To Covet (GL) - Chapter 89

August has arrived, and I’ve finally finished the preliminary exams for both Mathematics and Physics.

With only one month left until the final exams, the advanced classes and the endless practice problems have been forced into my already jam-packed schedule. Taking advantage of a rare half-day off, I scanned a public bike at the library entrance after sunset and rode all the way to the cross-river bridge. I coasted down the slope and came to a stop on the riverside boardwalk.

Three days ago, my grandmother called via video chat saying she wanted to visit me in Linzhou. She was incredibly persistent about bringing a mountain of food she hadn’t managed to bring before, and no one could stop her. However, the little old lady still wasn’t used to video calls; as we talked, she would habitually press the phone to her ear, and I would hear my aunt’s signature loud laughter from the other end.

“Carrying all this stuff, people will think you’re moving in!”

“Hmph, I’m going to see my own grandchild, what of it?”

It sounded like the little lady was quite proud of her preparations.

“Bring less, it’s so heavy! Your poor back—the doctor said no heavy lifting, no carrying things. You’ll work hard to make the trip only to have your old injury flare up. What if you trip and end up paralyzed on the ground? That’d be a disaster.” The camera panned to my aunt’s helpless face. “Fine, fine, I’ll go with you. I’ll buy the tickets, don’t you dare sneakily pay for them.”

“You girl, you’re this old and still haven’t learned to say anything decent. Always talking about bad luck…” Grandmother rolled her eyes and washed a teacup, clearly annoyed.

“When does Nannan have a break?”

I marked the days on the school calendar without classes and sent them to her.

“Alright then, tickets are easy to get lately. We’ll arrive in the afternoon, drop off the bags, and go eat, okay?”

“Eating out again… a waste of money… Let’s just cook something at home. Those restaurants outside mark up prices for no reason. Expensive.”

“Mom! That’s someone else’s house! The plates in that big boss’s kitchen probably cost tens of thousands. Do you think they’ll let us in the kitchen? Don’t embarrass your eldest granddaughter and let her get looked down on every day.”

Grandmother muttered a few words; the signal was bad, so I couldn’t hear clearly.

“It’s okay, come over,” I cut in to stop them from bickering. “I’ve moved out to live on my own now.”

“What?” Two faces crowded into the screen. “Moved out? What does that mean?”

“Mhm, I’m living here by myself now. A nanny cooks for me; during the summer, she makes my lunch and dinner and delivers them.”

“Then… then you sleep alone at night?” My aunt was so anxious she started stuttering, cursing a string of profanities in our dialect as she and my grandmother looked at each other in shock.

“This… this… Mom, you see! I told you!”

Grandmother’s wrinkled face twisted in the front-facing camera. For a long while, she didn’t say a word.

“I told you that man isn’t human. No conscience! What kind of father lets his own daughter move out alone during high school? Even wild dogs know to protect their pups. He clearly just doesn’t want you to have a good life…”

“It’s fine. It’s quiet living alone, and this place is very close to school. It’s convenient. The complex has gate security and surveillance; it’s very safe.” I tried to comfort the two indignant people on the screen.

Moving out was a choice where the pros outweighed the cons for me. I didn’t have to be monitored by Yu Hanyang every day or listen to his hypocritical nonsense. Since Yu Zhouwan wasn’t there, I naturally didn’t want to see Shi Yunya’s cold face. Besides, if I hadn’t met with Lu Xiaoting a few times over the past half-month, I would have had no way to investigate Yang Chun’s past. I hadn’t intended to get involved in Lu Xiaoting’s revenge plan, but now that it involved my biological mother, the scales in my heart had quietly tilted, even though I still harbored wariness toward Lu Xiaoting.

Of course, I didn’t reveal anything related to Lu Xiaoting, so my pale explanations only made them more furious. In my aunt’s eyes, I was a poor child who simply sought a father’s protection only to be pushed out by cold violence—someone who was even deceived by a father’s flowery words, unaware of being abandoned, and even stupid enough to be satisfied with the current situation.

