Discovery: A pleasant surprise.
Su Xiaoman slept on the warm kang. Xie Mingtu had repaired the heated kang in the bedroom, and at night it was practically life-saving. Curling up on it was incredibly comfortable, though the heat was very dry. Xie Mingtu found it too hot and rolled toward the edge, while Su Xiaoman clung to him like an octopus.
She slept warmly and comfortably.
The next morning, she was so lazy and cosy that she could not bear to lift the quilt. Xie Mingtu had gone out early to repair the house. He also fetched water, cleaned the courtyard all around, and cooked porridge.
As soon as Su Xiaoman woke up, she had warm, sweet porridge to eat. This kind of little life was truly comfortable.
Unfortunately, it could not last too long. She had to report to her new work unit. But that matter was not urgent. She had just been transferred here, and it happened to coincide with the restructuring and separation of institutions, so she had been assigned to the regional song-and-dance troupe here.
In recent years, large-scale song-and-dance dramas had been popular, and art troupes had expanded more and more. A great deal of money had been spent, and recently they had begun streamlining personnel.
In other words, she was no longer a cultural troupe soldier, but a member of the regional Beijing Arts Song-and-Dance Troupe. In a few days, she would need to go and complete the formalities.
She was still considered lucky. The awards she had won previously meant that a song-and-dance troupe was willing to accept her. Some others had to return home and find other work.
Of course, they had all received some subsidies.
Su Xiaoman had never worked in a song-and-dance troupe before. As for this job, she did not know whether she could manage it, but she had to try. Perhaps she might even meet some interesting friends. Working in a song-and-dance troupe should be much freer than working in a military cultural troupe. Apart from performances out of town, she should be able to go home after rehearsals.
She still had not reported to her new unit yet!!
Xie Mingtu was studying at school. Not only did he receive a monthly allowance and wage, he could also freely return home after class. The two of them would have much more time together, and this made both husband and wife extremely happy.
Su Xiaoman changed her clothes, but she still could not bear to get off the warm kang. Xie Mingtu set up a small square table on the bed for her and brought over a bowl of warm sweet porridge. Su Xiaoman took two spoonfuls and said, “Brother Xiaotu, can we eat noodles next time in the morning?”
Xie Mingtu could not make many other things. He only knew how to cook porridge, rice soup, and steam mantou. Su Xiaoman could not get up in the morning, so usually Xie Mingtu handled breakfast. But she did not want to eat rice porridge and pickled vegetables, and sweet porridge was too sweet for her.
“I want something savoury, with chilli added. The chilli Grandma made.”
Xie Mingtu said dotingly, “All right. Next time, when you wake up, call me and I’ll cook noodles for you… Do you want noodles now? Brother Xiaotu will go cook noodles for you.”
Cooking noodles was different from cooking porridge. Here, they burned honeycomb coal briquettes. The coal stove burned from morning till night, with a large pot set on top. A pot of water was always boiling, sending up clouds of white steam that warmed the whole room. The cooked porridge could be placed in the boiling water to keep warm, so it could be eaten hot at any time. Noodles were different. Noodles had to be eaten as soon as they were cooked, otherwise they would turn into a mushy mess.
“Not today. I’ll eat it tomorrow. This bowl of porridge is enough for me.”
Xie Mingtu smiled and nodded. “Manman, do you want to eat frozen persimmon? An auntie nearby gave them to me. This morning, her roof was broken, so I climbed up to replace some tiles for her. On her windowsill, she had more than ten bright red persimmons, with white snow piled on top of them. I thought they looked fresh and glanced at them a few more times, so she gave me two.”
“Frozen persimmon?” Su Xiaoman was very curious when she heard this. She had never heard of eating persimmons like this. Did they just put the persimmons outside to freeze? Wouldn’t they turn into dried persimmon cakes? Or did they become something else?
“I want to try.”
