Chapter 91: Long Family Leave

Zheng Laoer said to him, "Third brother, everything I do is for your own good. You can't be heartless. In our family, my eldest brother and I didn't even finish elementary school, but you finished junior high school. My eldest brother and I worked around the house, and you wanted to join the army, so I let you go. What else do you want? I've been good enough to you."

Boss Zheng also said, "Don't look so gloomy. How can Mom feel at ease with that expression on your face? She got beaten up this afternoon and was laughed at by the whole team. Mom is feeling very upset. You lost your wife, and Mom lost herself. She feels no worse than you do."

Zheng Guoqiang: “…”

My oldest and second oldest brothers didn't graduate from elementary school because they didn't want to study. It wasn't because Mom didn't want them to. Back when the army was being recruited, they had the chance to join, but they simply didn't want to go. They didn't want to leave home and risk their lives.

Of course, even if you sign up, you may not be selected.

How come now it seems like he has gotten the upper hand?

But he couldn't say these words. If he said them, his family would be in an uproar!

Li Aiyun scolded, "Shut up, both of you! Stop talking about the Third Brother like that. Today's incident was ultimately my fault, so the Third Brother has every reason to blame me. I'm old, and living is a waste of food. I might as well be dead."

After saying that, she let go of Zheng Guoqiang and ran out.

Old Man Zheng shouted, "Oh no! Hurry up and get your mother back! She's going to jump into the well."

The three sons of the Zheng family all ran out. The eldest and second sons limped and ran slowly, but the third son ran fast. Li Aiyun was caught up by him before she even left the house.

Zheng Lanping hugged her mother and cried non-stop, shouting, "Third brother, please, please forgive me."

Zheng Guoqiang smiled bitterly and said, "I don't blame Mom. Let's forget about this matter. Let's not talk about it anymore. Let's forget about my marriage for now. I'm still young, so it's okay to get married a few years later."

Anyway, things have come to this, and there is nothing good to say about it back home, so let's not talk about it for now.

When he returns to the army and works hard, and is qualified to accompany the army, he can find one directly in the army and not be too involved with his family.

Old Zheng said, "Your mother suffered a lot this afternoon, and the three of us were beaten too. Third brother, go cook and persuade your mother to eat something. Otherwise, how will she endure this evening?"

Zheng Guoqiang agreed.

What else could he do? These were his parents, his family. They were a family connected by blood and bones!

They are not perfect and may have many little thoughts and calculations about him, but he believes that brothers and fathers should fight together to fight tigers. If he really encounters trouble, his family will not ignore him.

So, even if his mother had gone too far this time and caused him a negative impact, he couldn't argue with them during the New Year. He believed that they didn't mean to harm him.

Mrs. Zheng Dasao and Mrs. Zheng Ersao in the side room gave their mother-in-law a thumbs up.

She really has the upper hand over the third child.

This singing, reciting, acting and fighting skills are no worse than Ma Xiaoyan's.

Zheng Guoqiang resigned himself to going into the kitchen and began to prepare dinner for the whole family. After it was cooked, he served it on the table and brought it to his two sisters-in-law. After everyone finished eating and wiped their mouths, he had to wash all the pots and pans.

From that night on, the situation in the Zheng family became four injured and sick people (external injuries and psychological trauma) + two mothers (who did not get out of bed during the confinement period) + two babies + three children who could not take care of themselves + Zheng Lanping who did not even help when the oil bottle fell over. Zheng Guoqiang was the only labor force left in the family.

All the housework fell on him alone.

Three meals a day need to be prepared, pots and pans need to be washed, clothes need to be washed, diapers need to be washed, water needs to be fetched, and the kang needs to be heated...

He was often asked by Li Aiyun to talk about her mother's love, and by his father to talk about the difficulties of life and the glory of having an officer in the family. It seemed that the honor and disgrace of the Zheng family all depended on him alone.

Zheng Guoqiang has no free time from morning to night and has no time to think about any problems.

He wished his home leave would end immediately, as he didn't want to come back for the next few years.

Liushutun was still quite lively during the Chinese New Year, but all this liveliness had nothing to do with the Zheng family.

☆

On the other side, not long after Xie Yun and Xie Shen returned home, Zhang Ruifeng came back.

She went to the commune today, carrying a basket on her back, and during her lunch break, she bought two roosters. Chinese New Year was approaching, and she needed one for her family, and one for the Li family.

Xie Yun cooked, Zhang Ruifeng killed and plucked the chicken, and Xie Shen helped.

Zhang Ruifeng asked them, "How was your trip to the county? When did you get back?"

Xie Yun smiled and said, "We had a great time shopping and watched a great show. We came back a long time ago. Mumu and I had originally agreed that we would look for you first when we got back and wait for you to come back together after get off work, but something happened. We came back with Wumei, Sister Qingli and the others, so we didn't go."

"You have quite a large group today. Where have you been? What happened?"

Xie Shen recounted everything that happened today.

He was particularly lively when talking to his family, and he used gestures as well, which made Zhang Ruifeng's facial expression change constantly.

"That's what happened. My sister and I just returned from the brigade headquarters not long ago."

