Mother Liu Mei, Living in Seclusion in Long'ao

Zhang Yang stepped out of the villa. In a corner of the garage stood a battered electric bicycle, the kind he could pedal when the battery died. It was his means of getting around while living with the Cheng Family.

The bicycle was so old its battery should have retired long ago. He had to keep it charging whenever he could, or it might strand him halfway to his destination.

Zhang Yang unplugged it and put away the charger. He would have to charge it again when he got home.

"Man, who'd have thought a good-looking guy like me would end up like this?" Zhang Yang said with a wry smile as he climbed on.

There would be no racing along like the wind. Riding it felt more like driving a cart pulled by an old ox.

Still, he sat high up in the open air, with a breeze coming from every side. At least it was cool.

His destination was Long'ao, a little over ten kilometers from Gong City. It wasn't quite a suburb, but calling it the countryside didn't seem right either. Zhang Yang called it "out in the sticks."

These days, though, policies had improved, and roads reached every village. Long'ao was no exception. Even pedaling the electric bicycle, he had a smooth ride.

After leaving the Cheng Family home, Zhang Yang stopped at a fruit shop first. Naturally, it belonged to someone he knew.

Years with the Cheng Family, on top of growing up poor, had taught Zhang Yang to be frugal. But he never skimped on fruit for his mother, Liu Mei. That was one thing he was always willing to spend money on.

After buying fruit, he went to the market for vegetables. His mother lived alone and had always led a hard life, denying herself good food and clothing. Whenever Zhang Yang came home with money in his pocket, he spent whatever he had to give her a good meal.

With the fruit and vegetables in hand, Zhang Yang got back on his electric bicycle.

"Riding my favorite little scooter, never stuck in traffic. Riding my favorite little scooter, I'll be home before I know it..."

Zhang Yang hummed as he rode. With nothing to slow him down, he reached Long'ao half an hour later.

Long'ao was a village nestled in a small mountain valley. It had only a little over a hundred households. Life had improved there, and few young people remained; one by one, they had bought homes in the city.

Large stretches of Long'ao's farmland now lay abandoned.

Grain had cost one yuan ten years ago, and ten years later, it still cost one yuan. As the village's old farmers put it, who the hell still grew grain these days?

What a joke.

Zhang Yang had grown up in Long'ao, though he had forgotten exactly how many years he'd lived there. The subject also seemed taboo. Whenever he asked his mother, Liu Mei, she found an excuse not to talk about it.

Nearly every household in Long'ao had a small courtyard in front of its home.

"Mom, I'm home!"

Whenever Zhang Yang came back and called out those words, tears welled in his eyes. So many feelings rushed over him that he could never have put them all into words.

But only a flock of chickens clucked in the courtyard, accompanied by the barking of Mibai, a Labrador retriever.

Liu Mei was in her forties and lived in the countryside, where life revolved around the fields. She grew crops at home, so she was probably out working now.

Mibai usually followed Liu Mei when she went out to work, but today, he had stayed behind.

Zhang Yang opened the courtyard gate himself and wheeled his bicycle inside. After plugging it in to charge, he carried the fruit and vegetables into the house and put the vegetables in the refrigerator to keep them fresh in the heat.

"Mibai, where did Mom go?" At the sight of Zhang Yang, Mibai greeted him with the enthusiasm of family. He leaped against him, licking and playfully nipping at him, his tail wagging like it had a motor attached.

"Woof, woof..." Mibai barked again and again, as if telling Zhang Yang where Liu Mei had gone.

Zhang Yang couldn't understand dog, of course. He frowned and tried to work it out.

Mibai jumped down, turned, and ran outside. At the courtyard gate, he stopped abruptly, looked back, and barked at Zhang Yang.

"Oh, you'll take me? Let's go, then!" Zhang Yang grabbed a bottle of water and hurried out. He shut the gate behind him and followed Mibai.

Mibai was delighted and nearly ran the whole way. Zhang Yang couldn't keep up with four legs on his two, so Mibai stopped to wait for him as they headed toward the fields.

Zhang Yang's family no longer grew grain, but they did grow some vegetables. When he was little, his mother had raised him by growing and selling vegetables.

In the green pepper field, a woman in a sunhat swung a hoe. Now and then, she bent to pull up a fistful of weeds. She was weeding the field.

"Mom..." Zhang Yang was a grown man, but his voice trembled as he called to her.

After all these years as her son, he had brought his mother no happiness. Instead, he had made her the object of ridicule: her only son had married into another family.

"Xiao Yang, you're back!" Liu Mei looked up, delight filling her sweat-covered face.

Zhang Yang ran to his mother, took the hoe from her hands, and gave her the water.

"I'll do it. Take a break."

"Woof, woof..."

Zhang Yang began weeding, and Mibai barked at the top of his lungs, as if laughing with joy.

Liu Mei knew Zhang Yang was poorly treated by the Cheng Family. Whenever he came home, her heart tightened; she was sure they had hurt him again.

No matter how incapable Zhang Yang might be, no matter how much others disliked him, at home he was still Liu Mei's precious son.

"Xiao Yang, what brings you home?" Liu Mei took a drink of water and wiped the sweat from her face.

Zhang Yang turned and smiled at her. "Mom, I came to see you."

Thankfully, though Zhang Yang had been trapped in the same day for a thousand years, his mother still looked the same. She was over forty and worked in the fields every day, yet her skin remained fair and her body firm. She was still beautiful, just as she had been when he was a child.

"Mom, don't work yourself too hard. You'll wear yourself out!" Zhang Yang was good at farmwork too, and he spoke as he worked.

Perhaps Zhang Yang was the only person in the world who still worried about Liu Mei.

Liu Mei gazed at Zhang Yang's back as he worked. It brought back the sight of her lover beside her when she was young. The resemblance was striking. So very striking.

If Liu Mei had not fallen ill, and if they had not been too poor to pay for treatment, Zhang Yang would never have needed to marry into the Cheng Family and endure their bullying.

Liu Mei had even considered telling Zhang Yang the secret of his birth, but she was afraid he wouldn't be able to accept it.

Now she had recovered, their debts were paid, and the Cheng Family didn't even like Zhang Yang. What was the point of carrying on when none of them were happy?

"Zhang Yang, come home." People said it was better to tear down ten temples than break up one marriage. Liu Mei had held back those words for a long time, but at last she said them.

Zhang Yang froze. He knew what she meant, and how serious she was. She hadn't even used his childhood nickname.

"Xiao Yang, I know they've upset you again. It happens every time. We don't have to put up with it anymore. I'd rather sign an IOU and pay the money back bit by bit. I can't let this ruin your chance at happiness for the rest of your life." Liu Mei finally said everything she had long wanted to say.

It was true. Whenever Zhang Yang was mistreated, he came home. This was his refuge, the place where he felt warm and safe. He didn't need to tell Liu Mei what had happened; simply seeing her healthy and well was enough to ease his heart.