Chapter 581 - Chapter 581: Chapter 579 New Year's Eve Dinner
Chapter 581: Chapter 579 New Year’s Eve Dinner
After observing his memories, Jiang Feng had been to many strange places and experienced many things he would never encounter under normal circumstances.
In some ways, he could be considered a person who had weathered great storms. He had stayed in ship cabins, squeezed through train stations, ridden on tractors, and walked on trash mounds. Squatting in all sorts of bizarre places to look up at the stars was pretty routine for him, but lying on the roof of a moving vehicle to watch the stars was a first, especially while the vehicle was still in motion.
When the fog had not yet cleared, Jiang Feng felt the wind was strong.
At first, he thought he was on a ship, wondering why he could not smell the sea’s briny scent given the strong wind. But once the fog lifted, he realized he was on top of a vehicle and almost fell off.
Luckily, he did not fall. Otherwise, he would have been knocked around by the air wall, still at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour.
Sitting on the car’s roof, Jiang Feng thought not only was the wind strong, but the road was also quite bumpy.
It was already dark, but not pitch-black. Lying on the car roof, Jiang Feng could faintly sense a vanishing light. Given that the roadside trees were almost bare, it seemed to be wintertime, and he guessed it was about six o’clock in the evening.
The road was a familiar country lane to Jiang Feng. If he was not wrong, it was the kind that connected a village to the county town. Although it was a road, it was tough for pedestrian traffic and bumpy for vehicles. Even if driven slowly and with good fortune, you might experience the effect of a trampoline.
After lying on the car roof for a few minutes, Jiang Feng had already heard the sound of the chassis hitting pebbles on the road at least four times.
About fifteen minutes later, the car stopped.
Perhaps because he was in a memory, Jiang Feng was neither bumped off the car nor got dizzy from the ride. Once the car stopped, he climbed down from the roof with ease and even felt somewhat refreshed.
The car stopped a few hundred meters from the entrance to the village. It was quite dark around, with the only light coming from the village, probably because of streetlights at the entrance. Jiang Feng could faintly see a weak glow near the village entrance.
Jiang Yong, Lin Juan, and the teenaged Jiang Xiaoran with a crew cut got out of the car. Jiang Yong opened the trunk, took out the New Year’s goods, and they divided them up. Each carried several bags and walked towards the village.
“Mom, can we not leave tonight and just stay at grandpa’s house? My head is dizzy from sitting in the car all day. I don’t want to take another ride back to the county after dinner,” Jiang Xiaoran mumbled behind his mother, softly voicing his complaint.
“You’ll have to ask your dad about that,” Lin Juan said, yawning, obviously tired from the ride as well.
Among the three, only Jiang Yong, who had been driving, looked to be in good spirits. He walked at the front, carrying the goods, with no obvious sign of excitement about going home for the holiday.
Jiang Xiaoran wanted to discuss staying overnight and not returning to the county with Jiang Yong. He ran swiftly, holding two bags of dried longan. In the blink of an eye, he reached Jiang Yong, about to speak when he tripped and fell.
The road was too dark, and he had been tripped by a branch.
“Ah!” Along with Jiang Xiaoran’s cry, Jiang Feng, even five meters away and unable to see clearly how he fell, could guess that it was not a light fall.
Because it seemed like Jiang Xiaoran had landed face-first.
“You child, how can you be so careless? Does it hurt? Where did you fall?” Lin Juan hurried over with Jiang Yong to help Jiang Xiaoran up from the ground, and in the darkness, she frantically examined his face.
“Just walk properly, why are you running around?” Jiang Yong dusted off Jiang Xiaoran and took the things from his hands, “Watch where you’re going.”
“Is that Ranran?” An elderly voice asked from the darkness.
Jiang Xiaoran had wanted to detail to his parents just how painful the fall had been, but upon hearing the voice, he forgot to complain and hurriedly looked around.
“Grandma?” Jiang Xiaoran yelled out.
“Oh my, so it is Ranran who has come,” said the voice.
Jiang Feng noticed that the dim light he had vaguely seen at the village entrance was moving towards them. Only when it got closer did Jiang Feng realize that what he had thought was the glow of a streetlight was actually the beam of a flashlight, held by a thin old lady in a cotton-padded coat, walking with difficulty towards them.
The flashlight beam fell on Jiang Xiaoran’s face, clearly revealing mud and blood.
His fall had indeed been quite serious; there was a gash on his forehead.
Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother saw the state Jiang Xiaoran was in and was heartbroken, exclaiming repeatedly, “Oh, Ranran, what happened to you? Did you fall?”
“Mom, why are you staying at the entrance of the village in such cold weather? Hurry back inside,” Jiang Yong said helplessly.
“I was worried because it’s getting dark; I was afraid you might not see the road when walking from where the car was parked and might fall. It’s a good thing I came. Someone piled a bunch of sand, mud, and rocks at the village entrance; it’s easy to trip even in the daylight. If I hadn’t been here, Ranran might have taken another fall there,” Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother said. Although she herself was an old lady who needed support, she stepped forward to help Jiang Xiaoran, “Come on, let’s go home and I’ll apply some medicine for you.”
“Mom, be careful not to fall yourself.”
“I won’t fall; your mom is very steady on her feet,” Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother said while holding the flashlight to light the way.
Jiang Feng followed behind them; Jiang Weiming’s house was near the village entrance, just a short walk away.
The house wasn’t big, with only a few rooms, and the courtyard was very small. The living room could only fit a large table, which was considered extremely small in the countryside.
There were only three people in the living room, which should be Jiang Yanlu and his wife and their son if no mistake was made.
Jiang Yanlu’s son looked to be just over 20 years old and had a flippant air about him. He was sitting in a chair cracking sunflower seeds, with the shells scattered all over the floor.
Jiang Yanlu’s wife was busy setting the tableware, while Jiang Yanlu himself looked deeply preoccupied, sitting in his chair restlessly.
After Jiang Yong and the others entered, Jiang Yanlu got up to pour tea for them, looking very attentive. Jiang Yanlu’s son continued cracking sunflower seeds in his chair, showing no intention of greeting them. Glancing at the New Year goods Jiang Yong’s group was carrying, he revealed a look of disdain after realizing it was just ordinary food and couldn’t even bother to glance at his uncle’s family.
Lin Juan, busy tending to Jiang Xiaoran’s facial wound, didn’t notice her nephew’s expression. Jiang Xiaoran was also preoccupied, inquiring his mother and grandmother if his appearance had been damaged, heedless of his cousin’s attitude.
Only Jiang Yong noticed, but he didn’t say anything, merely glanced coldly at his nephew before placing the items in the inner room.
It was only when Jiang Yanlu came over with hot tea that he noticed the heartbreaking state of Jiang Xiaoran’s face and exclaimed in alarm, “Ranran, how did you get into such a state?”
Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother was carefully wiping Jiang Xiaoran’s face with a warm towel: “She fell at the village entrance just now. I don’t know who would be so despicable as to pile such a mess there. I don’t know how many people have tripped over it these days.”
“Zhe, go to the room and get the iodine.”
Jiang Zhe pretended not to hear and continued cracking sunflower seeds as if nothing was amiss.
Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother turned to look at Jiang Zhe, who carried on cracking sunflower seeds as if he couldn’t see anyone else.
The atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward.
“Mom, I’ll go; Zhe doesn’t know where the iodine is, I’ll get it,” Jiang Yanlu said, setting down the hot tea and going to the room to look for the iodine.
Lin Juan, preoccupied with the wound on Jiang Xiaoran’s face, had no time to worry about these messy things, while Jiang Xiaoran cluelessly asked his grandmother when supper would be ready because he was hungry.
“It will be ready soon. Your grandpa was so happy to hear that you got into the provincial key high school that he specially asked someone to buy something nice for dinner tonight for Ranran,” Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother said with a smile, “Eat a lot later, Ranran, to make up for the injury on your face.”
“Psh,” Jiang Zhe uttered a sound of disdain and spat out a sunflower seed shell with force.
Now, even Lin Juan and Jiang Xiaoran noticed his hostile demeanor.
Jiang Xiaoran felt at a loss, while Lin Juan gave Jiang Zhe a slightly unfriendly glance but said nothing.
“Zhe, stop cracking sunflower seeds; sweep the floor and get ready for dinner,” Jiang Yanlu’s wife said somewhat reproachfully, not mentioning the earlier behavior of Jiang Zhe at all.
Although Jiang Zhe was somewhat reluctant, he still got up and took the broom.
“Ranran, don’t pay attention to your cousin. He was scolded by your grandpa this afternoon and isn’t in a good mood; just ignore him,” Jiang Xiaoran’s grandmother said softly, carefully wiping the wound on his face, “Later, grandma will take you to the kitchen to see what delicious things your grandpa made for you. Eat all the good food and don’t leave any for your cousin.”