At dawn, five in the morning, Chen Xu woke up as usual, and after changing into his sportswear, he carefully opened the door to avoid waking up the rest of the family.
As soon as the door opened, with a quick flash of his cellphone flashlight, he saw his parents, also tiptoeing around.
"Why are you up so early?" Chen Xu was surprised, although he had heard them mention they had taken up exercising in the mornings for the past two years, jogging and the like. But he hadn't expected it to be this early.
His mother made a shushing gesture, signaling not to wake up Chen Ziqi.
After the three of them left the house, they walked down the stairs together, and his mother said, "Your dad and I exercise every morning now, and we feel much healthier."
Chen Xu felt a bit of heartache and said, "But you don't have to do it this early. It's so cold out, you could go after six, couldn't you?"
"We're used to it by now," his mother replied, "We can't sleep past this time anymore."
