CHAPTER 324: CHAPTER 326 LONELY ELDERLY

Upon hearing this, both Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing understood.

After they finished eating, Gao Jiaxing voluntarily started to clear the dishes. Mrs. Xia didn’t stop him, instead, she subtly kicked Xia Xiao with her foot.

Xia Xiao chuckled and also went into the kitchen to help. Gao Jiaxing said, "Why are you here? There are only a few bowls; I can wash them myself."

Xia Xiao replied, "You see how much my grandma dotes on you? She couldn’t bear to let you wash the dishes alone, so she kicked me over to help you."

"That’s true, Grandma really does spoil me." Gao Jiaxing nodded. "I like Grandpa and Grandma a lot."

As for his own biological grandfather, he had passed away when Gao Jiazhi was born, so Gao Jiaxing couldn’t possibly know him.

And Old Lady Gao, whom Gao Jiaxing had never liked since he was young. In his opinion, Mrs. Xia was what a grandmother should be—gentle and affectionate, concerned for each member of the younger generations, and not particularly biased towards boys over girls. Gao Jiaxing liked that kind of elderly person.

After their meal and washing up, they accompanied Old Man Xia and Mrs. Xia for a while. Then Mrs. Xia said, "Why don’t you two go out for a walk? It’s no fun staying at home."

Gao Jiaxing suggested, "Why don’t we all go for a walk? We don’t need to go far, just around the neighborhood."

Xia Xiao agreed as she hadn’t yet had a chance to go out with her grandparents.

Mrs. Xia dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand: "No need, you two go. What would we old folks do following along?"

"Grandma, I haven’t yet had the chance to go out for a walk with you and Grandpa. Why don’t we just walk around here? How about it?"

As she said this, Xia Xiao turned to Old Man Xia, "Grandpa, introduce us to your chess friends."

Old Man Xia smiled broadly and agreed enthusiastically, "Alright, today I’ll take you out for a stroll."

Immediately, Gao Jiaxing helped Mrs. Xia, and Xia Xiao followed Old Man Xia. The four of them left the house and started wandering around the neighborhood.

Mrs. Xia whispered to Xia Xiao, "That family has really suffered."

"That’s just too much," when Xia Xiao heard it, she couldn’t help feeling it was utterly despicable.

"Yes, and now people are afraid to associate with them. If someone enters their house, they need to be very careful. If someone intended to do harm, it would be hard to guard against. You should also be cautious, you know?"

Mrs. Xia reminded Xia Xiao, "If someone comes into your house, after they leave, you must carefully check everywhere they’ve been. Just in case they left behind something harmful, that would be a disaster."

Xia Xiao nodded, taking the warning to heart and pondering over how the production team had not yet encountered such issues, but what if someone wanted to harm the Gao family?

"Grandma, rest assured, I’ll be careful when I go back." At that moment, Xia Xiao almost wished she could phone her in-laws.

Unfortunately, there were no phones yet. Sending a telegram was too risky and not discreet enough, and writing a letter wouldn’t be faster than them just returning there in person.

"Wow, Old Xia’s granddaughter looks quite elegant, and the son-in-law is handsome..."

...

Several people greeted Old Man Xia and Mrs. Xia; usually, the neighborhood relations were quite good, but the current atmosphere had made everyone more cautious.

Old Man Xia and Mrs. Xia took Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing around the neighborhood, which was quite a face-giving thing. Then they encountered Mr. Xue, who was sweeping the street.

Old Man Xia said, "Mr. Xue, let’s go play a game of chess."

"Is this your granddaughter and grandson-in-law?" Mr. Xue asked.

Xia Xiao then noticed Mr. Xue, who was very thin and short, even slightly hunched, but he smiled cheerfully.

"Yes, my granddaughter, grandson-in-law," said Old Man Xia. "This is Grandpa Xue, a chess buddy of mine for many decades. Come and meet him."

"Hello, Grandpa Xue," Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing greeted Mr. Xue.

"Good, good! Old Xia is luckier than I," Mr. Xue said as he grabbed his broom: "Let’s go, let’s play a game of chess."

Then Old Man Xia and Mr. Xue were down under a big tree setting up the chess game, and it was at this moment that Xia Xiao noticed Mr. Xue was also carrying chess pieces; immediately, the two old men began their fierce match under the tree.

Unfortunately, Old Man Xia was no match for Mr. Xue and was soundly defeated.

Mr. Xue said proudly with a smile, "In this lifetime, on the chessboard, don’t ever think of beating me."

"Jiaxing, do you know how to play?" asked Old Man Xia.

"Yes," Gao Jiaxing replied.

"Then you play against him. Beat this arrogant old man for me," demanded Old Man Xia.

Mr. Xue shook his head in pride, still humming a tune.

Xia Xiao hadn’t realized that Gao Jiaxing was quite good at chess. When Gao Jiaxing finally defeated Mr. Xue, Old Man Xia was thrilled.

Mr. Xue patted Gao Jiaxing, "Not bad young man. Are you from the military? You must have played a lot of chess there."

"Yes, I learned from my dad since I was young, and in the military, it was all about this game," Gao Jiaxing replied.

"Good, good," Mr. Xue’s eyes went a little misty as he looked at Gao Jiaxing, but he blinked away the emotion.

"My grandson-in-law has made me proud today. This Mr. Xue has bullied me all the time, haha, and now my son-in-law has won it back for me," Old Man Xia could barely contain his glee.

Mr. Xue and Old Man Xia were about the same age, and now seeing Old Man Xia smugly gloating, Mr. Xue puffed up his cheeks in annoyance, "It’s your son-in-law who beat me, not you. What are you so proud of, after decades of being defeated?"

"My grandson-in-law also won it on my behalf. You, an old chess player, lost to my grandson-in-law; what do you have to be proud about?"

The two old men were verbally sparring, and Xia Xiao was seeing this side of Old Man Xia for the first time—so full of energy, even more spirited than at home.

Mrs. Xia commented, "Your grandpa is a terrible chess player. It’s a wonder Mr. Xue has put up with him all these years."

Once back home, Mrs. Xia told Xia Xiao and Gao Jiaxing about Mr. Xue’s circumstances. He was a lonely old man whose son had been lost in battle, his wife had also passed away, and his daughter disowned him; now he was all alone.

Mr. Xue started sweeping the streets before dawn every day, and other than that, his only other activity was playing chess. He generally didn’t enjoy socializing.

Listening to this, Xia Xiao felt a pang of sadness, never having imagined that the cheerful old man was in fact a lonely widower.