The old lady waved her hand and looked at Yang Donghu with loving eyes: "Don't worry about me. Although your mother has a bad temper, she is quite reasonable to me. After all, they call me mother."
There is no way to verify whether Wang Dujuan treated the old lady sincerely, but her filial piety on the surface is still justifiable. Otherwise, if outsiders knew about it, she would be accused of mother abuse and she would not be able to bear the consequences.
Yang Donghu knew that Wang Dujuan was always unreasonable and would say anything unpleasant that would hit people hard. The old lady must have suffered a lot.
But he was just a grandson after all, and even if he wanted to take care of the old lady, Wang Dujuan would not agree.
Yang Donghu nodded: "Grandma, are you feeling better recently?"
"I'm already old and my health is like this, but I feel much better when I see you today. It seems that An Jin is right, his family has not treated you badly." The light was dim, and the old lady couldn't see whether the clothes Yang Donghu was wearing were new or not, but just by touching the material, she knew that they were definitely not brought out from the Yang family. Wang Dujuan would never buy such good material for Yang Donghu to make clothes.
Speaking of the Zhao family, Yang Donghu smiled. "His family is very nice. My aunt treats me very well and has never given me any trouble. She even takes the initiative to make clothes for me. Her little brother is also a good person with a lively personality."
Yang Donghu took out a few pieces of cake wrapped in oil paper from his arms: "Grandma, please try it. This is a cake from the best pastry shop in town, osmanthus peach cake. Fang Chu bought a lot of it. I've tried this one, it's not hard at all."
The old lady was very relieved to hear this, not because Yang Donghu gave her peach cakes to eat, but because she heard everything he said about the kindness of the Zhao family. It didn't matter whether she could eat the cakes or not, what mattered was that the Zhao family truly accepted Yang Donghu and that was why they were so kind to him.
The old lady reached out and picked up a piece of peach cake. Under Yang Donghu's eager gaze, she slowly took a small bite, smacked her lips and said, "It's delicious, sweet and fragrant. You should try some too."
Yang Donghu shook his head: "I've already eaten a lot, you eat, wait a moment, I'll pour you a cup of hot tea, otherwise it will be too dry."
It was dry and cold in the winter. If there was no stove in the house, one would shiver even if lying in the quilt. Wang Dujuan maintained his efforts on the surface and did not deduct the old lady's stove.
Wang Dujuan had thought about it, but the old lady was popular and people came to talk to her from time to time. With so many people coming and going, if someone got hold of something because of the stove, all her previous efforts would be wasted.
Although the stove in the old lady's room was a bit old, it could still be used. There was a teapot on the stove, and the hot water inside was still steaming.
Yang Donghu went outside, found a spoon from the kitchen, and took a teacup from the cupboard. Through the glow of the New Year's fire in the yard, he saw Zhao Fangchu and Yang Anjin standing guard outside the door.
He walked quickly into the house, poured a bowl of hot tea, and sat down beside the bed. "Be careful, grandma, it's hot. Dip this peach cake in it and eat it. It's good for your stomach, not too sweet, and it will warm you up."
The old lady smiled and nodded: "I'll listen to you."
The peach cake softened when it came into contact with water, and soon it became half a bowl of soft and glutinous peach cake porridge. Yang Donghu scooped up a spoonful and blew gently on it. When he felt that the temperature was not so hot anymore, he handed the spoon over.
The old lady took a bite from Yang Donghu's hand and looked him over and said, "You've gained weight, your face has flesh on it, and you talk differently now, you're much more assertive. This is how you should be at your age. If you were still like before, it would always make me sad."
She had to see everything with her own eyes before she could feel at ease. The old lady felt that she must have done a lot of good things in the first half of her life, and that God blessed Donghu to meet such a good family.
Yang Donghu kept talking to the old lady about the trivial matters of the day, both big and small. The more the old lady listened, the more at ease she felt. The heart that had been hanging in the air for a long time was finally put back into her stomach.
While the two were talking, Yang Donghu's hands did not stop, and he quickly finished the bowl of peach cakes. Yang Donghu had been here for quite some time, and if he delayed any longer and met someone coming back, it would cause more trouble.
The old lady was relieved after seeing the man, and she urged Yang Donghu to leave quickly: "Tomorrow when the weather gets warmer, I will get out of bed and stretch my legs. Then I will come to see you."
"Okay. Please keep the remaining peach cakes. If you have a poor appetite one day, you can soak two pieces and eat them." Yang Donghu replied, and then took out another ounce of silver from his pocket and said in a slightly lower voice: "Grandma, I have used up the money you gave me. This is what I earned myself. Please keep it safe. I feel relieved to have money on my side."
Just as Yang Donghu had refused to take it, the old lady also subconsciously declined. Yang Donghu used the old lady's words to block her: "Grandma, I can't come to see you often, so just take it and don't let me worry about it, okay?"
The old lady's tears, which had been held back, almost flowed again: "Good boy, you are thoughtful."
Yang Donghu helped the old lady lie down again, washed the bowl and spoon used for eating peach cakes, and put them back in the kitchen. Before leaving, he reluctantly took a few more glances through the window to see that the old lady was sleeping soundly, and then he carefully left the Yang family's house.
"How is it? Is grandma okay?" Zhao Fangchu asked when he saw Yang Donghu coming out.
Zhao Fangchu had never seen the old lady, but he had heard his mother talk about her several times and knew that the old lady was a kind person, completely different from the other people in the Yang family.
"It's pretty good. I just ate a piece of peach cake."
Hearing this, Yang Anjin smiled and patted Yang Donghu's shoulder: "That's fine. Being able to eat is better than anything else."
"Yeah, that's right."
The three of them talked as they walked, and only when they were a little further away from the Yang family's door did they start laughing and joking.
The clever vendors had already smelled a way to make money, and they were not idle on New Year's Eve. They set up sky lantern stalls in the village early and waited for girls and boys to come and buy them.
Since they had just received lucky money, they didn't feel bad at all when buying sky lanterns. The sky lanterns sold in the village were simple in appearance, with a simple frame made of bamboo strips and a layer of straw paper pasted on the outside. They were not as beautiful as those made by craftsmen in the town, but they were cheaper.
Some of the family members who are good at handcrafts can make them, but it is very busy tonight, with people asking for favors and urging them to do things, so they simply cannot concentrate on making these little gadgets.
Therefore, the sky lantern stall is still very popular, and there is already a crowd of people choosing.
These sky lanterns all looked almost the same, so Yang Donghu and his friends didn't pick and choose. They just picked up a similar one and squeezed out of the crowd.
You have to choose a place with fewer trees to light a sky lantern, otherwise it will get caught on branches before it flies out, wasting the lantern.
The three of them searched for a long time but couldn't find a suitable place. Finally, they decided to go to the main road, where there were fewer trees and farmland all around, so they would be sure to be able to fly.
Against the backdrop of the night, the sky lanterns appear particularly eye-catching. They rise with the wind, flying higher and higher, until it is no longer possible to tell whether they are stars hanging high in the sky or lights carrying beautiful hopes.
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