Chapter 11

After staying for about an hour, the family was ready to head home.

Before leaving, Zhou Chengning reminded Grandpa to finish the crucian carp soup and to be careful of the fish bones. He nagged on and on. Strangely enough, Guagua didn’t say anything this time, and Xu Xiangjuan simply stood by and watched the interaction between grandfather and grandson.

Grandpa kept smiling and nodding in agreement. Before they left, he took out some money. The paper bills, whether new or old, were neatly folded. It was clear that there wasn’t a single large-denomination note among them—just a handful of scattered coins, some in jiao, some in fen. He held them in both hands and offered them to Guagua.

Xu Xiangjuan knew it wasn’t that the elderly man was stingy. He simply didn’t have any large notes. This handful of loose change was probably all his savings.

Guagua reached out and took a one-fen coin. Xu Xiangjuan spoke up: “Grandpa, just keep the rest for yourself. One fen is enough for Guagua to buy some candy. Next time, Ah Ning and I will bring Guagua over again.”

Xu Xiangjuan had initially wanted to stop him, but then she thought that Grandpa must have considered it carefully before giving the money. He knew Ah Ning wouldn’t accept it, so he gave it to Guagua instead. Whatever Guagua took was fine. Luckily, Guagua only recognized the one-fen coin.

The road to Grandpa’s house wasn’t as far as the one to Town Middle School, so walking there and back took just about an hour. They stayed at Grandpa’s for a little over an hour, making the whole trip about two to three hours. Niuniu behaved very well the entire time—he didn’t cry. When Great-grandfather teased him, he even smiled unconsciously.

All in all, the trip today had gone pleasantly for everyone.

On the way back, Guagua was being carried by Dad and asked him: “Dad, why does Grandpa live in a straw house?”

Nowadays, everyone lived better lives than before. Although the improvement wasn’t dramatic, very few people still lived in thatched houses. Most houses were brick—green tiles, red bricks. Since Guagua was born, there hadn’t been any thatched houses in the village. There were haystacks, yes, but not ones people lived in.

Zhou Chengning was silent for a long time, unable to answer. Xu Xiangjuan knew her daughter’s words had unintentionally touched a sore spot for Ah Ning. After all, it wasn’t just Great-grandfather who had lived in that thatched hut—Guagua’s Dad had lived there once, too.

“Guagua, do you want to live in a straw house? If you want to, Mom can build you one.”

“I don’t want to.”

And just like that, the topic of straw houses was dropped. But Guagua’s little mouth kept going: “Mom, next time we go see Grandpa, let’s bring him something yummy.”

Xu Xiangjuan replied: “Alright.”

Zhou Chengning was moved by Guagua’s words. “Our Guagua is growing up and becoming sensible. Such a good child.”

Xu Xiangjuan: …

Her husband was really an old-fashioned man. That kind of line wasn’t something she could ever say out loud.

But Guagua did behave quite well today. “Guagua did a great job today. When we get home, Mom will buy you some fruit. We don’t need to take things from others—we can buy our own.”

There were quite a few homes in the village with jujube trees in their courtyards. Around this time of year, more than one household had them. If Guagua wanted to eat some, they could just spend a dime or two and buy a small bowl.

“Okay, Mom!”

They didn’t actually know when they would visit Grandpa again. After returning home, Xu Xiangjuan first fed Niuniu. Once Niuniu had fallen asleep, she reached out to a relative with whom they had fairly close ties and bought a bowl of jujubes.

Zhou Chengning was scratching at the ground with a twig, teaching Guagua how to recognize characters—the character for “tai” (太) and the character for “ye” (爷), meaning “great-grandfather.”

He handed Guagua a few jujubes, told her to remember to wash them before eating, and sent her off to play. Then Xu Xiangjuan asked Zhou Chengning: “Ah Ning, do you have your aunt’s mailing address?”

Right now, Grandpa Zhou had only two children left—Zhou Chengning’s father and his aunt, siblings.

Xu Xiangjuan figured that her parents-in-law were able to live so comfortably thanks to that sister.

She didn’t know much about the aunt or the Zhou family. Back then, she had only asked Zhou Chengning for a general idea of his family background.

After all, she wasn’t marrying into the Zhou family; she was marrying Zhou Chengning. And besides, he had to live with her in Maodong Village, so a rough understanding from Aunt Qian and Zhou Chengning had been enough.

“I do. Aunt gave Grandpa the address, and Grandpa had me copy it down. I wrote it in my notebook.”

His aunt lived in Huadu. When he went to Huadu for school, Grandpa had given him the address in case he needed anything and wanted to find her—but he never had anything to ask for, so he never contacted her.

He didn’t like to trouble others. His impression of his aunt was stuck in childhood—not very close.

He knew that the aunt used to send packages and money to Grandpa, but it always ended up in his parents’ hands, then got divided among his younger siblings.

