Li Wen came home from school, now staying at the house every day. Though still young, he carried an air of authority that left the two aunts with no room for even the slightest disrespect.
“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Grandma,” Li Wen promised Qin Nian.
“Mom trusts you. Just don’t overwork yourself. I’ll try to transfer back as soon as possible,” Qin Nian replied.
Being far away made it impossible to feel at ease. Qin Nian hadn’t realized it before, but at this moment, she would accept any criticism. Family was as important to her as her career; she couldn’t bear to give up either side.
Grandma had been bedridden for the past two weeks, recovering from her injury. She had lost weight, and her hair had turned completely white. Thinking back to when Grandma first came to Beijing to help care for her, over eleven years ago, Qin Nian felt a pang of guilt. Grandma had given so much to their little family, aging so quickly.
A wave of fear washed over Qin Nian.
“Have you two moved in here now?” Yang Yufen asked, watching Professor Wen and Aunt Wang drop by for several days in a row, unable to suppress a smile.
“Don’t worry about being bored. All the fruit has been sold, and there’s nothing else to do. Besides, Fang Fen is three months pregnant,” Aunt Wang shared the good news with a beaming smile.
“Congratulations!” Yang Yufen replied warmly.
“There’s more good news. Although Fang Fen left the public school, she was hired by a private school as a teacher. Once the baby is born, she can start working in September,” Aunt Wang continued.
“That’s impressive, finding a job so early,” Yang Yufen remarked.
“The school needed a foreign language teacher. Fang Fen is good at math, and she teaches the kids’ foreign language well too, so they hired her,” Aunt Wang explained, handing Yang Yufen a freshly washed pear.
“Our orchard’s pears really are something else. The apples still need time to ripen, but these pears are crisp, sweet, and juicy,” Aunt Wang said.
“True. Maybe it’s because there are fewer fruits this year, so they grew bigger. One pear is more than enough for one sitting,” Yang Yufen said, snapping the pear in half. Her leg injury didn’t affect her hand strength.
An aunt who had come over to help cut the pear into smaller pieces was stunned, watching the three elderly ladies casually split one pear and continue their chat.
“Good thing you came to keep me company. Watching TV every day gets so boring,” Yang Yufen confessed.
She usually only watched the news, but even then, she wasn’t sure what to watch when alone, not wanting to waste electricity.
It was more fun when the kids were home.
“You can’t bear to watch TV every day? I think you just can’t sit still,” Aunt Wang teased.
Professor Wen chuckled at this.
“You can tell the TV hasn’t been turned on much — the curtains on it are drawn as tightly as a bride’s veil,” he joked.
“Grandma, Grandma, Aunt Wang!” Li Wen came back with Li Wu, one pale and the other sun-darkened.
“Grandma, did you miss me?” Li Wu grinned, flashing a mouthful of bright white teeth that made his dark face stand out even more.
“Miss, miss, miss! My big grandchild,” Grandma replied warmly.
“Grandma, does it still hurt?” Li Wu asked, looking at Yang Yufen’s leg, tightly wrapped in plaster.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Soon the cast will come off. Military training is tough — he’s tanned and lost weight. Tonight, he needs to eat well to recover,” Yang Yufen said.
“He only has half a day off. After eating, he has to go back for lights-out inspection,” Li Wen explained.
“Ouch, running around like that is so tiring. Grandma has been discharged from the hospital; it wasn’t anything serious.”
After saying that, Li Wen went to the kitchen to get dinner started early.
“Grandma, you have to take good care of yourself. I’m not even grown up yet to properly care for you.”
Li Wu tilted his head and nestled his big head into Yang Yufen’s arms.
Yang Yufen smiled as she gently ruffled Li Wu’s hair. His hair had been cut into a crew cut, rough to the touch, nothing like the soft, chubby little boy he used to be.
“You’re not a kid anymore, stop acting spoiled.”
Li Wen came out and saw the scene.
“Bleh, no matter how old I am, I’m still Grandma’s good grandson. You can be too—I’m not stopping you.”
Li Wu said proudly. Thick-skinned, he was someone who enjoyed life to the fullest.
Li Wen rolled his eyes in exasperation. This guy didn’t look anything like an older brother.
“Grandma, you should find someone to manage the orchard. I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
Li Wu kept on whining.
“You’re the one who got hurt, and I still have to go to school. I want to take care of you, but I just can’t. My mind isn’t even on my studies; I want to come back and be with you.”
“That’s not an option. You have to study hard. A soldier who doesn’t want to be a great general isn’t a good soldier. Grandma knows, don’t worry. Your mom even hired two nannies to help take care of me. You just focus on your studies.”
“Then Grandma, please don’t work so hard. You have to rest and recover well. I have days off every month. I’ll come back to supervise you.”
Li Wu sat up straight, his face serious.
“All right, all right, Grandma understands.”
Yang Yufen sighed helplessly. With her daughter-in-law and two grandsons fussing over her like this, how could she not listen?
“I also think the kids are right. At our age, if something happens, the children won’t be able to handle it all. Shuo is planning to stay on at the orchard officially. I want to hand the orchard over to him to manage.”
“That’s great. If Shuo takes care of it, I’ll feel much more at ease.”
Her godson was like a son to her. When Yang Yufen was in the hospital, Wang Shuo came by often to visit. He helped with heavy tasks like changing beds.
Wang Shuo loved teaching and passing on knowledge, but to help his students go further, he realized from Yang Yufen and his own mother that he needed to strengthen his own abilities.
Even without applying for land or research funding from the institute, having enough funds to support his students and pursue his own projects all depended on money.
He used to focus solely on teaching and research, never thinking so far ahead. Now that he was older, he saw the bigger picture and clearly understood the importance of money.
Yang Yufen’s recovery was steady and real—she had been lying still for three months. The cast was removed, and the nannies diligently massaged her every day, helping her move around. Outside, the heavy snow fell, and the handrails installed around the house played a crucial role.
“It really takes someone as meticulous as Nian Nian.”
Yang Yufen had said this more than once. The living room on the first floor was now covered with thick carpets, and the heating was turned up high—she was afraid the cold would seep into her bones and cause pain.
Qin Nian called almost every three days, each time carefully reminding the two nannies not to let Yang Yufen be alone.
It wasn’t until Shen Xianjun returned from his six-month advanced training that he learned about all this.
By this time, Yang Yufen was already able to walk normally. Throughout the winter, her knees had been well protected, so she hadn’t developed any issues. However, she couldn’t move around as briskly and energetically as she used to.
With the arrival of spring, the weather had warmed up, but whenever she sat outside to bask in the sun, Aunt Wang would still cover her legs with a thin blanket.
When Shen Xianjun came back, he saw Yang Yufen sitting in the yard, chatting and cracking sunflower seeds with Aunt Wang.
“Mom, Aunt Wang.”
“Xianjun’s back.”
Aunt Wang stood up.
“Why didn’t you call ahead before coming home?”
Yang Yufen felt a little disappointed since she hadn’t seen her daughter-in-law.
