Ten Years Like Frost

“Mom, I’m going to the bathroom.” Xiao Qiu put down her chopsticks and suddenly left halfway through her mother-in-law’s sixtieth birthday banquet. Xiao Sun watched his wife walk away, while relatives asked with feigned concern, “Has your wife gotten too thin lately?” “Why is the child so shy around strangers?” He smiled mechanically, but thought back to the girl who had run toward him beneath the cherry blossoms ten years ago. How could they have known then that marriage would become a cage for them both?

Xiao Sun and Xiao Qiu had once been the model couple in the eyes of their college classmates. He was hardworking and ambitious; she was gentle and considerate. In the fifth year of their marriage, as mortgage payments, raising a child, and workplace pressures piled up, their love began to quietly sour. His mother’s interference, Xiao Sun’s avoidance, and Xiao Qiu’s endurance eroded their relationship like a slow-acting poison. When their son was diagnosed with mild depression, the two finally had to face a cruel question: Had their marriage become the greatest source of harm to their child?