After leaving Master Chang’s house, it was almost Noon, and I felt awkward eating at someone’s home, so I thought of making do with a meal at the town’s State-owned Restaurant.
Approaching the restaurant entrance, I suddenly spotted a former villager. If I just walked in and got recognized, wouldn’t that be a hassle?
So, I decided not to eat there and went straight to the post office to ask about the Monkey Stamp. Luckily, I got my hands on a sheet. Returning to the lodge with the stamps, I boiled a packet of instant noodles and ate it with the meat I had brought from yesterday’s grave visit.
After eating, I checked out and hopped into a car heading to another village since I’d asked the post office for a map listing all the post office addresses in H Province. I planned to search place by place. After all, I was on a month-long vacation and intended to make it worthwhile.
Perseverance pays off; with a clear goal and everything being in the same province, apart from travel and accommodation expenses, I managed to buy thirty-six Monkey Stamps. That made me ecstatic; it wasn’t a wasted trip!
As for the Long Family, I didn’t bother to visit. I just went straight to the Provincial City to catch a train back to Chongqing. Callous as it may seem, I had long severed all ties with them. What did their life or death matter to me?
Long Qiang’s gambling problem was ultimately their fault as parents. Now, they were the only ones who could swallow this bitter pill. It wouldn’t make sense to anyone else.
Little did they know, Master Chang was a busybody. Upon learning that Zheng Long had truly left, he sighed and planned to deliver the items that Zheng Long had taken to the parents. But his wife snatched them away.
"Have you lost your mind? Even his own son didn’t bother to deliver them, and here you are trying to play the good guy? Haven’t you seen Zheng Long’s attitude? He’s cut ties completely. What are you trying to do now, and on whose behalf? Yourself? Or Zheng Long? Are you going to tell them that Zheng Long has changed his name and moved to Chongqing? Do you want them to go after him?"
Master Chang was rendered speechless by his wife’s scolding. "But still, they are Zheng Long’s birth parents. How can we say it’s ’going after him’?"
"Just drop it. It’s a good thing he didn’t give you his address and phone number; you might have sold him out completely. Look, Master Chang, you’re not getting any younger. You’re a grandfather. How can you be so naive? All of this is their family matter. Is it really your place to interfere? Why didn’t he go to see his parents but came to see you instead? Because his parents wronged him, and you didn’t, so every time he comes back, he visits you. If you reveal his final secret, do you know what could happen? He might cut off all ties with you. Believe it or not?"
Master Chang found it hard to believe. "That can’t be, can it?"
"Why not? Didn’t you notice the subtext in that boy’s words? He has no intention of rekindling any relationship with that family. So you just take care of your own and don’t go babbling nonsense to his parents. I’m telling you, those involved with gambling; it ends badly for them all. They deserve what comes their way. You’re not to meddle, you hear?"
Scolded so fiercely by his wife, Master Chang, though feeling sorry for Long’s parents, still swallowed his disagreement. Content originally comes from ɴovelfire.net
It was fortunate he didn’t go because, given the shamelessness of Long’s parents, there was a chance they could find Long Gang’s former military unit and, through it, locate where Long Gang was now. After all, compared to the life of their younger son, what was the second son? If they could find a sucker to blame, they would be delighted. Why would they have time to blame Third for his ignorance?
Thus, such despicable people must be kept at a distance, without a doubt.