AFMWDX Chapter 24.2

TL: Hua

The plan to visit Xu Hao’s grandmother was set for the next morning. According to Xu Baizhang, the old lady sunbathed in the yard at nine o’clock every day, and since she had a stubborn temper, that was when she was in the best mood.

In recent years, every family in Yulong Village had built new houses, making the grandmother’s dilapidated old house particularly conspicuous.

The large courtyard, spanning over ten square meters, had never been renovated. The ground was unpaved yellow earth, with weeds growing in the corners, damp and muddy after rain. Corn was drying in the northwest corner, scattered next to some scavenged mineral water bottles.

The old iron gate let out a “creaking” sound.

The grandmother lay on a rattan chair, her back to the door. “No more drinks, no more! Don’t come over!”

“Grandma, it’s me.”

The old woman wore a gray-blue padded jacket, her hands tucked into the drooping sleeves. The collar was worn white, and there were two patches sewn on the joints.

Seeing that the visitor was Xu Baizhang, the grandmother’s gaze softened slightly, but not by much.

She brushed the dirt off her pants. “You brat, why aren’t you working properly in the city? What are you doing back here?”

Xu Baizhang took out a ceramic jar. “I brought you some snacks.”

The grandmother was old and suffered from some ailments. She refused to go to the hospital and complained that the medicine was too bitter. Xu Baizhang had to make the medicine into large hawthorn balls so she could eat them.

The grandmother took out a “hawthorn ball” the size of a glass marble, chewed it, and squinted at the person next to him. “Who is this?”

Xu Baizhang checked her pulse and introduced, “He is my husband. You can just call him Qingtang.”

The “hawthorn ball” tasted good, so the grandmother dug out another one. “Very good. This child is handsome; he suits you.”

Xu Baizhang closed the lid. “You can only eat two pieces per meal. Any more will cause an upset stomach.”

“I know!” The grandmother licked the sugar glaze off her thumb, her eyes still on Yu Qingtang. “Child, are you from our village too? Whose child are you?”

Yu Qingtang said, “Grandma, I wasn’t before, but since I married Baizhang, I’m also a resident of our Yulong Village now.”

“This child has a sweet mouth, which makes people fond of him.” The grandmother laughed, her wrinkles bunching together like stacked paper. “You look truly familiar, child. I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”

Yu Qingtang: “You might have seen the program I host, the evening news.”

Before the next set of wrinkles could form, the grandmother’s face instantly stiffened. She pushed herself up from the rattan chair, limped her way, and turned her back, heading into the inner room. “I knew no good would come of this! You all leave! Even if you’re Old Two’s wife, it’s still useless. I won’t say anything!”

Before this, besides radio reporters, the police had also come to visit, and without exception, they were all turned away.

Yu Qingtang had anticipated this before coming. Even with Xu Baizhang’s connection, things wouldn’t be easy.

Xu Baizhang stepped up to persuade her. “Grandma, please give Qingtang some time; just let him say a couple of sentences, okay?”

“Old Two, if it weren’t for your sake, I wouldn’t be this agreeable.” The grandmother shook off his hand. “But you can’t bring a thief into the house!”

The word “thief” was hurtful, but Yu Qingtang was quickly softened by the following defense.

“He’s not a thief; he’s my husband.” Xu Baizhang stated solemnly, “If you disrespect him, you are not acknowledging me.”

The grandmother, who failed to retort, wiped her nose in rage and yelled, “You rotten brat, you deserve a beating!”

She didn’t concede verbally, but her attitude softened considerably.

Xu Baizhang continued, “I don’t know what the people who came before were like, but if you still recognize me, please give my husband a chance. He won’t take up much of your time.”

“He did bad things, but he will always be my grandson!” The grandmother gripped the broken doorframe, her throat hoarse from shouting. She didn’t speak again until the shadow of the clouds slid from her left to her right. “Hurry up and speak; I’m tired.”

Yu Qingtang took a deep breath, paused for two seconds, and then spoke. “Grandma, don’t you want to know what Xiao Hao did and why he did it? Aren’t you curious about who led him astray, and don’t you want to catch all of them?”

“By shutting your door like this, we have no way of understanding Xiao Hao’s thoughts. Right now, you are the only one who can persuade him and change him.” Yu Qingtang said, “Since you cherish him, how can you bear to see him persist in his delusion?”

“The purpose of my visit is not to expose Xiao Hao’s crime, nor is it to embarrass you or bring shame to our Yulong Village.”

“There are many children like Xiao Hao in this world. We are trying our best, and our only wish is to eradicate these evil forces as soon as possible and save the children’s future.”

“These words may seem empty and abstract, perhaps even a pipe dream. Our ability is limited, and the return may be minimal, but doing something is always better than doing nothing.”

Considering the grandmother’s concerns, Yu Qingtang added, “Xiao Hao is a minor. His interview will not show his face, and his voice will be processed later.”

The purpose of news interviews is to expose incidents and serve as a warning to future generations, never to mock misguided teenagers.

“Moreover, Xiao Hao is being so secretive, perhaps because he holds an even bigger secret concerning national security and social stability. And, and…” Yu Qingtang clenched his fists, trying to hold back, “and the fate of many people.”

