Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 132.1

City District.

Song Hongmei hung up the phone and paced around her house twice. Finally, she gritted her teeth, grabbed a bag of locust flowers, and headed to the neighborhood across the street.

This was where Seventh Granduncle lived.

Back when their house was demolished, the elderly couple had planned to live with their son, so they specifically requested a large apartment.

But plans never keep up with changes. By the time the apartment was finally completed, their son had already settled down in a remote area.

Now, they were living in this big, empty house, and just cleaning it every day was already quite a challenge for them.

When Song Hongmei knocked on the door, Seventh Granduncle was watering the plants on the balcony.

There wasn’t much choice. The residential area was quite new, but the layout of the apartment was still old-fashioned. The balcony wasn’t very big, so to make the best use of it, Seventh Granduncle installed a railing, with plastic boxes on the lower level and hollowed-out plastic pipes on the upper level. He grew scallions, garlic sprouts, lettuce, and cabbage in them.

Spring and autumn were fine, but not many plants could survive the winter.

And during the summer, in this enclosed balcony with poor ventilation, even a tomato plant could become infested with red spider mites. To make matters worse, they didn’t like using pesticides on anything they ate.

So every summer, Seventh Granduncle grumbled while buying vegetables.

The most frustrating thing was that the vegetables they grew on their own balcony, due to poor sunlight and ventilation, didn’t grow as well as those sold by the vegetable vendors!

After several years of this, Seventh Granduncle had grown disheartened himself.

However, he couldn’t break the habit of growing vegetables, so his balcony was still densely packed with greenery.

Seventh Granduncle’s wife opened the door. “Oh, Hongmei, why are you here so late?”

Song Hongmei smiled and then called out loudly, “Granduncle, I brought you a bag of locust flowers. Come and smell them, they’re delicious!”

Did Seventh Granduncle not know her by now?

He snorted, “Hongmei, did you just pick these on your way back from the village? If they had cost even one yuan more, you wouldn’t have bothered to bring them to me.”

What a thing to say!

Song Hongmei chuckled awkwardly. “Granduncle, how can you think of me like that? I’m not that kind of person.”

“Yes, you are,” Seventh Granduncle replied, still holding a grudge. “Last time, when you were eyeing my house, you brought over some vegetables that looked fresh, but I could tell right away — you must have bargained hard for them and only brought the ones that were neatly prepared.”

That was precisely why he refused Song Hongmei’s proposal to take care of them in their old age. They just weren’t on the same wavelength for daily living!

She was so stingy!

He knew all about the Song family; he couldn’t understand how they had raised such a shrewd daughter.

He didn’t even bother to look at the bag of locust flowers. With his hands behind his back, he strolled over to the rocking chair and sat down. “If you’re here to talk about the same thing as last time, let me tell you — it’s not happening. When you’re willing to bring me abalone, sea cucumbers, shark fins, and fish maw, then we can talk.”

Abalone, sea cucumbers, shark fins, and fish maw?!

Song Hongmei didn’t even consider these ingredients! Just hearing about them made her chest tighten.

She quickly replied, “Granduncle, I’m not here for myself today; I’m here for my niece.”

Seventh Granduncle showed some interest. “Which niece?”

Song Hongmei hurried to explain, “My younger brother’s daughter, Tan Tan — Song Tan. Do you remember her?”

“Oh, she’s a lovely girl, with good manners, and she’s very filial. You can absolutely trust her character!”

“No way,” Seventh Granduncle rejected immediately. “I’m not having a girl take care of me in my old age.”

“Why not?” Song Hongmei was displeased. “Isn’t that being biased against women?”

Seventh Granduncle was calm. “What do you mean, biased against women? Just look around — in the entire ten miles, even in our city, do you see any daughters taking care of their parents in their old age?”

“I don’t know what kind of person your niece is, but since you vouch for her, she’s probably trustworthy. The problem is, if she gets married, and her in-laws disagree, will she get a divorce for me?”

Seventh Granduncle was old and had seen much in life. He had also met many women in his time.

Many women, no matter how outstanding they were before marriage, seemed to lose their strength once married, doing whatever their in-laws said.

And even the strong ones couldn’t avoid some grievances after marriage. Why should he get involved in that?

To make things easier, he simply refused from the start.