Chapter 252 Bah! Who cares!
At this moment, Mrs. Shen's powerful voice suddenly came from the yard:
"Old man! Come and see my new Wei Zi!"
Accompanied by Shen Changfeng's helpless dissuasion:
"Grandma, please go slowly, don't hurt your waist..."
When Mr. Shen heard his wife calling in the yard, he immediately perked up, but deliberately walked out slowly with his hands behind his back:
"Here you are! You are so loud even at your age, aren't you afraid of being laughed at by the neighbors?"
Chenchen took Mu Nanyan's hand and walked towards the yard.
Mrs. Shen was squatting by the flower bed, her hands still covered in mud. Upon hearing this, she immediately looked up and glared at him.
"Stop putting on airs! When you were courting me, who was it that sang 'Meeting at the Aobao' at the top of his lungs every day in front of the art troupe?"
"puff--"
Shen Changfeng, who was drinking water, spit it out and quickly turned around to wipe his mouth.
Mu Nanyan couldn't help laughing and quickly lowered her head to pretend to straighten Chenchen's collar.
Mr. Shen's face flushed, and he stiffened his neck and said, "You're bringing up such trivial things!"
He walked to the flowerbed, glanced at the purple violet, and deliberately curled his lips:
"Your chess piece is so droopy, it's not even as good as the chess piece Yan gave me. It's made of Hainan Huanghuali wood. Look at the patina, smell the fragrance, it takes decades of hard work to maintain it to this level!"
As Mr. Shen spoke, he took out the chessboard that Mu Nanyan gave him from behind him as if he were presenting a treasure, and gently stroked the delicate wood grain on the chessboard with his fingers.
Old Lady Shen was pruning Wei Zi's branches and leaves. Upon hearing this, she immediately put down her scissors:
"Old man, stop showing off! Look at the purple lily that our Yanyan picked. It's still blooming so brightly in late autumn. It's a rare thing! The petals are layered like hydrangeas. How can your broken piece of wood compare to it?"
As she spoke, she made way and the transplanted Wei Zi appeared in front of everyone.
Mr. Shen widened his eyes and said in disbelief:
"Broken wood?! This is a treasure that can be passed down from generation to generation! When I was fighting in southern Xinjiang, I saw a 300-year-old Huanghuali tree. The fragrance—"
"I'm talking about you fighting again!"
Mrs. Shen curled her lips and interrupted Mr. Shen.
"What rare flowers and trees haven't we seen during our art troupe's consolation performances? The purple king lily tree at the Kunming Expo Park is as big as a washbasin when in bloom! Ours may be smaller, but it's rare in season, isn't it, Yanyan?"
As Mrs. Shen spoke, she proudly touched the petals of Wei Zi's flower. Just as Mu Nanyan was about to open her mouth to say something, Mr. Shen interrupted her:
"It only takes a month or so for flowers to bloom and fade! My chess set gets smoother the more I use it, and I can even play chess with my great-grandson! Old woman, if you're really envious, I'll reluctantly let you touch it a few times..."
As Mr. Shen spoke, he had already moved closer to Mrs. Shen and was fiddling with chess in front of her.
"Bah! Who cares!"
As Mrs. Shen said this, she made a move to hit him, but when her hand was raised in the air, she turned it into the action of straightening her husband's collar.
"No matter how precious your wooden chess piece is, can it be as thoughtful as the peony Yanyan gave me?"
"Tsk, the chess piece Yanyan gave me isn't quite what I want."
Mu Nanyan stood aside and watched the two old men who were at loggerheads one second and whispering affectionately with their heads touching each other the next, and she couldn't help but laugh.
She was worried that the old couple would really quarrel, and was racking her brains to think of how to reconcile them, but it turned out that the two of them were just showing off their love in various ways!
"cough……"
Mu Nanyan touched her nose, feeling like her mouth was filled with dog food, and quickly turned to Shen Changfeng and said:
"Cousin, let's go in. I have a gift for you too."
Shen Changfeng was holding Chenchen and watching the fun. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when he heard this:
"I'm older than you, so I should be the one preparing a gift for you."
He weighed the little guy in his arms, and Chenchen immediately responded cleverly:
"The paper airplane my cousin folded for me last time was amazing!"
Mu Nanyan smiled and poked her son's face.
"You! You were bribed by a paper airplane?"
Then Mu Nanyan looked at Shen Changfeng and said:
"My cousin is in the army defending our country. His safe return is the best gift."
As Mu Nanyan spoke, she walked into the house. The sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting warm spots of light on the solid wood floor.
Mu Nanyan picked up a dark blue box from the two remaining gift bags on the coffee table and handed it to Shen Changfeng who was following behind her:
"I didn't know what you and your uncle would like, so I picked something practical."
Shen Changfeng held Chenchen in one hand and took the gift box with the other. His military instinct made him weigh the box before unwrapping it.
In the black velvet box, a Montblanc StarWalker series lighter lies quietly, its metal body emitting a cold luster.
"this……"
Shen Changfeng was stunned. He did smoke, but he had developed the habit of using ordinary lighters in the army and never thought he would use such a luxury.
I rubbed my fingertips across the hexagonal white star logo on the side of the lighter, and suddenly found the small word "Ping An" engraved on the bottom.
"I specially asked a master to carve this. Although I know my cousin is very skilled, I still..."
Before Mu Nanyan could finish her words, she was interrupted by a firm hug from Shen Changfeng.
Chenchen was caught in the middle, giggling and reaching for the lighter:
"Uncle, let me see, I want to play too."
"You can't play with this, little brat."
Shen Changfeng quickly raised his lighter, only to see Chenchen pull out a small camouflage bag from his pocket like a magic trick:
"I'll trade this with my cousin."
When I opened it, I found that it was a whistle made of a bullet shell, polished to a smooth and round shape, and with an army green lanyard.
Shen Changfeng's eyes became hot. This was the idea he had mentioned casually when he was teaching Chenchen to make handicrafts with bullet shells.
He lifted Chenchen above his head, causing the little guy to scream in surprise.
"Good boy! I'll accept this gift from you, cousin! But..."
He suddenly lowered his voice and winked in the direction of the garden.
"Don't let your great-grandmother know that I taught you how to play with bullet shells."
Mu Nanyan smiled and shook her head. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly heard Mr. Shen's energetic voice coming from the yard:
"Changfeng! Come and help me move the flowers! Your grandma insisted that the pot of Wei Zi play chess with me!"
Through the glass door, I saw Mrs. Shen proudly moving the peony pot to the side of the chessboard. Mr. Shen was so anxious that he stamped his feet:
"Oh my goodness! The dripping water from the flowerpot will ruin the chessboard!"
Old Mrs. Shen put her hands on her hips, looked at Old Mr. Shen and said:
"Are you feeling sad now? Who just said my flowers are not as good as your broken wood?"
Shen Changfeng and Mu Nanyan smiled at each other and sighed at the same time, but Chenchen suddenly broke free from his embrace and ran out happily:
"I'm going to help my great-grandfather protect the chess pieces!"
Mu Nanyan looked at her son's cheerful back and felt a sudden sense of emotion in her heart. This is probably the meaning of home, noisy but always warm.
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