Zhang Ruifeng sighed twice, "You can't judge a person by his appearance. Who would have thought that the Zheng family would be such a family? They have a soldier in their family, so their thinking should be quite advanced, right? Why do they still act like they are living in the old society?"

There is also Zheng Laosan, who is a soldier trained by the army, but he has such a personality, not decisive at all and has no sense of responsibility.

There are problems with the Zheng family. What Zheng Lanping did was wrong, but what Zheng Laosan did was even worse. His mother is unreasonable and his sister is willful. He should have spoken out in opposition. I don't believe he firmly disagreed with taking Zheng Lanping. What can Zheng Lanping do? What can his mother do to him?

How could he let Wu Mei face all this? What could Wu Mei, a daughter-in-law who hadn't even married yet, say? If she firmly disagreed, she would offend the old woman and her sister-in-law. How could she have a good life after marrying into the family?

He's been a soldier for six years, how could he not be able to control his own sister? Why can't I believe it? "

Xie Yun said, "Even if Zheng Laosan refuses out loud, Wumei will still have a hard time marrying into the family. If Zheng Lanping and her mother get humiliated by Zheng Laosan, they will definitely blame Wumei. Zheng Laosan is the one who makes money, so they can't offend him to death, so they can only let Wumei bully them. Zheng Laosan is not at home and can't protect her. Even if he knows, he will probably try to smooth things over and let Wumei bear the consequences. After all, it is Wumei who will suffer, not him."

"That's true. Zheng Laosan is no match for him, and neither are the Zheng family. Fortunately, Wu Mei broke off the engagement, so she doesn't have to suffer through marriage. Aunt Xu did a good job this time!"

What surprised Xie Shen the most was the generosity shown by Aunt Xu today. In the past, when they, the kids, asked Aunt Xu to help process sparrows, Aunt Xu would charge two-thirds of the money as processing fee. But today, she actually opened the candy bag and let everyone eat it, which really opened Xie Shen's eyes.

He said with a serious face: "I was wondering if Aunt Xu had some conspiracy!"

Xie Yun and Zhang Ruifeng almost died of laughter.

Zhang Ruifeng said to him, "We ordinary people can barely get enough to eat, so where do all these conspiracies and schemes come from? How can we have the energy to engage in such schemes? Even if we do have some ideas, we would use them to think about how to fill our stomachs.

Aunt Xu is a man of few words, stingy when it's time to be stingy, and generous when it's time to be generous. Everyone helped out with such a big thing today, and if Aunt Xu were still stingy, that would be outrageous. But now that she's so generous, so many people will praise her when they get home, saying she's open and forthright.

You, learn from your Aunt Xu."

Xie Shen blinked his big eyes, as if thinking about something.

Xie Yun added a little water to the pot. After the water boiled, he put half a portion of braised pork in it, added two pieces of cabbage, and a little salt. After stirring it a few times, he put a steamer in the pot, put the steamed buns from lunch on it, and covered the pot.

In less than ten minutes, a simple dinner is ready.

Although simple, it was delicious and the whole family was very satisfied with the meal.

Xie Yun and Xie Shen were busy all afternoon and were hungry.

After dinner, Xie Shen went to wash the pots and dishes, while Xie Yun and Zhang Ruifeng continued to clean the two chickens.

Xie Yun said to Zhang Ruifeng, "I'm going to the commune tomorrow morning. I promised to take Mumu out for some fried dough sticks. Then I'll go to Comrade Li's house and give him some food. The day after tomorrow I want to go to the county again and give Director Qin some cabbage and radishes."

"Yes. Anything else?"

"No need, just give me some of the things I grow myself. They don't need anything, it's just a thought."

Zhang Ruifeng nodded and said, "Then let Mumu come with me tomorrow morning. I'll take him to eat fried dough sticks. You're going to Comrade Li's house, but it's inconvenient to bring him with you. I'll have him go to work with me. You can still lie down for a while."

"Alright."

Xie Shen said, "If my sister gets up late, will there be any fried dough sticks to eat?"

Xie Yun said, "I don't know. I'll go check tomorrow. If it's gone, I'll get up early the day after tomorrow and go to the county. I'll go eat it when I pass by the commune."

Xie Shen then smiled and said, "That's good. If sister doesn't want to eat, then I won't eat either."

Zhang Ruifeng smiled and said, "Eat, everyone go eat. I'll go eat tomorrow too. Binbin, don't get up too late. When you get there, go eat at the restaurant. Even if there's no fried dough sticks, there are other options. If there's really nothing left, you can go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy some snacks."

"good."

After Xie Shen finished cleaning up, he went to bed, and the mother and daughter continued to chat.

Zhang Ruifeng asked her, "Did your Aunt Xu really pin Li Aiyun to the ground and beat her?"

"Really? Aunt Xu was riding on her, beating her left and right. Li Aiyun was almost driven crazy by her."

Zhang Ruifeng laughed and said, "Serves her right! This old woman is so mean. What nonsense are she saying! Your Aunt Xu has really shown her power today. She's a heroine!"

Xie Yun smiled and said, "Who says it's not? Director Yan said there will be a women's meeting tomorrow night. Let's talk about this together and encourage the women comrades."

"I'll go tomorrow too."