At 5:30 p.m., He Liping carried a bamboo basket full of vegetables and slowly walked towards his wife's parents' house where his family was staying.
He stopped when he reached the entrance of the alley.
He peeked into the small house with the neighborhood committee sign and asked the person inside, "Aunt Wang, did any of my family members call today?"
Aunt Wang shook her head: "No."
Seeing He Liping's disappointed expression, a hint of hesitation flashed in her eyes, and then she quietly reminded him, "Your mother was on duty this morning, and I wasn't here. Why don't you go back and ask her if anyone called you?"
"Okay, thank you." He Liping smiled, thanked them politely, and left the house, continuing to walk towards the courtyard where they lived.
"What a disaster! What kind of mess is this! Such a perfectly healthy child..."
Aunt Wang clicked her tongue twice as she watched his retreating figure, then buried her head in her knitting again.
He Liping is He Lixuan's older brother.
He majored in Chinese literature in college, and because of his excellent grades, he was retained as a teaching assistant after graduation.
His wife was the daughter of a minor official in the Commerce Bureau and worked as a sales clerk in a department store.
When they got married, everyone praised the woman for being so lucky to have found such a family and such a good husband.
During those years, He Liping's parents-in-law treated him quite well.
University teaching assistants are well-paid and respected.
His wife, a saleswoman at a department store, had excellent benefits and a little bit of power.
In addition, after they got married, they lived in a small villa that their parents had bought right after the liberation. It was a two-story house with a total of eight rooms.
With such a standard of living, it can be said that He Liping became a winner in life at a very young age.
But who could have known that life would be so unpredictable!
The changes in our family over the past few years have been truly earth-shattering.
First, the second brother left without saying goodbye, leaving behind only a "letter of severance of kinship" for the family.
Then the parents tricked the younger brother into coming home and put him directly on a train to the countryside.
Then, the father made the decision for the three of them to move out of the mansion and donate it to the country.
Immediately afterwards, their parents were sent to a cadre school, and the house where they were temporarily living at the school was also taken back...
He, his wife, and daughter were so destitute that they had to temporarily stay at his wife's parents' home.
As soon as news spread from his father's school that he might be transferred to a lower-level position, his father-in-law quickly arranged for him to be transferred.
He was transferred to a department store as a warehouse keeper.
Although his current job is vastly different from his previous one in terms of both pay and working environment, at least he has kept his job.
Unlike their parents, they were not forced to go to a labor camp for reform through labor.
He Liping was very grateful to his father-in-law for this.
He Liping carried the vegetables into the yard.
When he was still some distance from his parents-in-law's house, he heard his wife, Liang Yueming, arguing with his mother-in-law.
"What do you mean by 'the older one should give way to the younger one'? You always say that, always say that! But Jiajia and Xiaobao were born in the same month, and Jiajia is only six days older than Xiaobao! What kind of older is that?"
"You're being biased, so why are you making excuses?"
"How am I being biased? Jiajia is in the wrong! It's just a peach shortbread. She ate it, so why hit her brother over it?"
"Mom, aren't you biased to the extreme? Is it just a matter of a peach shortbread? I've bought pastries three times this month, and Yunping has bought them several times as well. Has Jiajia gotten a single bite?"
These peach shortbreads were given out by Jiajia's kindergarten! Jiajia didn't want to eat them and wanted to save them for her dad to try, but in the blink of an eye, Xiaobao snatched them and ate them! Jiajia was unhappy and grabbed his sleeve, and he turned around and slapped Jiajia!
"Mom, are you really blind or pretending? If you don't want us to stay here, just say so. Don't bully us like this!"
As Liang Yueming spoke, her voice began to tremble with sobs.
Hearing this, He Liping sighed deeply in his heart.
Then he looked up, forced a smile, and shouted into the room, "Mom, Yueming, I'm back! Look what delicious food I bought today!"
Ignoring the whispers and pointing fingers of his neighbors behind him, he strode into the house.
Upon hearing her husband's voice, Liang Yueming quickly turned away to wipe the tears from her face.
Her mother, Mao Honglian, also felt a little embarrassed as she put a piece of candy into her tearful granddaughter's mouth and whispered a warning: "Don't talk nonsense in front of your father!"
While the two were moving, He Liping had already walked in.
He held the vegetable basket he was carrying high: "This morning I asked Sister Yang from the butcher shop to save some pig's trotters for me, and she also bought me a handful of soybeans. Tonight we'll stew pig's trotters and soybeans!"
He then went over to pull his wife aside and said, "I'm cooking today, Yueming, come and help me out. The pig's trotters haven't been cleaned yet, while it's still light, could you help me remove the hair?"
Upon hearing that her son-in-law had bought food for the family again, Mao Honglian's face immediately lit up with a smile.
She jumped off the bed and went to take the bamboo basket from He Liping's hand.
She said, "Oh dear, why are you buying all this again? It's such a waste of money! What kind of family are we? We can't afford to eat all this good stuff every day."
He was already quickly rummaging through the basket with one hand.
The couple was already very familiar with her routine.
She was checking to see if He Liping had secretly left anything good for their little family.
In the beginning, when He Liping was not familiar with her, Mao Honglian often rummaged through the candies and snacks that He Liping bought for his daughter.
Seeing her mother like this, even though Liang Yueming knew her well, she still couldn't stand it.
She was so angry that she wanted to step forward to stop him, but He Liping stopped her.
He Liping shook his head slightly at her.
Tears welled up in Liang Yueming's eyes again.
She may not have a past, but her words are sharp and unforgiving.
She immediately said, "Mom, stop searching, you won't find anything. My and Liping's combined monthly salary is 45.2 yuan, and you're asking us to pay 20 yuan for food at home. Then, because we're renting a place, you're making us pay 10 yuan a month for lodging."
Jiajia Kindergarten charges five yuan a month for meals, and Liping and I eat lunch in the cafeteria. You don't even let us bring our own food from home.
We're only able to buy food for our family from time to time; that's already something we've managed to scrape together from our own mouths. What else would you like to see?
"See if we've even ripped out your hearts, livers, and lungs to feed you!"
As his wife's words became increasingly offensive, He Liping quickly covered her mouth.
Mao Honglian, with a stern face, slammed the basket heavily onto the ground!
She yelled, "Do you think I care about your little bit of money? If you don't want to live here, then move out! Go back to your little villa, I don't want to serve you anymore!"
Liang Yueming retorted without backing down: "You dare say that to me? Go ahead and talk to my dad if you dare! If my dad says anything about us moving out, I'll take Liping and Jiajia and leave today! If I stay even a minute longer, I'm not your child!"
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