Mai Ding already knew Grandpa’s house well. Even though he came to visit often, the moment he stood at the door he still knocked impatiently. He missed Grandpa. Among everyone in the An family, Grandpa was the only one firmly on Mai Ding’s side. He thanked the housekeeper who opened the door and ran inside, calling sweetly, “Grandpa, I came to see you.” Grandpa was sitting on the sofa with a blanket over his legs.
“Good, cough, cough, such a good boy.” Grandpa’s doting voice was interrupted by coughing. Mai Ding walked over and asked worriedly, “Grandpa, what’s wrong? Did you catch a cold?”
“Cough, cough, it’s nothing.” Grandpa hid the tissue behind him so Mai Ding would not see it. Ignoring Grandpa’s attempts to stop him, Mai Ding snatched it away. The moment he saw the blood on it, his face went pale. He did not even know whether he was talking to himself or calling for help. “We need to go to the hospital. Right, right, call 120.” He hurriedly pulled out his phone, but before he could dial, Grandpa pressed down his hand. “It’s nothing. Just a little problem. Don’t tell Zi Yan. I’m afraid he’ll worry.”
“But…”
“Listen to Grandpa. It’s nothing serious.” Grandpa could not hold back another fit of coughing. He took another tissue from his bag and pressed it to his mouth. When he lowered his hand, Mai Ding could clearly see the blood on it. His nose stung. He threw himself against Grandpa’s legs, tears gathering in his eyes. “Grandpa, can we go see a doctor? I’ll go with you right now.” He hugged Grandpa’s thigh tightly and anxiously tried to pull him up. Then, all of a sudden, Mai Ding’s face went beyond pale and turned completely horrified. How was this possible?! H-he had actually pulled Grandpa’s leg off?! Everyone said older people had brittle bones. Why had he used so much force? Damn it! The entire leg in his hands had separated from Grandpa’s body. Mai Ding nearly fainted. He looked up at Grandpa’s pained face. “It’s okay. Grandpa’s legs were useless anyway.”
“Grandpa! It’s all my fault, it’s all because of me, I…” He could not finish.
After parking the car, An Zi Yan walked into the living room and found Mai Ding clutching one of Grandpa’s legs while several bloodstained tissues lay scattered on the floor. His head started to ache. Mai Ding’s eyes were vacant, his soul practically scared out of his body. Expressionless, An Zi Yan walked over and roughly pulled Grandpa’s other leg out from beneath the blanket. Mai Ding felt as though he were watching some gruesome Western horror movie. He sprang up furiously and shouted, “An Zi Yan, what are you doing?!” An Zi Yan merely stuffed the other leg into Mai Ding’s arms too. “You want it?” Now Mai Ding was holding two legs. Afraid he might damage Grandpa’s legs even more, he refused to let go and hugged them tightly, his voice trembling with tears. “Grandpa, ignore him. I’ll take you to the hospital right now. Hold on. I’ll get you away from this unfilial grandson.”
An Zi Yan ignored Mai Ding and held a hand out to Grandpa, curling his fingers. “Give it here.” Grandpa suddenly looked more like a child himself. Reluctantly, he pulled a whole stack of bloodstained tissues from his bag. An Zi Yan lifted the blanket, and only then did Mai Ding stare in shock at Grandpa sitting cross-legged on the sofa with both real legs perfectly intact. An Zi Yan crouched down, frowned, and gently lowered Grandpa’s crossed legs. “How old do you think you are? Sit properly. I’ll get your cane.”
Mai Ding finally understood what had happened. The two fake legs fell from his arms. Grabbing his hair, he shouted, “Grandpa! You did it again! Why do you always use such unlucky, terrifying pranks? You scared me to death!” He kicked the fake legs away, his face scrunched up.
An Zi Yan returned with the cane and said coldly, “I think the scariest part is that you actually believed it.” Mai Ding defended himself. “Grandpa hasn’t played a trick on me in a long time. I just let my guard down…”
“You can’t do this kind of thing too often. You have to wait a while between each one for it to work.” Grandpa spoke with the confidence of an expert, sounding rather pleased with himself. Mai Ding petulantly kicked the fake legs even farther away. “Grandpa, you’re the one who should reflect on yourself!!” Grandpa stood with the help of his cane and moved his real legs a little after having kept them crossed long enough to affect the circulation. “Grandpa’s old. I have to find some fun somehow.”
“Am I the fun?” Mai Ding asked miserably. A thought suddenly occurred to him. Maybe Grandpa had not simply watched An Zi Yan turn bad. Could Grandpa have spent An Zi Yan’s childhood playing tricks on him until he turned bad? Or was it purely hereditary?
Once Mai Ding recovered from the prank, he quickly transformed into a little tattletale again. “Grandpa, you have no idea how many outrageous things An Zi Yan has done lately. I really have so much suffering I can’t even talk about.” He made it sound as though he had endured some enormous injustice. Grandpa, apparently forgetting that he himself had just been one of Mai Ding’s tormentors, gave An Zi Yan a reproachful look. “You really are something.” Hearing Grandpa take his side made Mai Ding feel fantastic. Suddenly all those unspeakable grievances became perfectly speakable. “He bullies me at work all the time. He throws files at me and treats me badly in front of everyone…” After a long list of miserable complaints, An Zi Yan added mildly, wearing his trademark wicked smile, “Why don’t you tell Grandpa how I bullied you in the office?” Mai Ding’s face instantly turned red. Grandpa looked at him too. “What else did he do?”
Now Mai Ding could not say it. He could hardly tell Grandpa that An Zi Yan had fucked him in the office. He brushed past it in a single sentence. “That wasn’t anything important.”
“If it wasn’t important to you, does that mean I can do it often?”
“Stop talking. I don’t want to hear you!” Mai Ding immediately resumed complaining. “Grandpa, look at him. He’s always picking on me. A few days ago I only said a couple of things and he kicked me. My butt is still swollen.”
“Your butt is swollen because of something else, isn’t it?”
Grandpa scolded An Zi Yan again. “Let him talk.” An Zi Yan stopped speaking. Mai Ding sneered. Only in front of Grandpa would An Zi Yan behave a little. Mai Ding immediately went back to flattering Grandpa. “Grandpa, when I make more money, come live with us. I can keep you company every day.” Grandpa laughed, the wrinkles on his face relaxing. “You’re willing to live with an old man like me?” Mai Ding nodded. “Of course. Better than living with certain people.” He shot An Zi Yan an arrogant look. In moments like this, Mai Ding always possessed a fearless courage that completely ignored the possibility of death.
“Then I’ll look forward to you two making money. By the way, do you have enough? If not, just ask Grandpa. I’m not as old-fashioned as my son.” Mai Ding actually wanted to say they did not have enough, but his upright character got in the way, so he hypocritically refused. After chatting for a while, Mai Ding decided it was time to get to the real matter. “Grandpa, I’m hungry. Is there any cake at home?”
“I don’t really eat things that sweet, so I didn’t buy any. I’ll have someone go get some right away.”
“No need. Let An Zi Yan go buy it. I’m the one who does everything at home every day. He never helps, and he never buys me anything. Every once in a while, I’d like to eat something he bought for me.”
“All right, all right. Zi Yan, go buy some cake.”
An Zi Yan clenched his teeth. When he still did not move, Grandpa added, “What, you won’t even listen to this old man anymore? Sigh, Grandpa worked so hard raising you, and now my legs don’t even work properly…” An Zi Yan cut him off. “Enough.” He stood, picked up the car keys, and silently mouthed three words at Mai Ding: You. Are. Dead.