Back To the Small Fishing Village In 1982 - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Getting Dentures for Grandmother

To get from their village to the county town, they needed to wait by the roadside for passing buses that ran from the township to the county. The fare was 0.15 yuan per person, but catching a bus wasn’t easy.

“Grandmother, you don’t get carsick, do you?”

“No, no, I never get carsick anywhere!”

“That’s good then.”

After waiting by the roadside for over an hour, they finally saw a bus coming. After paying and buying tickets, they took their seats.

The road from the village to the county town went through the mountains. There were no highways back then, and the dirt and gravel mountain road kicked up clouds of dust as vehicles passed. Looking out the window, all you could see was dust, and Ye Yaodong was so hot he didn’t dare open the windows.

The mountain road had eighteen bends, and passengers swayed left and right in their seats, only able to hold onto the armrests as the bus wound its way through for nearly an hour before reaching the main road.

In later years, with the highway, it would only take 15 minutes from their village to the county town, but transportation wasn’t developed yet.

Fortunately, the old lady didn’t get carsick and was still quite robust, otherwise at her age, he wouldn’t have dared to bring her out.

Throughout the journey, he kept hearing people vomiting in the seats behind them.

After reaching the main road, it took another ten minutes to get to the bus station. He held back his grandmother who was about to stand up, “No rush, let’s let others get off first.”

The old lady’s eyes crinkled with a smile, “Alright, alright…”

The old lady moved slowly, and he didn’t want her to get pushed around by others. They weren’t in a hurry anyway, so they might as well be the last ones to get off.

The county town wasn’t as big then as it would become later – the surrounding villages hadn’t been incorporated into it yet. But it was still a county seat and not small by any means. It was quite a distance from the bus station to the county hospital.

There were rickshaws for hire at the station entrance. Since his grandmother was elderly, he worried she’d get tired from walking too long, so he simply hailed one.

“Ah, we have to take this too? Let’s just walk, save some money, don’t waste it unnecessarily, I can walk…”

“It’s fine, I’ll help you up. We’re not so poor we can’t afford this bit of money. If you get too tired, Father will kill me when we get back.”

The old lady fretted the whole way, muttering: “Why go to all this trouble and waste so much money? I’m already so old, how many more days can I eat? You don’t earn money easily, keep it for yourself. I’m just a bag of old bones…”

It’s exactly because you don’t have many years left that I want to take good care of you…

“Are you thirsty? Would you like some water before continuing to talk?”

The old lady gave him a helpless swat, “I’m talking to you, and you’re still being silly. I know you’re filial, but grandmother really doesn’t have many years left…”

“Oh, don’t say such unlucky things. We’re almost at the hospital, it won’t cost much.”

She had no choice but to let him have his way, though in her heart she was quite touched, feeling her little grandson’s care hadn’t been wasted.

By the time they left the hospital, it was already noon, and grandmother’s removable dentures had been fitted.

With this worry off his mind, Ye Yaodong was in good spirits, “You remember what the doctor just told you, right? Wear them when eating, take them out to clean after meals. They’re comfortable to wear, aren’t they?”

“Yes, yes, I know, I can manage, but these dentures are so troublesome. Back when I had real teeth, I only brushed once a day, but these need to be taken out and cleaned after every meal. I told you not to get them for me, but you insisted…”

“Mm-hmm, now you can eat everything, even corn. You like peanuts – when that small patch of peanuts you planted matures in August, you’ll have teeth to bite them with!”

The old lady smiled so widely her eyes disappeared into creases. Being able to eat her favorite foods was certainly something to be happy about, but still, “Tell me honestly, how much did these dentures cost? When I asked the doctor, you even gave him signals not to tell me. I still have some private savings, let me pay for these myself…”

“No need, they really didn’t cost much. It’s already noon – are you hungry? Want to get some noodles?” he quickly changed the subject.

“What noodles? You can’t keep spending money recklessly. Things outside are so expensive. Let’s eat at home. It’s only an hour back, I’m not hungry, let’s hurry home.”

“Alright, then we’ll head back now.”

The county town looked rundown everywhere at that time, not even as prosperous as their township, and there wasn’t much to see. With his grandmother along, it wasn’t convenient to walk around much anyway, and if she saw him spending money, she’d only worry more.

He waved his hand and hailed another rickshaw to the bus station as before.

The old lady knew it was useless to protest – Dong-zi wouldn’t let her walk such a long distance. This time she kept quiet, saving her throat since the water in the bamboo container was almost gone.

The return journey had the same eighteen mountain bends. Though the old lady hadn’t walked much all morning, sitting in the swaying vehicle without moving had made her tired too.

When her feet finally touched the ground, the old lady let out a relieved sigh, “We’re home, our village is still the best.”

“Wait a moment – since we’re by the road, I’ll go pick some corn from the field across the way. We can cook it later, and you can try biting into it.”

“Good, good, good…”

The old lady waited for him on the spot, watching as he picked and husked the corn, pulling up his shirt to make a basket. He also picked two melons from the melon patch nearby, coming back with his arms full, saying: “You can bite into the melons now too.”

“Ah, ah… good, good… let’s go home…”

It was past mealtime by then, and since Ye’s mother didn’t know when they’d be back, she hadn’t saved any food for them. Ye Yaodong wasn’t very good at using the clay stove, so the old lady took charge and made them some dumpling soup.

He hadn’t eaten this in many years – after his wife passed, no one had made it for him. The old lady specially added some clams, oysters, and dried shrimp, making the broth especially flavorful. He was indeed hungry and ate everything clean, not leaving even a drop of soup.

Seeing his grandmother eating with pleasure, able to bite the clams now, he smiled and asked, “The dentures work well, don’t they?”

“Yes! Yes!” the old lady said cheerfully, “Now I can eat everything.”

“You don’t think I wasted money now, do you?”

“I won’t live many more years…”

“Oh, why are you saying that again? Hurry and eat. After eating, just rest at home. You’re tired from riding in vehicles all morning, don’t go walking around. I’ll go check on the house.”

“Ah, alright… I’ll just stay home and recite some sutras. I haven’t recited any today yet. Buddha bless… Mazu bless…”

Mm… these words were grandmother’s catchphrase…

As soon as Ye Yaodong left, the old lady stopped reciting sutras and went to stroll around the entrance with her new dentures, showing off. She showed her teeth to every neighbor she met, smiling until her eyes became lines, saying that Dong-zi had taken her to the county hospital to get them fitted.

She pretended to complain, saying she already had one foot in the grave and wouldn’t live many more years, yet this silly child insisted on getting her dentures, wasting money…

Only when she heard people praising Ye Yaodong for being filial and saying she was fortunate did she reveal a satisfied smile.

After wandering around the village all afternoon, almost every elderly person in the village knew about it…

Then by dinnertime, all the middle-aged villagers also knew that the Ye family’s third son, the one building a house, was actually quite filial…