After listening to Jay Chou's songs several times, I arrived at Shanhai Town.
When Michelle Yim got off the car, she was already able to call Bai Luochuan "brother" skillfully. This time she said it particularly actively, especially the last word "goodbye", which was soft, crisp and sweet.
Bai Luochuan waved his hand casually at her, turned to look at Mi Yang and said, "I'll come to see you in two days."
Mi Yang nodded, holding his sister's hand and walked away.
Mi Yang first took the little girl to see Grandpa Mi Hong. Mi Hong has been living in the small courtyard for the past few years and rarely comes out. He has opened a small vegetable garden in front of the house and generally does not leave the small courtyard unless necessary. He probably calculated that the children would come during the summer vacation, so he prepared some fruits and cakes in advance, and stewed a pot of rock sugar pears on the small stove in the kitchen for them to eat to cool down.
Mi Xue was a little shy. She had only been to Shanhai Town a few times. Most of the time, Cheng Qing brought her back. This was her first time coming back with her brother. When she suddenly saw her serious grandfather, the little girl hid behind him.
Mi Hong didn't mind. He just served them some pear soup and some snacks. It seemed that he had no intention of leaving them for dinner.
After consuming half a bowl of soup, Michelle began to call grandpa sweetly. Children are easy to coax, and sharing a little food made her feel the kindness and she opened her heart to trust people.
Mi Hong's mouth moved and he pretended to smile.
When they came out of grandpa's house and went to grandma's house, Grandma Cheng had prepared much more. She started calling Cheng Qing a few days in advance, and she was eager to prepare food for the children every minute. The dried fruits and snacks alone filled the coffee table in the living room. When she saw Mi Yang and others coming in, she first hugged her grandson, then bent down to kiss her granddaughter, and loved her very much.
Third Aunt Cheng Ru walked in from outside and said with a smile, "Yangyang is back? Go and have a look in the room. Third Aunt has prepared new clothes for you and Xiaoxue. Your grandma insisted that they were too big. I told her that you must have grown taller this year. Go change into them and show them to the old lady."
Every year when Mi Yang comes home, his aunts prepare a lot of things for him. Maybe because he is the first child in the family, his aunts are used to loving him and pay more attention to him than his sister. This time, there are two or three sets of new clothes on the bed in their bedroom. Mi Xue's are two small dresses, and his are more formal, with shirts, pants, and coats, as well as a thin sweater and cardigan.
Cheng Ru said, "Didn't you say last time that you wanted to go fishing in the mountains? I've told your uncle to find someone to accompany you. It's cold in the mountains, so you need to wear something thicker." She watched Mi Yang put on his coat, her eyes lit up, and she pushed him out to show Old Lady Cheng, "Look, what did I say? This is just right, Yangyang has grown taller!"
Old Mrs. Cheng looked at it carefully for a while, then smiled and nodded: "Yes, it's taller, it's good to be taller, Yangyang has grown up."
Cheng Ru went to change Michelle's skirt again. Perhaps it was because of the natural blood relationship between family members, after a while Michelle started calling for people in a low and crisp voice. When Old Lady Cheng gave her some candy, the little girl grabbed the candy and smiled with her eyes curved. However, she only ate one piece and secretly put the rest into her brother's pocket.
When Old Mrs. Cheng saw that the brother and sister had a good relationship, she smiled as she sat there.
At dinner time, Cheng Ru showed off her cooking skills. She was the most aggressive of the four sisters, but the smallest. Mi Yang went to help her in the kitchen, but Cheng Ru didn't let him stay. Mi Yang smiled and said, "Auntie, let me learn from you secretly. I will cook for my mother when I learn it. She always praises you for being the best cook in our family. You are like a chef."
Cheng Ru said proudly, "That's right, but if you want to talk about delicious food, your grandma's cooking is still the best. Let the old lady teach you a few specialties, which you can use in the future. You don't know that nowadays, men can't get married if they can't cook!"
Mi Yang blushed at what she said and said, "Third Aunt, I'm still early."
Cheng Ru said: "Prepare in advance, we must not lose at the starting line."
It was the first time that Mi Yang heard of such a starting line, and he was very happy. He chatted with her about family matters while helping with the cooking. When it came to the last dish, Cheng Ru asked him to try cooking, and seeing that Mi Yang cooked very well, she praised him for his talent.
There were a lot of dishes prepared for dinner. Old Mrs. Cheng specially served a portion of pork ribs and lotus root soup and placed it aside. She said to Mi Yang, "Bring it to your grandfather in the evening. I remember he taught me how to cook this dish before."
