Upon hearing the words, Yang Xiayun snorted with self-satisfied pride, "If I have two, I’ll give her one. But if I only have one, I’m not giving it to her. I like it too."
"That’s good!" Yang Chuxia laughed. Then she asked, "Did our mother give her the brown sugar?"
"She did. Mum originally wanted to give her two blocks of brown sugar cake, but I snatched one away. Hmph, can’t she just go buy her own?" Yang Xiayun was quite smug about it.
Upon hearing this, Yang Chuxia was shocked. She hadn’t expected her younger sister to be so fierce.
After Yang Xiayun left, Yang Chuxia reflected on what she had said. Yang Dongxue had not been before; could she have been led astray by Ms. Luo?
Thinking she should discuss it with Old Yang sometime, to have him advise Ms. Luo. After all, the child was still young and shouldn’t be taught this way; otherwise, what kind of manners would she have when she’s grown up?
However, as much as she intended to talk about it, subsequent events never gave her the chance to bring it up.
Because a couple of days before the New Year, Old Yang unexpectedly fell ill. It was fortunate that Mu Shaoling was there; otherwise, the new year might have been spent in mourning.
"What’s wrong with Grandpa?"
After leaving Old Yang’s yard, Yang Chuxia asked.
"It’s old age," Mu Shaoling said simply. Once people get old, they inevitably suffer from various ailments, and that’s just what’s happening to Old Yang.
Hearing this, Yang Chuxia was taken aback for a moment, recalling that people in ancient times didn’t seem to live long, with many dying in their forties or fifties. Old Yang had never lived a life of luxury; in earlier years, his diet and nutrition couldn’t keep up, so it was normal for him to age faster than others.
"So, what can be done about it?"
"Keep him well-fed and looked after. Doesn’t your family still have ginseng? Make some ginseng porridge regularly. He should be able to live another year or two without a problem."
A year or two could pass by so quickly; in the blink of an eye, Yang Chuxia hadn’t expected Old Yang to have so little time left. With that in mind, she couldn’t bring herself to talk to him about those messy issues anymore.
Hearing about Old Yang’s condition made Yang Dachuan somewhat sad, and he started to take even better care of Old Yang with great diligence.
Though Old Yang was now living in the third branch of the family, his illness still needed to be reported to both the first and the fourth branches.
When the first branch heard about the old man’s illness, they immediately rushed over to pay their respects. Yang Da’an seemed to have grown more filial over the last two years and visited two or three times a day after Old Yang got sick. Even on New Year’s Eve, he was up early and ran over to help Old Yang get washed and dressed before returning home, outdoing Yang Dachuan, the biological son, in his attentiveness.
Yang Chuxia couldn’t help but sigh to herself; indeed, the grace of raising a child is greater than that of giving birth to one.
Yet, compared to him, Old Yang’s other son seemed quite disappointing.
This person could be none other than Yang Xiaochuan. Hearing of Old Yang’s illness, Ms. Luo used her pregnancy as an excuse, claiming she couldn’t risk illness and didn’t want to catch anything from Old Yang. Consequently, she sent Yang Xiaochuan over instead.
Yang Xiaochuan did come, yet upon hearing that it was just a natural case of old age sickness, not an injury, and that ginseng was needed for care, his demeanor suggested he was terrified he might have to spend money. As soon as he left Old Yang’s room, he sneaked back home.
What’s more, he never visited again after that.
He didn’t even plan on coming for the New Year’s visit to Old Yang.
After the first branch had their dumplings, they dressed up and went together to the third branch. As they were leaving, Yang Da’an made sure to call out to the fourth branch, but their door remained tightly shut, with no response or sign of opening.
Seeing this, Ms. Liu tugged at Yang Da’an, "Why bother calling out to him? Let’s just go on our own."