Su Guang returned home just past noon.
Under the old locust tree in the courtyard, San Gouzi was practicing his boxing.
Su Guang paid him no mind, ducking beneath a clothesline to stride quickly to his mother's door and push open the half-mask wooden door.
The windows inside were open, and sunlight streamed through to cast a bright glow across the walls.
Mother Su half-reclined against the kang, her legs covered by that old blanket, her complexion looking even more haggard than in previous days.
Seeing Su Guang enter, she forced a smile and asked in a slightly raspy voice, "You're back? How was your chat with your friend?"
"It went well." Su Guang squatted beside the lounge chair and reached out to tuck the blanket around his mother, keeping his tone as light as possible. "Mom, how are you feeling today? Are you doing a bit better?"
Mother Su shook her head and sighed softly, "It's just the old ailment, what good or bad is there to speak of. Don't worry about me, go tend to your own matters."
Su Guang did not reply further, instead rising to heat a bowl of porridge in the kitchen and bringing it before his mother.
Mother Su took the bowl and lowered her head to sip it slowly.
Su Guang sat beside his mother, his gaze gradually drifting off as he lost himself in thought.
After taking a few sips of the porridge, Mother Su lifted her eyes to look at her son, staring at him quietly for a long moment.
"Guang'er, what are you thinking about?"
Su Guang snapped back to reality and denied it, "It's nothing."
Seeing that his mother had finished eating, he quickly took the bowl from her hands and set it on the low table at the