There’s a common flaw that fathers in this country seem to share.
No matter how much they miss their children deep down, or how much they care about them,
on the surface, they always wear that cold, unapproachable mask of indifference.
And they never express what they’re truly feeling inside.
Jiang Hongye—Jiang Nian’s father—was a textbook example of this.
Back when Jiang Nian hadn’t yet left for the north,
Jiang Nian would be at home, and his father would glare at him with a harsh, disapproving look.
As if this boy who carried his blood wasn’t his son, but some kind of enemy.
He’d scold him over the tiniest little things.
And when Jiang Nian was younger, he’d even raise his hand against him.
That’s why Jiang Nian had always been afraid of him, walking on eggshells whenever he was home.
Jiang Hongye even felt that Jiang Nian probably resented him—why else would he leave for so many years without ever coming back to visit?
And now, he was supposed to go find Jiang Nian?
“Do I even deserve to go find him?”
He let out a long drag of smoke, and this man—who had been tough as nails his whole life in front of others—showed a flicker of hesitation for the very first time.
He didn’t know what kind of attitude to bring when facing Jiang Nian. He didn’t know what to say when he saw him.
Should he say, “You’ve worked hard”? “You’ve done well”?
Or should he apologize for all those years of terrible behavior toward him?
Jiang Hongye’s mind was spinning with thoughts.
And just then—
“Hey, anyone home?”
A booming voice came from outside the house,
shaking loose some snow that had piled up on the roof.
“Who’s there?”
The mother asked, walking somewhat unsteadily to the door and pulling it open.
There stood a stocky, dark-skinned, pudgy man with a simple, honest face, grinning from ear to ear: “Sister-in-law, it’s me—Pang Xiao.”
“Oh my, what brings you here?” The mother was surprised, then quickly ushered him in: “Cough, come in, come in—with all this snow and wind, get inside and warm up.”
“Alright, sure thing.” Pang Xiao replied, stamped his feet at the doorway to shake off the snow, and stepped inside.
As soon as he entered, he saw Jiang Hongye sitting on a stool doing laundry: “Bro, washing clothes on such a cold day?”
Seeing someone else there, Jiang Hongye immediately put away his earlier hesitation and regained his role as the head of the household: “Yeah, clothes got dirty, gotta wash ’em. What about you—what brings you out here in this freezing weather? Here to mooch off us again?”
“Ah, bro, what are you saying? So I can only come by when I need something, huh? Can’t I just drop by for a chat when I’ve got nothing else to do?”
“Get outta here. I know exactly what you’re like. If you’re bored, then sit down—what do you wanna talk about?”
Jiang Hongye kept washing without looking up.
Pang Xiao didn’t stand on ceremony—he grabbed a stool and sat down, then pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket: “Bro, want some?”
“Want my foot. Can’t you see I’m busy? Give ’em to your sister-in-law.” Jiang Hongye grumbled.
Pang Xiao chuckled and handed the seeds over to the mother.
Then, munching on them, he said:
“I didn’t come for any particular reason—just that my daughter came back a couple days ago and mentioned your boy.”
“That kid’s doing well! Haven’t seen him in years—heard he’s become a big star now.”
“Oh, come on—big star? He’s just out there fooling around.”
The mother immediately jumped in when she heard Jiang Nian being mentioned.
Pang Xiao shook his head:
“Ah, you can’t say that, sister-in-law. Your boy’s actually pretty famous! A few months back, he was in some… martial arts film, played a role called Du Gao and got popular. Then he went and acted in another movie—directed by Xu Ke, no less.”
“Bro, you know who Xu Ke is, right? The guy who made A Better Tomorrow—Mark Gor, bang bang bang.”
As if worried Jiang Hongye wouldn’t get it, Pang Xiao made a gun-shooting gesture.
Just then, Jiang Hongye finished the laundry and tried to straighten his back—but suddenly winced in pain with a hiss.
Seeing that, Pang Xiao quickly came over and rubbed his back for him: “Bro, your back still not better?”
Jiang Hongye shook his head: “Old injury. Probably never gonna heal completely.”
Then he pushed Pang Xiao’s hand away, rubbed the spot himself, took a moment to recover, and steadied himself against the peeling wall as he stood up: “So you came all this way just to tell me that?”
“Yeah, yeah—take it slow, don’t rush.” Pang Xiao said with concern, then continued: “Well, since New Year’s is coming up, I figured I’d come by and see if my nephew was back yet. Have you heard anything from him?”
