Everyone's been reborn, so who would bother finding a wife on their own?

Chapter 99 Farewell

Happy times always seem to fly by.

The afternoon sun slanted in through the window at four o'clock, turning the floor of the main room a warm yellow.

Grandma sat in a chair with her feet on a low stool, holding a plastic bag filled with roasted peanuts, which she was pouring into another bag.

There were already five or six bags piled up on the table, bulging and lined up in a row.

Song Huan stood at the door, looking at the pile of things, feeling a bit of a headache.

"Grandma, we can't carry that many."

Grandma didn't even look up. "I can carry it, it's not heavy."

She stuffed the packed peanuts into a cloth bag and then went to get the dried sweet potatoes from the table.

The dried sweet potatoes were sun-dried in the autumn, cut into strips, and coated with a layer of white frost. They were so sweet they were almost cloying.

She picked out a few good ones, stacked them neatly, wrapped them in oil paper, and stuffed them into another bag.

"This was a gift from your third aunt's family for the Chinese New Year. They haven't been able to bear eating it. Take it home and have some if you get hungry while doing your homework tonight."

Song Huan opened her mouth, as if to say something, but seeing her grandmother's serious expression, she swallowed her words back.

Xiao Yunqing stood to the side, already carrying two bags in her hands and holding a jar in her arms.

The jar contained pickled radish slices, and the lid was screwed on tightly. She was afraid of dropping it, so she held the bottom with both hands, her posture quite awkward.

"Grandma, that's enough, that's enough," she whispered, her voice muffled by the jar.

Grandma ignored her and took out a bag of red dates from the cupboard, stuffing it into her coat pocket.

The pocket bulged out, as if it were hiding two little hamsters.

Xiao Yunqing looked down at her clothes, then turned to look at Song Huan, unsure of what to do.

The meaning in his eyes was very clear.

What should we do? Say something!

Song Huan leaned against the door frame, watching the old lady's busy figure.

His back was bent, his hair was completely white, and his fingers were deformed from years of working, but he was very quick and efficient, packing, sealing, and stacking the bags in one go.

He knew how stubborn this little old lady was.

If you don't accept it, she can chase you all the way to the village entrance.

If you don't give her enough, she'll nag about it all the way until the New Year.

Last time Song Wentao came back, he didn't take the dried vegetables she had dried when he left, and he was scolded on the phone for half an hour.

She said things like, "Nothing bought in the city tastes as good as something you dry yourself," and "You just think I'm too old to clean properly."

Song Wentao stammered on the phone for half an hour before finally saying, "Mom, I was wrong. I'll definitely take it next time." Only then did the old lady calm down.

Song Huan sighed, "Take it."

Xiao Yunqing glanced at him, nodded, and lifted the jar in her arms.

Grandma's face lit up with a smile when she heard this.

She then rummaged through the cabinet and pulled out two more bags, one containing dried longan and the other containing dried persimmons, stuffing them all into Xiao Yunqing's arms.

"Yunqing, soak these dried longans in water and drink the water; it will replenish your qi and blood. You can eat the persimmon cakes on the way, or have a snack if you get hungry."

Xiao Yunqing's arms were already too full to hold any more; the persimmons slipped out of the bag, and she quickly caught them with her chin, looking quite disheveled.

Song Huan walked over and took half of what was in her arms.

The jar was placed on the table, the bag was retied, the dried longan was stuffed into the cloth bag, and the dried persimmons were put into another bag.

They worked quickly and figured it out in no time.

Xiao Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief and shook her aching hands.

Grandpa came out of the house, clutching two red envelopes in his hands.

It was wrapped in red paper, bulging, and looked like it was stuffed with a lot of money.

Song Huan's eyelids twitched.

He knows this process all too well.

First, they stuff food into your mouth, then they stuff red envelopes into your mouth, and after that, they take you to the village entrance. When they take you to the village entrance, they say, "Come earlier next time." After saying that, they stand at the intersection and watch you walk away until you can no longer see them before they go back.

