Chapter 10

After arriving at the long-distance bus station, they spent one yuan to buy tickets to Bingcheng. The public security officer kindly helped Shu Yuan put the woven plastic sack into the luggage compartment of the long-distance bus. After saying their goodbyes, mother and son boarded the vehicle.

The bumpy ride carried them all the way to Bingcheng. From the long-distance bus station, Shu Yuan walked toward the train station carrying a heavy load—shouldering a satchel, holding dry rations, lugging the woven sack, and carrying Xiao Man, who weighed twenty jin (10 kg), in her arms.

It wasn’t that she found it too heavy. The main issue was that her clothes were thick and bulky, which made it difficult to hold a child.

It was certainly a bit disheveled, but if she approached it with the mindset of playing a game, she could shrug off such thoughts. The current stage of the game was to bring the child back to the city.

“Mom, I can walk on my own,” Xiao Man said, feeling bad about it.

Maybe they shouldn’t have brought the pine nuts. Now Mom couldn’t carry everything.

“I’ll carry you. It’s best if you don’t walk, Xiao Man. We’re almost there,” Shu Yuan said.

Xiao Man grew a little anxious. When would his leg get better? He didn’t want to keep being a burden to his mom.

They had only walked a short distance, yet Shu Yuan was already sweating. Xiao Man quickly reached out his small hand to wipe her forehead, helping her brush away the fine beads of sweat.

Worried that there wouldn’t be space for the pine nuts if they boarded too late, Shu Yuan was fully alert. The two of them went early to line up at the ticket checkpoint. After entering the station, while others were still looking around for their carriage numbers, Shu Yuan’s eyes were sharp and her steps swift. She had already identified their carriage and headed toward the right-hand side.

Once on the train, she hurried to find their seats. Their spots were by the window. Shu Yuan let Xiao Man sit first, then stood up, raised both arms, and placed the woven sack on the luggage rack. As for the dry rations, she was afraid they’d get dirty, so she continued to carry them in her hand.

While other passengers were still noisily searching for their seats, mother and son were already settled in.

Right now, Xiao Man was practically an accessory hanging off Shu Yuan. To be safe, she tied the rope she had gotten from the guesthouse around both their wrists, adding an extra layer of protection against getting separated.

The train was as noisy as ever, the aisle still packed with people standing. From Shu Yuan’s past experience, she knew that once the train started moving, someone would definitely lie down under the seats. Fortunately, she and Xiao Man had seats. Xiao Man was small and light, curled up in Shu Yuan’s arms, so the crowded and chaotic surroundings didn’t affect them much.

The rhythmic clattering of the train was enough to lull people to sleep, but Xiao Man was full of energy. It was his first time on a train, and everything he saw felt new and exciting. When he looked out the window and saw the scenery whizzing by, he exclaimed in amazement that trains could run so fast.

After a long journey of hard seats and aching backs, it was a little after nine in the morning on the third day when Shu Yuan and her son appeared in the family housing compound of the electronics factory. She had assumed there wouldn’t be many people out and about at that hour, but carrying a child and dragging a woven sack made it hard not to attract attention.

The aunties and older women asked, “Shu Yuan, whose child are you holding?”

Shu Yuan had already prepared an explanation. She calmly replied, “My cousin’s.”

“Which cousin? You have a cousin? Never heard of that before.”

Shu Yuan replied, “…A distant cousin.”

Was there no privacy in the family compound? Did these people have nothing better to do? They seemed to know more about her family tree than she did.

The next time she ran into someone familiar, Shu Yuan casually said, “Picked him up.”

It was clearly a brush-off, yet the other person took it seriously. “Where did you pick up such a good-looking child?”

The woman looked eager, as if Shu Yuan had incredible luck picking up a child and she wanted to try her luck too.

Can’t you tell I don’t want to talk?

Shu Yuan spoke casually, “Picked him up at a garbage site. Don’t even think about trying to pick one up yourself. There was only this one, and you won’t find another.”

Xiao Man’s body tensed. Something felt off. Didn’t Mom say he was from a relative’s family? Why was she now saying he was picked up?

Why wouldn’t she say he was her own son? Was it because he wasn’t good enough? Because he had too many little flaws?

