Chapter 205: The trump card
Mu Xuan's eyes were red as she sat in the car Tang's father drove home, occasionally wiping their corners with the tissues she carried. Throughout the journey, the silence in the car seemed heavy enough to collapse.
Back at Xuehai Yiju, Mu Xuan, contrary to all precedent, did not erupt. Tang Wu silently changed her shoes and sat on the sofa. Behind her, Mu Xuan set down her bag, then went into the kitchen with Tang Zongyuan. In silence, the two puttered about and prepared an exceptionally lavish meal, seemingly using up every ingredient stored in the double-door BOSCH refrigerator. Mu Xuan kept chopping away at the cutting board while Tang's father passed her ingredients. Whenever their eyes happened to meet, he offered a tremulous, guileless smile. They brought out mapo tofu, yellow catfish steamed with fermented black beans, fish-fragrant shredded pork, typhoon shelter crab, twice-cooked pork, ribs stir-fried with chopped chilies, blistered green peppers, and bamboo shoots stir-fried with garlic and preserved mustard greens. Eight dishes filled the table, looking beautiful beneath the spotlights overhead, steaming and fragrant.
But when they sat down to eat, there was probably none of the liveliness that would have suited the dishes spread before them like flowers in splendid bloom.
Throughout the meal, apart from the steam rising beneath the spotlights, there was only the occasional clear clink of chopsticks against bowls and plates. Silence stretched between those sounds like a tug-of-war.
After the meal, Tang Wu cleared the dishes and washed up. Tang's father helped, squeezing his daughter's slender, delicate hand as he comforted her quietly. "Your mother's just like that. Your dad's put up with her for decades, so I know her temperament. She won't hold on to it overnight. Don't take it to heart."
Tang