The Obligations of the Elderly - Chapter 27

The Elder appeared dignified, noble, and courteous, but in truth, his actions were a hundred times more domineering and unreasonable than everyone else combined!

Gong Si clenched his fists tightly, glaring fiercely at the Elder.

Yet the Elder seemed oblivious to his hostility. He took a document from someone nearby-it was handed over directly as a contract.

“The terms are very generous. You won’t find conditions more favorable than those written in this contract. After all, once the Form Contract is successful, Mr. Gong Siji will become our Master’s other half. His authority will be second only to our Master, even higher than our Master’s partner.”

He paused for a moment. “Although, our family does not have a Madam.”

…Was this not even giving them a chance to refuse? Gong Si’s brows furrowed deeply.

“We hope to take Mr. Gong Siji with us today. After all, the journey will take some time, and we wish for our Master to meet Siji as soon as possible…” The Elder spoke to himself, stood up, and reached out a hand toward Ah Ji.

They actually intended to take Ah Ji away directly?!

Qiu Xia immediately stood up-

Gong Si swiftly stretched out an arm in front of his leg, blocking him.

Lowering his head, Gong Si took two deep breaths and slowly said, “We’re going together.”

The Elder gave a soft “oh,” not taking his words to heart at all.

“We are Ah Ji’s elder brothers, and I am his guardian. Regarding his work… this should count as finding a job, right? For a minor to work, the guardian’s consent is required, isn’t it?”

When Gong Si had tried to find work before, he’d been rejected several times for this very reason, only then learning about this rule.

“Hey, don’t be fooled by how well-behaved Ah Ji is now. That’s only because we, the people he’s familiar with, are around. Otherwise, he’s very difficult to care for.”

“He eats and poops a lot. His diaper needs changing every hour. Can you change diapers? Ah Ji’s poop is really stinky.”

“He cries a lot, too.”

“Are you sure you want to serve him all the way, dealing with his pooping and peeing?”

Gong Si listed Ah Ji’s shortcomings one by one. As if he knew his brother was speaking ill of him, Ah Ji first glared with wide eyes, then his eyes scrunched up, and the next second, he burst into tears.

He was healthy, had great lung capacity, and his voice was much louder than most children. When he cried, it was truly deafening.

This time, Gong Si didn’t comfort him and simply let him cry.

“Didn’t you say your conditions are excellent? Then prove it to me, let me see.” Watching Ah Ji cry nonstop, Gong Si said slowly, “We want to see your place for ourselves.”

Looking at the top of Gong Si’s head, at Qiu Xia and Dong Chun’s angry faces, and at Gong Siji’s tear-streaked, snot-covered face, the Elder pursed his lips downward, then finally nodded slightly. “You have half an hour to pack your things.”

“One hour. Just packing Ah Ji’s stuff will take forty minutes, and we need to write a notice for our old customers. Otherwise, if they don’t see us, they’ll definitely call the police.” Gong Si refused again.

“One hour. The clock starts now.” The Elder finished speaking and sat down again.

He sat upright in his chair, watching Gong Si comfort Ah Ji-wiping his nose and tears, then picking him up to help him stop hiccupping.

Ah Ji cried so hard he started hiccupping.

While Gong Si was caring for Ah Ji, the other two Gong Family youths weren’t idle either. Without even exchanging glances, they worked in perfect harmony, each packing clothes and daily necessities…

After settling Ah Ji, Gong Si joined in packing the luggage.

Finally, he took out paper and ink and wrote a temporary closure notice.

“Your handwriting is quite good,” the Elder finally spoke, offering a rare compliment.

Gong Si shot him a cold glance, applied glue to the back of the notice, and carefully stuck it to the outermost door panel.

He even covered it with a layer of transparent plastic.

“Twenty minutes left. I’ll wait for you at the door,” the Elder seemed uninterested in their household affairs. After saying this, he walked out with his hands behind his back, his attitude forceful, and Gong Si’s response equally cold and hard.

Without a word, Gong Si ran upstairs to continue packing.

Twenty minutes-no more, no less.

Exactly twenty minutes later, Gong Si opened the door right on time.

Seeing what they planned to bring, the Elder said nothing, but someone behind him couldn’t help blurting out, “Why are you even bringing a water tank? And such a big one?”

Kitchen Knife Eyes glared coldly at the Elder, while Gong Si ignored him completely.

“You go move the luggage,” the Elder simply waved at those people.

Those two, along with three others, ran over without a word to do the heavy lifting.

The Elder pointed his cane forward, and only then did Gong Si notice an Aircraft quietly waiting in the snowy night ahead.

It sat silently in the deserted wilderness, already covered in a thick layer of snow despite not having been there long-its concealment was excellent.

So they had come by Aircraft.

Never having seen an Aircraft before, Dong Chun’s eyes widened at first, but he quickly calmed down, clutching his big backpack tightly. When someone tried to help him carry it, he pushed them away.

