Chapter 30: Growing

The two of them nestled under the covers, chatting until the old clock struck midnight.

“It’s twelve o’clock; let’s go outside and take a look.”

Lin Bingwei quickly got up, putting on her heavy cotton coat, and helped Zhang Tingyuan into his military coat before heading out to the yard.

In the yard, a string of firecrackers was hung, which, according to local customs, should be set off at midnight.

Zhang Jianguo had already fallen asleep; little kids couldn’t stay up too late, and the firecrackers startled him awake.

After setting off the firecrackers, they finished by lighting a firework.

Once that was done, her mother-in-law went to the kitchen to bring out a stack of soft, fragrant sugar cakes for everyone to eat.

“I made these for the Kitchen God and his wife, come quickly and eat. One for each of you, so that the Kitchen God and his wife bless our family.”

Eating at this hour made her worry about not being able to sleep, but for the sake of good fortune, everyone went ahead and ate.

After that, there weren’t many activities left, and it was time to go to bed.

Li Yurong had boiled a pot of hot water earlier, and she filled two hot water bottles, then said to Lin Bingwei, “Take these into your room; the two you have must have cooled down by now.”

Lin Bingwei replied, “Mom, there’s still some warmth in them.”

Li Yurong insisted, “There can’t be much heat left. Take these to keep warm; it gets cold in the second half of the night.”

Lin Bingwei didn’t refuse again, stuffing the two hot water bottles under the covers and taking out the two that had cooled down to replace them.

This man, one could not afford to give in.

Once in bed, she crawled back under her own covers, but Zhang Tingyuan stubbornly wouldn’t allow it, insisting on pulling her over to him.

Having slept alone for so long, she was used to it; sharing a blanket meant that every turn would accidentally brush against a strange body, which was quite uncomfortable.

Even though they had stayed up late and were quite tired, she still took a long time to fall asleep.

The next day was meant for ancestor worship, which required climbing hills; Zhang Tingyuan wouldn’t be able to manage as an injured person and would have to stay home.

Lin Bingwei went to the grave with her in-laws, taking Zhang Jianguo along.

As her father-in-law was in the business of handling funerals, he was quite particular about these matters.

A simple ritual involved some specific procedures.

First, they set up the offerings prepared the day before, then lit incense to invite the ancestors, and   began to read a lengthy eulogy.

Li Yurong stood with Lin Bingwei and Zhang Jianguo behind him, listening devoutly.

After he finished, they burned the eulogy along with paper money, setting off firecrackers and offering wine.

This hill had many graves, all belonging to the Zhang family ancestors.

Completing this whole process took over an hour.

After coming down from the hill, Li Yurong said to Lin Bingwei, “Your dad and I still need to visit my mother’s family’s graves; you take Jianguo back first.”

Lin Bingwei asked, “Aren’t we going?”

Li Yurong replied, “No need. It’s a bit far. We probably won’t be back until one in the afternoon, and it won’t be alright for Tingyuan to be home alone.”

Hearing her say that, Lin Bingwei didn’t insist, just saying, “Once he recovers, I’ll go with him to pay respects to grandpa and grandma as well as the uncle.”

Li Yurong was touched, wiping her tears and nodding repeatedly, “Good, good child.”

After returning home, Lin Bingwei didn’t rest either; she busied herself making lunch while watching Zhang Jianguo.

There was no way around it; this child was afraid of his uncle and wouldn’t play with him.

Zhang Tingyuan felt restless inside, draping a coat over himself and sitting at the kitchen door, watching Lin Bingwei go about her tasks.

After Lin Bingwei had finished washing the rice, she noticed him with his collar open and frowned, saying, “Sitting at the door, shouldn’t you put on your coat properly? You might catch a cold.”

Zhang Tingyuan replied, “It’s not that easy to catch a cold. Besides, what’s there to fear about a little cold?”

Lin Bingwei shot him a look. “A little cold isn’t scary; just make sure you don’t start coughing, otherwise you’ll have to deal with it.”

Originally, Zhang Tingyuan hadn’t had a cold nor thought about coughing, but after hearing her words, he felt an itch in the back of his throat that he just couldn’t hold back.

He was sure it wasn’t a cold, but he just wanted to cough.

After holding it back for a while, he finally couldn’t anymore and let out a forceful cough.

Then he felt the meaning behind Lin Bingwei’s words about “dealing with it,” as pain shot through his chest, and it was quite uncomfortable.

No one needed to tell him; he automatically adjusted his clothes.

Lin Bingwei put down what she was doing and walked over to him, saying, “Get up and go sit inside.”

“Okay.”

He actually listened, quickly getting up.

Lin Bingwei moved a chair to a spot where she could warm the fire, where he could absorb some of the heat.

These thoughtful actions were not lost on Zhang Tingyuan, and they made him feel sweet inside.

While Lin Bingwei was busy cooking, Zhang Tingyuan waved to Zhang Jianguo, “Jianguo, come here; your uncle has a question for you.”

But Zhang Jianguo shook his head and ran away instead.

Zhang Tingyuan was startled. “Hey, why did he run away?”

Lin Bingwei said, “Isn’t that because you scared him?”

After wiping her hands, she hurried outside.

“Jianguo, it’s cold outside; come play inside.”

He saw some other village children playing in an open area with mud, and he felt quite envious.

In this era, children couldn’t do without playmates of similar age. After thinking for a moment, Lin Bingwei decided to let him go join those friends.

“Jianguo, do you want to play with them?”

Zhang Jianguo nodded, “I do.”

She smiled, ruffled his hair, and said, “Then go ahead; don’t be afraid. Be a little bolder. If anyone bullies you, just come back or yell; your aunt will hear you, okay?”

“Okay.”

Lin Bingwei smiled and said, “Alright, go on.”

Zhang Jianguo ran over, but he stood on the side watching them.

The other children occasionally glanced at him with curiosity, but he never mustered the courage to approach them and say he wanted to play together.

Zhang Tingyuan had silently appeared behind Lin Bingwei at some point, and with a serious expression, he said, “This child is a bit slow.”

Lin Bingwei: “…”

“I think you’re the one being slow.” Maybe her father-in-law should have given him a few retorts.

Zhang Tingyuan continued, “Look, he isn’t even going over to play; he’s got nothing on my brother. No, he’s even slower than my brother.”

Lin Bingwei: “…” Poor uncle had been gone for three years, and he was still being brought up.

Just earlier, when her father-in-law was lighting incense, he had invited the deceased relatives to join in the offerings. She didn’t know whether their elder brother had come back after eating; if he had, hearing this would probably make him want to crawl out of his coffin in anger.

Lin Bingwei sighed helplessly, “Actually, just daring to watch from the side is already progress.”

After saying that, she returned to the house and grabbed some fruit candy.

She ran over to the group of children and handed out a few pieces, encouraging them to take Zhang Jianguo along to play with them.

After they got into it, she even had seeds and peanuts to share with them.

The kids were thrilled and actively pulled Zhang Jianguo’s hand.

At first, he was a bit scared, but amidst their laughter and joyful noise, he gradually relaxed, smiling and joining in the fun.

Zhang Tingyuan was astonished, “He can do that too?”

“How could he not?”