Chapter 108: Two-in-One

Chapter 108: Two-in-One

After spending two days at the Qin family and having breakfast, Qin Yao and her husband, Gu Cheng, prepared to head to the Gu family. Before leaving, Shen Guixiang hypocritically said, "Don't always rush back to your parents' home first. Spend a couple of days at your in-laws' first, then come visit your mom and dad—"

Usually, her voice wasn't very loud, but this time she deliberately raised it, afraid that the people in the courtyard wouldn't hear her.

She was clearly gloating.

As for which family to visit first, Qin Yao and Gu Cheng had never really discussed it. Gu Cheng assumed it was fine to accompany her back to her parents' home first, and Qin Yao didn't object, so that's how it was done.

For young people like her, it wasn't a big deal which family they visited first. After all, they were going back to both homes, right? However, some elderly people in the 1970s did care about this. For instance, Ju Ying's in-laws never allowed her to go back to her own family for the New Year and didn't like their grandson getting too close to his mother-in-law's side of the family. Children weren't allowed to be touched by "outsiders," even if they were relatives by marriage; they were still considered two separate families.

"Your mother is right," Qin Chuanrong said with a smile as he wiped his hands with a towel, his face creasing with joy, purely happy.

They didn't really care which family their daughter visited first. After all, they only had one daughter, the youngest, who had been cherished since she was a child. Even after she got married, they were reluctant to let her go and naturally hoped that their daughter and son-in-law would visit often.

Fortunately, their in-laws were easygoing and didn't mind which family they visited first. As the saying goes, a daughter-in-law becomes a mother-in-law after many years. Even if a daughter-in-law wants to stay in touch with her own family, she still has to consider her in-laws' feelings. Visiting her own family too often might anger the in-laws.

Some families had so many rules. Oh dear, some mothers-in-law treated themselves like the matriarch of an old-fashioned family. The less capable the family, the more rules they had, treating the daughter-in-law as a "domestic servant" bought with money, ordering her around because there was no one else for the mother-in-law to boss around.

Qin Yao wore the plain cotton jacket she had made for her wedding. Her two chubby children were bundled up like little round bears in red, fluffy boots. Saying they looked like bears wasn't entirely accurate; with their round bodies, they resembled inflated "little pufferfish."

Both were wearing plaid overshirts. Without these jackets, kids this age would get themselves filthy, not caring about anything else.

Just yesterday, Qin Yao caught the two little brats grabbing charcoal with their bare hands, turning their hands black and then rubbing it on their faces and bodies. They were so dirty that she wanted to throw them away. If they weren't her own kids, she might have considered giving up on them. Maybe she should just send them to dig coal.

"Say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma."

Qin Yao and Gu Cheng each held a child. Gu Cheng also carried a lot of luggage, while Qin Yao had a bag on her back and Mingming, their younger son, on her shoulder. Mingming rested his little chin on her shoulder. After walking with him in the snow for a while, Qin Yao thought to herself, "I can't handle this anymore. He's so heavy."

If he gets any heavier, I really won't want to carry you anymore.

Fortunately, they didn't have to walk far. As they left the alley, a car arrived to pick them up. They hurriedly got the two little chickens into the car. But these two were really something—everything they saw was fascinating to them, and they even eyed the "mountain of cabbages" piled under someone's eaves.

In this winter, you couldn't see much green, so these cabbages became like green jade in the winter, something to be fascinated by.

Gu Cheng coldly closed the car door and got into the car with Qin Yao. The two kids were squeezed in the middle. Gu Cheng said coldly, "Sit properly."

The two kids looked at each other, then looked up at their dad and mom. Finally, they huddled together without saying a word.

—Dad today seemed different from the previous days.

Gu Cheng calmly spoke a few words to the driver, and the car drove on. Rui Rui and Mingming stopped caring about their dad and started crawling toward their mom. Like two fighting caterpillars, they squeezed together to look outside the window.

Qin Yao patted her older son's back and turned to look at the man next to her. Gu Cheng sat upright in the back seat, wearing a military coat without a hat. His face was mostly expressionless, his eyes indifferent, his jawline cold and sharp. It was the same face, but it didn't resemble the man from a few days ago.

The kids looked puzzled, as if they had questions written all over their faces. If they were older, they might have thought Dad had been replaced by an impostor.

