Slow to mature after marriage

In the afternoon, the family of four went shopping at the mall.

Shen Ruoqing walked at the front, her steps light and quick. She held Zhou Yu'an's arm with one hand, and with the other hand, she moved back and forth between the clothes racks, grabbing clothes faster than the sales clerk.

White ones, take them. Blue ones, take them. Pink ones, take them. He grabbed a whole bunch and stuffed them all into Zhou Yu'an's arms.

"An'an, try this one on."

"This one looks good too, let me try it on."

"And this one—"

Meanwhile, Zhou Shuyan and Zhou Xubai were carrying so much stuff that they could barely hold it all.

The sales clerk was all smiles, following behind Shen Ruoqing, already carrying several selected clothes in her hands, her arms full of them.

Shen Ruoqing carefully compared the color differences between the two dresses, tilting her head to look at them for a long time, and finally kept both. "An'an has fair skin, she looks good in anything." As she spoke, she stuffed a pale yellow dress into Zhou Yu'an's arms.

Zhou Yu'an was pushed into the fitting room by her, and the moment the door closed, it separated the three pairs of expectant eyes outside.

She looked down at the pile of clothes in her arms, took a deep breath, and began to try them on one by one. After each outfit, Shen Ruoqing would sit on the sofa by the door, tilt her head, and scrutinize the clothes from head to toe before nodding vigorously.

"It's beautiful. This one is beautiful too. An'an is a princess, such a pretty baby."

She glanced at the two men sitting beside her and asked, "What do you think?"

Zhou Xubai had a bit of a headache. "What's the difference between this one and the previous one?"

Zhou Xubai thought his younger sister was tall and had an impeccable face, and that every dress looked beautiful on her.

But he couldn't see the difference.

"What a straight man. No wonder he's thirty and still doesn't have a girlfriend. Stop giving your opinion." Shen Ruoqing said with disdain.

The sales clerk smiled and asked, "Ma'am, do you want all of these wrapped up?"

"Does An'an like it?" Shen Ruoqing asked Zhou Yu'an.

Zhou Yu'an felt he had bought too much, but when he met Shen Ruoqing's bright eyes, he changed his words and said, "I like it."

"Then wrap it up!"

After trying on the last item, Shen Ruoqing was finally satisfied. She turned her head, glanced at the two men on the sofa who had been waiting impatiently, and spoke in a light tone.

"Honey, pay the bill."

Zhou Shuyan stood up, took out his card, and handed it to the sales clerk with fluid movements, as if he had been preparing for this moment all along. Zhou Xubai followed behind him, silently picking up the pile of already packaged paper bags, his shoulders slumping slightly before he straightened up again.

The family walked out of the mall. Shen Ruoqing walked ahead, arm in arm with Zhou Yu'an. The two were very close, their shadows trailing on the smooth floor tiles, one taller than the other, overlapping like a complete circle.

-

It was quite late when Zhou Yu'an returned to the Zhou family home. After taking a shower, Zhou Yu'an stood in front of the wardrobe and opened the door. The pile of clothes he had bought that afternoon hung there neatly, the dresses and coats sorted by color, arranged from light to dark, as if meticulously arranged according to a color spectrum. The jewelry box was on the bottom shelf; when opened, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, each piece was individually wrapped in a small bag, the tags still attached.

She reached out and touched one of the dresses; the fabric was soft, gliding over her fingertips like water.

She remembered Shen Ruoqing outside the fitting room that afternoon. Every time she came out in a different outfit, Shen Ruoqing would tilt her head and look at her from head to toe, then smile and say, "Looks good."

"How can An'an be so amazing?"

"An'an is so pretty."

She had seen another kind of "mother". Xu Ruolin would also praise her, praising her for being "sensible", "obedient" and "not as troublesome as other people's children". Those praises were always conditional, like a carefully designed switch - she had to do something right to get a praise, and if she did something wrong, she would get nothing.

But Shen Ruoqing wasn't like that. She said any dress looked good on her, and she would agree to any request she made. It was as if—as if she didn't need to do anything right, didn't need to become anyone, didn't need to be obedient, didn't need to be useful. Just her standing there was enough to make Shen Ruoqing happy.

Why?

Zhou Yu'an stood in front of the wardrobe, her fingers resting on the pale yellow dress, her fingertips gently rubbing against the soft fabric.

Before the feeling of being moved, doubt came first.

She thought all "mothers" should be like that—giving a little first, then taking a little away, making you always feel like you're not good enough. But Shen Ruoqing wasn't like that. She seemed genuinely good to her unconditionally.

There was a knock on the door.

Zhou Yu'an closed the wardrobe door, walked over, and opened it. Shen Ruoqing stood in the doorway, holding a thick notebook, peeking inside cautiously.

She had changed into a set of loungewear, her hair was dry and loosely draped over her shoulders. Her face still had a rosy glow from her recent shower, her eyes were bright, and her smile held a hint of cautious anticipation.

"An'an, can Mommy stay with you a little longer?" Her tone carried a hint of disdain for the other two men. "Your dad and brother have been with us all afternoon, so Mommy hasn't had a chance to whisper anything to you."

But... what secrets do they have to tell each other?

