Chapter 21 As they set out for Liuping...
Just when Chen Pan was thinking about how to remind Qin Yang to take his mother to the hospital, Chen Aiguo went to his eldest brother Chen Aidang's house with a sesame cake in his hand.
Rural areas have their own rules. Here, the eldest is the eldest, and the second is the second. No matter how close the neighbors are, they are still inferior to real brothers.
So even though his eldest brother lived closest to his house, he went to the other's house first.
"Third Uncle, good morning!"
"Uncle San, you're here. Have you had breakfast?"
"Third Grandpa, Third Grandpa, why didn't you come to our house on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month?"
His eldest and second brothers' families haven't truly split up yet. His second brother's family has only one daughter and two sons. After his only niece got married, there are only two sons left. Even if his family hasn't split up, the whole family is still quite presentable. But his eldest brother has three daughters and three sons. All three sons have gotten married as they've aged, and even his eldest grandson got married last year. His family's house has been built and expanded upon, and now the inner courtyard is truly like a standard siheyuan, with people living on both sides.
As soon as Chen Aiguo arrived, all the adults and children who had stayed at home without going out started chattering and greeting him.
"morning!"
"I've already eaten at Lao Er's, you can take your time!"
"Xiaobao, Third Master was too tired from work that day and didn't have the energy to come over."
Chen Aiguo, carrying a large plastic bag, greeted several younger generations one by one, then looked at the second child who was repairing the floor tiles in the yard: "Xiao Fan, where are your father and mother?"
"Uncle San, my dad is watching TV inside. My mom and my eldest sister have agreed to go to my second sister's house to check on him."
After wiping the dirt off his hands, Chen Yongfan then called Chen Aiguo to go back to the main house. As they passed by, several children outside were already drooling over the plastic bag in his hand.
"Mom's pancake——"
"Shh, Sibao, wait a moment."
Without a family division, the yard was full of children. It seemed like all the food and drink was never enough. Knowing that the child in her arms wanted to eat what Uncle San was holding, the young woman holding the child immediately comforted him.
"Mom, I want to eat pancakes too!"
"Wait a minute!"
Children influence each other. If one of them cries and wants to eat something delicious, the other one will start making a fuss too.
Almost in the blink of an eye, everyone came with their children to chat and bask in the sun, and the children started crying.
"Come in!"
At this moment, the voice of the patriarch Chen Aidang came from inside.
Then, in the blink of an eye, of the twenty or so pancakes Chen Aiguo had brought, only a few were left. And this was even though not all the people in the yard were there, as several of them had gone out.
"Tell me, do you want my eldest and second oldest sons to come over to your house and help you fix your roof? Your roof has been broken for seventeen or eighteen days now, and it really should be fixed quickly."
After giving a sesame cake to each of his son and daughter-in-law, grandson and daughter-in-law, and great-grandson, Chen Aiguo finally pushed a cup of hot tea to his younger brother, and then he picked up a sesame cake and slowly ate it.
As he carefully ate the fried pancakes, he slowly began to guess what his brother was up to today. Seeing that he had brought so many fried pancakes at once, Chen Aidang thought his brother had come to him for the roof of his kitchen. If he were still young, he would have done this job alone, but now—
"It's not about the roof. I can handle it by myself. It's not difficult. Brother, I came here to tell you something."
Although he felt embarrassed, Chen Aiguo still told him everything about how Chen Pan had secretly rented a small storefront in Liuping on the second day of the Lunar New Year without their knowledge, and how they had been spending almost every day in the Liuping store preparing things and paperwork after visiting relatives recently. They planned to open the store in a few days, on the 27th.
"You said Panpan secretly took your money and rented a small shop outside on the second day of the Lunar New Year. When you found out, not only did you not beat her, you actually did what she wanted and started doing things outside. You even planned to open the shop in a few days?"
It felt like everything was a dream. At this moment, Chen Aidang, who was eating the pancake, had no appetite. He just looked at the pancake in his hand, falling into endless confusion and disbelief.
"She meant well. Even if we beat her up, we won't get back the money she spent, so why bother beating her up again? Also, I heard the Li kid has been released from the intensive care unit. Just in case, I think we should really go out and stay out of the spotlight."
After all, the other party was his brother, so after hesitating for a while, Chen Aiguo couldn't help but tell him everything that happened that night again.
"No wonder, it's really strange!" Chen Aidang was originally still wondering why the relationship between his brother's family and the Li family had become so tense. But now that he heard the whole story, he finally understood it completely.
Putting the dried vegetable cake aside, Chen Aidang, who was nearly sixty years old, said directly, "Then go ahead and do a good job. No one in our family has ever really started a business. If you go out now, maybe you can set a good example for the younger generations at home and let them know that there are other possibilities in our lives, and we are not limited to working on the crops at home and the factory in the village."
If the time had gone back more than 20 years, Chen Aidang would never have said this.
When he was young, he spent most of his time comparing himself to his two brothers. Back then, his greatest joy seemed to be watching his brothers suffer less than he did. Seeing his sons and daughters born, each healthy, and then looking at the sickly little girl from his second brother's family and the only child from his third brother's family, he would smile every day in his dreams.
But after seeing the third brother and his wife crying their nephew beside the reservoir, he felt that everything was meaningless. That night, in front of his parents' tablets, he slapped himself twice.
He later wanted to adopt his youngest son to the third son. In addition to feeling that he had too many sons and wanted to take the opportunity to divide one up, he also really wanted to help the couple get out of their predicament as soon as possible.
Anyway, once people get older, their mentality really changes.
