Chapter 25
Hearing this, the old man's face was instantly filled with happiness: "My daughter and eldest grandson are back!"
The door was narrow, so three of us had to go out one by one. I was walking behind Li Ying'an, and before I even saw the old man's family, I heard a cry: "I said I don't want to be hugged by grandpa!"
This familiar voice...
I looked in the direction of the sound.
Sure enough, the mother and son were the same couple I met yesterday when I was working in the supermarket. Even the boy was wearing the same pink and gray suit that he rolled on the ground yesterday.
"You're angry with me again!" The woman raised her eyelids and glanced at us, then turned around and slapped the boy hard on the back. "I told you that at home!"
"It's not that I had to come here, it's you who dragged me here to celebrate grandpa's birthday. I don't really want to come here!"
The boy broke free from his mother's restraints, stood aside with his cheeks puffed out and a snort, not giving anyone present a good look.
The woman wanted to lecture him again, but the old man, who was both her father and grandfather, stopped her and said, "Don't be angry, child!"
"What do you mean by young? He's already in his teens, and he's still making noise all day long!" The old man, who is the birthday boy today, had spoken. The woman could only glare at her son reluctantly, gently push him, and urge him to get the cake from the car before she was willing to let the matter go.
At this time, the woman looked forward and found the stranger.
"This is..." She suddenly looked at me, "Huh?"
Having already recognized an acquaintance, I stopped pretending to be surprised and turned around to explain to Li Ying'an: We met at the supermarket checkout.
The old man didn't know I'd met the woman before, and he thought we were strangers, so he quickly introduced us. He pointed at Li Ying'an and introduced him with a smile: "This is Xiao Li, who used to stay with me for a while. He heard it was my birthday, so he came."
Then he turned to me and said, "This is Xiao Li's friend."
Then the woman gave us a smile like an elder.
"Stop standing there, go sit inside."
At first, the woman suggested that everyone go to a restaurant for a meal to avoid cooking, but the children were clamoring not to eat home-cooked food. But the old man wanted to cook for himself and was reluctant to spend unnecessary money. Besides, there was already food at home, and there was even more than one person could eat. If it was left out for a few more days, it would eventually rot and be wasted.
After all, it was the old man's birthday, and the woman had no choice but to go along with his wishes and make up for the lie she told her son yesterday by giving him money so that he could buy snacks.
Without the noisy children, the house became quiet in an instant.
The family bustled around cooking six dishes. The elderly man insisted it wasn't enough, and the woman dismissed his request for more. She explained that her son-in-law was busy with work and wouldn't be coming, and that the pre-dinner snacks had already filled the children's stomachs. The six dishes were enough for the remaining four, and there might even be some left over. To avoid waste and save energy for the celebration, she decided to call it a day—after all, there was still cake.
Looking at the two cakes on the table, the old man no longer insisted.
The food on the table was delicious, but I had no interest in eating it. My attention was fixed on the bracelet on the woman's wrist, my eyes following its swing. I lowered my head and poked at the rice in my bowl. After much deliberation, I took the opportunity when no one was paying attention to nudge Li Ying'an beside me, suggesting that he come to the kitchen with me for a private chat after dinner.
Li Ying'an was a smart man. As soon as the dinner was over, he took the initiative to go to the kitchen to wash the dishes, saying that his mother would take care of the children and accompany the old man to eat cake. Although the old man repeatedly declined on the grounds that he was a guest, Li Ying'an still refused.
Li Ying'an and I successfully entered the kitchen and were alone in the room.
"What's wrong?" Li Ying'an asked while washing dishes.
I turned back cautiously and made sure the door was closed, then pointed to my wrist: Did you see the gold bracelet on the woman's hand? I once saw the same one on a friend's wrist.
Li Ying'an's speed in washing dishes slowed down noticeably. After careful consideration, he didn't find it strange. "There are so many bracelets of the same style in the world. There must be someone wearing the same one, right? How old is your friend?"
I guessed Sui Yusheng's age: probably in his twenties.
Li Ying'an's face twitched violently several times. He swallowed back the laughter that was about to burst out and politely said that my idea seemed absurd: "Are you suspecting that your friend might be related to the old man's daughter? Maybe it's her child? This is really outrageous. The old man never said he had lost a grandson."
Suddenly I felt that I was too reckless. This idea was really bad. If I forced the relationship between two people just with a bracelet, would the jewelry store still be able to do business?
"Okay, just to be on the safe side, I'll ask you indirectly when the time comes. Why don't you go out and eat cake first?"
Seeing that the dishwashing process was almost over, I hesitated for a few seconds and decided to set the dishes for Li Ying'an before leaving.
"Yu Xiaochen, just eat your food honestly. Don't twist your waist, shake your feet, or make faces. Do you have ADHD?"
The sudden shout made me look up. I chewed the strawberry in my mouth slowly and stared at the child who was sticking out his tongue.
"If you keep acting like a ghost in front of me," the woman pointed at him angrily, "I'll sell you out!"
