Chapter 36

Grandpa Lin felt as though a lump of air were lodged in his chest. “We only found out recently that he had been discharged from the army because of his injuries. Your Uncle Shengli’s second son, Qiangjun, lost a leg.”

As he finished speaking, he let out a heavy sigh.

Lin Yilan moved her lips, but did not know what to say. Whenever she encountered a situation like this, she found herself at a loss. All the eloquence she possessed when dealing with clients vanished at times like these, leaving her unable to utter even a single word.

After a moment of silence, all Lin Yilan could finally manage was a sigh.

As they walked home, they passed the old cypress tree just as the wind began to blow.

The bare old cypress stood motionless in the wind. Only the tender new branches that had recently sprouted from it swayed now and then in the breeze.

By next year, those tender shoots might grow into strong branches, perhaps even sturdy enough to support other smaller boughs. But they might not survive the winter. They could be crushed beneath the snow, snapped off, and left to fall upon the earth.

Lin Yilan stared at the old cypress and stopped without realizing it.

Only four months had passed. How had this place become so desolate?

Grandpa Lin noticed that his youngest granddaughter had fallen behind. He stopped, turned, and called, “Little Lan! Come on, let’s go home.”

“Oh, I’m coming, Grandpa!” Lin Yilan pushed her bicycle and hurried after him.

When she caught up, Grandpa Lin raised a hand to fiddle with the Red Army cap on her head, then gave her skull a light knock.

Knock, knock—

Not bad. A fine melon.

Lin Yilan bared her teeth and covered her head with her right hand. “Grandpa, you hit so hard! You nearly knocked an echo into my head.”

Grandpa Lin raised his hand and pretended to examine his palm. “Did I? I don’t think I used much force. Why don’t you let me pat you once more?”

Lin Yilan pretended not to hear him and quickly scurried toward the house with her bicycle.

Unable to stop herself, she muttered under her breath, “Hmph, hmph, hmph. I’m going to tell Grandma on you when we get home.”

Grandpa Lin seemed to hear her and began muttering to himself. “People say only children like to report every little thing to their parents. Our Comrade Little Lan is a grown-up now, isn’t she?”

Lin Yilan had no intention of doing as he wished. She gave a huff, pushed the bicycle for a few steps, then stretched out her long legs and mounted it.

Left behind, Grandpa Lin pretended to chase her for a few paces before stopping. With his hands clasped behind his back, he ambled leisurely toward home.

If anyone asked him, children ought to be lively. What was the point of moping around and sighing over the passing seasons?

Bang!

Lin Yilan gave an awkward grimace. She had accidentally rammed into the gate of her grandparents’ house again.

“Lin Yilan, you little rascal!” Grandma Lin’s voice came before she did.

Lin Yilan hurriedly parked her bicycle to one side, crouched at the entrance, and stared at the metal gate.

Thank goodness, thank goodness. A few taps with a hammer later, it should be possible to knock it back into shape.

“Oh? Are you thinking about how to repair the gate again?”

Grandma Lin’s voice rang out above her head.

Lin Yilan awkwardly raised her head and smiled ingratiatingly at her grandmother. “Grandma, third time’s the charm. This is only the second time… All right, I was wrong.”

Seeing Lin Yilan put on a pair of beseeching puppy eyes, Grandma Lin immediately lost the desire to scold her.

Still, when one’s own child needed educating, one had to educate them.

“All right. I’ll believe you this time.”

“Your parents used to say that when you were little, you were either climbing trees, wading into the water, or teasing other people’s dogs. I didn’t believe them before, but now I completely do. Out of all the younger generation in our family, you’re the most troublesome.”

Once Grandma Lin began lecturing, she could not stop anytime soon.

“The last time you hit the gate, you said it was because you were in a hurry to get home. What was the reason this time?”

Lin Yilan’s eyes shifted. Turning around, she happened to see Grandpa Lin looking perfectly at ease. Remembering how he had knocked her on the head, she decided to strike back. She pointed at him with her right hand. “Grandpa chased me just now!”

Grandpa Lin had only just entered the gate when he suddenly felt a huge accusation land on his head. He looked at the two women before him with an aggrieved expression. “What happened?”

Grandma Lin responded by flicking Lin Yilan on the forehead.

“Your grandfather is an old man. With those old legs of his, do you really think he could chase you so badly that you had to flee on a bicycle?”

One sentence had wounded them both.

That was Grandma Lin’s specialty: killing two birds with one stone.

Grandfather and granddaughter fell silent, both thoroughly defeated.

Lin Yilan had been exposed the instant she made up her excuse and was too embarrassed to say anything.

Grandpa Lin, meanwhile, had been called an old man and was in no mood to speak.

The two of them returned home in silence, one following behind the other.

After the three of them finished lunch, Lin Yilan was resting in a food-induced stupor when Grandpa Lin suddenly spoke.

“Little Lan, your Uncle Shengli and Aunt Hong will be coming over later today. They want to ask your advice about modifying Qiangjun’s house.”

After Grandpa Lin explained everything, Lin Yilan understood why Uncle Shengli was coming.

When she had renovated her grandparents’ house, she had incorporated various age-friendly designs. Uncle Shengli had been very interested in them ever since. This time, they were visiting because their second son, Qiangjun, had been disabled by his injuries. They wanted to ask her to renovate his home as well, so that he could live more comfortably and safely.

