Chapter 115 He Bet Right, But He Lost
But Zhao Guodong couldn't figure it out.
He really didn't understand why it came to the point of splitting up the family.
Wasn't everything fine before? Why did the family suddenly change after the captain came?
But he didn't have time to figure out the ins and outs of it.
His mother wanted to divide the family property. Even if he knelt on the ground and begged her not to do so, he could not change the old lady's determination.
Until lying in bed at night, Zhao Guodong thought about everything that had just happened and couldn't fall asleep with his eyes open.
Beside him, his wife was like a pancake on the kang, tossing and turning for most of the night, sighing and groaning, and no one knew what she was doing.
He was annoyed by the disturbance and couldn't help asking, "Why aren't you sleeping? You're tossing and turning, and the bed is creaking. If someone doesn't know, they might think we're doing something!"
Liu Cuifen's thoughts were interrupted by the man's sudden question.
She sighed, sat up, and pulled her man up as well.
In the dark of the night, she asked in a low voice with a sad face: "Guodong, are we really going to separate tomorrow?"
Zhao Guodong also sighed, stretched out his hand to scratch his head, and said worriedly: "What else can I do? Mom has spoken, when have you ever seen her swallow her words?"
"Then after the family is divided...will Mom live with us?" Liu Cuifen's voice became increasingly low as the buzz of a mosquito.
After all, they were a couple who had slept in the same bed for so many years, and Zhao Guodong almost immediately understood what his wife meant.
His tone suddenly deepened, "What do you mean? You don't want to provide for my mother in her old age?!"
He stared at the outline of the person beside him in the darkness, and already had a vague premonition in his heart.
Liu Cuifen didn't expect a man to be so sensitive. She panicked for a moment, but quickly calmed down and whispered, "Why are you shouting so loudly? Are you afraid that others can't hear you?"
After turning the tables, she continued with some resentment, "I didn't say I wouldn't provide for Mom's retirement, but if we divide the family and she lives with us, what about the second and youngest children? Mom is not just your mother. If you put all the burdens on you, it will be easier for the two of them."
"I just feel sorry for you. Besides, I've been married to you for so long and have given birth to children for you. Can't you think about me and the two children?"
Liu Cuifen spoke more and more fluently, and the words that came out of her mouth sounded as if she had already thought them over thousands of times in her mind.
"Guodong, everyone is striving for a good future. Seeing that Xiaoyang has no talent for study and Yuanyuan is a competitive student, I am not worried about anything now. I am just worried about what to do when the two children grow up."
"The second child married and moved to the city, working as a worker and still able to eat commercial grain. The youngest child is the most educated person in our family. He is educated and has no job now, but he will definitely be able to find an easy job to support the family in the future."
"Only you. We are honest farmers working in the fields. We have no connections in the city, nor are we well educated. If we don't plan for our two children early, it will be too late to regret it in the future."
Liu Cuifen held the man's hand tightly, feeling the thick and rough calluses on his fingers. As she spoke, her nose suddenly felt sore and tears fell.
It's bitter. Not only is life bitter, but the food in my mouth is bitter. After today's farce, my heart is also filled with bitterness.
Liu Cuifen did not sleep all night, and she tossed and turned thinking about what happened that night. In addition, her daughter told her the whole situation in detail before going to bed. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that this educated youth could live in her house.
Even if it's just for the study and future of the two children.
This alone is enough to easily control her as a mother.
So she thought about it all night, and now she simply told her thoughts to the man who had been silent since a while ago.
She was a little nervous, but that didn't stop her from speaking every word fluently.
"Guodong, you are the head of our family, so I will speak frankly. We can let Mom live with us in her old age, but when the family is divided, we must also occupy the majority. Guoying's room is currently occupied by Yuanyuan and Huayang, and Guoying will not come back after she gets married, so it is just right for us to share this room."
"And there's also money for mom's future retirement. Mom seems to be in good health now, but we have two children to raise, so the burden is heavy. My second sister and youngest brother, as mom's children, can't just sit there and watch. They have to take retirement money every month. I don't ask for much, but at least it's a filial piety."
"Finally, now that Mom has come to our house, I can take care of her in her old age, but our family's money must be in our own hands. It will no longer be handed over to the public. If Mom takes it, she might secretly use it to subsidize my second sister and youngest brother's families. I won't do that."
Liu Cuifen expressed a lot of her thoughts.
And Zhao Guodong just listened quietly.
Finally, when Liu Cuifen asked for his opinion expectantly, Zhao Guodong seemed to come back to his senses. He looked at his wife's silhouette that was swaying like a ghost and smiled bitterly: "I finally understand why Mom decided to split up the family."
