Chapter Seventy
Grandma Is Doing Well
“Suck——”
My eyes were slightly moist, and I felt like my nose was about to run.
I gently hugged Grandma, feeling her bony body, and carefully laid my head on her shoulder, not daring to use much force for fear of hurting her.
She has lost more weight…
Is she just eating anything to get by every day…
Grandma sensed my emotions and patted my back softly, “My宝贝has come back… It’s good that you’re back… Now that you’re back, Grandma won’t nag anymore… Grandma mentioned you a few days ago, saying she missed you and even wrote a letter to you. Did you receive it?”
“I did, Grandma. I read the letter and came back…”
“That’s good, that’s good… Grandma was worried about giving you the wrong address. As one gets older, forgetfulness sets in. Sometimes, things are forgotten as soon as they turn around. My eyesight isn’t great, and I can’t recognize many characters. I couldn’t tell if you lived at 3 Londale Street or 13 Rudal Street…”
Grandma’s words made me think of the late Principal Bertha, and a sense of sadness welled up inside me. I couldn’t help but rub my face against her shoulder, sniffling and sniffing. The smell was of wood ashes and dry grass… with a hint of livestock, not exactly pleasant, but not foul either.
“What are you smelling?”
Grandma Claire seemed amused by my actions.
“I want to smell Grandma’s scent…”
I nuzzled her cheek like a spoiled child, my eyes squinting like a cat’s, feeling content.
“You’re like a little puppy.”
“Mmmh~”
“Alright, alright. Just hold on for a bit, Grandma will go make some food for you.”
Grandma Claire pushed my hand away, quickly turned her back, touched her face, and then shuffled towards the kitchen, muttering as she walked, “Look at you, you’re already a young lady, yet you act like a child, always clinging. If you keep hugging like that, the kids outside will laugh at you.”
As she spoke, the children outside indeed laughed.
I glared at them, “You, go back!”
The children made faces at me and scattered.
Following Grandma into the small kitchen, I said playfully, “I miss you,” while looking around. On the stove was a bamboo basket with a few pieces of hard, blackened bread. Next to it was half a dish of leftover vegetable soup.
This…
Did Grandma eat this?
I frowned and walked over, picking up a piece of bread. Sure enough, it was as hard as a stick, and the texture was rough. I then picked up the bowl of soup and sniffed it.
Ugh…
It had a sour smell.
I turned to Grandma, “Grandma…”
“Hmm? What are you doing here? Don’t touch anything, that’s not for you.”
Grandma Claire bent down, scooping flour from a corner basket with a wooden ladle and pouring it into a bowl, “Grandma will make you some warm porridge.”
She placed the bowl on the stove and turned to lift the kettle, uncovering it to reveal steam rising.
Grandma poured hot water into the bowl, mixing it with the flour, “Just in time you came, Grandma just boiled some water… Look at this flour, what a beautiful color. This is flour given by the church, sent to our home along with Barry’s salary every month. It’s very fine… Sit outside, don’t eat the black stuff.”
I still frowned, not listening to her and staying put, holding half a bowl of soup. I watched Grandma bustling around, and looked down at the cluttered kitchen filled with杂物. I couldn’t help but say, “Grandma, throw out the soup, it’s no good.”
“How can it not be good? Don’t waste it.”
“It smells sour…”
I searched for somewhere to dispose of the trash, but before I could find it, Grandma took the bowl from my hands.
“Where does it smell sour? Nonsense…” She didn’t smell it, just placed the leftover soup on the other side of the stove, “This soup is still good, save it for later. I’ll cook it tonight, and I’ll eat it myself. You don’t need to eat it.”
“But, it’s sour…”
I felt a bit sad.
“Grandma, let’s eat the porridge together…”
“I don’t need it, I’ve already eaten, I’m not hungry.”
