Chapter 8 Chen Pan raised his hand to wipe away the stain on his eyes...
"Panpan, I heard that your grandma was almost hit by a motorcycle last night?"
Yang Xiaomei, who had just come out of the supply and marketing cooperative, didn't notice Grandma Chen standing at the door of the butcher shop next door, talking to the butcher's wife. Seeing that there were more people outside the supply and marketing cooperative than inside, she subconsciously pulled her good friend to a better sunbathing spot nearby.
Glancing at the men around him who weren't buying anything, but were just sitting there all day, basking in the sun, gossiping, playing cards, and chess, Chen Pan subconsciously frowned, then immediately smiled at his good friend. "No, they didn't really collide. My grandmother's right shoe just got a dent, and her right leg got a cut at the knee. But the guy who bumped into my grandmother was badly injured. I heard he's in the ICU now."
"I heard about that. Luckily, your grandma is fine, otherwise she might have ended up in the ICU. I heard from my dad that it costs a thousand dollars a day there. A thousand dollars, our family doesn't even make that much money in a year."
Yang Xiaomei, who is one year older than Chen Pan, spoke in a slightly exaggerated tone, and then she gave Chen Pan a look that told her to feel lucky.
Seeing her cheerful and cheerful face, Chen Pan smiled subconsciously. But just as she squinted her eyes in joy, she immediately lowered them and burst into tears.
"you--"
"You girl, what did you do to Panpan?"
It was unknown why Chen Pan suddenly burst into tears. Yang Xiaomei, who was dancing and talking to her in a pink headscarf, was stunned. Then her mother, Xiaomei, who had stepped out, saw this scene and pretended to be angry and talked about her daughter.
"No, it's me—" Chen Pan suddenly lost his composure and immediately wiped away his tears subconsciously.
"It's because your little girl is so bad at talking. She said that maybe it was your grandma who was in the ICU. She scared Panpan."
"Yes, and what about a thousand dollars a day? Isn't that scary?"
Without waiting for Chen Pan to explain, two young men who were watching the old man play chess with their backs to them immediately added with a smile.
"This--" Mother Yang, who was just talking about her daughter out of courtesy, was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously glared at her own daughter who loved to talk nonsense.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing that something was wrong here, Grandma Chen saw her granddaughter chatting with her good friend from a distance, and subconsciously chatted with the butcher shop owner for a few more words, and immediately walked over quickly.
"I was chatting with Panpan just fine, and she started crying. Fourth Brother Chen and Sixth Uncle said that it was because I mentioned the ICU that Panpan was scared!" Yang Xiaomei, who is very talkative, was afraid that she would be scolded if she didn't explain, so she immediately started to explain.
"It has nothing to do with you. I just looked up and a speck of dust seemed to fly into my eye. I was about to explain when Fourth Brother and the others misunderstood me."
Not wanting to implicate her good friend because of this matter, Chen Pan rubbed her eyes and immediately began to explain. Finally, she pointed a finger at Chen Laosi who had just wrongly accused others.
"Hey, I'm just worried you'd get bullied, so I'm here to support you. And that girl said if your grandma needs to stay in the ICU, it'll cost a thousand yuan a day. That's really scary." The 17 or 18-year-old boy, with his back to them, immediately explained. Then, looking at the approaching Grandma Chen, he quickly called out, "Third Grandma."
"What they said was that it was a blessing that it wasn't my grandma who was in the hospital. What did you hear?" Chen Pan looked at the man and acted speechless.
"That's right, that's right. You're talking nonsense just because you didn't hear clearly. You, Chen Laosi, are so bad." With her own mother around, Yang Xiaomei also bravely said something about Chen Laosi, who was much taller than them.
"What you are saying is clearly - oh, forget it, only women and villains are difficult to raise!" Seeing that he couldn't win the argument, Chen Laosi raised his hand to pull at his tattered coat and fur hat, and turned around immediately.
"Hmph, if you can't win the argument, just call me 'woman' and 'villain', as if you're the only one who knows those two words——" Yang Xiaomei, feeling she had won the argument, playfully stuck out her tongue at the other person's back.
"hehe!"
Grandma Chen and Mother Yang, who had been watching everything quietly, smiled subconsciously. They soon discovered that Chen Pan, who was standing next to Yang Xiaomei, had also been wearing the same kind smile as them.
"Hey kid, are you really okay? Is the dust in your eyes coming out?" Grandma Chen felt that her granddaughter's smile was very strange. She felt a little weird in her heart, but soon she started to care about her granddaughter's eyes again.
"It's okay after shedding a few tears. It should be out now." Chen Pan replied to his grandmother with a smile. Then he immediately looked up and greeted his good friend's mother: "Auntie, long time no see. What did you buy when you went in?"
"I bought a piece of cloth and plan to make a set of jackets for the three siblings in a few days." Mother Yang said as she subconsciously took out the black and white checkered cloth from her bag.
