Chapter 129 Happy New Year~
Zhao Guozhi, who had just divided his family property, was actually preparing to build a new house!
Never underestimate the speed at which information travels in this day and age.
Zhao Guozhi applied for the approval slip at night. Early the next morning, everyone in the village knew that he was going to build a house.
Along with this news, there are also various "reliable" rumors circulating.
For example, the division of the Zhao family seems fair, but in fact the old lady must have a sum of money in her hands to subsidize the youngest family privately.
For example, the youngest family seemed to have the worst life in recent years, but in fact they were the ones who brought the most money into the family, and they were very cunning. They never handed over any money to the public, and while they ate the public grain from their mother and eldest brother's family, they hid their own money and only took it out to use after the family property was divided.
There are more and more similar rumors, and everyone can make their story sound very convincing, as if they were hiding under Zhao Guozhi's bed and saw him hide the money with their own eyes, and that they were claiming to be the most authoritative and authentic.
When more people say it, the listeners will naturally have different thoughts in their minds.
Zhao Guozhi noticed that his elder brother's attitude towards him was particularly strange recently.
Sometimes they are like brothers, and sometimes they are like enemies. His temper is very harsh when he speaks to others, and he will occasionally make sarcastic remarks, saying that he has underestimated his younger brother over the years.
Zhao Guozhi didn't take it seriously the first time he heard it, but the second time he thought his elder brother was stupid. However, when he heard a similar complaint for the third time, he couldn't help but sneered back.
"Why, you are allowed to hide ginseng at home, but I am not allowed to save some money to build a house?"
Seeing his elder brother's expression suddenly change, Zhao Guozhi curled his lips and said coldly: "Brother, you are not the only one who has underestimated me over the years. I probably misjudged you too. You just doubted the source of the money I used to build the house. I will tell you everything now. Listen carefully!"
As he spoke, he really began to calculate in detail every source of funds for building his house.
And Zhao Guodong actually stood there with an ugly look on his face and listened to every word.
The money from the division of the family property, the money his second sister lent him after hearing the news, the little money he had saved in the town over the years, his wife's dowry, and the money he had earned from following his teacher to collect herbs, prepare them, and sell them, as well as from his medical visits...
After saying that, Zhao Guozhi looked at his elder brother who became guilty but still somewhat suspicious, and there was no warmth in his eyes at all.
"When my second sister heard that I wanted to build a new house, her first reaction was to ask me if I had enough money, but you, my eldest brother... first suspected where I got the money from."
Zhao Guozhi said, and suddenly smiled and shook his head: "That's why, even though I knew you were rich, I never asked you to borrow even a penny."
He knew that his eldest brother had sold the ginseng for a lot of money, but from the time he made the decision until now, he had never thought of borrowing money from the eldest brother.
It’s not because he can’t borrow money, but because he knows that as long as he asks for money, the relationship between brothers will be hurt because of money.
We were all very poor in the past, so every penny we had seemed more important than our life.
The eldest brother's money is much more important than that of his brothers and sisters. Even if he knows that he is in debt, he will never give even a penny to help his younger sisters and brothers.
Because he was the eldest, he dropped out of school early, while his younger brothers and sisters all finished high school, so he felt that he had sacrificed a lot, otherwise he and his second sister would have made a stupid decision. His eldest brother knew it was inappropriate, but he accepted it silently and never stopped it.
Zhao Guozhi actually saw it clearly, but he didn't expect that his elder brother could see it even more clearly.
He smiled bitterly and sighed, without looking at his elder brother's ugly expression that changed as he wanted to say something but hesitated, and turned around and left calmly.
-
Today is the second day of moving into our new home.
Xingxing and her sister dragged their grandmother, who lived in the old house, to their home.
"Grandma, we are going to have New Year's Eve dinner today~" Little Moon, wearing a bright red cotton-padded jacket, looked as festive as a New Year picture doll.
Xingxing and her sister are dressed the same. If her hair wasn't shorter than her sister's, you wouldn't be able to tell who is who just by looking at their faces.
The two children each held one side of their grandmother's rough, calloused hand and skipped all the way towards their new home.
Mom and Dad have been busy all morning, making dumplings, steaming steamed buns, cleaning, pasting window decorations and couplets everywhere...