He was really good at putting on a front, his speech and facial expressions controlled like a spring, expanding and contracting effortlessly, leaving people in awe.

Both Qin Yao and Gu Cheng felt a bit nervous about going back to the Gu family.

The last time they visited the Gu family was right after their wedding. Qin Yao was only somewhat familiar with her mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law. She hadn't really spoken much with her father-in-law, the patriarch, or her brother-in-law, so they weren't exactly acquainted.

Therefore, there was still some nervousness about going back.

Gu Cheng, on the other hand, thought that although he had changed a lot in the three years since they got married, he didn't want to go home and stir up trouble, especially with his older brother still there.

He remembered that three years ago, when he brought Qin Yao home, she was quite good at acting all demure and clinging to him... It wouldn't make sense if, after three years of marriage, he had suddenly become "henpecked."

Comrade Gu Cheng didn't really feel like he was "henpecked." In what way had he been controlled?

Just a few days ago, he had even left a rosy cheek on his wife's face.

... Speaking of this past year, he had indeed done many strange things, and only now, upon reflection, did he feel embarrassed. Returning home to face the serious Old Master Gu, his stern father, and his solemn older brother—things best left unsaid.

Unlike the tension the couple felt, the two children were the most carefree. As the car drove into the courtyard, the little ones were astonished. The urban siheyuan was cramped, but here there was a vast open space, large expanses of white, and many young soldiers shoveling snow.

In the middle of the yard stood a huge snowman, its black eyes and carrot nose almost taller than a person, astonishing the two short, chubby children.

At the entrance of the courtyard, there were also snowmen of various shapes—some like big turtles, others like big dogs, some snowmen even wore clothes. Icicles hung from the walls.

The two little "puffer fish" got out of the car and, instead of rushing into the house, happily trotted over in their boots to give the snowmen a bear hug.

This startled the pigeons pecking surreptitiously in the distance.

"Rui Rui, Mingming, you've both grown so much." Liu Shuqin had been eagerly awaiting the children's return and, upon hearing the commotion, hurried out to greet them.

"I'm your grandma."

Qin Yao reminded the children to call her grandma, and the two obediently did so before wanting to play with the snow again. Liu Shuqin said, "Let them play. Miaomiao made those snowmen."

Old Master Gu was also home at this time, but unlike his anxious tone over the phone, merely nodded slightly at Gu Cheng. The exchanges between grandfather and grandson were formal and proper.

At noon, niece Gu Miaomiao returned from the cultural center. "Uncle, Aunt, you're back? Oh my, and my two little brothers! Wow, Aunt, you look just like this snowman! And this one looks like Uncle!"

"Yes, your younger cousin looks just like his father, as if carved from the same mold."

Liu Shuqin looked at her young grandson with a face full of memories, as if transported back many years to when her son was small, also with these beautiful features, also in this icy snow. But—"Your uncle wasn't this chubby when he was little. It's your aunt who has raised him well."

"Hey, little guys, you should call me big sister!" Gu Miaomiao felt a sense of pride as an elder sister. After fighting alone in the Gu family for so many years, she finally had younger brothers under her.

In addition to these two younger brothers, her mother He An was also pregnant. Before long, she would have another sibling.

Gu Miaomiao sighed, "I hope the baby doesn't look like Dad."

Qin Yao laughed, "Who would you want the baby to look like then?"

"Like Mom, or like Aunt Yao. Look, Rui Rui looks like Aunt Yao, and he's so handsome!"

Gu Cheng, with a cool tone, teased her, "Wouldn't it be good to look like your father?"

Gu Miaomiao, with an air of precociousness, said, "If they looked like Dad... what would we do then?"

Her worried expression made the other adults in the room laugh.

The time when Old Master Gu had been anxious over the phone, it wasn't until after lunch that Qin Yao and her husband learned that the Gu family had already hired professionals to write the old man's autobiography, as a keepsake.

They had hired two people, both experienced in writing and working for newspapers. Their skills were solid, and they had published many articles. One was surnamed Ji, the other Yang.

They had already gathered the materials and had begun writing.

Upon hearing this news, Qin Yao felt a sudden relief. She knew that she wouldn't be the one writing for Old Master Gu. This place had the most literary workers in the country, after all.

The last article she wrote for Second Aunt was mentally exhausting. Recently, she had wanted to write something light-hearted about food or the everyday dramas of a large courtyard.