“All right.” Xie Mingtu kissed her forehead, then turned and went out. Not long after, he came back carrying a large bowl. It was one of those yellow enamel bowls, and inside were two red persimmons, along with some water.
At first glance, it did not look like a bowl containing persimmons, but rather like two freshly cracked orange-red egg yolks.
The colour was very beautiful. They were a little soft, seemingly as fragile as egg yolks.
“How do you eat this? Frozen persimmon — is the inside already frozen?” Su Xiaoman curiously poked the persimmon. Xie Mingtu handed her a straw, and Su Xiaoman froze for a moment. She inserted the straw and took a sip, then discovered that this frozen persimmon was rather interesting.
There was quite a lot of liquid inside. When she drank it, it even had little ice crystals mixed in. It was sweet and icy, like chilled honey juice. Under such dry conditions, drinking this was truly refreshing, though unfortunately it was a little too cold.
It was the same principle as eating an ice lolly in the middle of winter.
“So sweet. Mingtu, you drink some too.” Su Xiaoman swallowed the sweet liquid in her mouth. A few ice crystals remained on the tip of her tongue. She chewed them, and they were crunchy.
Xie Mingtu lowered his head and took a sip, then frowned slightly. “Too icy. Manman, eat less.”
Su Xiaoman nodded and laughed as she rubbed his face. “You eat it, then. You eat it.”
Xie Mingtu thought it was too sweet, but such an icy thing was not suitable for Su Xiaoman to eat too much of, so most of it ended up in his stomach.
Su Xiaoman murmured, “I wonder how this frozen persimmon is made. Next year, let’s make some too.”
“Putting so many persimmons on the windowsill looks so festive.”
Xie Mingtu: “…”
After breakfast and a short rest, Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu planned to visit his third uncle Xie Zhongqi’s home. Xie Mingtu’s biological maternal grandmother was someone they had to meet at least once. Now that they were living in this siheyuan, it would not be good if they did not visit in time and the relatives came looking for them instead.
The two brought along some sweets and biscuits, asked someone for directions, and before long, they found Third Uncle’s home. The two courtyards were only two hutongs apart.
They knocked on the door, and it just so happened that everyone was at home. Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman saw a lame middle-aged man. Needless to say, this person was most likely his third uncle, Xie Zhongqi. There was also a younger uncle, Xie Chengcong, who lived in staff housing at his work unit.
“You two… you are?! Ah!!” When Xie Zhongqi saw the young man and woman outside, his eyes widened immediately. This, this, this… how was this possible?!
The young man was wearing a padded coat. That handsome face was one Xie Zhongqi would recognise even if it turned to ashes. It was him… no, that was not right. The two of them did not look exactly the same. This young child’s appearance was far too outstanding, even more handsome than his second brother had been back then.
Needless to say, he already understood the identity of the young man before him.
…This was actually his younger sister’s son?!
They all said nephews resembled their uncles, but this was too similar, wasn’t it?! He clearly had several uncles, so why did he happen to resemble…
“Old Xie, what’s going on?!” Gao Mengyue called from inside.
“Our youngest nephew has brought his wife to our home.”
“Xie Mingtu.”
“This is his wife, Su Xiaoman.”
Gao Mengyue came out from inside the house. The moment she saw the young couple outside, her expression changed.
“Little sister’s youngest son?! His wife?”
Gao Mengyue hated this in her heart. She hated that the Jiang family had somehow caused such a thing to happen. How had they discovered that Jiang Yantang was not her son? And this newly found youngest son actually looked… He even had the surname Xie!
How could he have the surname Xie?!
No wonder Xie Yazhi had started forming crooked plans. Fine, sure enough, a dog that bites does not bark. Xie Yazhi said nothing on the surface and claimed she wanted nothing. Not only had she married a good husband and lived well, now she was reaching back into the Xie family too.
“This is your third aunt.”
