"It's the metal kind, the ones with ice blades," Su Lei gestured. "Jiang Chengzhou just bought a pair, twenty-eight bucks."
Fan Biyun's expression changed. "Twenty-eight bucks?! Who bought them for him?"
Su Lei: "His aunt."
"Which aunt?" Fan Biyun blurted out, then immediately realized, "You mean Lin Zhilan?"
"Yeah, Third Aunt bought them for him."
Fan Biyun pressed, "Are you sure your grandparents didn't pay for it?"
"No!" Su Lei said impatiently. "Third Aunt paid for it, I saw it with my own eyes. If you don't believe me, ask my brother."
Su Ming gave an affirmative grunt.
Fan Biyun muttered, "Could she really be that generous? She's probably just putting on a show for Mom and Dad."
Su Lei tugged at her clothes. "I don't care, Jiang Chengzhou has ice skates, I want them too."
"Where would our family get the money to buy that?" Fan Biyun shook him off. "Go ask your dad for it."
"Dad?" Su Lei looked at his father.
"The money is all with your mom, why ask me?"
The couple passed the buck back and forth.
Su Lei looked back and forth, then suddenly ran out.
"Where are you going?" Fan Biyun shouted, chasing after him.
"I'm going to Grandma's house to get my uncle and aunt to buy them for me!"
Fan Biyun chased after him anxiously. "Where would your uncle and aunt get the money to buy you skates?"
Lin Zhilan didn't care at all about the fuss Su Lei was making at Fan Biyun's maiden home.
After taking the children to play at Qianhai for the whole day, the group finally prepared to head home when Jiang Chengzhou could barely manage to let go and skate on his own.
Jiang Chengzhou's face was flushed red from playing, and he looked excited. "Auntie, can I come back and play tomorrow?"
Lin Zhilan thought for a moment. "Tomorrow is the twenty-fourth of the twelfth lunar month. We have to sweep the dust and clean the house for the new year. I won't have time. How about letting your uncle go with you?"
Xu Yueyun quickly said, "Your whole family should go. The old man and Auntie Yu are here at home."
Su Bingcheng said the same.
Jiang Chengzhou said, "Then I'll clean the house with you, and we can all go together when we're done."
"No problem."
The group headed home happily. As soon as they pushed open the door, Auntie Yu came up to greet them.
"Comrade Xu, Comrade Su, hurry and see who is back!"
"Dad, Mom, I'm back!"
Everyone looked toward the voice. A tall man in a blue sweater stood at the door.
With thick eyebrows and large eyes, he wore thick glasses on his nose. His hair was slightly graying, and his face looked a bit haggard, making him look even older than Su Lang's eldest brother, Su Ding.
Xu Yueyun stood frozen in place, the gloves she had just taken off almost falling to the floor.
"Xiao... Xiao Jue?"
Su Jue took large strides over, stopped in front of Xu Yueyun, and said with a choked voice, "Mom, I'm back."
Xu Yueyun's lips trembled, unable to speak for a long time.
Lin Zhilan stepped forward and rubbed her Neiguan acupoint for a moment. "Mom, Second Brother being back is a good thing. Don't get too worked up."
Xu Yueyun nodded and patted her hand. "Good girl, I know."
She turned around, suddenly raised her hand, and started pounding her fists against Su Jue.
"You heartless thing! After all these years, you didn't even send a single letter back. Did you ever think about your wife and children? Did you ever think about your old mother?"
Su Jue stood motionless, letting his mother hit him, only saying, "Mom, I know I was wrong."
As Xu Yueyun hit him, tears fell, and she grabbed her son's clothes and began to cry.
Su Jue's eyes also grew red. He reached out and pulled his mother into his arms. "Mom, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."
Xu Yueyun buried her face in his chest, her shoulders shaking.
Su Bingcheng walked over and patted his wife's shoulder. "Alright, stop crying, or you'll feel awful later."
