Two rental cars were parked one after the other at the entrance of the alley. Xia Minmin and Li Qing ran hand in hand back to Xia's maternal grandparents' house, but the gate was locked. They didn't know if they had gone out to play cards or to the fields.
Xia Minmin looked at the familiar irrigation ditch in front of her house, where clear water was flowing, and was filled with memories. This year, her hometown was probably experiencing another drought. This ditch was only used to combat drought during droughts. Normally, there was no water in it. The ditch was very low, about thirty or forty li long, and an adult could easily step across it.
Xia Minmin and Li Qing took off their sandals and stepped into the ditch, wading in the cool water. The cool water gently kissed the soles of their feet, and the summer heat dissipated by more than half.
Li Chunmei and the others were still behind. The alley entrance wasn't far from Grandpa and Grandma Xia's house. They probably ran into neighbors and relatives while chatting because they hadn't been there for so long.
Xia Minmin stepped into the ditch, put her hands to her mouth, and shouted loudly, "Grandpa, Grandma!"
Li Qing's playful side was also ignited by her little cousin, "Grandpa, Grandma!"
Grandpa and Grandma Xia, wearing straw hats and long clothes and trousers, were weeding in the field with hoes.
The two elderly people seemed to hear their granddaughter's voices. They straightened up and looked in the direction of the sound, and a smile instantly spread across their faces.
Xia Minmin and Li Qing put on their sandals and walked towards the two elderly people.
Grandma Xia affectionately held Xia Minmin and Li Qing's hands, her thumb occasionally rubbing against the backs of their hands. "I called you yesterday morning, why didn't you hear that you were coming back?"
Li Qing said with a smile, "I just wanted to give you a surprise!"
Grandma and Grandpa Xia peered towards the entrance of the alley, asking, "Are only the two of you back? Have your parents come back yet?"
Xia Minmin smiled slyly, "Yes, it's just the two of us who came back, not them. Why don't Grandpa and Grandma like it when we come home?" She then looked at the two elderly people with feigned grievance.
Li Qing suppressed a laugh as she watched her little cousin's performance, and couldn't resist adding fuel to the fire, "Yeah, don't Grandpa and Grandma miss us?"
Seeing the tears in the children's eyes, Grandpa Xia felt even more distressed. He moved his mouth as if to say something when Li Chunmei's voice came.
"Dad! Mom! We're back!"
Grandpa and Grandma Xia then realized they had been tricked by the two children. Grandma Xia quickly placed her hand on Xia Minmin and Li Qing's ears and gently twisted them, causing the two children to scream in pain.
"Ouch! It hurts... Grandma, I was wrong! I'll never lie to you again."
"Grandma, I was forced to do this. Xiaomin made me do it."
Xia Minmin glared at Li Qing angrily, as if she could stare a hole through her. Li Qing smiled apologetically.
Fortunately, not long after, Grandma Xia removed her hand from Xia Minmin and Xia Minmin's ears, and Xia Minmin and Xia Minmin rubbed their ears, which had been pinched red.
Grandpa Xia gave the two naughty children a hard flick on the forehead, making Xia Minmin and Li Qing gasp. This time, tears really streamed down their faces.
It hurts so much!!
Li Chunmei said to everyone, "It must be those two unlucky kids who went to play tricks on their grandparents again."
Sun Erni nodded, "These two kids love to get into mischief when they're together."
Wang Aimin said with a smile, "This is what makes life interesting. It's too tiring to live every day in such a serious manner."
Sun Erni took the key from Xia's maternal grandfather and went to open the door.
Xia Jianguo introduced Wang Aimin and Xia's maternal grandparents to each other.
Wang Aimin, speaking in broken Mandarin, greeted Grandpa and Grandma Xia warmly, "Uncle and Aunt, hello! I am Xiaomin's godfather. I came back with them to visit your hometown."
