Zhang Yuanjun's room is not big, and the furnishings are simple: a bookshelf with a few books he has read since he was a child; a semi-old desk and a chair, which were replaced by his parents a long time ago. The brother and sister had done their homework on this table when they were young; a wardrobe to store his clothes; and a half-old but very comfortable bed that fully adapted to Zhang Yuanjun's body.
Lying on the bed where he had slept since his nap, Zhang Yuanjun felt particularly relaxed.
I don't know why, but he goes to bed almost two hours earlier at home than in the capital.
Leaning on the bedside, Zhang Yuanjun smelled the familiar smell in the air, feeling laziness and comfort in his bones.
He fell asleep before reading two pages of the book on his lap.
Early the next morning, Zhang Yuanjun was awakened by the sound of cicadas and birds outside the window.
The sunlight filtering through the cracks in the curtains shone on Zhang Yuanjun's feet at the end of the bed.
Zhang Yuanjun had just woken up and wanted to stay in bed for a while when his mother knocked on the door: "Don't sleep, get up and eat."
"I'm going to sleep a little longer and won't eat."
"Still sleeping. It's nine o'clock. After dinner, I'll go see your grandma and the others."
"Oh, get up now." Zhang Yuanjun got up, touched his phone and looked at it, it was 8:05.
Breakfast is very simple, sweet potato porridge with some home-made fermented bean curd.
While Zhang Yuanjun was eating, his mother said to him: "This bottle of wine is for your grandma and your uncle; this cigarette is for your grandpa. Remember to take it when you leave."
"Um."
Zhang Yuanjun finished two bowls of porridge and planned to go out.
"Who can I give this to?" Mom poured the remaining porridge in the pot into his bowl.
"Just feed me, I will get fat sooner or later."
"You're not old enough to gain weight yet, so you can't eat this much." Mother Zhang emptied the pot, "Let's eat at your uncle's house for lunch."
"I guess they won't let me leave." Zhang Yuanjun continued to eat, "After eating at my uncle's house, I will definitely eat at my grandpa's house in the evening."
"Are you tired of eating?" Mother Zhang said with a smile, "How many times do you go back throughout the year? When we first went on vacation, they asked the third child why he didn't come back."
Zhang Yuanjun actually felt a little guilty that the old man cared about him so much.
"There is one more thing I forgot to tell you. Your grandpa will celebrate his 70th birthday in the winter. You will have to come back to me no matter how busy you are then."
"Isn't grandpa only 69? How about 70?"
Zhang’s mother patted him: “Everything that was done that year was done a year in advance.”
"Oh, are boss, second and others coming back?"
"Even if the knife falls from the sky, I have to come back." Zhang's mother said.
Zhang Yuanjun was drinking porridge and realized something: "You and my dad will be 50 next year, what are you two going to do?"
Mother Zhang smiled: "We didn't want to do it at first, but your cousins said we should do something about it."
"We will definitely do it." Zhang Yuanjun said, "Our family will have three happy birthdays next year. Grandpa turns 70 and you and my dad turn 50. We must do it.
"Now that I have filmed a movie, I have some money saved in my hand. When the time comes, I will give you and my dad a complete set of gold jewelry and make them jealous to death." The more Zhang Yuanjun said, the more serious he became.
"I don't want anything else. If you ask the boss to bring a girlfriend back next year, your dad and I will laugh to death. You are twenty-four or five years old, and you won't go on blind dates or fall in love. Once the boss takes the lead, you and the second child will not even talk about it. .”
"Didn't the boss have a relationship with one before? You don't like her." Two years ago, the boss had a Chinese girlfriend abroad and sent her photos home, but my mother didn't like her.
"Well, he looks good, but he's a little short."
Zhang Yuanjun has also seen the photo of that girl. She is very good-looking. She is indeed a little short. She is over 1.6 meters tall. She looks like a skinny chicken standing in front of the 187cm boss.
Mother Zhang is good at everything, except that she likes tall and beautiful young people.
The most important thing is that the aesthetics of the three children all follow their mother's, and the three brothers and sisters are all handsome.
"The boss is in the United States, can you still arrange a blind date for him?" Zhang Yuanjun asked again.
"As I said last time, the daughter of the deputy secretary-general of our city is also studying in the United States. She is half a year older than the boss. I have met that girl. She is beautiful. Her father also likes the boss and said that he would arrange for two younger ones. We met once, your boss is so nice. After we met once and had a meal, he ignored everyone. There is nothing we can do about him." The boss's marriage has been the most important and troublesome issue for the Zhang family in recent years.
"The boss has had his own opinions since he was a child. He must have his own plans. If you keep pushing him, he will hide in the United States and never come back. What can you do to him." Zhang Yuanjun knew his boss.
After dinner, Zhang Yuanjun went out for a couple of walks to eat, and then drove to his hometown in the countryside.
