Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space novel Chapter 858

Chapter 858: Chapter 731: The Troublesome Old Man Who Came Knocking

"In nineteen twenty-nine, we don’t let go; in three-nine four-nine, we walk on ice."

While the old folks were huddled at home avoiding the winter chill, or leaning against the wall basking in the sun, the nearby children were going crazy. Ping’an had already made quite a few friends in just a couple of days.

No matter how cold it got, nothing could stop the children from running wild at the alley entrance. On snowy days, they were unstoppable, from snowball fights at the alley to skiing once the snow was packed solid. Zhou Jiao couldn’t see any of the kids until dinner time.

Their family quickly integrated into the neighborhood thanks to these kids. With Zhang Guoqing’s childish enthusiasm creating all sorts of ice-skating contraptions, in less than a week, the neighbors started calling out for Xiao Wu whenever they met. Even Zhou Jiao, who was supposed to be resting during her pregnancy, often received small dishes of pickled sour dates or pieces of sauerkraut.

Before dawn, Zhang Guoqing was out jogging along the moat again, exchanging greetings and chatting with familiar old men, and slowly jogged back home.

Passing a restaurant, he queued up to buy some deep-fried dough sticks before he was about to leave when someone bundled up like a bear blocked his way, staring longingly at the dough sticks in his hand.

Zhang Guoqing wasn’t reluctant to share; he knew if he casually gave them away, it would attract criticism. In those days, food was a lifesaver, especially something like dough sticks.

He consciously avoided and walked aside, but after a few steps he felt a bit of pity. From the figure, it seemed it was an elderly person; who wouldn’t be in desperate need to ask for charity unless they were truly in dire straits?

If his family were short on food themselves, for the sake of his wife and son, he couldn’t pretend to be generous. With a sigh, Zhang Guoqing turned around and saw the person following him.

Zhang Guoqing looked again with surprise. Among all the people queuing, young or old, why did this person single him out? Did he have "good guy" written on his face?

The "round ball" quickly rolled a few steps forward when he saw Zhang Guoqing stop, making Zhang Guoqing twitch with worry that the person might fall.

"What are you looking at? It’s me. Are your eyes blind?"

Zhang Guoqing’s eyes widened immediately, the voice was too familiar. Even though a few months had passed, he’d only been willing to play the fool once.

"Old man, you..."

A hand pulled down the scarf, revealing the old face from last time. Seeing Zhang Guoqing recognize him, the old man immediately shifted his attitude, humming with pride.

In the freezing weather, seeing the old man wearing a not-so-warm cotton jacket, Zhang Guoqing couldn’t bear to argue: "How about I treat you to breakfast?"

"That’s more like it. If you don’t respect the elderly, you’ll regret it. Lead the way; we’ll talk at your place."

Zhang Guoqing smiled at his self-assuredness. Whoever this old man was, he seemed to know his household’s situation well.

The northern wind was howling, felt like needle pricks on the face. Zhang Guoqing, being young and strong, felt nothing, but this elderly man, seemingly harmless, wasn’t warmly dressed.

He kept quiet along the way, avoiding icy patches on the ground, leading him home earlier.

His instinctive actions made the old man smile, watching his back as he nodded and shook his head intermittently.

As Zhang Guoqing opened the courtyard gate and circled the screen wall, he saw his son braving the cold wind practicing horse stance in front of the main house. He didn’t disturb the child and knocked on the west room window: "Wife, we have a guest."

In a blink of an eye, the old man circled Ping’an, inspecting him back and forth. The child only glanced at him initially and continued his horse stance, ignoring him.

The old man was unhappy and started muttering: "Such fools, big fool gives birth to a little fool. Freezing cold weather, not lying in bed keeping warm, just fooling around."

Ping’an smiled at him and then closed his eyes immediately.

"Ah, not so foolish, eh? Come, chat with me! How old are you? How many years have you been practicing? Is your breathing technique some sort of secret manual?"

Zhang Guoqing, after receiving Zhou Jiao’s response, came beside them and couldn’t help but laugh hearing the conversation. This old guy certainly had a knack, just by observation could deduce his son’s practicing the mental method.

Masters are peculiar! Who knows if being targeted by him is a blessing or a curse?

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