When Zhao Donglin entered the courtyard with his son Heidan, the look on his face could be described as black as the bottom of a pot. Jiahui and Meixiang were driving the chickens back to the cage with bamboo poles. When they saw Donglin enter with a sullen face, they both froze.
“You’re back early today. What’s wrong?”
Jiahui put down the bamboo pole and walked over. Not only did Zhao Donglin look bad, but Heidan also lowered his head and did not say anything. She thought that Heidan had made some mistake to make Zhao Donglin angry, so she wanted to go up and persuade Donglin with a few words to not bother with the child or something. But before she could pacify Donglin, Jiahui saw Zheng Yuefen come in with a hesitant look.
Zhao Donglin nodded to Jiahui, signalling that he was fine. He turned to his younger sister, standing next to him, and asked, “Are Mom and Dad home? Go get Mom and Dad. I have something to say. “
“Oh, mom is tired and lying down in the house; dad is still in the field.”
Meixiang did not know what had happened. Anyway, looking at the appearance of her elder brother, it seems that it was quite serious. Her heart inexplicably began to beat rapidly.
Like Meixiang, Zheng Yuefen’s heart was also beating like a drum. She knows that her brother-in-law must be very angry. People really plug their teeth when drinking cold water. She was just out of her mind and talked nonsense. And worse, she was caught by her brother-in-law. Yuefen was really anxious and annoyed. When her brother-in-law comes back, he will call her mother-in-law. He will absolutely tell her mother-in-law about it. And Donghe will also know about it.
Zheng Yuefen immediately had a strong desire to live; “Big brother, I just said nonsense. Do not get angry with this ignorant person. I promise I will never speak nonsense again.
The voice had a rare crying accent, which startled Jiahui and Meixiang.
Zheng Yuefen, this person, was always the person who would not shed a tear until she saw the coffin. [1]If she didn’t disgust them to death, she would not give up. They have many quarrels, but they haven’t seen her this anxious before. Apparently, this time, she did something really serious, and Zhao Donglin saw it.
Zhao Donglin was not moved. This assurance he had heard too many times before. He had given her countless opportunities before, and he was expecting her to find her own problems and change for the better. Who knows that not only didn’t she know what she did wrong, but she became more extreme?
What does she want to say next? Zhao Donglin can guess. She was trying to tell a six-year-old child or her own nephew to harm his own family. This was no longer a small mistake to take advantage of something, but a poor character. It cannot be condoned.
He gave a wink to Meixiang and told her to hurry to the field, “And your second brother, just say I’m looking for them for something.”
“Okay.”
When Zheng Yuefen heard Zhao Donglin ask Meixiang to call Zhao Donghe back, she hurriedly went up and grabbed Zhao Donglin’s arm and said, with a pleading face, “Big brother, I really know that I’m wrong. You must not tell Donghe. He will really kill me. I’m still pregnant with a baby. Just spare me this time for the sake of the baby.”
Jiahui felt that she was really opening her eyes. The plot of vulgar dog blood in the TV play was really staged in front of her. Jiahui watched Zheng Yuefen cling to Zhao Donglin’s arm and stick it on Zhao Donglin like a fart plaster. She wanted to go up and tear her down.
Jiahui was just about to go up, but as if Zhao Donglin saw through her thoughts, he stopped her, “Don’t come here, go inside and call mom.”
The image of Zheng Yuefen in Zhao Donglin’s mind has been equated with madness. If Jiahui is pregnant, and Zheng Yuefen takes the opportunity to push Jiahui, then there is really no regret medicine to eat.
When Zhao Donglin’s words fell, Zhang Qiaoer came out of the room.
What’s wrong with this, howling in broad daylight? What an embarrassment.
The sister-in-law grabbed her elder brother’s arm and cried, sounding like a pig. In the courtyard, if the neighbours saw, their family’s face would lose dignity.
Zhang Qiaoer went over and circled Zheng Yuefen’s creaking nest, breaking Zheng Yuefen’s hand. Zhao Donglin’s clothes were wrinkled because Zheng Yuefen was holding onto Donglin too hard.
If not for the fact that Zheng Yuefen is pregnant, Zhang Qiaoer really wants to scrape up her big ears directly.
What are you doing? What’s going on again? You do this every day. Can’t you stop? “
It’s not over at noon, but there’s another problem in a few hours. It’s definitely not a small thing to muddle along. Can her good-tempered eldest son be angry like this? It is definitely a small thing.
