A picnic? With a young man she had just met, in a park which was more than big enough to hide a body?  That was a scenario which parents, teachers, elders, and public service announcements all urged young girls to avoid.

However, Lin Jiaying had learned something about people in her seventeen years of life.   Unlike the greasy shills who occasionally invited her to sign up as a ‘swimsuit model’ or the hot-eyed young men who sometimes invited her for an evening of KTV in out-of-the-way karaoke parlors or the somewhat seedy older men who offered to buy her used, unwashed underwear, (all of whom she avoided),  Sheng Ruzhao had an open, kind, look, even though his features, like his grandfather’s, were rather severe.  In fact, his deep brown, soulful eyes reminded her of a puppy.   An exceptionally large breed puppy, but a puppy.

This wasn’t just any young man.  This was Great Uncle Sheng’s grandson, so Lin Jiaying said, “Yes, if it’s all right with your grandfather.”  That would mean an elder knew about this…date! Yes, it was a date!   

“Sure!”  Sheng Ruzhao pulled out his phone.  Soon he said, “Hello, Grandfather.”  Being from an older generation, of course Sheng Jianyu would prefer phone calls to texting.

“Ruzhao!  How was your exam?” Lin Jiaying faintly heard the familiar voice of her family’s financial advisor coming from the phone. 

“You won’t be disappointed at my results, sir.”

“I’m sure I won’t,” the elder Sheng replied.  Lin Jiaying missed the rest of what he said, but she heard Sheng Ruzhao clearly enough.

“No, I went to Xixi Wetland Park.  I just felt like it.  Oh, and I met a girl here, someone whose family you know, Lin Jiaying.”  There was a moment’s pause while his grandfather said something.  “Actually, Grandfather would like to talk to you.”   Sheng Ruzhao held out the phone.

“Oh! Of course!”  She took it from him and held it to her ear.  “Great Uncle?”

“Xiao Jiaying, good day! How did you happen to run into my unworthy grandson?”  Sheng Jianyu said in affable tones.

“We were on the same ferry, and I—was a bit upset.  He was very nice to me.”

“I am glad to hear that.  I was planning to call you shortly in any event.  I wanted to warn you that your stepmother ran out of ready money today.  Expect her to be in a foul mood.  She spent everything your father left, and all this month’s allowance as well.”

“She did?  Everything?”  For a moment, Lin Jiaying couldn’t believe it, but then the facts added up.  There was hardly a day that Ren Minglan didn’t bring home shopping bags or have packages delivered. 

“Don’t worry.  Your inheritance is safe, and so are your grandmother’s holdings.  However, as distasteful as it is to mention it, I strongly suggest that on your eighteenth birthday, you should come to my office to review your portfolio and to make a will, just in case.”

“I will do that, sir, and thank you for the warning.”

“It’s nothing.  May I speak to my grandson again?”  

“Of course!” She passed the phone back to Sheng Ruzhao, just as her own phone rang. 

“Excuse me,” she said, taking her phone from her purse.

It was an unfamiliar number, but she took the call anyway.   It might be about her grandmother or her little sister.     “Hello, who is this?”

“It’s me, Jiaying.  What’s wrong?  What happened? Are you all right?”  Ye Ruolan, Shi Nuan’s mother, asked anxiously. 

“Aunt Ruolan—I don’t know what to say.  Today I overheard Nuan Nuan talking about me to our classmates, and…we aren’t friends anymore.  I think we never were, really.”

“What did she say about you?”

“I don’t want to repeat it, Aunt Ruolan.  It wouldn’t be right for me to tell you.   At the end of the day, Shi Nuan is your daughter, and I’m not.  I truly am grateful for, for, everything.”

“Look, I will talk to Nuan.  She’ll apologize to you and then we’ll all go out to the movies and then shopping.  Any movie you like and any shops you like, on me.  You’ll laugh together, and…and everything will be all right again.  The senior year of high school is an incredibly stressful time.   People say things they don’t mean, and others take things too seriously, or out of context.  When your hearts are true, everything can be made right again.  Your mother and I used to quarrel, but in the end, we were sisters in all but blood.”

“Did Mother ever say it was embarrassing to be seen with you, or that she couldn’t wait to get away from you, in front of everybody you both knew?”

There was a pause. “No.  She never did that.  But Jiaying, you said I was your second mother. To me, you are my second daughter.   I don’t want to lose you.”

“I—don’t want to lose you either, but you’re Nuan’s mother first.  Blood is thicker than water. Goodbye, Aunt Ruolan.”

“Wait!  Can’t we—I mean, you and I—at least keep in touch?  Meet up now and then for a cup of tea?  For your mother’s sake.  With your grandmother incapacitated and your stepmother being who she is, you don’t have many people you can talk to.  Don’t block my number.  You can call me or text me, any time you need to.  I will be here for you, and I won’t let it interfere with my relationship with Nuan. If you just cut our relationship off here—my heart will hurt.  Please, Jiaying.”