Chapter 126: What kind of dream? Chapter 126: What kind of dream? Yang Jinxia was driving. As she turned at the first big bend, she deliberately slowed down. Amidst the swaying of the car, she still heard Chen Xu grunt beside her. Turning her head to look, she saw that he had opened his eyes and was frowning, seemingly in discomfort.
“Are you awake?”
“Where are they?” Chen Xu was clearly still heavily intoxicated, his speech slightly slurred as he muttered.
“They all passed out because of your drinking. Surprisingly, you have a large capacity. You drank almost two bottles, and I couldn’t stop you.”
“Nonsense, I can only handle five drinks at most. None of your words are true.”
Yang Jinxia turned her head to look at him, saw his eyes half-closed, his gaze hazy, and said, “You really are drunk. I am taking you ho now.”
Chen Xu moved his upper body, seeming to rember sothing. He propped himself up a bit, then fell back down and gave up. After a while, he murmured, “I don’t want to go ho, I don’t want to go ho…”
“If not ho, where do you want to go?”
“I want to go to Grandma’s house. I haven’t seen her in a long ti. The last ti she was hospitalized, I didn’t visit her. They didn’t tell , why didn’t they tell …”
Seeing that he was losing control of his emotions, Yang Jinxia quickly soothed him, “Okay, okay, I’ll take you to your grandma’s place.”
Once he was a bit more settled, she asked, “Where does your grandma live?”
“…Shixia… Village.”
She turned her head to look at him, his eyes almost closing, clearly about to fall asleep.
“Give the detailed address, Chen Xu, Chen Xu…” She called out to him a few tis; he grunted twice, nearly asleep.
She glanced at the road ahead, saw no cars in front, and asked in a low voice, “What about that dream?”
“Dream?”
“Dream—” Chen Xu’s eyes suddenly widened slightly, his dazed expression focusing within a second, a more rational gleam appearing. He asked in a low, hoarse voice, “What dream?”
Yang Jinxia’s face broke into a small smile, saying, “You forgot? You just ntioned having a dream. You dread of Grandma and wanted to see her.”
“Is that so?” Chen Xu, rubbing his swollen head, faintly rembered sothing along those lines.
“Yes, I was about to wake you to ask for the detailed address. Earlier, you only ntioned Shixia Village.”
Hearing her ntion Shixia Village, he no longer doubted and said, “Then pull over for a sec; I’ll enter the address into the navigation.”
Yang Jinxia parked the car as instructed. Chen Xu took out his phone, opened the navigation app, entered the address, and handed the phone to her.
The car continued on its way. Not long after, the effects of the alcohol surged up again, and Chen Xu drifted off to sleep.
This ti Yang Jinxia didn’t attempt further conversation, focusing on driving and letting him rest. After all, he had been made to drink so much mostly because of her, pulling too many grievances onto him.
Grandma’s house was not too far away, about twenty kiloters from Chen Xu’s house in the town.
Yang Jinxia drove slower than normal, taking almost an hour and a half to arrive at the town, then according to the navigation’s instructions, turned onto a village road.
This road was even narrower than the one to Chen Xu’s classmate’s house she had taken earlier; it was just wide enough for two cars, requiring great caution when cars t.
Fortunately, this road was seldom traveled. After about ten kiloters, they only encountered one vehicle. Yang Jinxia simply stopped the car, waited for the other to pass, then continued on.
As they drove deeper, houses beca scarce and mountains more abundant. Although a concrete road had been laid, the plants on both sides were exceptionally lush, encroaching onto the concrete surface.
Beyond the mountains, they sotis passed through a stretch of flat land. These areas should have been farmlands, but most were now neglected, overtaken by weeds. Only a few patches near the road occasionally revealed so cultivated green vegetables.
Sotis passing through a village, they could see so elderly people sitting at the door, basking in the sun. Young people were almost nowhere to be seen.
The surroundings were very quiet, only occasionally punctuated by the sound of birds.
This silence reminded Yang Jinxia of that dream.
Finally, they entered another village and saw a stone monunt by the road, bearing the inscription “Shixia Village.”
