I used rebirth to bury his captivating gaze.

Chapter 32 Who is he?

"Who is it? What's wrong with you two family? It's so cold, why is the door still open? If you're already hot, don't waste firewood. Starting tomorrow, don't light any fires." The old lady danced her way to the small kitchen.

Yang Zhannan hurriedly came out of the east room to greet her, "Mom, be careful. The yard is slippery with heavy snow. It's safer to stay in your own room."

After Yang Zhannan finished speaking, he went to close the door, muttering to himself, "Who came in and didn't even close the door?"

"I feel insecure because of you kids."

Yang Zhi rushed over and said, "Grandma, let me help you step over the wooden threshold so you don't fall."

The old lady glanced at him sideways and said, "At least you have some conscience. Grandma didn't spoil you for nothing."

Yang Zhi felt very proud of the old lady's praise, "That's right, don't you know who I am?"

"Alright, you're getting cocky now that I'm saying you're fat. What are you all standing here for? To watch a monkey show?" The old lady stepped across the wooden threshold of the east room.

Yang Hong sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) smoking his short pipe. He glanced at the old lady as she walked closer, but ignored her and continued smoking the new short pipe that his long-lost fourth son had brought home.

Although this short tobacco pipe and the previous long tobacco pipe both used the same old yellow tobacco grown in their own vegetable garden, the taste was just different.

The more he smoked, the sweeter and more fragrant the old yellow tobacco became! He laughed as he smoked, took the short pipe bowl off his mouth, and began to admire the new pipe in his hand.

He had only been smoking the new short pipe for a few days, and it hadn't changed color at all; it was still the same shiny black. There was a small patch at the mouth of the pipe, just big enough to fit in his mouth, that was golden yellow, very shiny, like the material of the gold ring his mother wore on one of her ten fingers when he was a child, the one that had been stolen by the Mountain Debt King many years ago!

"Grandma, it's not about watching a monkey show, it's about an ice and snowman that came to our house. I wonder if it's dead or not?"

Yang Zhanxi scolded, "Don't talk nonsense, go sweep the yard."

"Dad, I'll go shovel snow right away."

Yang Zhi ran out of the house, and then returned a short while later, saying, "There are two big brooms in the yard, and Uncle Si and Brother Chong are sweeping it, so I came back. Hehe!"

The old woman pushed aside a few of her own family members who were watching the commotion, then stared wide-eyed at the stranger whose face was covered with a large quilt and was completely white.

Then she shouted at Yang Hong, who was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) smoking a short pipe, "Old man, come here and see who he is?"

Yang Hong was completely focused on his pipe when he suddenly heard the old woman shout, "Clang!" His beloved pipe fell to the ground of the earthen house.

Then his joy turned to anger, and he cursed, "You old hag, you're going to die! I bet you won't even live to see the end of your life!"

Just as Yang Hong was about to bend down to pick it up, someone suddenly put his cute new tobacco pipe into his big palm.

"Hey kid, how's your winter break homework coming along? You're not allowed to date during the school year."

"Whee!"

"Did you hear me?"

"Hehe! I heard you, Grandpa."

"Why can't you hear me? You old fool, you dare to curse me to die as if you can live past New Year's Eve."

"What's wrong with this old man and woman during the Chinese New Year? They're acting like they're really not going to live to see us again."

"Diao Yan, go out to the kitchen and make breakfast. Don't join in the commotion."

"Whatever I cook, you can cook it if you want. It's not like I'm going to be cooking this week. Isn't Yang Chong's wife making cornbread in the kitchen?"

"you you."

"Third brother, say goodbye to you. Go outside and help Zhanbei and Yang Chong clear the snow. Open the gate and send the snow to the side of the road."

"Ah."

Seeing Zhan Xi's retreating figure as he was being assigned tasks by the old man, Diao Yan was quite smug. She curled her lips into a smile and said, "Serves you right!"

Yang Hong checked that the pipe wasn't broken, then calmly walked over and said, "Diao Yan, go to the kitchen and make pork and sauerkraut dumplings with Xu Fengying. Tell her not to make cornbread anymore, since relatives are coming again."

"He's a relative too? He can eat dumplings while sleeping? And even make dumplings?" Diao Yan thought the old man was giving her advice, but she was only happy for a second before it was her turn to complain. She snorted and walked out.

"I'll go make dumplings too," Yuqiu followed closely behind.

Then the other women went to the large kitchen on the west side of the courtyard to make dumplings.

There was only the old lady, Yang Hong, Yang Zhannan, and Yang Zhi in the house.

The old lady was about to repeat to the old man that she had recognized who was lying on the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

The old man immediately shut her up, meaning, "Don't say anything, I already know whose son he is."

Then the group felt awkward for a moment.

Yang Hong looked solemnly at Yang Zhannan, who was staring blankly, and said, "Second brother, take off your cotton-padded clothes and trousers, get on the kang (heated brick bed), and get into his bed to warm him up. Only then will he have a chance to wake up. Otherwise..."

"Ah! I, I won't do it. You know how cold his body is. He didn't wake up, and I was frozen to death. I won't do it, I absolutely won't do such a stupid thing. I've always listened to your arrangements before, but this time I have to fight back for myself. Dad, Mom, go find someone else. I'm your own child too."

Yang Yuhan returned to her family's small kitchen to get some things for making dumplings. Suddenly, she overheard Yang Zhannan saying something to his grandfather, and then she smiled! "Dad has finally grown up!"

Then she hid by the door of the east room and stood there helplessly and awkwardly for several months.

"Yang Zhi, help your second uncle take off his clothes."

"What? Grandpa, I, I wouldn't dare."

"Dazhi, did you listen to your grandfather?"

"I wouldn't dare to listen to your kind words. I still need my second uncle to teach me carpentry skills."

"Father, I just don't understand. Why would you make me strip naked and give warmth to some complete stranger who suddenly barged in?"

"Yes, Grandpa, he's an outsider, not as important as my second uncle."

“You don’t know, he’s not an outsider.”

"who is it?"

"he is..."

"Where am I...where am I...?"

Suddenly he woke up! His face instantly flushed red!

Just before he woke up, it felt as if a gentle breeze was caressing his face, and a warm current was instantly flowing into his body from the outside, into his bones, and even into his heart!

He began to show signs of life!

He suddenly felt that the two blankets covering his body were very heavy. He struggled to remove the blankets and sat up abruptly.

Standing at the door, Yang Yuhan watched his awakening and nimble movements, then smiled with satisfaction and turned to leave.

"You're awake. Don't get up, child. Lie down a little longer."

"Grandpa, Grandma, I missed you, and I missed the other family members in the yard. I'm here."