When Mi Yang stepped over the wooden threshold and walked into the house, the old house several years later came to his mind. He looked at it and compared it with the things in his memory. Except for the new and old colors, it really has not changed at all. There is an eight-immortal table in the lobby, a picture of cranes celebrating birthdays, and the armchair that Grandpa often sat on...
After walking in, Mi Zehai lifted the door curtain and heard a cough, mixed with the old lady's soft voice muttering: "Why did you call the children back? Yangyang is here too? Let them go quickly, be careful not to get sick..." Then there was another cough.
Mi Hong sat on the edge of the wooden bed, next to him was the medicine bowl he had just brought, and a piece of candy wrapper - the same candy he had just given Mi Yang. Mi Hong whispered a few words to the old lady, and the old lady nodded and agreed, saying, "Okay, let's meet him, I can give him something too."
Mi Yang was short. After he came in, he first looked up and saw his grandmother on the wooden bed, and then he saw the three-stringed zither placed on the small table beside her bed. He had seen this zither many times. Every time Mi Zehai brought him to the old house to see Mi Hong, he could see it. After so many years, it was still placed in the original position. Mi Yang had never seen his grandfather use it. The three-stringed zither was rotten because it was hanging there. Mi Hong refused to let anyone take it down until his death.
There was a cough in his ear, and Mi Yang was gently pushed, and he saw Cheng Qing whispered: "Yangyang, grandma is calling you."
Mi Yang hurried over, lay down beside the wooden bed to visit the old lady, and called carefully: "Grandma."
The old lady looked fine, except for her gray lips. She was beautiful when she was young, and her facial features were still there. She looked like a kind and beautiful old lady, and she was kindest when she smiled with her eyes curved. Mi Hong took good care of her. Even though she had been in bed for so many years, she still maintained her last dignity, dressed neatly, and combed her hair neatly. There was no other smell in the room except the smell of medicine.
She looked at Mi Yang, with a soft light in her eyes, probably wanting to reach out and touch her grandson, but then she remembered that she was sick, and hesitated to get close. Mi Yang reached out and held her hand. She was old, and the skin on her hands was loose and dry, but still warm and strong. The old lady held his hand, smiled even more happily, and said to him: "Yangyang, grandma hasn't seen you for almost a year."
Mi Yang nodded and said, "I'm staying for a long time this time, and I'm staying with grandma the whole time."
The old lady smiled again: "That's good, but your grandma misses you too. She came to see me a few days ago and showed me the photo. I told her that I have the same photo here, and your mother also mailed it to me!" She patted Mi Yang's hand and coaxed him, "Grandma will be more than half cured when she sees you. You don't have to stay here with me, go see your grandma."
Mi Yang held her hand tightly and didn't let go, nor did he say anything.
The old lady held his little hand, looked up at Mi Zehai and Cheng Qing, and said, "I didn't plan to send a telegram. I'm always sick. I was sick for a long time a while ago. Your father was scared, so I called you back. But it's good to come back. I have some things for you."
She took a small wooden box from beside the pillow, handed it to Cheng Qing, and said, "When you got married, I gave you a gold bracelet. This is the other one. You keep it. You can use it when you find a wife for Yangyang in the future."
Cheng Qing quickly refused and said, "Mom, you don't have to prepare these for us, Yangyang is still young! Later..."
The old lady smiled and said, "It's just too small, so I gave it to you."
The second half of the sentence she didn't say was that she knew she might not have any future.
When Cheng Qing saw the old lady's current condition, he couldn't help but have tears in his eyes and took the small wooden box with trembling hands.
The old lady couldn't speak for too long. Her lungs were not in good condition and she started coughing and wheezing. Mi Hong's face changed and he drove Mi Zehai and the others out. He stayed there to take care of his wife himself. He looked so panicked that his hands were shaking.
Mi Zehai and Cheng Qing did not just sit there and wait. Both of them grew up in Shanhai Town and were familiar with the environment here. Mi Zehai went out to buy some honeycomb coal, while Cheng Qing rolled up his sleeves and tidied up the kitchen at home. He chopped vegetables and cooked with nimble hands and feet, trying his best to make some soft and delicious food for the old lady.
When Mi Zehai was carrying coal, he was not paying attention to his breath and groaned when he bent over. Cheng Qing heard it and hurried over to lift his clothes to have a look. Mi Zehai refused, but his clothes were still lifted. When Cheng Qing saw that his wound was red and about to crack, she couldn't help crying, "You didn't tell me on the way, how come it's so serious!"
