It was almost seven in the evening by the time Kang and BoJing got back to their apartment from Beijing city. BoJing as soon as they turned the corner towards their front door finally lets go of Kang Lei hand and ran to grandpa Chong's door.
"Grandpa Chong!, grandpa Chong! We're here" BoJing knocked on his door excitedly, while Kang Lei took his time to catch up to his excited son, even though they had dinner with grandpa Chong every evening BoJing still gets excited to see the old man.
The door opened, and grandpa Chong had a big smile on his face. "Little BoJing your home, grandpa missed is little guy today, kang Lei how are you my son?" Grandpa Chong greeted then while stepping to the side to let them in.
"We missed you too grandpa, am hungry I am going to sit at the table" BoJing walked quickly giving him a hug, before rushing to take his shoes off then dash to the table.
Grandpa Chong's apartment was similar to Kang Lei, but it had an extra room, grandpa Chong could afford to have a dinning table and extra furniture fittings.
Kang Lei first meet grandpa Chong, after living at his apartment for over a year, he remembered he was walking up the stairs weakly one day, as he hadn't eaten in over a week. His funding from the government wasn't due for another four days, and he only had enough money to buy the essentials BoJing needed. Grandpa Chong, who had seen this young man when he first moved in, had noticed how especially thin he got in the last weeks.
He had also noted that he had never seen any other person coming to look for Kang Lei, or the boy, and he was always carrying his child with him.
On that evening Kang Lei was very weak and felt at any moment he would faint from hunger, grandpa Chong who was a few steps behind him on the stairs, saw this and invited kang Lei to his flat to have dinner, after refusing several times not that Kang Lei wasn't starving, it was more to do with his fear and absolutely no trust in others. After reluctantly accepting Grandpa Chong invitation, he sat at the table in grandpa Chong's apartment and held BoJing close too his chest and was on guard with every second that passed.
He waited for grandpa Chong to finish cooking, then placed the food on the table, the amount of food cooked could have fed 10 people. During the dinner, Kang Lei hardly spoke and only answered with yes or no when applicable or nothing at all to the more intimate questions. Grandpa Chong on the other hand told him all about himself. Grandpa Chong a beta grew up and worked in this area, he was married but his wife also a beta died some years ago, they had a beta daughter, but she lives in the city and rarely comes and visits. As grandpa Chong doesn't work, he often spends is time alone and does what he calls 'people watching', hence why he quickly recognized the changes in Kang Leis appearance.
The evening went on like this, mostly with Kang Lei listening and grandpa Chong talking and playing with BoJing. After they had finished, grandpa Chong packed up four containers of left over food and gave them to Kang Lei who originally refuse but was force to take them and bring back the containers once he was done. Kang Lei can't really recall when they started this tradition of always having dinner at Grandpa Chong, he would often try to give the old man money as a contribution for the food cost but grandpa Chong refused stating he doesn't like taking money from family.