Mi Yang agreed, and for some reason he suddenly remembered the three-stringed zither placed in his grandfather's house, which was still in the same position and wiped clean. Mi Yang thought, maybe Mi Hong doesn't like to eat lotus root ribs now, because the person who liked to eat it is no longer here, and his three meals a day have lost their taste.
After dinner, Mi Yang went to see him off. Sure enough, Mi Hong had a dull expression on his face. He just asked him to put down his food and had no intention of picking up his chopsticks.
Mi Yang wanted to stay and talk with him, but Mi Hong said, "I'm tired today. You should go back first and come back tomorrow morning."
Mi Yang stood up, thought for a moment and said, "Grandpa, I brought two sets of tools, some of which I bought, and a few of which I polished myself. I'll bring them over tomorrow to show you. If you find them useful, would you keep a set as well?"
Mi Hong said, "Okay."
The old man looked obviously older in the past two years. Although his back was straight, the wrinkles on his face increased and he became less talkative.
Mi Yang and his sister lived in their grandmother's house. Old Mrs. Cheng prepared a bedroom for them, which contained two wooden beds, one large and one small. Mi Xue was fine during the day, but at night the child was still a little shy. She went to Mi Yang with her doll in her arms and whispered, "Brother, I miss my mother."
Mi Yang turned over and gently patted the little girl's back to comfort her: "It's okay, grandma is mom's mom, and she is also close to you."
Mi Xue said "oh" and started to pick at the buttons of Mi Yang's pajamas with her fingers. After playing for a while, she slowly fell asleep.
Although she was shy at first, Michelle became happy again when her cousins from her aunt's family were brought to her house after the summer vacation. Except for her third aunt Cheng Rujia, who was a cousin, the others were all cousins - Cheng Chun's family had a pair of twin daughters who had just entered junior high school, and Cheng Ge's family had a little girl who was about the same age as Michelle. Michelle had a lot of fun playing with them, and soon they joined them in playing cat's tangle.
The cousin from my third aunt's family is also young and has recently developed a little pseudomyopia, so Cheng Ru prescribed a pair of glasses for him to wear first to correct it. When Mi Yang saw him wearing glasses, he remembered what this cousin would look like in the future. He also wore similar type of frame glasses, which he had been wearing until he grew up, and he looked very scholarly.
When there are many children, old lady Cheng's place is like a kindergarten, very lively.
Seeing that Mi Xue had adapted to life at her grandmother's house, Mi Yang felt at ease going to her grandfather's house. Sometimes he would stay there at night to spend more time with Mi Hong.
Mi Hong did not comment on his arrival. If Mi Yang stayed, he would prepare a place for him to live. Most of the time, he taught Mi Yang how to repair books and taught him how to distinguish books. Mi Hong had a few old books in his hands and had some skills. When explaining to Mi Yang, he could draw some things on paper that were not in the books.
Mi Hong said: "My father used to identify gold and silver certificates. Later, due to the chaos of war, the gold and silver certificates were no longer useful. He worked in a pawn shop for more than ten years. He saw a lot of things, and his eyes and hands became more accurate. Look carefully at the ones I drew for you. Generally, you can't go wrong if you identify these points."
Mi Yang nodded and said, "Yeah."
Mi Hong added, "Other things are too expensive. I have only touched gold a few times, but I can still accurately identify versions of ancient books. When bookshops were thriving in the early years, dozens of them opened around Liulichang and Fulong Temple. The ancient book trade was also based on betting. If you picked a good book and bet on it, you could make a small fortune."
Mi Yang's heart moved, and he asked, "Grandpa, have you been to the capital before?"
Mi Hong glanced at him and said calmly, "Listen."
This was not intended to be mentioned again. Mi Yang listened carefully. Mi Hong was a craftsman, but also a small businessman. He spoke in a variety of ways and did not say any unnecessary words. What he taught Mi Yang was not so much a skill as a means of livelihood he had learned from wandering for most of his life.
Seeing that Mi Yang was studying seriously, the old man said nothing, but when Mi Yang was about to leave, he picked two pomegranates that had just grown fruit from the tree and said to him, "These are small pomegranates for viewing and cannot be eaten. You can play with them."
Mi Yang laughed and said, "Hey!"
Mi Hong escorted him out of the courtyard and said to him, "You don't need to come this afternoon. Go to the mountain and get two bamboo strips. I will teach you how to draw fences tomorrow."
Mi Yang agreed, a little impatiently.
He went back at noon and gave Michelle a small pomegranate. The little red-skinned fruit was very cute. The little girl was extremely happy. Seeing that there was another one in Mi Yang's pocket, she pestered him and acted coquettishly for more.
Mi Yang pinched her nose and said with a smile: "I can't give this to you, I have to give it to someone else."