“Not yet. We called him a while back—he said he was shooting a new show and probably wouldn’t make it home this year.”
Jiang Hongye told him honestly about their last phone call.
As soon as he said that, Pang Xiao’s expression shifted: “Not coming back? Damn it—that little brat, once he made it big out there, he’s forgotten his roots!”
“Hey—watch your mouth. The kid’s just busy.”
Jiang Hongye frowned, a little displeased at Pang Xiao cursing his son.
But Pang Xiao sneered:
“Busy? So busy he’s been gone for over two years and hasn’t come back even once?”
“I know I’m an outsider saying this, but bro—let me ask you something. Does he even know how you two are doing?”
“Does he know about your back? Your sister-in-law’s leg, her cough?”
“What about this house? It looked like this years ago, and it still looks like this now—broken things never replaced. Does he even know?!”
“Alright, alright—stop it, Pang Xiao. Cough—why bring all that up?” Seeing that Pang Xiao’s emotions were suddenly getting heated and that Jiang Hongye’s expression was turning sour, the mother quickly tried to smooth things over. But inside, she could only sigh helplessly.
Because the truth was exactly as Pang Xiao had said.
All these years, Jiang Nian might not have been completely in the dark about their situation, but he definitely didn’t know much.
Of course, it wasn’t that Jiang Nian didn’t care about his parents.
Quite the opposite—every time they called, he’d always ask in detail about how they were doing, how their health was, and so on.
But the problem was this:
They only shared good news, never the bad.
This didn’t just apply to kids working far from home—
it applied just as much to the elderly parents waiting at home.
To avoid worrying Jiang Nian or getting in the way of his career,
his parents never told him the full truth about how they were really doing.
Whenever he asked, they’d say “everything’s fine.” If he asked again, “we’re all good.”
But the reality?
The reality was that they spent five or six hundred yuan a month on medication—and not the kind you could buy in the village or even the town. They had to go all the way to the provincial capital, over twenty kilometers away, to get it.
Thank goodness Pang Xiao had a car. Whenever they needed to pick up their meds, he’d give them a ride.
Otherwise, those twenty or thirty kilometers would’ve been a brutal journey for them.
And after saying all that, Pang Xiao plopped back down in his chair.
To be honest—if it were anyone else, he wouldn’t have said a word. He didn’t want to end up being the bad guy on both sides.
But he’d known Jiang Hongye and his wife since he was sixteen—over thirty years of friendship. With that kind of bond, how could he just stand by and do nothing?
Jiang Hongye understood that too, so he didn’t say anything. He just reached into his pocket for the loose cigarettes he’d bought on the way, ready to light one—but then glanced at his wife and silently put them away.
Just as the atmosphere in the room grew heavy—
“Beep—”
“Beep-beep—”
Suddenly, a rhythmic honking came from outside.
Then a loud voice called out: “Hey! Anyone home? Is this Jiang Hongye’s place?”
Hearing that, the mother and the others turned their attention toward the door.
Jiang Hongye frowned, looked at Pang Xiao, then at his wife.
Seeing that both of them looked just as confused, he felt a little baffled.
“Never heard that voice before. Who could it be?”
With that question in mind, Jiang Hongye buttoned up his military overcoat again, pushed open the door, and stepped through the plastic greenhouse set up at the entrance.
The mother grabbed a thick padded jacket, threw it over her shoulders, and followed with Pang Xiao.
What they saw was a whole convoy of cars parked right in front of their house.
“Huh?”
The three of them froze, completely dumbfounded.
What… what was this?
Where did all these cars come from?
Jiang Hongye lit a cigarette and walked forward.
But before he could reach them, he saw a man step out of the lead vehicle—a brand-new black Land Rover Range Rover. He was wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, had an impressive presence, and a figure as perfect as a model’s.
He looked at Jiang Hongye, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, then quickly flattening again, and asked: “Hello, is this Jiang Hongye’s residence?”
“Yes, yes—what can I do for you?”
Jiang Hongye was momentarily awed by his presence, then asked warily.
As soon as he spoke, the man smiled faintly: “Good, that’s the place. Alright, boys—start unloading!”
With a wave of his hand,
in the next moment, a bunch of men in black got out of the cars, opened the trunks, and without a word, started carrying boxes one after another toward the yard.
“???”
Jiang Hongye, his wife, and Pang Xiao all stared in utter bewilderment.
“Wait, wait—what’s going on here?”
