Chapter Forty-One Mid-Autumn

  Liu Handong walked from the northernmost part of the city to the southernmost part, returned to the rental house on Tiegu Street to pack his luggage, sent a message to Ma Ling saying he was going home for Mid-Autumn Festival, then went to Chen Bachui's motorcycle repair shop to return the brand new three-wheeled motorcycle along with 200 yuan to Zhang Dasao.

  "In two more days, it'll be your brother's turn to leave the hospital tomorrow." Zhang Da Jie pushed the money back and forth, looking at the car with some surprise: "How did you change cars?"

  "It turned out that the one was confiscated by the traffic police, and I got a new one." Liu Handong explained.

  "How can I let you spend money to buy a new car?"

  Liu Handong said that this car didn't cost any money, it was made by himself using old spare parts, and Zhang's sister reluctantly accepted, and even invited him to have dinner together on Mid-Autumn Festival.

  "No, I'm going back to Jiangbei for the Mid-Autumn Festival." Liu Handong chatted with Zhang Dajie for a while before walking into Zhu Xiaoqiang's room, wanting to borrow his computer to buy train tickets online. Today, Zhu Xiaoqiang wasn't playing DOT A, but was instead focused on writing, and when he saw Liu Handong come in, he quickly minimized the WORD document and smiled awkwardly: "What's up, Brother Dong?"

  "How's the writing going?" Liu Handong handed a Red Plum cigarette to Zhu Xiaoqiang and sat down on the bed, interested in looking at the 17K webpage on the computer. Zhu Xiaoqiang's masterpiece had been established, with a very grand name, "Traveling back to the Ming Dynasty as Emperor", and the click-through results were not bad.

  "In general, it's settled quickly." Zhu Xiaoqiang hastily closed the webpage, seemingly quite embarrassed.

  "Borrow a computer for use, buy a train ticket." Liu Handong said.

  Zhu Xiaoqiang hastily gave up his computer, Liu Handong logged onto the 12306 website and bought a hard-seat ticket for an ordinary train back to Jiangbei.

  In the late afternoon, Ma Ling came over after work, bringing two boxes of mooncakes, two buckets of peanut oil, and several bags of red dates and wood ears, asking Liu Handong to take them home to show filial piety to his parents.

  "I haven't even visited your home to deliver things, how can I accept your things? Thank you on behalf of my mom." Liu Handong's face lit up as he accepted the gift from his "future daughter-in-law" for his mother.

  Ma Ling hit him: "Want to go to my house to give gifts? First find a good job, okay? By the way, Qing Shi High-tech fired you, right?"

  "It's open, and they gave me a salary of 200 yuan. These bastards, I'd rather not work with them." Liu Handong said.

  "You saved Xia Qing Shi's daughter, at the very least they should have given you some reward, but instead they not only didn't give you anything, they also fired you. That's really not right. And that kid who got drunk and killed someone has already been bailed out, do you know under what pretext?"

  "What?"

  "Under eighteen years old!"

  "Damn it!" Liu Handong was extremely depressed. Xia Baishi's energy was indeed great, and his age could be manipulated at will.

  "Never mind, don't bother with these things, what time is the train?"

  "Midnight."

  "Then I won't see you off, be careful on the road, I'm leaving."

  Liu Handong hastily invited: "Sit for a while longer."

  "What are you sitting on, your doghouse is really messy." Ma Ling pouted and turned around to leave. At the door, she ran into Huo Lei, who had just come up and saw Ma Ling hurriedly greeting her: "Ling sister, didn't I interrupt you?"

  "Can't you see I'm already out?!" Ma Ling rushed down the stairs, Liu Handong wanted to send her off but was stopped by her words: "Don't come down."

  Huǒ Léi said: "Dōng Gē, I have something to discuss with you."

  "What's up?" Liu Handong watched as Ma Ling's ponytail swished back and forth as she walked away, his heart fluttering.

  "Shi Feng's South Qiang is just a rumor, it's just a warning that they want to deal with you." Huo Lei handed over a cigarette, which was Zhonghua.

  "Haha, if he's a rabbit, I'm Black Cat Sheriff." Liu Handong laughed carelessly.

  Huǒ Léi said: "Dōng Gē, you'd better be careful."

  Liu Handong patted Huo Lei's shoulder: "Thanks, I'll leave tonight and head back to my hometown in Jiangbei."

  Huǒ Léi said hastily: "Dōng Gē, you want to leave? Is the accommodation not good enough? I'll tell my mom to change your room for one with air conditioning."

  Liu Handong said: "No, I'm going home for Mid-Autumn Festival and will be back in two days."

  Huǒ Léi let out a sigh of relief: "Alright then, I'll send you back later."

  At 11 o'clock at night, Huo Lei took Liu Handong to the train station on his motorcycle, picked up the ticket with his ID card, boarded the train, and had just put down his luggage when Ma Ling's message arrived, asking if he had caught the train. The two exchanged dozens of messages back and forth before finally falling silent, probably because Ma Ling had fallen asleep.

  The next morning, Liu Handong returned to Jiangbei and first went back to his home on Boai Road. His stepfather was a security officer at the coal machine factory before he retired, and this old house of 50 square meters was allocated by the factory. Liu Handong didn't like it here, but because of his mother's reason, he still came here first.

  His mother was selling fish at the market, and there was only his stepfather at home. On the table were some breakfast dishes, and on the bed in the small bedroom a new sheet had been spread. The house had been thoroughly cleaned. Liu Handong ate his breakfast without saying a word to his stepfather.