Grandma Claire lowered her head to mix the porridge, her hand shaking as she held the spoon. She prepared a large bowl for me, “Oh, my child, you suddenly came back, and Grandma wasn’t prepared at all… In the letter, Grandma said she would make pickled deer meat for you when you returned… Eat the porridge first, I’ll go to Allen’s father to cut some, heard he got a deer yesterday…”
Grandma finished making the porridge and pushed me out of the kitchen to sit at the simple wooden table in the living room. A huge bowl of porridge was placed in front of me, and Grandma handed me the spoon, her eyes full of warmth, “Eat, quickly, while it’s hot… Oh, I almost forgot, there’s also currant…”
She turned and took a small bunch of currants from the wall, slowly walking back to the table, sitting down, and reaching for a wooden dish, “Suuu~” she blew, plucking each currant and sprinkling a few into the porridge, the rest she placed in the dish and pushed towards me.
“Picked by Uncle Doyle the day before yesterday, gave me a few bunches, fresh.” She took one out, blew on it, and stuffed it into my mouth, “Taste it, sweet?”
I chewed slowly, swallowing.
It tasted very sour…
“Eat, I’ll go squeeze some milk.” She stood up, supporting her waist, about to walk out the door, “Did you see those two cows outside? They’re the ones you sent gold coins for, brought back from the neighboring town’s ranch, quite a hassle…”
“Grandma…”
I wanted to stop her.
But my hand lifted, extended forward, then fell again.
I watched Grandma’s frail, stooped figure walk out the door, the taste in my mouth becoming increasingly sour, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the currants or my own emotions.
Tears were about to fall…
I quickly lowered my head and drank several big gulps of porridge.
Porridge, of course, wasn’t tasty.
But it was the best food in the house.
It was the food Grandma usually wouldn’t eat herself.
Soon, Grandma Claire came back with a cup of milk, which I drank greedily, finishing the porridge in the bowl as well. Grandma sat by, her cloudy eyes narrowing warmly.
Once I finished, she cleared the dishes and went out to cut deer meat for me. Finally, I stopped her, holding her rough hand, pulling her to sit down, telling her I wanted to talk properly.
“Grandma, why don’t you eat the porridge…”
“Grandma ate already.”
“But what you ate was black bread… The soup is sour… It definitely wasn’t from this morning…”
“Yesterday I cooked a pot… Grandma eats alone, not much at a time, doesn’t want to cook every meal, so left it over, it’s convenient, it’s fine.”
“Why don’t you eat some meat, some pastries… It’s not like you can’t buy them…”
“I do! How can I not eat? Grandma often eats meat…”
“You’re lying… There’s no meat at home… Nothing at all… Not even good flour,
“I can’t bear to eat…” I sniffled, my voice choking up uncontrollably, “Grandma, you should eat well by yourself… We don’t lack anything, we have gold coins… Your clothes are all worn out… You should eat better…”
“Oh, what does it matter what an old woman eats? Whether good or bad, it all goes the same way, doesn’t it? It’s just to fill the belly. For Grandma, as long as it fills the belly, that’s enough; more than that is just waste… As for your money, Grandma wants to save it, to use it for your dowry in the future… Barry hasn’t married yet either… As long as both of you can live a good life, Grandma will be content…”
“But… Grandma, you must take care of yourself first…”
Grandma smiled widely.
“What a girl… she’s a great hero, yet she starts crying like this, making others laugh at you…”
“Let them laugh if they want…”
“Good child, don’t cry… It’s alright, Grandma is fine…”
“Fine? How can you say that… You’re alone… farming, feeding the cows… so much work to do… and you’re getting older, who will help you?”
“How could no one help me! Everyone in the village is very enthusiastic, especially Uncle Doug, Allen’s father, and Aunt Mel… After Barry left, they’ve been helping me…”
“What would you do if you got sick…”
“They’ve been supporting me…”
“Why is Barry so irresponsible…”
“Nonsense! How can you call him irresponsible? Barry has grown up now, he’s a man, he’s gone to the coast to fight those demons, he’s already a knight, and Grandma is proud of him… Little Hill, you don’t know, but now all the girls in the village are competing to marry him…”
“Grandma is doing well here, and you came back with those knights this time, right? Don’t worry too much, just do your job… There’s nothing to worry about here, everything is fine. Grandma is already very grateful just to see you come back and visit…”
“Grandma, actually, I just hope you two can live safely and peacefully. Grandma is willing to pray for you every day… Oh, by the way, clothes. I was just sewing… Look, almost done, this dress is for you, Grandma has made quite a few this year… I even had a tailor add some beautiful buttons, the nobles always pay attention to these things…”
“Don’t forget to bring them when you leave…”
…
In the small room, at the wooden table, I held Grandma Claire’s hand and talked with her for a long time.
