We got up at 5 a.m. to head to Huanghua, where Liuliu’s dad drove us to visit her at her grandma’s place. Hamer and Liuliu were clearly thrilled to see each other, though they tried to play it cool. I was unsure about driving back to Beijing alone and hoped Liuliu’s dad could take the car while we returned by train.
Lunch was a feast—seafood, lamb spine hotpot, and shrimp paste flatbread—that left me full well into the evening. We strolled through Xinyulou in the afternoon, and later, the four of us played mahjong until past 11. Afterward, Zhu Jian took me visit a local bathhouse for a soak and steam, spending the night there.
