Chapter 467 Transformation
"The wives your mother married for your brothers were all good. Why?"
Manbao: "Why?"
"Because your mother suffered a great loss in the past."
Manbao: I always feel that my great-aunt is mocking her father, but she has no substantial evidence.
"When your mother first got married, what else did your father have besides a good look?" Aunt Lai scolded her. "Your grandfather wasn't any good, your grandmother wasn't any good, and your father, along with your grandmother, has become so lazy. Have you seen the beggar's house?"
Aunt Lai said, "Back then, your family was just like Laizi's. The fields in the village were almost closed off when your grandparents leisurely began spring planting. They were always three steps behind others in their work. They only started planting the seedlings after others had already started fertilizing and weeding..."
The onlookers and the group of children from Old Zhou's family were all stunned. Oh my God, is this really Old Zhou's home?
"Your grandmother resented your grandfather's family for asking for a high bride price, so your mother was bullied as soon as she got married. Those days were very difficult." Aunt Lai couldn't help but sigh, "So, Manbao, when you choose someone in the future, you must keep your eyes open and don't follow in your mother's footsteps."
Manbao nodded vigorously. Although she felt hesitant and heartbroken between her father and mother, she still decided to give a little more favor to her mother.
Since childhood, although Qian never told how she got sick, the adults outside said that her mother was tired.
Zhou Wulang still had some impression of his mother, but he only knew that she worked quickly and efficiently, and he had no idea that she had suffered so much when she was younger.
I guess only Zhou Dalang, Zhou Xi, Zhou Erlang and Zhou Sanlang still have some memories of these things.
According to Aunt Lai, it was not just Qian who suffered, Zhou Dalang was also very pitiful when he was a child.
At that time, Zhou Jin was still very lazy. After working in the fields, he would find excuses to run back home three or four times in the morning, and all his time was wasted on the road.
Grandpa Zhou said that he was not fully recovered yet, while Zhang was pregnant with Zhou Yin. She treasured her belly like a gold nugget and didn't even leave the house, let alone help Qian.
So Qian, with her big belly, took Zhou Dalang to the hospital again.
In order to prevent the child from running around, she tied a rope around Zhou Dalang's waist and tied him to a tree at the edge of the field so that she could see the child as soon as she looked up.
Aunt Lai sighed, "There were a lot of mosquitoes in the fields at that time. Your mother bandaged your eldest brother's hands and feet, but left his forehead and face exposed, as well as his little hands. When she finished her work and came up to take a look, she saw that the child was badly bitten by insects..."
Manbao and others opened their mouths wide.
"Your mother carried your eldest brother on her back and cried all the way back to her parents' home, leaving the child there." At that time, it was Aunt Lai who accompanied Qian back. Later, after the spring planting was over, Uncle Qian took his two younger brothers to beat Zhou Jin up, and took his sister home to live for more than ten days. Grandpa Zhou personally begged his in-laws to take her back.
But Qian's situation was only slightly better, until Zhang gave birth to Zhou Yin but had no milk.
Zhou Yin was sent to Qian.
Perhaps it was because he was born in his old age, or perhaps it was because they were able to give birth to two sons for the Zhou family, which had only one son for two generations, so Grandpa Zhou and Zhang doted on Zhou Yin especially, even more than they did on Zhou Jingang when he was born.
By then, Zhou Xi was already three months old. Qian had already gone to work in the fields and was about to wean the child. However, thanks to Zhou Yin, she was able to spend most of her time at home taking care of the child. Grandpa Zhou and Zhang also fed her meat and eggs as if they were free.
Is there any rule in the Zhou family that men are the ones to fetch water?
That was all decided by Qian herself. For three years after she got married, she was the one who fetched water for the Zhou family. The other three adults in the Zhou family would rather not wash their faces than fetch water.
But one time, because Zhou Yin woke up and couldn't find Qian, he cried as if he was going to die. Then Zhou Jin asked his father to beat him up and send him to the spring to take over the first bucket of water from his wife.
Then after the first bucket, there was the second bucket, and after that, Qian never went to fetch water again.
Old Zhou had been carrying water for ten years. When Zhou Dalang turned thirteen, he immediately handed the burden over to him.
Old Zhou was trained by Qian, but it was too hard work. Aunt Lai said that if she had not looked at his appearance before and directly chosen a diligent one, there would not have been so many troubles later.
"Zhou Yin, he's a very caring child," Aunt Lai's eyes fell on Manbao's face, and she sighed softly, "Your mother always said that he was her little lucky star."
Isn't she a little lucky star? Since Zhou Yin was born, Qian's life has gradually become better. When Zhou Yin was three years old, Grandpa Zhou and Zhang handed over the Zhou family to Qian.
Even when Zhou Jin faced Qian, he could only shrink his neck.
Zhou Yin had been raised by Qian. Compared to Zhang, who was always sick or had bad tempers, he obviously liked his sister-in-law more.
So even during the Chinese New Year, he was unwilling to go back to the Zhang family with Zhang, but instead insisted on going back to the Qian family with Qian.
When he was just two years old and learning to speak, he always called Qian "mother". This habit was not corrected until he was five years old.
From this we can see how good his relationship with the Qian family is. Even the Qian family likes their sister's brother-in-law very much. So the Zhang family shouted that Qian abused the young son left by his mother-in-law and sold the young son for money. The whole Qili Village, even the Qianjia Village, regarded it as a joke.
Especially in Qili Village, everyone knows each other.
Aunt Lai reached out and took Manbao's hand, saying meaningfully, "Zhou Yin sold herself back then. When your mother found out, she nearly fainted."
Uncle Lai also sighed and said slowly, "It was difficult back then. Several people in our village starved to death."
"Yes, your mother soaked a piece of cake and shared it with the family. She then tied a rope around her stomach and drank the water. Your uncle ran away because he was unwilling to let her go. In the end, he actually found a way to survive."
Aunt Lai squeezed Manbao's hand and said, "Not only did he bring back a bag of grain for your Zhou family, he also found work for the young men in the village. The passing merchant who wanted to take him away was kind-hearted and hired the villagers to carry cloth for them. Later, he introduced everyone to another manager in the county. The people in our village survived by relying on the little food saved by the laborers, and no one starved to death."
Aunt Lai sneered, "The Zhang family came to your house to force your parents to give you food rations because they found out about Zhou Yin selling herself. Your uncle paid for it with his life, so why would your parents give it to you? The two families started fighting and stole some things."
"And what happened next?"
"What happened next?" Aunt Lai laughed. "Then your eldest uncle took your cousins and your brothers to the Zhang family. For the next five or six years, your two families didn't see each other. This fight will probably keep us away for another five or six years."
She smiled and said, "At this age, who knows how long you can live? Once your two cousins from the Zhang family die, this relative will fade away. It won't matter whether they leave or not."
(End of this chapter)
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