“It’s time to go to my house.”
When Li Shenglan approached, Su Tang had already let go of Li Xingchuan’s arm.
He subconsciously took half a step forward, nervously blocking the front of Li Xingchuan, his voice tiny: “Uncle, Brother hit people because of me.”
“It was them who were bad kids first! That’s why Brother…”
Su Tang had seen the way Li Shenglan grew angry when Li Xingchuan acted out, and fearing that Brother would be punished again, he hurriedly tried to explain for him. Before he could finish his sentence, Li Xingchuan reached out and gently covered his mouth.
Li Xingchuan said in a low voice: “Don’t be afraid of him.”
He loosened his hand, looked up and glanced at Li Shenglan, his tone carrying a certain matter-of-course indifference: “Anyway, he can’t beat me to death.”
Su Tang’s round eyes opened even wider.
Not only was he not comforted by these words, but a layer of moisture rapidly veiled those jet-black, glass-bead-like pupils, on the verge of tears.
Standing not far away, Grandpa Su heard this exchange and his heart sank.
He thought to himself: The “benefits” given by the big boss were indeed not taken for nothing.
What kind of words were these that he had heard by chance!
What kind of family atmosphere must this be?
He couldn’t help but think of that overtime period before, when he was cleaning up the mess of the Li family villa. A chill ran through his heart: Could it be that in this Li family, there really isn’t a single normal person?
When leaving, Li Shenglan took Li Xingchuan away.
Li Xingchuan originally stood his ground, his face full of stubbornness, until Dr. Chen reminded him in a low voice from the side: If Su Tang couldn’t rest well, he might have to endure a few more injections.
Only then did Li Xingchuan purse his lips tight and follow Dr. Chen away without a word.
After the group of people left, Grandpa Su let out a long sigh of relief.
He touched the soft hair on top of Su Tang’s head, picked him up, and returned to the patient room.
Walking along, he thought that this small western-style house was probably something they had no fortune to enjoy.
Even if he left the estate and took Su Tang to pick up scraps, he couldn’t send Su Tang into a fire pit.
He planned to first coax Su Tang to sleep, then return all the gifts Mr. Li had sent overnight, without missing a single item. Having lived as an honest man his whole life, he knew the principle that “eating from others’ mouths makes you soft, and taking from others’ hands makes you short.”
He had never owed anyone anything, much less a family like this, which he couldn’t afford to owe.
By the way… sigh, by the way, he should also resign from this good job he just got and hadn’t even warmed up yet. Since he had already offended the big boss, was there still room for the two of them, grandfather and grandson, here?
But upon returning to the patient room, Grandpa Su was dumbfounded.
“Tangtang, these boxes in the corner… who opened them?”
“Grandpa, I opened them!”
“Why did you open them? You just opened them, you didn’t damage the things inside, did you?”
“Does eating them count as ‘damaging’ them?” Su Tang asked in a nervous, small voice.
It turned out that when Su Tang woke up, he saw Brother sitting by the bedside, and Dr. Chen was talking to Brother in a low voice. He hurriedly climbed up to greet Dr. Chen.
Dr. Chen smiled and told him to lie down properly and not be restrained, but he pointed to the pile of beautifully packaged gift boxes by the wall and asked jokingly: “Can Uncle taste that?”
“What is that?”
“It’s a gift your Uncle Li brought you. Uncle Chen wouldn’t dare open it.”
“Even Uncle Chen wouldn’t dare open it, then… then can I open it?” Su Tang asked nervously.
The brother on the side immediately said: “What are you afraid of?”
“Forget about the gifts he brought.”
“Even if it’s his house, you can tear it down if you want to.”
After saying this, he got up and walked a few steps to the corner. Without even needing tools, just hearing a few “click-clack” muffled sounds, several gift boxes were torn open by him with his bare hands. He picked out the edible ones, finished them in two or three swipes, used his fingers to pry open the packaging with a few “pop-pop” sounds, and handed them to Su Tang: “Eat.”
