After stepping outside, Old Anduin glanced at the distant fields beyond the village, now bare again after the harvest and waiting to be tilled anew. He hesitated, then sat down by the door, took out his homemade water pipe, and drew several hard puffs, his brow deeply furrowed.
"Huh? Old man, why are you sitting here instead of going out to the fields?" Aunt Vera was about to head out for a stroll, but the moment she crossed the threshold and saw Old Anduin sitting on the steps, she asked in surprise.
"I'm thinking something over." Old Anduin tapped the ground beside him with his pipe stem, motioning for Aunt Vera to sit down. "Tell me... what exactly should we do with that field?"
"What do you mean, what should we do? Plant it, of course. Surely you don't intend to leave it fallow?" Aunt Vera gave Old Anduin a bewildered look.
But that glance revealed what seemed to be several more white hairs at his temples than there had been yesterday. Looking at the wrinkles on his face, her heart immediately softened.
"Of course, if you really don't want to farm it, that's fine too. Our two boys and our daughter have all found jobs in the city now, and they earn good wages. If each of them chipped in a little, that would be plenty to support the two of us. We raised them all those years. Surely they ought to show us that much filial care."
"Nonsense!" Old Anduin snapped at Aunt Vera. "The children may have jobs and decent wages now, but they have families of their own and expenses to cover. Have you forgotten? Last time our eldest came home, he said he planned to send his boy to Xinfei Academy from an early age.