Chapter 23: Visiting Grandma and Grandpa – Something Happened?

Dinner was prepared by the caretaker of Su Grandpa’s house, who was a very good cook.

Once the dishes were served, Zhao Yuan Yi’s ‘interrogation’ temporarily came to an end.

He let out a quiet sigh of relief, feeling lucky to have passed the test.

In fact, he was quite nervous when they arrived, but as soon as he met them, his mindset relaxed, and he felt he could just say whatever came to mind.

The meal was relatively harmonious, provided that Zhao Zhengjun and Mrs. Sun weren’t too tense.

After eating, Xiao Li took Zhao Yuan Yi and Zhao’s parents back to their courtyard.

“Yanyan, tomorrow your aunt will take you shopping. Look at what you’re wearing; it’s not very presentable for our top students,” Su Yaqin remarked, tugging at Su Jinyan’s light yellow cashmere sweater that she had worn for a year.

Su Jinyan remained unfazed. “Aunt, this is perfectly fine. Plus, I don’t want to be too flashy at school.”

Su Yaqin was frustrated at her lack of ambition and poked her lightly on the head. “How you dress and whether you’re flashy has nothing to do with your learning. As long as you study well, your classmates and teachers will let you off easy. If you don’t study well, nothing will help you!”

“Besides, life should be lived freely and according to one’s wishes. If you can’t even wear the clothes you like, what’s the point of living?”

Su Jinyan smiled and nodded. “Yes, you’re right, aunt. But don’t worry. I actually bought lots of beautiful clothes before coming here, and I bought some for you too. They’ve all been sent and haven’t arrived yet.”

She wasn’t being timid; there just wasn’t a need to flaunt it.

Inside her space, the supplies that Cheng Wenjing had stocked were countless.

She had honestly forgotten to prepare some supplies for her family. Tonight, she would make sure everything was prepared properly.

There was no need to worry about Zhao Zhengjun and Mrs. Sun running out of fabric coupons.

After sending off the Su family, it was already past 7:30 PM. Su Chengguo and Xin Huimin had their own matters to attend to, so she took the two kids back to the room to coax them to sleep.

The two children were tired from playing all day. After a bath, they fell asleep in no time.

She opened up the items her uncle and aunt had brought her; there were special milk powders, clothes for the kids from head to toe, and a variety of toys.

After putting away the things in her wardrobe, she locked the door and entered her space.

This time, Su Jinyan went into the warehouse, not to look at the supplies hoarded by Cheng Wenjing right away but to quickly browse through the stockpiles of others.

Besides Cheng Wenjing, the others were from various historical periods, including Bai Jing from the Republic of China, while the rest were from different ancient dynasties.

The supplies hoarded by Bai Jing during the Republic of China period were relatively limited, given that she had the least experience with space time. In six years, she had managed to stockpile five thousand taels of gold, over three thousand taels of silver, a box of jade and pearls, as well as two boxes of silver yuan from the Republic of China, various bedding, cotton coats, shoes, and hundreds of outer garments. She had 8 tons of rice, 10 tons of flour, 800 pounds of pork, five freshly slaughtered cows, three hundred and sixty-seven goats, six hundred chickens, a thousand carp, over two thousand eggs (without specific counting), along with a variety of other miscellaneous items.

The other ancient women, upon seeing the supplies, she realized, were quite formidable characters.

Here she was, with nothing to her name!

She couldn’t hoard supplies and had to live off their resources.

Well, they must be stocking up to supply the Nara clan, right?

Maybe she was also a direct descendant of the Nara clan or perhaps reincarnated? So, it wouldn’t hurt to use a little, right?

Speaking of which, Cheng Wenjing’s stock was precisely what she desired. She had just eaten well, yet she still managed to have a grapefruit-sized pomelo and half a bunch of rose grapes.

After her meal, she began to sort through the items.

Although her uncle and aunt hadn’t sent her things in years, it didn’t mean they didn’t love the original owner. Their ways of showing affection were just different than her aunt’s.

