NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33
Chapter 33 Flying Flowers Lightly Like Dreams
Mo Kun asked Long Xi for her cell phone number and keyed it into his new cell phone and saved it as “The girl who will accompany me until old age.”
Long Xi also saved his new number, under “My Lord Mo Kun.”
Long Xi’s home was in an old building in the Lane Hall of the old city. Their rental house number was 302 and it had two bedrooms and one living room.
Long Xi pointed to the balcony full of beautiful flowers on the third floor and said, “That’s my home.”
Mo Kun said, “Grandma seems to be very good at taking care of flowers and plants. Why is there a yellow scarf tied to the balcony railings?
Long Xi said, “That means Grandma is waiting for me. I told my grandma about a foreign legend, whereby a man went to war and his wife had been waiting for him to return. For fear that the man would not recognize his own home after so many years, the wife tied a yellow scarf at the door.”
Mo Kun smiled and said, “I didn’t expect old people to have this kind of romantic feelings!”
Long Xi and Mo Kun walked up the worn stairs to an iron door on the third floor.
Long Xi took out the key, opened the door and they entered the house.
Grandma was sitting in a rattan chair opposite the door, knitting a scarf for Long Xi, while waiting for her return.
When she saw Long Xi, her wrinkled face suddenly had a smile as wide as a dahlia.
Mo Kun greeted Grandma politely.
He was curious because it was his first time to see such an old person alive. On his planet, no one had ever lived longer than twenty-seven years. The average life expectancy was twenty-five years.
Grandma had been waiting for Long Xi for two days. She was longing for Long Xi to come back and had not received Long Xi’s phone call. She had been worried about Long Xi.
With Long Xi in her arms, she was delighted and even the wrinkles on her face seemed to be expressing her yearning.
Long Xi introduced Mo Kun to Grandma and said, “This is Mo Kun, my science teacher, a newcomer.”
Mo Kun smiled and said, “Grandma, I’m currently homeless. Can I have a meal at your home?”
Grandma smiled lovingly and said, “Welcome, I have prepared a lot of delicious food.”
Long Xi winked at Mo Kun, showing him a “sure enough” expression.
Long Xi and Mo Kun didn’t have breakfast; they were waiting for the delicious dumplings stuffed with mackerel and mushroom, made by Grandma.
The wontons were already wrapped and ready to cook. Long Xi took them out of the refrigerator.
The wontons were plump, their wraps as thin as a cicada’s wing and translucent. The meat filling was temptingly pink in color.
Long Xi said, “Grandma used to sell wonton, fried sticks, soybean milk, pancakes and other breakfast items. The dumplings stuffed with mackerel and mushrooms she sold were the most popular items in the whole food court.”
Mo Kun smiled and said, “Grandma, now I know where Long Xi got her cooking skills from! The student surpassed the teacher!”
Grandma laughed happily. Long Xi was the apple of her eye and her pride and joy. Mo Kun’s flattery really touched her heart.
Long Xi discovered for the first time that Mo Kun had a sweet tongue when he complimented her grandmother, telling her that she looked ten years younger than her actual age.
Long Xi put the wontons in the boiled bone soup quickly, filled three bowls and brought them out. She also brought out three pairs of clean chopsticks.
Mo Kun scratched his head and whispered in an embarrassing tone, “I don’t know how to use chopsticks.”
He had grown up ingesting nutritious tablets. Where would he need to use chopsticks?
“Ah? Did you come back from a foreign country? As a Z countryman, it’s embarrassing that you don’t know how use chopsticks!” Long Xi replied.
Mo Kun said, “In fact, I grew up in an orphanage abroad.”
Grandma said, “Poor child! Xixi, give him a spoon.”
Long Xi laughingly said, “Yes, he is a spoon.”
Mo Kun did not understand and asked, “Why am I a spoon?”
Long Xi laughed and Grandma couldn’t help laughing as well. The word “spoon” meant “fool” according to the dialect of a certain region.
Long Xi went to get him a spoon.
Mo Kun had never used a spoon, but it was easier to use a spoon than chopsticks and he soon learned how to use it.
He took a mouthful of wonton, chewed it lightly and instantly broke out in goose bumps.
He couldn’t help praising Grandma: “Grandma’s cooking skill is excellent! I can feel the wonton dancing in my mouth, releasing its delicious juices, filling my whole body from the throat down and my whole body feels like it is flying.”
Grandma smiled lovingly at him and said, “If you like, you could come more often to our house.”
After eating, Long Xi took the initiative to clear the table and wash the dishes while Mo Kun chatted with Grandma.
Kindhearted Grandma learned from her conversation with Mo Kun that he was an orphan. Grandma said to him, “Kuner, you can treat this place as your home and come back to visit.”
Mo Kun’s heart was touched by her words; it struck a chord in his heart. It was something he had never experienced before.
Grandma wanted to amuse him. She pointed to the lantern hanging in the corner of the living room and said, “This is a lantern made from four thin wooden sticks and Xixi’s calendar paper with a white cat pattern. Xixi likes riddles. Every time she comes home, I hang a card under the lantern with a riddle on it. Well, would you like to have a try? If you guess correctly, you can eat the fruit. Otherwise, you can’t.”
Mo Kun went over and looked at the card and read out what it said: the leaves were green, the flowers were red, the seeds were countless and the shapes were like lanterns.
Mo Kun was not familiar with the fruits of the earth at all. How could he guess out? He searched Long Xi’s memory in his brain but could not find the answer to the riddle.
Long Xi washed the dishes, laughed and walked out of the kitchen. She said, “I know what it is.”
Grandma said, “I know you know, but he doesn’t know.”
Mo Kun raised his hand and with a smile said, “I give up.”
Long Xi brought out a large plate of pomegranates from the kitchen and said with a smile, “The answer is this, pomegranate.”
Mo thought, “Oh, so that is what a pomegranate looks like. BT planet didn’t seem to have this kind of fruit!”
Long Xi cut the two pomegranates into four pieces, smiled and said, “Try this. Grandma is joking. How could our guest not get to eat the fruit?”
Grandma laughed and said, “No, it is an old rule, no right answer, no tasting.”
Mo Kun looked at the inside of the pomegranate and asked with a laugh, “It seems that they are all seeds. How do you eat them?”
Long Xi asked in surprise, “Have you never eaten pomegranates before?”
Mo Kun thought about it and pretended to be miserable. He said piteously, “I never had the chance to eat pomegranates at the orphanage!”
As he expected, Long Xi felt a sudden flood of sympathy for him. She stuffed a piece of pomegranate into his hand and then took one to show him how to eat pomegranate seeds.
She bit into a piece of pomegranate, sucked out all the sweet juice and then spat out all the seeds.
Mo Kun ate a mouthful of pomegranate the same way she did. Oh, it tasted sweet and sour and was delicious!
Grandma’s teeth were not very good. Long Xi squeezed the pomegranate to extract the juice and poured it out for Grandma to drink.