Chapter 137 - 136: Live for Several More Decades
Lin Zhiyin offered to stay and help with the cooking, but Chen Yanmei refused.
"You two go visit the grandparents first. Don’t rush back, we can manage just fine."
"Alright. In that case, Auntie, I’ll come back and help you later."
"Mhm, go on."
With Chen Yanmei seeing them off with a smile, Lin Zhiyin followed Zhao Wendong out the door.
[Me... you haven’t taken me yet.]
Zhao Wendong completely ignored the little tiger’s thoughts. Realizing he’d been left behind, Zhuangzhuang let out a couple of mournful whimpers. He watched Zhao Wendong and Lin Zhiyin walk away without a single glance back, then flopped onto the kang bed in defeat, refusing to move. He simply allowed Little Tuanzi and Shitou to vigorously pet his soft fur, ruffling it everywhere.
The two of them went to Granny Liu’s house first. The moment they stepped inside, they heard Baozhu shout.
"Granny, the wife they were talking about—my Brother San’s wife—he brought her here!"
Zhao Wendong smiled. ’Everyone’s cooped up for the winter, yet news still travels this fast?’
When Granny Liu saw Lin Zhiyin, she rushed forward, grabbed her by the hand, and looked her over from side to side, clicking her tongue in amazement.
"Dongzi, you sure are lucky. To think you could trick such a beautiful girl into being with you."
Zhao Wendong had been wondering why all these old folks had the same move of grabbing people’s hands. But upon hearing Granny Liu’s words, he was suddenly displeased.
"Granny Liu, what are you talking about? What do you mean ’trick’? Am I not handsome and dashing?"
"Hahaha, give me a break! Handsome my ass. You’re a mischievous brat, that’s what you are!"
Granny Liu roared with laughter, revealing the single, lonely tooth she had left.
"Granny Liu, that’s a tough tooth you’ve got there! It’s managed to hang on by itself for so long. It hasn’t fallen out yet!"
"Sigh, it won’t hold on much longer. It’s already loose. Sometimes I’m afraid I’ll accidentally swallow it!"
Granny Liu sighed, her voice tinged with frustration.
"Granny Liu, open your mouth. Let me see how loose it is."
"Ahhh~"
The old woman was quite obedient to Zhao Wendong, opening her mouth dutifully. Zhao Wendong reached out and poked her only remaining tooth. He found that it wobbled precariously at the slightest touch. So, he simply pinched it, gave a firm tug, and easily pulled it out.
And just like that, the old woman was left with two bare gums and not a single tooth. Mrs. Liu hadn’t even felt the tooth come out and was still asking Zhao Wendong about it.
"How is it, Dongzi? Is my tooth looser? How much longer can it hold on!"
Lin Zhiyin, standing to the side, giggled uncontrollably. Baozhu, his mother, and his sister were laughing so hard they couldn’t stand up straight.
The old woman was still a bit clueless, not understanding what they were all laughing about. Zhao Wendong grinned and held out the tooth in his hand for her to see.
"Hold on my ass! It fell out the moment I touched it."
"Hey, what are you all laughing at? You little rascal, you knocked out my last tooth! It’s over now. From now on, this old lady can only drink porridge. It’s all your fault."
"Haha, Granny Liu, now you’re being unreasonable. You’re just trying to pin the blame on me, aren’t you? As if you could eat solid food before. But since you’re blaming me, I can’t just ignore it. Praise me a little—praise me like you just praised Lin Zhiyin—and I’ll replace your tooth. An entire set, in fact."
"Get outta here! Praise you? I’ll whack you with a ladle, you believe that? You’re just teasing your old Granny Liu."
"Hehe, Granny Liu, I’m not kidding. Hurry up and praise me. I can really get you eating solid food again."
Granny Liu had watched Zhao Wendong grow up; she knew what he was up to with a single glance. She studied him carefully and saw that he didn’t seem to be joking. Becoming half-convinced, she thought for a moment, then gave him an affectionate smack with a doting smile, her bare gums showing once more as she grinned.
"Fine, I’ll praise you then. Our Dongzi is the most filial boy. Everyone else says you’re a good-for-nothing, but only your Granny Liu knows you’ve had a kind heart since you were little. Back when you were small, before the Maozi drove the devils out, they came out one last time to cause trouble. My feet were bound, so I ran slow and fell. You had just started talking back then, but you tugged on your mom and shouted with all your might, ’Granny Liu! Pull Granny Liu!’ Hahaha!"
As the old woman laughed, her eyes grew a little moist.
Zhao Wendong had never heard Granny Liu tell this story in either of his two lifetimes. In his previous life, right after they survived the famine years, the old woman’s health had failed, and she passed away. The day after she was gone, Third Master Zhao followed her. Everyone said that Third Master had gone to the underworld to continue looking after her.
Hearing Granny Liu recount this story from his childhood now, he felt deeply moved.
"Hehe, not enough. More praise."
"Alright, I’ll praise you some more. Let’s see how you’re going to get me eating solid food. Other people say you’re lazy and just fool around all day, but Granny Liu knows you’re not a heartless child. It’s not that you don’t like to work. It’s that you know that if you work your ass off your whole life like them, it won’t amount to much, right? You’re just unwilling to do something where you can see the dead end from the beginning. But if a day comes when you have to do it, you’ll definitely do it better than anyone else."
