There was an incident in Xiangjia Village where a widow and her husband deceived the elderly into becoming dependents, but no one outside knew about it.

Even if he knew, it wouldn't matter. Xiang Tiezhu is Mrs. Xiang's biological son. The mother and son have a good relationship. Isn't it normal to give the younger generation some money to spend?

To put it bluntly, when the old lady kicked her legs, the money was originally meant to be divided among her sons.

Xiang Hongqi, who worked hard in the county town, had no idea that he had an inheritance to inherit. Even if he knew, he would only say "oh" indifferently.

He no longer has any expectations for his biological mother. Apart from alimony, Xiang Hongqi does not want them to have any more contact.

As for giving his own small treasury to Xiang Tiezhu, it was because he couldn't bear it when he saw the rough marks of labor on his brother's hands when he and his family had dinner with him.

Xiang Hongqi's hands are rough because he inevitably gets injured when making steel parts.

But in comparison, Xiang Tiezhu's hands were even more horrible.

His hands were very thick because he often worked very hard. There was a thick layer of dirt on each nail that could not be washed off, and he was constantly suffering from major and minor injuries.

Some of the old wounds have scabbed over and turned into scars, while some are new wounds with cracked bright red flesh.

The wound didn't even have any signs of bandage. At first glance, it didn't look like the hand of a man in his 40s. Instead, it looked older than Xiang Hongqi, who was nearly 50 years old.

Needless to say, his face bore the marks of aging from wind and sun; Xiang Tiezhu looked ten years older than his second brother, Xiang Hongqi.

Of course, the brothers' suffering is not a question of who suffered more and who suffered less. Xiang Hongqi also worked hard to hone his skills.

But when he turned around and saw that his sister-in-law Yuan Huimei's hands and face were also like this, Xiang Hongqi couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

When seeing his younger brother having such a hard time, any brother with a bit of brotherly love would not make the decision to stay out of it.

Thinking that his two brothers had passed away and they were the only ones left, he took out his own small treasury and secretly put it into Xiang Tiezhu's pocket.

He is not young anymore, he is nearly fifty years old. Things are unpredictable, and more and more familiar people are leaving him. Who knows when he will be separated from this brother forever?

When people get old, they become nostalgic and will unconsciously remember the good things about their old friends and forget their shortcomings.

However, Xiang Hongqi really didn't dare to tell Zhang Jidi about giving him the private money, for fear that they would disagree and have a conflict.

He could only hope that his younger brothers and sisters would be smart enough to take the private money and return home quickly without coming to him, otherwise his secret would be exposed if he confronted them face to face.

With this worry in mind, Xiang Hongqi went to work the night shift. When he came back at noon the next day, he specifically asked his neighbors about it.

When Xiang Hongqi heard from the neighbors that Xiang Tiezhu and his brother had not returned, he finally felt relieved after being worried all night. It seemed that his brother understood his thoughts.

In order to prevent any accidents, Xiang Hongqi tentatively asked someone when Zhang Jidi came back from get off work.

He didn't dare to ask directly whether Xiang Tiezhu had come to his house looking for someone, so he chose to start with Xiang Lidang's matter: "Mother, have you noticed that the third child has been acting strangely lately?"

I always feel like this child is hiding something from them, and I don’t know who he inherited his taciturn nature from.

Zhang Jidi was changing the quilt cover and first had to pull out all the threads that had been used to secure the thick quilt. "If I had known earlier, the third son's wife would probably be pregnant."

I didn't expect that just by chatting about a topic, I would find out that I had a grandson/granddaughter. Xiang Hongqi was a little overjoyed.

He walked over and helped to tidy up the quilt: "How did you know? Did they tell you?"

After getting the washed quilt cover, Zhang Jidi took out the wooden sewing box and began to thread the needle with his eyes squinting. It was a little difficult to see where the needle eye was under the dim light.

She pursed the thread end with her lips and continued threading the needle: "I have eyes and can see through people. They are probably not even three months old yet, so it's not good to tell anyone. You should keep quiet."

In the county town, people believe that if a baby is not firmly seated at three months old, it could cause an accident if the news gets out, so people generally don’t tell others in advance.

Xiang Hongqi thought about it and realized that the third brother's wife seemed to be walking more carefully. "Okay, I know. But then won't their room in Room 202 be full?"

The third son Xiang Lidang and An You brought their grandson Xiang Youjun. The family of three could barely fit into a single room, and there wouldn't be enough space for another person.

Zhang Jidi threaded the thread, tied a knot at the end of the thread skillfully, and inserted it into the pillow beside the bed. He then began to shake the thin quilt evenly with skillful techniques.

She said confidently, "I haven't seen any buildings built at the Lidang coal mine yet. I'll find one for him and buy it later."

Xiang Hongqi hesitated as he helped to pull up the blanket. "Why don't we make a room next to his, connect it up, and let the third child live there? Why waste all that money on buying a house?"

My family has a whole building with 15 units that were demolished, and I am still buying houses outside. This is really a bit too much.

Zhang Jidi glanced at him and said, "This house isn't ours, how can we just do with it?"

As she spoke, her hands kept moving. After overlapping the quilt and the quilt cover, she began to sew them together with needle and thread. Her skillful technique showed that she was often doing this kind of work.

It didn't take long to sew all four edges. Zhang Jidi cut the threads and started changing the sheets.

Xiang Hongqi was completely confused by this. He raised his voice and said, "Why is it not ours? Isn't the house registered under our name?"