Yang Jinxia was driving, and when she turned the first big bend, she deliberately slowed down. As the car was shaking, she still heard Chen Xu next to her groan. She turned around and saw that he had opened his eyes and frowned, seeming to be in pain.

"Are you awake?"

"Where are they?" Chen Xu was obviously still very drunk, his speech was a little unclear, and he mumbled.

"They were all drunk by you. I didn't realize you can drink so much. You've drunk almost two bottles. I can't stop you from drinking."

"Nonsense, I only drank five cups at most. None of your words are true."

Yang Jinxia turned her head to look at him, and saw that his eyes were half closed and his eyes were blurry. She said, "You are really drunk. I will take you home now."

Chen Xu moved his upper body, as if he wanted to get up, but just after he stood up a little, he fell down again and gave up. After a while, he murmured, "I don't want to go home, I don't want to go home..."

"If you're not going home, where are you going?"

"I'm going to my grandma's house. I haven't seen her for a long time. I didn't go to see her the last time she was in the hospital. They kept it a secret from me. Why didn't they tell me..."

Seeing that he was a little out of control, Yang Jinxia tried to comfort him, "Okay, I'll take you to your grandma's place."

When he was calmer, I asked, "Where does your grandmother live?"

"...Shi...Shimomura."

She turned her head and saw that his eyes were almost closed and he was about to fall asleep.

"Detailed address, Chen Xu, Chen Xu..." She called a few times, and he hummed twice and almost fell asleep.

She glanced at the road ahead and saw that there were no cars ahead. She looked at him and asked in a low voice, "What was that dream about?"

"Dream?"

"Dream..." Chen Xu's eyes suddenly widened. His blurred eyes refocused within a second, with a little more rational light. He asked in a low and hoarse voice, "What dream?"

Yang Jinxia smiled and said, "Did you forget? You just said you had a dream about your grandmother and wanted to see her."

"Really?" Chen Xu rubbed his swollen head, vaguely remembering that this seemed to be the case.

"Yes, I was just about to wake you up and ask for the exact address. Just now you only said it was in Shixia Village."

When Chen Xu heard her mention Shixia Village, he no longer doubted it and said, "Then please pull over and I'll enter the address into the navigation."

Yang Jinxia parked the car as instructed. Chen Xu took out his mobile phone, opened the navigation software, entered the address, and handed the phone to her.

The car continued on the road, and not long after, Chen Xu became drunk again and fell asleep in a daze.

Yang Jinxia didn't talk to him this time, she just focused on driving and let him have a good rest. After all, he was forced to drink so much this time, mostly because of her, she had brought him too much hatred.

Chen Xu’s grandmother’s house is not too far away, about twenty kilometers away from Chen Xu’s home in the county town.

Yang Jinxia drove slowly along the way and it took him nearly an hour and a half to reach the town. Following the navigation instructions, he turned into a village road.

This road is even narrower than the one we took to Chen Xu’s home. It can just accommodate two cars. You must be very careful when merging cars.

Fortunately, there were few cars on this road, and after driving ten kilometers, he encountered a car. Yang Jinxia simply stopped the car and waited for the other car to pass before continuing on his way.

The further you drive in, the fewer houses there are and the more mountains there are. Although the road is paved with cement, the plants on both sides of the road are so lush that they have grown onto the cement road.

Apart from the mountains, sometimes you will pass a flat land, which should have been farmland, but now most of it is abandoned and full of weeds. Only near the roadside can you occasionally see fields planted with some green vegetables.

Sometimes when I pass through a village, I can see some old people sitting at their doorsteps basking in the sun, but I can hardly see any young people.

It was very quiet around, with only the occasional bird calls.

This silence reminded Yang Jinxia of that dream.

Finally, she entered a village again and saw a stone tablet standing by the roadside with the words "Shixia Village" written on it.

She stopped the car and nudged Chen Xu who was still sleeping, "Wake up, we're here."

After shouting a few times, Chen Xu woke up dazedly, rubbed his eyes and looked outside, "Are we there yet?"

"Well, where is your grandmother's house?"

After a while, Yang Jinxia parked the car in front of a house as Chen Xu said.

"Who is it?"

As if hearing the noise, an old lady came out.

"Grandma, it's me." Chen Xu opened the car door and shouted.

"Xiao Xu?" The old lady recognized him and said in surprise, "Why didn't you tell me you were here?" When he came closer, she smelled a strong smell of alcohol and complained, "Why did you drink so much?"

"I just came back from a wedding." Chen Xu held his grandmother's hand and explained.

Grandma was attracted by Yang Jinxia who just got off the car and asked, "Who is this?"

Chen Xu felt a little dizzy again after being blown by the wind. He said, "My friend, you can call her Jinxia."

"Hello, grandma." Yang Jinxia called obediently.

"Your friend is really good-looking," the grandmother praised. She spoke in her hometown dialect, but Yang Jinxia still understood it and said, "Thank you, grandma."

"Go inside, it's windy outside."

Grandma invited them into the house. After they entered, she saw that Chen Xu was not in good spirits and said, "Look at you, you drank so much, go upstairs and rest."

Chen Xuqiang said with all his strength, "I haven't talked to you yet."

"If you have anything to say, wait until you wake up. Come upstairs with me." Grandma went upstairs without saying anything.

Yang Jinxia saw that Chen Xu was walking a little unsteadily, and was obviously drunk again, so she supported her and followed her.

When they arrived at a room, grandma took out sheets and quilts from the cupboard and spread them on the bed.

Chen Xu was really a little overwhelmed at this time. He had never drunk so much alcohol before. He had just slept all the way and now he was sleepy again. He lay down on the bed and fell asleep quickly.

"Let's go out." Grandma said in Mandarin with an accent.

Outside the room is the living room.

"Would you like some tea?" asked Grandma.

"No, I'm not thirsty."

Grandma still poured her a cup of hot water, sat down, looked at her kindly, and asked, "Are you and Xiaoxu dating?"

Yang Jinxia gently wrapped her hands around the cup, feeling the warmth from the hot water, and shook her head, "Not yet."

"That will be soon. Xiaoxu has never brought a girl to see me." Grandma smiled cheerfully and said, "My grandson is good in every way except that he is not good at talking. He keeps everything to himself and never speaks out."

As she spoke, she grabbed Yang Jinxia's hand and said, "In the future, I hope you can be more considerate of him."

"I will."

Yang Jinxia said, and then changed the subject, "Grandma, Chen Xu and you have a really good relationship."

"That's right. He followed me when he was three years old until he started primary school, then he went to live with his grandmother."

Yang Jinxia was also quite curious about Chen Xu's growing environment and asked, "What about his parents?"

"We live in a poor area. His parents didn't want to farm for the rest of their lives, so after they got married, they went to the big city to make a living. When Xiaoxu was three years old, his mother got pregnant again, so she sent him back to me to take care of him."

"Later, something happened and the child died. His mother was devastated and weak, so she never took him out. When he was seven years old, she sent him to his grandmother to give him a better education."

"His grandmother has several children, his eldest uncle's, his younger uncle's, his eldest aunt's, his second aunt's, and he, there are seven or eight in total. His grandparents are partial and only favor one big one and one small one. Xiaoxu is not valued at all there. He is also bullied by his cousins."

"You don't know, when he was little, he was very cheerful, loved to laugh, was sensible and sweet-talking. After living with his grandmother for a few years, he changed completely and became very introverted. He refused to say anything when asked. It hurt me to see that. I have always regretted not insisting on keeping him by my side."

Yang Jinxia listened quietly, looking towards the door, remembering every moment she had spent with him in her dream, and felt a little sad.

(End of this chapter)