Her uncle was a military commander, normally serious, and her aunt was the kind who loved to lecture. When the original owner was still around, they seemed stern, but based on memories, she knew they considered her as their own child.

As for her aunt, she didn’t think about her own sons but always thought of her. In her words, those “brats” needed to be nurtured well.

This girl was truly the apple of their eye.
She had just been a bit dense!

In handling Aunt Liu’s matter, she hadn’t been decisive enough, resulting in her parents’ divorce and a lifetime of unhappiness for the entire family.

Xin Huimin had been buried in her research, while Su Chengguo was busy with work, leading to them not paying attention to Su Jinyan. This made her fall victim to the deceit of the male protagonist of the book.

Returning to the present.

Su Jinyan prepared two woolen coats, a milk-white down jacket with a hood, a creamy white sweater, a black sweater, two pairs of black pants, a pair of black five-inch high-heeled shoes, and a pair of brown leather boots for her aunt. She also sorted out a lot of clothes and food for her uncle and her cousins, especially her younger cousin, who had just entered high school this year. She remembered him being quite vain and fond of showing off.

Her uncle usually wore clothes issued by his unit, and her aunt didn’t like colorful clothing, so she selected only black and white for her. All three of her male cousins were in the military, with the youngest being stationed in the capital military district. She prepared ten pounds of beef jerky and ten jars of one-pound meat sauce for him. As for the cousin she had never met, she had no idea about her height or size, so that would need to wait. For her little nephew and niece, she packed milk powder, candies, snacks, clothes, shoes, and a large bundle of small towels and blankets.

Finally, she set about preparing for her immediate family.

Her aunt was right. Living according to one’s own wishes was the only way to ensure a life well-lived.

Of course, one couldn’t be too ostentatious about it.

Once everything was packed, an hour had passed, and there were three full sacks of items piled on the floor.
The next morning, Su Jinyan got up early.

After going downstairs, she saw Xin Huimin sitting on the couch reading the newspaper and greeted her, “Mom, good morning.”

Xin Huimin looked up at Su Jinyan and nodded. “Morning.”

“Mom, where’s Dad?”

“Your dad went to the unit. He’ll be back tonight. Are you hungry? Xiao Li will bring breakfast over soon.”

Su Jinyan smiled, “Mom, can you call and check if Xiao Li has bought it? If not, don’t bother; I’ll make breakfast for you.”

Having gotten into the habit of calling her “Xiao Li” so often, she didn’t realize that Xiao Li was actually twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old now and had been serving in the military for ten years.

Xin Huimin raised an eyebrow, smilingly nodded. “Alright, let me see if I can reach him.”

After a day or so, she had noticed that her daughter was quite the good cook.

If she could eat her daughter’s food, why go out for an outside meal?

Su Jinyan made a congee with fish, shrimp, fried eggs, steamed crepes, and cold dishes of shredded potatoes, kelp, and tofu.

“Mom, wash your hands; it’s time to eat. Try my crepes.”

In the meantime, Xin Huimin had brought the two children downstairs.

Putting the food on the table, she prepared a bottle of milk powder for Zhao Hua, setting her on the carpet to drink by herself, and then sat down to eat.

The car in the space was so advanced that using it to save some trouble was not an option at all.

“Mm, this porridge is quite good, on par with Aunt Huang’s cooking.”

Aunt Huang was the household caretaker for the grandma’s family.

Su Jinyan smiled and personally rolled a crepe for Xin Huimin. “Try this crepe.”

After a simple breakfast, Xin Huimin couldn’t stop smiling, and Zhao Qi exclaimed that mom’s cooking was delicious.

“Mom, later, let’s pick up Zhao Yuan Yi and go visit Grandma and Grandpa.”

The Xin family had once been wealthy merchants, and both uncles had gone abroad. Although the Xin family had donated a large portion of their assets to the anti-Japanese military during the war, becoming red capitalists, they had not fared well in recent years. Many of their houses had been confiscated by the state, and the couple lived modestly in a rundown three-room courtyard.