When the sun was high overhead, I took off my cloak, tied up my hair, and cleaned the inside and outside of the house thoroughly. Sweeping the floor, wiping the windows, clearing away clutter and garbage, moving the cabinets and lifting the bed, every corner was cleaned. I even dismantled a rat’s nest, and the big and small rats squeaked and ran around, scaring me so much that I almost jumped up. Together with Grandma, we chased them with brooms and sticks, killing a few and chasing the others away.
Later, I went to the small river to help Grandma wash the dirty clothes, and took the soiled bedding to be washed and hung them to dry on the wooden rack in the courtyard. Then, I chopped the hay to feed the cows and watered the little vegetable garden…
These were things I used to do every day when I was here before.
Compared to then, the house now hardly looks like it’s inhabited by people.
Grandma has piled up many useless items in the house, such as broken wooden basins, chipped bottles, dirty old cloth, faded hairpins, dolls missing an eye… These odd items, mostly picked up from outside, are scattered all over the living room and courtyard, looking messy and disorganized.
I asked her why, and Grandma smiled, saying it was a pity to throw them away, so she brought them back, maybe they might still be useful.
I wanted to throw them all away, but Grandma wouldn’t let me.
I felt very sad.
I thought of how this place looked a little over a year ago. Barry and I, and… Aria, we were all still here, laughing and playing around Grandma every day.
Back then…
She wasn’t like this…
Grandma has aged.
Many tasks she can’t do anymore, and she can’t keep troubling others, so she just makes do with what she has.
Unconsciously, the sunset’s afterglow had dyed the white clouds wandering in the blue sky red.
I supported Grandma, walking through the overgrown path, greeting neighbors along the way, slowly arriving at a field outside the village where victims of the disaster a year ago were buried.
We stopped in front of one of the steles. I squatted down and reached out to touch the crooked text on it.
“My name is Aria, a kind and brave girl.”
After a year of wind and sun exposure, the words were no longer as clear as they were at the beginning, with many worn edges, but they were clean. I could tell that someone often came here to clean up, and the stele was almost free of dust; I guessed it was Grandma Claire.
“It’s been a year…”
“Aria, Xiao Xi has come to see you…”
A wilting bouquet of flowers lay in front of the stele.
I didn’t throw them away, placing freshly picked flowers beside them, and together with Grandma, we clasped our hands and closed our eyes in prayer.
Aria…
I’m back.
I’m sorry…
After you left, we let Grandma become like this.
Me, Barry…
We both seem a bit irresponsible…
We only cared about our own affairs, as if we just left an elderly person here, letting her live alone.
Do you know, when I was in the royal city, I naively thought… Was sending so many gold coins to Grandma enough for her to live a good life? I thought she ate well every day, slept well, and dressed warmer and prettier than anyone else in the village, like a wealthy old lady… I thought it could be like that.
But today I saw…
I saw, and suddenly realized.
An elderly woman, with inconvenient legs and a frail body…
She lives alone…
Even if she has more money, how could she possibly live well?
A year has passed, and I never once thought about this… I thought that with enough money, Grandma’s life would be good… Am I…
So ridiculous…
I’m sorry… Aria…
If you were still here, you definitely wouldn’t let her be like this…
Do you know, after losing you, although Grandma still smiles like before… in her heart, something has truly left, vanished forever in this world…
It can never be found again…
Aria…
How can I help her…
Tell me…
The dim twilight gradually sank below the horizon.
I slowly opened my eyes.
At least…
I can’t let Grandma lose Barry.
Barry is currently participating in the battle at Morris Coast, the situation there is not good… Grandma seems unaware of this… She still hopes that Barry will return and become a hero in the village…
Aria…
I promise you here…
I will bring him back safely.
I will do my best…
To make Grandma’s later years peaceful and comfortable.
Watch me from above…
Please.