It seemed that going back to Lucheng was only the first step. He still needed to make Mom truly accept him.

Seeing that there were no familiar faces around, Shu Yuan put the woven sack down and let Xiao Man stand for a bit. While massaging her sore and swollen arms, she squatted down and said to Xiao Man, “I’ll tell them later that you’re my son, but we have to tell Grandma first.”

Li Hongxia had to be the first to hear this news. It couldn’t come from someone else. If others added their own spin to it, turning the whole compound into a frenzy, things would spiral out of control.

“Is Grandma not going to welcome me?” Xiao Man looked up at Shu Yuan with his dark, wide eyes. Having grown up in a harsh environment, he had learned to read people’s expressions from an early age. His emotional maturity far exceeded his actual age.

Shu Yuan’s tone was light, a faint smile on her lips. “Whether she accepts you or not, you’re still her grandson.”

To Shu Yuan, this wasn’t a big problem. Compared to successfully bringing Xiao Man back from Lucheng, this was nothing. The hardest part was already done. Now she felt completely at ease, and even her words carried a strong sense of comfort. Xiao Man’s tense mood immediately eased.

After a short rest, the mother and son set off again. This time they took a roundabout route, deliberately choosing paths with fewer people. But even so, it was hard to avoid running into familiar faces. Eventually, they made it to the tube-shaped apartment building, weaving through the many obstacles in the narrow corridors until they reached their door. Shu Yuan took out the key from her satchel and unlocked it.

“Xiao Man, we’re home.” Shu Yuan set the woven sack by the door, carried Xiao Man into the sisters’ bedroom, and placed him on the bed.

She put the satchel and the half-eaten dry rations on the table and finally relieved herself of all burdens, her whole body relaxed. She poured water into an enamel mug and handed it to Xiao Man. “We didn’t drink much on the train. Drink more now.”

After Xiao Man finished drinking, Shu Yuan also drank half a mug of water. While sipping, she asked, “Tired from the train ride? Want to take a nap?”

Xiao Man obediently shook his head. “Mom, I’m not tired.”

Shu Yuan, on the other hand, very much wanted to sleep soundly.

They had only washed up once on the train, and now she felt covered in dust and grime. So she took Xiao Man to the washroom to wash their faces and brush their teeth. Xiao Man didn’t have any toiletries, not even a mug, so those would need to be bought gradually.

Xiao Man wasn’t tall enough to reach the faucet, so Shu Yuan held him up and let him wash his face by himself. The boy, with his freshly cleaned face, looked even more handsome—his forehead full and rounded, eyelashes thick and long, nose straight and well-shaped. The only blemish was a visible scar on his temple.

She had heard that children’s skin had strong healing abilities, but she didn’t know if that scar would fade with time.

Holding a washbasin in one hand and tucking Xiao Man securely under her other arm, Shu Yuan was walking back toward their door when a stern voice suddenly rang out from behind.

“Shu Yuan.”

The oppressive authority in Li Hongxia’s voice, drawn from blood ties, was overwhelming. Shu Yuan’s body instinctively jolted, and her arm clamped down even tighter around Xiao Man to make sure he didn’t fall.

Shu Yuan turned around, her face breaking into a wide smile. “Mom, why are you back so early? I was just about to make lunch.”

As someone living off her mother, she had no room to talk back—especially now that she’d brought home another little freeloader.

This factory compound really was terrifying. There was no room for secrets. Someone with too much time on their hands had clearly gone to tell Li Hongxia that Shu Yuan had picked up a child. The moment Li Hongxia heard that, she was so alarmed her head spun, and she rushed home in a panic.

Li Hongxia was anxious to get a clear look at the child’s face, but all she could see for now was his back and bottom. She forced herself to be patient and returned to her own apartment. The moment Shu Yuan placed Xiao Man on the chair in the living room, Li Hongxia eagerly stepped forward to scrutinize him.

He looked about four or five years old—thin and small, but quite handsome.

“You brought this child back from the Northeast?” Li Hongxia asked, her face dark.

Shu Yuan replied calmly, “Yes.”

Great. She had barely caught her breath after getting home, and she was already being interrogated by her mother.

“Whose child is he?” Li Hongxia, always sharp, casually picked up the feather duster propped in the corner and threw out this key question.

