When they arrived in the village, Zheng Tan lead the tour. It wasn't like Er Mao had a clue of where to go knocking.
Road construction had started up in this area again with plans to fix up a path before each household. Zheng Tan noted that they had come to visit at a bad time since the construction had just started to get underway. Rocks on the surface had been upturned giving way for more mud formations. In areas where puddles had formed, one could only step on the protruding rocks to prevent getting wet.
"Hey, Charcoal, when we get there, give me a signal. Don't let us pass the place." Er Mao chided.
After crossing the muddy area, the path started to get a little better. At least this portion of the road was composed of overlapping pieces of stone and brick. Now, Zheng Tan decided to leap out from the bag to lead the rest of the way.
Only after a few steps, his paws were wrought with mud. There wasn't much he could do about it, it was bound to happen without shoes. It's not like Zheng Tan could get some rain boots like Er Mao.
There weren't too many people outside. One, because of the previous rain and two, because it wasn't the season for travelling yet. At first Zheng Tan was worried that people from the New Year's celebration would recognize him, but the villagers who were out would only shoot him a glance. No special attention was paid to him. Or perhaps to the villagers, a cat wasn't anything special, nor was he a rare breed. Domestic cats were everywhere. Just because he was a sturdy black cat didn't make him a rarity.
Sometimes, he thought too highly of himself Zheng Tan realized.
Passing by the old Jiao family home, Zheng Tan saw that the gates were closed. The grandparents probably decided to go into town. By the looks of it, they were waiting for the construction to pass before coming back. This allow Zheng Tan to rest assured.
After the rain, it felt like each breath was accompanied by an abundance of mud particles. It was just as Papa Jiao had said. It was the odor of actinomycetes.
Perhaps it was the influence of Er Mao, but he felt increasingly nervous as he approached the old granny's home. Even though he knew the person that Er Mao was looking for was that old granny, but that old granny gave him a strange feeling. She wasn't as easily fooled like the Jiao family's grandparents.
"This place?"
Er Mao looked into the small village yard then pushed open the gate and headed in.
There was no noise in the vicinity and so Zheng Tan and Er Mao could clearly hear the sounds of opera from the small tile-roofed house.
Taking a deep breath, Er Mao stood in front of the door that was decorated in the local styles. Just as he reached out to knock on the door, it opened from the inside.
A girl of fifteen or sixteen appeared clutching a basket. As she saw Er Mao, she jumped back in surprise.
Er Mao's first thought was: Ha, there's really a sister Lin!
This girl was pretty good looking, although she was a little tan, her clothing and appearance was just as good as those city girls. If she judged solely on looks, it'd be a pretty close pass.
Zheng Tan looked at the girl and thought she looked somewhat familiar. He'd probably met her during the new years celebration, but he knew for sure that she did not belong to this household. The old granny lived by herself. At a place like this, it wasn't rare for young girls who had finished middle school to not continue with higher education.
Not waiting for Er Mao to speak, the girl yelled into the house: "Granny, someone's asking for you!" After that, she carried her basket and headed out. Looks like she was only here to deliver something. Around this area, it was common for people to make visits to the old granny, so she assumed the same with the people she found at the door and didn't spare them a second thought.
Watching the scene unfold, it could be understood that this girl was from another family, otherwise, she wouldn't leave in the face of a visitor. Er Mao let out a sigh. This was not at all what he had originally imagined. And "Granny?". With his carefully crafted image of "Sister Lin" shattered, Er Mao instantly lost all of his accumulated enthusiasm.
The tile-roofed house wasn't too spacious. The living room could be observed in with one sweeping glance and there was only a single bedroom. The owner was obviously in the bedroom.
Zheng Tan hesitated for a moment before darting in after Er Mao.
The lights in the room were off and the closed window in the back of the room didn't help with the room's minimal light exposure. The opera tracks coming from the radio did help to dissipate some of the bleakness brought on from the darkness of the room. It seemed to be an antique radio. A buzzing sound accompanied the sound of opera, presenting a vintage vibe.
