Forty-Three Degrees Part 4

Their thesis defense ended early, so she decluttered and informed her grandparents that she would be going home a few days early.

At first, Shi Yun thought that she would have to carry her suitcase back by herself this year, but unexpectedly, Shi Xu sent someone to pick her up.

The probability of being ordered around by her grandparents was much higher than the probability of him overflowing with fatherly love.

When people get older, they all want the blessings of their children and grandchildren. Although Shi Yun was a bit lazy and gluttonous after going home, her grandparents were still happy for her to stay at home.

Since the passing of their daughter-in-law, their son had not come back to live with them, and their granddaughter had been staying at school for most of the year and has not gone back once. Now that there seemed to be a burgeoning hint of reconciliation, the old couple, who had one foot in the grave, were also relieved.

During the days she stayed at home, Shi Yun’s ears were not idle. For example, she heard about who in the neighborhood was about her age, who was younger than her and was getting married, and so on.

Shi Yun was a little annoyed and escaped to the library in the afternoon.

She looked through all the poetry collections on sale in the library one by one, and bought some that had not been opened or had no books for preview.

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He wasn’t very clear.

She didn’t know where the unscrewed bottle cap went. The plastic bag with the books was hanging off her wrist, the straps digging in painfully. But, the corner of the books pierced through the plastic bag, and all the books in the bag fell out.

Shi Yun squat down, scrambling to pick up the books. The lidless water bottle shook, and water spilled out, some of it spilling onto Shi Yun.

Just as she was about to bend down, a pair of hands picked up the book from the ground before Shi Yun could.

He Sui saw her from a ways off and saw that she was talking on the phone with someone. The books in her bag had fallen to the ground.

He picked up the books, looked at the torn bag on her wrist, and saw that she was holding a phone in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Seeing she had her hands full, he kept the books in his hands.

He took a glance at the spines.

It was all poetry, and the reason was obvious.

After Shi Yun threw away the torn bag on her wrist, she put her phone in her pocket and used her free hand to take the books from He Sui.

 A draft startled the sparrows perched on the electric wires. That same draft carried the delicious smell of food all the way over to them.

He Sui’s hands were free anyway, so he helped her hold the books.

The two walked side by side in the alley, and He Sui asked, “Are you still looking for that poem?”

They passed by Chu Yue’s house. The red wedding characters on the windows and door had faded after being in the sun for over a month.

“Yes, but I haven’t found it yet.”

Shi Yun wanted to know what the lover she hadn’t even seen for the last time would say to her. She had also tried to find the answer from the books He Yun had read before, but He Sui helped her look through all the books in He Yun’s room and couldn’t find a single poetry collection.

She can only look for the needle in the haystack.

He Sui had advised her to give up countless times before. But if she could do as she advised, then things wouldn’t be like this now.

So he didn’t say it.

They walked across the stone bridge. Grandma was already looking out the door. She called Shi Yun but no one answered. They were all children she had watched grow up. When she saw He Sui walking over with Shi Yun, she smiled at him.

Shi Yun’s grandmother: “I heard from your grandmother that you were transferred to another position recently. Is it hard?”

He Sui greeted grandma, then handed the books in his hands to Shi Yun: “It’s not bad, but I’m still getting used to it.”

The pleasantries didn’t go on for too long before they parted.

White porridge and cold dishes are particularly popular for summer dinners, and her grandmother had her wash her hands before eating.

Shi Yun put the books back in her room and took out her phone from her pocket. She had turned on silent mode when she was in the library, so she hadn’t answered the call from her grandmother.

Thinking of Lin Fang’s call, Shi Yun sent a text message to Wei Congying.

She asked him what he was having for dinner.

“Nannan, come down to eat.”

Her grandmother was calling her from downstairs. After Shi Yun answered, she charged her phone and went downstairs.

Cooled porridge was as good as any delicacy in summer. Grandpa had a chess match tonight. He said it was against a destined enemy. The two of them had played dozens of games and but they were still at a tie.

