Grandma

The shop owner was installing and calibrating the dish.

This kind of satellite antenna could even receive foreign TV stations.

Strictly speaking, it was illegal, but no one bothered holding farmers accountable.

Because the cost of enforcement was too high.

Amid all the laughter and chatter, another farm woman came running over, panting. "My man went to Zhejiang Province for work, and he took the IOU with him..."

"Taken away" was probably just an excuse. Her family had most likely lost the IOU.

Chen Guiliang did not waste words. He pulled out an ink pad he had swiped from the game studio. "No problem. Liu Da Niang, just write out a receipt. The elders here can all serve as witnesses. I'll pay off your family's debt in full, principal and interest included."

A villager immediately praised him. "Guiliang is as straightforward as his father. So generous too. He's bound to make something of himself!"

Once you succeeded, everyone around you became a good person.

The world would suddenly seem beautiful.

"No big deal, no big deal."

Chen Guiliang opened three packs of Hongtashan in a row and handed cigarettes around to the men who kept arriving to watch the excitement.

Grandma also brought out the baked cakes her grandson had bought and gave them to every woman and child she saw.

With cigarettes and cakes paving the way, the praise never stopped.

Chen Guiliang wore a smile as he silently observed them. It was as though he were watching a real-life farce.

"Kid, the dish is all set up. You can get dozens of TV stations now." The shop owner crawled out of the house.

Chen Guiliang promptly handed him a cigarette, then said to Grandpa and the others, "Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle, I'll head out first. There's still a color TV by the roadside."

"I'll walk you back," Grandpa said.

"No need. I'll take the tricycle. The color TV's here now, so you all should go watch it."

Grandpa, Grandma, and his younger uncle, surrounded by the villagers who had come to watch, escorted Chen Guiliang all the way to the village road and watched him climb into the cargo bed of the tricycle.

Villages in the southwest were scattered, with a few households here and a few there, unlike the relatively concentrated settlements on the plains.

Although Chen Guiliang's parents came from the same village, their homes were quite far apart.

He rode the tricycle through more jolting bumps before finally arriving home.

The same scene played out again.

Chen Guiliang did not even need to go door to door repaying debts. Once the creditors heard the news, they hurried over on their own. Even creditors from the neighboring village came on motorcycles or bicycles.

A neighbor had also gone to notify Grandma, who had been up in the hills gathering firewood. She came hurrying home with a huge bundle of wood on her back.

"Grandma, my dad made a fortune. He'll be back for Spring Festival," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Grandma was unusually calm. "As long as the debts are paid off."

She had once been the daughter of a landlord's family. Not only had she attended a private school, but she had also gone to a modern school.

She had remarried as a widow, bringing along a child who had just turned one—Chen Guiliang's father.

In other words, Chen Guiliang's father was only Grandpa's stepson.

Ignoring the flattery from the neighbors, Grandma went about stacking the firewood as if everything happening around her had nothing to do with her.

Grandpa, Second Uncle, and Second Aunt had come as well.

Second Aunt was especially enthusiastic, helping Grandma with the chores for once.

Chen Guiliang merely smiled and said nothing.

"Guiliang, I heard your dad made a fortune?" Second Uncle Chen Xingmin was genuinely happy.

Chen Guiliang took out a pack of Hongtashan and tossed the whole thing to his uncle with a smile.

Chen Xingmin caught it and slipped it into his pocket. "Good cigarettes."

Uncle and nephew stood there chatting, occasionally dealing with villagers and creditors.

Chen Guiliang was only willing to make small talk with Second Uncle. He could not even be bothered to glance at Grandpa or Second Aunt.

Before his rebirth, Chen Guiliang had even claimed he had something to do and skipped Grandpa's funeral.

To some people, stepchildren and step-grandchildren did not count as real children or grandchildren.

Their relationship was worse than that of strangers.

There was no kindness between them, only resentment. The unequal treatment had gone too far.

Of course, the younger generation got along fairly well. Chen Guiliang was close with his cousin and younger female cousins.

His father, Second Uncle, and aunt were also deeply attached to one another. Second Uncle and Aunt had been raised by his father; he had truly acted as both elder brother and father.

"Guiliang, I heard your dad earned several hundred thousand?" Second Aunt asked as she carried firewood, deliberately circling over to this side.

"Yeah," Chen Guiliang said.

Second Aunt immediately said, "Gui Rong's grades aren't good, and he'll be taking the high school entrance exam next year. I want him to attend No. 1 High School. We might have to pay a school selection fee then. Could we borrow ten thousand yuan from your dad?"

Chen Guiliang looked at Chen Xingmin. "Second Uncle, do you want to borrow money? As long as you say the word, I'll find a way."

"No," Chen Xingmin repeatedly shook his head. "Gui Rong should attend whichever school he can get into. There's no need to pay a school selection fee just to attend a better one."

Second Aunt immediately shot her husband a vicious glare. The two of them would probably fight tonight, and Second Uncle was usually the one passively taking the beating.

One was henpecked, the other a tigress.

