Chapter 47
The winter sun’s rather bright light passed through the dilapidated eaves, refracting into colorful spots on the window and illuminating the slightly damp floor inside.
Grandma walked to the front and came face to face with her little grandson, Tiantian.
“Oh my! Why is it Tiantian!”
Grandma’s wrinkled face instantly bloomed with a smile, the wrinkles at that moment as brilliant as a chrysanthemum. She ruffled her little grandson’s head with her wrinkled hand.
“It is, it’s Tiantian!”
Tiantian called out to his grandma. Knowing that his grandma couldn’t hold him anymore, he hugged her leg and looked at her with his sparkling little eyes.
“Grandma, I’m here to see you. Did you miss me?”
Grandma reached out and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, nodding.
“Of course I missed you. How did you get here? Who brought you?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Xiuze, who was a step behind, walked in with a pile of gifts.
He was tall and had long legs. When he walked in, he made the originally small living room seem incredibly cramped. He exuded an air of nobility, as if he didn’t belong here.
Shen Xiuze was very polite. Although there was a hint of distance in his eyes, his actions were impeccable.
He put down the gifts and nodded at Grandma in greeting.
“Sorry to bother you. Tiantian said this morning that he wanted to see you. We came in a hurry and didn’t prepare anything too good. Please accept these gifts.”
It was not Shen Xiuze’s style to visit someone’s house empty-handed.
Grandma could tell at a glance that these gifts were valuable and wanted to refuse, but Tiantian quickly tugged on her sleeve.
“Grandma, accept them. Big brother bought them. He’s paying.”
In other words, Shen Tiantian didn’t feel bad at all about fleecing Shen Xiuze.
Shen Xiuze looked at Shen Tiantian, whose little mouth was as if it had been dipped in ice, and whose words made one’s heart turn cold. He couldn’t help but smile helplessly.
Seeing this, Grandma couldn’t refuse any longer and accepted the gifts.
She was about to ask Tiantian why he had suddenly come to see her when she turned her head and saw that her other little grandson, Ye Jiabao, was also here.
“Why is Xiaobao here too?”
Ye Jiabao hadn’t come in just now. He had looked around outside but hadn’t found any film crew.
He couldn’t help but feel a little discouraged. He walked over to his grandma and sat down on a small stool.
“Grandma, I’m here to see you!” Ye Jiabao flashed a smile and leaned against his grandma.
Grandma said “good” several times, her smile deepening. In the end, she was soft-hearted and couldn’t help but ruffle Ye Jiabao’s head.
“How have Xiaobao and your mother been lately? You’re a big kid now, but you can’t be as eager for quick success as your mother. Study hard. You still have a long life ahead of you.”
A hint of impatience flashed in Ye Jiabao’s eyes, and he frowned and turned his face away.
So annoying.
Every time, Grandma has to lecture me. In my previous life, she was persuading me to quickly apologize to the Shen family and bring Tiantian back.
In this life, he hadn’t done anything wrong, but he was still being nagged by her.
To put it bluntly, she was just biased towards Shen Tiantian!
“I know.” But Ye Jiabao still wanted to ask his grandma about the film crew, so he could only give a perfunctory reply.
Shen Tiantian, on the side, had already started eating.
There was a coal stove in Grandma’s main room. The fire had been lit early since the weather turned cold. Shen Tiantian had placed a wrinkled orange on the coal stove, and it was already roasted warm.
In that short time, he had peeled one orange and was taking big bites of the sweet and sour, warm flesh inside.
“Grandma, you eat too.”
There were only three small oranges roasted in total. Shen Tiantian gave one to his grandma, ate one himself, and the last one, he hesitated between Shen Xiuze and his cousin.
In the end, the scale tipped towards Shen Xiuze. Shen Tiantian’s mouth was stained with golden orange juice. He giggled and placed the small orange in front of his brother.
“Big brother, you eat too.”
Shen Xiuze was quite pleased. Seeing that the little one had even saved an orange for him, his heart couldn’t help but soften.
Although he didn’t like to eat roasted oranges, Shen Xiuze still picked it up, lowered his head, and slowly peeled the orange.
He tasted a slice of the orange and couldn’t help but hiss from the sourness.
Before Shen Xiuze could say anything, he turned his head and saw Shen Tiantian propping up his little face, staring at him with expectant eyes.
“Big brother, is this orange sweet?”
Shen Xiuze swallowed the orange without a change in expression, a hint of a smile in his dark brows and eyes as he said:
“This is the first time I’ve eaten an orange with such a special taste.”
Seeing this, Shen Tiantian’s little mouth almost drooled. He couldn’t help but smack his lips a few times and stared at the small orange.
“Then… can’t you finish it, big brother?”
Shen Xiuze was laughing in his heart, but on his face, he pretended to think and shook his head with difficulty.
“I should be able to finish it.”
At this moment, Shen Tiantian was like a little vine. He wrapped his arms around his brother’s neck, climbed into his arms, and said in a milky voice:
“But in a little while, Grandma is going to make chicken soup. You should save some room for the chicken soup, big brother.”
Shen Xiuze saw Shen Tiantian’s expectant little eyes and could only nod in agreement.
