Chapter 137: I Don't Want to Wait Any Longer
Chapter 137: I Don't Want to Wait Any Longer
After he left, Cheng Bing stayed at her mother-in-law's house to help clear the dishes.
As Cheng's father moved the table, he asked, "Is everything alright at home, Xiao Niannian? Why are you here so early?"
Mrs. Cheng said coldly, "Nothing will happen. To put it bluntly, the old couple are with their son and grandson all the time. What could they possibly have to disagree with? They just argue all the time when their daughter-in-law is around."
There was still some resentment in his words, and Cheng's father didn't want his child to hear it, so he changed the subject and said, "His mother is fine. She'll recover in a month or two."
Cheng Bing said, "Yes, they said I have to stay in the hospital for half a month before I can be discharged."
Grandma Cheng sighed, "Bingbing, you're up so early this morning. Your second sister isn't up yet, is she?"
"When I came out, there was no sound from upstairs."
"Oh, never mind, rest more. Go to the corner in the morning and dig up two cabbages, it's the rice paddy near your great-grandmother's house. She asked me to go, but I said it's too far and troublesome. You dig up two, and when you come back I'll make tofu balls and small pots of soup for your sister. They're going out too."
Cheng said, "Hey, I'll go dig it up."
Grandma Cheng said, "It's very slippery over there, don't slip and fall, let the young people go."
Cheng Bing nodded and agreed, "Okay, I'll go change my shoes and then I'll go."
He used to often dig vegetables in his own garden, but Grandma Lin cherished the land. She used it not only in front of and behind the house, but also scattered some soybeans and planted some vegetables on a small ridge along the edge of the rice paddies. The cabbages grew quite well in the winter and were not damaged by the frost.
Cheng Bing carried a basket and a sickle as she walked, dug up the vegetables, and then wiped the dirt off the sickle on a nearby dead tree.
Suddenly, I remembered Fang Yuenian's words.
Perhaps he should do something too—his in-laws, parents, and sisters all like Fang Yuenian very much.
After Cheng Bing returned home, she took the groceries to her mother-in-law and found that her parents were already up when she went inside.
Cheng Qiuyan was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. Lin Guohui placed four cups side by side on the coffee table in the living room, with a bottle of honey next to them. He turned around, saw his son, and said, "You're back."
"Okay," Cheng Bing replied, "What are we doing?"
"Make some honey water, everyone have some," Lin Guohui said. "Your mom said she'd have noodles for breakfast, do you want the soup kind or the dry kind?"
“I ate at my mother-in-law’s this morning,” Cheng Bing said.
Lin Guohui was surprised, "Your grandfather said you went to dig for vegetables early this morning, and you even ate breakfast before going? You got up so early this morning?"
Just as Cheng Bing was about to speak, footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Cheng Xiaoxiao came downstairs.
“My mother-in-law made noodles, and I ate a bowl,” Cheng Bing said, looking at Cheng Xiaoxiao, “Sister.”
"Hmm, why didn't you sleep a little longer?" Cheng Xiaoxiao yawned. "Dad, I'm leaving tomorrow."
Lin Guohui prepared the honey water and called the two over to drink it, saying, "Okay, I've already talked to Junjun about it, right?"
Cheng Bing asked, "Sister, is Second Sister coming with you?"
Cheng Xiaoxiao drank half a glass of water. "Well, how many more days until school starts? You should stay home and take good care of yourself..." She originally wanted to say that she should spend more time with Fang Yuenian, but she realized that it was inappropriate and stopped talking.
Cheng Bing knew perfectly well what was going on and nodded, saying, "I understand."
Lin Guohui looked at his son and then at his daughter, feeling something was off.
Hearing the noise from the kitchen, Cheng Qiuyan called out, "Are you all up?"
Cheng Xiaoxiao chimed in, "Yes, Mom, you're up. Junjun will be downstairs soon too."
Cheng Qiuyan then came out of the kitchen and asked, "How many people are having noodle soup? Bingbing, how was your vegetable digging this morning? The field was slippery, you didn't fall, did you?"
