Chapter 196: Affection
“Okay, okay, okay, so this is how you are, Su Ning!”
Fu Jiaming yelled loudly, his face full of disbelief.
Could he say these two were indeed a pair, both the kind of sesame-filled glutinous rice dumplings that should be boiled together in one pot?
Once her figure entered the kitchen, Fu Jiaming, who had been beaten down, immediately stopped his wailing and turned his head to look at his good friend with a face full of gossip.
“Quick, quick, Yan Qi, quick tell me how you successfully confessed, was it just like I said? Being a bro didn’t deceive you, right!”
Releasing the hands that had been twisted behind his back, as his words recalled the scene just now, Yan Bei instinctively showed the silly grin of a landlord’s foolish son.
That expression really made Fu Jiaming seven parts shocked and three parts disgusted, unable to look at it, “Tsk tsk tsk~ Yan Qi ah Yan Qi, you have this day too.”
“Hahahaha!”
He damn well wanted to take a photo of it to keep as evidence!
If this could be kept as a trump card, it was guaranteed to work every time it was used in the future.
“Cough~”
Yan Bei, coming back to his senses, cleared his throat as if to cover up, raising his hand to his nose, instantly returning to his usual carefree demeanor, only those bright red earlobes were unavoidable.
“Alright Jiaming, let’s talk business. Tomorrow I still need you to make another trip to Gu City for me.”
“Rest assured, I get it, leave it all to me.”
Since the male-female relationship was confirmed, that matter naturally needed to speed up, and Fu Jiaming returned to a serious look and patted his chest.
Looking at him who seemed unreliable but actually no one understood Fu Jiaming’s abilities better than him.
With tacit understanding, they bumped fists, no need for words of gratitude.
“Let’s go.”
The two chatted and laughed as they walked to the backyard, going out through the small door to respectively go home and call people.
The dilapidated house had been secretly repaired and could barely be lived in. It was fine when the weather was warm, but in winter, the room could freeze people to shivering.
The south unlike the north with earthen kang, every household here had a round or square fire basin in the kitchen for burning wood to keep warm in winter.
The fire basin burning wood on ordinary days could also be used to boil water with a water bottle, cook stew, and hang a few winnowing baskets above to smoke cured meat conveniently.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. After the frost, with the temperature dropping sharply, Yan Bei also learned from the village households to make a fire basin in the small kitchen, so that the grandparents could light a fire in the room for warmth.
When Yan Bei entered the room, the two elders were sitting around the fire basin. The dry branches picked from the mountains had some moisture, and when burned, they inevitably emitted bursts of green smoke.
The orange-red firelight illuminated their faces, the smoke making them squint slightly, with physiological moisture brewing in their eyes.
Hearing the footsteps, Yan Changrong and Zhao Panpan both looked up together, and seeing the unconcealable joy in their little grandson’s brows and eyes, they also smiled happily.
“Jiaming said Ning Yatou is back?”
“Mm, just got back. Ning Ning asked me to come call you over to her side for dinner.”
“This yatou!”
Zhao Panpan couldn’t help but frown, casually putting down the wooden stick in her hand, “Just got back and not resting, sitting on the train for so long must be tiring. Xiao Qi, you too, why didn’t you know to persuade her? Quick, go tell her not to cook, today she just came over and I’ll make dinner for everyone.”
Her cooking skills couldn’t compare to Ning Yatou’s, but it was still better than Xiu Zhen’s hard-to-swallow food, which also had the risk of being inedible at any time, right?
Zhao Panpan waved her big hand, hurriedly urging, “Quick go, quick go!”
“This small room here probably can’t fit so many people. Grandparents, better go to Ning Ning’s side. I’ll go cook and let her rest.”
“Then what are you still standing there for, not hurrying off?”
“Cough, alright, I’ll go right now. Grandparents, take your time coming over, no rush, don’t trip.”
Yan Bei, who had wanted to say something, saw the genuine urgency in grandma’s eyes, thought about it and swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. Better to talk after dinner.
No longer hesitating, after speaking, Yan Bei turned and strode out the door.
“Old woman, have you noticed Xiao Qi seems a bit off…”
“Hm? What’s off?”
Using the white ash from the empty spot of the fire basin to gradually cover the fireplace, Yan Changrong’s hands didn’t stop, “Those eyes are like they’ve been filled with honey, so sweet and thick it’s cloying!”
“What’s wrong with that? Ning Yatou’s back, Xiao Qi is definitely happy. It’s already good he didn’t squeak like a mouse that fell into a rice jar spinning around!”
“Hahahaha, that’s true.”
