Grandma

After crossing a bridge, he would reach the western part of the city.

Over the past few years, old neighborhoods had been renovated and demolished areas had been cleared. The western part of the city had long since changed beyond recognition.

Most of the old, dangerous buildings had been demolished, which had earned the longtime residents a compensation payout large enough to let them live quite comfortably in this small county town.

His grandma's family was no exception.

His grandma had raised two sons and two daughters. They had all lived together here before, but after each started their own families, they moved out separately.

The eldest son had been among the earliest college graduates in the area. He had originally worked at the Education Bureau, but after offending someone, and with no influential family backing him, he had been assigned a meaningless post at their high school.

The younger son had been good for nothing since childhood. He had run with gangsters when he was young. Though he had eventually turned over a new leaf, he was lazy, unambitious, and overly proud, so he stayed home, living off his parents.

Though he occasionally tried to come up with some business ideas, he usually abandoned them halfway through.

He remembered that his grandma's family had been caught up in a demolition project the year before last.

His grandma's old house had been the kind with a large floor area, so after the demolition office assessed it, they were entitled to around 1.5 million yuan.

There had been two options at the time. The first was to take the money outright, while the second was to take the money along with a resettlement apartment.

His grandparents had ultimately chosen the second option. Their old house was gone, so they still needed somewhere to live, didn't they?

Though the old saying went that one raised children for support in old age, the two elderly people saw the situation clearly. Their eldest son was too shrewd and cold-hearted, while their younger son was still clinging to them.

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

The apartment would belong to the elderly couple, while the 950,000 yuan would be divided among the siblings.

That was how his eldest uncle and younger uncle ended up arguing. They had originally been unwilling to let the daughters have any of the money. If his grandma had not insisted on giving each daughter 100,000 yuan, his Mom and aunt probably would not have gotten a single cent.

That left 750,000 yuan. His younger uncle received an extra 50,000 yuan, and he did have a reasonable excuse. He still had nowhere to settle down. Although he was married, he had no home of his own. With 400,000 yuan and an additional loan, he could afford to buy an apartment.

His eldest aunt thought it was unfair and made a fuss several times, but the matter was ultimately settled that way.

After crossing several streets, Lin Yuan arrived at the resettlement housing complex in the western part of the city.

By then, Lin Yuan had picked up a few more things. He was carrying a case of milk and a large bag of fruit.

As soon as he entered the complex, he spotted his grandma chatting with a group of neighbors. She was holding a bag of beaded bracelets.

Lin Yuan immediately called out.

His grandma lifted her reading glasses slightly. When she saw that it was Lin Yuan, she promptly set down the needlework in her hands.

"It's A Yuan. What brought you back?"

Then she turned to the neighbors and said, "This is my grandson. All right, I'm done chatting with you."

She picked up the bag of beaded bracelets beside her and slowly walked toward Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan took a clear look at what she was holding and said, "Grandma, you're still doing this?"

The work was called "stringing beads" in their area. Some small clothing workshops outsourced such tasks to cut costs, giving them to elderly people who had nothing to do at home.

They earned only one or two dimes for each completed piece. Even working all day, they could make only a few yuan at most.

His grandma smiled. "I've got nothing else to do at home anyway. Enough about that. Come on, let's go inside."

His grandma's apartment was on the third floor, and its location was actually quite good. It got plenty of sunlight.

This resettlement complex had been among the first to be built, and the apartments were relatively spacious, measuring around 120 square meters.

When Lin Yuan entered the apartment, he spotted his younger uncle's son, Li Xingyu. If he remembered correctly, the boy should have been in junior high by now. At that moment, he was watching television in the living room.

His grandpa, meanwhile, was watering flowers on the balcony.

Lin Yuan greeted his grandpa.

When Li Xingyu saw that it was Lin Yuan, he excitedly walked over.

"Cousin."

Back when he was still in high school, Li Xingyu had often followed him around to play.

After Lin Yuan started working, the boy had taken advantage of their familiarity and shamelessly asked him for pocket money to buy snacks more than once.

"Cousin, my foot. Can't you see I'm carrying things? Hurry up and take this fruit inside."

Li Xingyu curled his lips and said, "Oh."

After carrying the Wild Boar Meat into the kitchen and setting it down, Lin Yuan sat on the sofa.

His grandma also hobbled into the kitchen, preparing to get started on lunch.

When she saw the Wild Boar Meat on the counter, she came back out of the kitchen with a surprised expression. "A Yuan, where did you get so much Wild Boar Meat?"

"I got it in the mountains."

"That much?"

"It's not that much."

"With this much, I'll have to put it in the freezer, or it'll go bad." His grandma muttered to herself before returning to the kitchen.

Sitting beside Lin Yuan, Li Xingyu asked curiously, "Cousin, did you go up the mountain to hunt wild boars?"

"That's an adult matter. Kids shouldn't pry."

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

"Can you even get into high school?"

Li Xingyu gave a bashful smile. "I think so."

Since the reforms, advancing from junior high to high school had not been easy, and students could no longer repeat a year.

In other words, if they failed to get in, they would have to attend a vocational school.

That was why kids their age had already begun competing frantically. They were anxious, and their parents were anxious too, terrified that they would fail to enter high school and end up becoming layabouts at a vocational school.

In their area, vocational schools were not considered good places by parents. Most of the students there were delinquents.

The idea of streaming students after the college entrance examination was sound, but if the quality of teaching and the atmosphere at the schools supporting the system failed to keep up, it would be difficult to earn parents' trust and could easily ruin the children's futures.

While the two of them were chatting, the door of a room at an angle across from them opened.

A middle-aged man with bleary eyes walked out.

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, a trace of puzzlement showing on his face.

The man was none other than his younger uncle.

Hadn't he bought a house the year before last? Why was he still living here?

Lin Yuan gave him a perfunctory greeting. He had never had a good impression of this younger uncle.

His temper had once been extremely violent. On several occasions, he had even tried to hit Lin Yuan's grandma, angering her so badly that she had nearly suffered a heart attack.

"Oh, Lin Yuan's here."

After greeting him, he dropped onto the sofa.

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

His child was already so grown-up, yet the man himself still acted like a complete loafer.

Bored as he sat there, Lin Yuan took out his phone and played two games with Li Xingyu to pass the time.

After a few games, it was noon.

His younger uncle had a nose like a dog. The moment he smelled the delicious aroma wafting from the kitchen, he could not help but dart inside.

Lin Yuan put down his phone as well.

"Cousin, one more game. I promise I won't drag you down this time."

"..."

"I really won't. I'll play Yao and stick with you."

"That's what you said when you played Cai Wenji just now. I really don't get it. You're a support, so why do you spend all day trying to duel people?"

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

"All right, all right. One last game."

--15 minutes later--

Defeat!

As he watched his team's crystal explode, Lin Yuan slowly exhaled a breath of foul air, calming his slightly irritable mood.

Li Xingyu sensed the faint danger radiating from his cousin and immediately slid away.

"Cousin, Cousin, don't get worked up. It was an accident. My teammates were useless."

Lin Yuan was utterly speechless at the boy. How could someone playing Yao die more than ten times? Even after being told to stick with him, Li Xingyu kept running off to farm.

He was the one who had caused the problems, yet he kept using voice chat to flame his teammates, ruining everyone else's mood.

"You play terribly and still have the nerve to blame everyone else?"

"A Yuan, dinner's ready." His grandma called from the kitchen.

"Coming." Lin Yuan answered, then said, "Hurry up and go set out the bowls and chopsticks."

As if granted an amnesty, Li Xingyu jumped up and scampered into the kitchen.