The two of them had agreed to continue their battle tonight. Grandpa drank the porridge and left, and reminded grandma to put some water in the bowl so that he could wash the dishes after he came back.

Every time grandpa left to play chess, grandma always nagged him, asking what was the fun in playing chess.

But no matter how much she nagged, grandma never stopped grandpa from going.

Shi Yun was also very curious. Seeing her grandmother complain, she asked, “Then why did you let Grandpa go?”

“Your grandfather doesn’t have any other hobbies, he just likes playing chess.” Although sometimes he always forgets the time and doesn’t come back for dinner, and if you tell him to do  something in the evening, he won’t end up doing it because of playing chess—”

Grandma put a piece of grandmother food¹[1] In case, anyone needs a refresh, It’s a home cooked dish composed of potherb mustard, dried radish, dried cowpeas, cabbage strips, and so on into Shi Yun’s bowl with chopsticks: “But he only has this hobby. Last time he beat Old Li, he came back and told me over and over again how he won for a long time. Sometimes I think, if your grandfather kept me from watching the Huangmei Opera at night, I would be angry too.”

To sum up what her grandma said, the point was to accommodate each other.

After eating the porridge, Shi Yun wanted to clean up, but her grandmother took the dishes from her and told her not to bother: “You bought a lot of books, go upstairs and read. I’ll clean up here.”

The rice used to cook porridge in the evening was very good, so the porridge tasted good too. Shi Yun hadn’t had porridge in a while, so she drank half a bowl more and was very full.

She walked upstairs slightly hunched. Her phone was flickering on and off on the bedside table.

The call had just been hung up, it was from Wei Congying.

–

The next day, Shi Yun took the lunch that her grandmother had prepared for her and took a taxi to Wei Congying’s apartment.

The taxi was an outside vehicle so the community guard didn’t allow it to enter. After Shi Yun paid with her phone, she got out of the car carrying the bag with the lunch box.

It was hot and took a while to walk from the entrance of the community to the bottom of his apartment building.

She was kept out of the sun and walked under the tree shade as much as possible. In the hot afternoon, even the birds were silent. The clouds in the sky were very low, and there was no wind.

Shi Yun didn’t have the access card to the apartment, so she pressed the button on the unit door and dialed Wei Congying’s house number.

He opened the door for her upstairs, and once she entered the apartment building, Shi Yun felt like she was alive again. The elevator was going up, and it would not go down until it reached the eleventh floor.

The elevator did not stop when going down. After the display screen showed that the elevator had reached the first floor, the elevator door slowly opened.

He was rarely seen without black.

A white short-sleeved shirt, black beach shorts, and a pair of black slippers.

Wei Congying saw the people outside, their face covered in sweat, their exposed skin tanned red.

He didn’t leave the elevator, but held out his hand to keep the elevator door from closing and waited for Shi Yun to come in: “Why didn’t you ask me to pick you up?”

“It’s just a few hundred meters from the community to the apartment building, forget it.” Shi Yun said, handing him the bag.

Wei Congying took the bag, glanced at the food storage container inside, raised his arm and hugged her: “I was wondering why you didn’t ask me to pick you up at your house, you even took a taxi here yourself.”

“It’s too hot.”

It was too hot, and Shi Yun didn’t want to get too close to him. The air conditioner was on in the elevator, so she tilted her head back and let her cheek face the air outlet.

Wei Congying pressed the floor number for the eleventh floor: “So, why didn’t you ask me to pick you up when it was so hot?”

Shi Yun guessed that he was in a bad mood. Lin Fang’s phone call yesterday sounded suspicious, so she didn’t think of asking him to pick her up: “Then you can be responsible for taking me back later.”

Wei Congying smiled and said, “You’re not staying overnight?”

---

Notes:

[1] In case, anyone needs a refresh, It’s a home cooked dish composed of potherb mustard, dried radish, dried cowpeas, cabbage strips, and so on.