“No,” Cheng Bing shook her head, “Mom, I ate noodles at Grandpa’s this morning, so you don’t need to make me any.”
Cheng Qiuyan said she understood, and Cheng Xiaoxiao went to the kitchen to chat with her mother.
Grandma Cheng stood at the back door and called out, "Guohui?"
"Hey," Lin Guohui hurriedly got up and went over, "Mom."
"We need a few kids to come over here for lunch, some hot pot and tofu balls."
Lin Guohui said, "Mom, you're making them food again, it's such a hassle."
“Nothing much, just a few sisters coming over to have some fun, eat some hot pot and play around. I’ve prepared everything,” Mrs. Cheng knew her son-in-law was going to pester her, so she joked, “The adults won’t get anything to eat.”
Lin Guohui quickly agreed and told her that Cheng Xiaoxiao and Cheng Junjun were planning to leave the next day. Upon hearing this, Cheng's mother-in-law said in a deep voice, "It's good that they leave early. It's nice to go out and explore. It's no fun staying at home. People in the village will gossip about it."
Upon hearing this, Lin Guohui advised, "Why bother with them? Don't pay any attention to them."
Cheng Bing heard it clearly from inside the room and frowned slightly.
Feeling rather down, he went into the kitchen and told Cheng Qiuyan that he would be using his electric scooter to take Fang Yuenian to the hospital today.
Cheng Qiuyan said, "It's too cold, let your dad drive you there."
Cheng Bing said no, "I'll deliver it myself, it'll be quick."
The Fang family never hesitated to gossip, often extending their concern to the Cheng family. Now that Wang Jing was in such a dangerous situation, Lin Guohui had taken the initiative to visit her in the hospital. In front of certain idle people, there was plenty of gossip to discuss.
Not wanting the elderly to cause trouble, Lin Guohui offered a few more words of persuasion before finally getting Grandma Cheng to leave. When he returned to the house, Cheng Qiuyan had already brought out the noodles. Cheng Junjun went downstairs, and the family ate breakfast together, chatting about this and that. When they heard that Grandma Cheng had cooked a small pot of noodles, the girls were all delighted.
After dropping Fang Yuenian off at the hospital entrance, Cheng Bing hesitated for a moment. Fang Yuenian noticed and quickly said, "Next time, don't go. It's not very convenient. I'll tell my mom."
Cheng Bing had no choice but to nod, "Then you can go in. Send me a WeChat message if you need anything."
Braving the cold wind to get home, Grandma Cheng cooked a small pot of delicious and steaming hot food for the three children. There was an alcohol stove underneath, the soup was boiling in the pot, and bright green spinach was placed next to it, waiting to be cooked.
The three siblings sat down around the table. Cheng's father-in-law came over with his teacup, glanced at it, and shook his head, saying, "This is incredible. Your mother-in-law is going to stuff all the food here into your bellies."
Cheng Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "Grandpa, would you like to eat together?"
“I’m not eating,” Cheng’s father-in-law hurriedly waved his hand. “Your mother-in-law said that the adults have nothing to eat. You three can eat slowly, don’t rush.” He then instructed Cheng Bing, “Add more alcohol when it burns out, and add more when the fire goes out. Treat it as a snack.”
"Understood," Cheng Bing replied.
This small pot of stew is exceptionally delicious, and Cheng Bing really wants Fang Yuenian to be able to eat it too. He's even considering that when they go back to school, they might find an opportunity to rent a day-stay apartment with a kitchen together, so they can have a proper meal together alone.
The next day, Cheng Xiaoxiao and Cheng Junjun set off without passing through the town. They only exchanged a few words with Fang Yuenian on WeChat, telling him to take good care of his mother. There were many things going on there; Grandma Fang had a headache last night and had been taken to the hospital, making things quite chaotic.
Amidst the chaos, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Jing was finally discharged from the hospital.
Returning to Shuibi Bay was out of the question; she was taken directly to her own home. Fang Yuenian stayed there for one night before returning to the Fang family home to pack his things. Winter break was almost over, and he needed to prepare to return to school.
