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The supermarket was out of stock, so I’ll just go to another one later. After saying this, Sang Yu hurried out of the room, fearing they would ask too many questions.
Sang Xia watched everything unfold and knew that it must be that man who had come. Her sister's lips were so red, they looked even more vibrant than lipstick. It was all her fault for being too cold to go out; otherwise, she would have known who that man was. She vowed to seize the opportunity next time.
On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, while most people had not yet taken their holidays, the family of four loaded up a car full of New Year supplies and headed to the countryside. The elders at home were getting old, and going early would allow them to help clean up and prepare for the New Year celebrations.
Sang Guodong's hometown was a remote village called Sang Jia Village, located away from the city. Although the village was secluded, it boasted beautiful scenery with mountains and rivers—a lovely place indeed.
He had three brothers, being the second oldest. His elder brother was above him, and his younger brother below him. The eldest brother was not academically inclined and dropped out of school early to farm. The youngest brother had always been mischievous and uninterested in studying; he also quit after finishing junior high.
Among the three siblings, only Sang Guodong excelled in his studies and eventually went to university, staying in the city afterward. His elder brother, Sang Guodong, was sixteen this year and married to Liu Aihua, whose family lived ten miles away from Sang Jia Village. They had one son, Sang Wenqing, who was twenty-eight years old and Sang Yu's older cousin. After graduating from university, he settled down in another city and remained unmarried, which worried Uncle Sang and his wife greatly.
Every time they called him, the conversation revolved around marriage—never anything else—making Sang Wenqing reluctant to answer their calls.
The youngest brother, Sang Guoqing, was forty-six this year. His wife, Zhang Miaomiao, was from Sang Jia Village as well. They had a son and a daughter; the daughter had recently given birth as Sang Yu mentioned earlier. At twenty-one years old, she did not enjoy school and dropped out before graduating high school. Therefore, her family arranged for her to marry someone from a neighboring village whom they knew well.
Last year, having just reached the legal age for marriage, they tied the knot. Recently they welcomed a baby boy into the world, which made both Sang and Uncle Sang envious of their younger brother for becoming a grandfather first.
Especially Uncle Sang—his younger brother was ten years younger than him; while his brother had already become a grandfather, he hadn’t even seen a glimpse of a daughter-in-law yet. This made him even more anxious; he called his son every few days with a playful threat: "If you don’t make me happy, I won’t let you be happy either! Come on, let’s hurt each other!"
From then on, Sang Wenqing’s life became even more challenging.
Sang San Shu's youngest son, Sang Wenjie, was sixteen this year and just started high school. He was doing quite well academically and seemed dedicated to his studies, which pleased Sang San Shu and his wife. They didn’t have high expectations; they just hoped one of their two children would turn out well.
Sang's grandpa and Sang's grandmother were both eighty years old this year. However, both elders were still quite healthy; they cooked for themselves and ate independently. Uncle Sang and Sang San Shu made it a point to visit them every day regardless of how late it got since they were concerned about their well-being.
The three brothers were well-known in the village for their filial piety. Although Sang lived far away and visited less often, he sent more money home than his brothers did. Uncle Sang and Sang San Shu stayed close by to help out more often. Moreover, all three brothers chose sensible wives who understood family dynamics well; thus over the years there had never been any major disputes among them or their wives.
Recently, the three brothers discussed celebrating their parents' eightieth birthday together this year.
After driving for over three hours, Sang Guodong finally arrived home. Before he even stepped through the door, the two elders heard the car approaching from the yard and hurried out to greet him.
Sang Guodong parked at the entrance of the yard. This house had been built by him several years ago as part of his property in his hometown. When constructing it back then, he intentionally left an open space in front for parking convenience; usually Uncle Sang used it for drying grains.
Now Sang Ye and Sang's grandmother lived in this house while their ancestral home had been abandoned for years without anyone living in it.
Sang Guodong had invited them to move to the city with him before but they declined because they weren’t used to city life. Considering that his elder brother and younger brother were still in the village where there were people to care for them, he didn’t press them further but welcomed them into his house instead. This time they accepted; otherwise leaving such a nice house empty would have been quite wasteful—having people around brought life to it.
Additionally, when this house was built it had underfloor heating installed so it remained warm during winter months.
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