TYAM Chapter 83

Although there were only three people eating the New Year’s Eve dinner, Du Wenjuan was busy all afternoon, frying, stir-frying, and steaming non-stop. By the time she served the dishes, there were a total of ten big bowls.

“We eat ten dishes for a perfect and complete new year,” she said with a smile, taking the red paper tassel from Peng Xingwang’s hands and carefully inserting it into the fried fish’s mouth. She solemnly added, “We can’t touch this fish from the first to the third day of the new year—it’s for good luck.”

She was diligent in cooking, and although both the grown-up and the child tried to help several times, they were pushed back out to watch TV.

Jiang Wang was already hungry just from the aroma, as if he hadn’t eaten anything at noon.

By the time 8 PM arrived, the whole family gathered around the table to watch the Spring Festival Gala. The table was filled with delicious dishes, making it hard to resist.

In Yuhan, it was customary to make steamed dishes. Lotus root, pork ribs, garland chrysanthemum, and pork belly were all steamed together. The dumplings were freshly wrapped with shepherd’s purse filling, and every bite was filled with the taste of spring.

In past years, Jiang Wang had always casually boiled some frozen dumplings for New Year’s Eve, but now, sitting at the table with them and looking at the feast, he suddenly said, “Wait a minute!”

If this were twenty years later, he would definitely post about it on social media to show off.

But right now, even Renren hadn’t caught on yet, let alone WeChat, which was still years away. He might as well take a photo as a keepsake.

He ran back to the study, grabbed a camera, first took a well-focused shot of the full table of dishes, then sat back down with the mother and son, signaling for everyone to look at the camera. “Come on, let’s take a selfie!”

Du Wenjuan smiled and made a peace sign, while the child excitedly raised both hands in celebration.

Outside the window, fireworks were already rising and falling, creating a festive atmosphere.

“2008 is here,” Du Wenjuan sighed. “Time flies so fast… before you know it, Xingwang will be ten years old.”

“Not yet,” the child said, his face smeared with bits of garland chrysanthemum. “I don’t want to grow up, I like it just like this!”

After they had eaten and played to their heart’s content, Jiang Wang took the initiative to wash the dishes. After cleaning up the table with the child, he carried a big box of fireworks to the balcony.

He sent a text to Ji Linqiu, telling him to go to the yard to watch the fireworks.

After sending the message, Jiang Wang placed the fireworks—called “Heaven and Earth Thunder, Red Snake Dance, Three Thousand Explosions”—in the center of the open space and motioned for Du Wenjuan to take the child farther away.

This box of fireworks was over a meter wide—so big that it could only fit in the back seat of a car, not even in the trunk.

The shop owner had been full of enthusiasm when selling it, looking at him with the appreciation of a true fireworks connoisseur: “Buy it!! Trust me, just buy it!! It’s absolutely incredible!!”

Peng Xingwang had already covered his ears in advance, looking a little nervous.

Jiang Wang hadn’t lit fireworks in over ten years. Even real battlefield artillery practice hadn’t made him this anxious. As soon as the fuse sparked, he turned and ran.

The fuse was long, and after a while with no action, Peng Xingwang loosened his hands and asked, “Why isn’t it—”

“BANG!!”

“BANG BANG BANG!!!”

“CRASH— BOOM!”

The child jumped in place from the explosion, and Jiang Wang reached out to cover his ears. “Idiot.”

He hadn’t expected the fireworks to live up to their name — each shot into the sky with the force of a mortar blast, roaring like it was trying to explode into an omen of prosperity or shower the sky with peach and plum blossoms. The whistling and booming came in rapid succession, some in triple bursts, some in five-shot barrages, startling the entire neighborhood. Soon, people opened their windows to see.

“Whoa, who set off such crazy fireworks?”

“This is amazing—it’s been going for two whole minutes and still isn’t done?”

“Looks awesome! Come on, let’s take a photo with the fireworks, this is seriously festive!”

Jiang Wang hadn’t expected local fireworks to be so true to their price—when he handed over 999 yuan for them, he had thought it was just a markup. But now, standing in the middle of the booming spectacle, even his chest cavity was vibrating with the explosions. The rhythm was intense.

Before the fireworks even finished, Ji Linqiu called.

“Jiang Wang,” he asked, barely holding back his laughter, “you sure like to make an announcement, huh? This broadcast has been going on for two minutes straight.”

“It’s not over yet,” Jiang Wang chuckled until his face hurt. “I wanted to make sure you remembered it.”

Midnight hadn’t even arrived yet, but outside, the noise had already drowned out the sound of the TV.

Inside the house, people had to raise their voices to be heard. A single sentence could be shattered into fragments by the constant bursts of firecrackers – everything relied on guessing.

So they simply went downstairs for a walk. Jiang Wang let the child light an entire roll of firecrackers, handed him the camera to take random shots of the sky, and they slowly strolled toward the wider streets.

At this hour, the main roads were nearly empty. Most of the people outside were parents with their kids watching fireworks or setting off their own. A few elderly individuals stood quietly in the corners, burning paper offerings for those who had passed.

Xingwang walked a few steps ahead, tilting his head up to take pictures of the sky, while Jiang Wang and Du Wenjuan walked side by side behind him.

The sky had become a vast and clear canvas, decorated by the people below with bright, dazzling lights. The brilliant colors burst forth without restraint, making the whole world shimmer.

Du Wenjuan had drunk two glasses of wine during dinner, and now, as they strolled, her cheeks were slightly flushed from a gentle intoxication.

Walking beside Jiang Wang, she watched Peng Xingwang’s small figure ahead and slowly spoke.

“The first time Peng Jiahui slapped me, it was because I accused him of cheating and said some really harsh words.”

