Second watch arrives.
"Mom, you seem to be getting fiercer by the day," Chuxia snuggled up to Lin Baohe, feigning a dramatic heart clutch, "Whenever you get angry, my heart starts pounding. If this continues, I’ll end up with a heart condition."
"You..." Zhao Yulan couldn’t help laughing, "I’m only doing this for your own good. If I just indulged you in everything like your dad does, always insisting that you’re right, wouldn’t that just create chaos?"
"Well, I just happen to be right about everything." Lin Baohe huffed defiantly, "If others are overthinking it, that’s because they’re narrow-minded, and it’s certainly not Chuxia’s fault."
"You two go ahead and make a fuss, fine, I won’t talk about it anymore. Sooner or later, when you suffer from your own mistakes, you’ll see who is good to you." Zhao Yulan muttered as she walked into the kitchen, with Chuxia following her inside, chuckling, "Mom, didn’t you say dinner was ready?"
"I’ve dished out the porridge to cool. Grandpa Wan will be back in five minutes. Chuxia, after your dad and I return, you should come by more often and keep Grandpa Wan company..." Zhao Yulan then lowered her voice to tell her daughter about the soliloquies she had overheard from Elder Wan the previous night, emphasizing, "It’s not easy for the old man. He’s taken such a liking to you, and has helped us out so much; we should be grateful."
"Mom, I know." Chuxia sighed too, "But no matter how well I treat him, it’s no substitute for his own daughter and granddaughter. Although he says he doesn’t care, deep down, how could he not care?"
Still, we can’t help with this now. I reckon if I went to talk to Aunt Wan about it, she’d slap me eight feet away, or she might even think I’m just throwing my weight around because of Grandpa Wan.
"If she dares to lay a finger on you, your dad would send her flying to the sky..." Zhao Yulan said before sighing again, "People say children grow up the way they’re raised, but that’s not entirely true."
Grandpa Wan is such a good person, and I’ve seen Grandma Wan’s photo too; she looks like a very kind-hearted woman. How could such parents bring up a child who is so heartless?
Even if they didn’t have time for their child back then, the same was true for everyone in that era. Others didn’t hold grudges against their parents, so why does she harbor so much resentment?
Having such a child is a lifetime of sorrow for parents. She may not care about her parents, but that doesn’t mean they don’t care about her. Grandpa Wan may seem happy on the surface, but his heart is probably suffering more than we can imagine.
Anyway, if I ever get the chance, I’m definitely going to talk to her. This is not how one should act as a child towards parents. If she remains obstinate, she will regret it one day."
Unable to resist teasing, Chuxia said, "Mom, you talk so confidently now, but when the time comes, will you even be able to speak to her?"
"If I can’t speak up, your dad can."
"Hehe..." Zhao Yulan laughed sheepishly, "Your dad is more capable than I am, I see that now. Your dad used to be quiet because he had something on his mind. Now that he’s dealt with his issues, his temperament is not the same as before.
Of course, that’s as long as it involves our Chuxia. If it has nothing to do with Chuxia, your dad is still the same honest old blockhead. But anything concerning Chuxia, and your dad is suddenly energized as if he’s had a shot of rooster’s blood."
"Do you have to talk like that?" Lin Baohe, who was eavesdropping outside on the conversation between his wife and daughter, protested, "Why would I be like I’ve had a shot of rooster’s blood? I’m just protecting my daughter."
"You’re a good dad, I know." Zhao Yulan glanced at the clock and nudged Chuxia towards the door, "Get to work now, stop dawdling. Go find Xiao Zhe yourself, don’t always wait for him to come to you."
"Dad, Mom, I’m off then." Chuxia said as she bent down to grab a bright red apple from the fruit bowl on the table and munched on it while walking out, causing Zhao Yulan to shake her head. She had noticed that Zhou Jiping and Zhou Xiangping never ate apples —they always cut them into small pieces and ate them with a toothpick. When she had a moment, she would have to remind her daughter not to tarnish the reputation of the Lin family... oh, she meant the Zhou family.
If the sisters heard that, they would surely say, "Report to Aunt Lin, we also eat apples by holding and biting into them in private. The scenes you’ve seen are because someone had already cut them for us, and we wouldn’t pass up free food..."
As Chuxia opened the door, she saw Old Master Wan coming towards her, steaming with heat, which left her standing there dumbfounded with her apple bite halfway, wondering what had gotten into the normally sedentary old man to make him behave like a young lad.
"Chuxia, are you off to work?" Old Master Wan patted her head with a chuckle, "Don’t you recognize your grandpa?"