At our Mid-Autumn family dinner, my mother-in-law, for once, didn’t urge me to have a baby.
I lowered my head and bit into the mooncake that symbolized reunion when the door burst open with a bang.
A little boy, just over two years old, stumbled in and clung to Gu Xu’s leg, calling in a childish voice, “Daddy!”
The laughter around the table stopped dead.
Only my mother-in-law held her wineglass, unable to hide the smugness in her eyes.
Then Lin Qiaoqiao came in, her eyes red. “Sister-in-law, don’t blame me.”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but everyone at the table could hear her. “You’ve never been able to get pregnant, and I was worried Ah Xu would be sad, so I had his child for you. Don’t worry, the child will be devoted to you. He’ll call you Mommy.”
With one sentence, she made an illegitimate child sound like an act of kindness.
I looked down at the mooncake broken in half in my hands and suddenly understood.
This family reunion dinner had been a coup from the very beginning.
