Chapter 795 - 425: Let Time Give the Answer (2)

My cousin mustered up her courage: "Mom, say no more, I’m writing... I’ve already got over thirty thousand words. Brother, can you guide me a little later?"

"No problem at all."

Li Peifeng said with a smile, "If your writing is good, once it’s published, I can even give you a solo Chapter recommendation."

"That would be great... but I feel like my writing is really bad. It took me more than two weeks to just get this thirty-thousand-word start." My cousin said happily, yet with some guilt.

"Take it slow, no one writes like a god on their first try."

My second aunt and uncle work as laborers in a swimsuit factory. The couple earns over ten thousand yuan a month, and they live fairly comfortably. However, their daughter, Ding Xueran, is attending a second-tier agricultural school, which makes them constantly worry about her job prospects.

My second uncle doesn’t understand what a Chapter recommendation is, but seeing his daughter happy, he thanked Li Peifeng for his help and then encouraged his daughter: "This time, you can’t just fish for three days and dry the net for two. Since you want to write, be persistent. Don’t let your brother’s help go to waste; maybe you can even adapt your work into a TV drama and make big money."

Ding Xueran looked annoyed and remained silent, thinking to herself that her parents had too high expectations of her. Adapt into a TV show? She feared that even getting a contract would be difficult.

From another table, my eldest aunt chimed in, smiling, "Peifeng, that TV series ’Devil CEO’ turned out really well, and it seems quite popular... Any more of your works hitting the screen soon?"

"Currently, there are no plans for films or TV shows, but there are two animated adaptations set to be released this year."

"Really? Which works are being adapted?"

"..."

As a successful, married man with children, Li Peifeng didn’t have the awkward troubles that young people of today face when returning home for New Year, like being asked about marriage or salary.

The focus of the conversation at the table revolved around him, and everyone chatted away with ease, touching on various topics, creating a harmonious and friendly atmosphere.

"Ding-a-ling~"

Halfway through the meal, amidst the chaotic chatter, Grandpa Li Tiancheng received a phone call on his mobile. Initially smiling, thinking it was a call from a relative or friend wishing a happy New Year, his face turned somber shortly after engaging in the conversation and he hung up.

"Who was it?"

Li Qiyuan, sitting nearby, had caught snippets of the conversation, and his expression also became grave.

"Your Brother Liang, saying that your great uncle might only last a few more days, possibly not even through the fifteenth."

Li Tiancheng said softly, "After dinner, drive me to Sanda Town. I must see him one last time before he passes, and I’ll stay in the old home for a few days... sigh."

Though spoken softly, everyone at the table heard it.

Li Qiyuan’s great uncle, who was also Li Peifeng’s great-granduncle, and Li Tiancheng’s own brother... was about to pass away?

At a moment meant for joyful reunion, such news inevitably shifted the conversation among relatives to this matter.

"During New Year’s time, how truly unfortunate..."

"How old is he now?"

"Does he have any illnesses? Has he gone to see the doctors at the big hospital?"

Li Tiancheng took a sip of his drink, pondering, "My older brother was quite healthy; even in his seventies, he was often working on the farm. But a couple of years back, he got hit by an electric scooter and got injured. Speaking of which, seventy-three or eighty-four, the underworld’s king doesn’t invite you, and he’ll be eighty-five after New Year, which is considered a long life... Let’s not talk about it, let’s continue eating."

With that, Li Tiancheng poured a cup of wine and toasted the group, and then he deliberately changed the subject, asking if Li Peifeng had chosen a name for his great-grandson, as if the previous call was completely forgotten.

"There are a few names shortlisted, but I haven’t decided yet."

As Li Peifeng answered, he noticed his grandfather’s severely trembling right hand while pouring wine, and the forced smile mingled with sadness hidden beneath it. Suddenly, he began to understand better why his parents insisted on having this gathering, even reminiscing about the day his grandmother passed away.

Like the horse in the chasm, or the fire in the stone, or the body in the dream.

People’s understanding of time, their insight into life and death, only emerges after experiencing a near-death encounter personally, or when noticing their parent’s gray hair, withered face, or after the death of a close kin.

With each event, they tend to gain new perspectives on life.

What left the deepest impression on Li Peifeng was during the winter break of his sophomore year, when his grandmother passed away due to a stroke caused by diabetes.

It wasn’t all that sudden since his grandmother had been troubled by diabetes during her later years, leading to paralysis and long-term bedriddenness, sometimes clear-minded and sometimes confused, needing his grandfather’s care.

A week before her demise, her condition worsened, and she’d been lying in the hospital, but the family had already prepared themselves mentally.

"The death certificate just came... And this old woman, she didn’t say a word to me at the end, not even a thank you, and just left without a sound."

As the family arrived at the hospital ward, Grandpa Li Tiancheng immediately began complaining about his wife to them, waving the thin piece of paper around.

He neither shed tears nor displayed sorrow or distress; his tone was like that of the occasional complaints he used to make while his wife was still alive, about having to change her diapers three times today after she became bedridden due to her illness.

The grandmother herself, however, lay peacefully in bed, her expression kind and serene, as if she were merely asleep.

The junior family members present seemed to understand Grandpa Li Tiancheng’s reaction: it wasn’t that the couple’s affection was lacking, but rather years of caring for a sick spouse had made him somewhat resentful, and also, because his grandmother had just stopped breathing, he hadn’t yet accepted the reality of her passing, subconsciously believing his wife was still with him.

The gap between life and death doesn’t explode into grief in an instant, rather, in the following routine, one slowly comes to realize that the person is truly no longer there.