9: Chapter 9 Old Friend
Hearing Ye Tian’s words, the old man’s body trembled for a moment, but he steadied himself, took a long drag of his tobacco pipe, and slowly said, “Since you are a comrade-in-arms, come in and have a seat.”
A room, an earthen pit, a mattress made of straw, walls blackened by smoke, windows papered over, and an old man hunching his body, puffing on a tobacco pipe.
Ye Tian wished he could tear his internationally branded clothes to shreds and burn them in the stove.
“My home is humble, excuse the mess.”
“No no no, you sit first, I came here to talk to you about Tieniu.”
Ye Tian reached out to help the old man sit down, but was brushed off, “Help?
All of Tieniu’s skills, I taught him.
You don’t believe?” Seeing the amazement in Ye Tian’s eyes, the old man got energized and immediately dragged Ye Tian into the yard, “Come, lad, try hitting me with a punch.”
Ye Tian couldn’t help but feel joyful inside, Tieniu often mentioned his fiery-tempered and competitive, yet petty grandfather back home, who would meticulously sort out every detail.
Seeing him today, the reputation really held true.
The older one gets, the more childlike they become.
No worries, put as much force as you can!
Hey!” Ye Tian took advantage of the old manoff’s guard, launching a sudden attack.
Of course, he didn’t actually intend to hit, using just the basic military boxing, and even that was a common straight punch.
He thought to end it with one punch, prepared to pull back, but unexpectedly, Old Mr.
Liu used Ye Tian’s momentum for a backward step, dragging Ye Tian off balance.
As the situation turned precarious, Ye Tian’s lunging body suddenly flipped over onto his back midair while his left hand launched a punch, striking Old Mr.
Liu right in the face.
Liu bellowed, stamping his feet.
Ye Tian knew this was the skill of Thousand Jin Fall.
In that moment of stunned pause, Ye Tian felt his fist hit steel, sending a numbing sensation.
“Ha!” Another fierce shout as Old Mr.
Liu raised his hand, chopping downwards, and Ye Tian, lying sideways in midair, was slam into the ground with a “thud,” dust flying everywhere.
Growing old but still vigorous, powerful as a tiger!
This was Ye Tian’s evaluation, although he was beaten down to the ground, he felt immense admiration, experiencing the dull pain in his chest, Ye Tian was secretly relieved he had never fought Tieniu.
Liu offered a hand and pulled Ye Tian up from the ground, laughing heartily, “Since Niuzi left, I’ve never had such fun.
Alright, don’t leave at noon, stay and drink a few cups with this old man!
Although my place isn’t much, I still have some good liquor!”
Without waiting for Ye Tian to speak, the old man walked into the house himself.
Shortly after, the old man came out with a purple gourd of liquor in one hand and two black coarse porcelain bowls in the other.
“Come on, sit!” A dinner table made from a large tree root, stools woven from corn stalks, the two sat down, “Lad, can you handle spicy?”
“I can drink the liquor, how could I not handle spicy!” Ye Tian knew, Tieniu was extremely fond of spicy food, often eating a chili pepper with a bowl of rice, probably a habit instilled by the old man before him.
“What about this then?” The old man performed a sleight of hand, flipping his wrist, and placed a cloth bag on the table, opening it to reveal bright red chili powder.
Ye Tian was momentarily stunned, then grabbed a handful and stuffed it in his mouth, following it with a swig of liquor, “Good liquor, pure 75-degree baijiu!”
“Hahaha!” The old man laughed heartily like a child who won a game, “If Tieniu knew, he’d definitely challenge you!
Hearing Tieniu mentioned, Ye Tian’s heart soured a bit.
This old man must not know the news about Tieniu, if he found out… Ye Tian didn’t dare to think further, afraid he couldn’t hold back, as they say, men bleed but they don’t cry, but who knows, sometimes, tears come fiercer than blood.
A bowl of cloudy liquor, a handful of chili powder, one old, one young, drink!
The spiciest liquor, the fiercest chili, under the harshest sun, drink!
In this world, nothing goes perfectly as planned, but three cups of wine always bring smiles to our faces.
Although drinking, Ye Tian still couldn’t bring himself to break the news, how could he let this kind-hearted, lovable old man know the news of his only family member’s death?
After finishing a gourd of wine, the two were pretty much done, Ye Tian’s eyes bloodshot, like a desperate lone wolf, capable of spewing fire.
“800,000, for my grandson’s life!”
Ye Tian was stunned, but saw Old Mr.
Liu staring blankly ahead.
Liu, what… what did you just say?” Ye Tian was anxious, maybe the clue he had been searching for was finally in this last place?
The old man turned his head and blankly stared at Ye Tian, then pulled out a photograph from his coarse cloth pants, with his dark, wrinkly fingers pointed out one by one, “This is Niuzi, this is you, this is Shengzi, this is…”
It was a military photo, taken when they first enlisted.
“I recognized you the first moment, Tian, Niuzi’s comrade, Niuzi wrote a lot about you in his letters, said you are a good person, never bullied him, bought him toothpaste, helped him write letters, taught him how to use the internet…” The old man paused, apparently trying to calm his emotions, “Niuzi also told me, you were going on a long mission…”
A “pop” sound, a water droplet burst onto the table, spreading out like a large flower.
“800,000, they wanted me to shut up.
I said I don’t want it, don’t bother, I won’t go petitioning, nor complaining, I’ll just wait for King Yanluo to take me away, then I’ll meet my grandson.
They didn’t believe me, wanted to take me away, I took down two of them with my own hands, they couldn’t get close to me.
Heh.” The old man showed a child-like smile, “But it hurts!
How could no one console me when my grandson died for the country.
I don’t want anything, I’m not extorting money from the state, I also don’t want… what’s it called?
Right, I don’t want your certificate either…
Just give me a handful of my grandson’s ashes, will you?”
Ye Tian’s mouth twitched, his eyes grew redder, either from the spice or some other reason.
“Tieniu loved spicy food, I dried all the peppers at home for him, but he never came back, so I ground them into chili powder, but he still didn’t return,” Old Mr.
Liu looked at the cloth bag of chili powder and then at Ye Tian, “Kid, you ate my chili powder, call me grandpa, will you?”
Ye Tian could no longer hold back, tears pouring down like rain, “Grandpa!”