Sighing at the mention of her parents, Xin Huimin nodded gently. “Alright, it’s been a long time since I last saw them.”

On the way, Su Jinyan made an excuse to go buy something at the supply and marketing cooperative, letting Xiao Li take Xin Huimin to pick up the elderly couple.

Xin Huimin’s status was special; she didn’t dare to show her face even when going out, often worrying about putting her parents in danger, so she seldom visited the Xin family.

She knew that there were at least four invisible security personnel surrounding them now.

Su Jinyan hurried into the cooperative to buy twenty small cloth bags, a hundred kinds of oil paper for wrapping things, and then found a secluded spot. She brought out twenty pounds of flour, ten pounds of rice, ten pounds of pork, ten pounds of beef, two chickens, three bass, thirty eggs, various pastries, white sugar, brown sugar, milk powder, clothes, and a long black down jacket for each person.

The revolution might be over, but the elderly couple seemed like startled birds, afraid that someone would come to check again; they dared not buy nice things for their home.

Today, she wanted to let them know that everything was over, and the confiscated houses would eventually be returned.

A big pile of items was somewhat conspicuous, so she packed everything in a patched sack and leaned it against the curb, waiting for them.

Once the car was parked, before Su Jinyan could move, Zhao Yuan Yi ran down.

Looking at the pile of stuff, he picked some up while saying, “From now on, don’t carry such heavy things to the cooperative. What if you freeze today?”

Su Jinyan smiled and nodded. “Right? I didn’t want to delay time in the cooperative earlier.”

Zhao Yuan Yi put the items in the trunk. Once in the car, Xin Huimin said lightly, “Yanyan, Mom has something to deal with later, so I won’t go in. You say hi to your grandma.”

“Don’t give them all the things you bought. Just take some pastries or candy for them. Go in for half an hour and then come out. Take the bus back home, no lingering.”

Su Jinyan frowned in confusion. “Mom, why?”

This wasn’t what was previously agreed upon.
She had said she would buy some food and meat for Grandma and Grandpa, and Xin Huimin had been happy to give her the grain and meat coupons.
Looking at her mother’s seemingly calm demeanor, but with darkened eyes…

What had happened?

Not understanding what was on Xin Huimin’s mind, she didn’t respond for a while, and after a moment, she focused her gaze back on her mother and repeated, “Remember, Yanyan, don’t stay a minute longer.”

“Mom won’t be home tonight; you and the kids will go back to the courtyard to sleep.”

With such seriousness, Su Jinyan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

“Mom, are you alright?”

Xin Huimin paused, then smiled faintly. “I’m fine. Just do as Mom says. Grandma and Grandpa are elderly and don’t like being disturbed.”

That reason seemed too flimsy.

However, she nodded. “Okay, Mom, don’t worry. I will remember what you said.”

The car quickly reached the entrance of the Xin family alley. Su Jinyan asked Zhao Yuan Yi to take the kids while she went to grab the supplies.

Thinking of her tense mother, she placed her hand on the sack, swiftly storing the meat and eggs into her space, leaving only the rice and flour. Then, in a push, she added a plain black cotton jacket and pants to prop the sack up before grabbing a bag of candy and snacks, closing the trunk.
Watching the car slowly drive away, Su Jinyan looked down at her son and furrowed her brow. “Xiao Qi, did you see anyone talking to Grandma? What did they say?”

“Um, while we were on the way to find Dad, two uncles stopped the car and talked to Grandma. I didn’t understand what they were saying, but I did hear them mention you, your parents, and cooperation. They also asked Grandma to go with them, but Grandma said she would go later by herself.”

Su Jinyan swallowed hard; her legs felt a bit unsteady from fright.

“You, ‘brothers,’ must refer to the uncles who went abroad, right? And ‘your parents’ indicates Grandma and Grandpa?”

Both uncles had been abroad for over a decade. As far as the original memories went, they had left when she was around six or seven years old. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to return to serve their country; during that decade, there was no opportunity to come back.

What on earth was going on now? Why were they dragging Xin Huimin into this?