Chapter Ninety-Three: How Should Household Duties Be Divided?

How Housework Should Be Divided

The first stop of the concert tour by Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er, in the capital, was an enormous success. Four new songs were performed that night, two of them duets.

And needless to say, those songs were all written and composed by Zhang Le. In fact, every song Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er sang that evening had come from Zhang Le's own hand.

Of course, most of the songs they performed were love songs. Their other beloved numbers, such as Invisible Wings, Existence, You Are My Eyes, and The Blaze of Life, were nowhere to be heard that night.

From beginning to end, the entire concert was steeped in tender affection.

The four new songs became an instant sensation, shooting straight to the top of every major music chart and knocking down the two songs Zhang Le had written for Zhou Run.

And the talk surrounding the concert was not limited to the songs they sang; it also included a number of classic exchanges between the two onstage.

Zhang Le's replies, in particular, won him widespread admiration. Whether the answers had been prepared in advance or improvised on the spot, the effect was the same: an unabashed display of their love.

Yang: You have too many things about you that no one else can compare to.

Zhang: Yes, especially having a girlfriend!

Some netizens even compiled the lines spoken at the concert, sorted them into categories, and posted them in the fan forums for Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er, where they became the subject of endless delight and discussion.

Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er's concert tour consisted of ten performances, taking them through ten cities across the country. The second stop was set in Zhang Le's hometown, Jincheng, the capital of Bashu Province.

Yang Xin'er was from the capital, while Zhang Le was a native of Bashu. Putting the second stop in Jincheng was only natural.

Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er even made a special trip back home to bring their families along.

"What's wrong, Xin'er?" Zhang Le seemed to notice the disappointment flickering in Yang Xin'er's heart, and he somewhat regretted having gone back to fetch his own parents, elder brother, and sister-in-law to see the concert. Xin'er had clearly been reminded of home and family by the sight of it all.

"Nothing," Yang Xin'er said with a smile.

"My parents are only doing the small things that keep a household running. Even if they delay things for a day or two, it won't affect anything. But your father and mother hold high office in the state, and their work concerns the great affairs of the country. They cannot afford the slightest negligence. They may want to come, but they cannot. You should understand them, and be proud of them." Zhang Le thought for a moment and said.

He truly was not a man skilled at comforting others.

"Is that really how you comfort people?" Yang Xin'er rolled her eyes at him, though her mood had improved quite a bit. "You know perfectly well I'm envious and jealous that your parents and relatives can come to our concert, and you still say things like that. Are you bragging?"

"Didn't you say our parents and relatives?" Zhang Le said with a laugh. "Aren't my parents and relatives your parents and relatives too? You're jealous over that?"

"Xiao Yun said they're planning to hold the wedding at the end of the year," Yang Xin'er said suddenly.

"What, are you thinking about it too?" Zhang Le said with a smile.

"People always say marriage is the grave of love. I haven't even had enough of love's sweetness yet, so why rush into the grave?" Yang Xin'er shook her head, then smiled as she spoke.

"Marriage is the grave of love? Then have you never heard that love without marriage has nowhere even to be buried?" Zhang Le said with a grin.

"Would our love have no marriage?" Yang Xin'er looked at Zhang Le and asked.

"Of course it will!" Zhang Le answered at once.

"Well then," Yang Xin'er said with a smile, "have you never heard the saying that peaches take three years, apricots four, and jujubes start paying back as soon as they are planted? That island is full of peach trees, but it will probably still be three years before the blossoms are in full bloom. Didn't you say that when the fragrance of peach blossoms fills the mountains, that's where we'll hold our wedding?"

"I never said we had to wait until the fragrance of the peach blossoms filled the mountains before we went to get our marriage certificate," Zhang Le said with a laugh.

"If the heart is there, why must it be bound by a piece of paper? If the heart is not there, how could a marriage contract on paper ever bind two people together?" Yang Xin'er said.

"My heart is everlasting," Zhang Le said seriously, taking her hand.

"So is mine," Yang Xin'er said with a smile.

Only after Yang Xin'er's mood had gradually brightened did the two of them leave and go out to dine with their families.

"Mom, Dad, tomorrow let your son take you around and show you the city. Since you've come all this way to Jincheng, you should have some fun. Xin'er and I have to go to the television station to record an interview, so we won't be able to keep you company."

At the table, Zhang Le said this while they were eating.

"Go ahead and take care of your work. Don't worry about us," Yu Guihua said with a smile.

Looking at his smiling parents, Zhang Le suddenly noticed streaks of white in their hair.

His parents were growing old.

The interview program on Bashu Television did not have especially high ratings, at least not compared with Quiet Appointment on the Capital Satellite Channel, which it lagged behind by a fair margin. Even so, it still carried considerable influence in the Bashu region.

Of course, Zhang Le accepted the invitation not because he cared about the program's influence. The concert tickets in Jincheng had already sold out long ago, so there was no need to use the show for promotion.

He accepted simply because he was a Bashu native. As for Yang Xin'er, she followed along simply because she had married the man she loved.

When Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er appeared together for the interview, the questions naturally revolved around their relationship. They were long since used to that. Besides, even if they had not appeared on the show together, each of them would still have been asked about the other while appearing alone.

It seemed as though the two of them had long since become inseparable.

"Your feelings for each other have grown deeper by the day, and everyone can see it. Have either of you thought about when you'll step into the halls of marriage and take your relationship one step further?" the host asked.

"Of course!" Yang Xin'er answered with a bright smile, very straightforwardly.

"Could you tell us a little more? I'm sure this is something many people are concerned about. Has Director Zhang already proposed to you?" the host asked hurriedly, not expecting Yang Xin'er to admit it so readily.

Yang Xin'er glanced at Zhang Le and smiled. "We planted peach trees all over his hometown. The whole mountain is covered with them. When the peach blossoms are in full bloom, that's when our relationship will take that next step."

"Could Director Zhang tell us how he proposed at the time?" the host asked curiously.

"In my hometown, there's a reservoir, and around that reservoir stands a small hill. That hill is like an island. Back then, we were standing up there, and I told Xin'er that I wanted to plant peach trees all around it. Xin'er smiled and said that when the blossoms were in bloom, it would surely be beautiful. That whole little island would become a sea of peach blossoms. Then I told her: when the fragrance of the peach blossoms fills the mountains, would you marry me, miss?" Zhang Le said with a smile.

When the fragrance of the peach blossoms fills the mountains, would you marry me, miss?

That was not exactly the wording Zhang Le had used at the time, but it was close enough.

"As romantic as ever. I don't know how many people will be green with envy," the host said with a sigh. Then, looking at Zhang Le and Yang Xin'er, he asked, "Would you mind if I asked a rather private question?"

"Go ahead, but I may not answer it," Yang Xin'er said with a smile.

"You two are already living together, aren't you?" the host asked.

"A well-known fact. Does it really need answering?" Zhang Le said with a laugh. He and Yang Xin'er living together had long since ceased to be a secret. Countless media outlets had reported on it.

"Then how do you divide the housework at home?" the host asked next. "At home, I'm one of the oppressed ones, so I want to borrow a bit of your experience and go home to have a proper talk with my wife. I think there are plenty of people like me."

"Do you really want to hear this?" Yang Xin'er asked with a smile.