woman wearing irish linen shirt

Lao Huang's family visited on time, and the aroma of fresh biscuits immediately visited my impersonal hut.

I sniffed: "Sister-in-law brought something good?"

"You have a good nose." She handed me a thermos bucket nearly two liters in size, "I made some milk soup for you, put it in a glass bowl and put it in the microwave for a while to drink. The lid was not screwed on just now , I accidentally spilled a little on the road."

I feel like my mouth is grinning up to my ears.

"Stupid." Lao Huang spat out a Chinese character.

"Come in." I glanced at him and changed to English.I prepared disposable slippers for them. The children's shoes didn't fit well. My sister-in-law originally told them to change the shoe covers, but it was so hot that I mopped the floor and said they could go in barefoot.

It was the first time for the two of them to come here after moving to a new house, but they knew each other very well. In the blink of an eye, Lao Huang's youngest son took the seat on the floor-to-ceiling sofa in front of the window, waved to his brother, and turned to me and said: " Auntie, your new sofa is so cool!"

Of course it's cool, and the single seat alone cost me half a month's salary.

The sister-in-law smiled at me helplessly: "By the way, Li Yao, you must not put plastic wrap on the bowl when you are hot, and even if you poke a hole."

I nodded, my sister-in-law is always not at ease about my knowledge of life.

"Heating it in a pot is the best, it's more fragrant. Do you have a pot here? I'll heat it up for you."

Lao Huang actually understood: "It is impossible for her to have a pot."

I said "wow", without bothering him, and said as I went to the kitchen, "How can you learn Mandarin so fast?"

"I haven't had time to study it seriously, but recently she only speaks Mandarin with me at home." Lao Huang rubbed his chin, "Maybe it's Shandong dialect? You know, it's hard to say."

The tone of the sister-in-law sounded very strict: "My Mandarin is very good, just as good as my Singaporean English."

"Your Singaporean English is as good as my Mandarin."

Her tone became serious, and she switched to Chinese: "Huang Xiuwen?"

I purposely rummaged through the cabinets, found a small milk pot for cooking instant noodles, and saved Lao Huang's life, and said, "Sister-in-law, can this work?"

The sister-in-law nodded: "OK, can I heat it up for you now?"

"No, no, my sister-in-law just tell me what places to pay attention to, let's visit first, don't delay the business." I smiled apologetically, turned my head and said, "I have a pot."

Lao Huang didn't care about my rescue at all, and insisted: "I bet you can't get a second pot."

I waved at him, opened the cupboard, and put the milk pot in by the way: "Guess who wins now?"

He took a breath, looked at me, and then met his wife's gaze.At the end, the old Huang said: "Okay. Your prize."

He gave me the cookies.

I briefly introduced the layout.Our building has a single structure. Except for the cloakroom, I have maintained the original structure, so there are not many places to say.When I arrived at the second bedroom, I paused and said, "This is the second bedroom."

The two children lived with me for a week and turned a blind eye to it.

Lao Huang might be holding back his laughter, and his voice was a little distorted: "It's a little smaller than I thought."

The sister-in-law was very reserved: "Maybe it's because there are more boxes." After speaking, Wu Yan patted me on the shoulder.

I gave a detailed account of bathroom waterproofing and plumbing, and also turned over the electronic draft of the circuit plan.These things may not be important to single people, but for families with children, there are too many things and more places to consider.The sister-in-law listened very carefully, while Lao Huang looked after the two children.

We had a simple lunch together, and then I took them down to visit the supporting facilities.They have heard these things from the intermediary people a long time ago, but this is a weekend afternoon, and there are residents, so the information they can ask is naturally more specific.

My sister-in-law is still concerned about school and transportation issues, and Lao Huang and I are looking at the children a little further away.I said: "You need to apply for the grill in advance, and all the courts are first-come, first-served. Other things, before this year, are ready to use, but now there are special circumstances, there is a limit on the number of people, so the sauna room is average. Can't use it."

"I don't like sauna rooms." Lao Huang joked, "I live in sauna rooms."

I changed the subject: "The gym is rarely used by people, and the swimming pool is more popular. There seems to be no one today, maybe everyone went out to play on the weekend?"

Lao Huang's youngest son ran over: "Auntie, can we go to the swimming pool?"

"Hmm—" I turned my head to look at Lao Huang.

"According to the regulations?"

"can."

Lao Huang and his two sons stared wide-eyed: "Well——"

I turned my head away and secretly started laughing.He couldn't make up his mind either.

The sister-in-law finally agreed to the request of the two sons.It was a hassle to find swimming trunks temporarily, and finally I found supermarket delivery on Green Superman.Lao Huang and I went back upstairs with some fruits, and he was holding coconuts: Just now Huang Xiuwen said he would show me how to open coconuts with bare hands, so I pressed half a pack of biscuits and bet he couldn't do it.

