Chapter 256

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Protagonist:

Lin Xiyu

"That good?"

Zhang Jie's eyes gleamed with envy: "With a subsidy it's practically the same as having a formal position, eating the state's rice, an iron rice bowl."

"Money is secondary; the key is honor."

Li Ang had a different take: "In this life, a person always needs some pursuit. Doing scientific research, building satellites — we can't do that. But paper-cutting we can do. As long as you can take one thing to the absolute extreme, make a contribution to society, be covered in glory, then this life was worth it."

Wang Lei chuckled: "You make it sound so good I want to apply to be an Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor myself."

"What good thing are you dreaming of?"

Zhang Jie gave him a disdainful side-eye: "With your two brushes, you still want to be an Inheritor? Don't embarrass Hu Nainai."

"Not now, but maybe later......"

Wang Lei, young and vigorous, locked horns with her again: "Don't you look down on me either. I really have this idea. Sooner or later I'll apply for a National-level Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor title, just you wait and see."

"I'll wait......"

Zhang Jie didn't believe it for a second, laughing as she needled him: "You'd better not just talk and not practice. Don't make me wait until I'm old and doddering, teeth all fallen out, and still haven't heard your good news......"

"You two stop it. Hu Nainai is tired; she should rest......"

Seeing Hu Nainai's spirits weren't good, Li Ang shot the two a look, signaling them not to keep talking.

"Hu Nainai, close your eyes and sleep a while."

Lin Xiyu bent down, carefully tucking the blanket corners around Hu Nainai: "Don't you worry about the Intangible Cultural Heritage matter. We'll definitely get it handled for you. You just rest easy at home and wait for good news."

"Good."

Hu Nainai was indeed a bit weary. She smiled with relief and closed her eyes.

Lin Xiyu gave her junior brothers and sisters a look. The three understood at once and followed her outside.

——

In the small courtyard.

"You're leaving?"

Hu Nainai's eldest son Hu Bo stood under the eaves smoking. Seeing the four come out, he flicked the cigarette butt onto the ground and crushed it with his foot.

"What's Hu Nainai's condition now?"

Lin Xiyu's brows and eyes were grave: "What did the doctor say?"

"Sigh."

Hu Bo's expression darkened. He sighed deeply: "The doctor said the cancer cells have spread throughout her body. There's no treatment."

"No better treatment plan at all?"

Lin Xiyu knitted her brows: "Or use imported medicine? Self-paid is fine too."

"It's not that there's no imported medicine......"

Hu Bo smiled bitterly: "The key is Mom's old. Her body is too weak. Another new course of treatment — I'm afraid she won't hold up."

"It was the doctor who said to discharge her......"

Zhang Jie suddenly interjected, her eyes showing grief and indignation: "They just think she can't be cured. They don't want the patient dying in the hospital and affecting their reputation, so they chase people out."

"Not reputation. Mortality rate."

Li Ang knew better: "My grandpa was the same back then. The man was nearly gone, but the doctor insisted on discharge, chased us home. We wanted to save his life; they didn't think that way......."

"There's even this kind of thing?"

Lin Xiyu found it hard to believe.

"Can't generalize either."

Wang Lei, afraid Hu Nainai might hear, waved his hand, signaling everyone to move farther from the window: "There are still good doctors. Not everyone is that snobbish, lacking medical ethics."

"I'll have Guben think of another way......"

Lin Xiyu's brows knitted tight: "If it really doesn't work, find an Old Chinese Doctor, drink some Traditional Chinese Medicine."

"Drinking Traditional Chinese Medicine works......"

Li Ang nodded in agreement: "As long as it can let Hu Nainai hold on until the selection results come out, any method can be used. Even inviting a great immortal to do a ritual would work."

"You......"

Wang Lei gave him a very speechless look.

"Don't talk about these unreliable things."

Lin Xiyu took out ten thousand yuan from the messenger bag she carried and handed it to Hu Bo: "This is a little token from me and Guben. You take it first. Use it to nourish Hu Nainai's body."

"You've already helped so much. Can't take your money anymore."

Hu Bo's mouth said he declined, but his eyes stuck to the thick stack of hundred-yuan bills.

Hu Nainai's illness had cost over a hundred thousand so far. Without Guben and his wife's assistance, with their family circumstances they simply couldn't have held on. Even if the doctor hadn't said to discharge, they would have given up treatment themselves.

"This money is our filial respect for Hu Nainai......"

Lin Xiyu pretended not to see his little scheme and forced the money into his hand: "If I say take it, you take it. As long as you can take good care of Hu Nainai, let the old lady have a few more comfortable days, that'll fulfill our hearts as disciples."

"That's for sure......"

Hu Bo, for the money's sake, spoke very pleasingly: "Inside lies my birth mother. As children, how could we not be filial? Even if you don't say it, we'll serve her well. Not a single meal of chicken soup will be missed."

