Grandma and Grandpa
"Oh dear, little girl, what are you doing here!" The old woman rushed out of the house in a hurry, holding a large spatula. The spatula in her hand swayed back and forth, as if she was about to hit the two of them on the head at any moment.
"I'm so embarrassed, so embarrassed! Those old hags in the village are going to talk nonsense again!" The old woman huffed and puffed as she ran towards the two of them, wielding a spatula.
A chubby yellow dog followed behind her, wagging its tail and rushing towards her.
He Yinxin stood there stunned, and subconsciously hugged Jiang Yichun, using her back to shield her from the old woman.
"Grandma, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have..."
The spatula didn't land on his head, but instead, something soft and hot was stuffed into his hand.
He Yinxin looked down and saw a white pastry wrapped in a plastic bag.
He slowly released his grip on Jiang Yichun's waist and met the old man's eyes.
The old woman's eyes were bright and piercing as she looked him over with a smile.
He Yinxin's lips trembled as she pulled the suitcase that the two had pushed aside. She stammered for a long time, unable to speak, "Grandma, Grandma, hello. I...I'm Digua, no, I'm He Yinxin, I'm...I'm Xiaochun's...male...male..."
Jiang Yichun took his sweaty hand in hers and blinked.
The old woman laughed, her face crinkling into a deep wrinkle: "My dear girl, this is the Lao He you told me about, your boyfriend?"
"Yes, that's right." Jiang Yichun nodded with a smile, led He Yinxin to the old lady, and whispered, "Old He, hurry up, introduce yourself to my grandma."
He Yinxin stood blankly in front of the old woman, forced a stiff smile, and took a deep breath: "Hello, Xiaochun's grandma, I am Jiang Yichun's prospective boyfriend. My surname is He, and my name is He Yinxin. Xin means dawn."
The old woman looked him up and down, her eyes meeting He Yinxin's. The wrinkles on her face became even more pronounced. She reached out and patted his arm: "Not bad, not bad, you seem quite honest! And you have a good young appearance!"
“My grandma said you’re handsome,” Jiang Yichun whispered in his ear.
She looked up and saw that He Yinxin's ears were already bright red.
"Thank you, thank you, Grandma... What's your name, Grandma?"
The old woman made a circle with her mouth, took a step back with the shovel in her hand, and said, "Oh, that's strange. People are asking me my name! They all call me Old Hu's Mom or Fang's."
"My name is Li Jianfang, Jian as in construction and Fang as in fragrance. Xiaoxin, remember that?" She smiled and pointed to the white pastry in He Yinxin's hand.
"Xiao Xin, this is fermented rice cake, want to try some? Chun Nan loves it the most."
He Yinxin remained rooted to the spot like a tree by the roadside, nodding his head repeatedly, his hand holding the pastry trembling incessantly.
The summer sun was scorching, causing beads of sweat to appear on his face, which then rolled down his black hair in large drops.
He raised his hand, took a bite of the pastry, and chewed it slowly in his mouth.
"Mmm, delicious." He looked down at Jiang Yichun, pushed up his glasses, and his eyes were gentle.
Jiang Yichun smiled and nodded, raising her hand to wipe the fine sweat dripping from his forehead: "Alright, alright, Lao He, it's so hot outside, let's go inside. Grandma has turned on the air conditioner."
She took his arm with one hand and dragged her suitcase with the other, and entered the cabin surrounded by Potato and Potato II.
As soon as the three opened the door, an old man wearing reading glasses, who was lying in a rocking chair flipping through the Book of Changes, sat up.
He smiled, got up, and walked unsteadily toward Jiang Yichun: "Oh, Yichun, you're back?"
Jiang Yichun dragged two large suitcases, pushed them to the electric cart in the corner, and nodded.
He Yinxin stood beside her, scratched the back of her head, and gave her grandfather a few silly smiles.
When Grandpa saw He Yinxin, his eyes widened for a moment. He pulled him in front of him and turned to Jiang Yichun: "Yichun, is this your boyfriend?"
Jiang Yichun smiled silently, two dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth. She looked at the tall boy standing straight beside her, then turned and nodded to her grandfather.
Grandpa laughed too, took off his reading glasses, and carefully examined He Yinxin's face.
"Not bad, not bad. Thick eyebrows, a straight nose, bright eyes, though a bit unfocused. And quite full lips, both upper and lower lips..."
"He's a good young man."
"Hu Aihua, you old geezer, you're talking nonsense again! Come on, let's eat!" Li Jianfang rushed up to her grandfather with a spatula in hand, wiping her hands on her apron.
Grandpa nodded with a smile and led the two children to sit at the round table in the restaurant.
He Yinxin chewed on the pastry she hadn't finished eating, her gaze still fixed on Jiang Yichun.
Her gaze didn't meet his; instead, it fell on the steaming plate of fried egg cakes.
"Grandma! Is this fried rice cake?" Her eyes lit up immediately.
Li Jianfang plopped down next to her and handed the others bowls and chopsticks: "Yeah, yeah, Chunnan, you've been wanting to eat this, but we don't have any purple clover now, so we'll just stir-fry it with eggs and scallions."
"If you don't want to eat it, you can save it for your grandpa and Fei. Fei will be back from the city soon."
"Speaking of which, Fei has been quite busy lately. I wonder what she's been busy with. I heard her bar business is doing quite well, and she's often seen with a young man."
Hu Aihua chuckled and poured some wine into his glass: "I know, Xiao Lin, he's a very hardworking young man, always following Fei around."
Jiang Yichun's hand holding the chopsticks trembled. She pursed her lips, picked up a piece of rice cake, and said nothing.
He Yinxin looked at her profile, and his hand quietly reached under the table to hold her palm.