Grandpa and Grandma Xia had lived in Shenzhen for a few years and were very familiar with this kind of Mandarin. "Hello! Hello! Then make yourself at home and don't be shy. Tonight we'll have a welcome dinner for you and cook you a good meal."
Wang Aimin handed the tea and cigarettes he was carrying to Grandpa and Grandma Xia, saying, "Uncle and Aunt, these are for you. I hope you like them."
Grandpa Xia accepted it and kept saying, "You're too kind!"
The house of Xia's maternal grandparents is still the same as when Xia Minmin left last summer vacation. Even the placement of the appliances is the same, as if time has stopped last year.
Compared to the outside, with both the front and back doors open, a gentle breeze flows through the house, and it's not hot even without the electric fan on. The chickens, ducks, and geese in the backyard squawk and chatter.
Grandma Xia took a pitcher of ice water from the refrigerator and poured a glass of ice water for everyone to cool off. "I put this in the freezer before I left home, and it's just right to drink now."
Xia Minmin, who was thirsty, gulped down the ice water in her glass. The chill went from the top of her head to her stomach, and even gave her goosebumps.
After finishing his iced water, Grandpa Xia went to the backyard and stared at the chickens, ducks, and geese, choosing what would be his dinner.
Xia Minmin followed them out, "Grandpa, let's eat goose! This one is big, one is enough for us."
The geese raised by Xia's maternal grandparents were plump and meaty, and looked delicious.
Grandma Xia picked up the bamboo basket from the ground and put on her straw hat. "Xiaomin, do you want to go to the vegetable garden with Grandma? This year, Grandma's watermelon seedlings have produced a lot of watermelons. I'll take you to pick them. The grapes are also ripe."
Grandpa Xia stood in the chicken, duck, and goose pen and said, "Don't take the grapes out and ruin everyone's lives."
"Is it not tasty?"
Grandpa Xia said softly, "It's both sour and astringent."
Although the voice was soft, Xia Minmin still heard it. Xia's maternal grandmother ignored Xia's maternal grandfather and took off her straw hat and put it on Xia Minmin's head.
After passing through the side gate of the backyard, you enter the vegetable garden of Xia's maternal grandparents. There is an orange tree with green fruit still hanging on it, and a jujube tree with jujubes that have already turned red.
In the vegetable garden, you can find tomatoes, eggplants, pumpkins, winter melons, green beans, chives... almost any summer vegetable you can think of. Grandpa and Grandma Xia take very good care of this vegetable garden.
Xia Minmin moved through the vegetable garden, calling out the names of various vegetables and picking fruits and vegetables, while her grandmother followed behind, handing her baskets. The two worked together very well.
"Stir-fried tomatoes with eggs, cold tomatoes with sugar, stir-fried chives with eggs, smashed cucumber, steamed pumpkin, braised eggplant with green beans, sweet potato leaves, Grandma has enough dishes, right?"
"These are all vegetables, we need to add a few meat dishes. Come on, let me take you to pick watermelons."
There were five or six watermelons waiting for their owner to come and choose in the vegetable garden. Xia Minmin patted them from the left and looked at them from the right, then picked the one that looked the best and held it in her arms.
Grandma Xia found it amusing to watch her granddaughter pick out watermelons; she looked so methodical, but actually…
"Little one, shall I carry it?" Grandma Xia estimated that the watermelon in her granddaughter's arms weighed about ten pounds, making it the biggest watermelon in their vegetable garden this year.
Xia Minmin glanced at her grandmother's basket, which was quite heavy, shook her head, and continued moving forward, constantly regretting that she shouldn't have been greedy and chosen the biggest one.
Grandma Xia's hand, the one not carrying the bamboo basket, was always outstretched beside Xia Minmin, ready to catch her granddaughter if she might fall.
As the back door drew closer, Xia Minmin used her right leg to push the watermelon that was sliding down, gritted her teeth, and walked into the backyard in one go to put the watermelon down.
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