Grandmother

After crossing a bridge, you arrive at the west of the city.

With renovations and demolitions happening over the past few years, the west of the city has long since changed.

Most of the old, dilapidated houses have been torn down, allowing the long-time residents to receive compensation sufficient for a comfortable life in this small county town.

His maternal grandmother's home was no exception.

Grandmother had two sons and two daughters. They used to live together here, but later moved out separately after starting their own families.

Her eldest son was one of the earliest university students in their area. He used to work at the education bureau, but after offending someone and lacking any powerful connections, he was assigned to a leisurely position at their high school.

Her younger son, who was never good at studying since childhood and dabbled in gangs when he was young, eventually saw the error of his ways. However, due to his laziness and unrealistic ambitions, he ended up living off his parents at home.

Although he would occasionally dabble in business, most ventures ended in failure.

He remembered that three years ago, his maternal grandmother's family was affected by the demolition.

His grandmother's house was originally an old building, but because of its large area, the demolition office calculated the compensation to be around 1.5 million yuan.

At that time, there were two options: the first was to take the money, and the second was to take money plus a resettlement apartment.

His maternal grandparents ultimately chose the second option. The old house was gone, and they still needed a place to live.

Although the old saying goes that children are for old age security, the elderly couple saw things clearly. Their elder son was too shrewd and unfeeling, and their younger son still relied on them.

So they chose the second option: 950,000 yuan plus a resettlement apartment.

The resettlement apartment was for the elderly couple, while the 950,000 yuan was to be divided among the siblings.

This led to the argument between his maternal uncle and younger uncle. They initially didn't want their daughters to receive any money, but if his maternal grandmother hadn't insisted on giving each daughter 100,000 yuan, his mother and aunt likely wouldn't have received a single cent.

The remaining 750,000 yuan was divided, with the younger uncle receiving an extra 50,000 yuan. The reason was quite valid: his younger uncle still had no stable place. Although he was married, he had no home of his own. 400,000 yuan, plus a small loan, would be enough for him to buy an apartment.

Although his elder uncle's wife felt it was unfair and caused trouble several times, the matter was ultimately settled.

After passing through several streets, Lin Yuan arrived at the resettlement apartment complex in the west of the city.

At this moment, Lin Yuan had acquired a few more things in his hands: a box of milk and a large bag of fruit.

As soon as he entered the complex, he saw his maternal grandmother chatting with a group of neighbors, holding a string of beads in her hand.

Lin Yuan immediately called out.

His grandmother adjusted her reading glasses and, upon seeing Lin Yuan, immediately put down her needlework.

"It's A Yuan, why are you back?"

After speaking, she said to the neighbors, "This is my grandson. Alright, I won't chat with you anymore."

She picked up the bag of beads by her side and walked slowly towards Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan got a clear look at what she was holding and asked, "Grandma, why are you still doing this?"

That kind of work, in their town, was called "bead stringing." Small workshops that made clothes would outsource these tasks to save costs, giving them to elderly people who were at home with nothing to do.

For each strand of beads strung, they earned only one or two cents. At best, they could earn a few yuan a day.

His grandmother smiled, "I have nothing else to do at home anyway. Let's not talk about this, come, let's go inside."

His grandmother's home was on the third floor, and the location was quite good, very sunny.

This resettlement complex was among the first built, and the apartments were quite spacious, around 120 square meters.

Upon entering the house, Lin Yuan saw his younger uncle's child, named Li Xingyu. If he remembered correctly, he should be in junior high school. At that moment, he was watching TV in the living room.

His maternal grandfather was watering flowers on the balcony.

Lin Yuan greeted his maternal grandfather.

Li Xingyu, upon seeing Lin Yuan, excitedly walked over.

"Brother."

When he was still in high school, Li Xingyu used to follow him around and play.

Later, when he started working, this kid, relying on their familiarity, shamelessly asked him for pocket money to buy snacks.

"What brother, don't you see I'm carrying things? Hurry up and take this fruit inside."

Li Xingyu pouted and said, "Oh."

After Lin Yuan put the Wild Boar Meat in the kitchen, he sat down on the sofa.

His grandmother also went into the kitchen at this time, preparing to make lunch.

Seeing the Wild Boar Meat on the counter, she came out of the kitchen again, her expression a little surprised. "A Yuan, where did you get so much Wild Boar Meat?"

"Got it from the mountains."

"So much!"

"It's not much, not much."

"So much, I need to put it in the fridge, or it'll spoil," his grandmother muttered to herself, then went back into the kitchen.

At this moment, Li Xingyu, sitting next to Lin Yuan, asked curiously, "Brother, did you go up the mountain to hunt wild boars?"

"Adult matters are not for kids to ask about."

"I'm not a kid, I'm starting high school next year."

"Can you even get into high school?"

Li Xingyu gave a shy smile, "I think so."

Since the system reform, getting into high school from junior high hasn't been easy, and now you can't retake the exam.

This means if you don't pass, you have to go to vocational school.

As a result, this age group has started to go crazy with competition. They're anxious, and their parents are anxious too, terrified they won't get into high school and end up as good-for-nothings in vocational school.

In their minds, parents don't see vocational schools as good places; they're mostly filled with delinquents.

The idea of the college entrance examination's stratification is good, but if the corresponding school's teaching quality and atmosphere don't keep up, it's hard to gain parents' trust, and it can also easily ruin their children's future.

As the two were chatting, a door in the corner opened.

A middle-aged man, still groggy from sleep, walked out.

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of confusion on his face.

This person was none other than his uncle.

Didn't he buy a house two years ago? Why was he still living here?

Lin Yuan gave a perfunctory greeting. He didn't have a good impression of this uncle.

He used to have a terrible temper, and a few times he even tried to lay hands on his grandmother, angering her to the point where she almost had a heart attack.

"Yo, Lin Yuan's here."

After saying hello, he plopped down on the sofa.

As he sat, he took out a nail clipper and began trimming his toenails.

Even though he had a child that old, he was still so slovenly.

Bored, Lin Yuan took out his phone and played a couple of games with Li Xingyu to kill time.

After a few games, it was already noon.

His uncle's nose was like a dog's; the moment he smelled the delicious aroma from the kitchen, he couldn't help but dart inside.

At this moment, Lin Yuan also put down his phone.

"Bro, one more game, I promise I won't mess up this time."

"..."

"Seriously, I won't mess up. I'll play Yao and just follow you."

"You said the same thing when you were playing Cai Wenji just now. I don't get it, why do you, a support, always want to go solo against others?"

"Come on, this time I'll definitely listen to you. If you say go east, I won't go west."

"Alright, alright, last game."

--15 minutes later--

"Defeat!"

As their crystal exploded, Lin Yuan slowly exhaled a breath of relief, trying to calm his slightly agitated heart.

Beside him, Li Xingyu sensed the faint aura of danger emanating from his brother and immediately scrambled to the side.

"Bro, bro, don't get worked up, it was all an accident. The teammates weren't good enough."

Lin Yuan was truly exasperated with this guy. How could he die over ten times playing Yao? He told him to follow him, but he kept running off to farm.

And he'd blame the teammates non-stop, making everyone else's mentality crumble.

"You're terrible at the game, and you still blame others?"

"A Yuan, time to eat," his grandmother called from the kitchen.

"Okay," Lin Yuan replied. "Hurry up and go get the bowls and chopsticks."

Li Xingyu, as if granted a great pardon, got up and scurried into the kitchen.