Free Web NovelChapter 659: Chapter 657: Haven’t Bathed in 100 Years
"Back then, you said the owner of the Jade Pendant would save me from the abyss. Were you just trying to trick me?" Su Shuochi ventured.
"That’s right, I was tricking you. But it wasn’t a complete lie. My brother-in-law is very famous in the Imperial City. He’s mentored people all over, and he has a wide network. Surely one of them could have helped you, right?"
The old man spoke slowly, his tone filled with pride.
After hearing him out, Su Shuochi finally understood that the man was just an ordinary old fellow.
He had just wanted to use him, by giving him the Jade Pendant, to find his family. Unfortunately, his sister had passed away many years ago.
He didn’t feel the slightest bit of anger at being deceived. After all, this beautiful misunderstanding was precisely what had led to his success.
By a strange twist of fate, the Jade Pendant had been his wife’s dimensional space from a past life. It truly was destiny.
When Su Shuochi heard his surname was Ye, he guessed the old man might be Grandpa Gu’s brother-in-law.
He turned and instructed his son, "Xuanxuan, share some of your snacks with the old man. He might be your granduncle."
"You got it!" Xuanxuan immediately took a few small cakes from the bag of food his dad had brought and handed them to the old man.
"Granduncle, please eat. My sister and I love these cakes. My mom made them herself, you know."
’Actually,’ Xuanxuan knew, ’Dad made these cakes himself. He can’t bear to let Mom do any work anymore.’
But he was too embarrassed to tell a stranger all that.
’I have my pride, too. My young mind can’t accept having a dad who’s so scared of his wife.’
"Oh, my good grandson, thank you. I really envy you for having such a wonderful mother."
The old man happily took the small cake and devoured half of it in one bite.
"Granduncle, slow down, don’t choke. Have some water first. There’s more if that’s not enough!"
Watching the old man beside him wolfing down the food, Xuanxuan’s heart ached. He felt the old man was truly pitiful.
"Mmm-hmm." Though his mouth was stuffed with cake, the old man still managed to mumble a response to Xuanxuan.
He hadn’t eaten anything so delicious in decades. The moment he tasted it, he swallowed it down.
Even when he choked and coughed some of it up, he used his grimy hands to stuff the cake back into his mouth, his eyes bulging as he forced it down.
Watching him made Xuanxuan anxious. "Granduncle, please drink some water! You can have some fruit in a bit."
As he spoke, Xuanxuan took out a Red Fuji apple and handed it to the man, terrified he would choke to death on the cake.
"Okay, okay!" After eating five more small cakes in a row, the old man finally stopped.
He then started on the apple, the loud CRUNCH CRUNCH making it sound as if he were eating some rare delicacy.
Su Shuochi looked at the man in the back seat, who seemed as if he hadn’t eaten in eight hundred years.
He shook his head helplessly. Pity, compassion... a mix of complex emotions flooded his heart.
Even at his lowest point, he had never been this wretched. He saw in the rearview mirror that his son was also looking up at him.
The father and son’s eyes met. Su Shuochi gave his son an apologetic look, as if to say, ’Sorry to put you through this.’
Little Xuanxuan smiled understandingly and returned his dad’s gaze with a look of his own: ’If you don’t mind him, Dad, then I don’t mind how messy he is either.’
A bittersweet pang went through Su Shuochi’s heart. His son was truly getting smarter and more considerate as he grew up.
’Loving one person with all my might in this life is enough for me.’
’And that person gave me three incredibly bright children. Right now, I have everything I could ask for.’
’As the saying goes, many couples are like birds that fly their separate ways when disaster strikes, but those who stick together through thick and thin are extremely rare.’
’And even among those few couples who can endure hardship together, once the hardship is over, small conflicts often erupt into major, irreconcilable problems.’
’They start to argue, blaming and complaining about each other. "You held back my career," one might say. "You wasted my youth," the other retorts.’
’The couple is no longer the sweet, inseparable lovers they once were, but have become bitter enemies who wish each other dead.’
’When a marriage reaches a point where it’s filled with nothing but resentment and accusations, neither partner can sustain it.’
’It just gets more and more tiring, more and more difficult, until both sides, emotionally broken, go their separate ways.’
’A poor couple faces a hundred sorrows; there is no "togetherness" in that.’
’In any couple that endures hardship together, one person must always give more than the other. That’s what it means to endure together.’
’So, will the one who gives more eventually start keeping score, feeling they’ve sacrificed too much?’
’Will they come to believe that the other person held them back, that the other person owes them?’
’And the one who benefited will become unhappy under this pressure, unable to accept it or face it. In the end, they’ll just blame each other and have a falling out.’
’There are surely people in this world who change after experiencing both prosperity and suffering, but that will never be him and her.’
’His love for her was true, pure, and flawless. And hers was the same for him.’
While driving, Su Shuochi thought about his wife, and he glanced at his son in the rearview mirror.
The father and son exchanged occasional glances, saying nothing more. The only sound on the way was the old man continuously eating.
’Xuanxuan was truly impressed by his disheveled granduncle. The man could really eat.’
’And he didn’t spit out the skin, whether he was eating an apple or grapes.’
’He thought of his cute, sweet little sister at home, who would only eat apples if they were cut into small pieces and served with a toothpick.’
The car finally arrived at its destination: the entrance to the Su family villa.
Su Shuochi parked the car. Xuanxuan opened his own door, then moved to help his granduncle get out.
"Xuanxuan, you get out first. I’ll help your granduncle," Su Shuochi said gently.
"Thanks, Dad," little Xuanxuan said and obediently got out of the car.
"Daddy, Daddy, you’re back! Mom and Big Brother are cooking." Susu heard the car and came running out on her short little legs.
"Daddy, who is he?" Susu smelled a sour stench and looked up to see her dad helping a disheveled old man.
Su Shuochi saw his beautiful daughter running toward him. He normally loved it when his daughter threw herself into his arms.
But this time, he quickly stopped her. "Sweetheart, why did you run out? This is your granduncle. Maybe you should stand back a bit? He probably hasn’t bathed in a hundred years."
"If Daddy isn’t afraid of him being dirty, then Susu isn’t afraid either. I’ll help you with Granduncle too," Susu said bravely.
’The worst that can happen is I’ll have to take a bath when I get inside. My big brother sat with our messy granduncle for so long, I can’t be a wimp.’
And so Susu, dressed like a little princess, also took hold of the old man’s sleeve and walked into the house with them.
As Su Shuochi helped Mr. Ye into the house, he ran right into his wife, who was coming out of the kitchen.
Gu Jiaojiao was wearing loose, comfortable loungewear. She froze for a moment when she saw Su Shuochi helping an old man. "Shuo Ci, who is he?"