“Go call Eldest and tell him to inform his youngest uncle. We’ll have a meal at home today.” Xie Zhongqi began making arrangements. Since his nephew had come to visit, he still had to handle things properly. Otherwise, his old mother would be angry.
Gao Mengyue barely squeezed out a smile. “Youngest nephew? Your mother worked so hard to find you back, so why haven’t you changed your surname to Jiang? Why did I hear from your youngest uncle that your surname is Xie? Did your mother make you take the surname Xie? What’s the meaning of that? Did your grandparents really allow you to follow our mother’s surname Xie?”
“I was born in Xiejia Town.”
Gao Mengyue said, “You were born in Xiejia Town? How would we know? Our family hasn’t returned to Xiejia Town in years…”
Su Xiaoman felt that this third uncle and third aunt were both very surprised when they saw Xie Mingtu. That made sense. Supposedly, Xie Mingtu looked very much like his second uncle. No wonder they both looked frightened.
However, Su Xiaoman found it strange. When Xie Yazhi had first seen Xie Mingtu, her reaction had not been this strong.
She had not considered that over the past two years, Xie Mingtu had truly “changed eighteen times as a boy grows.” The accumulation of small changes was extremely astonishing. Now, it was not simply that his appearance was outstanding. The aura and presence around him were also unusual. The moment Xie Zhongqi and Gao Mengyue saw him, they were immediately stunned.
Neither of them had expected this rural nephew to look so exceptional. He even resembled Second Brother Xie from back then.
Of course, there was only some resemblance in his facial features. His build and temperament were different. His body stood straight and upright, carrying a cold, stern, almost killing aura. This was a child raised in a military family like the Jiang family.
“Go in and meet the old madam.”
Old Madam Meng was still sitting on the warm kang. Her ears were not very sharp, but she had heard some of the movement outside. It seemed that the youngest grandson she had never met had come to the door, and had brought his wife with him.
She had seen that eldest grandson before. Among the grandsons through her daughter, she loved that eldest grandson the most. These past few years in the north, he had always come to see her. As for the others, she had not seen them for a long time.
She still did not know what this unseen grandson looked like. She sighed. Of her children, her daughter’s life had once gone the smoothest. In the end, such a thing had happened. It seemed that heaven was truly fair.
No one’s life could be smooth and fortunate all the way.
Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu entered the room and immediately saw the little old lady sitting on the kang. The old lady was very thin. On the ground was a pair of black satin pointed shoes, a very small pair. The old lady had bound feet — a pair of three-inch golden lotuses.
This was Xie Mingtu’s maternal grandmother. Around here, they called her laolao: Old Madam Meng.
When Old Madam Meng was young, she had also been someone remarkable. After the Xie family declined, she had supported the family alone with her children.
The moment Old Madam Meng turned her head, her previously indifferent eyes suddenly burst with light. She looked like a black cat whose eyes had widened, her round eyeballs seeming as if they were about to fall from their sockets. She raised her right hand and shouted hoarsely, “Second… Second…”
Xie Zhongqi said, “Mother, this is your youngest grandson.”
Yes. This was her youngest grandson. Her Second had long been gone.
“Come here. Come to Grandmother’s side. Let Grandmother have a good look at you.”
Xie Mingtu walked over and spoke a few words with the old madam. Old Madam Meng cried and laughed at him, holding onto his hand and refusing to let go. When she saw Su Xiaoman beside him, she became even happier. From time to time, she said a few confused words.
“I’ve seen you marry a wife…”
At this time, the eldest son of Xie Zhongqi’s family had already run to his youngest uncle’s home to call people over. The youngest of the Xie family, Xie Yazhi’s little brother Xie Chengcong, lived with his wife Ge Xiangyu and their two daughters, Xie Chengcheng and Xie Qingyuan, in a communal courtyard belonging to the No. 2 Cotton Factory.
“Youngest cousin has come to visit. Uncle, Auntie, come to our house for a meal.”
