Cheng Su and Qi Taiguo shared a night of tenderness, yet Cheng Su’s body hadn’t fully recovered within a month, so the two simply kissed and cuddled, but it was very affectionate.
Early in the morning, Qi Taiguo went to the military base for training. After he left, Cheng Su couldn’t fall asleep, so she simply got out of bed and decided to use yesterday’s chives and pork to prepare the filling and dough and made a large plate of dumplings.
She then took the dumplings to the kitchen to boil them. Hualing was washing up by the sink. Cheng Su greeted her with a "Good morning" and started washing the pot.
Hualing glanced over and saw Cheng Su’s mouth curve into a small smile, her eyes brimming with a spring-like warmth. Despite her slightly pale complexion, it was negligible in light of her radiant spirit that could spark envy in others.
"Did you make up with Commander Qi?" Hualing asked sourly.
"Yeah!" Cheng Su hung up the washing brush and responded with a smile.
"You’re so easy to comfort," Hualing snorted.
Cheng Su’s hand paused for a moment before she laughed and said, "There isn’t really anything about being easy or hard to comfort, it’s all about coming to terms with things!
"Really? I thought you were on the verge of divorce before, and now you’ve come to terms with it? Everyone says you two went out together, what happened?" Hualing asked curiously.
Cheng Su turned on the gas stove, then turned to look at her and said, "You know there was an earthquake at the place I was traveling to, right? A lot of buildings collapsed. I almost got buried in there, too. We both barely escaped death. In the face of death, everything else seems so insignificant, except for life itself. Hualing, you work in the hospital, so you should have seen the most of life and death, don’t you understand?"
Hualing was taken aback and replied, "What’s there to understand? Everyone dies eventually, we all go through birth, aging, sickness, and death, and everything is impermanent, isn’t that just how it is?"
"It’s precisely because everything is impermanent that I feel people should treasure the present. You never know what will happen in the next second, or whether you’ll suddenly lose the other person, and be separated forever," Cheng Su said softly.
Hualing fell silent.
"It took a major disaster to make me realize the most important thing is life itself. When you open your eyes every morning and see your partner’s face, knowing they’re by your side, that’s what matters most. So, there’s no question of comforting or not comforting, it’s about seeing things clearly and having an epiphany!"
Listening to this, Hualing couldn’t help but sneer, "I don’t believe you aren’t a bit resentful. Even if you don’t resent Commander Qi, don’t you think of his mother and your child when you see him?"
Cheng Su’s face paled slightly, and Hualing, seeing this, suddenly felt that she might have gone too far. She quickly said, "I didn’t mean to bring up your sorrow on purpose. I just mean that what has happened will always exist, there will always be cracks..."
"I understand what you mean," Cheng Su replied. "Like you said, what’s happened has happened, and we can’t go back to before it happened. Since that’s the case, why dwell on it? We have to look forward, right? My heart still aches, and I regret it, but what’s done is done. If I hold on to it, I’d be letting down not only my family but also myself."
"The Buddha said that people must learn to let go. Obsessing over trifles only brings suffering upon oneself. Hualing, life is short, and I don’t want to spend the rest of mine hating, regretting, and feeling guilty. That’s too bitter. There’s still so much beauty in life worth creating, isn’t there?"
Biting her lip, Hualing scoffed, "So you’ve forgiven your mother-in-law and won’t pursue it further?"
Cheng Su lowered her head, "What else can I do about it? As you said, if we can’t get along, we’ll simply minimize contact."
She had no way to pursue the matter. From now on, it would be best to just maintain a respectful distance, as long as everything appeared fine on the surface.