Zhou Yu'an looked into those eyes. They were soft, sincere, and sparkling, like two black pebbles soaking in water.

She didn't say what was on her mind, but just nodded.

Shen Ruoqing was overjoyed, her eyes crinkling into a smile. "Thank you, An'an!" She walked in, clutching her notebook, glanced back at the bed, then at Zhou Yu'an, and said with a beaming smile, "Mommy's finished showering too, she's very clean. Can I lie in the same bed with An'an?"

Zhou Yu'an, of course, couldn't refuse. She nodded again.

Shen Ruoqing jogged over, lifted the blanket, tucked herself in, and then looked up at Zhou Yu'an with pleading eyes.

Zhou Yu'an stood by the bed, feeling somewhat flustered under those eyes. She paused for a moment, then pointed to the dressing table beside her. "I want to blow-dry my hair first."

"Okay." Shen Ruoqing nodded with a smile, her tone filled with barely suppressed eagerness. "Can Mommy help you blow it?"

"……No."

"All right."

Shen Ruoqing sighed with some regret, burying her chin under the covers, leaving only her eyes showing. She watched Zhou Yu'an walk to the dressing table, pick up the hairdryer, plug it in, and start blowing. The hot air made her loose hair flutter, shimmering softly under the warm yellow light.

Shen Ruoqing watched her retreating figure, her eyes unblinking, her eyes quietly reddening.

After drying her hair, Zhou Yu'an turned off the lights, leaving only a small bedside nightlight. She lifted the covers and lay down, keeping a fist's distance between herself and Shen Ruoqing. The covers were newly changed, carrying the fresh scent of laundry detergent, which mingled with the faint gardenia scent emanating from Shen Ruoqing—unfamiliar yet strangely comforting.

Shen Ruoqing turned over, facing her, and opened the thick notebook in her arms. Zhou Yu'an then saw that it was a photo album. The cover was light pink, the edges worn white, with a handwritten line on it—"An'an's Growth Record." The handwriting was delicate, Shen Ruoqing's handwriting.

Page 1. Zhou Yu'an was just born, lying in the hospital crib with his eyes closed, so small he almost blended into the pillow. A few lines of small writing were in the blank space beside him: "An'an, April 23, 2000, 7 PM. He opened his eyes to look at his mother from birth. He has a light mole between his eyebrows; the doctor said he looks like his father."

Page two. Zhou Yu'an is one month old, held in Shen Ruoqing's arms, wearing a white knitted hat, smiling and showing his pink gums. Shen Ruoqing points to herself in the photo, "Mom was too fat back then, too embarrassed to take pictures. This one was taken by your dad secretly."

Page 3. It's Zhou Yu'an's first birthday. She's sitting in her high chair, her face covered in cream, a spoon in her hand, feeding herself. Across the table sits Zhou Xubai, about seven or eight years old, leaning on the table with his chin resting on his arm, smiling at his little sister.

Zhou Yu'an flipped through the album without saying a word. The album showed her from age one to two, then from two to three, with handwritten annotations from Shen Ruoqing for each year. At three, "An'an learned to ride a tricycle. She didn't cry when she fell; she just got up, dusted herself off, and kept riding." At four, "An'an asked her mother a question today, 'Mommy, why is the sky blue?' Her mother couldn't answer, so An'an went to look up pictures in a book herself."

The last photo was taken when she was five years old on a carousel. It was the same one that Bo Yan showed her; she had her hair in pigtails, a light mole between her eyebrows, and her eyes were curved into two crescent moons as she smiled.

Shen Ruoqing looked at the photo and sighed. "An'an was only 1.02 meters tall when she was five years old," she gestured, "but now she's already so much taller than her mother."

Her voice softened, tinged with a sense of loss. Thinking of her daughter's happiness in her company, she quickly changed the subject before tears welled up, "If I take An'an to the amusement park tomorrow, will she think it's childish?"

Zhou Yu'an lowered her eyelids, avoiding Shen Ruoqing's gaze. She was silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "No."

Shen Ruoqing's eyes lit up immediately, and she smiled, "That's good. I originally wanted to go to an escape room with An'an, but escape rooms are probably too childish for An'an."

She paused for a moment, her tone filled with undisguised pride, "Because An'an is now a very skilled forensic doctor."

She looked at Zhou Yu'an with anticipation, "An'an, can you tell me about your profession as a forensic doctor? I think it's a really amazing and wonderful profession."

Zhou Yu'an felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. "Actually, there's nothing to say, it's quite boring."

Moreover, her mother seemed very timid, and Zhou Yu'an was afraid of scaring her.

"No, I won't." Shen Ruoqing shook her head, then subtly moved a little closer to her. "Why don't you tell Mom, okay?"

Zhou Yu'an hesitated for a moment before beginning to speak. She talked about how she entered the industry, the nervousness of standing alone in front of the dissection table for the first time, and her mentor, Li Jiliang—at this point, her tone unconsciously relaxed a little.

"Teacher Li took good care of me..."

As she spoke, Shen Ruoqing first grabbed her arms with both hands, her fingertips tightening slightly. When she got to a highly decomposed corpse, Shen Ruoqing had already snuggled into her arms, her head resting against her shoulder.