Seeing the storm brewing on her mother’s darkened face and facing the threatening presence of the feather duster, Shu Yuan made a strategic lie. “He’s a child of an educated youth. When they returned to the city, they left him behind in the countryside, and I brought him back.”

If you thought about it carefully, that sentence wasn’t really a lie.

Xiao Man stared nervously at the feather duster, thinking to himself, This is bad. So Grandma is the same kind of person as that Zhang Laocai.

The little one clenched his tiny fists. If that feather duster came down on Mom, he would rush over to protect her. He couldn’t let Mom get hit.

Li Hongxia studied Xiao Man closely, trying to find any resemblance to Shu Yuan in his handsome face. But the child’s features were practically a copy-and-paste of his father’s, with no trace of Shu Yuan in sight.

But Li Hongxia wasn’t someone easy to fool. Her questions were sharp and aggressive. “Why are you getting involved in someone else’s child? Are his biological parents dead? Which educated youth is he from, and when is he leaving?”

Shu Yuan dodged the question. “In a couple of days.”

She turned to Xiao Man with a smile and said, “Xiao Man, call her Grandma.”

“Alright, Auntie.”

In Zhang Laocai’s mouth, Xiao Man was called slow-witted, but in truth, he was very clever. In front of Li Hongxia, he immediately changed how he addressed Shu Yuan from “Mom” to “Auntie.”

Then, Xiao Man obediently called out, “Grandma.”

That soft, milky voice of a little child hit Li Hongxia like a bolt of lightning. Xiao Man had called her Grandma!

Why would he call her Grandma? Aside from Shu Ping’s two children, all the other kids in the tube-shaped building called her Granny!

She felt completely thrown off.

Shu Yuan smiled and said, “Mom, you should get back to work. If you’re out too long, they’ll dock your wages. I’ll make lunch.”

Clutching the feather duster, Li Hongxia’s arm bulged with veins. Her mind was almost unable to process the situation. She turned mechanically to her second daughter. How could she still be smiling?

“You’re a young unmarried woman, don’t walk around the factory with a child. If people see it, they’ll gossip, and it’ll ruin your reputation,” Li Hongxia said, finally managing to regain a bit of composure.

Shu Yuan nodded repeatedly. “Alright, Mom.”

She had just started to feel relieved, thinking she had brushed things off smoothly, when Li Hongxia suddenly turned back and issued a stern ultimatum. “You have two days. Make sure Xiao Man is gone within two days.”

Shu Yuan kept smiling. “Alright.”

Xiao Man, however, was growing anxious. What would happen after two days? Would she send him back to Xiaohe Village?

No, she wouldn’t. Mom had gone through so much trouble to bring him out of Xiaohe Village. She definitely wouldn’t send him back.

After Li Hongxia left, Shu Yuan began making lunch. She mixed rice and millet together, rinsed the grains, lit the stove, and started cooking. Once the rice was cooking, she prepared to make stewed cabbage with tofu.

Xiao Man stood nearby watching. He noticed that Shu Yuan was clearly unfamiliar with the stove and spatula. He said, “Mom, I know how to cook. How about I do it instead?”

Shu Yuan took the rice pot off the stove and placed it on the table in the room, then put the wok onto the stove and said, “But Xiao Man isn’t even taller than the stove.”

Xiao Man thought that was easy to fix and said, “I can stand on a stool.”

As Shu Yuan scooped oil into the wok, she said, “Xiao Man, stand back a bit so you don’t get splashed with oil. You’re just getting used to the environment. Later, the job of cooking will be yours.”

Xiao Man obediently stepped back. He watched as Shu Yuan poured oil into the wok. The oil sizzled loudly. She scooped up the cabbage with the spatula and tossed it into the pan. Probably afraid of getting burned, she quickly darted backward, and oil splattered everywhere as a cloud of white steam rose into the air.

Xiao Man: “…”

It was honestly hard to watch.

Mom didn’t seem very good at cooking.

He would be more than happy to take on the responsibility of preparing meals.

By the time others in the building began trickling into the shared kitchen to cook, the clatter of pots and pans creating a noisy symphony, Shu Yuan had already brought Xiao Man back into their room.