Yu Qingtang choked up, “Grandma, I’ve been rambling for so long, I don’t know what else to say. But please, I beg you, help me, help Xiao Hao, and help more sincere and kind people we have never met.”

The grandmother took the recording equipment and went into the small room alone.

Xu Baizhang walked over and handed him a tissue. “Feeling better?”

Yu Qingtang turned his head, not wanting Xu Baizhang to see his eyes. “You must be laughing at me.”

After rambling on for so long without any logic or focus, where was his face as a news anchor?

Xu Baizhang patted his back. “It’s not funny. You spoke very well.”

He spoke so well that it was deeply emotional, so genuine that he had poured out his true feelings. Yet, as an experienced news media professional, Yu Qingtang theoretically shouldn’t lose his composure like this over an interview.

About an hour later, the sound of the door sliding open came from behind them.

Yu Qingtang went up to help the grandmother.

The old woman’s eyes were red, as if she had been up all night, and tears glistened on her nose and the corners of her mouth. She returned the recording equipment to Yu Qingtang. “Child, thank you.”

Yu Qingtang held the grandmother’s hand. Her aged palm was rough with calluses, which left a bitter taste in his heart. “You don’t need to thank us. This is what we should be doing.”

Tears dampened his sleeve. The grandmother trembled, “It’s all my fault. I’m uneducated; I didn’t raise him well.”

Yu Qingtang: “Grandma, please don’t say that.”

It was already difficult for an elderly woman to raise a child by herself.

The grandmother wiped away her tear. “And I blame that boy for not living up to the expectation, always doing unreliable things. Since he was little, he always said he would grow up to be as successful as his second uncle. Look at him now—what has he learned?”

“Back then, his second uncle had it much harder than him. His father treated him…”

“Grandma, we should be going. Do you have any other instructions?”

Xu Baizhang interrupted the grandmother’s words, and their eyes met briefly.

“Oh, right, right. I’m getting old; my brain is rusty.” The grandmother said, “Qingtang, will Xiao Hao really be able to see what I recorded?”

Yu Qingtang: “Yes.”

It’s hard for ordinary people to contact a suspect, but the news media still has privileges.

Yu Qingtang said, “If he has anything he wants to tell you, I will also record it for you to see.”

The grandmother asked, “When will you be back?”

Yu Qingtang looked at the full jar of hawthorn pills. “You take these on time, twice a day. We’ll be back before you finish them.”

After saying goodbye to the grandmother, the two walked back along the road toward home. The village was bathed in golden light in late autumn. They both remained silent.

Yu Qingtang had clearly heard the first half of what the grandmother had been about to say before she was interrupted. Xu Baizhang minded anyone mentioning his father and didn’t want Yu Qingtang to know about it.

As an adult, he could understand that everyone has secrets and privacy, but as a partner, he only wanted to know more about him.

There was still some time before lunch, and as they walked, they drifted off the original path. Smoke curled up from the village chimneys, and the scenery of mountains and water was as beautiful as poetry. The roadside was full of wildflowers, each vying to be the most brilliant.

Willows were planted by the river, bending low in a row, their tips touching the water. When the wind blew, the branches swayed left and right, like parting a curtain of rain.

Yu Qingtang was pulled to the river by the children, accompanied them to fly kites, roast loaches, catch butterflies, and even blew several handfuls of dandelions.

When he looked around, he found Xu Baizhang on a hay bale.

The sun shone on his shoulders, and fine beads of sweat appeared on the back of his neck, glittering like the packets of star paper that cost two yuan at the store outside the school gate.

Xu Baizhang sat in the sun, unable to see him, like a lonely and focused child.

Yu Qingtang, holding a big bunch of dandelions, sat beside Xu Baizhang. “I’ll blow this for you.”

Xu Baizhang smiled. “Did the children infect you?”

“Is that a bad thing? I went above and beyond completing the dreams I didn’t fulfill as a child today.”

Xu Baizhang: “Blowing dandelions is your dream?”

“There aren’t that many dandelions in the city, and besides, I didn’t have many chances to blow dandelions.”

Xu Baizhang: “What did you play then?”

Yu Qingtang: “I didn’t play. I studied.”

His childhood was spent at a desk late at night and in various competitive classes.

Xu Baizhang pushed the seeds toward him. “You blow.”

“Together.”

“One, two, three.”

The warm breeze carried the seeds toward them. The white dandelions, mixed with the wind, passed through Yu Qingtang’s hair, like the sparks flying off a sparkler.

The children were having a water gun fight behind them. The water columns sprayed into the sky scattered down, misting into tiny droplets that formed an incomplete rainbow behind Yu Qingtang.

The rainbow was never the main attraction; the person in the middle was.

Xu Baizhang reached out and brushed a dandelion seed from his ear. The small, fluffy tuft clung to the tip of his ear, and for a moment, it was impossible to tell which was softer: the skin or the seed.

The flying seeds seemed to freeze, the scene playing out in slow motion. Yu Qingtang tilted his head, feeling the sensation of his fingers, which were tucked into the hay bale, being grasped firmly.

The midday sun was blinding. Their adult hands overlapped, fingertip touching joint, joint pressing fingertip.

The whole world was filled with floating fluff. In the flying air, Yu Qingtang gently closed his eyes, feeling Xu Baizhang’s breath slowly approach him.

Urgent and passionate.