Zhao Wendong was momentarily dazed by her words. ’That’s right. I’ve never been afraid of hard work, only of hopelessness. In my past life, I worked harder than anyone, foraging in the mountains and fishing in the sea, but it was all too late.’ Her words had struck a chord. Feeling emotional, Zhao Wendong pulled the set of dentures from his pocket and dangled them in front of Granny Liu.
"Old lady, that was some good praise. Now look, what’s this?"
"Oh my god, you child! Whose teeth did you knock out?"
"Hahaha! Whose would I knock out? These are dentures. You just put them in your mouth and you’ll have teeth again. From now on, you’ll be able to eat meat and everything else normally, you hear?"
"For real?"
Granny Liu looked skeptical, but she took the dentures and tried to put them in. Zhao Wendong helped her adjust them a few times. In his past life, he had used these things himself when he got old. Of course, the materials and craftsmanship of this set couldn’t compare to those from the future, but it was still an incredibly rare and valuable item for this era.
After fitting the dentures in, the old woman tried chewing a few times. Her face immediately lit up with delighted surprise.
"Oh my, I really have teeth again! Hahaha! Dongzi, ah, but these teeth won’t fall out the moment I bite into something, will they?"
"They won’t. You can even eat meat with no problem!"
"Then after I eat, what if they get dirty, or food gets stuck in them?"
At this moment, Grandma Liu was as excited as a curious child. Baozhu and the others also crowded around to look at the novelty. Only Baozhu’s sister kept unconsciously glancing at Lin Zhiyin. It was a look Lin Zhiyin found very familiar, much like the one Li Juan gave her.
"You just take them out like this, get some water, and rinse them. Once they’re clean, you put them back in and keep using them."
Zhao Wendong showed the old woman how to do it several times until she was completely at ease. She even had Baozhu’s Mother bring her a mirror, and she spent a long time admiring her new smile. After a while, the old woman suddenly slapped her thigh.
"Oh, Dongzi, this thing must have cost a fortune, right? How much was it? Granny Liu will give you the money."
"Give me a break. I don’t need your money. You just eat more solid food, take good care of your health, and live for a few more decades. I want to hear you keep praising me."
"Haha, if I live for a few more decades, won’t your Granny Liu become a monster? No, no. How much was it? I must give you the money. This thing must be precious. In the whole village, besides Zhao San, I reckon no one has even heard of such a thing."
"Hehe, so my Third Master Zhao is that knowledgeable, huh?"
"Of course! Back in the day, he was..."
Mrs. Liu was halfway through her sentence when she realized Zhao Wendong was tricking her into spilling secrets. She immediately reached out and swatted him a couple of times in exasperation.
"You rotten brat, now you’re making fun of your Granny Liu! Tell me, how much did these dentures actually cost?"
Cornered, Zhao Wendong had no choice but to throw his hands up in surrender.
"Fine, you can pay me then. This thing costs five hundred yuan a set. Not a penny less."
Mrs. Liu raised her hand to hit him again. Her wrinkled palm rose high and fell gently. She blinked hard a few times, as if she’d gotten sand in her eyes.
After they left Grandma Liu’s house, Lin Zhiyin remarked softly with emotion.
"Everyone at the Educated Youth spot says Grandma Liu is stuck in the old ways, a ’feudal tumor,’ but I never expected her to be such a kind old woman."
Zhao Wendong curled his lip in disdain.
"What the hell do they know? ’Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.’ There’s another saying: what exists is reasonable. Which child in Dragon King Pond hasn’t been brought to Granny Liu for a look-over?"
Many years after Grandma Liu passed away, the villagers still talked about her often. Especially when a child was badly frightened and no medicine or number of hospital visits seemed to help, the older generation would always mutter that in the old days, a little thing like that would be cured for sure with a shout from Mrs. Liu.
Lin Zhiyin stared at Zhao Wendong, her eyes shining with a brilliant light.
"’Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.’ That’s so well said! Zhao Wendong, you’ve really made me see you in a new light!"
’That wasn’t me,’ Zhao Wendong thought. ’That was another great old man. Sigh, whatever. It’s impossible to explain, so I’ll just reluctantly take the credit for now.’
Zhao Wendong led Lin Zhiyin to the house next door, which belonged to Zhao Dahai. As soon as they entered, they saw Wang Jinzhi with Pandi and Laidi, stoking the fire to prepare the afternoon meal. A few days had passed, and Wang Jinzhi had mostly recovered, though the injuries on her face were still clearly visible.
"Brother San."
His two young cousins greeted him immediately. When Wang Jinzhi saw it was Zhao Wendong, she was also much warmer than before.
"Ah, Dongzi, you’re back."
But when she saw Lin Zhiyin walk in behind Zhao Wendong, she froze. She was just too beautiful.
"This is my girlfriend, Lin Zhiyin."
"What? You’re Lin Zhiqing?"
Wang Jinzhi couldn’t help but exclaim in shock. During the summer, they had worked alongside the female educated youths in the production team. She simply couldn’t connect the flower-like Lin Zhiyin before her with the dirty, aloof "young lady from a capitalist family" who always kept her distance from the crowd.