"The article you wrote for Qingqing was really well-written and holds up well," Old Master Gu said, now wearing reading glasses. He seemed to have aged significantly and looked more haggard compared to just three years ago.

Old Master Gu sighed inwardly, thinking to himself that this was trouble he had brought upon himself. He didn’t want to deal with this autobiography anymore. These two reporters were incredibly thorough, bombarding him with detailed questions that made Old Master Gu feel like he had aged thirty years.

People are like that. The more they reminisce about the past, the more astonished they are to realize they’ve lived such a long life, having witnessed so many people pass away.

He couldn’t help but ask himself: Why have you lived so long?

Old man, oh old man, it seemed like he was destined to live forever.

Recalling his past glories in front of the younger generation was both joyful and boastful. Those glorious years were like shining stars in a dark sky. A person’s past, like the night sky, was mostly dark, with only a small portion of it twinkling like stars.

Old Master Gu truly admired Qin Yao’s grandfather for being able to write his autobiography for so many years. A person’s life is filled with so many bitter and sweet moments. The true story of a life, when written down, was shocking to read.

Others might not feel much, but for Old Master Gu, these words made him inevitably sigh in his heart.

These things, better to let the descendants write after he’s gone. It was torture.

"Grandpa, if you like it, that’s good," Qin Yao smiled, feeling a bit embarrassed. The story she wrote for her second sister was filled with popular fiction tropes, making it less literary but highly entertaining. She didn’t dare show off her skills here.

However, she didn’t know that her style had pioneered something new for the time.

People back then hadn’t seen anything like it. Qin Yao had read extensively from the prosperous era of print media to the explosion of web novels, and her writing was undeniably mature.

"Grandpa, what’s with your spirit?" Gu Cheng looked Old Master Gu up and down, surprised by his grandfather’s aging. It wasn’t just his appearance but a kind of spiritual fatigue, as if his backbone had been suddenly removed.

Just the other day, when he spoke to him on the phone, he was still like an old trickster. Now, his face resembled a bowl of well-boiled bitter Chinese medicine.

His dear grandfather had reached a frail old age.

"He’s too tired. We should let him rest more in the coming days," Liu Shuqin shook her head, strongly disapproving of her husband Gu Zhongyong’s decision to hire two people to write the autobiography. The old man might not be able to withstand such mental exhaustion.

Ruminating on the past is exhausting.

"Grandpa, how about I write some stories for you to cheer you up?" Qin Yao had heard many stories about Old Master Gu from Gu Miaomiao. She didn’t dare to write a formal autobiography, but these exaggerated, fantastical stories were no problem for her.

They needed to be full of twists and excitement, making people exclaim in pleasure after reading. Qin Yao, being a fan of martial arts novels, loved the scenes like the six major sects attacking Bright Peak.

As a writer, it was also very exciting to write such stories.

Old Master Gu sighed, "You want to write? I don’t want to deal with these things anymore. It’s annoying. Just let them fade away. The good and the bad, I don’t want to mention them anymore. It’s meaningless. I’d rather go fishing."

"I’m not like Old Master Qin. I value emotions deeply. Seeing too much of the past… it hurts. Don’t mention it again."

Gu Miaomiao tilted her head, "Auntie, could you write a story for me to read? Last semester, my teacher asked us to learn how to write stories."

She had been a loyal listener to her great-grandfather’s stories since she was young, and her ears were almost calloused from it. Recently, her great-grandfather had stopped telling them, and she missed it sometimes.

"Auntie, I’m your loyal reader!" Gu Miaomiao was quite clever. She used to sweet-talk in the circle of old men, and now she was just as good at flattering Qin Yao with compliments.

Qin Yao smiled and nodded, "Sure, I’ll write one for you."

"You all go write. Just don’t ask me," Old Master Gu waved his hand, indicating he didn’t want to be involved in this matter anymore.

Before Gu Miaomiao went to school, she chatted with Qin Yao for a while. With her chatterbox mouth, she spilled out everything she knew, and Qin Yao found herself getting more and more inspired, with ideas bubbling up. Soon, she came up with a beginning.

The inspiration was so overwhelming that her desire to express herself was unstoppable. That afternoon, she left her two sons with Gu Cheng and locked herself in a room to write prolifically. By the time Gu Miaomiao returned from school that evening, Qin Yao had already penned six thousand words.

