Chapter 69 Town

  Gu Xiang carried a small bowl and ran to Xiao Hei's home.

  Xiao Hei Pang's family is preparing for dinner. Their home is quite quiet, with only father and son at home. Because the Spring Festival is approaching, Xiao Hei Pang's grandfather has been picked up from the nursing home.

  Little Black Grandpa has Parkinson's disease, commonly known as shaking disease, and can't leave people around him. His family sent him to the nursing home in town, and he would only be picked up on weekends. Now that the New Year is approaching, Little Black Grandpa came back early for the holiday.

  It's been a long time since I saw him, and I called out to him "Grandpa".

  Little Black Grandpa was also very happy to see Gu Xiang, and his hands trembled as he wanted to give Gu Xiang red envelopes with money from his pocket.

  "Grandpa, I'm grown up now, don't give me red envelopes."

  Little Black Grandpa said: "Still young. Until marriage, all will be given."

  Gu Xiang saw Xiao Hei Pao's grandfather take out a wrinkled handkerchief, she quickly shook her head, "Grandpa, I really don't want it! If I take it and hurry back, my mom will scold me."

  "Just say I gave it to you, your mom wouldn't dare scold you." Little Black Fatty's grandfather opened his handkerchief, inside was a roll of 10 and 20 yuan bills.

  Just in time, Xiao Hei's dad had already poured the dishes brought by Gu Xiang into their own bowls. Gu Xiang quickly grabbed her own bowl and ran away with a greased sole.

  When she got back, her mother and grandparents were still waiting for her to have dinner together.

  "Slow down, no one is chasing you from behind. Don't fall and hurt yourself, or you'll have to spend the whole New Year in bed."

  Grandma helped Gu Xiang say to Gu's mom: "It's New Year's Day, why don't you say something nice?"

  Mother Gu was speechless: "I'm trying to teach you a lesson here, what are you doing?"

  Grandma pulled Gu Xiang up to the table to eat, "Yaya didn't do anything wrong, you scold her every day!"

  Gu Xiang smiled and said: "Chen Hao's grandfather is back, and he says he wants to give me some money for the New Year. Of course, I couldn't accept it, so I ran back."

  "Oh, the old man of their family is back? Otherwise, let's bring some more dishes over. It's Chinese New Year and they don't have a woman to take care of them." Grandma said, taking another big bowl and asking for a large bowl of chicken soup to be brought over. Gu Xiang stood up to receive it, but was pressed down by her grandma, "Let your grandfather go, you sit and eat instead."

  Grandfather took over the bowl and also told Gu Xiang: "Yaya hurry up and eat. I'll go talk to him."

  It wasn't until Gu Xiang and the others were almost finished with dinner that Grandpa came back with an empty bowl.

  "Your grandma said to him: 'How can you be gone for so long? How can people eat with a good conscience when you're there?'"

  Grandpa waved his hand and said, "Nothing's going on, just chatted for a bit."

  Grandma immediately smelled the wine on Grandpa's mouth, put down the bowl and poured hot tea for Grandpa. "You're so old, still drinking."

  Grandfather chuckled and said, "Yangmei wine doesn't get you drunk, so I had two cups."

  Gu Xiang watched her grandparents bickering, feeling warm in her heart.

  It's really good, she thought with some envy, when she gets old, she also hopes to have someone like that by her side. She turned her head to look at the person beside her, and her mom was smiling too.

  What about her mother after she gets married and has a family of her own? Will she spend Chinese New Year alone at home every year?

  Gu Xiang suddenly felt a little heartache. If her mother weren't for her sake, she should have remarried long ago.

  "Mom Gu felt that her daughter had been staring at her, so she used chopsticks to point at her bowl, "What are you staring at me for? Eat your rice."

  Gu Xiang responded with a "yes" and gave her mother a chicken leg.

  Gu's mom and grandma exchanged a knowing glance, and in an exaggerated tone said: "What a day today is! YaYa actually gave me her favorite chicken leg!"

  Gu Xiang originally loved to eat chicken legs. One time during the Chinese New Year, when Gu's mother was serving the chicken wings, she pulled off the part close to the leg. Because there was less meat on the chicken leg, she felt wronged and cried.

  When her mother said that, Gu Xiang's ears were about to turn red. How old was she now, and her mother still brought up this old matter?

  The next morning, Gu Xiang was sleeping soundly when her grandmother called her to get up and have breakfast.

  Breakfast is millet porridge with salted duck eggs, the salted duck eggs are made from my grandmother's own ducks. The lard is much more than what is sold outside.

  Gu Xiang leaned against the headboard and finished her breakfast, and her eyelids drooped again.

  Last night her mother and grandmother were chatting, she also followed with a few words, and before long it was almost twelve o'clock.

  Grandma saw that she looked pitifully sleepy and said: "Why don't Yaya just stay behind, we'll go ourselves."

  "No way, I'm going, take me with you." Then she stretched out her hand, "Mom, dress me up."

  Mom said with a bad tone: "Spoiled you! How old are you? Just entered kindergarten?" Then she threw the clothes on the chair to her side, "Put it on yourself."

  Gu Xiang retreated into the quilt, put on her sweater and then came out again.

  "Your mom laughed when she saw you outside, 'Aren't you wearing a bra?'"

  Gu Xiang patted her small chest with a swagger, "What to wear, can't see anything. In winter, taking off the sweater and wearing only a bra is too cold."

  To go to town, Aunt Gu borrowed an electric tricycle.

  Her grandmother was still riding an electric tricycle, she saw that Gu's mother borrowed a small electric car and was afraid that Gu Xiang would not sit comfortably in the back, so she let Gu Xiang sit on her tricycle.