“You’re still defending that man… really…” My aunt wiped her eyes desperately. “Our Nannan is too sensible. Honest children have hard lives; anyone can bully them.”

I rubbed my nose guiltily. Further explanation or denial would only make me look stupid. Besides, I really wanted them to come for a reunion; playing the victim wouldn’t hurt.

I cycled to the nearby bus station and saw the two of them from a distance, carrying large bags. Grandmother smoothed my wind-blown hair, constantly muttering that “my baby has suffered,” while taking out layers of wrapped waxy corn and braised beef from her bag. Only after watching me squat by the roadside and eat most of it did her tense face finally break into a relieved smile.

“Mom, is your back okay?” My aunt and uncle put down their bags and squatted in the shade to wipe their sweat. “Let me carry some more. Your back…”

“My back is fine. It’s just these two bags. When I was young, I carried shoulder poles—two baskets weighing over a hundred pounds and I’d just walk.”

“Fine, you did so much work when you were young that you gave your back internal injuries.”

…

My aunt told me that grandmother didn’t take motion sickness medicine and dry-heaved several times on the way. Grandmother crossly told her to stop talking. The two of them talked back and forth the whole way until we got into the hallway. As I took the keys out to open the door, I accidentally looked back and saw Grandmother with one hand on her knee and the other tightly gripping the handrail, struggling immensely to climb one step.

“Mom, is your old back injury flaring up?” My aunt dropped the things in her hand. “Don’t move, let me help you.”

“Go away, I’m just dizzy from the motion sickness.” To prove she was fine, she took two quick steps up, but immediately arched her back and began thumping it, wincing in pain.

“Just stand there a moment, I’ll help…”

Grandmother finally stopped being stubborn. It took nearly ten minutes to climb three flights of stairs.

My aunt introduced how to eat each dish they had brought while stuffing things into the fridge. Soon, several cabinets were full. She didn’t forget to complain quietly that Grandmother brought too much, though she didn’t dare let the old lady hear. Grandmother sat in the room for a while to rest. Soon she claimed she was better and her back didn’t hurt, clamoring to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

My aunt insisted on eating at a nearby restaurant, persuading her for a long time. Combined with the beautiful and tempting photos of the food on the phone, the stubborn little old lady finally yielded to her daughter-in-law’s enthusiasm. She washed her face, straightened her collar in the mirror, and agreed to go out with us.

“Nannan, order whatever you like. Do you want something to drink?” My aunt pushed the menu in front of me. “Order whatever you want. Mom, you see what you want too.”

“No class tomorrow, right?” My uncle asked with a grin. “How about the two of us have some of this?”

My aunt glanced in the direction he was pointing, her gaze sharp. “Drinking? You’re crazy. Nannan is still a child; just have juice.”

“A little bit doesn’t matter… she’s sixteen or seventeen, a young lady now. One sip is fine…” My uncle ducked his head guiltily. “I’ll drink it myself then. Look, it’s just one small cup, the alcohol content isn’t high. I’ll just have a couple of sips to satisfy the craving.”

“Drink up,” Grandmother suddenly spoke. “I’ll have some too.”

“Mom, you can’t drink,” my aunt hurried to persuade her. “You’ve been through a lot today, don’t drink or you’ll collapse.”

Grandmother gave a reluctant “Oh.” When all the dishes arrived, she looked longingly at my uncle’s glass again and again.

“When I was a girl, I often drank during the New Year. I even outdrank my father…”

…

“Your father used to like having a glass at dinner, but even then he couldn’t outdrink me during the holidays.”

…

“When your Grandpa Nanbang came over the year before last, the two of us drank quite a bit.”

…

“Alright Mom, stop talking. Here,” my uncle picked up the bottle and, with a shaky hand, poured her a shallow, small half-glass, less than a finger’s width. “We all know you’re happy to see Nannan today. Nannan is such a good child now, right?”

