Chapter 142: Demotion Xu Hui looked at Ji Weimin, his mouth moved slightly,...
Xu Hui looked at Ji Weimin, his lips moving slightly, wanting to speak but unsure where to begin. The grievances and disappointments that had accumulated over the past decade had become heavy, too overwhelming to easily express.
Ji Weimin looked at him, smiled, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and sighed, "You're still like this. You can't speak when you feel wronged."
"I didn't." In front of Ji Weimin, Xu Hui seemed to have become the boy he was twenty years ago again.
"You're still saying no." Ji Weimin smiled and fixed his gaze on Xu Heye. "Third Brother, is this child your daughter?"
"Yes." Xu Hui nodded. "She's my daughter."
"He's a good kid," Ji Weimin said. "You've educated him well. He's smart, brave, and grateful."
It's very strange. Before he knew Xu Heye was Xu Hui's daughter, he thought the child was too utilitarian and too "ambitious". After he knew she was his niece, all her previous flaws became advantages.
"My daughter is truly outstanding." Speaking of her, Xu Hui felt a bit proud, unable to resist showing off. "Brother, did you know your niece is the top scorer in the district in this year's high school entrance exam? She's only three points away from being the top scorer in the city!"
Ji Weimin found it funny: "I know."
"Third brother, you should know that I was the one who personally issued the certificate of loss for He Ye's admission letter."
"Yes, yes." Xu Hui came back to his senses. "Second brother, you helped He Ye get the loss certificate, so you must know her grades."
Xu Hui, somewhat embarrassedly, placed the gifts he had brought on the table. "Brother, these were prepared by the child's mother. They are all specialties from Gan Province. You can't buy the authentic ones in Hucheng. Take them back and let everyone in the family try them."
"Don't worry." Ji Weimin didn't refuse. If it were a stranger, he definitely wouldn't have accepted these things. But Xu Hui was different. The local specialties given by the younger brother to the older brother were a token of his appreciation, not a bribe or a way to curry favor.
He looked at Xu Hui and asked the question he wanted to ask the most: "It's been twenty years since we last met. How have you been these years?"
Xu Hui was silent for a long time before he said, "I'm doing very well."
"How about you, second brother? And your family, everyone should be doing well, right?"
Ji Weimin didn't say anything, so Xu Hui asked again, "Brother, after mother passed away, I sent a letter home, but the post office said they couldn't find the recipient and returned the letter.
I know you've moved. I wonder if it would be convenient for you to leave your new address so you can come visit Dad during the holidays." Seeing Ji Weimin hesitate to speak, Xu Hui felt a little embarrassed. "Of course, if it's inconvenient, forget it." Ji Weimin shook his head: "We're still living in the old house."
"The original house?" Xu Hui was a little incredulous. "Then why—don't you accept my letter?"
You should know that he sent not just one or two letters to Hucheng. After the first letter was returned, he sent several more letters to Hucheng, and did so for several consecutive years, but all of these letters were returned without exception.
Xu Hui was very disappointed and later stopped sending letters.
Ji Weimin sighed: "I didn't receive it."
"It's not that I don't want to receive it, it's that I simply can't receive it."
"Why?"
Ji Weimin said, "Not long after my aunt passed away, our family was reported and we were all sent down to the countryside."
"How could this happen?" Xu Hui widened his eyes.
Ji Weimin smiled bitterly. "Things happened so fast that I didn't have time to send you a letter. Later, we were watched every moment, and I didn't dare to send you a letter for fear of getting you into trouble."
"In short, we lived in a cowshed in the countryside for six years until the end of 1978, when our family was rehabilitated and returned to Hucheng."
"After I came back, I sent you a letter, but it was returned." When the letter didn't work, he tried every possible way to call the locals and send a telegram, but unfortunately there was no reply.
He had assumed Xu Hui held a grudge against the Ji family for forcing him to leave the country and was unwilling to contact them, so he gave up the idea. More than a decade passed, and he never expected the two would meet again.
Xu Hui shook his head: "But I never received any news."
He thought about it and suddenly realized why he didn't receive Ji Weimin's letter.
After the college entrance examination was resumed in 1977, he and Dong Taohua both took part in that year's college entrance examination. Taohua failed, but he was lucky enough to be admitted to a junior college.
Fortunately, Dong Taohua already had a job at the Women's Federation at that time. It was inconvenient for her to live in the countryside with a child, so they moved to the county town and rented a house, while he went to university.
