CME Chapter 13: Pork Chow Mein

 

Translated by Rara’s last braincell of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Old man Yang only said he had to go for a few days, but not exactly for how many days. Lin ShuYi thought that since he went to his son’s place, it would probably take more than several days. But who would have imagined, on the afternoon of the third day, Lin ShuYi saw old man Yang came back.

“Grandpa.” Lin ShuYi put down the stuff on his hand and came forward. Shen Fu was looking elsewhere at the time, he only turned around when he heard Lin ShuYi. He saw old man Yang was standing at the door with his belongings, so he stood up and also went to him.

Old man Yang gave them a smile, but Lin ShuYi immediately noticed something was wrong, “Grandpa, what’s wrong?”

Old man Yang was lost in thought for a bit before waving his hand. “Nothing. Let’s go in first.”

Lin ShuYi obediently walked in, but old man Yang had no intention of telling them anything. Shen Fu also noticed that old man Yang was hiding something from them and didn’t want to talk about it.

Seeing the distressed expression on old man Yang’s face, Lin ShuYi wanted to asked him again, but when Shen Fu patted his shoulder, Lin ShuYi finally realized, if old man Yang didn’t want to tell them, then he shouldn’t ask too much. So he swallowed back the sentence he was about to say and turned around.

“Grandpa, have you eaten?” Lin ShuYi tried to change the topic. It was almost late in the night, old man Yang must have eaten already. Unexpectedly, old man Yang shook his head and grinned at Lin ShuYi, “I was in a hurry at noon so I didn’t eat.”

Lin ShuYi immediately put on the apron, “Grandpa, what do you want to eat? I’ll make it for you.”

“No need to trouble yourself, I’m fine with some random dishes.”

Hearing that, Lin ShuYi walked to the back kitchen. He had run out of sauces for today and there wasn’t even a strand of thin noodles left. But there were still some leftover sliced noodles.

Finely cut some carrots, green peppers and lean pork. Stir fried them thoroughly before putting in the boiled noodles. Added one spoon of oyster sauce and then stir fried them evenly. It was a simple yet fragrant dish.

Lin ShuYi kept looking outside while cooking. The smile still remained on old man Yang’s face as if he had nothing in his mind. Lin ShuYi had never seen this appearance of his until today, didn’t he go to see his son and grandson? Why did he come back looking like this? It must have something to do with the son of his whom Lin ShuYi had never seen before.

When Lin ShuYi walked out with the pork chow mein, he heard Shen Fu said, “Grandpa, no matter what happens, isn’t there still me and Lin ShuYi?”

Lin ShuYi was taken aback, but then the corner of his mouth raised up. “That’s right, grandpa, whatever happened, don’t think too much about it.” Lin ShuYi said with a smile and put down the pork chow mein in front of old man Yang.

Old man Yang felt wet in the corner of his eyes, he put his hand on Lin ShuYi’s hand, “I understand, Xiao Yi is a good child.” It wasn’t the first time he sighed in his heart and wished if only Lin ShuYi was his grandson.

Old man Yang seemed really tired and went home to sleep right after. His house wasn’t far since it was at the back of this restaurant. Lin ShuYi was cleaning up the dishes while Shen Fu sat on the chair outside and looked at him with his hand supporting his head.

When Lin ShuYi finished cleaning, he saw Shen Fu’s strange look, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Fu shook his head. “Nothing, have you finished? If so, let’s go back.”

The two of them walked together back home after closed the door. Halfway through, Lin ShuYi suddenly stopped his feet, Shen Fu looked back at him. “Hmm?”

“We should water the vegetables today.” Although the vegetables in the garden weren’t that weak but they must be watered regularly to grow strong. It seemed that old man Yang had been tending them in his stead ever since Shen Fu appeared, Lin ShuYi hadn’t visited the garden for a long time.

Shen Fu followed Lin ShuYi to the vegetable garden.

