da You?"

For days Mr. Zhang had been pressing his wife not to go around bragging before anyone asked, in case people got jealous. Of course, if someone brought it up, then it was fine to mention a few words.

Sure enough, the few old fellows were loud, and Mother Zhang, who was chatting with a few women on the side, was itching to answer for her husband. But she also knew that when men were shooting the breeze outside, it wasn’t a woman’s place to butt in.

Mr. Zhang replied cheerfully, "This year, even if they want to come back, they can’t."

"What’s going on?"

Mr. Zhang didn’t beat around the bush and laughed. "He’s graduated, that’s what. My Xiao Wu’s been assigned to the army and is now a soldier, and that kid Jiao Jiao’s also been assigned to some Planning Commission to work. They wrote and said they’re starting work this month. Even if they want to come back they can’t, so they’re asking the two of us old folks to go over instead."

"Oh my, that’s something, happiness upon happiness for your family. Congratulations, congratulations."

"Old Zhang, with a happy event this big, you’ve got to treat the few of us to a drink."

Mr. Zhang nodded with a grin, again and again. "Sure, absolutely! In a day or two I’ll fix up a couple of small dishes and some liquor, and we’ll have a get-together."

The women on the side heard this and turned to ask Mother Zhang beside them, "Sister, you really kept this under wraps. I was wondering how you two never mentioned when Xiao Wu was coming back."

"If I remember right, that pair of twins of Xiao Wu’s should be almost a year old now, right? If the whole family can’t come back, are you two going to Beijing?"

Mother Zhang was so happy she couldn’t close her mouth and said with a smile, "They are a year old. My Jiao Jiao writes every day telling me and her dad to go, says the kids can already call people now."

"Oh really. Then they’re on par with Little Ping’an. Your daughter‑in‑law’s already asked you to come over, you’re really blessed."

Mother Zhang held back her smugness and laughed. "Listen to you, like your daughters‑in‑law aren’t filial. All the kids in our circle here are good kids, we all have blessings."

That was true enough. Everyone who could live in this ring of courtyards was from a good family in the whole county: the elders had status and pensions, which daughter‑in‑law wouldn’t worry about the elders playing favorites, who wouldn’t compete to be filial?

Words of praise always put people in a good mood, and these few aunties were as happy as could be.

When Zhang the Second strolled over with his family, he could hear from far off his mother’s hearty peals of laughter, which put him in a good mood too.

"Oh, your Second is here. I bet it won’t be long before the eldest and the others come too, huh?"

"Exactly. Sister, you really raised your kids well, they’re all so filial." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Zhang the Second stepped forward to greet everyone, and each member of his family found someone to chat with. Sure enough, in less than half an hour, Zhang Guofu and his whole clan came over too.

The houses of the families were close by; not to mention summer, even in winter when snow mixed with rain, the brothers and sisters came by every night to see their parents settled for the night before they left.

This habit made the neighbors both envious and genuinely pleased. Their own kids followed the example: even those living farther away wouldn’t wait for the weekend, they’d also come by after work to check in on their parents.

Over the years, the apartments in this little compound had really become the kind that had demand but no price—aside from the location, who wouldn’t want harmonious neighbors and a happy family?

Mr. Zhang had once calculated the profit his eldest son made on that housing swap—it was a fortune! He truly felt his Brother Zhou had sharp eyes, picking out that spot at a glance.

After the big family said goodbye to the others, Zhang Guofu and his brother carried the stools for their parents and followed them into the little courtyard.

In the moonlight, the jujube tree that Zhang Guoqing had planted years ago to curry favor with his wife had grown tall and strong, the grape trellis had taken shape, and the little vegetable patch that Ping’an missed so much was laden with melons and gourds.

These had become a paradise for the neighborhood kids. Mr. Zhang and Mother Zhang were not petty people to begin with; besides, today your kid eats a handful of dates, tomorrow their parents send over a handful of pears.

Mother Zhang lit a fuse rope in the yard, and the whole family had just sat down on the long bench when at the gate appeared Zhang Meili and her sister, strolling over with their respective husbands.

Mai Miao, already very tactful, pulled Mai Sui along to move more benches, then went to wash some grapes and bring them out, making Mother Zhang so pleased she held the two girls and kept calling them her good granddaughters.

No wonder Mother Zhang doted on the two sisters so much. Eleven‑year‑old Mai Miao and nine‑year‑old Mai Sui looked just like their grandmother, already beauties in the making at such a young age. Especially since they had everything in hand both inside and outside the house, far more capable than their two mothers.

Even the son‑preferring Lin Juhua had to admit her eldest daughter was much better than she was. Compared to the steady Mai Miao, the lively Mai Sui was even more deft and quick‑tongued.

When her little girl turned one hundred days, that old ailment of Lin Juhua’s mother flared up again; in the room she was once more badgering her daughter to get her son‑in‑law to find a job for her precious son.

Lin Juhua had barely opened her mouth to refuse when she was scolded up and down by her mother.

Fuming, Mai Sui, who had just come in, immediately said, "Wow, Grandma, are you really my own grandma? Is there a grandma who wrecks her daughter’s life like this? My mom’s only just started to live a few easy days, can’t you let her catch her breath?"

"You just lightly open your mouth and ask for a job, how come I never knew my dad was that capable? You’re clearly set on making it impossible for my dad and mom to live in peace, aren’t you? Oh? If my mom ends up divorced back at her mother’s, are you going to support her, or are you planning to squeeze another bride price out of her?"

"You damn little brat! That’s your real uncle. If your dad’s not capable, doesn’t he still have your little uncle? Your little aunt’s family are big officials." If Mrs. Lin hadn’t been afraid of the in‑laws outside, knowing Lin Juhua, she’d have started swinging.

"Wow, you said it yourself, she’s my little aunt. Never mind that my little aunt isn’t that capable—say she is, her surname is Zhou, yours is Lin, that’s eight lifetimes away in terms of kinship, where do you get the nerve?!"

"She still has to call your mom Second Sister‑in‑law, doesn’t that make you related?"

"Since you’re counting like that, then doesn’t my little aunt have to call you mom too? Enough, this kind of talk you can only say in front of me; if outsiders hear it, they’ll die laughing. My little uncle and my dad might be real brothers, but he’s not real siblings with my mom. You stir things up so my dad and mom can’t live together and split up, and my little aunt’s still supposed to call my mom Second Sister‑in‑law?"

"Isn’t your mom still her Second Sister‑in‑law right now?"

"Oh, so to get your son settled, you’re willing to ruin my mom, ruin me and my brothers and sisters?"

In the end it was Lin Juhua who cut in and said a few sharp words to her biased old mother, and only then did the old and the young stop quarreling.

Lin Juhua couldn’t be bothered to waste words on her partial mother.

They really thought it was still before Jiefang, that once one person made it, even the chickens and dogs would rise to heaven.

The higher the official, the more they had to keep their heads down—who knows how many eyes were watching from behind. Look at Xiao Wu and his wife now, they couldn’t even meddle in the jobs for their own sisters‑in‑law, never mind outsiders.

Lin Juhua took a few grapes from her daughter, and then looked at her husband who was just happily chatting away with everyone. Sure enough, her mother‑in‑law was right—daughters were the ones who really cared for your feelings.