Chapter 65: In the previous life, the Second Dong family lost all their sources of income, so naturally...
Xu Heye fell into deep thought.
She remembered that the atmosphere in the Dong family was not very good during this period in her previous life.
The place is small and the house is cramped and closed.
My aunt is unemployed, and she, Liu Wen, and Liu Jun are on summer vacation. There is also my older cousin Dong Kangtai who stays at home. Together with Old Dong and my step-grandmother, there are seven people staying at home all day and night.
It was fine at night; once I closed my eyes and fell asleep, I didn't feel crowded. But during the day, it was no longer so. Seven of us were squeezed into a small room of less than 40 square meters. If we stood up, the nose of the person at the back would touch the back of the head of the person in front.
There were constant frictions and quarrels every day.
It was her birthday that day, but no one at home knew about it. Thinking of the joy of celebrating her birthday with her parents in the past, the fifteen-year-old Xu Heye couldn't help crying.
She was hiding her tears, but Liu Wen saw her. He directly exposed her and said a lot of sarcastic words.
Dai Ying was furious when she heard this, and all the unhappiness after losing her job was directed at her.
Dai Ying's curse was particularly harsh.
Xu Heye was stunned by the scolding. No one had ever scolded her like this since she was a child.
She couldn't help but run away from the Dong family. Fearing that they would not have the patience to look for her, Xu Heye didn't even dare to run away from home, and hid in the alley outside the family compound.
She thought that if someone looked for her and called her name, she would just answer and go home obediently.
Unfortunately, she hid from morning to afternoon and no one came to look for her.
Xu Heye felt hot, hungry, ashamed and embarrassed. Just as she was hesitating whether she should sneak back home and pretend that her ridiculous "running away from home" had never happened, her aunt came.
It was her aunt who knew it was her birthday and took a leave of absence to come and see her and took her home.
Her uncle even bought her a cream cake.
The cake base, as soft as a cloud, is covered with dense cream, which is considered by later generations to be the most unhealthy vegetable cream, but Xu Heye thinks it tastes better than any other cake.
This cake saved the precarious dignity of fifteen-year-old Xu Heye.
It lets her know that she is still worthy of care and love.
She spent her birthday at her aunt's house, doing homework, reading, and playing games with her cousin. Her aunt even discussed with her uncle about bringing her back home to live.
But this time my aunt disagreed again.
The boss also disagreed.
Or rather, everyone in the Dong family, except for her uncle Dong Fuyun, did not agree with her aunt taking her away. You should know that when Xu Heye lived in the Dong family, Xu Hui would send hundreds of yuan to the Dong family every month as Xu Heye's living expenses.
Of the one hundred yuan, at most twenty was spent on Xu Heye, and the rest all went to the Dong family.
Xu Hui also knew that his daughter could not spend so much money, but his wife had passed away. Although Xu Heye and the Dong family were related by blood, there was a layer of separation after all. They had never lived together and had no feelings for each other. He gave her more money just because he hoped that his daughter's life in the Dong family would be better.
In addition to living expenses, Xu Hui would occasionally send some local specialties from Jiangxi Province, such as yams, dried bamboo shoots, lotus seeds, and other long-lasting items. These items, scattered here and there, would cost a considerable amount of money to buy outside.
Xu Heye is like a golden doll that is easy to control. She never fights back when beaten and never talks back when scolded. They also have a stable income every month. How could they be willing to let her move out and live with her aunt?
But my aunt was firm and insisted on packing all her luggage.
Xu Heye was very happy at that time. If possible, she wanted to live with her aunt and uncle forever. Unfortunately, many things are not always as expected.
She lived in her aunt's house for two and a half years, and then returned to Old Dong's house.
No one knew that my aunt’s unemployment in 1989 was just a precursor. By 1990, factories had officially entered a peak period of layoffs.
In that year alone, the number of laid-off workers in Hucheng exceeded two million, accounting for 11% of the city's population.
The textile factory where my aunt worked had been performing well, and it might have held up for a few more years. But then, in early 1990, a fire destroyed all the goods the factory was supposed to deliver. Unable to supply goods, and forced to pay liquidated damages, the once-performing factory collapsed overnight.
After two years, my aunt was finally laid off.
The bicycle factory where my uncle worked was also declining under the impact of the market economy, often unable to pay wages, and closed down half a year earlier than my aunt's textile factory.
After my aunt and uncle lost their jobs, they were depressed for a few days and had to cheer themselves up to find a job again. However, there were so many laid-off people at that time, how could there be so many jobs for them, a group of middle-aged people who were not as old or energetic as them?
The couple couldn't find a new job for a long time. To make matters worse, not long after, my uncle's father, Lao Pang, fell and became paralyzed.
Lao Pang has a pension and had been living with his uncle's eldest brother. After he became paralyzed, his uncle's eldest brother and his wife were unwilling to take care of their old father and insisted on sending him to his uncle's house.
They said that their family had been taking care of the elderly for more than ten years, and now it was the second child's turn.
Of course my aunt didn't want to.
