When Xu Xiangyang opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting upright in front of a table.
On the table lay a pile of leftovers that were half-eaten. Chicken, braised fish, vegetable soup—all were shrouded in a greasy cold light under the illumination of the bulb overhead.
He looked up to see the young Song Yao sitting on a chair, silently pushing food around his bowl.
Both sides of the table were occupied by a man and a woman. Xu Xiangyang recognized the woman as the ghost in pajamas from the bathtub, Song Yao's mother, Qi Qiufang; thus, the identity of the unfamiliar man naturally had to be her husband, Song Jing.
There was an open bottle of baijiu on the table, and a fuzzy large hand intermittently picked it up, poured the liquor into a small plastic cup, and downed it in one go.
Including Song Deshou, four people sat together at the table, resembling a happy family at a glance, yet the atmosphere was exceptionally tense.
