"It's just the second day, don't rush..."
"Be quiet." Seeing that they had reached the gate of the yard and there was filming going on, Pei Sheng didn't want Pei Zhi to talk any more.
"Aunt Fang, my sister has a stomachache. Do you have any brown sugar in the kitchen?"
“A stomachache? There should be some brown sugar. Let me find it." Fang Min was preparing lunch ingredients. Hearing Pei Sheng's words, she hurriedly put down what she was doing to find brown sugar. She shared a room with Pei Zhi, whom she found to be a well-behaved and gentle child, and she was very fond of her.
"Auntie, I have to go and tackle some missions. Could you look after my sister?"
"You should go, don't worry." Fang Min didn't suspect anything and waved him off to go as soon as possible.
Pei Zhi had no choice but to watch her brother leave again. She knew that Pei Sheng was not going to do any tasks. With a sigh, she stepped into the kitchen, "Auntie Fang, let me help you."
Seeing Pei Zhi come in, Fang Min pushed her towards the door. "Why help? If you're feeling unwell, you should rest. I'll bring the brown sugar water to you later."
Where could Pei Zhi have the face to rest without doing anything, but she also couldn't say that her stomach was not really aching, and could only say: "I'll sit by the fire, and I'll leave after drinking the brown sugar water."
"That's fine. You can sit down. There is fire now. You don't need to heat it up, hear me?"
Pei Zhi nodded her head, blinked her eyes, and tried to blink away the tears welling up in her eyes.
Pei Sheng indeed didn't return to the activity center after leaving. However, Nian Suian and Gu Zhijing no longer cared whether he came or not. Their training session for seniors on cell phone usage was already in full swing.
When one of the grandpas called more people with their phones, a total of ten phones were given out when they went out.
At first, there was a grandpa who didn’t want to learn. He insisted on using landline phones at home, doing financial calculations with an abacus, and rejecting mobile devices.
However, by the time Nian Suian and Gu Zhijing were teaching everyone to browse short videos, the old man couldn't resist but lean in to watch.
〈Grandpa pretends to dislike but is actually interested〉
〈Outwardly: What's so fun about a phone. Internally: What's this? Short video? Let me take a look.〉
〈I don’t know why but I’m a bit moved seeing this. The elderly also have the need and right to embrace new things. Wishing for more societal attention towards the elderly.〉
〈Same here, seeing these grandpas and grandmas reminds me of my own grandparents. Originally I didn’t get a ticket so I wasn’t planning to go home for the national holiday. But after seeing this, I silently bought a train ticket for the bus just to go home and visit my grandparents.〉
Nian Suian and Gu Zhijing did more than just teaching them to follow the broadcast. It so happened that the activity center had Wi-Fi. She asked for the password, helped all of their phones connect, and taught the elderly folk to video call and browse short videos who couldn’t handle smartphones.
〈Just realized something, why hasn't Pei Sheng come over yet?〉 A spectator noticed that Pei Sheng still hasn't shown up, sparking curiosity.
〈Could he be slacking off?〉
"Probably got held up by something. Skipping out on the show is a laziness that's not necessary. Moreover, this isn't some kind of hard or dirty work, why be lazy?"
Having completed the task, Gu Zhijing casually asked the old folks about the kitten.
"Whose cat had kittens, I really don't know." Everyone shook their heads, continued, "Cats aren't rare in the countryside, if you want to raise one, take it and go, let it have a good life with you."
Nian Suian nodded, "We do want to keep it, but if we can't find it, we'll just let it be."
"I think I heard Mei Lan mention it once. She said her cat had kittens somewhere and didn't bring them back. Why don't you go ask?"
"Okay then." Nian Suian thought, since we've finished the task here and there's nothing else to do, let's go ask before we return.
"I'll show you the way. My house is next to Mei Lan's, and it's time for me to go back for lunch." Aunt Wang volunteered enthusiastically and invited them for lunch at her place. "Why don't you two come and have lunch at my place?"
"We need to go back for lunch, Auntie."
"Why won't you eat? You guys are doing good deeds with this show, even giving us phones, and you won't even have a meal." The old folks didn't understand what sponsorship meant. They believed that the phones were bought by these TV people. At first, they refused the phones forcefully and only accepted them after much persuasion.
Nian Suian chuckled and explained, "Auntie, we have another mission at noon!"
"Suian," as the three were leaving, they ran into Pei Sheng who was on his way, "Suian, I was looking for you, why are you back?"
"We've finished the task, how's your sister?"
Pei Sheng was still his usual self, smiling, "My sister drank some brown sugar water and rested a bit; she feels much better now. Where are you guys heading?"
"Didn't Zhijing find a kitten? We're going to find out if it has an owner, if not, we'll take it home. Don't worry, you go back first, we'll be back soon."
"Okay then, Suian. I'll go back first to help Aunt Fang cook."
Nian Suian nodded without giving it much thought.
"Mei Lan! Mei Lan!" Aunt Wang's hair was all white, but she had a robust voice. It took Nian Suian by surprise.
"Eh! Aunt Wang, what's up?" Mei Lan, the middle-aged woman, rushed out with water still dripping from her hands.
"These two, from the city for a show." Aunt Wang pointed to Nian Suian and Gu Zhijing and introduced them.
Mei Lan nodded, not fully understanding. She was aware of the show, and after the initial excitement on the first day, she didn't pay much attention.
"I found a black and white kitten, I wanted to ask if it has an owner." Gu Zhijing said.
"Yes, I remember you mentioning that your cat had kittens but hasn't brought them home, so I brought them to ask."
Mei Lan was surprised at the situation, "I brought them home last night, two of them."
"Could we possibly take a look?"
"Sure, why not, come on in."
"I won't come in. I'll head home." Aunt Wang waved her hand and continued on her way.
"It's right in the yard, the cat house was bought by my daughter, she just loves this cat." Mei Lan pointed to the cat house at the corner of the yard.
"Meow!"
The mother cat was nursing, warily watching these two strangers.
"The one I found is just like this one! I reckon it's from your house." Gu Zhijing said excitedly. He was about to ask if he could adopt the cat when he heard Aunt Mei Lan say, "It must've been left behind when it was carried back. It's okay, it's its luck to be picked up by you. You can keep it if you want, and if you don't want to, bring it back. Anyway, these two will be given away when they grow up.”
"I want to keep it!"
Nian Suian was thinking about the ancient custom of betrothing cats and what to send as a gift. However, they had nothing with them, so they planned to wait until the purchased stuff arrived and then bring something over to gift the cat's mother.
The two politely refused Aunt Mei Lan’s lunch invitation, resolved the cat problem, then headed back.