When Ge Xiangyu saw Xie Antai, the child from her elder brother-in-law’s family, resentment immediately rose in her heart. Their family did not have a good relationship with Third Brother’s family. Usually, they had little contact. They only went to see the old madam and fulfil their filial duties when necessary. At other times, they did not interact much.
Besides, when the eldest son of Third Brother’s family got married, the two families had quarrelled fiercely.
She had given birth to two daughters, Chengcheng and Qingyuan. Later, her health had not been good, so the couple had no more children and lived with their two daughters. Ge Xiangyu was excellent at managing the household frugally, and their days were quite lively and decent. Every month, they could still save quite a bit. Her husband’s third brother’s family was different. At the beginning of the month, they spent extravagantly, while by the end of the month, they were swallowing chaff and vegetables. They could not save a few coins and often came to their family to beg for food.
That would have been one thing, but earlier, when Xie Antai got married, Third Brother’s family had actually wanted their family to contribute a large sum of money. They tried to persuade Xie Chengcong to hand over all the family’s savings for their son’s marriage, telling them to marry off their daughter in exchange for money. They even introduced a widower to her eldest daughter, saying that Antai and Changtai, the two sons, were the only two male roots of the Xie family. Since their family only had two daughters, who would eventually marry into other families, in the end, their money ought to belong to those two Xie nephews. The Xie family’s money could not be allowed to benefit outsiders.
After drinking too much, their tone had been full of resentment, saying how hard and exhausting it was for him to raise two sons and support the old mother for the old Xie family, while their family only had two daughters and did not need to worry about marrying sons off, saying their family ate delicious food every day and so on…
It had angered Ge Xiangyu so much her liver hurt.
In the past, Gao Mengyue had flaunted her two boys in front of her; flaunted that the old madam knew some hidden treasure spot; piled fatty meat into bowls at the start of the month… At those times, she had never thought of their family. Now she was blaming their family for eating well?
Whenever someone from that family came, Ge Xiangyu knew it was never good news. She could not put on a pleasant expression.
“Youngest cousin? What youngest cousin? Little sister’s eldest?”
“Her youngest.”
“Jiang Yantang?”
“Xie Mingtu.”
Ge Xiangyu froze, thinking, where did someone surnamed Xie come from? Not long after, Xie Chengcong came back and explained clearly what had happened in his younger sister’s family. Their family prepared to go to Third Uncle Xie Zhongqi’s house.
Of their two daughters, the older one, Chengcheng, was not home, so they only brought twelve-year-old Qingyuan along. When they arrived at Xie Zhongqi’s house, they saw the youngest nephew beside the old madam: Xie Mingtu. Beside him was his wife, Su Xiaoman.
“Youngest cousin, youngest cousin-in-law.” Xie Qingyuan was a cute little girl with an oval face. Her hair was braided into two plaits, and she wore a thick padded jacket. She looked very lovable.
“Cousin-in-law, you’re so pretty!” As soon as Xie Qingyuan entered the room, her gaze was drawn to the newly arrived beautiful cousin-in-law. This cousin-in-law was truly too beautiful. If she had been born in the old days, she would definitely have entered the palace to become a favoured imperial consort.
If Qingyuan were the emperor, she would definitely make her an imperial noble consort.
The gazes of the brothers Xie Antai and Xie Changtai also kept falling on Su Xiaoman. They were both a little jealous of this youngest cousin. Not only was he outstanding-looking, the wife he had married was also this beautiful.
Old Madam Meng was currently holding Xie Mingtu’s hand and talking to him. When she heard Xie Qingyuan call them cousin and cousin-in-law, she unconsciously frowned.
“Xiaotu, why don’t you follow Antai and Changtai and call me Grandma instead? It sounds closer.” Old Madam Meng’s voice suddenly became full of energy. Looking at the youngest grandson before her, she felt an intimacy that pierced straight into her heart. Seeing those familiar brows and eyes, she vaguely remembered Second from back then.