Zhao Donglin told Zhang Qiaoer what Zheng Yuefen said. Before, I put up with those small things. But today, this has violated my bottom line. Heidan is still young, and it is the age where he needs proper guidance. She is his aunt, and yet she had a malicious intent to abet the child with such words. If I hadn’t come across it in time to stop it, I really don’t know what she would have said next and what bad influence it would have had. “
Jia Hui looked at Zheng Yuefen. She was also quite angry, not only at herself but also for Heidan.
This child had a memory of experiencing the pain of being abandoned by his mother since childhood. People around him should give him enough care to let him find the lost maternal love, but in fact, some people always use children as rafts to deal with adults. How innocent these children are!
Jiahui went to Heidan. She squatted down. She touched his little head and said softly, “Heidan, you are a good child. You should be able to tell who is sincere towards you. Look at our family. Grandma and aunt (Meixiang) care about you. My feelings for you are the same as they are for your grandmother and aunt. What your aunt Yuefen told you is not true. Even if I am pregnant, my feelings for you will not change. In the future, whether I have a son or a daughter, you will be their big brother. You should love them as much as you love Yingbao because we are a family, and a family should love each other. “
“You should remember that the person who is really good to you will not teach you how to hate others. If someone instigates you to do something wrong or instigates our relationship, that person will definitely not really love you. Don’t think about today. Let’s learn to feel it with our hearts and don’t be affected by the words of others. “
When Heidan looked at Jiahui, his silent little face looked pitiful, and the emotions in his eyes did not look like those of a six-year-old child.
Just as Jiahui was running out of words, she saw Heidan nodding, obviously approving of Jiahui’s words.
In fact, Heidan did not believe his aunt’s words. The standard for children to distinguish between good and bad is very simple: to see if the person is good to them.
He knew that Jiahui was not his own mother, but as time went on, his memory of Wang Mei gradually blurred. He only knew that from the time Jiahui appeared in his life, she had always been gentle with him, making clothes for him, buying him food, teaching him to read and recognize words, and often telling him some interesting stories.
When playing with the other children in the village, few people use the word “stepmother” to attack Heidan, because the children’s world is very simple. When they saw Heidan, he always had new clothes to wear, always carried sweets and treats, and had handkerchiefs embroidered with small animals. She would also tell many interesting stories, such as the “turtle and rabbit race,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “the big grey wolf,” which are often envied by them. They would always say, “Heidan, your stepmother is very kind to you.”
“Heidan, let’s switch mothers. I’ll give you my mother, you give me your mother.”
“That’s not Heidan’s real mother, that’s Heidan’s stepmother.”
“I want a stepmother like that too.”
“My own mother is not as good as Heidan’s stepmother.”
“Yeah, my real mom doesn’t even make my clothes or buy me food, and she beats me every day.”
After listening to it, he didn’t think that having a stepmother was bad. Instead, it has become a symbol of honour. Some children shout this when they go home, such as “you’re still my own mother, but not as good as Heidan’s stepmother”. Naturally, what they get is the parents’ bamboo fried meat.
When she saw Heidan nodding, Jiahui was relieved. The child had a heavy heart. JIahui was really afraid that he would put Zheng Yuefen’s bastard words into his heart. She was not worried about what Heidan would do to her, but that it would aggravate Heidan’s psychological problems, make the relationship between the two more and more distant, and finally reach an irreparable situation.
Jiahui got up and took Heidan’s hand, pointing at Yingbao, who was sitting on a small bench eating candy with a dumbfounded face and said, “You are a good boy. Take your sister inside. The adults needs to talk about important things; children can’t listen on the side.”
Heidan wanted to say that he was no longer a child; he was several years older than Yingbao, but when he met Jiahui’s eyes, he finally nodded his head.
Jiahui exhaled and went to Zhao Donglin’s side and said quietly, “Let’s go to the hall to talk. It’s not good to be seen.”
Zhao Donglin nodded his head.
“What’s going on at home?”
Her daughter’s face was so anxious as she looked for them in the field. Zhao Manzhu’s heart experienced an up and down. His face, which had been glazed by the sun over a long period of time, was full of anxiety. His eldest brother, Zhao Mancang, saw it and followed him to see if he could help.
Meixiang looked at the second brother next to her and didn’t speak. In front of the second brother, she was really embarrassed to say that the second sister-in-law wasn’t right. She just said that her eldest brother asked her to call them, so they’d know when they went back.
A few people ran back from the field in a hurry, the yard was empty, only to hear the hall house Zheng Yuefen crying and saying something, and Zhang Qiaoer scolded at his throat.