“Alright then. But the remaining orange, can Tiantian eat it for me?”
Tiantian’s goal was achieved. His round little eyes burst with a bright light, and he nodded his little head vigorously.
“I can!”
He took the small orange, sat in Shen Xiuze’s arms, propped up his two little feet, and happily broke off a small slice of the orange and put it in his mouth.
In an instant, the sourness stimulated his taste buds, as if it were dancing a fierce samba on his tongue, making Shen Tiantian’s little face scrunch up.
“Wow, so sour, so sour.”
Shen Tiantian’s fair, tender little face was scrunched up from the sourness, his eyes tightly closed, as if that could alleviate some of the sourness.
Shen Xiuze couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He reached out and pinched the little one’s little bun face, which was extremely soft.
“Drink some water. It will wash away the sour taste.”
Shen Tiantian held the cup, his eyes still too sour to open. After chugging half a cup of water, he finally let out a long sigh.
“It’s a sour orange. Big brother is a liar! A liar is a little dog!”
Shen Xiuze just let out a soft scoff, took the cup back and put it away, a hint of a smile in his eyes.
“Did I say this orange was sweet? I just said this orange has a very special taste.”
Specially sour.
Shen Tiantian thought for a moment and was actually taken in by him.
His little brain couldn’t figure out the logic, but that didn’t stop Tiantian from being angry. He jumped down from his brother’s arms and went to find his grandma.
Grandma wanted to entertain her little grandson and Shen Xiuze well. At this moment, she was with Grandpa Qin, catching a chicken in the chicken coop.
Chickens are quite intelligent animals. They probably knew that if they were caught, they would become a pot of chicken soup. At this moment, they were jumping up and down in the chicken coop.
In just two minutes, the chicken coop was filled with the chicken’s fallen feathers.
A feather also happened to float down in front of Tiantian, hitting the tip of his nose, making Shen Tiantian sneeze.
Rolling up his little sleeves, Shen Tiantian glanced at the battlefield and shouted:
“I’ll help!”
He let out a roar and charged headfirst into the chicken coop.
“Tiantian, don’t go in!”
Grandma shouted too late and could only watch as her little grandson ran into the chicken coop. Before he could even get close to the chicken, he was pecked on the bottom by another big rooster with a strong sense of territory.
In an instant, it became Tiantian running in front and the rooster chasing behind.
This chicken was very good at picking on the weak. It only chased after Shen Tiantian, its wings spread wide, its momentum fierce, as it clucked and pecked at him.
Shen Tiantian churned his two short little legs, fearfully calling out to his grandma and brother, so scared that his short little legs were almost a blur.
Grandma and Grandpa Qin, with their old arms and legs, really couldn’t catch up to this chicken.
They kept shouting from behind. In front, the chicken chased Shen Tiantian all the way out of the chicken coop, and they ran down the small path in the village, one chasing the other.
“Help, a chicken is pecking my bottom!”
Shen Tiantian cried, wiped his little tears, but his legs didn’t dare to stop. He could only run forward with his head down.
The rooster was very aggressive. Shen Tiantian didn’t even dare to look back. He ran and cried until he bumped into someone’s leg.
The person’s face was tanned dark, his hair was like weeds, but his movements were agile. He lifted the panting little child with one hand and caught the rooster’s neck with the other.
The rooster started to howl as if it were dying, flapped its wings, rolled its eyes, and almost died on the spot.
Shen Tiantian was put down by this person. He quickly ran away from the chicken on his short little legs and threw himself into the arms of his grandma, who had followed a step later, and acted spoiled.
“Grandma, this chicken… pecked my bottom. It hurts so, so much.”
Grandma’s heart ached as she comforted him, “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”
Shen Tiantian wiped his tears, looked at the rooster whose neck was being held, pouted, and looked up with his little face.
“Grandma, let’s stew this fierce chicken.”
The rooster seemed to have foreseen its fate and was now howling even more mournfully.
Unfortunately, Shen Tiantian shook his little head and said:
“My heart is made of a small stone. It’s hard and won’t soften!”
The dark-faced man holding the chicken laughed at this, his laughter hearty. He picked up a brick and directly knocked the chicken out.
Grandma quickly went to thank the chicken-catcher. Seeing that he was a stranger, she couldn’t help but be a little confused.
“Young man, you’re not from our village, are you? How come I’ve never seen you?”
On the other side, Ye Jiabao, who had wandered around the village and hadn’t found any film crew, just as he reached the door, he saw the TV director, Lin Chen’an.
His eyes lit up, and he quickly ran over, squeezed to the front, and looked up at him.
“Are you Director Lin Chen’an?!”
The dark-faced man, Lin Chen’an, let out a puzzled “eh,” thinking that in such a small village, there was actually someone who knew him.
“Yes, little brother. Do you know me?”
Ye Jiabao quickly suppressed his overly excited heart and nodded.
“Yes, I’ve seen your TV series. You’re so amazing. You’re my idol!”
Lin Chen’an couldn’t help but laugh, thinking that these two children were really interesting.
One was chased by a chicken and cried all over the village, and the other came up and called out his name.
However, meeting was fate.
It just so happened that the TV series he was filming was still short of a child actor.