She stopped the car and nudged the still-sleeping Chen Xu, “Wake up, we’re here.”
After calling him a few tis, Chen Xu woke up groggily, rubbed his eyes, and looked outside, “We’re here?”
“Uh, where is your grandmother’s house?”
“Just up ahead.” Chen Xu sat up, yawning as he spoke.
Before long, Yang Jinxia, following Chen Xu’s directions, parked the car in front of a house.
“Who is it?”
It seed that the noise had been heard, and an old lady ca out.
“Grandma, it’s ,” Chen Xu called out as he opened the car door.
“Xiao Xu?” The old lady recognized him and exclaid with joy, “Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?” As he approached, she slled a strong scent of alcohol and scolded, “Why did you drink so much?”
“I just ca back from a wedding reception,” Chen Xu explained, holding his grandmother’s hand.
Grandma’s attention was drawn to Yang Jinxia, who had just gotten out of the car. She asked, “And who is this?”
Feeling a bit dizzy from the breeze, Chen Xu responded, “My friend. You can call her Jinxia.”
“Hello, Grandma,” Yang Jinxia greeted politely.
“This friend of yours is very charming,” Grandma praised. She spoke in her local dialect, which Yang Jinxia understood. “Thank you, Grandma.”
“Co inside, the wind is strong outside.”
Grandma invited them into the house and, seeing that Chen Xu seed not in high spirits, said, “Look at you, having drunk so much, go upstairs and rest.”
“I haven’t even had a chance to chat with you yet,” Chen Xu protested weakly.
“We can talk after you’ve had so rest, co upstairs with now,” Grandma insisted, heading upstairs without waiting for a reply.
Yang Jinxia saw Chen Xu staggering slightly, obviously feeling the effects of the alcohol again, and helped him up the stairs.
In a room, Grandma took out sheets and a blanket from a cupboard and spread them on the bed.
At this point, Chen Xu really seed unable to withstand it any longer. He had never drunk so much before, had slept all along the way, and now felt sleepy again. He lay down on the bed and soon fell asleep.
“Let’s go out,” Grandma said in Mandarin with an accent.
They left the room and entered the living room.
“Would you like so tea?” Grandma asked.
“No, thank you, I’m not thirsty.”
Still, Grandma poured her a cup of hot water. After sitting down, she looked at Yang Jinxia kindly and asked, “Are you and Xiao Xu dating?”
Yang Jinxia gently wrapped her hands around the cup, feeling the warmth from the hot water, and shook her head, “Not yet.”
“That will be soon then. Xiao Xu has never brought a girl to et before,” Grandma smiled brightly. “My grandson is good in every way, except he’s not good at expressing himself and keeps everything to himself.”
As she spoke, she grabbed Yang Jinxia’s hand and said, “I hope in the future, you can be understanding towards him.”
“I will.”
Yang Jinxia said, and then changed the subject, “Grandma, Chen Xu seems really close to you.”
“That’s right. He was with since he was three years old until he started elentary school, then he went to live with his grandmother.”
Yang Jinxia, curious about Chen Xu’s upbringing, asked, “What about his parents?”
“Where we live is a poor place, and his parents didn’t want to spend their lives farming, so after getting married, they tried their luck in the big city. When Xiao Xu was three, his mom got pregnant again, so they sent him back to to take care of.”
“Then there was an accident, and they lost the baby. His mom took a big hit from that, her health was weak, and she never did take him back with them. It wasn’t until he was seven, in order to give him a better education, that they sent him to his grandmother’s.”
“There, there were several kids, his uncle’s, his aunt’s, adding up to seven or eight kids including him. His grandparents were biased, only caring for the oldest and the youngest. Xiao Xu was hardly noticed there. He even got bullied by his cousins.”
“You wouldn’t believe it, but as a child, he was cheerful, loved to laugh, was sensible, and sweet-talking. After spending a few years at his grandma’s, he totally changed, beca very introverted, and reluctant to talk about anything. It broke my heart to see. I’ve always regretted not insisting on keeping him with .”
Yang Jinxia listened quietly, her eyes drifting towards the door, recalling her dreamlike interactions with him, feeling a tinge of sorrow in her heart.
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