It was the same recliner and the same position in which she lay. A light woolen blanket covered her, it looked as if she was asleep or was simply resting with her eyes closed. But because she had her back to the window, Er Mao was unable to make out the expression she had on her face.
That three-legged cat looked at Er Mao for a moment before directing its attention at Zheng Tan. It was obvious that it recognized Zheng Tan, but it wasn't bothered to make any moves. After shifting its position, it continued to drift into sleep on the old granny's lap.
Zheng Tan shifted unconsciously, he though there was something strange in the air. Not one of the two open their mouth to break the silence. There was only the buzzing of the antique radio paired with the indiscernible opera lyrics.
Er Mao was still contemplating how to start the conversation. Small talk was the start of a relationship. But this was a different situation. If this was any other normal meeting, he could pull out any topic to start the conversation. But, this was an attempt to find "Sister Lin". If he didn't find a sister Lin, he was at least expecting someone from his generation or a little younger. He wasn't here to find another elder. Another elder, meant another restriction on his life. The elders in his family gave him enough headaches. Every single day, he'd been told "You should be doing this". Or they'd be praising the kids from other families. Especially, with the constant comparison to Wang Bin, he became the "thug", the "good for nothing", of the family.
If this were anyone else, they would have already been far into the conversation and gotten to the serious part about establishing their blood relationships. Coming this far, driving all the way, squeezing onto public transport, and trudging through all the piles of mud. It was a struggle to finally get here. Wasn't this all to connect with a long lost relative? But Er Mao didn't make a move.
Er Mao wasn't a good person. During the period where he was wandering by himself, he had met people who were down all types of roads. This caused him to develop a thought process greatly different from that of his family members.
Before coming here, he had already decided to take a good look at the person before recognizing them as a relative. The blatant truth was that for Er Mao, the entire situation to locate the owner of the jade pendant was simply a diversion. He only needed something to distract him from the daily annoyances.
Zheng Tan stayed in the corner to observe the situation that begun to play out between Er Mao and the old granny. These two weren't simple people, especially this old granny. There was no way that she didn't hear the young girl's call or Er Mao's footsteps into the house.
Er Mao finally decided to go with status quo. Recognize or not, all the decisions were in his hands. There was no real sense of urgency. Without a "Sister Lin", this whole situation just got boring, but it was also simpler. What was there to see about an old granny! Er Mao slid into a chair in the corner of the room, he threw one leg over the other in a crossed-legged position and let his eyes dart around the room in boredom.
The current track ended, but it quickly followed with another. Zheng Tan let out a sneeze. A bundle of flat cakes was wrapped in paper placed in the center of the table. Zheng Tan had seen similar specialty foods during the new years celebrations. Jumping onto the table, Zheng Tan took a sniff of the flat cakes and didn't uncover any strange odors. He pawed open the wrapping. Let the two continue their silent showdown. He, at least, was going to fill his stomach.
Half an hour later, the old granny finally moved from her lounge chair.
Er Mao was enthralled. Haha old grandma, you can't compete with this young master's patience. Can't keep up the endurance eh?!
The sleepy Zheng Tan gave a look in the granny's direction.
The old granny only let out a soft sigh. Leaning on the lounge chair, she managed to pull herself into a sitting position. She moved her hand into her pocket, searching for something, and brought out a porcelain bottle. After all these years, her hands were no longer stable and would often tremble when holding onto any items. Only after struggling with the bottle several times did she successfully pull the cork from the opening.
Zheng Tan felt his heart flutter at such a scene. Scared that this old granny would, by a slip of her hands, accidentally throw the bottle. Especially, as an onlooker, anyone would feel a sense of desperation for her. Especially if they had no patience, they would've long gone up to give her a hand.