“I heard from Shengli that the boy has become even more stubborn since he was injured. He insists on doing everything himself and refuses to let anyone help him. But he still hasn’t adjusted to having only one leg, and he’s fallen several times at home.

“I hear that he and his wife have quarreled over it more than once. His wife wants to help him, but he refuses.”

“Now the two children have been taken back to Aunt Hong’s home for her to look after. The couple quarrel every day, and the children can’t study properly because of it.”

Grandma Lin began describing the situation in Zhao Qiangjun’s household.

Lin Yilan had heard of many such cases. A family that had once been happy could become perilously unstable after one of its members suffered a devastating misfortune.

Design could help Zhao Qiangjun carry out certain tasks independently. But restoring his family to the way it had been before was something design alone could never accomplish.

She was worried that the others might harbor unrealistic expectations, so she made the situation clear to her grandparents.

She did the same with Uncle Shengli and Aunt Hong.

Looking at the two people before her, who seemed to have aged several years, Lin Yilan still laid out the unpleasant truth plainly.

Faint lines had already appeared between Zhao Shengli’s brows. “Xiao Lin, don’t worry. Your aunt and I have always understood what Qiangjun is thinking. As his parents, we’ve tried persuading him and talking sense into him, but now the only thing we can do is help him.

“That’s why your aunt and I came today. We want to ask you to help us—to give that boy Qiangjun at least one chance to change.”

Oh, come on! Don’t use family affection as a weapon!

Lin Yilan had grown up with circumstances that had left her practically an orphan. In this life, her family had treated her with nothing but kindness, which made her especially vulnerable to the pull of familial affection.

She had originally intended to conduct an on-site inspection and discuss the project’s budget and other details with the client before deciding whether to accept it. But all those rational plans vanished in an instant.

She slapped her thigh. “All right, Uncle, Auntie. I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

“When can we go to Brother Qiangjun’s house? I need to assess his condition first, then take all the measurements of the house…”

Watching Lin Yilan’s enthusiasm, Zhao Shengli’s fingers twitched.

How wonderful. So many people were still willing to help Qiangjun.

Aunt Hong was even moved to let out a soft sob.

To them, Lin Yilan’s enthusiasm was like a dose of comfort, showing them that ordinary people outside the military still cared about Qiangjun.

Grandma Lin worried that the girl would talk herself hoarse and hurriedly poured everyone a glass of water.

Lin Yilan picked up the glass from the table and drained it in one go, then wiped the droplets from her lips with the back of her hand.

“Uncle, Auntie, have you ever heard of prosthetic limbs?”

She was not sure when prosthetics had first become available in the country, so she asked tentatively.

Zhao Shengli looked at her in surprise. “You know about prosthetic limbs too? As expected of a university student.”

“After Qiangjun was injured, the leaders of his unit contacted someone about one for him. But there’s a waiting list, so it will still take some time.”

Lin Yilan was initially a little embarrassed, but then she frowned. “Are there many people who need prosthetic limbs now?”

Zhao Shengli reached toward the cigarette case in his pocket, but remembering that Lin Yilan was sitting beside him, he suppressed the urge to smoke.

“Xiao Lin, you must have read the newspapers. Some time ago, we fought a defensive counterattack against the forces in South Vietnam, not to mention the earlier war to resist American aggression and aid Korea.”

The moment he mentioned war, the atmosphere grew heavy.

Lin Yilan had not expected the defensive counterattack to have already begun. But she knew it would continue for a long time.

The war was unavoidable, and Lin Yilan understood that perfectly. Even so, she wanted to do something for the people caught up in it.

“All right, let’s not talk about this anymore.” Grandma Lin looked at the increasingly solemn group and interrupted the gloomy atmosphere. “Shengli, talk it over with Qiangjun first and see when it would be convenient for Little Lan to visit his home.”

Zhao Shengli nodded and gave the three members of the Lin family a grateful smile. “Then Aunt Hong and I will go back and contact Qiangjun now.”

“Xiao Lin, your aunt and I thank you.”

Aunt Hong also thanked Lin Yilan. Neither she nor Shengli had expected things to go so smoothly.

Faced with the gratitude of her elders, Lin Yilan rose and waved her hands vigorously.

“Uncle Shengli, Aunt Hong, our families are so close. Uncle Shengli was even comrades with my eldest uncle, so that makes Qiangjun my brother. Besides, he was injured while defending our country. I ought to help him.

“So please, don’t stand on ceremony with me.”

For the first time in many days, Aunt Hong revealed a genuine smile. “Regardless, Little Lan, your uncle and I still have to thank you. But I heard that you study architectural design. As it happens, I have a book about building houses that was passed down to me by my grandfather. I’d like to give it to you.”

Seeing that Lin Yilan was about to refuse, Aunt Hong stopped her.

“Don’t refuse. If that book stays with me, it may be eaten by worms one day. Giving it to you will at least allow it to fulfill its purpose instead of going to waste.

“Though after my grandfather gave it to me, I glanced through it once, couldn’t understand it, and left it buried in the bottom of a chest ever since. Whether it’s useful or not, you’ll have to see for yourself.”

When she finished speaking, Aunt Hong looked at Lin Yilan with some embarrassment.