Chapter 65 Chapter 65 Fortune, Longevity and Happiness
"Master, do you remember anyone in our village with the last name Yan?"
"Surname Yan? Which Yan?"
"It seems to be the King of Hell's Yan."
After returning, Shen Miao did not mention Yan Hui directly, but asked Shen Wanshan indirectly whether there was a family with the surname Yan in the village before.
Shen Wanshan thought about it carefully and shook his head, "No, there is no such surname in our village, what's the matter?"
“Nothing, just asking.” Shen Miao said calmly.
After catching a glimpse of Yan Hui's face in the hospital that day, Shen Miao felt more and more familiar with her, but couldn't tell where she was familiar.
She is not particularly pretty, but she looks very virtuous, giving people a warm and caring feeling.
What's that old saying? Oh, yes, wife's face. She has a natural wife's face, not coquettish, not ostentatious, calm and dignified, a look that all the elders in the family like.
In addition to her "skillful dancing" between Wei Dongqiang and Wei Wenkai.
Although one cannot judge a person by his appearance, Shen Miao felt that she was not a bad person. In addition, she looked familiar. After returning, she asked the sisters in the village to see if they had played together in the village when they were young.
Her sisters didn't remember this person, and her uncles, aunts, and grandmothers also had vague memories. Knowing that her grandfather didn't like to hear her gossip, she came to ask him at last, but he also said that there was no one with the last name Yan in the village.
Since we didn’t play together when we were kids…then where did we meet each other?
Taking advantage of the good sun today and the fact that not many people came to see the doctor, Shen Miao and Shen Wanshan took out some rarely used medicinal herbs and dried them in the sun to prevent them from getting moldy.
While I was busy turning over the medicinal materials, I heard an old voice coming from outside.
"Old Shen? Old Shen is at home?"
It’s Grandma Luo.
I heard her voice before I saw her.
After more than ten seconds, Grandma Luo was seen limping outside the clinic with a cane.
Seeing Grandma Luo coming back, Shen Miao quickly ran over to support her, “Grandma, when did you come back?”
"Oh, it's only been a few months since we last met. Has Miaomiao become prettier again? Girls really change a lot when they grow up." Grandma Luo smiled and took Shen Miao's hand, following her inside.
I have long forgotten Grandma Luo’s name. Her late husband’s surname was Chen, so she was called Chen Luo.
Grandma Luo is a few years older than Shen Wanshan. She is already 82 years old this year and is one of the oldest people in the village.
Her white hair has become sparse, and all her teeth have fallen out. She doesn't want to wear dentures, so her lips always fold together after she speaks, and the pronunciation of some words is unclear. However, she is in good spirits and in good health.
Helping Grandma Luo to sit on a chair in the yard, Shen Wanshan poured her a glass of water, "Old sister, aren't you enjoying life in the city with your children? Why are you back again?"
"I don't have much to do in the city, so I thought I'd come back and stay for a few days."
Shen Miao remembered that when she was a child, Grandma Luo treated her very well. She loved children very much. In the summer evenings, when the children were enjoying the cool air at the entrance of the village, they would gather around her to listen to her singing and some old stories she told before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Her children are also doing well and have settled down in the city one after another. A few years ago, she was taken to the city by her children to live in her old age. She only comes back to the village during the Chinese New Year to sweep the family graves.
It was rare for Grandma Luo to come back, and it was not good to let her just drink water. Thinking that she bought some egg cakes and pastries when she came back from the city the day before yesterday, Shen Miao took the opportunity to go home and get them while she was chatting with Grandpa.
Grandpa hasn't met his old friends for a long time. I think they must have had a great time chatting.
But when Shen Miao came back with the cakes, she saw Grandma Luo wiping her tears with a handkerchief, and Shen Wanshan’s face turned blue with anger.
"No, I'm fine..." Grandma Luo didn't want to cry, but she felt really wronged, so she couldn't stop crying. "I just want to see if you can talk to Shansheng and let me have a room in our old house."
After Grandma Luo moved to the city with her children, the old house in the village became empty.
If no one takes care of the house, it will quickly fall into disrepair, so I discussed with the villagers to rent it to someone else to live in. The rent collected would be used to maintain the house, and the same would be used for the land at home. The extra money would be handed over to her.
Shen Wanshan sighed and made the decision for her, "Why don't you stay at my house? I have a lot of empty rooms, so you can live in any one of them. Your house is occupied now, so it's not easy to ask them to vacate it."
"Can I cancel the room? I can give them my money back."
Grandma Luo said with embarrassment, "I am old now, it is not convenient for me to live in your house. If I die one day, it will bring bad luck to your family."
"What's unlucky or not? Who would say that about themselves?" Shen Wanshan scolded her.