After entering the house, I said, "Is the floor of our house much better than what you saw before?"

Old Huang probably wanted to say "no".I bet he wanted to say "no," but even he couldn't in good conscience deny the beauty of my floors.After a few seconds, he didn't answer the question about the loyalty and rebellion of the tormenting soul, but only choked out a sentence: "It's strange that your refrigerator is here."

"But it goes well with my sofa."

"Don't you think it's a bit too big for someone who lives alone?"

"It's a perfect refrigerator." I poked the cork board seriously. "Look, it says, 'Perfect Refrigerator'."

Lao Huang rolled his eyes and walked over, squinting his eyes: "It's not like your writing."

I fell silent.

I asked Miss Pender to write it for me—and if you remove the magnet, you can still see her signature.

Fortunately, Lao Huang was not too interested in my refrigerator magnets or the perfection of the refrigerator, so he asked instead: "Do you have plastic wrap?"

"Maybe, I can look for it in the second bedroom." I touched my neck, "What are you going to use it for?"

"Wrap the coconut with plastic wrap and throw it to the corner. The coconut will bloom soon." Lao Huang shrugged.

I went over and picked up the biscuit: "For the biscuit's sake, please spare my floor, Xiuwen."

He frowned: "This is a biscuit baked by my wife!"

I nodded again and again: "So?"

"So—" He glanced at me, "So—" Lao Huang took another breath, "Forget it."

We schmoozed in the kitchen, most of the time we talked about changes in the company, the current situation, and occasionally gossip, but the source of my gossip was Lao Huang, so I listened more and talked less now.

I also moved a high stool for him, but Lao Huang didn’t sit down. He poked the surface of the coconut repeatedly with the only fruit knife at home, vowing to shake the sky with willpower and poke a hole.

I don't like it.

I was already thinking about what the fruit shop owner was about to say when we went to the fruit store two hours later for emergency treatment.

Lao Huang gradually immersed himself in his great career of coconut farming.He was indeed very patient, and finally made a cut several millimeters deep, then concentrated his efforts at the intersection, and the number of scratches of different shades was countless.He is still trying, I just feel that the position of the knife is slightly off, maybe it just picked a thicker place.

Maybe if you try harder for a while, you can really open him up?

Lao Huang suddenly said, "Are you gay?"

I froze.His knife was still going down, but in vain.

"Ah."

Lao Huang poked hard at the opening.Is it on?The tip of the knife stuck in, but no drop of water came out.However, the knife is undoubtedly independent of the power of the knife holder. After a long and repeated cutting, the knife and the coconut finally found their own balance.

He turned his head: "Are you gay?"

"Yeah." I frowned slightly, "Why so loud?"

Lao Huang lowered his head and put his hands on his hips.His figure was really trained, his arm muscles were tense, and there was an unspeakable sense of oppression.

Lao Huang said: "I'm just a little surprised...I didn't expect it. Uh, I, I'm so proud of you, Yao."

"Well, you don't have to be proud of me." I was in a very weird mood, even weirder than when I came out with my parents in high school, "And it's nothing to be proud of. I like women and it doesn't make me superior Or inferior."

Lao Huang's ears were red: "In short, I want to say that I support you! No matter what choice you make, I will stand by your side."

I looked at him.

I know where the strangeness is.

"Is the coconut open?"

Lao Huang pulled out/drawn out the knife: "It's opened."

Unlike Vivienne and Lao Bai who thought "it's no big deal" at the beginning, and my father who pretended nothing happened or my mother who always resisted passively, Lao Huang took the initiative to accept me.

Accept me and accept my sexuality as a gay man, not the other way around.

This feeling is really too strange, and I haven't recovered from it yet.I rummaged to find a bowl for Lao Huang, and he took it. We watched the coconut milk slowly flow out of the narrow hole, and as long as his hand holding the coconut shook slightly, the coconut milk would flow down the shell.

The chest of Lao Huang's T-shirt was soon stained with water.Really sloppy.

I whispered, "Can't you just make that hole bigger?"

"Oh!" He woke up like a dream, "You are right."

Lao Huang used a knife to slowly expand the small hole, which was much easier than the tedious and laborious process of drilling the hole at the beginning.We seem to have gradually recovered from the accident just now. Lao Huang asked without confidence: "Have you always liked girls?"

"Yes."

"Have no feelings for men at all?"

I nodded. "That's my situation. But it's different for everyone. Everyone's situation is different."

"Is Sonia too?" Lao Huang asked.Seeing that I was stunned, he was even more surprised than me, and frowned slightly: "Really? You came out of the closet with me so readily, but when you got here, you started to avoid answering?"

"No, that's not the question." I shook my head. "And it wasn't me coming out to you. You opened my closet door."