"We'll go to Gua Wazi's house first. The key to this house is at their place!" The old village chief didn't open the door immediately. After all, this house wasn't his. Instead, he led the film crew to a house nearby.
This house looked better than Huang's old house, but only slightly. Both were old wooden houses. As the old village chief shouted outside, the fellow called Gua Wazi came out from inside the house.
This was a person whose expression was clearly not normal, appearing to have an intellectual disability.
"This is Gua Wazi. His name is Huang Gua, because his mother bit a cucumber when she gave birth to him!" the old village chief introduced. "But this child is unlucky. His birth position was wrong, and the doctor forcibly pulled his head out with forceps, which injured his brain. He's almost 50, but he's still like a child over ten years old. However, he has a child working outside."
"He's Huang Tianshan's cousin. Their fathers are brothers. He's also the only descendant of the three uncles who still remains in the village. The others have gone to the city to work. It's just him and his mother guarding this home!" the old village chief said while asking Huang Gua for the key.
Huang Gua had probably never seen the various equipment brought by the film crew. As soon as he saw the cameras and microphones, he panicked and fled back into the house. After waiting for a few minutes, he was brought out by a stooped old grandmother.
Although this grandmother was old, her hearing was still good, and her voice was still loud. She asked the old village chief loudly, "What's going on? What key do you need?"
"Tianshan's child's house key!" the old village chief replied.
"Tianshan? What do you want his house key for? Does the village want to requisition his house again?" The old grandmother was clearly unhappy upon hearing this, and her expression immediately drooped.
"No, no such thing. It's not me who wants the key, it's this film crew from the imperial capital who wants the key. They said they've found Tianshan's child and want to see how Tianshan's family is doing now!" the old village chief also said loudly.
"What? Tianshan is back? He's finally back??" The old grandmother's expression was one of great shock. Disregarding her unsteady steps, she rushed towards the film crew, seeming to believe Tianshan was among them.
The film crew members were afraid the old grandmother might fall, so two people immediately went to support her. At the same time, they quickly explained, "Grandma, Mr. Huang Tianshan hasn't returned. We are from Y TV's film crew. We are here to help Mr. Huang Tianshan's son find his old home and to take a look. So, we want to see Mr. Tianshan's old house?"
"What? Tianshan isn't back?" The old grandmother was immediately very disappointed. While taking the key from her waist, she asked ramblingly, "Then how is Tianshan doing now? When his three uncles left, they were most worried about this poor nephew. He lost his parents so young, and he's been out adventuring for so long. Has he been living a hard life?"
"When you go back, tell Tianshan that everything is still at home. Although his uncles are gone, I, his aunt, am still waiting for him to come back and make his favorite potato cakes!" the old grandmother rambled.
Seeing such an old grandmother, the film crew didn't dare to tell her that Huang Tianshan had passed away. They could only say they would definitely pass on the message to his son.
"Just tell Tianshan directly. Why tell his son?" The old grandmother was not satisfied with this answer. She continued, "But since Tianshan has a son, his life outside must be somewhat stable. What is this child's name, what does he look like, how is he living, how old is he? Do you have a photo? Can you give me one?"
"Oh, his child is named Huang He. He's living... um... living quite well. I have a photo in my terminal!" A staff member quickly took out his newly bought Tianzhou terminal and flipped through it to find Boss Huang's photo, dressed in Han attire, gracing a magazine cover.
"Good heavens, this child is so handsome, just like his grandfather! Looking at him, I feel like I'm seeing his eldest uncle again! He was this big when he left, so handsome!" The old grandmother's eyes even welled up with a few tears as she looked at the photo. She then said to the staff member, "Can I have this photo?"
"Uh... Grandma, this photo is stored in the terminal, I can't give it to you, and we don't have any printed photos on hand..." The grandmother's request put the film crew in a difficult spot. Fortunately, one member had a flash of inspiration and said, "Captain, I happen to have brought that issue of Wealth Magazine with the photo on the cover. How about we give this magazine to Grandma?"
"Good idea!" The captain immediately smiled, then found the magazine and handed it to his great-aunt along with Boss Huang.
"Oh, thank you. He can even get on a book cover. Did he contribute to the country or something, to be qualified for a book cover!" the great-aunt asked again. She was illiterate and naturally didn't recognize the giant words "World's Richest Man" on the magazine.
The old village chief recognized them, but he found it somewhat unbelievable. He suspected this film crew might be scammers. How could anyone be the world's richest man?