That night, inspired again, she wrote another three thousand words.

Before going to bed, Comrade Qin rubbed her wrist and couldn't help but give herself a mental pat on the back, thinking, I'm amazing. I actually wrote ten thousand characters today, plus a two-thousand-character chapter outline.

After putting the two children to sleep, Gu Cheng took out some red flower oil and massaged Qin Yao's wrist, afraid that her writing so much today would cause wrist pain the next day. A bit of massage in the evening would help promote blood circulation and dissipate stasis.

As Gu Cheng rubbed her wrist, it felt warm, and her head became dizzy with sleepiness. She felt like sleeping.

"Help me check for typos..." Yawning as she spoke, Qin Yao turned her head and fell asleep on the bed, next to the two little babies. She had only planned to take a nap, but ended up sleeping until morning.

When she woke up early, she was surprised to see Gu Cheng with dark circles under his eyes, still writing and drawing.

Gu Cheng had also pulled an all-nighter. Seeing that she had woken up, he felt a bit tired. "I made some changes and wrote a bit more following your outline. See if it's okay. I'm going to sleep first."

"Go to sleep." Qin Yao touched the stubble under his chin, which felt a little rough against her skin. The shadows under his eyes were worrying, and she felt a pang of concern. She gently kissed his cheek and let him sleep on the bed.

She also used a healing skill on him.

Turning her attention back to the manuscript Gu Cheng had edited, she found that he had added quite a few side descriptions and continued the story with an additional five thousand characters. He had a strong sense of masculinity, and his writing was filled with passion.

Qin Yao wasn't sure if she could write such clunky but passionate writing, but reading it made her chest fill with excitement. Qin Yao decided to keep those passages in the story.

The couple had truly been writing manuscripts day and night.

Compared to Gu Cheng's writing, Qin Yao's words were more delicate and less straightforward. With Gu Cheng's added descriptions, the details were enriched. She made some revisions to make the entire piece more harmonious and smooth.

Leaving the two kids with Grandma, Qin Yao wrote with intense focus for an entire day, almost obsessively, as if possessed. She had to get them written before she could rest.

It wasn't until another day passed, having written thirty thousand characters and completed a small segment, that she finally relaxed and decided to take a break.

These thirty thousand characters already made for a very good story with high readability.

"Why do you two always stay cooped up at home?"

Qin Yao gave the freshly written thirty thousand characters to the loyal young reader, Gu Miaomiao, who had been following the progress closely. "Can I read it now? Auntie, let me see, hehe—"

Gu Miaomiao spent nearly two hours reading the thirty thousand characters, and afterward, her tone was filled with excitement. "Auntie, your writing is good enough for elementary school textbooks!"

Qin Yao couldn't help but laugh, thinking, Niece, you're really flattering me.

After a big round of flattery, Gu Miaomiao cunningly used the manuscript to tempt her great-grandfather. "Gramps, are you sure you don't want to read it? Really don't want to read it? Auntie wrote it so well."

Old Master Gu snorted. "I don't want to read it."

"Okay, then I'll show it to the kids in the yard." Gu Miaomiao decided to go show off in the courtyard. She didn't want to waste time with the old man.

Teasing just one old man wasn't as fun as playing with many kids in the courtyard. The more people, the merrier.

With that, Gu Miaomiao darted out like an arrow.

"Wait, girl, wait! Don't run, brat! Miaomiao, stop! Give me that!" Old Master Gu didn't expect the girl to run so fast and almost threw his cane after her.

What a wild child, running off just like that without letting him finish his words.

She took it away without even letting him see it. What if it wasn't well-written? He'd be embarrassed in front of his old friends.

"You're just as impatient as your father. Hurry up and read it. I still need to go chat with Zhuangzhuang's family."

Old Master Gu shot her a glare before fumbling for his reading glasses. He put them on and, despite her urging, deliberately took his sweet time.

As soon as he slowed down, he got so absorbed that he spent six or seven hours on it, and still hadn’t finished two-thirds of it.

Gu Miaomiao slumped in her chair across from him, her face a picture of frustration. She had finished her homework ages ago, and now it was late at night, almost time for bed. Yet the old man was still buried in his reading. Red-faced and lost in the text, he scribbled notes like a teacher grading a term paper—maybe even more obsessively.