Lin Guohui's furniture factory has also started operations. He's been running back and forth these past few days and heard about this. On his way back this day, he passed by KFC and vaguely remembered that Fang Yuenian liked to eat there, so he bought some to take home and gave to Cheng Bing, telling him to go find Fang Yuenian to eat there.
"Just ask on your phone, and when you have some free time, come out and get something to eat. Don't you guys always like going to the carpenter's shop? Go ahead."
Cheng Bing was a little taken aback.
Lin Guohui said, "What are you spacing out for?"
"Oh, no," Cheng Bing said, holding the bucket of chicken wings. "Thanks, Dad."
Lin Guohui laughed, "There's nothing to thank me for. Your sister and her husband were planning to buy it the day she left, but I thought it wouldn't be convenient for him in the hospital."
Fang Yuenian spent half a day packing up Wang Jing's clothes that she had only half-packed that day. After this incident, Fang Wu was very frightened and dared not go out to find his lover again. He stayed at home obediently and even took good care of Fang's mother, who had a headache, for two days. As a result, the relationship between the three of them improved a lot. Fang Yuenian saw this and found it quite funny.
Family is family, even if he's the grandson, he's just like that.
Cheng Bing asked him to go to the carpenter's shop. He was in a bad mood, so he immediately agreed and rushed over. To his surprise, he saw the still-warm fried chicken.
“My dad saw it when he came back, remembered you like to eat it, so he bought it,” Cheng Bing pulled him to sit down, “What did you eat for breakfast?”
Fang Yuenian was still in a daze when she raised her hand and said, "Bread—oh, Uncle Lin bought it for me?"
"Hmm, do you like it?" Cheng Bing asked.
Fang Yuenian looked at the fried chicken, then at him, and nodded: "I like it."
Cheng Bing smiled at him, "Eat."
Watching Fang Yuenian eat slowly and methodically, Cheng Bing's gaze remained calm, but her thoughts had already drifted far away.
There were some things he didn't want to wait for any longer.
This is a very, very important thing.
From childhood to adulthood, Cheng Bing has received complete and enviable family warmth.
His parents were loving, his grandfather and mother-in-law were kind and reasonable, and his two older sisters treated him exceptionally well. He was able to grow up without any worries, but now he wants to personally disrupt that peace.
Having read many literary works before, I've seen how many gentle and open-minded parents instantly become hysterical when faced with such a situation. This behavior is undoubtedly a shocking challenge, even a provocation, to them. Therefore, Cheng Bing has no idea how Cheng Qiuyan and Lin Guohui will react. He doesn't know about Uncle Gao, nor does he know that they actually have some understanding of people with special orientations, so he has no way of probing their thoughts.
As the weather turned cloudy and it started to snow, Cheng Qiuyan and Lin Guohui felt a little reluctant to part with their daughters after they left. So they sat side by side on the sofa in the main room, cracking sunflower seeds, warming themselves by the fire, and chatting while watching TV.
Cheng Bing pushed the door open and came in. Cheng Qiuyan asked first, "You're home so soon? Didn't we chat for long?"
Lin Guohui then asked, "How is he?"
These two are kind people who don't like to gossip. Cheng Bing herself overheard someone talking about the Fang family behind their backs on the way here, saying that Old Mrs. Fang was being difficult and causing unrest in the family.
Cheng Bing replied, "It's pretty good."
He slowly exhaled, walked up to his parents, and said as calmly and earnestly as possible, "Dad, Mom, I have something to tell you."
Cheng Qiuyan and Lin Guohui were both looking at him.
"You've watched Fang Yuenian grow up, you know his personality and character very well, right?" The first question posed left the two elders bewildered.
Cheng Qiuyan thought the two children had a fight and asked, "You didn't argue with him, did you? It's normal for him to be in a bad mood these days. You can't get angry with him."
Cheng Bing shook her head. "I'm not angry with him."
"Oh, that's good," Cheng Qiuyan nodded, still looking at her son with some confusion, "Then..." Author's Note: Thank you to my mentor 9492239 (9492239) for your support! For more exciting content, please leave a message for this book on Liancheng Reading.
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