Tan You ladled a bowl of soup for Tan Deming. After a glance at Tan Desheng, she ladled a bowl for him as well, but said with a deadpan expression, "Be careful, it’s hot."
Toward Tan Deming, she was much gentler. "Before coming back, I made a special trip to visit Doctor Zhu. He spared me a root of ginseng. I’ll make you a few medicinal meals during the National Day holiday. You’re just too thin."
"You should drink more ginseng tea every day to slowly restore your energy and vitality."
"If only we could even things out between us."
Tan Deming put on a stern face, but broke into a smile the next second. "No way. I think you’re great just the way you are. Plump and fair-skinned—it’s a sign of good fortune, isn’t it?"
Tan You rolled her eyes. "Grandpa, ’a sign of good fortune’ isn’t exactly a compliment."
Tan Deming and Wang Hunv both laughed. Wang Hunv didn’t forget to ask about Tan You at school. "You’re not getting bullied at school, are you?"
Tan Deming said, "She’s got quite a temper now. She’s the one who dishes it out; who could possibly bully her? Didn’t you see just now? Shanyun was probably furious."
"Relax. A guy like that is shameless; he’s not going to die of anger that easily." Tan You took two more bites of food and then put down her chopsticks. "Mom and Dad should be back tomorrow. It’s rare for the family to be all together, so let’s have a lively get-together."
Tan Deming said, "Speaking of which, your mom’s factory should be closed tomorrow, so it’s good for her to come back for a get-together. Ever since your mom started working, she only stops by to pick some vegetables on her commute and doesn’t visit often."
Tan You said, "Her factory is busy. It can’t be helped."
While Tan Deming’s family was enjoying a happy, harmonious dinner, the atmosphere at Tan Deji’s house was decidedly sour.
Tan Shanyun came home with a grim look on his face. Wu Yunzhen glanced behind him and, not seeing Tan Desheng, was a little surprised. "Your Second Uncle isn’t coming for dinner? I even made steamed fish especially for him."
Tan Shanyun pulled out a stool and sat down. "What’s going on over at their place? Why are the old couple listening to everything Tan You says? Didn’t you hear what Tan You was saying just now..."
Wu Yunzhen wiped her hands. "What did she say?"
Tan Shanyun repeated what Tan You had said. "Since when has Tan Deming’s family been doing so well? I saw they even have an air conditioner installed. It was running when I was over there."
"And Tan You, she’s so aggressive. She wasn’t the least bit respectful to her Second Grand-uncle. She all but called him an ungrateful bastard to his face and said we were deliberately trying to harm him by inviting him for a drink when we knew about his poor health."
"She also said... she also said..."
Tan Deji grew anxious. "What else did she say?"
Tan Shanyun glanced at Tan Deji but didn’t say anything. Tan Deji, however, knew what he was about to say. Blood rushed to his head, and he wanted nothing more than to march over and confront Tan You right then and there.
Tan Shanqin grabbed him. "What’s the use in going to find her? Isn’t it embarrassing enough already? It’s something everyone already knows."
Tan Shanyun said, "Mom, you’ve been living here the whole time, so what’s really going on with their family... Also, what is Tan Lin doing now? Weren’t they supposed to be working out of town?"
Wu Yunzhen threw down the spatula in her hand. "They came back a long time ago. Cheng Wenhui is working at the clothing factory in town now. As for Tan Lin, I think he’s just staying home and taking care of the kid?"
"So where are they living?"
Wu Yunzhen was taken aback. "In town, I guess? That’s what I heard."
"Did they buy a house in town or are they renting?" Tan Shanyun pressed. He had only been away for a short while; how could he not know about all these changes back home?
Tan Deji said sullenly, "They seemed to have bought a house. I heard Tan Lin and his wife bought it themselves to make it easier for their child to go to school."
"Cheng Wenhui’s side of the family gave them a lot," Wu Yunzhen said, slapping her thigh. "Someone came to their house last month, and Cheng Wenhui said it was her family."
’Her family?’ Tan Shanyun muttered to himself, a cryptic glint in his eyes.
Tan You naturally saw this scene unfolding at Tan Deji’s house, but she truly didn’t care. She wouldn’t waste her thoughts on these people. The vast sea of stars in the distance was still waiting for her, so how could she let others disturb her peace of mind?
When Tan Desheng returned, Wang Hunv moved into Tan You’s room to stay. She knew Tan You was a bit of a neat freak, so after dinner, she brought some hot water and wiped down the entire bamboo mat.
Seeing that Tan You was preparing to study, she went to the living room and even turned down the volume on the TV, worried about disturbing her.
Tan Desheng sat on the armchair on the other side. He was ostensibly watching TV, but his mind had already drifted off somewhere. Seeing that Tan You wasn’t coming out, he couldn’t help but ask, "It’s a holiday, aren’t you going to take a break?"
Tan Deming pushed a cluster of grapes toward him. "She’s not interested in this stuff. She prefers staying in her room. Let’s just watch our show. We’ll go to bed on our own later, no need to mind her."
Tan You was more than happy with this arrangement. She truly looked down on this second grand-uncle of hers, Tan Desheng. When he was young, he fooled around and divorced his first wife.
After the divorce, he let himself go completely. Back then, his work unit assigned him a decent-sized apartment. Unfortunately, because of his philandering, his children were not close to him either.
So after Tan Desheng retired, his children basically left him to his own devices since he had a pension. Whenever Tan Desheng was short on cash, he would sell the house he was living in and move into a smaller one.
The leftover money would be his spending cash. And just like that, Tan Desheng’s houses got smaller and smaller.
Cheng Wenhui once even joked that Tan Desheng kept trading down to smaller and smaller houses, and his last trade would be for an urn.
Even though Tan Desheng’s health was failing now, his lecherous nature hadn’t changed. A few years ago when he came back, the family of a woman he was involved with even came knocking on their door. Thinking about all this, Tan You felt that just having Tan Desheng in the house was dirtying the place.
In the early morning, Tan You stuck to her biological clock of waking up at five. Since she had the day off, she practiced her basic dance exercises in her room. She could now complete a full set of basic exercises, and her body had been trained to be very flexible.
Tan Deming and Wang Hunv were also early risers. While Tan You was stretching, Tan Deming grimaced on the side, as if he could feel her pain for her.
"I thought that once you went off to school, you’d stop practicing all this." Seeing Tan You stand up, Tan Deming pulled out a towel and handed it to her.
Tan You wiped off her sweat haphazardly. "No way. I’ve worked so hard for so long. If I let it go to waste, it’ll be even harder to pick it up again later."
Tan Deming remembered Tan You’s miserable state during summer vacation. "You’re right. The key to this stuff is persistence."
"Your dad called me last night. He said they’ll be home around seven-something and will bring back some groceries."
Tan You raised an eyebrow. "Is the iron rooster finally shedding a feather?"
Tan Deming coughed twice. "Your dad... well, never mind, I won’t talk about him. He hasn’t been back since he saw your Second Grand-uncle last time. I suspect if you weren’t home, he wouldn’t be coming back this time either."
Tan You said, "I get it. There’s no need. It’s not like he’s an important person, so it doesn’t matter whether he comes back or not. He doesn’t even treat us like family, so there’s no need for us to eagerly suck up to him."