“I’ll carry this myself!” He shouted fiercely at them, just like the Eldest Brother, then grabbed Qiu Xia’s hand tightly.

Someone on the Aircraft had already lowered the boarding ladder. Following the Elder up the ladder and entering the cabin, they realized this Aircraft was nothing like the ordinary ones often seen on TV-it was clearly a much more advanced private Aircraft.
“Please sit.” The Elder led them to the last private compartment, drew the curtain for them, nodded slightly in greeting, and then returned to the cockpit at the front.

After he left, the Gong Brothers simultaneously looked out the window, gazing in the direction of home.

They watched as people loaded their luggage one by one into the luggage compartment beneath the Aircraft. Finally, someone carried away the last item-the water jar. The remaining person then shut the main door firmly.

He also turned off the porch light.

With that, the entire house was plunged into darkness.

“Ah!” Dong Chun let out a quiet cry.

Pressing his face tightly against the glass window, Dong Chun stared fixedly at the pitch-black home.

“The light’s out,” he whispered.

Yes, the light was out.

In the already lonely Lengshui Town, the “home light” belonging to their family had gone out.

Lengshui Town wasn’t big, and people didn’t like living close together. Each household was at least a kilometer apart. There weren’t many streetlights here, so at night, each lit window was like a lighthouse, dotted across the landscape, illuminating the way home for every returning resident.

Once, their home’s light was one of those “lighthouses.”

Now it was extinguished.

At that moment, the three Gong Family youths, each of different ages and temperaments, felt the same emotion welling up in their hearts-homesickness.

Never having left home before, it was only when they were forced to leave that they understood what it meant to miss home.

The three of them quietly watched the direction of their now completely dark home, silently, silently.

No one spoke.

Amidst the low, muffled roar of the engine, the Aircraft was preparing for takeoff.

“Did you leave a letter for Mom and Dad?” Gong Si asked.

“I did. It’s upstairs, in front of Grandpa Rongge’s memorial tablet,” Qiu Xia replied.

“Did you offer incense to Grandpa Rongge?” Gong Si continued.

“I did! I even offered an apple!” This time, Qiu Xia answered.

“Mm, I also held Ah Ji and let him pee on Grandpa Rongge’s grave. That way, each of us has peed on Grandpa Rongge.” This time, Gong Si replied.

“Big Head has moved into the water jar too. Next… we’ll leave the house to the neighbors.” Gong Si said with a bright gaze.

“Grandpa Rongge is still at home. He’ll help watch the house for us.”

The Aircraft had already taken off, and as the house that watched them grow up grew smaller and smaller, the three brothers simply watched in silence, watching…

Until the house was swallowed by the heavy snow.

Just like that, they left their hometown.

“Let’s study the contract they gave us!” With the view outside now pitch black, Gong Si quickly composed himself, taking the contract the Elder had left on the table out of his backpack.

He said this to Qiu Xia, but after a while, Qiu Xia didn’t respond. When Gong Si looked up, he saw Qiu Xia’s face was gloomy.

Gong Si knew why Qiu Xia was like this.

“What’s wrong? Usually, I’m the impulsive one and you’re the calm one, always holding me back. Why are you the one losing your temper today?”

Although he wasn’t a Vessel nor a User, Gong Si could keenly sense the aura Qiu Xia gave off when he stood up!

It was anger!

At that moment, Qiu Xia truly wanted to stand up to them.

It was Gong Si who stopped him and began negotiating with the other side.

“I know what you want to do. I want to as well, but we can’t.” Gong Si said, glancing at Dong Chun and Ah Ji beside him.

“We have to endure.”

“Until you, Qiu Xia, grow strong enough to stand against those people, and until Dong Chun and Ah Ji grow up safely, I have to endure.” Gong Si’s dark eyes stared unwaveringly at Qiu Xia. “When you’re all strong, then I can beat them up.”

After speaking, Gong Si patted the seat beside him and waved the contract book in his hand. “Until then, let’s look at Ah Ji’s contract first.”

“Who would’ve thought Ah Ji would be the first of us four brothers to find a job~”

“He might even have the highest salary,” Qiu Xia chimed in.

Seeing Qiu Xia finally sit calmly beside him, focusing on the contract book, Gong Si finally felt relieved.

Leaving the two younger ones to play on their own, Gong Si and Qiu Xia began to study the contract seriously.

For both of them, reading a contract… was a first.

After all, they were still students living in a small town like Lengshui Town. Honestly, they could only understand the contract at face value.

“Ah Ji’s salary might really be the highest in the family. I don’t think I’ll ever earn that much in my life…” They could understand the terms about compensation, and precisely because they understood, both boys were amazed.

Wealth, power, ability, age-on some level, the other party’s status really matched their initial joke.

“All we can do now is take it one step at a time. Who knows, maybe our employer will be dead by the time we arrive…” Staring at his own reflection in the glass window, Gong Si pursed his lips.