“My parents always cherished me. They never laid a hand on me, not even once. So when I got slapped, I was completely stunned. At that moment, I thought about divorce.”

Jiang Wang continued walking, already guessing what was coming next.

“The morning I planned to ask for a divorce, I made two bowls of scallion noodles. I told myself that after we finished, our relationship would be over.”

She paused under the shimmering fireworks, then murmured, “But just as I took my first bite, I felt so nauseous that I ran to the bathroom and threw up everything. The whole morning, I could only drink plain water. Just smelling the noodles made me sick.”

“I went to the hospital for a check-up and found out I was already three months pregnant with Xingxing.”

Jiang Wang finally stopped walking and turned to look into her eyes.

He rarely felt afraid.  

But at this moment, he was afraid of what she might say next, so much so that he had an urge to escape, to find another topic and divert the conversation.  

He had thought about this before, but he had buried the thought in the farthest corner of his mind, never daring to touch it.  

Please, don’t say any more.  

But then, Du Wenjuan looked at Xingwang and smiled, her expression filled with joy.  

“When I was waiting for the results at the hospital, I kept thinking—if I really was pregnant, how should I handle this child? And how would I go about filing for divorce?”  

“I never expected that when the doctor actually told me I was pregnant… I just felt so, so happy.”  

“So happy, it was as if the sky had suddenly cleared, as if my whole life would be filled with nothing but bright sunshine.”  

There was smile in her eyes. Even now, just thinking about that day made her smile uncontrollably.  

“When I walked out of the hospital, I touched my belly and thought: so this is how much I love Peng Jiahui, how much I love this child.”  

“I really did want to have a child with him, to build a complete and happy family together, to work hard and raise this child side by side.”  

“And once I thought that, it felt like I could suddenly forgive everything, just for the sake of a peaceful, ordinary life.”  

Jiang Wang stood frozen in place, his mind completely blank.  

Du Wenjuan took a few more steps before realizing he hadn’t followed. She called for Xingwang to stop, thinking Jiang Wang just wanted to stay and take in the scenery a little longer.  

Jiang Wang struggled to keep his emotions in check, his voice hoarse.  

“Don’t you… blame him for stopping you from getting divorced?”  

‘If you hadn’t gotten pregnant, maybe you would have left Peng Jiahui a long time ago. Maybe you wouldn’t have had to suffer so much, right?’

“Why would I?” Du Wenjuan raised her brows slightly, tucking her hands into her pockets with a smile. “He’s my child.”  

“Who would blame a child for the mistakes of an adult?”  

“Thinking about it now, maybe Xingxing was already in my belly back then, telling his dad—‘I’m giving you one last chance. You better do well and keep this family together.’”  

“He didn’t make me nauseous before, and he didn’t make me nauseous later. He just had to pick that exact moment to make me throw up.” She sighed. “When I was pregnant with Xingxing, he was so easy that all my friends were envious.”  

“He was so well-behaved, never caused me trouble. After he was born, he ate well, slept well. When I finished my postpartum recovery, I looked so refreshed that my coworkers thought I had hired a confinement nanny.”  

“His father might have been useless, thinking he could escape his responsibilities by hitting people. But that was my own mistake in choosing him.”  

“It’s just… the moment Xingxing came into this world, it was like everything suddenly made sense to me.”  

She rubbed her eyes and looked at Jiang Wang, her expression filled with both guilt and gratitude.  

“In those first few years after I ran away, I didn’t dare go back to get him. I was afraid that scumbag would use my child to trap me there forever.”  

“But thanks to you, for being my support, for standing up as my family, I finally had the courage to go back.”  

Jiang Wang opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But at that moment, his throat tightened, and a dull ache spread through his chest.  

“I used to think… that having a child was painful for you.”  

“That if you hadn’t given birth to him, maybe you would have been much happier.”  

Du Wenjuan’s eyes turned red as well.  

“That’s not true,” she said, tears in her eyes, her voice both gentle and firm. “He is my child. I could only ever love him.”  

Jiang Wang felt something warm streak down his face, burning and cold at the same time.  

Du Wenjuan was stunned for a second, then panicked. “Are you crying? Did I say something wrong?”  

She hurriedly searched her pockets for a tissue but couldn’t find one. In the end, she simply reached out and wiped his tears away with her fingers.  

Her hands were cool and soft, carrying the faint scent of jasmine.  

It was the smell of a mother.  

“If I said something that upset you—”  

“No,” Jiang Wang blurted out, caught off guard by his own tears. He felt flustered. “I was just thinking… so my mom must have loved me too.”  

It turns out, his mom loved him too.  

“How could you ever doubt that?” Du Wenjuan choked out a laugh through her tears. “Xingxing is silly sometimes. He can’t even tell salt from sugar, yet I still love him.”  

“But you… you’re so capable, so mature. You’ve worked so hard to make it on your own, you take responsibility, you care for your family.”  

“Jiang Wang, your mother must be so proud of you. She must think about you every single day.”  

Peng Xingwang, who had been taking pictures, noticed that his mother and Jiang Wang had stopped walking. He ran back to find them, only to be startled by his older brother’s expression.  

“Brother, are you okay?”  

“Your big brother is just feeling homesick,” Du Wenjuan said gently, reaching out to pull Jiang Wang into a hug. “It’s okay now. It’s windy out here. Let’s go home, alright?”  

Jiang Wang bent down and hugged Peng Xingwang tightly, rubbing his tears onto the kid’s brand-new clothes.  

Xingwang felt bad for his clothes, but he felt even worse for his brother. He even leaned forward a little, signaling that he didn’t mind if Jiang Wang wanted to use his sleeves too.  

“Let’s go home.”