Mi Hong just came in to put down the medicine bowl. When he looked up, he saw the hideous scar on Mi Zehai's stomach, but he only glanced at it and turned to leave as if he didn't see it.
If he asked, Cheng Qing, as a junior, would definitely say "no problem", but seeing with his own eyes that he was still so cold, Cheng Qing felt a little sad. Even if he was not his biological son, but after raising him for so many years, Mi Zehai treated Mi Hong as his own father and respected him very much. Now that his father saw his son injured, he actually didn't care, which was beyond her expectation.
Mi Zehai didn't care at all. He frowned, put down his clothes and said, "It's nothing. I'll just apply some medicine later. Don't tell me. Mom is still sick. We can't let her worry."
Cheng Qing nodded, turned around and went back to cook, holding his breath and not saying a word.
Until dinner, Mi Hong didn't say a word to Mi Zehai. He was busy taking care of the old lady, looking down on everyone. Twice he even ordered his injured son to move a wooden cabinet - just because the old lady said that the cabinet seemed to block the wind and she was a little breathless.
Mi Zehai was a foolishly filial man. He helped without sparing any effort and ignored Cheng Qing's look. What else could Cheng Qing do? She felt sorry for her husband, so she could only roll up her sleeves and help. She only regretted that she didn't have a little more strength to move the cabinet.
It was not until they returned to their room at night, separated by half a yard, that Cheng Qing dared to complain.
"He only cares about me and the old lady," Cheng Qing was so angry that her eyes turned red. Her husband's wound hadn't healed yet. She had been very careful on the way here. Now she saw that the wound was a little red again, and she was really worried. "So much blood was lost at the beginning. You were afraid that the family would worry, so you didn't let me say a word. Now he's healed, he saw it himself, and he didn't even ask a question..."
Mi Zehai tried to coax her a few words, but Cheng Qing wanted to say more, so he got a little angry and said in a low voice, "Qing'er! Stop talking."
Cheng Qing put the towel used to wipe his wound into the basin and went out with red eyes.
Mi Yang lay on the bed pretending to be asleep, not daring to say a word. His parents were arguing and it was a family issue, so he just had to pretend to know nothing.
Mi Zehai sat on the chair and sighed, when he suddenly heard two knocks on the door. At first he thought it was Cheng Qing, as his tone was a little harsh just now, so he hurried over to open the door, but it was Mi Hong standing in front of the door.
Mi Hong's expression was still the same as it was during the day, as if he wished that the whole world owed him money. He looked at him solemnly and said, "Come out with me for a moment." After that, he walked out by himself.
Yonezawa hurried to catch up with him, not even having time to grab his coat.
Mi Yang did not pretend to sleep, and after a little hesitation, he got up and followed quietly. He was small, and the shadows of the trees were dark under the moonlight at night. A child like him could not be seen at all if he lowered his footsteps and hid in the flowers.
Mi Zehai followed Mi Hong outside. He felt a little embarrassed standing in front of his father. He was not sure how much of Cheng Qing's words his father had just heard. Just as he was about to explain, he was stopped by Mi Hong.
Mi Hong said in a deep voice: "I don't have much time, I just came to talk to you for a few words, and I have to go back to the main room to take care of her later."
Mi Zehai responded repeatedly and asked him, "Dad, how about I go take care of Mom tonight? You've been working so hard for so many days and you can take a rest..."
Mi Hong shook his head and said, "No need, I've been serving you all my life, I'm used to it, this is not what you should do."
There was a sense of xenophobia in his words, but Yonezawa didn't notice anything at all. He was a filial son and he did whatever his father said.
Mi Hong gave him a lot of things, all of which were old items, two valuable antiques, and a passbook that was neither new nor old. He still spoke to him in a half-hot and half-cold voice: "There's not much money here. I've saved all my life and now I only have a little over a thousand yuan. I don't have much ability, so don't despise me."
Mi Zehai stammered and refused to take it, but the next thing Mi Hong took out made him sweat on his forehead.
Mi Hong took out a land deed and said, "This is the title deed of the old house. Your mother and I will never have any other children in this lifetime, so you can keep it."
Mi Zehai raised his voice, waved his hands, and said anxiously: "Dad! How can this be possible? Even if Mom... you are still here, you gave this to me, what will you do?"
Mi Hong still had that fierce look on his face, and his tone was dry: "She is gone, what's the point of me living?"
After he said that, he stuffed the things into Yonezawa Hai's arms, turned around and left.
Mi Zehai couldn't stop shouting, and when he continued to chase, Mi Hong cursed him in a low voice and didn't allow him to enter the main room.