Chapter 396 – The Long-Awaited Reunion!
The person who came out was none other than Xu Aiguo.
Today, he happened to have a day off from work at the factory and was at home helping to take care of his grandchildren.
With the jujubes in front of the house ripening, his grandchildren had been clamoring for them. Xu Aiguo, holding his grandchild in one arm and carrying a bamboo pole in the other, stepped outside.
“Grandpa, I want to eat jujubes.”
“Okay, Grandpa will get you some jujubes, but Xiao Ji, you’ll need to get down. I can’t pick the jujubes while holding you.”
“Okay.” Xiao Ji was obediently set aside.
At this moment, Xu Aiguo was focused on picking jujubes for his grandchild and didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings. He didn’t notice Ning Di watching him from a short distance, nor did he see that Ning Di’s eyes were red upon the first sight of him.
Xu Aiguo looked up at the jujube tree with the bamboo pole. “Let me see which ones are the sweetest.”
Just then, Xiao Ji asked, “Grandpa, if I could climb the tree, could I pick the jujubes myself?”
Xu Aiguo laughed and then said sternly, “No, you can’t. What if you fall while climbing?”
Seemingly lost in thought, Xu Aiguo’s gaze wandered. “You know, when I was young, your younger great-aunt also loved these jujubes and would always ask me to pick them for her.”
“I’d climb up to get them for her, but I once fell by accident. Your younger great-aunt cried so sadly back then.”
“Your great-grandmother even scolded me. After that, I never dared to climb trees again.”
“From then on, we used a bamboo pole to get the jujubes.”
Xiao Ji listened intently. “Grandpa, I know big great aunt, she’s in Tianjin. Where’s younger great-aunt? I’ve never seen her. She likes jujubes, and I like them too. I want to eat jujubes with younger great-aunt.”
Xu Aiguo’s movements suddenly froze, a look of nostalgia and sorrow crossing his face. “I don’t know where your younger great-aunt is. I’ve been searching for her, always searching.”
“Grandpa, did you b*lly younger great-aunt, so she doesn’t want to come home?” Xiao Ji wondered aloud, thinking that if he were punished by his parents, he might be afraid to return home.
Perhaps younger great-aunt felt the same way.
Xu Aiguo laughed softly, “Maybe so, but if your younger great-aunt is willing to go home, grandpa is willing to be b*llied by her.”
With that, Xu Aiguo aimed at the jujube tree and struck with the bamboo pole.
Soon, jujubes began to fall to the ground.
“Xiao Ji, hurry and pick up the jujubes.”
‘Xiao Ning, hurry and pick up the jujubes…’ Xu Aiguo remembered calling out to his younger sister to collect jujubes when he was young.
Xiao Ning, when will you come back? Your elder brother misses you.
Xu Aiguo slowly placed the bamboo pole against the wall and squatted down to pick up jujubes with his grandchild.
He remembered doing the same with his younger sister.
The jujube tree always bore abundant and good fruit.
Xu Aiguo picked up a jujube, looked at it, and remarked, “This year’s jujubes are also very good, they look so sweet. I just don’t know when Xiao Ning will come home again to taste them.”
He wondered what Xiao Ning looked like now. How tall had she grown?
His own hair had grown quite a bit of white over the years. What about Xiao Ning?
Did Xiao Ning remember she had an elder brother? Was she still alive?
As long as he could confirm that Xiao Ning was still alive, even if it was in another place where they couldn’t meet, as long as he knew she was living well, he would be content.
Xu Aiguo continued picking up jujubes. Just as he was about to pick up one on the ground, someone suddenly crouched down in front of him and reached out a hand to take the jujube.
Xu Aiguo froze, then slowly looked up.
Ning Di, with red-rimmed eyes, held the jujube in her hand, wiped it on her sleeve just like she did when she was a child, and then put it into her mouth, taking a gentle bite.
The sweet, familiar taste instantly spread across her tongue.
After so many years, and having tasted many jujubes in Country A, she never found the taste she remembered. She once thought the jujubes abroad were simply not good, but now she realized that only the jujubes from the tree in her old courtyard carried that familiar taste, infused with her elder brother’s care.
As Ning Di ate the jujube, tears fell silently from her eyes. She looked at Xu Aiguo and spoke softly, “Big brother, I’ve tasted the jujube.”
“Xiao Ning…” Ning Di choked up but continued, “Xiao Ning is home.”
Xiao Ning is home…
These words were spoken very softly by Ning Di but were carried by the gentle breeze into Xu Aiguo’s ears.
Xu Aiguo stared blankly at the person before him, his gaze tracing her features, her eyes, and the jujube he had been picking up fell to the ground without him noticing.
In the next moment, tears fell silently from his eyes, blurring his vision.
Xiao Ji saw the jujube fall from Grandpa’s hand and hurried over, crouching beside him to pick it up. “Grandpa, you dropped the jujube.”
“Grandpa, why are you crying?”
He then looked at Ning Di, “Grandpa, who is she? Did she b*lly you and make you cry?”
In Xiao Ji’s understanding, only people who were b*llied would cry, just like when he himself cried.
Xu Aiguo cried and laughed through his tears, choking up as he said, “If she wants to b*lly Grandpa, Grandpa is willing to be b*llied by her.”
He pulled Xiao Ji over and gently guided him toward Ning Di. “Xiao Ji, you were asking where your younger great-aunt is? She is your younger great-aunt.”
Xiao Ji’s eyes widened in realization as he seriously examined Ning Di. “Is she the younger great-aunt who loves jujubes just like me?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Ji stepped forward and gently took Ning Di’s hand, introducing himself earnestly. “Younger great-aunt, hello, I’m Xiao Ji. You’ve finally come home!”
You’ve finally come home!
The child’s innocent words broke down Ning Di’s defenses, and she began to sob uncontrollably.
“Yes, I’ve come home, I’ve come home.”
“Big brother, Xiao Ning is back.”
“I’m sorry, I’m so late, too late.”
“I was so afraid, so afraid you wouldn’t remember me.”
“I was afraid I returned too late, and that our parents wouldn’t forgive me.”
“I never thought I would go abroad back then…” Even less did she anticipate that going abroad would mean decades away, never seeing her family again, and even being forever separated from her parents.
Ning Di cried with her back hunched, her sorrow profound, her grief intense.
Xu Aiguo couldn’t bear to see his sister in such distress.
He hurried over, pulling his sister into a tight embrace, comforting her. “Xiao Ning, don’t cry, don’t cry. I’m your big brother, how could I ever forget you? I’ve been looking for you all this time. I’ve been dreaming of you.”
“I… I still remember you liked to eat jujubes.”
“Mom and Dad never blamed you. They missed you so much. Even at the end, they kept telling me to find you and your elder sister.”