Lin ShuYi handed him the bucket in the garden, “Get the water over there.”

Shen Fu obediently took the bucket and went to fill up the bucket with water. Lin ShuYi tilted his head, seemed like Shen Fu didn’t remember this place. “Shen Fu, do you have any impression of this place?”

Shen Fu wondered, “What?”

Lin ShuYi pointed to his feet. “It was right here where I dragged you back, you don’t remember?”

Shen Fu’s face darkened, he couldn’t imagine how he was like that night. Everything was so fuzzy that day, he got in some random car and left and didn’t even have a slightest impression where he got off. How could he remember where he fell in the end? No wonder his clothes were so dirty. Shen Fu looked up at Lin ShuYi, who seemed to wait for him to say something. Shen Fu grinned, “No impression, I was barely conscious that day.”

Lin ShuYi shrugged. If Shen Fu didn’t want to talk, then that’s fine, after all, it wasn’t like Shen Fu would stay here for the rest of his life, it didn’t matter if he didn’t want to speak about it.

After several days, old man Yang’s spirit had slowly turned better, but everytime someone mentioned his son, old man Yang’s face would turn a bit sour. But there were still some people who couldn’t help mentioning it.

“Old man Yang, did you go to see your son the other day?” This fifty-sixty somewhat year old woman was old man Yang’s neighbor who always bring her granddaughter here to eat noodles. She was the type to never think before speaking and only come to a realization afterward. Even though she had no bad intentions, she would always accidentally touch other’s sore spots.

Lin ShuYi looked at old man Yang, his face was just like normal except he didn’t smile, “Yeah.”

“Decent house, stable job, your son’s family must be having a pretty good life in the city. Let me tell you, even though your son is a man with bright future, he still has one flaw and that is he is too obedient toward his wife. By the way, why didn’t you stay for two more days? Why are you back so early?”

Old man Yang opened his mouth and said, “There isn’t nothing interesting there, everywhere are high-rise buildings and cars. I can’t get used to it, so I came back.”

The woman couldn’t see the sadness on his face, so she continued, “True true, I gotta say, there’s nothing good in the city. Everything’s expensive, and the pollution is terrible…”

Lin ShuYi listened with a frown, and in the end it was Shen Fu who went up and sat opposite the woman. “Aunty, did Xiao Wan buy this dress for you?”

Xiao Wan was the granddaughter of this woman, and she was the one Lin ShuYi bumped into outside the breakfast shop last time. After that, she often came to the shop and before long, she became familiar with Lin ShuYi and Shen Fu. Last time when she bought this dress for her grandmother, she also visited the restaurant to eat. That was why Shen Fu knew that this dress was bought by Xiao Wan.

The woman had two favorites, gossip and her granddaughter. Since Shen Fu’s mouth was as sweet and slick as honey, the woman kept on talking and talking until she put old man Yang’s affair behind her.

After the woman left, Shen Fu stood up to rub his temples and frowned. “My brain is going to explode.”

Lin ShuYi could not help laughing.

Even old man Yang’s face was full of laughter. How could he not know that this two children were trying to shift the topic for his sake?

Old man Yang cleared his throat, turned his head and said, “Let’s go fishing the day after tomorrow.” He should really get over it, or else it would be a waste of these two children’s effort.

“Fishing?” Lin ShuYi looked back at old man Yang.

“Yeah, although there is no river nearby, but we can fish at the small tributary not far away. I’m leaving the packing for tomorrow. Also, I only have two sets of fishing gears, but I can borrow one more from old man Li. I will ask him tomorrow, and then the three of us will go fishing the day after!”

To go fishing or not didn’t matter much to Lin ShuYi, but he was more than willing to accompany old man Yang when he saw how his mood had improved. Moreover, he had been to this world here for a while and he had never gone fishing once.

Fishing ah, Shen Fu narrowed his eyes and looked at Lin ShuYi.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjEW6v_jlgQ