Chapter 41: The Best Stainless Steel Sink
In 1991, his mother was not pregnant with him yet, so what happened to Nianzu Village? Zhang Nianzu calculated and compared the two-inch photo of his parents with the whole album of his parents. He felt that his birth was no less than a calamity for the couple. Could it be that his parents named him Nianzu because they missed their previous life?
"What makes you feel so disappointed, huh?" Zhang Nianzu said, looking at his parents in the photo.
"Before I was born, you had money to go to YN to play, but after I was born, you became paupers. Am I so wasteful? You went out to play without me, and I haven't settled the score with you yet--" Zhang Nianzu laughed as he spoke.
At this time, the washing machine made a loud noise, and Zhang Nianzu hurried to the bathroom to check. He turned off the power and after checking, he found that its drum was stuck by a hard object.
Zhang Nianzu found a screwdriver and after fiddling with it for a while, he pulled out a metal lump shaped like an olive pit from between the drum and the washing machine case - the same one that fell out of Liu Yuejin's ashes. After being busy all night, Zhang Nianzu almost forgot about it.
After eliminating the fault and letting the washing machine continue to run, Zhang Nianzu took the olive pit and studied it. He didn't know whether this small metal thing was colorful because it had been strongly burned or it was like this naturally. Its material was unknown. Zhang Nianzu held it under the lamp, in the dark, and in the water, but nothing unusual happened. Finally, Zhang Nianzu found a hammer, put the olive pit on the ground, aimed, and hammered it down -
Boom——
The olive pit was smashed and flew out, bouncing back and forth between the sofa and the ground for a long time before it stopped.
It seems that force is not an option.
Zhang Nianzu suddenly had an idea. He picked up the olive pit and held it with his left hand, then stretched out his right index finger and rubbed it carefully. Finally, he felt a slight bump in an inconspicuous place, which was as thick as one-tenth of a hair. He was more careful this time and used other fingers to feel that place carefully, but except for his right index finger, that feeling never appeared again. He didn't care about so much. This time he found a paper towel, wet it, and put the olive pit on it as a simple fixation. Then he put an iron nail on the invisible crack and hammered it down again.
Bang!
The olive pit was smashed open and it was indeed empty inside!
Zhang Nianzu used a toothpick to pick out a piece of paper only as wide as his little finger, unfolded it, and saw a sentence written on it:
"One last thing. Write a letter to the following address and write 'Grandpa is in trouble' on the letter."
Below was an address, a place YN had never heard of. There was no recipient, and the last three words on the address were “Nianzu Village”.
This time Zhang Nianzu can no longer remain calm!
YN.
Nianzu Village.
Grandfather.
Why did my parents appear in Nianzu Village? Why did I never hear them mention it when they were alive? Was my name a coincidence or was it a commemoration of something? Why did Liu Yuejin come to me? What is the relationship between Zuye and my parents and Liu Yuejin?
All of a sudden, the myriad of information almost overwhelmed Zhang Nianzu. Each piece of information was as majestic as a peak, as if revealing something, yet completely independent. Without further information, it was impossible to link them together. Zhang Nianzu was like an ant lost among the peaks, left with only endless confusion.
Zhang Nianzu could only connect all these known information into a very reluctant information chain: his parents met Liu Yuejin when they were visiting YN Nianzu Village. Liu Yuejin had no children or other friends in his life. After his death, he could only entrust his affairs to the son of a friend he knew in his early years, and then... Liu Yuejin was his grandfather.
This information chain is full of loopholes and many places that are difficult to justify. It is like playing a jigsaw puzzle. Now Zhang Nianzu is forcing all the pieces together . As for the two toilet brushes that were supposed to be the eyes, he doesn't care.
In the end, Zhang Nianzu gave up dejectedly. There was only one thing he could do - to send the Buddha to the west. Anyway, he had done for Liu Yuejin what a filial son and grandson should do, so what was the point of writing a letter?
Nowadays, sending letters is considered a romantic thing. Even if you are thousands of miles away from each other, you can send and receive a WeChat message or a text message instantly. You no longer have to scribble on the letter paper, buy envelopes and stamps, find a mailbox, or risk losing the letter to communicate with people. Nowadays, the most convenient place to send letters is the postcard sales office at major tourist attractions. In the city, you can only go to a large post office to send letters.
Zhang Nianzu arrived at the counter of the post office and asked the clerk for an envelope and a stamp. The clerk looked at him in surprise before giving him the things. Zhang Nianzu picked up the pen on the counter, but found that he didn't even have a piece of letter paper. He fumbled in his pocket for a long time and found a useless receipt from a car repair shop. He wrote the four words "Grandpa is in trouble" on the back, put it in an envelope, wrote Liu Yuejin's address, put a stamp on it, and came to the mailbox outside to put the letter in.
"Young man!" A dirty old man riding on a tricycle looked at Zhang Nianzu with burning eyes and shouted.
Zhang Nianzu was stunned and asked, "Sir, what's the matter?"
"Would you like a nice stainless steel sink?"
Zhang Nianzu said: "No, I don't cook."
The old man said, "No money, you can exchange it for something."
Zhang Nianzu said with a smile: "Then I don't want it either, and I don't have anything to exchange with you."
The old man insisted, "Just exchange it for the letter in your hand." He picked up a stainless steel basin from the tricycle behind him and banged it, saying, "This is top-quality stainless steel, strong and lightweight, and it has one great feature!"
Zhang Nianzu was so taken aback by him that he couldn't help but ask, "What are the characteristics?"
"No leakage!" the old man said in a loud voice.
Zhang Nianzu almost fell to the ground: "The one that leaked was the vegetable basket."
The old man was dissatisfied and said, "I have been talking for so long and you still don't want to change?"
Zhang Nianzu then became alert and asked, "Why did you exchange my letter? Are you a peeping Tom?"
The old man smiled mysteriously: "I am just an old man who is interested in folk tales. I am curious about whether there are still people who express their feelings through letters. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand." Zhang Nianzu said, "You are just a voyeur."
The old man banged the basin loudly again, and insisted: "I am so old, and I have spent so much time talking to you. Even if you respect me, you should at least give me some face, right?"
Zhang Nianzu was going to stuff the letter into the mailbox and leave, but he became more cautious and walked back to the counter and said to the salesperson, "Excuse me, I want to send a registered letter."