He Guizhi was also wearing clean and tidy new clothes, which her younger daughter-in-law had bought for her with cloth coupons two days ago. It cost a lot of money, and she wanted to make up for it but was rejected. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law almost became enemies because of this money.
She walked into the house holding the two little ones, looked up at the two people busy in the yard, her cloudy eyes full of smiles.
"Mom, you're here? Come in and take a look. Why can't I fry my peanuts properly? The two kids' mouths are all black from eating burnt peanuts this morning..."
Xie Jiaxiu took her mother-in-law's hand and led her inside. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law talked as they walked, and they looked more like real mother and daughter than Zhao Guozhi next to them.
Zhao Guozhi was also busy, holding a bowl of paste in his hand. He stood on a bench in an awkward posture, pasting couplets while asking his two cubs to help check whether they were aligned.
After the couplets and window decorations were pasted, the family gathered around the blazing fire in the kitchen. Some were making fire, some were frying peanuts, some were chopping dumpling stuffing, and two little kids were holding the soft dough in their hands and playing like harlequin kittens.
It's cold outside the window, but warm and bright inside the house.
Qiuqiu squatted beside the stove where the fragrance spread. When the old man took out four small red envelopes from his clothes and distributed them to everyone, Qiuqiu also flew up and said happily: "Happy New Year, kids. We are one year older!"
Xingxing took the red envelope handed over by her grandmother and said with curved eyes: "Happy New Year~"
We have grown another year older together.
-
On the other side, in the old house, Zhao Huayang silently lowered his head and ate the porridge in the bowl that was almost cold, listening to his parents' hysterical quarrel, and looked at his dazed sister beside him, his eyes full of confusion.
Why, after the separation, did my family not get better as my sister and mother said, but instead got worse and worse?
In the past, during the Chinese New Year, grandma would get up early in the morning and ask the children to go outside to pick up some dry branches and bring them home, saying that this was called "bringing wealth home." After that, she would take mom and aunt to the kitchen to make and cook dumplings, and would arrange various tasks for dad and aunt to make the house look new and beautiful.
Zhao Huayang likes it best when his father holds him on his shoulders to help them paste up spring couplets and window decorations. He sits high up in the air, while his brothers and sisters jump around in envy. He is also the first to receive a red envelope, and then his family tells him to take his brothers and sisters out to pay New Year’s greetings to the elders in the village…
But this year, since he got up early in the morning, before he took his sister out to collect firewood and came home, his parents had already started arguing about grandma's departure.
Zhao Huayang and his sister were also scolded by their parents in this quarrel. This quarrel was not because his parents wanted to be filial to their grandmother, but because his father felt that the youngest father took his grandmother away and did not give him, the eldest son, face. If the villagers knew about it, they would definitely gossip about him behind his back.
Meanwhile, the mother said sarcastically that the father had been oppressed by his younger sister and brother all his life. He saw his younger siblings living better and better lives, one became a worker and married to the city to live a good life, another became a doctor and his wife was a teacher. Only he, the eldest brother, could only be a farmer for the rest of his life. If others knew about it, he was a poor peasant for three generations. Although his class background was correct, he had no money and had to live a hard life. This was the real reality!
Later, Dad talked about the money from selling ginseng, saying that Mom had transferred a lot of the money to her parents' home, otherwise he could have used it to buy a job in town or county. Jobs are so expensive now, and it's the end of the year, so you can't buy a good job with less money.
Anyway, after a lot of discussion, the family finally sat at the table on the morning of New Year's Eve and drank a bowl of porridge with only a few grains of rice in it.
Zhao Huayang hates celebrating the New Year like this.
This disgust became even stronger when I walked out of the house and saw other children wearing new clothes.
Zhao Yuanyuan also hates celebrating the New Year like this.
But there was something else mixed in with her dislike.
It is the disgust for this family and the resentment towards one's own fate.
She always felt that her life shouldn't be like this.
She has such a great space, she should have no worries about food and drink! She could have lived a good life!
But... She lowered her head and looked at her old clothes that were full of patches and originally belonged to her brother. She finally broke down and cried in the house.
Outside the house, the sound of her mother smashing dishes could be heard again, as well as the sarcastic curses that she was an unlucky jinx and would be kicked out to starve if she cried again.
Finally, in this cold and miserable New Year, the whole family felt the same regret:
How good would it be if the family had not split up in the first place?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