Ji Weimin's letter was sent to the countryside, so naturally he couldn't be found.
Xu Hui smiled bitterly. It turned out to be such a coincidence.
He thought of his stepfather again: "Second brother, is Dad in good health?"
"Dad, he passed away ten years ago."
"Why is this happening?" Xu Hui hadn't expected so many changes to happen to the Ji family after he went to the countryside. "Father, father passed away so early."
At first he was angry and sad, but then he realized that everyone has selfish desires.
Compared to him, Ji's father loves his own children more, but that doesn't mean he doesn't consider himself a child. It's just that there are always people with shorter arms. Find your place and you will find your own harmony.
But Xu Hui still couldn't believe it, "I remember Dad was always in good health."
"Life in the countryside was tough, and I ruined my health. I only lasted two years after returning home," Ji Weimin said. But there was more to it than that. Ji's father's early death stemmed not only from his time in the countryside but also from his guilt and self-blame.
Ji's father had been an upright man all his life, and the only time he had selfish motives was when he sent his stepson to the countryside.
For the sake of his son, he forced his stepson, who was also young at the time, to go to the countryside in their place. He always felt that as long as he was there and sent money and things to Xu Hui on time every year, Xu Hui's life in the countryside would not be too difficult.
But he also knew in his heart that it was just his self-consolation.
Be a city dweller or a country dweller; be a worker or a farmer, even a fool would know how to choose?
No matter how much money and things he gave, it could not change the fact that he changed Xu Hui's life.
Not to mention that my stepmother passed away not long after.
Ji's father asked Xu Hui to go to the countryside, and his stepmother did not stop him. She should have been unwilling, but the Ji family threatened her with the grace of raising her, so the stepmother had to compromise.
Ji Weimin heard her stepmother and father arguing in private, and she said she regretted it.
If you have just lost your husband, don't remarry for the sake of an easy life. Even if life is a little difficult for a widow with her only son, her son has a job and can work in a factory when he grows up. No matter how difficult life is, he will get through it if he perseveres.
She wanted to remarry easily, but ended up ruining her son's life.
Under this kind of entanglement and pain, the stepmother fell ill soon and passed away. Xu Hui hurried back, saw his stepmother once, and then left in a hurry.
Father Ji felt very regretful.
Later, the Ji family was reported, and all the family members, whether employed or not, were demoted. Everything that Ji's father had done came to nothing.
His selfish behavior not only cost a life and ruined a young boy's future, but also prevented him from keeping his sons in the city as he wished.
After being sent down to the countryside, Ji's father suffered from many illnesses due to lack of food and clothing and heavy labor. He had been holding on. After being rehabilitated, he felt relieved and fell ill.
He held on for two years, hoping that his third son would come back to see him, but he never received a reply.
Ji's father passed away with his eyes open.
He didn't know whether Xu Hui didn't reply because he still hated him and was unwilling to forgive him, or because the boy who also called him father had already died in the countryside.
In those years, it was not uncommon for educated youth to die in the countryside due to various reasons.
"It's all in the past." Ji Weimin came back to his senses from his memories, "Third brother, it's so good to see you again."
He looked at his watch and saw that it was almost twelve o'clock.
"Third brother, come to my house for lunch. I'll ask your second sister-in-law to make your favorite eight-treasure duck."
"Okay, then I won't be polite. It's been a long time since I tasted Sister Zhijun's cooking." Ji Weimin's wife is He Zhijun, his childhood sweetheart, and Xu Hui also knows her.
"Eat more, you know Sister Zhijun will be happy." Of the four brothers in the Ji family, his wife likes this stepbrother the most. She doesn't like the other three, whether it's the eldest brother, the fourth brother, or the fifth brother.
The three of them took a taxi and soon arrived in front of a small Western-style building.
Xu Hui looked at the familiar small Western-style building, and old memories flashed through his mind.
As soon as I walked in, I noticed something was different.
Compared to 20 years ago, this place is much more dilapidated, and there are still many traces of illegal construction in the yard. Although it has been repaired, it is no longer the same as before.
Ji Weimin said: "Now there are only me, your second sister-in-law, and your two nephews and nieces living at home."
"As for the eldest, the fourth and fifth sons, they have all moved out."
Xu Hui breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he didn't know how to get in touch with the other three brothers.
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