Aries was carrying Doudou and holding some wine and meat, while Sky followed behind, holding two pieces of cloth in his arms and a piece of candy in his mouth. They were walking towards the old house.
Just a moment ago, Aries had taken the things and walked over to Sky, who was bending down, arranging the cloth. "Open your mouth!" she said.
Sky opened his mouth without thinking, and a piece of candy, already peeled, was popped into his mouth.
Her fingers touched his lips, which made him quickly close his mouth in shock.
As expected, not only did he have the candy in his mouth, but also her finger.
Aries hadn't expected it either. She just wanted to feed her little husband a candy, but she ended up getting an unexpected surprise.
Looks like feeding candy could be something she should do more often!
After getting to enjoy her shy and delicate husband, Aries finally withdrew the finger that had caused the stir.
"Let's go!"
She picked up Doudou and stepped outside calmly, as if she hadn't just done something so shameless.
After taking a few steps, she noticed that Sky was still standing there with his face red, his round eyes wide, frozen in place. She teased him, "I've saved a lot of candy for you. You can enjoy them slowly when we get back."
Sky snapped out of it, tightened his grip on the cloth in his arms, and hurried after her, but he didn't dare look at Aries again.
She was just too—too—too shameless in broad daylight!
He moved his tongue slightly and wrapped it around the candy in his mouth. Still, the candy was really sweet!
And so was her taste.
As they reached the front of the old house, they heard a man's voice from inside, calling, "Doudou! Doudou!"
It was Doudou's uncle calling for him. His son was playing at the gate, so every once in a while, the dad would call out and wait for a response before getting back to work.
Doudou immediately shouted back, "Daddy, I'm here!"
Good thing they arrived just in time, or his dad would've come out looking.
The courtyard gate was open. Aries entered, carrying Doudou, who cheerfully announced, "Daddy, Auntie and Uncle are here to visit Great Grandma and Great Grandpa!"
The man doing laundry looked up. He was Aries' older cousin-in-law, Mr. Qiu.
As soon as he heard "Auntie," Mr. Qiu felt uneasy. Aries rarely visited their house even once a year, and whenever she did, it was never good news. Why would she suddenly come today?
And she even brought her newlywed husband. If she said she brought him to meet the elders, Mr. Qiu would never believe it.
In truth, the family didn't have bad intentions towards Aries and her father, Mawen. They weren't the kind of people who bullied the widower and orphan left behind by their late sister.
In the earlier years, Aries' older aunts and married uncle had helped them quite a bit. But in the past couple of years, they stopped helping—because Mawen had worn their patience thin.
In Mawen's eyes, no matter how much they gave or helped, it was all something they owed him. After all, they were the elders, weren't they?
He'd just go over and take whatever he needed from their homes, never mentioning repayment. Even when borrowing silver, it was like throwing meat buns at dogs—gone for good.
After a while, no one wanted to deal with him anymore.
As for Aries, if she hadn't fallen into gambling, the aunts wouldn't have left her alone.
But once gambling took over, there was nothing they could do. Everyone had families to feed. They couldn't possibly sacrifice their whole households for Aries alone.
Still, when something serious happened, her aunts wouldn't just watch her die.
This time, when Aries collapsed and didn't wake up, the five taels used to marry her a husband were scraped together by her aunts.
They just didn't show their faces and had the grandfather send it to her.
Only the old grandparents had enough authority to hold Mawen back. Anyone else going would just get scolded.
Mr. Qiu was surprised to see his son in Aries' arms—that was a first!
Then he noticed Aries didn't come empty-handed.
She even brought a lot of stuff.
Mr. Qiu couldn't help but get suspicious. Aries must be planning something big to be willing to spend this much. What in their house could she possibly want so badly?
Seeing the changing expressions on Mr. Qiu's face, Aries once again had the urge to go beat up Mawen.
"Brother-in-law, I'm here to visit Grandma and Grandpa."
She had to speak up and interrupt his wild thoughts—who knows what crazy ideas he might come up with if she didn't?
Sky followed politely and greeted him too, "Brother-in-law."
Only then did Mr. Qiu snap out of it and say, "Grandma and Grandpa are inside. You two go in."
Even though he didn't want them to go in, he couldn't really stop them from visiting the grandparents.
Then he pretended to scold Doudou, "Come down now, don't tire out your aunt."
Aries gave Doudou a little toss in her arms. "It's okay. Doudou isn't heavy."
Doudou held on to Aries tighter and giggled happily.
Watching the two walk inside, one after the other, Mr. Qiu sighed—Aries was really in a good mood today!
Then his eyes landed on Sky, walking behind her. He didn't look good, honestly, and seemed like a waste to be married to Aries.
The two old grandparents inside had heard everything going on in the courtyard. In fact, everyone in the house heard it, but no one came out to greet Aries.
One, because she wasn't welcome. Two, because she was the younger one—it wasn't proper for elders to go out and greet a junior.
Aries knew she wasn't liked but didn't mind. She figured, hey, at least she wasn't kicked out.
Holding Doudou, she led Sky straight to the old man's room. Why bring Doudou in with her? To avoid getting chased out the moment she walked in.
She'd been hit by Grandma more than once because of her gambling. But no matter how much Grandma beat her, she just couldn't stop.
Sure enough, when Grandma saw her holding the great-grandson, she only glared at her and didn't reach for the tobacco pipe nearby.
Before they entered, Aries had already whispered to Doudou to be sweet and greet the elders, and maybe say a few nice things about her.
Doudou didn't disappoint. His sweet words made the old couple laugh.
And their expressions toward Aries weren't as bad as before.
So she stepped forward, placed the items she brought on the table, and pulled Sky over to introduce him.
"Grandma, Grandpa, this is my husband. I brought him to meet you, and thank you, Grandpa, for helping set us up."
Her voice was soft, and her eyes were full of warmth and respect for the elders.
Aries was someone who remembered kindness. She treated anyone who treated her well with sincerity.
And for the sake of her sweet, lovable husband, she would treat these two elders as her own.
If it weren't for Grandpa, how could she have gotten such a perfect husband?