"Then that's good......"

Lin Xiyu set her mind at ease, smiled, and took her leave: "You'll have to work a bit harder. We'll go first. We'll come see Hu Nainai again tomorrow."

"Alright, you all go get busy......"

Hu Bo politely saw them out of the yard: "Water's been sprinkled on the ground, walk slowly......"

"Okay then, you head back too, no need to see us out."

Li Ang represented the four, waving his hand at him; the four senior and junior fellow disciples walked side by side, leaving the alley together.

——

Wangfu Pool West Street.

Mother Wu heard the four little treasures had been discharged from the hospital, and she was also extraordinarily fond of them; holding Nuan Nuan, she came to the Old House to see the children, and chatted with Grandma Gu.

"Your family is moving too?"

Hearing Mother Wu say that their Lao Liang were also about to move, Grandma Gu truly found it somewhat inconceivable.

There is Quancheng Water in the Xigengdao Street No. 1 Courtyard; many old residents habitually go to their yard to fetch water.

Speaking of that well, which of the left and right neighbors doesn't know; Mother Wu's family, because they didn't want to move, even had a standoff with other residents.

No one could have expected that the people who guarded the spring eye as if it were more important than their lives would actually have a day of leaving too.

"We don't want to leave either......"

Mother Wu smiled embarrassedly and explained: "It's because our daughter had a child and needs someone to watch the child."

"Where can't you watch a child?"

Grandma Gu didn't understand: "Nuan Nuan has also grown to eight months at your place; why suddenly leave again?"

"Sigh."

Mother Wu hesitated for a while, but still told the truth: "Mainly those few old rooms, they're really too dilapidated, the roof isn't solid, they're practically a dangerous building; we asked the Neighborhood Committee, they said it's public housing and can't be bought, it's not our own house, spending that much money to renovate isn't worth it; Mengmeng urged us to buy a new one, and her dad agreed too."

Grandma Gu suddenly realized: "Your family bought a new house?"

"Bought it."

Mother Wu nodded: "Mengmeng kept pushing insistently, saying if we don't buy now there'll be no opportunity left; her dad thought, young people nowadays all buy those popular trendy clothes, making clothes isn't in fashion anymore, my work is getting less and less; rather than carrying on relying on having no business, better to follow our daughter's idea, buy a new house with dual gas to live in, with central heating, warm in winter too."

"Central heating is truly good."

Grandma Gu smiled knowingly: "What a pity the Old Four Courtyard doesn't get heating piped in, can only burn floor heating ourselves."

"Floor heating costs so much money, we can't afford to burn it......"

Mother Wu was full of emotion: "Thinking about it now, people cannot fight against the times; after the old neighborhood renovation, they all switched to central heating; in the future no one will use charcoal fire for heating, honeycomb briquettes are almost impossible to buy anymore."

"That's true too......"

Grandma Gu laughed in agreement: "Not to mention honeycomb briquettes, even gas stations are fewer; want to swap a gas canister, have to run a long way to swap it."

"Exactly."

Mother Wu laughed awkwardly: "Our generation, not admitting we're old won't do; Mengmeng's dad carried a gas canister last year, threw out his back, lay in bed for nearly a month before he could get down."

"Our family is thanks to Wang Meng and his wife."

Grandma Gu's eyes showed gratitude: "They think especially thoroughly, buy everything for the house, don't need me to worry; also fortunate to have them; during the period Xiyu was hospitalized, Xiao Bin didn't have to worry about home, and could wholeheartedly take care of her and the children."

"It's also because Xiyu is a good person......"

Mother Wu knew the ins and outs of this matter: "Teaching their children, they formed a good karmic connection."

"Xiyu is truly good."

Grandma Gu agreed wholeheartedly: "Her stomach is also capable, one pregnancy gave birth to four."

"Old Madam, you're truly wholeheartedly devoted."

Mother Wu laughed and flattered: "Both sons and daughters complete; this time you've got both great-granddaughters and great-grandsons."

"You can too....."

Grandma Gu returned the praise: "Daughter is filial, Nuan Nuan is also very cute; whoever sees her likes her."

"My family's little padded jacket, lets the wind through......"

Mother Wu bounced her own maternal grandchild, teasing her with a smile: "Hope this one when she grows up, doesn't turn out like her mom, elbow turning outward."

"Hee hee."

Although Nuan Nuan didn't understand the meaning in Grandma's words, seeing Grandma smiling at her, she also happily bounced twice on Grandma's legs, hee hee laughing stupidly happy.

"Mengmeng isn't quite good to you two old spouses?"

Grandma Gu laughed and teased: "What's up with you again, what else is there to be dissatisfied about?"

"Daughter being filial is true, but elbow turning outward is also true....."