Er Mao had no problem enduring and showed no indication of going up to help. This guy must've figured out that this old granny in front of him was no simple-minded fool and decided to stay back as an onlooker. Seeing as every move made by the old granny was a struggle, paired with the constant trembling of her hands, Er Mao raised his brows into a frown, but still made no move nor sound.
The old granny rubbed her eyes then carefully poured out each individual medicine pill. It looked like either instant cardio-reliever pills, compound danshen dripping pills, or something similar. Zheng Tan had seen numerous people take pills with a similar look to them.
Health issues would accumulate as a person got older. During the new years festival, Zheng Tan thought she did quite a number on the Er Hu. But now, it seemed as if she had one foot in the grave. To succumb to an illness at this age is very dangerous. Having such a change in mental state is quite understandable. With the addition of the current situation and the chaotic surroundings, it cemented the feelings of desolation and loneliness.
The tremors in her hand started to worsen. Zheng Tan looked over and saw her empty around 10 pieces. She swallowed all the pills at once. Propping herself up, she reached for the cup of water on a nearby bench and took a drink. That's when she let out a long sigh.
The opera that the radio was currently playing seemed to be a little easier in terms of understanding.
"The flowers cannot help but wither, as we await the return of the swallows..."
The whispered lyrics were laced with heavy feelings of helplessness and sorrow. As if someone was unable to stop the movement of time of the endless years. It was just like this current scene. If this scene of reuniting blood relations was seen by an more emotional person, their tears would have fallen long ago.
At this point, even Er Mao felt like he had crossed the line. It's just that he didn't get to meet a sister Lin, but this didn't mean he had to dispute with an elder.
Dong! Gulugulugulu—
That old granny had recapped the porcelain bottle and just as she was placing it back into her pockets, her hands spasmed and the bottle found itself on the floor. Thankfully the floor was made of uneven dirt rather than concrete. The bottle didn't break either, probably due to its premium quality.
Zheng Tan tugged at his ear and turned to look at Er Mao.
Er Mao, with a pout on his face, got up and went to over to the table where the bottle had rolled to and picked it up. He wiped the bottle against his clothes to remove some of the dust. There were no instructions on the bottle. He pondered for a moment before taking off the cork and taking a whiff of the contents inside.
Right afterwards, Er Mao distorted his face in discomfort, an seemingly twisted pain. He gritted his teeth and asked the old granny: "Granny, what kind of miracle medicine do you have in this bottle?"
Newly returned lying down on the chair, the old granny said slowly and in a shaky tone: "Hua Hua Dan"
Zheng Tan: "...."
If he wasn't wrong, the so called 'Hua Hua Dan' is supposed to be some sort of casual snack.
People in the 80's were more familiar with this type of snack, it was also called things like 'Cheng Pi Dan', 'Mice droppings', etc. It was very rare to see such a snack in Chu Hua.
In Zheng Tan current mood, even an alpaca couldn't stop his table flip.
Mother F***er, putting such a low-end snack in a high-end porcelain bottle! Even if it was eating a snack, there was no need to conjure up such a depressing mood.
Er Mao swallowed up his feelings of depression within his stomach and handed back the bottle to the old granny.
After receiving the bottle, the old granny asked Er Mao: "You want any? The taste isn't bad at all."
"Eat.....Eat S***!"
Zheng Tan started to tug at his ear again. This old granny was 'hopeless', but she couldn't be fully described within a single word either.
As if not noticing the change in color of Er Mao's face, the old granny drawled on: "I don't feel the taste much. At this age, if I can survive another day, that's all great. Why eat medicine when you can have snacks." As if suddenly remembering something, she started pointing her finger vehemently. "Oh, there's a box of milk underneath the bed. If you want any, get it yourself. It's a really good brand too, they're always on tv. It's not those second rate goods. I have this stuff every day."
Zheng Tan and Er Mao: "...."
Nothing could accurately encapsulate Zheng Tan and Er Mao's complicated whirlpool of emotions.