Looking around the old house of the Shen family, her eyes swept over the eaves and the dead branches on the treetops, and Grandma Luo blinked tiredly, "Oh, I'm so old now, and it doesn't matter whether I'm unlucky or not. I just want to lie in my own home when I die, then I'll be content..."
Grandma Luo did not come back voluntarily, but was forced back by her children.
In the past few years, Grandma Luo has been living with her daughter. Her daughter married and moved to Nanguan Village a few years ago. Although her family does not have as many houses as others, they still have 300 to 400 square meters to live in.
A few days ago, she heard that Nanguan Village was going to be demolished, so her family borrowed money to build two more floors for their home, waiting to receive a generous compensation after the demolition and become rich overnight.
Unexpectedly, Nanguan Village was not demolished, and their family was burdened with debt. From the daughter and son-in-law in their fifties and sixties to the grandchildren and granddaughters-in-law in their twenties and thirties, they were all trying to make money to fill the hole of borrowing money to build the house.
Grandma Luo didn't want to add any more burden to her daughter, so she offered to live with her other sons.
Grandma Luo has many children, including three sons and one daughter.
After leaving her daughter's house, she first went to her eldest son Chen Fu's house.
Chen Fu has a bright future. He has been a good student since he was young. Grandma Luo and the deceased Grandpa Chen did not hinder his studies. They worked hard to support him to go to college. After graduation, he got a job in the city. He just retired as deputy factory director a few years ago. He can be said to be the most promising child in their family.
Chen Fu is promising, and his son is not bad either. I heard that he was admitted to a university in Beijing this year. He really brings honor to the family!
But Grandma Luo was unable to settle down in his house.
Chen Fu is promising, but his family is already supporting his wife's parents, his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and he really doesn't have the time to take care of another elderly person.
Grandma Luo expressed her understanding. After all, her eldest daughter-in-law came from a well-off family, and it was only because Chen Fu married her that she had the opportunity to be promoted...
So in order not to hold her eldest son back, she left his home.
Then she went to the home of her second son Chen Lu.
Chen Lu, as his name suggests, has a good business mind and made a lot of money in his early years. Unfortunately, he was not good at keeping his money and he spent almost all the money he earned when he was young.
But a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and he still has a three-bedroom, one-living-room house in the city.
When Grandma Luo arrived, before she even opened her mouth, Chen Lu began to complain to her about how the family had no money, how his son insisted on learning how to do business and following in his footsteps, and how difficult his life was.
Having said so much, Grandma Luo couldn't say anything more and had to pick up her luggage and leave again.
Grandma Luo had the least hope for her youngest son, Chen Shou.
Chen Shou lived a mediocre life and could not endure the slightest hardship. When old man Chen was alive, he always said that he was a loser, could not manage his family well, and could not manage his own life well, and was a complete loser.
Chen Shou is over fifty years old this year. Not only does he not have a wife or children, but he even lives in the dormitory where he works as a security guard.
As soon as I get my salary, I spend it drinking and buying pork heads. I’m afraid there’s not even a hundred yuan in my savings account.
However, Grandma Luo did not give up on him. She told him that they could go back to the village together. Her family had land and as long as he worked hard on the crops, he would not be afraid to start over again no matter how old he was.
As expected, Chen Shou did not agree.
He is already over 50 years old. Even if he starts over again, how long can he last?
He would rather live like this without achieving anything and survive on the little money he earns as a security guard.
Even so, he still had a trace of filial piety. In order to prove that he still cared about his parents, he took the initiative to promise to give her 15 yuan a month for her retirement. But when it came to where to live... he was powerless to do anything.
She used to live in her daughter's house. During every Chinese New Year, her three sons would come to her to show their filial piety and insist on asking her to stay in their house for a while.
But who could have thought that when she really wanted to move to their house, one by one they used various excuses to refuse.
Of the four children, only the daughter insisted on raising her. Grandma Luo couldn't bear to make her family suffer more, so she returned to the village to think about her own life...
She did not feel that her life was miserable because she gave birth to four children in her life and successfully raised them to adulthood. She was a qualified mother.
She just felt heartbroken.
She felt heartbroken that she had so many children, but only a few of them could allow her to spend her old age in peace.
She didn't want to cry, but she thought about how she had worked so hard all her life and ended up not even having a place to live...
Bang!
Shen Wanshan slapped the bamboo table, causing the water cup on it to jump.
"That's too much. No matter how bad the conditions are, how can a family not have a few feet of land to support their mother?"
Shen Wanshan has never liked to meddle in other people's affairs, but this time is different.
Filial piety is the most important virtue. If you encounter such unfilial bastards, you should slap them in the face to vent Chen Luo's anger.
“Don’t worry, leave this to me,” Shen Wanshan drank the water in the cup and tried to calm himself down, “With me here, I’ll see who dares not to support you.”
They were all from the same village, and Shen Wanshan knew best how much Grandma Luo had suffered over the past few decades.