Mother Wu sighed sincerely: "This silly child, herself stingy and tightfisted, unwilling to buy a few new clothes; spending money on Li Liang, heh, that she's generous with; her dad braised a pot of pig trotters, I hadn't even tasted a bite, she swiped one first, took it home to feed her husband."

"Hahaha......."

Grandma Gu was amused by her humorous tone, laughed until she couldn't close her mouth.

"You say....."

Mother Wu felt five flavors mixed in her heart: "Infuriating or not?"

"Mengmeng is simple-hearted, same to everyone......"

Grandma Gu, in front of the birth mother, even if agreeing, couldn't really speak ill of someone's daughter, could only make a vague sound to perfunctorily brush it off.

"I've figured it out."

Mother Wu laughed angrily: "Having a daughter is just a Debt Collector; worry from childhood to adulthood, old and still not worry-free."

"Never mind daughters, sons aren't any different....."

Grandma Gu laughed again: "Especially now, house prices have risen, the cost of marrying a wife is even higher; that's why they say having a son is Construction Bank, having a daughter is China Merchants Bank."

Mother Wu didn't understand: "There's this saying too? What does it mean?"

"I heard it from an old lady I dance with......."

Grandma Gu patiently explained to her: "Having a son isn't it you have to buy a house; a lifetime's savings, all contributed to Construction Bank, so it's called having a Construction Bank."

"Heh, these people sure know how to overthink things."

Wu's mother suddenly understood, then asked: "Then what about the daughter, why is she called China Merchants Bank?"

"When the daughter grows up and gets married, she can collect a bride price, right?"

Grandma Gu covered her mouth and laughed: "The bride price equals attracting money and wealth, isn't that more or less the same meaning as attracting investment?"

"Oh my..."

Wu's mother also laughed until she couldn't close her mouth: "These people really know how to make wild associations, they can even connect these things together......"

"No wonder they say having a daughter is best."

Grandma Gu pinched Nuan Nuan's fair and chubby little cheeks, teasing her with a smile: "With a maternal granddaughter, you just wait to enjoy the blessings. When our Nuan Nuan grows up, she'll recruit a rich son-in-law for you."

"The rich son-in-law is already at your place, isn't he?"

Wu's mother smiled with narrowed eyes: "Mengmeng said Xiyu has already agreed, the two sons are for us to pick, we're already considered in-laws."

Grandma Gu: "......."

——

Lin Xiyu came out from Hu Nainai's house and went straight to Qinglong Back Street.

Grandmother missed the little babies, and as expected, she agreed to go home with her and stay at the old house for a period of time.

Hearing that Grandmother was coming, Guben specially added a sofa bed in the guest room, letting the newly hired nanny Huang Jie share a room with her, so there would be someone by her side at night to take care of her, making it convenient for the elderly to drink water and get up at night.

Grandmother was very satisfied with his filial piety, and seeing the four jade-and-snow adorable little babies, she laughed until she couldn't close her mouth.

"Grandmother, are my Ping'an and Xile very pretty?"

Lin Xiyu had a biological mother filter, praising her own kids to everyone she met.

"Pretty!"

Grandmother likewise had a biological great-grandmother filter, her answer couldn't have been more enthusiastic: "The babies have reached their full month, Great-Grandmother will give each of them a small silver lock."

"Babies, quickly thank Great-Grandmother."

Lin Xiyu deliberately teased Grandmother to make her happy, pinched Dabao's fair and chubby little hand and waved it, letting him represent his younger brothers and sisters in expressing thanks.

"Hee hee."

Dabao had a lively personality; someone teased him, and he kicked his meaty little short legs vigorously, kicking the small quilt off his body in a few kicks.

"Hurry up and cover him, don't let him catch cold."

Mid-October, the weather gradually turned cool. Grandmother feared freezing her precious darlings, and bent down herself, wanting to cover Dabao with the quilt.

"I'll do it."

Liu Jie had been guarding by the crib; seeing this, she hurried over and covered the quilt.

"Wah."

Sanbao Xixi happened to split her little mouth open at this moment and cried.

"Did the baby pee?"

Grandmother was even more eager than the nanny, and again wanted to take her small mincing steps over to change Sanbao's diaper.

"Grandmother, with Liu Jie and Xu Jie and them here, you don't need to busy yourself."

Lin Xiyu found it amusing and hurriedly supported her, fearing the old lady would get flustered for a moment and strain her old waist first.

Xu Jie joked with a smile: "With little kids around, the elderly are just happy, they can live several more years."

"Grandmother, you just stay here, don't leave."

Lin Xiyu went along with her words, affectionately embracing Grandmother's arm.

"Okay okay okay......"

Grandmother was so happy her eyebrows curved: "Grandmother will listen to you, stay a few more days."

"Not just a few days......"

Lin Xiyu refused: "At least stay a month, no, a year, wait until the babies turn one before leaving."