"Let me see." Upon seeing this, Grandma Chen immediately handed the thing in her hand to Chen Pan next to her. Then she rubbed her hands on her clothes vigorously twice, and then reached out and grabbed a corner of the cloth handed to her. "Oh, this cloth is obviously good material, and the color is well chosen. It is suitable for both boys and girls. When the clothes are made, the children will definitely look very fashionable when they wear them."
"It's not as good as you say. It's just ordinary material, but the pattern and color are indeed suitable for both boys and girls—"
Upon hearing Grandma Chen's praise, Mother Yang, who had originally looked a little serious, immediately started laughing.
"Meimei, I'm sorry for what happened just now. I almost caused you to be misunderstood!"
"It's okay, it's okay, just don't think I can't speak."
"How could that be? I know you're just speaking metaphorically. By the way, have you finished all your winter vacation homework?"
"It's just vacation, who would finish all their homework right after vacation? No way? No way? Chen Panpan, you haven't finished all your winter vacation homework, have you?"
"No, no, I haven't said a word yet. By the way, Meimei, have you finished buying all the New Year's goods? What are you going to do with the pork this year? Are you going to kill your own pigs or buy from others?"
"My pig is still small. From what my dad said, it seems that he wants to buy one together with my second and third uncles."
The adults talked about adult things, and the children talked about children's things.
The areas outside the supply and marketing cooperative and the brigade were the most important places for everyone to chat and have fun. In the morning, when the sun shone outside the supply and marketing cooperative, everyone would gather outside. In the afternoon, when the sun reached the brigade in the opposite village, everyone would move to the opposite side.
Qingshui Village was actually the only place in the surrounding villages with a supply and marketing cooperative. Villagers from the surrounding villages would often come to this cooperative for their essential purchases. So, as Chen Pan stood there with her grandmother, chatting with others, she noticed many people visiting the cooperative. Some of them knew Grandma Chen. After Yang Xiaomei and her mother left, Grandma Chen chatted with some old friends and acquaintances from other nearby villages.
While they were chatting, the village's only red and white bus slowly drove out of the village at exactly twelve o'clock.
Seeing the shuttle bus slowly stop in front of the supply and marketing cooperative, many young and old people rushed to get on. Chen Pan suddenly realized why there were so many people here at this time. It turned out that many people were waiting for the shuttle bus.
"Some of these people are just following the trend and taking the ten-cent bus home, while others might be heading to the city or town to buy New Year's goods! Wait a few days, and I'll take you there too."
Seeing that her granddaughter was looking at the passing bus, Grandma Chen thought that Chen Pan wanted to take the bus, and immediately agreed reflexively.
"It's okay, I didn't mean to take the bus. Grandma, I just suddenly felt that our village is actually quite good." What Chen Pan really wanted to say was that rebirth was really good. But she definitely couldn't say such words, so in the end, she could only smile and say that their village was actually quite good.
"Of course. Of the several nearby villages, only ours has such a large supply and marketing cooperative. Our roads are all paved cement roads, and we're the only one with a gravel quarry, a regular bus service, and a primary school. Of the nearby villages, ours is the best off, save for Chenjiabao, which has a high school. Even several nearby villages depend on our Qingshui River for their survival every year. Your grandmother and I married your grandfather because we loved that he lived by a clear spring, so we wouldn't need water, and we didn't have to travel far to fetch it. That's why I married him."
Grandma Chen, like Grandpa Chen, would talk about the past whenever she was talking.
Then on the way back, Chen Pan, carrying two kilograms of pork belly, listened again to the story of how her grandparents arranged their marriages when they were young.
"very nice!"
During the Little New Year in Longcheng, some people eat dumplings, and some eat stir-fried rice cakes. The people in Qingshui Village are used to eating stir-fried rice cakes.
In addition to eating jiaotuan (stir-fried rice cakes) and offering stove cakes to the Kitchen God, there are also old traditions such as sweeping the house, cutting window flowers, and washing and shaving hair.
So after returning home, when Grandpa Chen was still sweeping the last room in his old clothes, Grandma Chen put down the meat in her hands, soaked the dried shredded radish for making jiaotuan, and hurriedly urged Chen Pan to wash his hair while there was still sunshine.
"Oh, okay!"
As Chen Pan lowered his head and quickly washed his hair under the sunny eaves of his home, Grandma Chen hurriedly found a piece of red paper at home, sat on the edge of the kang and quickly started cutting it.
Then quickly, Grandpa Chen, who had just finished cleaning all the rooms in the house, took the window paper-cuts cut by his wife and quickly pasted them up.
"That's wonderful!" Chen Pan, dunking her head in the hot water, couldn't help but glance sideways again, looking at her grandparents standing on their kang pasting window paper-cuts. She thought of her best friend in her previous life, who married at sixteen and inexplicably died at seventeen after drinking pesticide. Chen Pan raised her hand to wipe the water from her eyes and muttered to herself again, while secretly vowing in her heart, "Since God has brought her back to life, I will change the fate of everyone I care about, without leaving anyone behind."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
