hey-hey!
Knowing he was in the wrong, Xu An didn't refute, but just chuckled twice to get away with it. Xu Dongliang also knew that Xu An was just saying it casually, so after scolding him a few times, he didn't dwell on the issue and started explaining the relationship between his second grandfather and the simple-minded middle-aged man to Xu An.
In the 1980s and 90s, seeing others making a fortune as middlemen, my second grandfather got the idea. He decided to try it himself. If it wasn't too difficult or risky, he'd bring the people of Xujia Village along, hoping to make every household in Xujia Village a millionaire. So, with a few thousand yuan scraped together by the whole village, my second grandfather embarked on his journey south amidst the expectant gazes of the entire village.
Let alone train stations in the 1980s and 90s, even in the early 21st century, there were plenty of notorious thieves and motorcycle gangs. My second grandfather didn't have a beard back then, and he didn't look as venerable as he does now. With his burly and imposing physique, he looked exactly like a ruthless bandit, and no one dared to mess with him along the way.
On the way back, however, they encountered a petty thief. This thief wasn't after their great-uncle, but rather a young couple with a child sitting opposite him. Judging by their clothes, the family was clearly well-off, and the child had been eating constantly since boarding the bus, even pulling out a hamburger and fries midway through the journey. Naturally, the family of three became the thief's target.
Grandpa ate two fries at the little boy's enthusiastic invitation, which was a pleasant surprise. If the journey had been uneventful, they would have remained acquaintances, parting ways after getting off the bus, but those three petty thieves struck.
My second grandfather didn't recount the process of subduing the three thieves, but in the end, he picked them up one by one like chicks, and the helpful bystanders also caught one and handed him over to the law enforcement officers. The officers found five knives on the three unconscious men, one of which was a kitchen knife.
My second grandfather even made it into the newspapers because of this, and if you asked my second grandmother, she could find the newspaper and show it to everyone. Because of this experience, my second grandfather felt that the reseller business was too risky, so he sold all the goods he had bought and distributed the money to everyone, and never mentioned it again.
The rest of the plot is quite cliché: the little boy is the simple-minded middle-aged man, and the young couple are his parents. After getting off the train, the second grandfather kept in touch with the simple-minded middle-aged man's parents, exchanging greetings during holidays, until a few years ago when the simple-minded middle-aged man came to work in Haishi, and the two began to have direct contact.
So that's how it is. No wonder my second grandfather was able to attend the meeting in the city, no wonder he was so confident, and no wonder he wasn't in a hurry at all.
The three people in the room seemed to have finished their conversation. They came out of the room together and beckoned Xu An and the other person to come over so they could leave together.
After seeing off the three village chiefs and Professor Yu, the simple-minded middle-aged man returned to his office and found a document on his desk—"A Proposal on Subsidies for Lonely and Empty-Nest Elderly in Shanghai." He then opened the document and turned to the second-to-last page, which contained supplementary information.
"Through investigation and research, it was found that the vast majority of elderly people living alone or in empty nests tend to mistreat themselves, storing distributed rice, flour, and cooking oil until they expire without ever opening them. It is recommended to establish a senior citizens' canteen, issue meal tickets to encourage seniors to eat there, increase the number of volunteers, deliver meals to seniors with mobility issues who are unable to leave their homes, and provide them with comfort and assistance to address their basic living needs."
As the middle-aged man flipped through the documents, the simple and honest look on his face vanished, his eyes sharpened, and his expression became resolute, calm, and composed, instantly inspiring trust in others.
"Xu's Fast Food Restaurant, daily sales of six thousand, three dishes and a soup for eight yuan." The middle-aged man muttered to himself, his right hand fingers curling up and rhythmically tapping on the table.
Xu An didn't get home until 10 PM. Grandma Xu, Xu Kang, and Xu Le were already fast asleep. Xu An drew a basin of well water to wash his face. While wiping his face, he looked at himself in the mirror and saw two sausage-like lips on his otherwise perfectly normal face. Somewhat incredulously, Xu An flicked his lower lip with his finger and saw it twitch twice. When he spoke, his lips also twitched, but he felt nothing at all.
Sure enough, whether it was the seemingly burly second grandfather, the carefree Uncle Dongliang, the academically focused Professor Yu who was detached from worldly affairs, or that seemingly innocent and harmless middle-aged man, they were all incredibly shrewd! Otherwise, how could they remain calm and serious while chatting with someone like me?
Xu An tiptoed back to the bedroom, moving very quietly and without even turning on his phone screen, going straight to bed in the dark. Xu Kang and Xu Le still heard the noise, opening their eyes a crack. When they saw it was Xu An, they sat up abruptly, their faces showing some confusion.
"Why are you asleep? Didn't you say you were going to wait for your brother to come back so we could sleep together?" Xu Le accused first, poking Xu Kang's chubby little face with her chubby finger.
"You fell asleep first! I called you several times but you didn't answer me, and then... and then I fell asleep too." Xu Kang slapped Xu Le's little finger away and said confidently, but his voice got softer and softer as he spoke.
"Didn't your brother say on the phone that he would be back late tonight and that you should go to sleep first? You promised him on the phone, and you two are going back on your word!" Seeing that the two seemed about to argue about who would fall asleep first, and seeing that their energy was getting stronger and stronger, Xu An quickly interrupted them.
"We miss our brother! The room is so scary without him!" Xu Kang and Xu Le hid in Xu An's arms and pointed to the wall: "Brother, look! There's a shadow moving on the wall. Is the old witch coming to get us?"
Xu An looked closely and was immediately at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. The shadow of the old witch that Xu Kang and Xu Le had mentioned was actually the moonlight shining on the longan tree, casting a shadow on the wall through the window. The evening breeze made the longan tree leaves sway constantly, causing the shadow on the wall to move incessantly.
"Do you see the moon outside? That's the shadow the moon casts on the tree, not the old witch," Xu An explained earnestly to the two, but seeing their bewildered expressions, he knew they didn't understand.
Xu An thought for a moment, then got out of bed and walked to the window. He hooked his thumbs together and joined his other four fingers. After adjusting the angle, the shadow of an eagle appeared on the wall. As Xu An changed his gestures, the shadow on the wall transformed into a running rabbit one moment and a timid turtle the next, causing the two little ones to exclaim in surprise and completely forget about the old witch's shadow.
(End of this chapter)
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