The boy didn't cry or make a fuss when he heard this. He licked the cream on his lips, nonchalantly stirred the half-piece of cake in his hand, and said with a playful smile, "Looking for my aunt?"
"...What?" His mother was startled.
"You told me before that my aunt was missing. What happened? Did my aunt not listen to you and let you sell her out?"
"What nonsense are you talking about!" The woman stood up and was about to chase him and hit him, "Why are you poking us in the heart?"
The child didn't understand her sudden change of expression, so he ran to the corner and sat down with the cake, not forgetting to stick out his tongue from time to time.
What should have been a warm scene turned sad because of a child's words. The old man had a melancholy look on his face, no longer happy because of his relatives' birthday celebration. Instead, he missed his other daughter who had been missing for many years. But this was exactly what I wanted. Maybe I could get useful information from their next casual words.
"Dad." The atmosphere around was too quiet, so quiet that it made the old man's daughter nervous, so she called out tentatively.
It was unknown whether the old man heard or not. He did not respond, but stood up and cut another piece of cake. He inserted an unused candle from last year and then murmured, "Your sister loves small cakes the most. I would buy one for her birthday in previous years. She would attend everyone's birthday just for that piece of cake. Now I don't know..."
He didn't say anything else, just sighed.
Perhaps because of the presence of two outsiders, Li Ying'an and I, the eldest daughter did not say much about her sister except for the old man's own longing. It happened that the child in the corner could not continue playing games because his mobile phone was out of battery, so he clamored to go home. His voice was so loud that he seemed to turn into a bird and flew away with the roof in his mouth.
In desperation, the woman had no choice but to leave early.
"Sister, your bracelet is very beautiful." Li Ying'an seemed to be saying this for the first time. He was very embarrassed and looked very ungenerous. "Can I ask where you bought it?"
The woman didn't expect someone to speak to her. She was stunned for a moment before she smiled and said, "Are you buying it for your girlfriend?"
The gossip effectively dispelled the awkwardness between the two. She even took it off and showed it to Li Ying'an up close. "This bracelet is quite old. I don't know where I bought it. My sister saved up her internship money and bought it for me. We each have one, and it seems to have our names engraved on it."
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Ying'an turned over to the inside of the bracelet.
SCN.
Li Ying'an lowered his head and glanced at me quickly.
When I met his eyes, I immediately understood what he meant: he wanted to know whether Sui Yusheng's bracelet had a name engraved on it.
"It's still so shiny after all these years," Li Ying'an smiled as he returned the item. "Sister has taken good care of it."
When he mentioned this woman, his lips curled up unnaturally, and the emotions hidden behind his long eyelashes were all about missing his missing sister.
After the woman left with the child, the old man's house became deserted again, and this desertedness took away the energy of the people. For a moment, the old man seemed to have suddenly aged by dozens of years. He sat dejectedly on the bench, staring blankly at the cake with candles on it, completely forgetting that there were still two living people at the door after the hustle and bustle.
I think he should take a break.
Coincidentally, Li Ying'an also thought so, so we didn't say goodbye to him. We came secretly and left secretly.
I didn't go home with Li Ying'an again. We parted ways at a crossroads.
I think Li Ying'an would not stay at home all the time. I reasonably guess that he would go home first to see if Li Youzhi was waiting for him at the door. If he did not see Li Youzhi, he would definitely look for her for the whole afternoon.
His time is valuable only when he is with his cat; otherwise it is just like going to work.
I always think so.
So I decided to find a corner and turn into a cat. While strolling around to digest my food, I would also take a sneak peek at Li Ying'an.
But I didn't expect that as soon as I changed my clothes and walked to the front of the building, I bumped into Li Ying'an who had just walked out of the building.
As expected, we had a good look-alike encounter, which also ignited his anger.
"Childish boy, which street did you sleep on last night?"
Without any hesitation, I ran away!
Li Ying'an's shouting and cursing gradually faded from my ears. I kept a considerable distance between me and him and stopped at the entrance of the alley, my heart pounding with fear.
The sun, which was gradually setting in the west, had risen above my head. The dazzling light had softened slightly because it was evenly dispersed. The feeling of the wind blowing on my body was just right, slowly calming my restless heart.
Most people were at work at this time of day, so I turned east. If I continued down this street, I'd end up at the place where Li Ying'an and I worked. Since I had nothing else to do, and Li Ying'an wasn't so bored as to ask for leave to visit his workplace, I headed east.
Even during working hours, the various small shops on this street are still filled with countless people.
I stopped at the supermarket where I worked and looked through the window at the person who was replacing me in my position.
Suddenly, I thought that Sui Yusheng's mother would be coming to take over the shift soon. Instead of waiting another day, I might as well ask today. I decided to transform back into human form and wait for Sui Yusheng's mother to arrive so that I could break the suspense about Sui Yusheng's bracelet in advance.
But when I returned to the deserted alley and turned into a human, my footsteps were stopped by a call from behind me.
"Li Feng!"
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