0032 Night Rose - C.TLAY, Night.32 [48 hours 1 post bonus chapter] The small mountain town was filled with white fog in the early morning. Looking up, the gradually white sky was long and narrow, just like the sloping street under his feet. Crows were shaking their black feathers and cawing hoarsely. Chen Shanye pulled the suitcase upwards. The four wheels of the suitcase rolled over the uneven ground, making a rattling sound. The unusually abrupt noise spread along the winding old street that could only accommodate two cars side by side, straight to the end.
After walking a few steps, he finally picked up the heavy box and walked through the thick fog towards the alley where his parents' home was.
At the entrance of the rice noodle shop at the alley, a middle-aged, plump woman was crouching down, preparing to lift the rolling shutter. Chen Shanye put down his suitcase, walked up behind her and called out, "Auntie, let me help you."
Auntie Pang turned her head, squinted her eyes, and saw who it was. She exclaimed, "Oh, Ye Zi! You're back?!"
"Yes, I came back to do something." Chen Shanye bent his waist, and when he stood up again, the rolling shutter door rose up with a swish, and the sound of metal collision echoed in the alley.
Auntie Pang walked around Chen Shanye and patted his shoulder with her chubby hand: "It's been so long since we last met, you look stronger again! How long will you stay this time?"
Chen Shanye dusted off his hands: "Just two days. Why are you the only one opening the shop today? Where's uncle?"
"Oh, his legs and feet hurt so much when he encounters this kind of weather. I told him to rest at home. He can't do much work even if he comes." Auntie Pang looked up at the store sign with red letters on a yellow background and sighed: "If my son and his family don't come back, I guess this store won't be open for much longer."
"Ali, don't you consider coming back to help?"
Aunt Pang’s mutton rice noodle shop has been open here for more than 20 years. Her son Ali is a few years younger than Chen Shanye. When they were young, a group of boys always ran around the street in open-crotch pants.
Auntie Fatty shook her head dejectedly: "Everyone has gone to the big city, how can they bear to come back to such a small place?"
When Chen Shanye left, Aunt Pang kept asking him to go to the store to eat rice noodles when he had free time in the past two days, and he nodded in agreement.
After walking a short distance into the alley, he arrived at an old residential building with familiarity, took out his house key and opened the security door.
The corridor was soaked in fog, cold and gray. Chen Shanye climbed the stairs one by one relying on his physical memory. The wheels of the box would occasionally hit the wall, and then white ash would fall to the ground. It was the white hair of the old house.
Slowly closing the wooden door, Chen Shanye turned around and saw Shen Qing walking out of the room. He lowered his voice: "Mom, did I wake you up?"
"No, I just got up. The old man can't sleep that long." Shen Qing smiled and walked to his son, looking up at him: "Shan Ye, you're back."
"Well, I'm back." Chen Shanye also smiled.
He took a shower and changed his clothes. When he walked out of the bathroom, Chen Hechuan had woken up and was frying mixed sauce in the kitchen. The rich aroma filled the house.
"dad."
"Well, go see Yangyang first, and then you can have breakfast."
"Okay." Chen Shanye wiped his hair and walked towards the master bedroom.
The curtains in the room were drawn low, and Chen Shanye walked to the bed in the dim light that seeped in from the living room. A small bed was added in the one-meter-wide aisle next to his parents' bed. The bed surface was at the same height as the big bed, and it was made by Chen Hechuan who specially bought wood and hammered it back.
The house is cool, and Chen Siyang is prone to prickly heat in the summer. His parents are afraid of the cold but will still turn on the air conditioner all night. They would rather cover themselves with thick quilts than let their grandson suffer.
He got on the bed and lay on his side next to the small bed, looking at Chen Siyang's sleeping face with a slightly pouting mouth, and a soft spot in his heart collapsed.
It was still early. Chen Siyang usually got up at 7:30. He squeezed the child's short hand, got up and walked out of the bedroom.
A large white porcelain bowl had been placed on the dining table. Steam carrying the rich aroma of meat wafted up from the edge of the bowl. Soft white rice noodles were soaked in hot soup, covered with fragrant minced meat, emerald green onions, and Shen Qing's homemade pickled cabbage.