Things that seemed so important before now seem so unimportant.
I am no longer willing to do those things that hurt others and had no choice but to do them before.
Things that used to make me jealous to the point of madness now seem quite boring.
Anyway, no matter how much his parents doted on and favored the third child, he was ultimately the only one in their family who lost a son in middle age, and if he died in the future, he would have to rely on his sons and grandsons to carry on the mourning for him.
If the other party can really do something in the future, maybe one day he can really help his son or grandson.
With mixed feelings in his heart, Chen Aidang figured everything out in a flash and began to take good care of his third brother.
This day was the longest time Chen Aiguo had ever stayed at his eldest brother's house.
After his eldest brother came out after drinking three cups of tea, Chen Aiguo took another bag from his handbag and went to his second brother's house.
"Hey, I was wondering why I haven't seen you lately. It turns out you're out on some important business. Okay, got it. On the 27th, I'll come over and set off firecrackers for you."
Chen Aimin, who has become thinner over the years, still has the same foul mouth as before.
His wife smiled and glared at her husband, then immediately took her two daughters-in-law to prepare lunch.
Then, for lunch that day, Chen Aiguo went to his second brother's house. When he left, he brought his wife a small bowl of noodles made by his second sister-in-law, so that his wife didn't have to cook at noon.
In the entire Qingshui Village, the Chen couple cared most about their two brothers and sisters-in-law. As for the other neighbors, they didn't care much about them.
When they went to their two brothers and sister-in-law's homes, they calculated the number of people in each family and took as many cakes as possible.
But several nearby neighbors and two cousins took the pancakes that Chen Pan had divided up, six or eight at a time.
They didn't explain much to those people, at least they didn't tell the others that their granddaughter had secretly rented the shop. They just told everyone that they had built a small shop and opened it around the 27th.
Regarding the opening of the store, Chen Aiguo and his wife not only told their two brothers, two cousins, and several nearby neighbors, but Chen Aiguo also called his two sisters and his brother-in-law to talk about it.
Whether they said it or not is one thing, and whether others came to congratulate them is another. Anyway, at least the Chen couple had done their due courtesy.
In addition to taking the time to tell relatives, friends, and neighbors that they will open on the 27th, Grandpa Chen also has to repair the roof, take care of the livestock at home, and go to the mountains to check on his dozen acres of land.
While Chen Aiguo was busy, Grandma Chen took out the clothes and sheets to be worn in spring and started washing them.
In addition to washing clothes, she also had to plow the soil in the backyard and build a small greenhouse in the backyard.
All these things seem very simple, but each one of them takes her most of the day.
After hurriedly packing up all these, the couple contacted people they knew and sold all the chickens and rabbits in the house. They even sold three sheep that they thought were suitable.
As for the other smaller lambs, they immediately found the village shepherd, marked them, and sent all eight lambs to the shepherd's home where they would be heading into the mountains in a few days.
In addition to special shepherds, their village also has special cattle herders.
After driving the old ox in his family to plow all the arable land, Chen Aiguo entrusted his old ox to a familiar old cowherd who also went into the mountains in the spring.
The people in their village would not hand over their cattle and sheep to specialized cowherds or shepherds unless they had no other choice.
I entrusted the cows and sheep to them. I asked them for some money in the early stage, and then I paid them for their hard work when they came back after a few months.
Their Qingshui Village has its own mountains and forests, and most of the time, they go to the mountains to graze cattle and sheep.
But there is no other way now.
When sending out a few lambs, Chen Aiguo, who had been in the livestock business for many years, didn't actually feel much.
But when he sent his old ox out, he was still a little worried, and he had a few good words with his old brother who was about the same age as him.
The purpose is to tell the other person that if his sheep were lost or died, he would not feel bad, but if his cow was lost or died in an accident, he would be very sad.
"I understand, I understand. Don't worry, I've already signed a contract with you. If you lose or kill one of them, I'll have to pay you compensation, and basically my year's work will be for nothing. So I will definitely pay special attention and will definitely avoid any accidents. Anyway, don't worry, when the autumn harvest comes, I will definitely send your Old Huang to me healthy and fat."
Seeing that he was hesitating, the famous old cowherd in their village patted his chest and made a promise to him.
Anyway, within a few days, Chen Aiguo and his wife handled all the things that needed to be handled.
When the kitchen roof of his house burned down, Chen Aiguo did not look for his brothers and nephews. Instead, he took a few dollars and went to the Yang family next door. Then he and the Yang couple next door spent the whole morning to get everything fixed.
Later, before leaving Qingshui Village, Chen Aiguo gave the key to his house to Chen Xiufang, the daughter-in-law of the Yang family next door, and asked them to feed his little black dog some of their leftovers.
"I see, Uncle San. We don't have a dog at home, so we don't know what to do with the leftovers. Anyway, as long as I have time, I'll ask my son to feed your little black dog and make sure he doesn't starve to death."
Knowing that they would not come back every day after going to the city, they would definitely come back at least once a week. So when she received the sesame cakes from their house, Chen Xiufang, who had always had a good relationship with them, did not hesitate at all and directly accepted the key to their house.
So, after five days of staying, the Chen couple, who had said they would be back for two or three days, finally boarded the first bus from Chenjia Town to Longcheng on the morning of the 26th, carrying half a bag of potatoes and half a bag of the remaining cabbage and carrots in their cellar. Of course, this time, they also took all the frozen pork they had left.
On the same day they left for Liuping, Li Chengcai, who had spent 25 days in the hospital's intensive care unit and four days under observation in a general ward, finally got into his family car and was carefully taken home by his parents.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