“Great-grandfather, those comments? Not great, if you ask me.”

Old Master Gu raised an eyebrow. “What do you know? Do you know more than I do?”

Gu Miaomiao: “……”

“These comments of mine will be added when it’s published—” Old Master Gu said with a satisfied nod.

Gu Miaomiao covered her eyes. Oh no, how embarrassing! It’s like Emperor Qianlong, leaving his imperial seal all over someone else’s masterpiece. One stamp wasn’t enough—he had to cover the whole thing with his own marks. Doesn’t he have any shame? What a thick-skinned old man!

“Great-grandfather, maybe you should eat some Qianlong cabbage tomorrow to clear your mind. You’re like the sesame seeds on a sesame bun—sure, they add a little flavor, but they’re just annoying to look at.”

Old Master Gu glared at her. “You’re still young, you wouldn’t understand. Back in the day, Yan Zhi Zhai commented on *Dream of the Red Chamber*, and now I’m doing the same for… well, you know, it’s all the same idea.”

Gu Miaomiao: “……”

That night, Old Master Gu tossed and turned, barely getting any sleep. The next morning, he woke up early, buzzing with energy like he’d had a shot of pure adrenaline. Outside, the world was buried under a blanket of snow, and he anxiously peered out the window, wondering if anyone had woken up yet.

He kept glancing at the window and the clock on the bedside table, willing the seconds to tick by faster, eager for morning to arrive. In this cold winter, no one should be lingering in bed. Get up!

Finally, the sky brightened, and Old Master Gu, full of energy, ate breakfast and marched out the door with his notebook in hand.

By luck, he managed to catch Old Master Qin first. He was so excited he almost threw away his cane—though, truth be told, he didn’t really need it anymore. Old Master Gu now felt as if he had taken some super strength pill; his back didn’t ache, his legs were fine, and he could even run up five flights of stairs without any problem. He was truly walking with great strides.

“Old Qin!” The old man’s smile was as bright as a flower.

Old Master Qin jumped back, startled. “Old Gu, are you… having a final burst of energy before you kick the bucket?”

“How did your family let you out like this?”

Everyone had noticed that Old Master Gu’s spirit had not been great lately, and they were worried he might not make it through the winter. They couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Year after year, there were fewer and fewer people left.

“Pfft! You’re the one who’s talking nonsense. What kind of talk is that?” Old Master Gu’s voice was full of vigor, enough to make the surrounding snow tremble.

“Come, let me share something with you. My granddaughter-in-law and grandson wrote this. Doesn’t it make me look amazing? This will become a family heirloom, passed down through the generations of the Gu family.”

Old Master Qin scoffed. Old Gu was really talking nonsense. “Let me see what it is.”

Old Master Gu handed it over generously. As Old Master Qin read, his surprise grew, and by the end, he was completely immersed. “This—”

His chest surged with emotion. Why? Why was Old Gu portrayed so…

He couldn’t quite put his finger on what was off. It was just as Old Gu had said, but listening to Old Gu hadn’t been this interesting. It must be the magical writing that gave his experiences such a captivating power.

Old Master Qin couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy. Tomorrow, he’d have to get his kids and grandkids to write something about him too. Why should Old Gu get all the glory when his own life was just as legendary, if not more so?

“This family heirloom is quite something, don’t you think? When I’m gone, my descendants will be able to read about their ancestor’s ‘ordinary deeds.’ It’ll give me peace of mind. I’m really just an ordinary person, after all. In those wartime years, I had just a tiny bit of ‘small’ uniqueness, nothing worth mentioning—”

Though Old Master Gu said it was nothing, his tail was wagging furiously behind him, betraying his smugness.

Hearing this, Old Master Qin wanted to cut off his annoying tail.

“The story is quite well-written, but those tiny marginal notes are really distracting and ugly.”

Old Master Gu sneered, "You're just bitter! I'm going to publish this, jealous much?"

"Yeah, keep dreaming. Pfft—"

"Hmph, just you wait."

……

When the others arrived, they found the two men arguing so fiercely that their faces were red and their necks were strained. Both were older men, but each one was more energetic than the last.

"Old Qin, what's up with you two... having a second wind?"

Old Qin: "What?!"

Old Gu: "What?!"