Dusk, like a honey-soaked silk handkerchief, gently covered the green tiles of Wanxiangju. Lin Canghai emerged from the kitchen, wiping his sweat, his apron still stained with fish scales. In his hand, a blue and white bowl, sweet and sour fish was drizzled with an amber sauce, and scallions, sizzling in the hot oil, sizzled around the edge of the bowl.

"Dinner is ready--!" he shouted, startling the dewdrops on the gardenias in the corner of the yard.

Su Jinli led Nianli to the table, where the Eight Immortals table was already laden with dishes. West Lake vinegar fish lay on a celadon plate, its body drenched in orange-red sauce, bamboo shoots and mushrooms glimpsed beneath its belly. Beggar's chicken was wrapped in muddy lotus leaves, its cracks oozing with an alluring aroma. Dongpo pork was perfectly cut, its skin, its fat and lean, glossy in the candlelight. The most eye-catching dish was the Dingsheng cake, its pink and white pastry emblazoned with the words "Step by Step to Higher Prosperity." Lin Canghai had specially ordered it from a local dim sum shop.

"Grandpa, this fish smells so good!" Nianli stood on tiptoe, clinging to the edge of the table, her nose almost touching the steam from the bowl. The dust stains she'd gotten from grabbing the sugar painting that morning were still on her temples, but now the aroma of the food made her eyes sparkle, like a kitten sniffing fish.

Lin Canghai's beard curled up with laughter as he used his serving chopsticks to pick up the fattest piece of fish belly for Nianli. "Eat slowly, no one's trying to snatch it from you!" He turned to Siyan and saw that the child was using his chopsticks to study the layers of Dongpo pork. He picked up a piece of meat that was more lean than fat and put it in his bowl. "Siyan, eat more too. Look at your small body. You're as thin as your father was back then."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan put down the silver spoon he was using to serve Su Jinli soup and said with a smile, "Grandfather, you're too kind. I didn't have Si Yan's ability to be as frugal as I was back then." He looked at his son, who was prodding the meat in the bowl with the tip of his chopsticks and muttering quietly, "This Dongpo pork needs to be simmered for three hours, and the cooking wine needs to be Shaoxing Huadiao. The cost should be calculated..."

Su Jinli picked up a piece of beggar's chicken and handed it to her grandfather. The celadon spoon made a crisp sound as it hit the edge of the bowl: "Grandfather, it's a shame if you don't use your cooking skills to open a restaurant." She tasted the sweet and sour fish. The sweet and sour sauce melted on her tongue, and it tasted somewhat similar to the one her mother made in her memory.

Lin Canghai put down his wine glass, his eyes slightly moist: "When your mother was a child, she loved the sweet and sour fish I made. She would always rush to help me scrape the fish scales." He said, and picked up another piece of fish for Su Jinli, "At that time, our family had not suffered any hardship. She always wore a lilac skirt and squatted at the kitchen door to watch me cook. Her little hands were full of fish scales..."

Nian Li swallowed the fish in her mouth and suddenly raised her greasy little hands: "Grandpa, I want to help you scrape the fish scales too!"

"Okay!" Lin Canghai laughed and wiped the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief. "Tomorrow, grandpa will take you to the lake to fish. If you catch anything, I'll let you scratch it!"

Si Yan put down his chopsticks, pulled out a palm-sized abacus from his sleeve, and started fiddling with it: "Grandfather, it takes two hours to catch a fish, and buying fish hooks and fishing lines costs five cents, plus the cost of your time..." He paused, looked up at Lin Canghai, "In fact, it's better to go directly to the fish market to buy it, it's more cost-effective."

Lin Canghai was so amused by his grandson's seriousness that he even let the peach blossom wine in his glass sway over the rim: "Okay, okay, my little accountant, from now on, grandpa will listen to you when buying groceries!"

Su Jinli looked at her grandfather's tears of laughter and suddenly remembered that in her previous life in the prime minister's mansion, her stepmother Liu always said that "it is useless for a girl to learn accounting". But now, her son can play with an abacus in front of his grandfather without any scruples. This confidence of being spoiled was earned by her in two lifetimes.

"Grandpa," she put down her chopsticks and looked at the old man seriously, "thank you."

Lin Canghai waved his hand and patted the back of her hand with his rough palm: "Silly child, why are you being so polite to your grandfather?" He looked at Jiang Yan, his eyes full of relief, "Jiang Yan, my Qing'er passed away early, and Jinli..." He choked in his throat and couldn't continue.

Jiang Yan stood up and bowed solemnly to Lin Canghai: "Grandfather, don't worry. Jinli is my wife, Nianli and Siyan are my life. I, Jiang Yan, swear here that I will never let them, mother and daughter, suffer any grievances in this life." As he spoke, the moonlight outside the window was filtering through the gardenia leaves, casting mottled shadows in his hair, but his tone was as firm as a rock.

Lin Canghai nodded with satisfaction and turned to the two children: "Nianli, Siyan, you must remember that no matter when and where, grandpa will always have your back. If anyone dares to bully you, tell grandpa, and grandpa will hit him with his cane!"

Nian Li responded immediately: "Yeah! Grandfather hit him on the head!"

Si Yan added, "If it's broken, you'll have to pay for the medical expenses. Grandfather, I'll help you calculate the amount."

Everyone at the table burst into laughter; even the gardenias in the corner seemed to be infected by the laughter, quietly unfolding their petals. In the flickering candlelight, Su Jinli watched her grandfather explain the knife skills of West Lake vinegar fish to Siyan, while Jiang Yan patiently removed the fish bones for Nianli. Suddenly, she felt that this small dining table was filled with the warmth she had longed for in two lifetimes.

After dinner, Lin Canghai, holding a sheep-horn lantern, took them for a walk in the courtyard. The fragrance of the gardenias grew stronger in the night breeze, and the lantern's halo reflected the puddles on the bluestone road, like scattered silver coins.

"Your mother," Lin Canghai's voice sounded especially gentle in the night, "was even more mischievous than Nianli when she was little. One summer, she secretly climbed up the old locust tree in the backyard to rob a bird's nest. She fell and bruised her knee, but she still held the bird in her arms to protect it."

Su Jinli imagined what her mother looked like when she was a child. Was that little girl in the lilac skirt also like Nianli, who would put her hands on her hips and argue with others, or hold a sugar painting and smile with her eyes curved?

"What happened next?" Nianli asked, pulling on the corner of her grandfather's clothes.

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