Chapter 28: At Home

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“Dad.” Shen Siyuan called out.

Shen Jianjun brought the motorcycle to a stop and merely nodded at him, his expression stern and unsmiling.

Siyuan had long grown used to it. For as long as he could remember, his father had always worn that same solemn expression.

His personality, however, was quite the opposite. He was an exceedingly gentle man.

Seeing his father lift several bags from the back of the motorcycle, Siyuan stepped forward to help, but Shen Jianjun avoided him.

“They’re heavy. I can manage.”

Siyuan was helpless. His father still treated him like a child.

Even so, he did not insist on helping and simply asked, “What are they?”

“Two chickens and some eggs. Go visit your grandmother this afternoon and take them to her,” Shen Jianjun replied.

Siyuan’s grandmother was named Yu Suzhen. She lived in the nearby Yu Family Village, which, like Lin Slope Village, belonged to Clear Water Town. She was seventy-three that year.

As for Siyuan’s grandfather, he had been an educated youth sent down to the countryside. In order to return to the city, he had divorced Siyuan’s grandmother. She had never remarried, raising Siyuan’s father all by herself.

Shen Jianjun and his wife had tried bringing her to live with them, but after a while she found it unbearable and insisted on going home. She said she was still strong enough to care for herself and would only come live with them when she was bedridden and unable to move.

The old woman was stubborn to the extreme. With no way to deal with her, the couple could only agree and make a point of visiting and looking after her regularly.

“Oh. I haven’t seen Grandma in nearly two months.”

He had come back once a month earlier, but the visit had been so rushed that he had not managed to see her.

“Yes. Your grandmother misses you. I bought her a mobile phone, but she doesn’t know how to use it, and she refuses to let me teach her…” Shen Jianjun sounded rather helpless.

Once inside, they put the things in the refrigerator. The weather was hot, and without refrigeration, everything would have spoiled by afternoon.

“She’s so old. If she can’t use it, then forget it. Just let her be.”

“I thought that if she missed you, she could call you herself,” Shen Jianjun said.

Siyuan fell silent, then asked, “What about the phone? Has it been disconnected?”

“No. Your mother keeps paying the bill. She doesn’t know how to make calls, but she can answer them. Sometimes we call her, but she often forgets to charge the phone. I can only charge it whenever I go over…”

“Leave it to me. I’ll talk to her this afternoon,” Siyuan said.

Just then, his mother, Huang Huijuan, came out of the kitchen carrying a large cup of water.

“Old Shen, have some water.”

Shen Jianjun took it naturally and tipped his head back, drinking deeply.

Huang Huijuan casually pulled two tissues from the table and wiped the sweat from his neck.

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As she wiped him down, she complained, “Just look at you. You smell like sour sweat. Go take a shower and change your clothes.”

She said it that way, but there was not the slightest trace of disgust on her face.

“No need. We’re about to cook, and I’ll be sweating again in no time,” Shen Jianjun replied.

“Our son is home, isn’t he? Let him cook,” Huang Huijuan said.

Shen Siyuan: …

Hadn’t they said he would come home to enjoy his favorite grilled silver pomfret and chicken stewed with edamame? In the end, he still had to cook for himself.

Ultimately, lunch was prepared by his father, Shen Jianjun, though Siyuan helped with the chores.

As for Huang Huijuan, she sat in the living room with her hands folded, watching television and laughing foolishly at the screen.

The father and son were both used to it and saw nothing wrong with the arrangement.

While cooking, Shen Jianjun also asked about Siyuan’s job. He said that if Siyuan was unhappy with his work, he could come home and raise chickens with him.

The chickens he raised were Zibei chickens, a breed unique to Qiongzhou. They had compact, rounded bodies, slender, short shanks, thin skin, brittle bones, and sweet, tender meat.

Zibei chicken ranked first among Qiongzhou’s four great dishes and sold extremely well. There was never any worry about finding buyers.

Siyuan, however, was not particularly willing. Raising chickens was hard work, and monotonous as well. His current job did not pay much, but it was easy and offered plenty of freedom.

Still, he did not reject the idea outright. He only said he would think about it.

Shen Jianjun had merely mentioned it in passing and did not intend to pressure him. He was not yet old, and his health was good. He had no real need for Siyuan to come home and help.

“By the way, what kind of girl has Mom introduced me to this time?”

“Your mother told you?”

“No. I guessed. What other reason would she have for urging me to come home?”

Hearing that, Shen Jianjun was amused, and a rare smile appeared on his face.

“Your Seventh Aunt arranged it. She’s from Stonebridge Village next door and works in Binhai…”

Shen Jianjun went on for some time, but Siyuan cut in with a direct question.

“Is she pretty?”

“What good is beauty? When you’re looking for a wife, you should find someone with good character who knows how to manage a household,” Shen Jianjun said unhappily.

“Then why did you marry Mom?”

Huang Huijuan certainly had no problem with her character. As for knowing how to manage a household… well—

“Because she was beautiful.”

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“Heh heh.”

They both burst out laughing.

“What are you two talking about that has you so happy? Let me in on it,” Huang Huijuan called.

“We were saying that you’re beautiful.”

This time, all three of them laughed.

After lunch, Siyuan did not linger. He climbed onto Shen Jianjun’s motorcycle and headed for Yu Family Village.

It was not that his father could not afford a car. He simply liked riding motorcycles. Siyuan could never understand what went through his mind.

Did the man really think he looked handsome on a motorcycle?

It was entirely possible. Although Shen Jianjun now had round, fleshy cheeks and a large belly, in his younger days he had been the handsome young man for miles around. After all, Siyuan’s grandmother had excellent genes. Otherwise, his grandfather, an educated youth sent down from Shanghai, would never have married her.

At the thought of his grandmother, Siyuan grew eager to see her. The motorcycle passed along a shady lane mottled with sunlight, the breeze rushing toward him as he sped in the direction of Yu Family Village. Before he realized it, he had increased his speed.

Fortunately, there was hardly any traffic at midday. Apart from the occasional chicken or dog darting unexpectedly onto the road, the journey was perfectly safe.

In fact, Lin Slope Village was not far from Yu Family Village. It took only a little over half an hour by motorcycle.

The roads, however, wound this way and that. Shaded lanes, riverside paths, and narrow field ridges could easily leave anyone unfamiliar with the area hopelessly lost.

Siyuan’s grandmother lived at the northernmost edge of the village. After entering the village, he turned right and rode for another four or five minutes before arriving directly in front of her house.

The red-brick tiled house where she had once lived had become too dilapidated, so several years earlier, Siyuan’s father had built her three rooms with flat roofs. He had also paved the ground in front of the house with concrete. Beyond that stretched a vast expanse of rice paddies.

In terms of living conditions, she was better off than Siyuan and his parents. At that moment, the concrete yard before the house was covered with drying strips of radish.

Hearing the motorcycle, his grandmother came out of the house.

Her face was lined with wrinkles, her body thin and frail. She wore gray cloth clothes and a blue headscarf tied around her head.

Her eyesight was poor, so she liked to squint whenever she looked at people.

When she saw the motorcycle, she immediately called out, “Jianjun, is that you?”

“Grandma, it’s me—Siyuan.” Shen Siyuan turned off the motorcycle.

The moment she heard his voice, his grandmother hurried toward him, her deeply wrinkled face blossoming into a radiant smile.

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