“Let’s write to your aunt ourselves and tell her about Grandpa… Ah Ning, you write, I’ll dictate.”

Xu Xiangjuan was someone who liked to take action. Conveniently, they could write the letter to Big Brother at the same time.

In the past, since her parents couldn’t read or write, she had always written letters for them. In her past life, she’d never asked her Ah Ning to help her write letters. His penmanship was so beautiful—what a waste it would be not to put it to use, right?

Unlike her, who just wrote whatever felt natural, her husband wrote carefully and properly. Zhou Chengning followed all the correct rules for every horizontal stroke, vertical line, and hook. His fingers were long and defined, and the way he held the pen was precise and proper. As Xu Xiangjuan dictated, she admired him quietly.

The fountain pen had lost its paint after a few years of use, yet Ah Ning still treasured it. Xu Xiangjuan thought to herself that once they were a little more financially stable, she would buy him a new one.

Zhou Chengning didn’t write the letter exactly word-for-word as Xu Xiangjuan said it, but the meaning was the same. He just polished the wording a bit. “Juan, would it be bad to write it like this?”

“What’s bad about it? If we don’t write it this way, Aunt won’t even believe us. What’s wrong with asking Aunt to send the things directly to our house? It’s not like we’d keep Grandpa’s things for ourselves. If your parents want to cause a scene, they can come find me. What, I’m supposed to be scared of them? And let’s be real—given how your parents and your younger siblings are, even if the stuff gets to Grandpa, won’t they just snatch it away from him anyway?”

Xu Xiangjuan’s letter conveyed a clear message: Zhou Chengning’s parents—her parents-in-law—were not treating the elderly man well. Whatever possessions Grandpa had could be summed up in just a few lines. It wasn’t simply a matter of being frugal—it was downright shabby.

She told Aunt that next time she sent something, she should split it into two shipments: one to their home, and the other to Grandpa’s.

The portion sent to Grandpa would surely be snatched by her husband’s parents, but it was still necessary. Let them see the reduced share and read Aunt’s letter. It should let them know that Aunt was aware of how poorly they were treating her father. If things didn’t change, she would stop sending anything.

Xu Xiangjuan even guided Aunt in the letter on how to write her reply.

“Do you think Aunt will believe us?” Zhou Chengning asked. “What if she thinks we’re trying to scam her, too?”

Xu Xiangjuan appeared confident on the surface. “We’ll send a few things with the letter—dried mushrooms, chili sauce, those kinds of things. That should make it more believable. And even if she doesn’t trust us, we don’t really lose anything.”

She wasn’t sure exactly what kind of things Aunt usually sent, but figured if it was a lot, then Aunt wouldn’t want it wasted. After all, postage costs money, and dried mushrooms and chili sauce didn’t come free either. In the letter, she subtly mentioned that she had taken her three-year-old daughter and two-month-old son to visit their great-grandfather—hoping Aunt would understand the situation.

Of course, she would also write to her eldest brother. In the future, she’d send letters not just to him but also to her second sister and third brother—everyone would be included.

It was just the right time, with cooler weather—things would keep well during shipping.

Once Zhou Chengning heard his wife’s explanation, any hesitation vanished completely.

Grandpa was old and hadn’t enjoyed many good days in his life. Their family conditions weren’t ideal, and they couldn’t afford to support Grandpa regularly. So the things Aunt sent for Grandpa should indeed go directly to him, not be used by Zhou Chengning’s parents to live comfortably.

Xu Xiangjuan patted Zhou Chengning’s shoulder. “Ah Ning, don’t overthink things. If the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you. Alright, now hand me the pen—I’ll write the letter to my big brother.”

The two of them sat side by side on a long wooden bench. They didn’t have a proper desk at home, just used a low cabinet as a makeshift writing surface.

She thought for a moment. It would be better if she wrote the letter to her big brother herself. After all, she’d always written the family letters before—her parents would dictate, and she would write. Her big brother was used to her handwriting. If the style suddenly changed, he’d probably grow suspicious.

More importantly, when she got married, her brothers and sister had all returned home, and her mother had not held back on badmouthing her Ah Ning in front of them.

It had been a long time since Xu Xiangjuan had held a pen. As soon as she started, she forgot some characters. It wasn’t like she was still a student, and with smartphones around, who still handwrote letters?

Her husband was still a Chinese language teacher at the middle school, and for the first time, Xu Xiangjuan felt a little ashamed of herself.

But Zhou Chengning didn’t laugh at her. He patiently explained how to write each character.

At first, Xu Xiangjuan would try writing a word, feel unsure, and scratch it out. Zhou Chengning would then show her the correct way. Eventually, she gave up on guessing altogether. Instead, she had him write the correct characters in the notebook, and she copied them one by one.