At this moment, neither of them thought that the long-awaited dear daughter-in-law would be successfully brought into their home nest by the little grandson, and the beautiful dream had come true.
With Xiao Qi’s unhurried temperament like an emperor not anxious but the eunuchs are, so lukewarm about pursuing a partner, hey, the two elders were just hoping it wouldn’t be too good and could only burn high incense for them that day.
“Not one of them, big or small, takes after me. Marrying a wife or chasing someone, none inherited half of my decisiveness.”
“Heh~ Old man, still want to try being smashed head-on by a bag of rice?”
“Hahahaha~”
Thinking of that bag of rice back then, it didn’t smash his face but his heart. Yan Changrong’s gaze toward his old partner carried a bit of scorching heat.
Unknowingly, decades of ups and downs.
This face bore deep traces of time’s erosion, no longer the youthful beauty of before, yet still delighted him as much as ever, heart-moving as ever.
Like fine wine brewed, the longer the more fragrant, not deteriorating with time.
Yan Family men, once they love someone, it’s for a lifetime.
Silently gripping tight the hand held for most of his life, Yan Changrong gently rubbed with his thumb’s pad, “Panpan, do you still remember our appointment?”
The two walked hand in hand, steps very slow, each one steady and sure.
Zhao Panpan hooked her other arm in his arm bend. Those eyes no longer had the youthful brilliance, yet when looking at him still shone with radiant splendor, “You mean the thing about letting me go first in the future?”
“I remember. Things I promised you, I all remember. Dead old man, people who don’t know might think you can’t wait for me to go first.”
She glared at him coquettishly, but in the moment of lowering her eyes, they uncontrollably moistened. How could Zhao Panpan not know he was uneasy.
Uneasy if he went first, leaving her alone.
He always said once a person dies it’s over, no more caring about lifetime matters, but for the one left behind, every day and night, every moment henceforth is pain and torment.
So old man…
Only this once if I break the promise, fail to keep my word, you can’t blame me or resent me.
“Old woman? Why are you shedding cat tears? Where do you feel unwell?”
“Pah, it’s all your fault, talking about death for no reason!”
“Hahaha, okay okay, no more no more. We’ll live vigorously, live to be an immortal old turtle, millennium king eight, ten thousand year turtle!”
“You dog thing, can’t spit ivory from a dog’s mouth! You’re the turtle!”
Seeing her joy, anger, laughter, and scolding dispel the moisture in her eyes, Yan Changrong breathed a sigh of relief, nodding cooperatively and indulgently, “Okay okay, I am, I am!”
Yan Family folks: Never seen someone curse themselves and insist on dragging the whole family along. Have you considered the feelings of the little turtle bastards?!
……
Over there, the two slowly strolling along lovingly, while in the kitchen here, the two had also overturned a honey jar, as if the air was filled with sweetness.
Hands busy, unexpectedly meeting eyes, and in just one second, synchronized with dazzlingly brilliant smiles.
“Hiss~”
Desperately rubbing the big string of goosebumps rising on his arm, Fu Jiaming who had slipped into the kitchen to help saw this scene before him.
Only feeling that the meal hadn’t reached his mouth yet but his stomach was already full, even stuffed to the throat. One more bite and he’d probably turn and spit it out.
“You two, do you have to bully people so much!”
Bullying him because his partner isn’t here, who are you stimulating like this?
“You unhelpful guy, what right do you have to speak.”
“Exactly, quick get out, you’re an eyesore.”
“Okay okay, kill the donkey after unloading the mill, burn the bridge after crossing, Yan Qi you’re playing like this?”
Covering the two knives his good friend thrust backhandedly, Fu Jiaming half-angrily laughed, turning sideways to Su Ning who was watching the show nearby, “I’ll tell you a secret, Su Ning you don’t know Yan Qi… ptoo ptoo…”
“Pfft~”
“Keep talking nonsense, next time it won’t be dirt-covered radish but a pumpkin bigger than your face!”
……
The crowd sitting around in the main hall, hearing the bursts of laughter and commotion from the kitchen, all showed smiles.
“These kids, making a meal might flip the kitchen.”
“Hahaha, rare to see them so happy, let them make noise.”
“ARong, how are you feeling?”
“Today I walked twenty or thirty more steps. Probably won’t take many days to fully recover. Aunt, don’t worry.”
“That’s good. Listen to Old Liu, don’t be impatient, we’ll take it slow.”
Fu Jiatan sat quietly listening, eyes and mouth holding smiles, not a trace of resentment, only his straight back thinner and more emaciated than before.