In order to support Chen Fu's studies, the couple lived frugally and gave money to pay for his tuition; in order to support Chen Lu's business, the couple let him use the money for building a new house to purchase goods; even for the most unsuccessful Chen Shou, they would give him money from time to time to help him.
Mr. Chen passed away early and was not able to enjoy the filial piety of his children and grandchildren, but Grandma Luo is still alive.
You devote your whole life to your children when you are young, but you still have to live alone when you are old? There is no such thing in the world.
Grandma Luo is not someone who has no one to rely on except her children. She can only swallow her anger when she is wronged by her children. As long as she is still a resident of Qinghe Village, everyone in the village will support her!
In the afternoon, Shen Shansheng went to the city as instructed by Shen Wanshan, and knocked on the doors of the three brothers of the Chen family one by one, asking them to return to Qinghe Village to discuss Chen Luo's retirement issues.
In order to support Chen Luoshi, Shen Wanshan called all the elders from the village to his home to take charge, and also contacted several elders from other villages who had a say, so that when the Chen brothers arrived tomorrow, they would be able to overwhelm them in terms of momentum alone.
Just like the trials of village cases in the early years, all cases related to ethics and which were too embarrassing to go to court would be tried by the elders of each family in a "three-court trial", and the village heads, who were "ninth-rank officials", would work together to handle the case.
There had not been a case in the village for many years. Shen Miao had only heard Shen Wanshan talk about it when she was a child. He said that the old couple of the Cheng family died unexpectedly, and the division of the family property among the brothers was decided by the elders and the village chief.
Shen Miao begged Shen Wanshan for a long time before Shen Wanshan agreed that she could sit in on the class tomorrow.
It was her first time participating, and Shen Miao was extremely excited. She was busy at home preparing for tomorrow’s village case.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. As it was getting dark, Grandma Luo did not receive any news that her three unfilial sons would attend the event. Instead, she received a call from Chen Shansheng from the city.
"They refused to come, saying they had something else to do..."
Bang!
Shen Wanshan was so angry that he slapped again, and his tone was an octave higher: "You don't want to come? What's the matter? What can be more important than your mother?!"
"Go and call them. Go and call them again. You must call them here. Otherwise, don't come back!"
Shen Shansheng:? ? ?
I don’t know if it’s because of Grandma Luo’s matter that he got so angry that he lost his mind, but Shen Shansheng felt like he seemed to have vented all that anger on himself.
It’s not that he didn’t call them, and it’s not that he didn’t try to find a solution, but the three brothers of the Chen family each had their own excuses, and he really had no choice!
Thinking that Chen Fu was an educated man with some culture and accomplishment, Shen Shansheng went to his house first.
Chen Fu has been retired for several years, but he has not been idle after retirement. He will participate in some activities organized by the factory or community every now and then.
When Chen Shansheng went to Chen Fuji's home today, he was not at home. He heard from his wife that he and several retired cadres were accompanying reporters to visit the parents of the factory employees.
Following the address, we found the factory's family compound and happened to see Chen Fu playing chess and practicing Tai Chi with several elderly people in their sixties. The cameras on the reporters' shoulders recorded the moments when he and other retired leaders "respected and loved the elderly."
"Since we are from the same factory, we are a family."
"Even if we retire one day, we are still brothers and sisters who use the same pot. The parents of our brothers and sisters are naturally our parents."
"The children are working in the factory, so we naturally have to accompany their parents and let them have no worries."
Not only did Chen Fu accompany the elderly in entertainment activities, he also took the lead in bringing them some gifts.
The elderly people usually stay at home alone, and when they saw that their children’s leader not only took the initiative to visit them and express condolences but also gave them gifts, they were so moved that they couldn’t stop crying.
The reporters in charge of the interview were also taking notes very quickly with their pens. Before Chen Fu had even said a few words, they had already written half a page of content.
Shen Shansheng waited for a long time before they finished.
Calling Chen Fu aside, Shen Shansheng explained his purpose, "...Aunt Luo is old now, it must be inconvenient for her to live in the village by herself. How about this, you go back to the village tomorrow, and we can sit down and talk it over."
Shen Shan was afraid that he would be scared, so he did not reveal that Shen Wanshan had summoned more than a dozen elders to try the village case, and only said that they would discuss it behind closed doors.
But even so, Chen Fu still rejected his proposal: "No need to discuss, my mother raised us, I definitely have the obligation to support her, even if the younger ones don't want to, I will definitely take on this responsibility as the eldest."
"But you see, my wife's parents are old, and she is the only daughter in the family. Thanks to her father's promotion, I was able to move up from a clerk. I should always be grateful, right?"
"Well, let's wait a few years. Her parents are old. To put it bluntly, they are already over 80 years old. They can only live a few days of good life. After sending them away, I will definitely bring my mother to live with me and show my filial piety to her!"