The rice noodles were soaked in rich and fragrant soup. When picked up, they passed through the red oil and minced meat, carrying a few green onions. The aroma penetrated into the nose, bringing a sour feeling that rushed straight to the forehead.
My nose and eyes felt sore in an instant.
Zhong Mang always talks about how delicious his mixed rice noodles are and how much they remind him of the taste of home.
Only he knows that what he does is not even one tenth of what his family does.
Chen Hechuan sat down next to him: "After you send Yangyang to kindergarten, you will go to the court, right?"
"right."
Shen Qing placed a plate of buns on the dining table and said in a calm voice, "A few days ago, your mother-in-law... Zhao Bingqing called me, but I didn't answer."
Chen Shanye took a bite of a steaming hot meat bun and said, "I told them before I came back. Maybe I want to talk to you again."
The two families went from knowing each other to becoming relatives, and now their relationship is as distant as water, all because of one person's departure without saying goodbye. No matter how honest and generous Chen Hechuan and Shen Qing are, they will inevitably have some resentment.
"A few years ago, the Wu family said they would return the betrothal gift, and if they did, the marriage would be considered over, but you refused to accept it. Now, you really want to end it, and they come running back. What is there to talk about? There is nothing to talk about... In my opinion, this matter should have ended years ago..." Shen Qing was still in a bad mood when he thought of this. When he opened the bun, he got burned by the gravy. The pain made him drop the bun into the bowl with a snap.
Chen Hechuan handed her a hand towel and said, "Hey, it's been so many years. I've already gotten over the anger I should have felt in the past two years. Shanye is fine now, and Yangyang is fine too. After we get back from the court today, this matter will be over. We'll just go our separate ways from now on with the Wu family. They didn't intend to compete with you for Yangyang, so why are you so angry?"
"I'm just worried about my son..."
Shen Qing looked at Chen Shanye and always felt that he had become thinner and had not taken good care of himself while being alone in a foreign land.
Chen Hechuan drank some soy milk and changed the subject: "Let's turn the page, let's turn the page, it's the mountains and fields..."
"Hmm?" Chen Shanye raised his head from the bowl of noodles.
He hadn't eaten since he ate two buckets of noodles in the car last night. In between, he made passionate love with Ruan Mei. He was so hungry by now that his cheeks were bulging from eating rice noodles and buns.
"Who did you come back with yesterday?"
Chen Hechuan originally wanted to wait at the door last night, but Chen Shanye told him not to wait, saying that he brought a friend with him and he had to accompany him to the hotel to check in after arriving in the county.
When he got up in the middle of the night, he found that his son had not returned. He received a message on his phone saying that it was too late and he was afraid of waking them up if he went home, so he would come back tomorrow morning.
"Well...a friend." Chen Shanye picked up the bowl and drank most of the soup with a few gulps.
Shen Qing curiously inquired, "Friends in Guangzhou? Male or female?"
Chen Shanye didn't intend to hide it from them: "A girl, a girl I like."
The two elders looked at each other. Just as Chen Hechuan was about to say something, a childish voice broke the silence of the living room: "Dad!"
The little boy ran barefoot to Chen Shanye's side. He pulled Chen Siyang onto his lap with one hand and asked with a smile, "Why did you get up so early today, little lazy pig?"
Chen Siyang's slightly long hair stood up in disarray, and her thin legs swung in the air. "I dreamed that Santa Claus gave me a present. He also said, 'Hurry up and get up and look at your present.' And then I woke up."
Chen Shanye reached out and smoothed the messy hair: "Then did you see the gift at the end of the bed?"
The child's eyes were sleepy, but there were stars in his dark eyes that penetrated the thick fog and illuminated Chen Shanye.
Chen Siyang put his arms around his father's neck, lay in his arms, and said, "Well, I saw you."
————Author’s nonsense————
The old mother wrote this until she cried, feeling sad.
Starting tomorrow, updates will be updated after 8pm. However, since I often set flags and slap my face, I will still refer to Weibo for accuracy.
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