The film crew could only explain a few things. Then the great-aunt threw the magazine back to the village chief and said, "Village chief, isn't our village going to revise the genealogy next year? Tianshan's lineage has a child now. You must add this child to the genealogy!"
"That depends on whether he's actually from our Huang family!" the old village chief snorted, then handed the magazine back to the great-aunt. "You know the village rules. When revising the genealogy, the person must come in person, properly write down their bloodline lineage, and each family has to pay a renovation fee of 20 yuan!"
"If this child and Huang Tianshan are still unwilling to come, then they have to pay a renovation fee of 50 yuan. Everyone in the village is the same, you understand!"
"How can you be so shameless? You framed Tianshan back then! He knelt on the ground and swore he didn't steal the commune's sheep, but you insisted he stole it, tied him up and beat him, and then he ran away with the tanner."
"Later, my second uncle found the sheep's bones on the mountain. It was clearly eaten by a tiger, and it had nothing to do with my Tianshan. You are the ones who caused him to leave his hometown, and now you still want to ask him for renovation fees? Do you have any conscience?"
"Nonsense. There haven't been any tigers on this mountain for more than ten years. Who knows if one suddenly appeared? And it's not false that this kid used to steal chickens and dogs, right? We just wanted to educate him, and we didn't hit him hard, so he ran away on his own. This is just too much!" The old village chief and the great-aunt inadvertently brought up an old story, making it clear why Huang He's father had suddenly left and never returned.
Seeing that the two elderly people, both over 70, were about to argue endlessly, the film crew quickly appeased them, saying that Boss Huang was not short of money. As for the renovation fee, totaling 150 yuan (for Huang He and Huang He's parents), the film crew would pay it for Huang He now, which finally calmed the two elders down.
Afterward, the great-aunt successfully opened the door to the house. Inside, there was naturally an atmosphere of dust and a large pile of miscellaneous items. However, under the sunlight, many signs of daily life could still be seen.
For example, a low desk, a small dining table not much higher, a "Unity is Strength" propaganda poster hung on the wall, a dilapidated drum machine placed in the corner, some winnowing baskets, and even more than a dozen strings of chili peppers hanging on the wall. These chilies had long since turned dry and hard, and no one knew how long they had been hanging there.
Finally, the film crew entered the inner room. This room, however, was not filled with miscellaneous items. It maintained the appearance it had when Huang Tianshan left.
However, there weren't many things inside, only a bed with a missing leg, propped up by a few bricks.
There was also a wooden chest. Upon opening it, it was found to be full of clothes, and they seemed to be quite well-preserved. Camphor balls and other insect-repellent items could still be seen inside, and the appearance of these clothes from that era was still visible.
The vast majority of them were women's clothing, clearly items left by Huang Tianshan's mother, which Huang Tianshan had very carefully preserved as a memento of his mother.
"Dad!" Seeing this, Huang He couldn't help but break down in tears in front of the camera. He cried like a child. Perhaps because of his high status, and Leng Zhiruo and Zhiwen were not around, no one dared to go near Boss Huang to comfort him. They just let this world's richest man cry there like a child, his voice choked with sobs.
Fortunately, everyone present was smart. The staff of Jiangnan Group dared not directly comfort their boss, but they could cry!
One staff member seemed unable to bear such a touching scene and suddenly couldn't suppress his tears, crying behind Boss Huang.
This crying was like a fuse, immediately attracting everyone else. The entire Jiangnan Group started to shed tears together, each crying more sincerely than the last, as if the box contained their grandmother's clothes!
This also made the Y TV crew a bit unbearable. They also started crying, and the reporter wiped his eyes desperately in front of the camera. The whole room was filled with tears, and no one even noticed when the video ended.
"Sorry, I lost my composure!" In the end, Boss Huang himself salvaged the situation, using a slightly forced smile to quiet everyone down.
"Mr. Huang, when our film crew was leaving, the old grandmother asked us when you would be willing to go back. She has also prepared some potato cakes and pickled vegetable soup for you in advance. And your uncles' families also miss you very much!" the reporter said.
"After I finish handling some matters here, in a month... no, within two weeks, I will definitely go back!" Boss Wang said without hesitation. "Alright, I'm probably not in the mood for an interview now. Can we stop here for today?"
"That's absolutely no problem!" The reporter nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Then when we edit the footage later, that part where everyone lost their composure..."
"It's fine. Although that part was indeed quite out of line, it was also my true feelings. As long as you think it's necessary, you can broadcast it. I won't have any objections!" Boss Huang said with a smile. "Actually, it's very painful for a person to always hide behind a mask. Being able to freely express my emotions like this is also a very comfortable thing for me."