My parents live in the same hometown and village, my grandparents live on the slope, and my grandparents live on the lower slope.
Grandpa has passed away, and grandma is not used to living in the city, so she lives with her uncle in her hometown.
My grandparents are still here, living with my uncle.
The three old men all refused to go to the city. The price they paid for this was that they were no longer allowed to farm. They could only move a few vegetables from their own gardens every year.
"My son (uncle-in-law) is a boss in the city, and my parents are exhausted in the countryside. It is a disgrace to us as children."
Zhang Yuanjun went to see his grandma first. As soon as the car drove uphill, he saw three or five people sitting under the tree in front of his house from a distance.
It seems that a few villagers were playing cards under the trees, coveting the coolness of the summer morning.
As the car approached, someone recognized the Zhang family's car.
"Who's coming?"
Grandma Zhang had very good eyesight. As soon as she looked at the car, she knew that her grandson was back. She smiled and said, "My grandson is back."
"The one at the second brother's house?"
"Yes." Grandma smiled.
Zhang Yuanjun also parked his car under the tree, got down, called his grandma, and greeted everyone.
"What is the second child's family?"
"The third."
"The third child is already so old! Your family has raised a good young boy, just like Wu Shu." Someone praised.
"When did you come back?" Grandma asked.
"Arrived yesterday." Zhang Yuanjun said.
Grandma looked at him holding the wine and scolded him: "Your uncle has such a big mouth that he can't drink. Why give him such a good wine? It's a waste of things."
Zhang Yuanjun smiled and said: "My uncle doesn't smoke, so he always drinks a bottle of wine. Where is my uncle?"
Zhang Yuanjun said, carrying the wine into the room and placing it on the table.
"It's Yuanjun who's back, right?" The uncle's voice sounded at the back door.
Zhang Yuanjun walked to the back door and saw his uncle and aunt plucking chicken feathers in the basin.
The aunt got up, wiped her hands, and asked him to come in and sit down.
"Why come back so late this year?"
"Something happened at school, I just came back yesterday. You are busy with your work, I will do it myself." Zhang Yuanjun took the cup and poured water by himself.
After two sips, Zhang Yuanjun said he was going to his grandpa's house on the slope.
"Come back for lunch, don't eat at your grandpa's house." The uncle ordered.
Zhang Yuanjun held the cigarette for his uncle and said with a smile: "I know."
Zhang Yuanjun walked slowly down.
The tribesmen playing cards under the tree looked at Zhang Yuanjun’s retreating figure and said to Grandma Zhang:
"You are blessed. My second brother is so rich, and all my grandchildren are filial and sensible."
"I don't expect them to do anything. I will be satisfied if I can come back to see him a few more times and stay for a few more days." But when grandma looked at Zhang Yuanjun's tall back, she couldn't hide her pride and complacency.
Before Zhang Yuanjun entered his grandfather's house, he saw a yellow dog with its tail cut off and barking at him.
"Damn it, what's your name!" Grandma yelled loudly from inside the house, and then a rickety figure appeared at the door, holding a dog-beating stick in his hand.
The old man saw his grandson standing outside the door and said in surprise: "I also said you would arrive late."
"Just came from my grandma's place." Zhang Yuanjun came in holding a cigarette, "Why doesn't that dog have a tail?"
"I always kill other people's chickens. Eat them at home for lunch, don't go to your milk place."
Zhang Yuanjun smiled and said: "My uncle killed all the chickens."
But grandma said: "I chopped up the duck last night and raised it for half a year."
While the grandfather and grandson were talking, grandpa came in wearing a straw hat and carrying a basket.
"Yuan Jun is here." The old man said happily and handed the basket over. "Try the freshly beaten dates and peaches."
There is a jujube tree and a peach tree planted in my grandfather’s vegetable garden. They are both more than ten years old and bear fruit every year.
Zhang Yuanjun picked a soft peach and ate it, with cool and full juice and plump and tender flesh.
"It's delicious. I'll take a basket back later." Grandpa said.
Eating at noon became a big problem, and the elderly on both sides asked Zhang Yuanjun to go back to his home to eat.
"My chicken is already in the pot." Grandma went to her in-laws' house to ask Zhang Yuanjun.
"As many meals as I eat at your house throughout the year, I will eat them at my place this year." Grandpa just wouldn't let him.
"I'll eat at your house when my second brother comes back."
As a junior, Zhang Yuanjun is not easy to talk to. Finally, the aunt came down, and she and her grandma forced Zhang Yuanjun to go home.
Zhang Yuanjun didn't offend anyone. He ate with his uncle and grandma at noon and went back to his grandpa's house for dinner in the evening.
Zhang Yuanjun stayed in the village for a whole day. At around six o'clock in the afternoon, before it was still dark, he drove home.
"Drive slowly." Grandpa ordered.