  At 7:30, mother returned home with a basket of fresh vegetables and chicken, duck, fish, as well as two kilograms of loose mooncakes. Seeing the mooncake boxes and peanut oil on the table, she couldn't help but scold: "Dongdong, why did you buy these things when you came back? They're all packaged goods, wasting money. The loose mooncakes from the market are better than this."

  Liu Handong said: "This is not what I bought, it was given by a friend."

  "Mother's eyes lit up: 'Girlfriend?'"

  "It's okay, the bus company driver is a good person." Liu Handong felt a bit embarrassed.

  "The bus company is doing well and making a profit. No matter what month or year it is, ordinary people will always need to take the bus." His stepfather chimed in.

  No one paid attention to him, his mother pulled Liu Handong to sit on the sofa and asked about everything, asking what his girlfriend looked like, how he was doing at work, how much salary he had, and if he received welfare during holidays.

  Liu Handong felt a bit awkward and in order not to disappoint his mother, he could only continue the lie, perfunctorily saying:

  Work is okay, not too busy, but the money is not enough for spending, and no savings have been set aside.

  Mom said: "Just started working, definitely won't have a high salary, you've got a boyfriend and expenses are big, can't save money is normal, no worries, mom will support you."

  Liu Handong feared his mother's inquiry, so he quickly took out his phone and showed her Ma Ling's photo. This move was indeed effective, as his mother smiled with joy, holding the phone and looking at it nonstop.

  Her stepfather chuckled and asked, "What's your principal's surname?"

  Liu Handong hesitated for a moment before answering, "The surname is Wang." He didn't know what the president of the Transportation Vocational College's surname was, he just made it up on the spot. Fortunately, his stepfather didn't continue to ask anything and only smiled faintly.

  Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, as usual we go to Grandpa's house for a reunion dinner. In the first few years after my mother remarried, she still went there, but later on, she didn't go much anymore, after all, she was no longer a member of the Liu family. However, Liu Handong still goes every year, and Mother had prepared a pile of gifts for him, so he took them over after lunch.

  Liu Handong arrived at Binhe Community when Grandpa Liu Xiong was sweeping the house. He lived alone, and his home was tidy. It is said that Grandpa was from Huangpu Military Academy, and before liberation, he was a famous figure. Now, he is just an old man in his twilight years. Liu Handong put down the gifts and helped Grandpa mop the floor, make the bed, and move the Eight Immortals table to the center of the living room. Then, the grandfather and grandson prepared dinner together.

  Liu Handong had an uncle who had been suffering from kidney failure for many years. After a kidney transplant, he still had to take expensive medication for a long time. His grandfather's retirement pension was mostly used to support his eldest son. At this moment, the whole family of his eldest uncle hadn't arrived yet, and his grandfather asked about what happened to his grandson last time.

  "It's all settled, Xia Jia's daughter went to the US, Qing Shi High-tech hired me as a driver, but I got into trouble again and they fired me..." Liu Handong told his grandfather about his recent situation.

  "Grandfather concentrated his thoughts: 'Xiao Dong, what are you going to do?'"

  Liu Handong said: "I've bragged so much that I'm all out of excuses, and can only hang around the provincial capital for now. Either I'll drive a cargo truck or find a repair shop to work in - with only a high school education, it's not easy to find a good job."

  Grandpa went back to his room, took out a deposit slip: "Xiao Dong, being a long-distance truck driver and a repairman are not suitable for you. Grandpa suggests that you start your own business. There's not much money in here, just 20,000 yuan, consider it as your startup capital."

  "Grandpa, I can't take your pension money."

  "Grandpa smiled and said: 'I'm still strong and healthy, I don't need so much money. Tell me about your plans.'"

  Liu Handong said: "I want to buy a used car first and drive it. After the demobilization allowance comes, I will open my own repair shop."

  "Be self-reliant, find your own career, good, Grandpa supports you."

  The two of them chatted until the evening, when Uncle's family finally arrived. Uncle had a gloomy face and didn't look well, but Aunt was stout and carefree. Uncle's family had a son named Liu Hannan, who was one year younger than Liu Handong. He worked for an enterprise in this city, earning around 2-3 thousand yuan per month, living a tight life, and still hadn't found a girlfriend.

  Liu Handong saw a grey Chang'an Yuyang parked outside the door and asked his brother: "Is this your car?"

  "How's that? Pretty cool, right? Same as BMW's BMW gray." Liu Hannan was pleased with himself, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and surprisingly, it was Su Cigarettes for 45 yuan per box.

  "Life is pretty good." Liu Handong picked one up.

  "Blindly mixing, car loan bought, now no car can't pick up girls, our unit colleagues all have cars." Liu Hannan was spirited and lively, spouting clouds and mist.

  The elder brother and his family brought some cooked dishes, Liu Handong went to the kitchen to stir-fry a few more dishes. The Eight Immortals table was filled with wine and dishes, and the whole family had a happy Mid-Autumn Festival together. After three rounds of drinks, the elder brother spoke up: "Dad, I want to discuss something with you."

  "You said."

  "I think it's time for us to move houses, sell this old suite of yours and add some money to buy an elevator house where we can all live together and take care of each other. You're getting older and it's not good for you to be alone."

  Grandpa shook his head: "I'm old and can't take the trouble anymore. I've lived in this house for thirty years, it's got feelings, don't want to change."

  "Father, we're doing this for your own good," said the elder aunt with a dry cough. "Besides, Han Nan is getting married and needs a house."

  Liu Handong understood that his uncle's family had their eyes on the house, saying they would sell it and exchange it for an elevator-equipped apartment, but in reality, they might not let the elderly live there.

  Grandpa was very calm, picked up his wine glass, and dismissed it with one sentence: "Let's talk about the house after I'm gone."