I Heard That I Am a Scumbag, God of War Alpha

5

The house to be remodeled was as dilapidated as Zhuang Yan imagined. From the outside, it seemed to be at least 50 years old, and it should be a welfare house allocated by the federal government.

He stood in the long corridor and rang the doorbell.

A voice came from the house: "Come here."

The sound of footsteps clattering on slippers was getting closer, and the door was pulled open from the inside. A middle-aged woman asked, "Who is it?"

Zhuang Yan smiled with crooked eyebrows: "Hello."

In the afternoon sun, the clean and bright boy explained the reason for his presumptuous visit. The woman looked him up and down, sighed, and put the banquet in.

"You can look at it as you like," she said wearily, "my mother's cognitive function has declined now, and she can't communicate with others, sorry."

So Zhuang Yan changed his shoes and walked in cautiously.

As seen in the optical brain model, this is a cramped and narrow room. Dim light shines through the screen window, illuminating the light golden floating dust in the room.

The old man sat quite still with his eyes half closed, as if dozing off.

Zhuang Yan noticed that there was a very old photo frame directly opposite her.

In the interstellar era, few people use this retro way to post photos. Noticing Zhuang Yan's eyes, the woman said, "This is my parents' wedding photo."

In the photo, young men and women in costumes are smiling brightly.

Zhuang Yan hummed lightly.

The owner, surnamed Sun, is 106 years old this year. Her daughter walked around the house with Zhuang Yan, watching and complaining.

"This house was also the wedding room back then. It's too old, and it's almost useless now. Look, people can barely walk through these places, but the floor tiles are broken, and the housekeeper robot is easy to get stuck."

"My father died more than 20 years ago, and I worked on another planet and bought a house. I have been asking my mother to move here so that I can take care of her. Now her health is getting worse and worse, and she can't even speak properly. Or unwilling to move."

"Don't worry about inviting people. This house doesn't even have smart monitoring. During this period of time, she is not feeling well, so I have to run around every day."

Zhuang Yan is a quiet listener. When Ms. Sun said she was tired, she would nod at the right time.

At the end of the exchange, Ms. Sun asked: "So how is your design going?"

"We plan to renovate the structure of the house, redesign the furniture, and allow the housekeeping robot and monitoring system to be installed and operated smoothly."

Zhuang Yan used his optical brain to project a model, and patiently explained his and Qin Heyu's ideas. Ms. Sun looked tired and nodded while watching.

Grandma Sun sat on the recliner, her wrinkled hands resting on her lower abdomen. She is like a quiet dead tree.

Zhuang Yan paused, then said again: "And—"

"Ok?"

"There are still some immature thoughts," he said, "I think the main reason why your mother-in-law is unwilling to move away with you is that this house has special meaning to her."

Ms. Sun raised her eyes and said, "It has a special meaning."

She looked at the silent mother in front of the window and the silent photo frame on the window sill, her eyes were reddish.