Su Tang had just recovered from the fever, and his mouth tasted bitter. He shook his head and didn’t want any after eating one piece of some unknown pastry.
Li Xingchuan didn’t touch anything after opening them.
Instead, Dr. Chen ate nearly half a box in one breath with a “crunch-crunch.”
Looking at the scattered packaging and fallen snacks all over the floor, Grandpa Su’s vision suddenly went dark when he identified one of the boxes—it was a limited edition of a top brand that was advertised every day on TV, with a retail price marked at 15,000 per box. He just felt like the sky was collapsing.
After this experience, Su Tang’s lunch herbal medicine was also delayed.
When Su Tang wasn’t feeling well, he felt very sleepy and fell asleep quickly.
He drank a bit of thin porridge in the evening and drifted off in a daze.
Grandpa Su, however, couldn’t close his eyes at all.
He put on his old cotton-padded jacket and walked out of the room, squatting under the eaves, and lit a pipe of dry tobacco.
The gifts couldn’t be returned.
Grandpa Su had lived an honest and simple life all his life. In his simple understanding, a debt owed must eventually be paid. But with several “15,000s,” what could he use to pay them back? Even if it were just one, he couldn’t afford it at all.
He himself was full of illnesses and couldn’t live without medicine all year round. Added to the grandson who needed medicine every day, life was even more stretched.
Besides this, he also had to brace himself to send a sum of money to his son every month.
——That was the “start-up capital” his son demanded righteously. It sounded like the care of a filial son and loving father, but in reality, it was just the ruthless extortion of his son.
This matter had to go back to three years ago.
At that time, his son and daughter-in-law really couldn’t bear Su Tang’s coughing and wheezing day and night. They were busy struggling for a living and were powerless to take care of a child who was sick day and night. They said they were going to be driven crazy by this coughing, couldn’t sleep peacefully at night, and were on the verge of a mental breakdown.
The son had already found a buyer and insisted on sending the child away, planning to have a healthy one. The daughter-in-law couldn’t bear it, and crying, sent the child to him.
Who knew that the son would be unrelenting, coming to the door to demand the child, saying that the buyer had already paid, and if the child wasn’t sent, did he expect him to refund the money?
Grandpa Su, a man who had lived his whole life honestly and reliably, also shed tears that day.
He held his grandson tightly and said to his son: “You want money, right? I’ll give you the money, but the child cannot be sent away. From now on, don’t you worry about it; I will raise him.”
This “debt,” he had been paying for three years and still hadn’t paid off to this day.
With a total monthly income of about 5,000 yuan, 3,000 yuan had to be deducted just for his son. By the end of the month, there was basically nothing left. For so many years, he hadn’t managed to save up even 10,000 yuan in his hands.
He took a heavy puff of tobacco, the pungent mist choking into his lungs.
He raised his hand and wiped the corner of his eye, thinking that his life had been lived so cowardly.
At his age, he had actually ended up in this state.
If he gritted his teeth and resigned from his job now, it would be refreshing. But in the middle of winter, did he really have to take his weak and sickly grandson to sleep in the open and pick up scraps? What if the child got cold? What if he got sick? Where would next month’s medicine money come from?
Perhaps he should just temporarily agree to move.
Agree to let his “Tangtang,” whom he held in the palm of his hand, go be a little study companion for the “Crown Prince.”
At worst, he would put in more effort and watch his grandson more closely!
He also had to discuss with his son to delay the money payments for two months.
He had to save up some money in his hands.
Once he saved enough, he would leave the estate and rent a small room, so that at least Su Tang would have a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
Grandpa Su was sleepless all night.
Early the next morning, wearing a pair of dark circles under his eyes, he gently stroked Su Tang’s warm little face, hidden tears in his eyes, and asked with a hoarse voice: “Tangtang, do you want to live in a big house?”
Su Tang stared at him with watery eyes for a while, quickly ran to the cabinet and took out a torn picture book, familiarly opened a page, and asked with sparkling eyes: “Is it the little mushroom house built by Mr. Rabbit?”