As expected of a former official, he spoke in a variety of ways, and even managed to trap Shen Shansheng in it.
At first, Chen Shansheng thought he was easy to communicate with, but after talking about this and that for a long time, he realized that he was playing Tai Chi with him.
He did express his willingness to support Chen Luo, but only after his lover's parents passed away, otherwise he really did not have the extra energy.
It sounds reasonable at first, but Shen Shansheng had been to his house before coming and met the other two elderly people in his family.
They were not in poor health as he said. Even though I couldn't observe them carefully through the door, I could see that they looked good. In contrast, Chen Luo looked...
"Even if we have to wait, what should we do in the next few years? We have to discuss it, right?" Shen Shansheng continued.
Chen Fu frowned slightly, and his attitude was a little impatient: "Then these years are not my business. My mother has more than one son. Can't I ask the second and third sons to help out?"
"I……"
"I've already said that I will definitely support my mother, but not right now. It's their responsibility now. You should go discuss it with them."
Chen Shansheng understood what Chen Fu meant, and he also realized that there was no point in continuing to pester him, so he left to find the second son of the Chen family, Chen Lu.
When he arrived at Chen Lu's house, Shen Shansheng heard through the door that he seemed to be talking on the phone with someone.
"This stock is good, just trust me. We have been brothers for many years, how can I lie to you?"
"Still don't believe it? How about this, if you make money, you give me half, and if you lose, I'll make up for it, is that right?"
"There are a few more that I think have good momentum. You can also buy them, but you have to sell them early. If you do short-term, you will easily lose money if you do it for a long time."
It wasn't that Shen Shansheng wanted to eavesdrop, it was just that his voice was a little loud when he was on the phone.
In fact, it doesn't matter even if he listened. He doesn't understand the ins and outs of stocks anyway. Even if he told you some tricks to make money, I'm afraid he isn't destined to make extra money.
but……
Chen Shansheng heard Chen Lu's confident tone when he was talking on the phone. It seemed that he had made money, and a lot of it. Otherwise, how could he dare to say to others, "If you lose, it's your own fault"?
Moreover, when he opened the door, Chen Lu's face was beaming with joy, and he didn't look like someone who had lost money.
Probably because he was busy opening the door, he didn't put the money away properly. Shen Shansheng even saw half a hundred-dollar bill sticking out from under the curtain.
They all grew up in the same village, and although they didn't interact much, Chen Lu was still very polite to him. After chatting for a long time, Shen Shansheng felt that the time was right, so he told him his purpose.
"...Look, your brother is not at home right now, how about you come to the village tomorrow and we discuss the issue of your mother's retirement?"
"I knew the boss was like this!" Chen Lu spat in disdain, "No need to discuss, let my mother live with me! I'll support her!"
Just as Shen Shansheng was about to take a sip of water and put down the heavy stone hanging in his heart, he found that he was too happy too early...
"It's just not possible now." Chen Lu looked embarrassed.
"??? Why?"
Chen Lu explained: "I am going to change houses."
“That’s a good thing.”
"You don't understand," Chen Lu poured him another glass of water and said slowly, "I originally wanted to move to a bigger house so that I could bring my mother to live with me in her old age, but when I started my business, I gave him all the money."
"Now I have finally saved enough money and found a house, but it will take a lot of time to renovate it. I have to paint the walls and get rid of the odor. I have to wait at least a year. Otherwise, the odor in the house is not good for the health of the elderly."
"I won't be living in this house for much longer. Once this one is sold, I'll move into my new house and start decorating it."
"I'm fine, but I can't let my mother suffer with me, right?"
Chen Shansheng also understood what Chen Lu meant.
He wanted to move to a bigger house, no, he wanted to move to a bigger house for his mother to live in. But the house hadn't been renovated yet, so there was no place for her to live, so he couldn't bring her to live with him.
As for going to Qinghe Village tomorrow to sit down and discuss it together... he really can't get away, because he has to go to the Real Estate Bureau tomorrow to handle the formalities.
Chen Fu and Chen Lu both made excuses saying that they were busy. Thinking that Chen Shou had been the most unreliable person since he was a child, Shen Shansheng was too lazy to visit him again, so he called him to inform him and ask him what he meant.
"Tomorrow? Okay, then I'll go talk to my captain and ask him to change my shift."
"Don't worry, I'll go! I will definitely go back. That's my mother, how can I just ignore her?"
"Just tell me a time, and I'll be there on time!"
There was no "but but" or "although but", Chen Shou's straightforward attitude really surprised Shen Shansheng.
It seems that I really underestimated him.
Since he agreed, Shen Shansheng thought about going to see him again and having a private conversation with him, which could also be regarded as a way to give him a shot of prevention for tomorrow's village case.
But when Shen Shansheng found the factory where he worked, he didn't see Chen Shou.
He slipped away...
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