“What are you people doing?”
Jiang Hongye snapped out of it and quickly stepped in front of the men, demanding an answer.
It wasn’t that he was overreacting—it’s just that the situation was completely baffling.
First, a convoy pulls up in front of his house and asks if this is his place.
Then they start hauling stuff inside.
What the hell was this all about?
They hadn’t ordered anything online. And even if they had, it wouldn’t come with this kind of spectacle!
Jiang Hongye’s face was the picture of confusion.
And seeing his usually stern father now looking as lost and helpless as a baby over this whole thing—
the man in sunglasses standing by the Range Rover could no longer hold back his laughter.
He took off his sunglasses, revealing that strikingly handsome face:
“Of course it’s me, back home and stocking up the house a little.”
“Dad, move aside—these guys charge by the hour. The longer you hold them up, the more they make.”
“Don’t make me end up not being able to pay them and having to ask you for the money.”
Jiang Nian said with a grin.
Hearing that, Jiang Hongye looked over—and when he saw that face he’d longed for day and night, his scalp tingled: “J-Jiang Nian?”
Jiang Nian opened his arms: “Yep, Dad, I’m back. Surprised? Shocked?”
But Jiang Hongye just opened his mouth, unable to say a word.
Because he was completely stunned by everything happening in front of him—his mind had gone blank.
And he wasn’t alone. The mother standing at the doorway, and Pang Xiao too, were in the exact same state.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still.
They looked at Jiang Nian, and Jiang Nian looked back at them.
It wasn’t until the people Jiang Nian had brought started filing into the yard with their boxes that the mother finally snapped out of it.
“Jiang Nian.”
She called his name, then with her less-than-agile legs, hurried over in a little trot straight to him.
She wanted to embrace her child.
Yet she was afraid this was just a hallucination born from missing him too much.
So she reached out with trembling hands, cautiously touching Jiang Nian’s face.
Feeling the warmth mixed with a hint of cold against her fingers—
“You’re really back? Really back?”
She asked, her voice shaking.
Hearing that, Jiang Nian reached out, took his mother’s hand, and held it against his cheek: “I’m back, Mom. I’m really back.”
Hearing his confirmation,
at that moment, the mother could no longer hold it in—tears of joy streamed down her face!
She quickly turned to look at Jiang Hongye beside her, her voice filled with emotion: “Honey, he’s back—Nian’er really came back!”
“Mm, mm—I know, I know.”
Jiang Hongye did his best to keep his emotions in check, trying to appear as composed as possible.
But the trembling hand holding the cigarette gave away just how unsettled he really was inside.
He took a deep drag.
“J-Jiang Nian, are you… are you done with work over there?”
“Not yet, but since I’m on New Year’s break, I came back to see you both.”
Jiang Nian said cheerfully.
Then he threw an arm around Jiang Hongye and said with a grin: “So, Dad—pretty grand homecoming, huh? Just to make sure nobody missed it, I even had the driver circle the village twice.”
“Nonsense—what a waste of money!”
Jiang Hongye stammered. He looked at the Range Rover parked in front, then at the lineup of BMW 7 Series behind it: “Renting this whole convoy must’ve cost a fortune.”
“Ah, it wasn’t that bad. Just these few cars, four hours, only forty thousand yuan total. Add in the movers, and it came to about sixty thousand.”
“Si-six—sixty thousand?” His eyes went wide at that number.
Clearly, the figure had rattled him.
But Jiang Nian didn’t think much of it.
Because that sixty thousand was actually one of the smallest expenses for this trip home.
It might come across as a bit nouveau riche, but Jiang Nian didn’t care.
In the countryside, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got depth or how well you studied—all that matters is whether you have money and whether you’re doing well.
So what if he was flaunting it? As long as his parents had pride on their faces, that was enough.
And besides—if you’ve got money, why shouldn’t you spend it?
Jiang Nian tapped the Range Rover behind him: “Dad, I remember you used to really like this car. How about it—wanna take a spin?”
Jiang Hongye shook his head repeatedly: “No way. If I get it dirty or break something, you’ll have to pay a fortune to fix it.”
But Jiang Nian just smiled and pulled out the keys: “Dad, what are you talking about? The other cars are rented, sure—if we mess those up, we’d have to pay. But this one? This one’s ours. What are you worried about?”
With that, he pressed the button on the key fob.
The Range Rover behind them flashed its lights in response.
Jiang Hongye: “?!”