If Second had married and had children, her grandson should have been this old too, and should have looked like his father.
Gao Mengyue hurriedly said, “Old madam, you’re confused. Xiaotu is a child of the Jiang family. He has his own grandfather and grandmother.”
Old Madam Meng said, “What’s wrong with calling me that a couple of times? Aren’t we all family? Good child, call me Grandma.”
The other members of the Xie family all looked toward Xie Mingtu. Xie Mingtu merely smiled, took the old madam’s hand, and gently called her “Laolao.”
Old Madam Meng was not angry either. She kept saying, “Looking at you, you seem just like my own grandson.”
The expressions of Xie Zhongqi’s family did not look very good. Xie Chengcong and Ge Xiangyu, however, cracked sunflower seeds and found it amusing. The two of them did not care much. They almost wished that little sister’s child would change his surname to Xie and be called the Xie family’s young grandson, just to dampen Third Brother’s family’s arrogance.
Their two sons were the two seedlings of the Xie family? Look, wasn’t there another one now?
Another one was good!
Ge Xiangyu watched the joke from the side.
“Exactly. Xiaotu is such a likeable child. Looking at him, he really seems like our Xie family’s own grandson.”
“Mingtu, right? This child is surnamed Xie. We’re one family, all Xie family people.”
Gao Mengyue immediately said, “He’ll change his surname to Jiang in the future. Xiaotu, when are you changing your name?”
Xie Mingtu shook his head. “I won’t change my name.”
“You’re a child of the Jiang family. How can you follow your mother’s surname? You should originally be surnamed Jiang. Why did your mother make you take the surname Xie?”
“I’m not following her surname. I was born in Xiejia Town, so I’m surnamed Xie.”
Old Madam Meng held his hand. “Exactly. A child born in our Xiejia Town — what’s wrong with being surnamed Xie? He’s a descendant of our old Xie family.”
“Come visit Laolao often in the future.”
Ge Xiangyu took the initiative to invite them. “That’s right. You should come see your Laolao more often. Another day, bring your wife to your youngest uncle’s house as guests. I think our Qingyuan and Xiaoman get along quite well. There’s also another younger cousin over there, Chengcheng.”
“Now our family is truly lively.”
…
After finishing the meal, Xie Mingtu and Su Xiaoman left. Old Madam Meng still wanted to keep them a little longer, but seeing that they were anxious to go, she had them take fifteen jin of frozen mutton with them. This frozen mutton had been given to the old madam by people from the Meng family as filial respect. Now that the old madam doted on her youngest grandson, she let the young couple take the mutton away.
When Gao Mengyue handed the frozen mutton to Su Xiaoman and her husband, her heart ached terribly. This meat had originally been intended for her to secretly cut half of it off and cook privately for themselves. Now these two were taking it away.
When Su Xiaoman and Xie Mingtu returned, they dragged back fifteen jin of mutton, along with quite a few lamb bones. They had been frozen solid with ice. The colour still looked very fresh; it had probably been slaughtered not long ago. At this temperature below zero, the outside was practically a natural freezer.
When they got back, they could try cooking mutton soup.
With more than ten jin of mutton, the two of them could eat for quite a few days and make all kinds of different dishes.
Eating mutton on a freezing day was one of life’s greatest pleasures. When they got home, they had to research ways to cook mutton.
Su Xiaoman held the hand of the man beside her. Thinking of the scene she had just witnessed, she found it amusing. She stared at Xie Mingtu’s handsome profile and laughed for a while, making Xie Mingtu completely puzzled.
“Manman, what’s wrong?”
Su Xiaoman shook her head. “Nothing. I just discovered something.”
Although their Brother Gouzi had once held the script of a romance-novel villain, he had also received the script of a Qidian male protagonist. He did not attract anything else — only all kinds of old men and old ladies.
In the future, they should let him try doing the grocery shopping.
Maybe he would run into some unexpected surprises.
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