The couple had a big argument. The aunt said that Lao Pang was partial to the eldest son. When he was able to do it, he took care of the children and did housework for the eldest son, and he also gave all his pension to the eldest son. Now that he is paralyzed, he wants them to take care of him...
All the good things are given to the boss, and the bad things are left to them. She is not a fool or a sucker, so why?
So they wanted to send the person back.
But Uncle Pang was cruel and he closed the door and refused to let anyone in.
The aunt had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She scolded him harshly, but she couldn't do the evil thing of kicking the old man out of the house. She could only swallow her disgust and take him home to take care of him.
The couple is unemployed and has to support a paralyzed elderly man and two children who are still in school.
Life is so hard that I wish I could spend every penny I have.
Later, in order to support his family, my uncle went to South Africa as a labor exporter...
There was no man in the family to support the household, so my aunt was left alone to take care of three children and a paralyzed old man.
At that time, Dong's uncle, step-uncle and step-aunt all lost their jobs one after another. The Dong family lost all their sources of income, so naturally they thought of Xu Heye again.
When the aunt took Xu Heye away, although Dai Ying lost her job, the Dong family was still able to make ends meet.
Therefore, although they opposed it, their opposition was not too strong. When the wave of layoffs came and the family lost their source of income, the 100 yuan living allowance Xu Hui gave them every month was a lifeline.
A group of people didn't think about finding a good job to support themselves. Instead, they all kept their eyes on Xu Heye and went to her aunt's house to make trouble from time to time.
It made everyone extremely annoyed.
My aunt, who was once fashionable and beautiful, has aged visibly.
Xu Heye couldn't bear it anymore, and she didn't want to make things difficult for her aunt, so she finally returned to live at Old Dong's house.
She was in the first year of high school at that time.
Later, when she failed to get into university, she found a job at a factory that provided accommodation and moved out of the Dong family. Now that I think about it, if she hadn't lived with her aunt for those two and a half years, in a relatively peaceful and tranquil learning environment, she probably wouldn't have been able to get into high school.
Back to this point in time, Xu Heye had a premonition that sooner or later, the people from Old Dong's family would set their sights on her.
But she is not afraid anymore.
When the enemy comes, we will fight him; when the water comes, we will block it with earth. Xu Heye looked up at Xu Hui and Dong Taohua. With her parents' support, she was no longer the pitiful little girl who could be manipulated by anyone in her previous life.
Dong Taohua and Xu Hui didn't know about the entanglements in their previous lives, but they were also furious after hearing Dong Fuyun talk about the calculations of Old Dong and others.
"Dad, how come my brother and the others have become like this?" Dong Taohua said disappointedly.
Although she had caused a big fuss at the old Dong family last time over Xu Heye's settlement, Dong Taohua was not completely disappointed with her father and eldest brother. She knew they were selfish, but her subconscious impression of them still remained from twenty years ago.
At that time, Mr. Dong was still a strong middle-aged man, and his children loved and cared for him very much.
She still remembered that one winter, Lao Dong went to a colleague's house for a banquet. He specially brought a lunch box with him and kept his portion of meat dishes to take home for his brothers and sisters to eat.
The eldest brother, Dong Hongfu, had just started working and was still a temporary worker with a very low salary. But when he got his salary, he would buy candy figurines for his younger siblings and a red hairband for her and her younger sister.
In fact, Dong Taohua never blamed Old Dong for not giving her the job when the street office mobilized educated youth to go to the countryside. She knew very well that the salary and benefits of a temporary worker could not compare with those of an old worker.
Besides, if I give the job to her, what will happen to my younger brothers and sisters?
Going to the countryside was the best solution for her out of helplessness.
She just didn't expect that the boss would transfer the job to his stepson who was also going to the countryside...
Only then did she understand that in Old Dong's heart, she, the eldest daughter, might really have no status at all. Perhaps, as early as the moment Old Dong decided to send her to the countryside, he had completely given up on her.
Dong Taohua took many years to reconcile with herself and finally figured it out. Now seeing that her father and elder brother were so harsh to her, the resentment deep in her heart surged up again.
She looked at Dong Fuyun and took the half jar of wine he had left. "We won't give this wine away. Let's drink it ourselves."
Dong Fuyun's mouth cracked with laughter: "Big sister, that's how it should be. From now on, you don't have to be so filial except during the three festivals a year. That old man doesn't deserve it!"
After spending so many years under the old man's command, how could he not understand him?
He treated Liu Qiang well, not because he had a crush on him, but because he wanted his stepmother to be at ease and serve him well. The old man's preferential treatment of Liu Qiang was a condition and an equal exchange.
Dong Taohua decided not to invite Old Dong and the others to celebrate her daughter's fifteenth birthday. Even if she invited them, it might not be lively and might even make everyone unhappy.
It would be better if their family, my younger sister’s family, and my younger brother could celebrate together.
August 3rd is Xu Heye’s fifteenth birthday.
The slum was as lively as New Year's Day.
Dong Taohua's original plan of a family celebration turned into a carnival for a group of people.
When the parents of Zhangshu Lane learned that August 3 was Xu Heye’s birthday, they immediately decided to hold a thank-you banquet on the occasion of Xu Heye’s birthday.
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