Zhao Manzhu thought it was because of the matter of noon and that it was the second family’s wife again. But Zhao Donghe was smarter than his father. He knew that it was certainly about the matter at noon, and it was definitely Zheng Yuefen again who had committed stupid things.
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?”
Zhao Manzhu entered the hall and hurriedly asked, Zhang Qiaoer patted her chest and sighed, “She really can’t be a family anymore.” At noon, for the bowl of noodles, she made a fuss, and this afternoon she instigated Heidan. She said that Jiahui was not truly good to him, and not only that, she tried to let Heidan do something to Jiahui. I really do not understand. I have been a hardworking person all my life. How would I stumble onto such a vicious daughter-in-law? This is not a family, this is simply a disaster. This is simply a scourge, a shit-stirrer. “
Zhao Manzhu was shocked and did not know what to say. Meixiang also stared in surprise. Zhao Mancang’s entry was not covered. He thought something had happened at his brother’s house and wanted to help. He didn’t expect it to be a family scandal, but he came and didn’t go immediately. He had to listen again.
After hearing about Zheng Yuefen’s actions, Zhao Donghe thought he would be very angry. Later, he found that his mood was very calm, and there was no anger, only deep disappointment.
He bowed his head and felt he had no face to say anything. When Zheng Yuefen saw Zhao Donghe like this, she was even more scared than seeing him angry. She started crying now, shaking her head while crying and explaining, “Mom, I didn’t, I really didn’t. I am Heidan’s aunt. I love him too much. How could I say it? Big brother just listened to my jokes. I was just talking about playing, not what he thought. “
It was so noisy for Zhang Qiaoer that she couldn’t stand Zheng Yuefen’s words. She scolded angrily, “OK, shut up. Can you swear by heaven? Can you be framed with the character like your eldest brother? “
Zhao Manzhu sighed, sat down, and pushed a bench towards his brother.
Zhao Mancang never expected this. Although this nephew-in-law of his was not good-natured and loved to calculate, he also did not see her so wrong-minded before. She had become unrecognizable.
He was grateful that he didn’t have such a daughter-in-law because otherwise his life would really pass. This is commonly known as the “black sheep.” Whoever had such a daughter-in-law was also doomed.
Since people have come together, it just so happens that the eldest uncle has also come, and can help be the witness.
“Mom and dad, uncle, today’s matter I have said clearly, I now have to say things, with my sister-in-law’s nature, I really do not feel comfortable with her living in the same condominium with my child.”
A word stirred up a thousand waves. Everyone understood what Zhao Donglin meant.
“Donghe and I are brothers. This is a fact that cannot be changed in life. I thought that the whole family should work together to live a good life, but now that I’m in a good relationship, it’s easy to make contradictions every day. As an elder brother, I can’t take care of such a sister-in-law. It’s better to live separately while we still have some friends. I’m the eldest son and should support my parents as long as I can. as long as Mom and Dad have no other opinions. I’ll give my parents an old-age pension. We’ll discuss how to divide these things.
Zhao Qiao’er was not surprised that his eldest son would say this. Zhao Manzhu smoked a cigarette and looked at his elder brother. Zhao Donghe looked blank. Jiahui sat in the corner and did not say anything. Mei Xiang was a transparent person just like she was. The whole hall was quiet after Zhao Donglin finished talking. A few seconds later, Zheng Yuefen was the first to respond.
“I don’t want to split my family; I don’t want to separate my family. Why would I want to split my family? I just don’t want to split my family! “
This was like a tongue twister. If music was played, she could rap. When she saw her crazy appearance, Jiahui felt that she didn’t want to see it. Of course, she was more surprised that Zhao Donglin would say “separation” so firmly in two words. After all, Zhao Donglin is a person with a family concept, which is related to his more than ten years of experience in joining the army. In the army, he lives and dies with his comrades in arms and sees all kinds of bloodshed and sacrifice. Therefore, he has more dedication and tolerance, and his life can be missed at any time. What else would be important?
A man with this trait was actually very tiring to be with. He wants to be good to everyone and protect everyone, which means he has to suffer more.
Just like in this family, Zhao Donglin uncomplainingly handed over his salary to his mother to manage, and his discharge allowance year-end bonus was given to Jiahui, leaving only a few yuan for himself as a backup.
He can endure the gossip of the onlookers, does not care about marrying a divorced woman, takes Jiahui’s preferences to heart, and takes great care of Jiahui’s maiden family. Such a man, although not perfect, has his merits. In such a particular era, he has been called a man worth relying on.
notlucia: Should I post the other chapter?? Thank you for readingg~
References