"Guiliang, I'm heading off first." Chen Xingmin did not want to watch his wife make a fool of herself any longer.

Chen Guiliang waved. "Take care, Second Uncle."

When she saw she could not borrow the money, Second Aunt instantly dropped the act. She threw down the firewood in her hands and left, unwilling even to carry it a few meters away and put it down properly.

Grandpa stood at the doorway, constantly looking for a chance to speak.

But Chen Guiliang never gave him a proper look.

After standing there for a while, Grandpa could only turn and leave, taking a hoe from beneath the eaves with him.

Chen Guiliang reminded him, "That's ours."

"I'm borrowing it for a bit." Grandpa walked away with the hoe over his shoulder.

Chen Guiliang sneered, "Remember to return it. The things my parents left at home were beneath the creditors' notice, but you've nearly moved them all away these past few years."

When Chen Guiliang's father and Second Uncle divided the household, Grandpa and Grandma had also split off to live separately with their two sons.

Even after the division, Chen Guiliang's family still had to give Grandpa grain every year. If they did not, Grandpa would make a scene and take it to the village chief, accusing his eldest son of being unfilial.

After returning to the past, Chen Guiliang no longer hated anyone, but that did not mean anyone could expect him to like them.

He would always remember the Spring Festival when he was in third grade. He had been playing with his cousin and younger female cousin, then went to a teahouse to ask Grandpa, who was playing cards, for money to buy snacks.

His cousin and younger female cousin each got fifty cents. He stubbornly refused to leave because he wanted some too.

In front of everyone playing cards in the teahouse, Grandpa slapped him hard across the face and shouted, "Get lost! Don't waste my damn money!"

As evening fell, the people who had come to watch gradually left.

The TV seller had long since driven away in his tricycle as well.

Only Chen Guiliang and Grandma remained at home.

From the moment Chen Guiliang returned until now, Grandma had said only one sentence. Now, she silently went to cook again.

Chen Guiliang followed her into the kitchen, wanting to say something but not knowing how to begin.

He looked at the water vat, then turned to fetch two buckets and went to the well over a hundred meters away to carry water.

Trip after trip, until the water vat was full.

"The food's ready." Grandma finally spoke.

Chen Guiliang hurriedly carried the dishes over. Grandmother and grandson sat around the table in the main room while the newly bought color TV played a drama.

There were two dishes and a soup. The meat dish was pork cracklings.

Grandma was very frugal. Only when Chen Guiliang came home would she cook a meat dish.

And that so-called meat dish was either pork cracklings or low-grade pork.

Even that was only after he entered high school. Back in middle school, every meal had been vegetarian, and meat only appeared during holidays.

So when Chen Guiliang was in middle school, he had once held a great dream: to eat meat once every month!

Chen Guiliang walked over to the television. "Grandma, this is the power switch."

"I know. I've used a television before," Grandma said.

When Chen Guiliang was in elementary school, the family had owned a black-and-white TV. Later, an enraged creditor had carried it away.

"This one's different. You can use the remote to turn it on and off."

Chen Guiliang brought over the remote. "This button is the power switch. These change channels, and these adjust the volume..."

Grandma listened attentively.

Her memory was very good. Back when the countryside ate from communal kitchens, Grandma had served as a work-points recorder for the production team.

It was a highly sought-after job, since she could help team members and their families receive more work points. But Grandma never played favorites. She handled everything by the book, to the point that both team members and family members complained about her.

"That dish on the roof is called a satellite antenna. You can use it to tune satellite channels," Chen Guiliang said. "The TV seller already set it up, so it's best not to mess with it. If strong winds blow the antenna crooked, some stations won't come in. Wait until I'm back on vacation, and I'll adjust it."

Grandma said, "Teach me."

Chen Guiliang stopped eating and personally taught Grandma how to adjust the satellite antenna.

In less than ten minutes, Grandma had completely mastered it.

She adjusted it herself, then began changing channels. After switching through several, she stopped.

This channel was playing Sichuan Opera.

Grandma watched the television while slowly eating her meal.

She ate with particular elegance, taking tiny bites and chewing slowly, as though she were still the young lady of a landlord's family from decades ago.

"They changed the lyrics?" Grandma murmured to herself.

"The Sichuan Opera on TV might have been revised, so it's different from what you heard before," Chen Guiliang said. "The lyrics and dialogue were changed to better fit the times. Some uncivilized content would also be cut or altered."

Grandma commented, "They changed it badly."

Chen Guiliang teased her to cheer her up. "When I'm rich someday, I'll support an opera troupe and put Grandma in charge of reviewing the lyrics."

"Then I'll wait for that." Grandma smiled.

To Chen Guiliang, Grandma's smile was prettier than Bian Guanyue. Since childhood, he had only seen her smile a handful of times.

Grandmother and grandson sat in the main room talking, and Grandma watched television until very late.

That night, Chen Guiliang slept hazily, seeming to hear someone softly singing opera.

"Red apricot blossoms fill the garden with fragrance, and loneliness passes the springtime away. Since Zheng Lang went to the capital, each day of longing twists my heart nine times..."