January 24, 2087, the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, the second day of the winter holiday.
Half a month ago, on the day she received her salary, his mother, Sun Hui, officially resigned. She had been found to be pregnant a month prior, which meant that she and her husband had finally agreed to have a second child.
These matters didn't concern Simon for now; he eagerly arrived at Great-Grandfather's house and immediately confronted Lu Xuefeng.
"Great-Grandfather, didn't you say you were going to take the social credit exam? Why don't you keep your word?"
Lu Xuefeng pinched Simon's little cheek, "Don't mind Great-Grandfather's business."
"No, I must mind it today. If Great-Grandfather reaches social credit level 2, he can live in the city. Then he can come to our house, and I can talk to Great-Grandfather every day."
Lu Xuefeng glanced sideways at Sun Hui, his face stern. "I'm not old enough to need looking after. Don't tell the child such things."
Sun Hui smiled awkwardly, "Grandfather, Kang Kang means well. Children's words are innocent; please don't take them seriously."
Lu Xuefeng's face flushed. "You think I'm giving up, you think I..." He stopped speaking, frozen.
Great-Grandfather's anger came and went quickly, a fit of elderly indignation lacking in sustained force. When he was angry, his withered face was almost filled with engorged muscles, veins protruding, as if all the blood in his body had pumped to his cranial cavity, making one suspect that the next second, they would hear a 'pop'—the auditory hallucination of his cerebral blood vessel bursting.
Sun Hui nervously covered Simon's mouth, afraid he would say something else irritating.
Lu Xuefeng waved his hand, "You go back; I'll take care of the child."
Sun Hui was uneasy. "Grandfather, I've resigned, and I'm preparing for a second child now."
Lu Xuefeng murmured, "Second child, second child, good. When the time comes, come here to recuperate. There's a lot of radiation in the city. So, you'll stay here this winter holiday. There are two guest rooms. Another person might come to stay for two days; he can go to the attic."
...
Lu Xuefeng led Simon to go fishing.
Simon had once fantasized about boating on the lake, and this time it came true. Lu Xuefeng borrowed a small wooden boat from a neighbor who managed the lake—the kind that was handmade, crude, and rich in primitive charm.
Lu Xuefeng asked his great-grandson, "Do you know any ancient poems? Recite one for me."
"Okay. Which one does Great-Grandfather want to hear?"
Lu Xuefeng's face held a relaxed smile as he looked at the placid, light green lake surface, surrounded in the distance by vast, desolate farmlands. He felt an immense tranquility, a stillness that made young people uncomfortable. The only thing missing here was snow, so he said, "Any one with snow will do."
Simon felt a sense of déjà vu watching Great-Grandfather holding the fishing rod, so he began to recite, swaying his head: "From a thousand mountains, no birds fly; along ten thousand paths, no human trace. In a solitary boat, an old man in a straw cape and hat, fishing alone in the cold river snow."
Lu Xuefeng patted his great-grandson's head, "I'm not fishing alone; you're here, aren't you?"
Simon: "Then, Great-Grandfather, will you take the social credit exam? I don't want to be without you. When you retire and are alone, you really will be fishing by yourself."
Lu Xuefeng gently laid the fishing rod aside, picked up Xiao Lu, and held him on his lap, his arms around him, not tightly, but not loosely either. The old man's bones were firm but thin. Simon felt a slight warmth emanating from Great-Grandfather's body—a dry, irritable heat.
"Great-Grandfather isn't fishing alone; Great-Grandfather has friends. In the nursing home, Great-Grandfather will have to go accompany them later."
Simon took out his phone, intending to find the group photo of the Roma Qin Ri Wan Sui Band, but he realized his mother had already deleted it. So he put his phone away and asked directly, "Are the friends Great-Grandfather mentioned from your old band?"
Lu Xuefeng trembled slightly. Clearly, he forced himself to ask Simon in a calm tone, "How do you know about that?"
Simon turned to look at Great-Grandfather, whose wrinkled face was filled with uncontrollable fear.
"Four years ago, didn't I bring a CD player and CDs? That time, I also asked you for an autograph. That was requested by one of your fans. I didn't say what I was going to do with it then, but I actually gave it to the owner of that CD shop."
"You knew then that I used to be in a band?" Lu Xuefeng calmed down, his broad, thick fingers combing Simon's hair. The child's soft, resilient hair inexplicably reassured him.
"Yes, but Mom didn't let me talk about it."
"Your mother is right." Lu Xuefeng suddenly chuckled, and as he laughed, tears dripped onto Simon's neck. "There were five of us back then, right? Yes, five people. How many do you think are left now? Only three. Ah Zhun is gone, and Manjing is gone too. In another two years, I'll be gone too. What's the point of taking the social credit exam now?"
Simon: "Teacher said people shouldn't always live in the past."
"That's bullshit," Lu Xuefeng cursed, then immediately apologized, "I used bad language, don't learn from me. Sigh, you're still young and don't understand. When people get old and useless, taking the social credit exam is also useless. Great-Grandfather made mistakes when he was young. People like me should just rot in the ground honestly. Don't learn from Great-Grandfather; you must study hard, obey the law, understand? Become a scientist in the future and contribute to society."
"What mistakes did Great-Grandfather make?"
Lu Xuefeng wiped away his tears. Just as he was about to say something, the float on the lake bobbed up and down—a fish had taken the bait.
The old man said, "Look, it's not allowed to fish at this time, but Great-Grandfather is still fishing. This is making a mistake."
"Great-Grandfather is the principal offender, then I'm an accomplice!"
"Hahaha, good, little accomplice, let's see what we've caught."
A two-jin grass carp. Lu Xuefeng had brought cooking utensils and sliced the fish right on the boat to make a hotpot, dipping it in soy sauce. A humid breeze blew across the lake, so comfortable that Simon forgot about the important matter.
After eating and drinking his fill, Simon lay down on the boat and slept for a while. When he woke up again, he was already back in the bedroom.
Sun Hui sat by his bed, flipping through Simon's homework book.
"You're awake. How was your chat with Great-Grandfather?"
"It was useless, he's still so stubborn. He said he wants to rot in the ground, to die with his band members."
Sun Hui had her back to Simon and seemed to smile. "That's how old people are. He can't take anti-aging medicine, and he probably doesn't have many years left to live... I'm sorry, son, I shouldn't be telling you these things. Really, don't worry about your Great-Grandfather's matters; you can't control them."
...
When childhood rushed past, it was even impossible to recall everything that specifically happened. Simon distinctly remembered many details, but he just found it difficult to recall them.
The more Simon tried not to think about it, the more urgently these memories surfaced, and some specific phrases became clearer and clearer.
Southeast Province Youth Science Model Competition Third Place.
Zhang Yingxuan: "My mom is a robot!"
Su Xiangli: "Simon, you're a bad guy."
Lu Xuefeng: "Don't mind adult matters."
"Don't mind!"
"Children should just study."
"Study. You'll understand some things when you grow up."
This was a surging sea, capable of drowning Simon's childhood.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"