She turned her head to the side and took his hand in hers, her fingertips circling in his palm.
Jiang Yichun forced a smile at him, shook his head, and turned to ask the old woman, "Who is Xiao Lin...?"
"My mom's new boyfriend?"
Li Jianfang chuckled, pushed the bowl of fried rice cakes in front of the two of them, and waved her hand: "I don't know, I don't know. Fei is just like that, she does things in a whirlwind. She and your dad were the same. Back then, she went to the city for three or four months, and then she got pregnant with you."
“Fei is just too impulsive, sigh.” Hu Aihua joined the conversation at the right moment, stroking the table with his thin, withered hands. “When we were little, I looked at her birth chart, and it said she had too much fire in her chart…”
Before Hu Aihua could finish speaking, Li Jianfang raised her hand and smacked him on the head with her chopsticks: "Alright, alright, Hu Aihua, stop talking nonsense. What's with all this talk about a fiery temper? You're not eating and you're drinking too much, which is making me fiery!"
Hu Aihua then obediently shut her mouth and lowered her head to start eating.
The two young people sitting on one side sat upright, but their hands were clasped together under the table.
Jiang Yichun remained silent, continuing to chew the fried rice cake in his mouth.
She took a small bite, and the soft rice cake was slightly charred from being fried in oil and fire, coated with a layer of dry scrambled eggs. The aroma of eggs and glutinous rice flowed on her tongue.
Mom, do you finally have a new boyfriend?
Jiang Yichun's image of his mother after she got drunk reappeared in his mind.
"Don't trust men who are nice to you from the start."
She lowered her eyes, the rice cake in her mouth already chewed into crumbs, but she couldn't swallow it.
Mom, will you be happy?
Mom, will this new uncle be reliable?
Mom, are the villagers going to gossip about you again?
I was just being so affectionate with He Yinxin in the village. Could it be that those people actually saw us?
The rumors from the villages and towns dragged her back into that unbearable past.
The bitterness she had hidden deep in her heart surged up in an instant, plunging her back into that labyrinth.
Until the hands in his palms gripped his even tighter.
Jiang Yichun finally came to his senses and looked up at the person beside him.
He Yinxin sat upright, his fingertips gently sliding along the bridge of his nose, his Adam's apple bobbing incessantly.
She heard his deep voice: "Xiaochun, are you alright?"
Jiang Yichun was about to reply when the old woman interrupted him: "Oh dear, Xiaoxin, why aren't you eating? Eat up, eat up, don't be a guest!"
"Eating, eating, hehe, I was a little distracted just now."
He Yinxin chuckled a few times, picked up her chopsticks with her free hands, and put the fried rice cake into her mouth.
His right hand was gripping Jiang Yichun's, so he could only use his left hand to pick up food, and as a result, he could only pick up a few pieces of rice cake and put them in his mouth.
"Oh dear, Xiaoxin, what are you doing? You can use your right hand!"
"Yes, I know, Grandma Li. I... I'm developing my right brain, haha. I've always believed that humans need to work hard to develop the potential of their brains..."
He Yinxin grinned foolishly and continued to pick up a row of rice cakes with her left hand.
Seeing his carefree demeanor, Jiang Yichun felt a surge of anger rising within her.
She carefully pulled her hand out of his, glared at him, and then twisted her hand on his thigh.
He Yinxin hissed softly and immediately sat up straighter.
The smile on his face immediately faded, and he had no choice but to raise his right hand and start eating his meal obediently.
However, his eyes still kept glancing at Jiang Yichun.
Jiang Yichun didn't say much during the meal; it was mostly He Yinxin who chatted with the two elderly people, exchanging only a few words.
Jiang Yichun occasionally glanced at him beside him. The summer sun shone through the window onto his face, illuminating his handsome features.
Just like the light that shone on his face when we first met.
She had to admit that, just like when she first met him, she still thought he looked like the second male lead in an idol drama.
However, after this spring, he had clearly lost a lot of weight, and his features were more defined. The coldness in his eyes when we first met had now been filled with tenderness.
and……
He Yinxin sat there quietly, listening to the old woman chatter on about all sorts of trivial things happening in the village.
Which daughter-in-law and mother-in-law are arguing? Which daughter is running away from her marriage? Which family has a baby? Which family has bought a new house in the city?
Jiang Yichun lowered his eyes and listened quietly.
She knew that most of the young people in the village had left, leaving only some old men, women and children behind.
The old woman then changed the subject, starting to talk about how good the village secretary was, how he cleaned up the village's public toilets, and how he brought internet access and built roads for the village.
Grandpa would ramble on about metaphysics and gossip, only to be shut down by Grandma who would say, "What nonsense is that old geezer talking about again?"
He Yinxin listened with a smile, occasionally sharing some knowledge with the elderly couple.
"Oh my, Xiaoxin, you truly are a top student, you know everything!"
He would always blush and shake his head, then casually put his hand on Jiang Yichun's shoulder: "No, no, I only learned a little bit."
Jiang Yichun watched him push up his glasses and unconsciously smiled.
She temporarily buried those awkward and conflicted thoughts, her eyes still fixed on his profile.
"Oh dear, Chunnan, why are you staring at Xiaoxin? Xiaoxin, I think Chunnan must really like you!" The old woman's laughter pulled Jiang Yichun out of her various emotions.
Jiang Yichun felt that he couldn't completely openly show this relationship to others; he still felt a strange flutter of excitement and shyness.
Her cheeks flushed instantly, and she immediately stood up: "Grandma, I... I just like him so-so. I... I won't say any more. I'll go upstairs and pack my things!"
"Xiaochun, what do you mean by 'just so-so'...?"
Before He Yinxin could finish speaking, Jiang Yichun dragged his suitcase and slipped upstairs.
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