Chapter 161 Soft Heart
"Sister-in-law, the shopkeeper is kind enough to help you, an orphan and a widow. If you are working here now, can you go to the cafeteria to ask about Brother Zhang's whereabouts and whether you have met him? If you trust me, I can help you and at least make your life better."
"No, my mother and I don't need much, so this much is enough. We don't need too much. We are grateful that you care about us. I'm afraid I can't give you the dividends I promised you before. I don't know when your brother Zhang will come back and whether he will be in danger. Although he and I have lived a hard life in the past few years, we have also enjoyed it. But since he encountered something two years ago, we have only seen each other briefly and haven't seen each other since then. I don't know if he is still alive in this world. How is he doing?"
"Sister-in-law, don't worry. I will find a way to contact Brother Zhang and find his whereabouts. If he really has something to hide or is in trouble, we will do our best to help. If you have any problems, you must let the children inform us. Your life as an orphan and a widow must be very difficult now. Don't be too stubborn as a woman. It's not a good thing to be too stubborn."
These words hit Mrs. Zhang's heart.
In fact, Mrs. Zhang was also a shy girl when she was young, but changes in her family forced her to accept the reality that she had to be strong.
Before Mrs. Zhang married Brother Zhang, her family ran a shop.
The family lived a decent life, relying on the small business from the pharmacy to support several people in the family. But one day, a man came to their pharmacy and wanted to buy a kind of medicine, which was the kind that was harmful to the human body, and Zhang Dasao's father was unwilling to sell it to that man.
A day later, that man brought a group of people to smash Zhang Dasao's pharmacy, causing a huge loss of money, so the family's life became difficult.
When Mrs. Zhang was in her teens, her family found a marriage for her, and that man was Mr. Zhang.
Because Mrs. Zhang's parents thought that Brother Zhang was honest and simple and was a good candidate to be entrusted with a job, they married their daughter to him.
Well, the couple was quite happy after marriage. Brother Zhang usually worked on the farm at home. One year after marriage, they gave birth to a son.
Life is going well.
After Gu Leyou chatted with Mrs. Zhang, she felt that it was about time, so she went back to the front to meet her husband.
"Husband, you take your son and daughter back first. I want to go home with Mrs. Zhang to see how her family is doing. She is a strong-willed woman, and I was afraid she would not want to tell me about her difficulties. I will understand after I go to her house and learn about the situation."
"Then I understand. I'll take the child home first, then prepare dinner and wait for you to come back. But you have to come back quickly. I'm afraid my daughter will come looking for you when she's hungry, and I don't know what to do."
Gu Leyou nodded, and after watching her husband and children leave, she went to the back to help Mrs. Zhang wash the dishes, and then followed Mrs. Zhang home. Originally, she was afraid that Mrs. Zhang would not agree to let her follow her, so she had to find an excuse that she was going back to see the children. Only then did Mrs. Zhang agree to let her follow her back without any doubt.
When she arrived at Mrs. Zhang's house and entered the yard, she felt inexplicably familiar. The yard was still the same as when she had been there before, without any change. Everywhere was still very clean and not messy.
She also talked to Mrs. Zhang about the issue of children.
"Sister-in-law, the child should be seven or eight years old now. You can't ask him to go with you behind the noodle shop every time to help look for the child. He should learn to read and write. Is there any school nearby? See if there is any way to send the child to a teacher to learn to read and write. I will find a way to pay for the tuition. You can't let the child play like this anymore. He must learn to read and write to be able to achieve something in the future, so don't worry."
"It's not that I'm worried, it's that I don't have that much money. After all, my family has to make a living. I have to go to the noodle shop to help out every day, and I don't have time to take care of him. If he goes to school, it will be a problem for him to eat in the future. Who can take care of him all the time? After all, he is still young. I only have this one son, and I have to be responsible for him."
"We are the child's parents, so of course we have to be responsible for him. The child cannot be illiterate, so I will arrange for him to learn to read and write. If it is not possible, the child can live in our house temporarily. We can take care of the child for you. After all, life as an orphan and a widow is very difficult for you." Gu Leyou was very reasonable.
But Mrs. Zhang refused.
"We already owe you too much. We can't bother with things there any more. The dividends we gave you in the beginning are now gone, not a penny, not even a copper coin. We already owe you enough. If my son bothers you again to live in your house, what will we be like? It's his father and I who are sorry. You...you are not sorry for us. Instead, it's you who helped us. I didn't expect to see you again in this life. I heard from others that you went out and didn't know when you would be back. I didn't expect to see you again so soon." Mrs. Zhang changed the subject.
Mrs. Zhang insisted on doing so, and Gu Leyou had nothing to say.
As it was getting dark, she left Mrs. Zhang's house. Mrs. Zhang watched her leave with tears in her eyes.
After Gu Leyou returned home, she thought about her child's future literacy and discussed it with her husband.
"Lu Lang, we don't know when we can return our son to his biological father. Before that, we have to teach him to read and write. I don't know much about words, but I heard from the village chief that a new school has been built in our village and there is a teacher teaching children there. Why don't we send the child to him and let the teacher teach him to read and write. If the child returns to his biological father in the future, at least he won't be so naughty. This way, we can explain to his biological father. After all, he is a child of the royal family, not an ordinary family."
What Gu Leyou said was right. If he ascended the throne and became emperor after studying at night, then his child would be the prince, a real member of the royal family. If the couple spoiled the child, and let the member of the royal family become unlearned and only knew how to play every day, wouldn't that be terrible?