"Dad..."
Su Bingcheng was not a man of many words; he just replied softly, "It's good that you're back."
Su Jue let go of his mother and greeted Su Lang and Lin Zhilan. "Xiao Lang, Third Sister-in-law."
"Second Brother."
"Second Brother."
Lin Zhilan held Jiang Chengzhou's shoulder. "Chengzhou, call him Second Uncle."
"Second Uncle." Jiang Chengzhou looked at Su Jue with a somewhat scrutinizing gaze. Anyway, aside from his own uncle, Jiang Chengzhou had mediocre impressions of his grandfather's other sons.
Although Second Uncle didn't look as annoying as Eldest Uncle, he looked a bit old-fashioned and didn't fit Jiang Chengzhou's aesthetic tastes.
"Second Uncle~"
A crisp and pleasant child's voice broke the heavy atmosphere.
Xu Yueyun broke into a smile through her tears and wiped her eyes. "Little Darling, you can't call him uncle, you have to call him Second Uncle."
"Second Unca!"
Little kids often mix up their consonants, but fortunately, Su Jue didn't mind and answered with a smile.
Su Jue tried to pat Jiang Chengzhou's head, but Jiang Chengzhou took a step back to dodge it.
He froze for a moment but didn't force it. "Chengzhou has grown up too."
Lin Zhilan noticed a young woman standing behind Su Jue, holding the hands of two half-grown girls, who was also wiping her tears.
Of the two girls, the older one was around ten, and the younger was only five or six. Both had inherited the Su family's good looks.
Seeing their mother cry, the two girls were a bit at a loss.
Lin Zhilan took the initiative to walk over. "Second Sister-in-law, I'm Zhilan."
Deng Jing hurriedly wiped her tears and nodded. "Hello. Peipei, Yaoyao, hurry and greet Third Aunt!"
Peipei and Yaoyao: "Hello, Third Aunt."
"Hello."
Lin Zhilan squatted down, just about to chat with the two girls, when Linlin rushed over and squeezed into her mother's arms.
"Baby, this is Second Aunt and your sister."
"Auntie Unca, sister." Linlin greeted them obediently, then cupped her mother's face and whimpered softly.
Lin Zhilan smiled. "What's wrong with you now?"
Linlin whispered in her ear, "I want to be a big sister too."
"Big sister." Su Yao said astonishingly.
Linlin's eyes lit up. She turned to look at her. "I'm the big sister?"
Su Yao shrank behind Deng Jing.
Linlin was persistent, chasing after her to ask, "Am I the big sister?"
Su Yao was a bit introverted and couldn't handle her enthusiasm, burying her head between her mother's legs.
Lin Zhilan helplessly pulled her daughter back. "Later on, we'll get you a puppy, and you can be its big sister, okay?"
"Okay!" Linlin readily agreed.
Lin Zhilan held onto her. "Come on, let's go to the room and get the gifts for your sisters."
Linlin nodded, tilting her head to glance at Su Yao. "Wait for me, I'll be right back to play with you."
Linlin used to be quite a quiet little girl, but ever since Su Lang had been staying at home for the past half year, taking her out to run around whenever he had free time, her personality had become much more lively.
After they entered the room, Su Pei couldn't help but smile. "Mom, Third Aunt and my little sister are really fun."
Deng Jing also breathed a sigh of relief.
Having just one sister-in-law like Eldest Sister-in-law was already hard enough to deal with.
Fortunately, Third Sister-in-law seemed like a reasonable person.
It was Lin Zhilan's first time visiting, and she had brought gifts for all the children in the family.
Because her first impression of Su Ming and Su Lei was really quite poor, she hadn't brought them out at the time.
Lin Zhilan brought a small rattan suitcase out from the room.
The gift she had prepared for Su Pei was a new schoolbag.
It was a black, artificial leather backpack made in Shanghai, with double shoulder straps, looking square and sturdy.