He's been through this process since he was a child, and it's always been unpleasant for him.

Before Grandpa could speak, Song Huan grabbed Xiao Yunqing's wrist.

"run!"

Before Xiao Yunqing could react, she was dragged outside.

She staggered, the bag in her arms wobbled, and she quickly tucked it under her arm.

"Grandpa and Grandma, we'll come again next time!" Song Huan said without turning her head, walking quickly.

Xiao Yunqing was being dragged along by him, and she glanced back.

Grandma stood at the door, still clutching the two red envelopes in her hand. She paused for a moment, then smiled.

Grandpa stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder, and he smiled too.

The two stood side by side, one tall and one short, one thin and one even thinner. The main room behind them was dark, and the light from the doorway cast two silhouettes of them.

"Goodbye, Grandpa and Grandma!" Xiao Yunqing called out, but her voice was carried away by the wind.

On the village road, the two people were panting heavily as they ran.

Song Huan was in front, and Xiao Yunqing was behind, swinging the bag in their hands back and forth, making a rustling sound as the peanuts inside swished.

After running half a block, Song Huan stopped.

Xiao Yunqing couldn't stop in time and bumped into his back, causing the contents of the bag to rustle loudly again.

"Why are you running?" she gasped, her face flushed red.

Song Huan looked back.

The big banyan tree at the village entrance blocked the view, making it impossible to see the courtyard gate.

He switched the bag in his hand. "If we don't run around, are we just waiting to get a red envelope? If we get the red envelope, we have to talk for ages, and after that, we have to see us off to the village entrance. Once we're off, we have to watch us get on the bus, and then we have to stand by the roadside and wave. We can't even leave until it gets dark."

Xiao Yunqing thought about it and felt that what he said made sense.

But something still felt off.

She glanced back at the direction of the village entrance, though she couldn't see anything.

"But won't Grandpa and Grandma be sad?"

Song Huan did not answer.

Of course he knew he would be sad.

But he also knew that if you actually accepted the red envelope, the old lady would be happy all day, and then after you left, she would save the money and give it to you again when you came back next time.

The cycle repeats itself year after year.

He didn't want his grandmother to spend money on him.

That money was earned by her and her grandfather from digging up the land piece by piece and selling the grain sack by sack. They saved it up for most of their lives, reluctant to spend money on themselves or on their clothes, and finally gave it all to their grandchildren.

He had experienced something like this in his previous life.

"Let's go, the car is coming." He didn't answer and turned to walk out of the village.

Xiao Yunqing followed and walked beside him.

After walking for a while, she whispered, "Grandma gave me so many things."

"Um."

"Has she been saving it for a long time? Is she even willing to eat it herself?"

Song Huan glanced at her.

She walked with her head down, holding the bag of dried persimmons in her arms, her fingers rubbing against the opening of the bag.

"Um."

Xiao Yunqing did not speak again.

The two walked to the main road at the entrance of the village and waited for a while. The bus turned out from the bend in the distance, its body covered with a layer of dust, and the windshield reflected the light.

The car stopped, and the door opened.

The driver glanced at them. "Going into town?"

"Okay." Song Huan carried her things into the car and found a seat by the window.

Xiao Yunqing sat down next to him and placed the bag on her lap.

The can was placed under the seat and blocked by my foot, in case the car wobbled and rolled out.

The bus started moving.

The village outside the window slowly receded into the distance, first the big banyan tree, then the courtyard wall of Aunt Liu's house, and then the stone at the entrance of the village.

The stone tablet is very old, and the inscription is blurred. When Song Huan was a child, he rode on it and was pulled down by his grandfather by the ear.

If you drive any further out, the village will disappear from view.

Outside the window, fields turned into mountains, and mountains turned into trees.

The trees along the roadside receded one by one, their leaves turned over by the wind, revealing their grayish-white undersides.