Huanying! Welcome to Shanghai, China. The place of all the peculiarities. Where everyone have their own stories about the families living there, especially the Xu's. Their ancestral house that they own for many generations have an infamous garden w...
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Zhang Hanyu sat on a chair facing his front yard. Gust and dust followed a car in the distance, coming up the driveway of their house, next to their farm.
Hanyu came back from stroke last year, making him limp. They were a family of big boys. Having big breakfast in the morning, sleeping in the afternoon and singing some music at night. When his parent's die, he was working hard to run the farm by himself. He married and been blessed with a son, but then his wife got cancer and his son died on a car accident. His daughter in law left the town, saying she'll stay in her relatives in Shenzen while his grandson, Vin, who was eleven that time, stayed. Hanyu had known only two things that are constant, his farm and his grandson, Vin.
As the car came closer, Hanyu heard the screen door shut. He turned to see Vin came out to see who it was for it was too late for business.
"Are you expecting someone, yéye?" Vin asked,
"My ship to come in," the old man smiled.
Vin walked down and stood beside Hanyu. Hanyu looked over at Vin. Vin was a handsome boy, but like all the Zhang men, he was born old and would certainly wait for his body to catch up. Old in a way that his young mind has matured drastically while his body was still developing. This is the reason why Zhang men marries younger girls, to maintain the balance. The old man once played Cupid by arranging some dates for him, like letting Vin lead the elementary students tour on their farm while making sure that the teacher was younger than his grandson and single, but Vin knew better.
The car came to a stop. Hanyu didn't recognizd the driver but he recognized the man getting out of the passenger seat. He smiled.
"Looks like Alex needs to give us something," Hanyu said.
"Hanyu," Alex said, stopping in front of the old man, "you look better every time I see you,"
"There's a cure for cataracts now, you know," Hanyu teased.
"Devil man," Alex smiled
"What brings you out this way?"
"I needed to give you this," he reached into his bag of goodies and handed him a jar of cherries.
Hanyu looked over to Vin, who was trying to hide his smile. "Well, I haven't had these in a long time. Thank you, Alex."
"You're welcome,"
"Who's that person who drove you?"
"Ah, that's Jun, from the grocery store. He's been staying with me. He's been real nice,"
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Vin asked politely,
"No, thank you. I have to get along." Alex replied, "I'll see you at the National Day celebration, right?"
"We'll be there." Hanyu replied. He and Vin watched as Alex walked away.
"He gave me a ball of yarn once," Vin said, "I was probably fourteen and we were on a school field trip. I was so embarrassed and I threw it away. Then next week, I needed it when I was working on a school project."
