The Obligations of the Elderly - Chapter 7

Lengshui Town in September had already taken on the air of autumn, especially after a night of rain yesterday.

It was chilly when they woke up early in the morning, but judging by the sky, it was going to be a sunny day, so the temperature during the day wouldn’t be too low.

None of the Gong Family brothers were the type to sleep in, not even the youngest, Gong Siji. Well, actually, he was the one who got up the earliest.

On this rare weekend, Gong Si had originally planned to sleep until eight, but Gong Siji started wailing at five in the morning: he wanted milk!

So Gong Si got up at five to make formula. After finally feeding the little guy and planning to go back for a nap, Gong Siji started crying again before six. Well, this time it was because his diaper was dirty.

This time, the commotion was louder, so Gong Qiuxia and Gong Dongchun also got up.

“Qiu Xia, give Ah Ji a bath. Dong Chun, go buy breakfast. I’ll wash Ah Ji’s diapers.” Seeing that his brothers couldn’t sleep anymore either, Gong Si simply assigned everyone a task.

“Okay~ Grandpa Sun’s bun shop is just about to open. I’ll go grab the limited-edition meat buns!” Grabbing the communal wallet from the table, Gong Dongchun dashed out like the wind-he had actually woken up from hunger, and even if his big brother hadn’t given him a task, he would have begged for breakfast anyway~

“Ah Ji, let’s go get all clean~” Picking up the little brother from the blanket, Qiu Xia smiled and poked the little guy’s dimple.

Among the Gong Family brothers, only the eldest, Gong Si, had a dimple, on the left side. He and Dong Chun didn’t have one, but now the youngest had one again, symmetrically on the right side, just like his big brother.

With his two brothers out, Gong Si picked up the scattered diapers and little clothes, then went to the second and third brothers’ bedroom to gather their dirty clothes as well-he planned to wash them all together.

Their clothes could go in the washing machine, but the little brother’s clothes were best washed by hand. He didn’t really understand why children’s clothes had to be washed separately from adults’, he just thought that the little brother’s clothes and diapers were either soiled with pee or poop, which… seemed really dirty!

The weather was great, so Gong Si simply took a big basin out to the yard to wash Ah Ji’s diapers.

The ground was still wet, from last night’s rain and the morning dew, and over the high courtyard wall, the sun could already be seen rising. The vegetable patch in the yard was lush and green, with dewdrops still clinging to the leaves, sparkling and translucent. Gong Si noticed that two more tomatoes had ripened.

One for the second brother, one for the third-he’d pick them later. As he worked, Gong Si thought about it.

Dong Chun’s grid notebook would need to be replaced soon; he was always being punished with extra homework, so he went through those notebooks really fast! Laundry detergent was running low, too. Ah Ji’s diapers needed to be washed several times a day, which used up a lot of detergent, and they’d need to buy a few packs of disposable diapers as well… When they were home, someone could wash the diapers, so Ah Ji could use cloth ones, but when they weren’t home during the day, how could they ask the neighbors to wash them? The neighbors were already kind enough to help look after Ah Ji…

Oh right, they should buy some snacks and drinks to keep at the bookstore, so the elderly folks could have something to eat when they came to read.

Gong Si carefully made a mental checklist.

Their family ran a used bookstore. To say it was their family’s was not quite right-it was Grandpa Rongge’s, or rather, Grandpa Rongge was the one who ran the used bookstore.

Among the brothers, Gong Si had spent the most time with their parents. He stayed with them until he was seven, when Qiu Xia was almost four and still too young to understand anything. Well, actually, he himself didn’t understand much either.

When their parents realized their son was old enough for school, those carefree parents quickly packed him a suitcase and entrusted a familiar courier company to send him back to their hometown.

At the time, it was said that their uncle was at home, and Gong Si was supposed to be entrusted to him. But when he arrived, the uncle had already left. Thinking about it, with such carefree parents, their uncle probably wasn’t much more responsible either.
Sitting on a suitcase taller than himself, Gong Si was grumbling inwardly.

Back then, he looked fierce on the outside-he was born with Kitchen Knife Eyes. He never thought of himself as pitiful, but in other people’s eyes, he was just a poor little thing.

A poor little thing abandoned by his parents.

In the end, it was Grandpa Rongge who took him in and brought him home.

This home wasn’t someone else’s house; it was actually the ancestral house of Gong Si’s family.

Originally, his uncle lived there, but before leaving, he rented the house to Grandpa Rongge, so Grandpa Rongge ended up living there. Grandpa Rongge even turned one of the outer rooms into a secondhand bookstore.

Grandpa Rongge had no blood relation to them and, logically, no obligation to care for him. But not only did he take in Gong Si, he also took in Qiu Xia.

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Not long after Gong Si returned home-less than half a year-Qiu Xia, with a stubborn look on his face, was sent back to his hometown by the same courier company, complete with a matching suitcase.

The moment he saw his big brother, the usually quiet Qiu Xia burst into tears.

Qiu Xia must have suffered a lot with that couple-while lifting the dirty Qiu Xia off the suitcase, Gong Si was worrying about what to do next.

But he was only seven years old. What could he do?

In the end, he could only hug Qiu Xia and go act cute in front of Grandpa Rongge.

Gong Si himself was definitely not cute, but Qiu Xia was~ So Grandpa Rongge took in Qiu Xia as well.

Without their parents, Gong Si and Qiu Xia grew up happily by Grandpa Rongge’s side.

Sometimes Gong Si would think: maybe some people are just born to wander the world, to make a home wherever they go? Like his parents-only in that kind of life could they find their own joy. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they come back?

And maybe he was just born to crave stability.

In just one year, Gong Si had gotten to know everyone in Lengshui Town. There weren’t many people in Lengshui Town, few left, and even fewer came in. This barely changing population made Gong Si feel secure. He got used to having the same classmates in elementary and middle school, got used to living in the town with his eyes closed. Maybe he was just naturally stubborn and rigid like that.

Maybe he was a lot like Grandpa Rongge…

Thinking this, Gong Si suddenly heard a “crack” under his hand.

He looked down-

Alright, he’d have to buy Qiu Xia a new pair of underwear. He’d washed Qiu Xia’s underwear until it tore.

Unbothered, he added another item to his mental shopping list. Gong Si put the clean clothes in another basin, then picked up the basin full of dirty water and stood up. With a splash, he poured the dirty water onto the ground.

“Big brother, I got the buns! Since we have one more person in the family, I used Ah Ji’s name and snatched an extra big meat bun!” At the door, Dong Chun waved the shopping bag excitedly as he ran back.

“Great!” Gong Si praised him enthusiastically, then raised his voice and shouted toward the bathroom, “Qiu Xia, Ah Ji, are you done washing? You’ve been in there for almost forty minutes!”

Qiu Xia was slow by nature, loved cleanliness, and was a bit of a neat freak. It was one thing for him to take his time bathing, but if he kept washing Ah Ji like this, wouldn’t Ah Ji end up the same way?

Gong Si thought, a little worried.

But-

So what?

After all, Lengshui Town had plenty of water~

Ordering Dong Chun to set the table, Gong Si went off to hang the laundry.