Since they have raised the child, they must be responsible for him and cannot be careless. If they are careless and a big mistake is caused in the future, they will not be able to bear the blame if the child's biological couple blames them.
"By the way, why did you take so long at Sister Zhang's house? You almost missed dinner. What did she say to you? You're not going to pity them for being a widow again, are you? Our family is not having a good time either. If my father-in-law and mother-in-law don't let me go out, then our family will have less income. You gave Sister Zhang a lot of money today, so our family will have a very tight budget in the days ahead. You have to think it over clearly. I'm not unreasonable. I just think our family is having a hard time right now. After all, my father-in-law and mother-in-law said that the world is not peaceful now. I went out to explore the world and it's indeed as they said. The world is not peaceful. If we want to help others, we have to see if we have the ability to do so."
Gu Leyou felt a little unhappy when he heard this.
"What do you mean by this? Are you going to just let the mother and son live in such poverty and not care about it? Besides, Brother Zhang has been very good to me in the past. We should repay kindness. Besides, their family is having some difficulties now, can't we still get by? What's wrong with just giving a helping hand? I have always been a warm-hearted person and can't bear to see others suffer. Besides, Sister Zhang is a good person, not a bad person. There is no harm in me helping her. When they have money in the future and we are in trouble, they can help us again." Gu Leyou said this in a very logical manner.
Seeing that he couldn't win the argument with his wife, Lu Yan stopped talking and started to think about sending his child to school.
Maybe my wife is right. I can’t delay sending my son to school any longer. After all, he is not my own flesh and blood. If I delay it any further, what will go wrong? The child's biological father cannot afford to blame himself.
So they were busy for two days and finally solved the problem of the child's school. A teacher at a private school in the town was willing to accept his son, but he had to make sure that his son would not fall ill for no reason, otherwise no one would dare to take over.
"I have already arranged for the child to go to school. It is a private school in town. The teacher is a very nice person. However, he will only accept the child if he guarantees that the child will not get sick. After all, the child will faint if he gets sick, and the teacher is afraid of taking responsibility."
"It's better to be safe about this. I'll tell the child that I'll send him to the private school in town tomorrow. Then we can't live in the village anymore. We have to find another place to live. If we live in the village, it won't be convenient for the child to go to school in town. And the child of Zhang's family is also of school age. Our child has books to read, so I'm thinking of asking Zhang's sister to send her son to a private school as well."
"If you go to a private school, the tuition will be a lot of money. Can you really afford the tuition for two people? I know you well. Our son is going to a private school. You must have remembered Mrs. Zhang's son. He is older than our son. He has reached school age a long time ago. If his father hadn't had an accident, he should have been in school now."
Gu Leyou sighed and replied, "Hey, I originally wanted to persuade Zhang's wife to send her son to school, but she said that life is already difficult now. If she goes to school, there will be no one to take care of the child. She also has to help out at the noodle shop in town, so she can't take care of everything."
"Then don't get involved in this matter. After all, it's someone else's family affair. We are outsiders after all. It's not good to get involved. So don't get involved in things that you shouldn't be involved in. It's not good to get involved too much."
Gu Leyou nodded thoughtfully. Maybe her husband was right. Mrs. Zhang was a strong woman. Since she didn't want her to control her, she shouldn't meddle in other people's business and should just take care of her own family's affairs.
So before telling their child that they were sending him to school, they went back to their parents' home.
"What? You want to send my grandson to a private school in town. Isn't there a school in our village? Isn't the old teacher there teaching well? Why don't you send him there? It's closer to our village and more convenient for you to pick him up. Do you really want the child to go there and come back by himself? If something goes wrong, can you bear to watch the child suffer?"
These words were said by Gu Laoer.
When their son wanted to go to school, they recommended that he go to the school in the town. However, the tuition in the town school was very expensive. They waited until their daughter got married and used their regular money to supplement some of the money before sending their son to a regular school. After studying for a while, when their son grew up, they sent him to study abroad. He has not returned for more than a year, and they missed him day and night even when they did not see him during the Chinese New Year.
They don't want their daughter to suffer such pain, so they would like to let the child stay with them for a few more years instead of sending her away in such a hurry.
"Old lady, what do you think about this? Do you agree with your daughter sending her grandson to school in town? That would be too inconvenient. We can't all go to town to buy a house. Where would we live? Do we have to sleep in a shack on the main street?"
"Mom and Dad, I know your concerns. At worst, we can rent a house in town to accompany the child to school, so that we don't have to go back and forth. Zhengshan is not far from our village. There is no need for our family to be unhappy over such a small matter. We are the child's parents and we have to consider his future. We can't let him stay in this small mountain village for the rest of his life."
The child in Gu Leyou's arms burst into tears at this time.
For a moment, Gu Leyou didn't know what to do.
Lin quickly took the child over.
"Look, even your daughter doesn't agree to leave here. Think about it carefully. It's okay to go to school in the village. You don't have to go to the private school in town. If you go to a private school, it doesn't have to cost a lot of money. Don't you know how much money you can earn in a month? Don't spend money that shouldn't be spent."
Gu Leyou didn't care about all that. For the sake of her child's future, she could no longer listen to her parents. Before, she wanted to find her husband, but she listened to her parents and didn't go. She stayed at home for a while. Fortunately, her husband came back safe and sound. Sometimes you can listen to your parents, and sometimes you may not. This is related to the child's future. You can't blindly listen to your parents' opinions, otherwise it will harm your child's life.
Seeing that they couldn't convince their parents, the couple decided not to stay at their house any longer and went back to their own home, intending to ask their children for their opinions.
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