The whole family was here, all the brothers and their families. Only his parents were at the old house. He had not thought of it earlier, but after the Old Lady reminded him, he grew worried too.
Having experienced a typhoon in that ramshackle old house last year, he knew what it was like. There would be no sleeping there tonight.
No, rather, even if they wanted to sleep, there was nowhere to do it. Water leaked everywhere, with what amounted to a running tap every few steps. At most, they could sit leaning against something and doze for a while. His parents were both getting on in years, and his mother still had work during the day.
The Old Lady blamed herself for saying too much. Seeing that she could not stop him from going to the old house, she said, "Dongzi, take your eldest and second brothers along. Don't go alone. With all that wind and rain outside, it would be good to have someone go with you to check on them."
"All right."
"Wait, take a flashlight." Lin Xiuqing hurried into the bedroom, opened a drawer to find the flashlight, then rushed back out and handed it to him. "Be careful. Walk slowly and take the main road, not the little paths. There could be landslides."
"Mm."
Ye Yaodong cautiously opened the door just a crack to slip outside, then shut it tightly behind him. But in that brief instant, the wind had already blown so hard they could barely keep their eyes open, and the draft through the gap had extinguished the candle.
Lin Xiuqing went to light it again.
Looking at the meal Ye Yaodong had barely touched, she worried it would go cold before he came back and put it in the wok. There