My mother is an experienced person. She has long seen through the twists and turns in the hearts of the family members. Even though she is old, she is unwilling to live her life pretending to be confused, so she decided to divide the family when the time was right.
Zhao Guodong didn't know what to say.
What the daughter-in-law said makes sense. He knows the loss he suffered, but as a human being, one should not clearly distinguish between fairness and debt.
The daughter-in-law and daughter only saw that they were suffering, but they clearly also saw that they were benefiting.
It was a bright house. After the second son got married, his mother gave him the house without him even asking her to do so and asked him to arrange for his children to live there.
All of Huayang's school expenses were paid by his mother using the money that the three siblings handed over to the public school.
And myself...
"Cui Fen, do you still remember when we got married?" Zhao Guodong suddenly asked.
Liu Cuifen was stunned by the question, and after a moment's distraction, she said inexplicably, "I definitely remember it, what's wrong?"
"The betrothal gift I give to your family when I marry you is the betrothal gift for Guoying's marriage and my youngest brother's tuition."
Zhao Guodong whispered the debt that he had buried in his heart for years.
He couldn't see his wife's expression at the moment, but he could sense something from her sudden silence.
Zhao Guodong smiled bitterly and said dejectedly, "The gift your family wants is too high. I can't afford it. My second sister heard people gossiping about me, saying that I'm so poor that I can't even afford a wife. They said that my mother is just pretending to be rich. She doesn't care about her eldest son and only cares about her youngest daughter. She tapped my bone marrow to support the two little ones' education."
The gossips back then were much more offensive than the accusations from his wife and daughter today. Zhao Guodong felt that they were right back then, so he mustered up the courage to kneel in front of his mother for the first time and fought for his own lifelong event for the first time.
He was determined to marry Liu Cuifen as his wife, and he used the high price of the bride price to test whether his parents really only favored his younger siblings.
He made the right bet.
I also lost the bet.
For the sake of this bride price, he not only killed his father and made his mother a widow, but also made his second sister suffer, forcing her to marry the wrong person. In the end, he even forced his younger brother to work as a laborer at a young age, just to earn enough money for the registration fee for school.
He didn't realize it at all at that time. When he saw it with his own eyes and really wanted to understand it, it was too late.
Zhao Guodong never told his wife these things because his mother and his brothers and sisters wouldn't let him.
"Brother, my sister-in-law is a new bride. She will live with you for the rest of her life. These things are in the past. There is no point in talking about them again. What's more, we gave the betrothal gift voluntarily. It has nothing to do with my sister-in-law. It's not her fault. It's just that we are too poor and incompetent."
"Brother, everyone has their own path to choose. You are the eldest and have given so much to us. We, the younger ones, have seen it all. Even if you don't marry a sister-in-law, we will work hard to make money for you to marry a wife in the future!"
My younger sister said that since we are all women, my sister-in-law was not treated well at her parents’ home, so she should be happy at her husband’s home. Just like she was happy at her parents’ home, she will have to taste the bitterness of being a woman when she goes to her husband’s home.
The younger brother said that he had snatched all the knowledge and ink from his older brother and second sister and put it into his own head, causing his older brother and sister to suffer a great loss. In the future, he would definitely turn it into money and food and return it to them double.
Since my sister-in-law became my eldest brother's wife, she also became the object of his repayment.
Zhao Guodong never said anything, he just worked hard to make up for it. But tonight, after listening to his wife weighing the pros and cons, he finally realized that he had unknowingly put the debt of the year on his wife's shoulders.
That is why the daughter-in-law felt such an unbearable grievance and calmly calculated the gains and losses at this critical moment.
Only those who realize that they are at a disadvantage will calculate their own gains and losses.
He made his wife feel that her family had suffered a loss, so she calculated in every way to make up for it.
Zhao Guodong tasted a bitter taste in his mouth.
He looked at his silent wife, pulled her hair hard until it hurt, and said in a muffled voice: "I'm sorry... It's all my fault. It's all because of poverty. If I could earn more..."
As he was speaking, his wife suddenly hugged him and he started crying softly, so he could no longer apologize or blame himself.
When it was daybreak, Xingxing, who had not been able to sleep since the whole night, yawned and fell into her mother's arms. With tearful eyes, she watched her grandparents walk into the kitchen to whisper to grandma.
Xingxing rubbed her eyes, and her little hands were stained with wet tears. She couldn't help but yawning again. She looked at the shabby little house and sighed softly.
From last night to today, after listening to so many voices, the children still couldn't figure out one thing:
What can be distinguished about this family that is worth everyone's concern?
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