Grandpa Su shook his head, looking as if he were happy as he cupped Su Tang’s face: “It’s a small western-style house.”
“It’s the kind of three-story high one, with a big balcony where you can plant flowers.”
“Wow!”
Su Tang stood up excitedly, holding the picture book in his hands: “Then I want to take Brother to see our big balcony!”
Grandpa Su had a complicated look in his eyes as he held down the exuberant child: “Tangtang, before moving there, you must remember what Grandpa is about to say.”
Su Tang was happily pacing back and forth beside the bed like a happy little bird, nodding repeatedly: “I’ll remember, I’ll remember!”
Grandpa Su lowered his voice and told him earnestly, word by word:
“Do not have any arguments with Li Xingchuan.”
“If he asks you to do something you don’t want to do, don’t refuse right away; agree with your mouth first, then find an opportunity to run home quickly and lock the door. Tell Grandpa when Grandpa returns.”
“If he does something that makes you unhappy, don’t show it on the spot; pretend you don’t care. Tell Grandpa when you get home. You must remember: absolutely do not clash with him to his face, let alone talk back or argue. Do you remember?”
“I remember!” Su Tang hugged his grandfather’s arm and replied in a soft voice.
Three days later, Grandpa Su took Su Tang and moved into that small western-style house.
Su Tang was like an excited little bird, running up and down the stairs several times, looking here and touching there. Finally, he buried his hot little face in his grandfather’s arms, his little hands clutching tightly onto the clothes behind his grandfather’s back, and said softly like talking in a dream: “So imposing…”
“It’s exactly the same as on TV!”
“Grandpa, does your new job pay a lot? Can we live in a house like this just after starting work? Are we going to be able to buy whatever we want from now on?”
Grandpa Su gently stroked his grandson’s cheek, unable to bear to pierce the child’s naive fantasy: “Yes, child, yes.”
Anyway, what the child could think of was nothing more than things to eat and play with, which weren’t too hard to satisfy.
Su Tang looked up at his grandfather, then lowered his head, and asked in a small, shy voice: “Then… can we also buy time for Mom and Dad?”
“They last came to see me during the New Year last year…”
“It’s almost New Year again this year. Can we ask them to come back to see me early?”
In Su Tang’s little cognition, Mom and Dad would come back to see him every year during the New Year. Sometimes they stayed for just one day, arriving and leaving on the same day; sometimes they would lay out a mat on the floor and stay for the night, but the next morning they would always leave in a hurry, not even having time to eat breakfast.
Su Tang had once asked Grandpa, why can’t Mom and Dad spend more time with them?
Grandpa said Mom and Dad were earning big money in a place very far away, and time was very precious. Once they earned enough money, they could be like other people’s moms and dads and live at home with him every day!
Grandpa Su scraped the tip of Su Tang’s nose, his voice somewhat astringent: “Should Grandpa try to buy some?”
On the first day of moving into the new home, Grandpa Su specially asked for leave to accompany Su Tang to familiarize himself with the house and the surrounding environment, then hurried off to work.
During these days, Li Xingchuan often came to look for Su Tang.
That day after he was taken back by Li Shenglan, he had originally tensed his whole body in preparation for “battle,” but he didn’t expect his father not to punish him, only telling him blandly that Su Tang’s family situation was special, and that he should take more care of them in the future.
Li Xingchuan only felt like he had seen a ghost.
He didn’t take these words to heart at all.
Taking care of the little person he wanted to raise was his own business; did it need others to remind him?
On the contrary, it was his father, who had let his subordinates give the cold shoulder to an employee with a special family background for so long, and only now remembered to “take care of them,” which seemed a bit laughable.
What took you so long!
This day, Li Xingchuan went to the western-style house to look for Su Tang again. Su Tang had already spread out paper and pen in his own small study, obediently waiting for Li Xingchuan to teach him characters.
Li Xingchuan, however, pulled Su Tang’s hand: “It’s time to go to my house.”
“Today is the day the teacher comes over to teach.”
“Come on, I’ll take you to attend a real classroom.”