“Mom, just have the coconut milk with Nannan. Don’t join in. It’s not like you don’t know what they found at the hospital last time…”

My aunt’s eyes were fixed on the glass in front of Grandmother. She kept signaling her husband, but she didn’t want to spoil the mood. The old lady nagged her about this every day, and she had never seen her as happy as she was today.

“Sigh, Mom, drink slowly. Just have a taste, just for the sentiment,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve been taking my medicine on time lately. Just this one sip,” Grandmother’s eyes crinkled into a smile as she pulled me into her arms. “Ah Jun is right. I’m just happy today. I’m happy just seeing our Nannan.”

Before my aunt could respond, she picked up the glass and drained it in one gulp.

Three pairs of eyes stayed fixed on her. Only after confirming that the old lady was still energetic and eating heartily did we breathe a sigh of relief. Grandmother smacked her lips, not quite satisfied, and wanted another glass, making my uncle frantically hide the bottle.

“Grandma, you shouldn’t drink. Your face is all red. Are you okay?” I looked up and saw her face was flushed deep red.

“It’s fine. It’s too hot in this restaurant, I’m just flushed from the heat,” she put another rib in my bowl. “Come on Nannan, eat more. Studying takes a lot out of the brain.”

“Granny’s… most precious treasure is our Nannan. When you were just born, you were so small, sleeping in your swaddle—just a tiny thing, you could have been carried away in a pocket. The doctor said we had a little Red Fuji apple, that you’d definitely grow into a beautiful girl.”

“What’s wrong with being a girl? Who dares to look down on you? Our girl is more promising than those boys, smarter than the others. Once you get into a good university and find a good job, Granny will just be waiting to enjoy the good life.”

…

I nodded heavily and gave a small “Mhm.” I excused myself to go to the restroom.

However, when I came out, I noticed something was wrong—the once-cheerful restaurant had suddenly fallen into a commotion. Customers in the back rows were frequently turning around, and several stood up to lean in, not knowing what had happened. I looked in the direction they were staring and saw a large group of people gathered around our familiar table.

A bad premonition suddenly surged in my heart.

I struggled to push through the circle of onlookers.

“Mom, speak to me.”

“Can you hear me?”

“Mom, don’t sleep…”

Grandmother, who had just been holding me and talking about the future, was now lying in my aunt’s arms. Her face was ashen, her mouth half-open. She didn’t respond no matter how loud the people around her shouted.

“Little sister, don’t panic, we’ve already called the ambulance.” An older woman nearby stepped in to help. “Don’t move her, let her catch her breath.”

“Don’t panic, it’s fine, it’s fine,” she told the people around to disperse. “Listen to me, sister, call her quickly! Don’t let the old lady fall asleep. If she falls asleep, it’s over. She must not sleep!”

“Call her!”

“Mom—”

“Shout!”

“Mom—”

I saw every inch of the skin on that face stretched taut and shiny by tears.

“Yu Keyi, come here quickly!” Seeing me still standing there dazed, my aunt roared at me. “Shout!”

“Let the child call her. Old people cherish children.”

“That’s right, little girl, call her quickly! Your grandmother is fading.”

I wanted to walk over, but I found my whole body unable to move. I was pushed forward by the crowd, hitting the corner of the table with a thud. Hot soup splashed onto my newly bought floral dress.

“Grandma…” I tried to open my mouth, but no sound came out.

She was like a silent, rigid stone statue.

“Loudly! Shout louder!” My aunt screamed at me with a hoarse voice. “Your grandmother is dying, don’t you know that?”

I knew, but I couldn’t make any sound.

The medical staff arrived and quickly and calmly lifted Grandmother onto a stretcher. The red and blue flashing lights of the ambulance quickly faded into the distance. I stood by the roadside for a long time until all the onlookers dispersed and everything returned to normal.

I felt something hitting me.

It turned out to be raining.

I wiped my face; it was wet, and a little hot.