Da Mao waved his hand like a commander.
"Pour more! Make them all move!"
The children's laughter was as clear and melodious as silver bells.
As Su Jianguo watched this scene, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.
Children don't yet understand the meaning of death, and this innocence becomes a healing balm for adults.
"Dad, do you think we should add some dried shrimp to the filling?"
Su Yufen's voice pulled him back to reality.
Just as Su Jianguo was about to answer, the courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open.
Grandpa Su, leaning on his cane, led Grandma Su in, the two of them walking in one after the other.
"Father! Mother!"
Su Jianguo hurriedly went to greet him.
"Why did you walk here? Didn't Mingqiang call you a car?"
The old man waved his hand.
"It's only a half-hour walk. Your mother and I will stretch our muscles together."
His gaze swept across the yard, softening when he saw the children playing.
Su Jianguo quickly offered his rattan chair to the old man.
"Dad, come lie down for a while, I'll fan you."
The old lady had already left the two of them behind, washed her hands, and headed straight for the kitchen.
"Xiulan, this filling smells so good! Come on, let me help you wrap it."
Wang Xiulan quickly wiped her hands on her apron.
"Mother, please sit and rest for a while. Yu Fen and I will take care of it."
"What rest?!"
The old lady deftly rolled up her sleeves.
"My old bones can still move!"
The kitchen suddenly became lively.
The old lady sat on a small stool, skillfully rolling out dumpling wrappers, the rolling pin spinning rapidly in her hands.
Wang Xiulan was in charge of wrapping the dumplings, her nimble fingers shaping them into ingot-like dumplings.
Su Yufen was busy boiling water, and would occasionally come over to learn a few tricks.
"Yu Fen is such a skillful girl."
The old lady said with a smile.
"Much better than your mother was back then."
Wang Xiulan pretended to be angry.
"Mom! What's wrong with the dumplings I made back then? Didn't they make Jianguo all plump and healthy?"
The three women immediately burst into laughter.
In the courtyard, Su Jianguo moved a small stool and sat down next to the old man, gently fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan.
While fanning his father, Su Jianguo asked softly.
"Dad, how's it going with Mingqiang these past few days? Has that girl Li Jinhua caused any more trouble?"
The old man squinted, a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth revealing a smug expression.
"Hey, that girl's been so well-behaved lately. She gets up before dawn to make breakfast, and even steamed some sweet buns for me. She takes a day off to come home and cook lunch, and in the evenings she prepares all sorts of delicious meals for me. Yesterday she even bought your mother a new dress and took her to the bathhouse for a back scrub."
The palm-leaf fan paused in Su Jianguo's hand, and he frowned slightly.
"So attentive? Are you just pretending?"
"Whether you pretend or not, can you pretend for a lifetime? That's fine too." The old man straightened up from the rattan chair, took the teacup his son handed him, and took a sip.
"If things can stay like this, I'll go to the police station in a few days and put in a good word for her parents and that bastard brother to get released."
Su Jianguo nodded, offering no objection.
After all, keeping people locked up indefinitely could easily lead to trouble.
Afterwards, the old man began to care about Yu Fen's condition. When the third son went to visit her this afternoon, he told her about his eldest sister's husband's death.
"How's Yu Fen doing these past few days?"
When his eldest daughter was mentioned, Su Jianguo's face showed worry.
He put down his palm-leaf fan and said with some helplessness.
"Dad, I was just about to tell you about this. Yesterday, the railway bureau awarded the house to Yufen. This afternoon, I took Yufen to see the house, but that old lady Zhang absolutely refused to move, and..."
"What else?"
The old man frowned.
Su Jianguo sighed.
"She was making a huge fuss over there. We'd barely walked in, hadn't even exchanged two words, when that old woman grabbed a rope and hoisted it to the rafters, saying she was going to hang herself in the house and make sure Yufen never had a peaceful life again. All the neighbors gathered around to watch, pointing and whispering. The old woman is so old, I... I really don't know what to do with her. If something bad happens to her, there'll be no way to explain it..."
Even with two lifetimes of experience, Su Jianguo had no good way to deal with this old lady.
The old man was silent for a moment, then tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the rattan chair, making a dull sound.
Suddenly, the old man laughed.
"This old lady is quite interesting..."
Su Jianguo nodded with a wry smile.
"Absolutely! This old lady is really going all out. She's so old, I only took two steps forward, and she just started taking off her clothes and yelling."
"Take off your clothes?"
This action even made Grandpa Su's eyes widen in astonishment.
"Yeah, that's what they did to me, there's nothing I can do."
Su Jianguo quickly explained.
"If that old lady gets clingy, how am I supposed to survive in this city?"
The old man nodded, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes to think. Su Jianguo knew his father was trying to find a solution, so he fell silent and picked up the palm-leaf fan again, gently fanning himself.
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