  Gu Xiang immediately sat obediently behind her mother. Will they be surrounded by onlookers in this tricycle?

  The town here is definitely not as good as Gu Xiang's county, but there are a lot of things to eat.

  There are sesame balls filled with black sesame seeds, roasted sweet potatoes, and sugar-roasted chestnuts.

  Gu Xiang also saw someone selling maltose and bought a small bag of it.

  After she finished buying all the food, Grandma and Auntie Guo bought some new pillowcases, towels and so on next to her.

  Later, they strolled into a fairly large pharmacy, where Auntie and Grandma went to ask about protein powder.

  There is only one foreign brand here, 298 per barrel, and the packaging looks a bit like the milk powder I drank when I was young.

  Gu Xiang took a look at it for a while and found that it was indeed something with health-preserving properties.

  Grandma thought it was a bit expensive when she heard the price and asked Gu Xiang: "Ya Ya, what do you think?"

  Gu Xiang nodded and said: "It's pretty good, it's good for your body."

  Grandma then took out three 100-yuan bills from her pocket and handed them to Mrs. Gu, saying: "I don't understand either, you buy a bucket for Yaoyao to eat."

  "Mom Gu pushed away her money,"I have money on me, why are you giving me money?"

  Gu Xiang urged her mom, "Buy it, buy it, one bucket for me and one for grandma."

  Grandma quickly waved her hand: "I don't want it, you buy it for Yaoyao instead."

  Gu Xiang pulled her grandmother aside and said: "Let my mom buy it, she made a lot of money this year. Let her spend some."

  Gu's mom pretended to be angry and glared at her before going to pay.

  Grandma sighed with a heartache, "No matter how much you earn, it's not worth spending like this."

  Gu Xiang smiled and didn't say anything.

  The three of them strolled around town again.

  Gu's mother bought Gu Xiang several pairs of handmade insoles and had her put them on right away.

  There were no popular snow boots at that time, so Gu Xiang bought thick sports shoes for the New Year. There were also insoles inside, but they were made by machine and were too thick and stiff. They fell apart after only two days of wear.

  The town still has a lot of snacks, Gu Xiang is greedy to death. Although the things are not particularly many, there is no such street in the county where food stalls are crowded together for sale.

  Her grandmother kept teasing her about whether she wanted to eat this or that.

  Gu Xiang touched her swollen stomach and didn't dare to say anything. Her appetite had just recovered to a normal level, and if she continued to eat excessively, she would become the big eater she used to be again.

  So I endured and refused them all.

  Before dinner, three people bought a lot of things back in big and small bags.

  Luckily grandma rode an electric tricycle which can hold a lot of things at the back.

  Grandfather saw them coming back and muttered: "What's all this they've bought? They've bought so much."

  She bought a lot of things and had some money on her. It was all saved by herself, 7 or 8 yuan per day.

  She bought five new pairs of cotton socks and five new underpants for each of her grandparents. Although Grandma Gu always buys new clothes for her parents every Chinese New Year, they are definitely outerwear.

  Gu Xiang washed her own underwear after taking a bath yesterday, and saw that the drying rack had her grandparents' underwear and socks that had been worn for several years, with no elasticity left.

  She bought it when her grandmother hadn't noticed, thinking she had picked one for herself. Later, after buying and putting it in a plastic bag, mixed with other food and things, she didn't notice until she got home and opened it, which gave her quite a fright.

  Where can you find 15- or 16-year-old girls buying underwear for old men?

  Gu Xiang also took out a pair to show her mother, "I've checked them all, the socks are made of rabbit hair and the underwear is made of modal cotton. The boss said they were all 7 yuan each, but I bought a lot, so 5 yuan each is fine. It's even cheaper than what we sell back home."

  Mrs. Gu touched it with her hand and found that the fabric was indeed comfortable and durable.

  Grandpa scolded Grandma: "How did you let her buy these? And she bought so many."

  "My grandmother muttered to herself: 'How did I know she was buying it for us? Otherwise, I would have said no matter what.'"

  Later, when my uncle heard that Auntie Guo bought a can of protein powder for 298 yuan for Grandma, he muttered: "What a waste of money! Our bodies are all good. Yaya still needs to go to school and grow up, you should take it back and give it to her to eat."

  Gu Xiang immediately expressed: "I just tried it, it's disgusting to death. I don't want a single can." Then she pulled her grandparents to pack things up, "Oh no, we bought so many, let's finish watching and scold together."

  Gu's mother watched from the side, feeling both heartache and joy. The old couple had lived too frugally, but now her daughter was also sensible. In the future, she would definitely be very filial.

  Everything is taken out and put away, Gu Xiang counted it up, she spent over 150, apart from the underwear and socks she bought for her grandfather, it was just some snacks. Her mother spent a bit more, two cans of protein powder cost 600 already. Not to mention she also bought warm underwear for her grandparents.

  But the price wasn't even mentioned in front of the two elderly people, as Grandpa and Grandma were already heartbroken.

  Later, Gu Xiang also pulled her mother and said: "When you're old, will you be reluctant to part with it? I don't even dare to tell you the price when I buy things for you."

  "I'm definitely not like that. I've raised you so big, what's wrong with eating and drinking a bit? If you were filial to me, I'd knock on your door with my cane."

  Gu Xiang heard this and laughed directly, "Right, you should eat and drink well, I earn money just to make your life comfortable, don't I?"

  Her mother pinched her cheek with a smile, "You silly girl, your words are getting more and more improper!"