The little girl bit her finger and asked, "Who is brother going to give it to?"
Mi Yang said: "Give it to you, Brother Bai."
The little girl thought for a while, nodded and said, "Okay, besides me, my brother is the best with him."
Mi Yang couldn't help laughing, these words sounded so familiar, Young Master Bai had said exactly the same thing, but with different expressions, the little girl compromised reluctantly, while Young Master Bai approved arrogantly.
Mi Yang went to the small hill behind in the afternoon. It was a bit difficult to walk there, so he went alone without his sister. The climate here is relatively humid, and there are some bamboos, but they are not as tall and strong as those in the south. They stand there thin and weak, with each root green.
Mi Yang picked for a while and chose one. When he was about to start, he heard someone talking next to him.
"A young master from the city, right? He looks like one."
"What are you doing? Look... Hey, I'm talking about you. Are you the young master from the city?"
At first, Mi Yang didn't think the other person was calling him. It was only when someone threw a small piece of bamboo at his feet that he raised his head and said in surprise, "You called me?"
The three or four boys standing opposite him were about his age. They had been running around since the beginning of summer vacation and were much darker than him. They looked like teenagers in their teens and had the arrogance of their age. They raised their chins and said, "Yeah, I'm talking about you!"
Mi Yang recognized them. These were the friends he grew up with. No, his only childhood friend now was Bai Luochuan. Strictly speaking, he didn't have much interaction with these friends. Although he came to Shanhai Town during every winter and summer vacation, most of his time was spent studying with Mi Hong. The remaining time was also occupied by Young Master Bai. He never had any time to make new friends.
Mi Yang was still thinking when the boys opposite him looked at him. Suddenly, the one standing in the front snorted and said, "You still wear a hat when you go out. How delicate! Hey, haven't you seen bamboo in the city? Why are you here in the afternoon to see it in the sun?"
Mi Yang: “…”
Mi Yang felt a headache. When Bai Luochuan came that year, his group of friends seemed to be so repulsive to Young Master Bai. He never expected that one day it would be his turn.
The boys opposite were curious about him and were more xenophobic. They stood not far away and kept watching him. Mi Yang still wanted to build a good relationship with his former friends. He tried hard to find topics to integrate with them, and slowly he was able to chat with them.
Just as the friends in Shanhai Town slowly approached Mi Yang and began to ask him what kind of bamboo he was looking for, ready to help, they heard a loud sound of a bicycle brake. Mi Yang looked up and saw Bai Luochuan riding a brand new mountain bike and stopped at the bottom of the hill. He looked up at him with his eyes narrowed, rang the bell a few times, and shouted, "Hey, what do you have to say to them? Get off!"
The eyes of those people opposite immediately turned unfriendly when they looked at Mi Yang, and they even looked at him as if he were a "traitor" or "undercover agent".
Mi Yang: “…”
The leader mocked, "Go down quickly! You young masters from the city can't stand the sun. Be careful that your faces will peel and you'll cry in pain when you go back!"
"You've been looking at a few broken bamboos for a long time and don't know which one to choose. Why are you still going up the mountain to play?"
"That's right, go back to your city, who are you looking down on?"
Mi Yang was so confused by the ridicule of his poor friends in Shanhai Town!
Bai Luochuan had already come up. The mountain bike he was riding was quite professional, sprayed with a cool paint, the kind that boys like most nowadays, and it attracted a lot of people's attention. However, the boundary had been drawn just now, and those boys didn't stay for long and ran away quickly.
When Bai Luochuan came up, he only heard the last one or two sentences, and raised his eyebrows at Mi Yang and asked, "Why, didn't you make any friends?"
Mi Yang: “…”
This is what you deserve, you know!
Young Master Bai obviously didn't know, and he was still proudly saying, "Forget it, ignore those people, come up, I'll take you to Grandpa's place, there are good things to show you."
Mi Yang muffled and asked: "What is it?"
Bai Luochuan said: "This little darling is really amazing. You will know when you come here."
Mi Yang looked at his mountain bike and didn't know how to get up.
Bai Luochuan said: "Just step on the back, and then hold me."
Mi Yang tried it and said, "Is this okay? I hope it won't break..."
Bai Luochuan said, "Hold on tight!" and then he accelerated and rushed down. Mi Yang was startled and could only bend down and hold the other party tightly. Master Bai laughed in the front and rode faster.
Arriving at the Bai family's old house, Mi Yang followed him in and saw the energetic little baby at first sight.
It was a black pony with shiny fur, a small tuft of white hair on its forehead and a pair of particularly beautiful black eyes. When it heard someone coming, its two pointed little ears twitched smartly.