As Guo Guozhu excitedly emerged from Chai Qi’s room, Yan Fei was looking glumly at his pager. He greeted Heizi and his mates, asking them to clean up before leaving, and announced that he was returning to the cattle farm first.
Just before reaching the cattle farm, he saw Xu Xiaoyan waiting for him at the main gate. He stopped his motorbike and asked, "Why the sudden need to go back? How does your father know you returned?"
"So many people came yesterday. Maybe someone told him? And it isn’t right not to see him after coming back. I guess he needs me for something!" The girl got on the motorbike, urging him, "Let’s go and find out!"
Yan Fei didn’t say much. Even if they weren’t officially married yet, if Old Xu wanted his daughter to come home, Yan Fei couldn’t really refuse. He just hoped that Old Xu didn’t have any serious issues, so his girl could come back with him later.
Just as he was preparing to leave, he suddenly remembered something. He fumbled in his bag before starting his motorbike.
"What are you looking for?" The girl asked loudly in his ear.
"You’ll know when we get there." Yan Fei replied with a chuckle.
A few minutes later, the girl found out. As she saw Yan Fei pull a bottle of honey from his pocket, she giggled cheekily. So this scoundrel felt awkward about visiting his father-in-law empty-handed!
The pair greeted Old Ding, the braised meat vendor at the gate. Xu Xiaoyan’s mother came out and loudly greeted, "Yan Fei is here, don’t stand outside, come in quickly!"
The volume of her voice was so high, it was as if she was afraid others wouldn’t know Yan Fei is her son-in-law. Such attention from passers-by made Xu Xiaoyan feel a bit embarrassed.
Not only was Xu Xiaoyan’s mother enthusiastic to see Yan Fei, but Old Xu, despite maintaining a façade of indifference, had gotten some braised meat from Old ding for dinner – a gesture to welcome his future son-in-law. During the meal, Yan Fei found out that a distant relative of the Xu Family had passed away. Hearing that Xu Xiaoyan had come back, her mother wanted her to accompany her to the funeral.
Actually, it was the old lady’s sense of showiness. Once, their three daughters were looked down upon; now all three of them have done well for themselves. Even though Laoda and Laoer were still studying, the son-in-law picked by Laosan brought a lot of face to the old couple.
This is human nature. The old lady spent her life feeling disadvantaged due to her ’unfortunate’ womb in relation to the Xu Family. Now that the reputation of the three sons-in-law is constantly growing, backed by the fact that people from the Xu Family’s old home are also raising cattle for the farm, her showing off would be top grade. It’s not just the villagers, even the village head and secretary, who are usually high-handed in the village, have to show her some respect.
Initially, Yan Fei intended to accompany them tomorrow, but the old lady said some other people from the town were also going, so they arranged to go together. Since the journey was only a few miles, Yan Fei didn’t argue.
Since both of them didn’t hint at wanting Xu Xiaoyan to come back with him, Yan Fei excused himself after dinner.
In a moment, he had reached his own blacksmith shop.
Unoccupied houses fall into disrepair quickly. Upon turning on the dim lights, he saw the dingy roof and walls. Yan Fei found a broom and began to clean.
Dust had accumulated on the pictures of his grandparents on the wall; using an old piece of clothing as a duster, he wiped the frames clean and rehung them.
Apart from two worn-out wooden beds, the rooms on either side of the hall contained some old wooden boxes. Some were said to be his grandmother’s dowry and were now decades old.
Seeing these items deteriorating from disuse, he collected all the stuff inside them into the dinosaur world. Without looking, he knew they were old clothes and quilts.
These things were of no use, but they had been used by his grandfather. If he didn’t pack them up now, they couldn’t last long before turning into junk. Moreover, seeing the dilapidated living conditions in the house, he could tell this house wouldn’t last much longer.
Most of the houses on both sides of the street had been converted into two or three-story buildings. There weren’t many old, dilapidated houses like theirs left. Sooner or later, they’d be replaced. When the new houses are built, the useless items that aren’t already turned to junk would be disposed of.
Before long, aside from the blacksmith’s shop in the dinosaur world, there wouldn’t be any traces of his grandparents’ life left.
Collecting these things now might as well serve as a memento of his grandfather!
Not much was left. After all, his parents might still occasionally come back. Leaving a few things here would lend them some nostalgia as well.
After locking up, he glanced at the jujube tree in the yard before cleaning the other rooms one by one. Then, he rode his motorbike back home.
It was still early. On his way, he stopped at a small shop, bought some yellow paper and firecrackers, and visited his grandfather’s grave. He was too lazy to figure out when Qingming Festival was; he might as well visit whenever he missed him. Once a person dies, why bother about so many stuff! Regular visiting would suffice.
When he was back at the greenhouse, he took a round to see if there was any work to do before re-entering the dinosaur world.
The broken raft from the previous night was left on the beach; heaven knows where it had drifted off to. He was too lazy to look for it and promptly made a new one. As usual, he leashed a dinosaur onto it and let the raft float aimlessly on the sea.