Jiang's mother's tears immediately fell, and even Jiang's father's eyes were red. "Okay, remember to live a good life with your son-in-law. Be good to him."
The hearts of all parents in the world are no more than this.
014
"Uncle, can you please ask Goudan not to live with me when you get home? I want to eat egg custard every day." Shugen, feeling that Hao Yuanchao was family and a reliable supporter, couldn't help but ask. Although his aunt said Goudan was his cousin, he didn't like cousins who would snatch food from him, or even take his younger siblings' rations. He was also greedy and didn't even dare to eat the milk powder and malted milk. His eldest brother said he would starve without his younger siblings, but Goudan disobeyed and ate it, refusing to listen to him at all. His aunt also said it was okay to let Goudan have a few bites. Shugen was confused, but his instinct told him that resistance was useless, so he could only talk to his uncle. His eldest brother said that everything would be fine after he returned.
What the eldest brother said was right. Now that his second uncle was back, he had delicious noodles to eat. And his second aunt was so pretty. The way she looked at him made him feel much more comfortable than the way his second aunt looked at him. He always felt that the way his second aunt looked at him was strange. He had not been to school yet and did not know whether that look was sympathy or envy. Sympathy for him because he had no parents, envy for him because he had a good second uncle, and the good fortune he would enjoy in the future because he was a city dweller. He even felt a little jealous. Why didn't her Goudan have the blessing of being a city dweller and eating delicious food every day?
Shugen didn't understand all this. He just thought that his second aunt's eyes were strange. However, he was a carefree person and often forgot about it after a while. He told Hao Yuanchao this just because he didn't like Goudan stealing his food.
Hao Yuanchao didn't directly answer Shugen's question. Instead, he said, "I'm coming back this time to take the four of you away to live with me and your second aunt in the military district. Are you happy with that?"
"Live with uncle and aunt?" A puzzled look flashed across Shugen's little eyes, not quite understanding what this meant.
"Just like you lived with your parents before, you will live with me and your second aunt from now on."
"My parents are dead. Will you die too?" People in rural areas are not shy about talking about death in front of children, because death is very common in rural areas. In addition to death from old age and illness, every year there are people who die while swimming, or are gored to death by wild boars while climbing the mountains. In the past few years, there were also people who starved to death. Various kinds of death and death at any time and anywhere make rural people sad and accustomed to it. Even in an era without gossip and entertainment, death is still brought up as a topic of conversation after dinner, especially abnormal death. People will say it's a pity or bad luck, but they don't worry about whether the children will have any psychological problems after hearing it, or tell them with white lies that the dead are just sleeping/going on a long journey/turning into stars in the sky to protect them.
These things don't exist. They'll say that when a person dies, they're gone, buried underground, and will never be seen again. Even if children are confused and don't understand, further questioning won't bring comfort, but rather impatience. At most, they can be more patient and tolerant for a month or two before and after the funeral, but after that, these feelings will fade.
In an era when food and clothing were still a problem, death would never make rural people sad year after year. What they worried about were the crops in the fields and the living people. The dead would eventually fade away from their hearts when they turned into yellow earth, and there would not be much sadness even when they were mentioned.
Shugen was initially heartbroken when his parents died. He cried, woke up in the middle of the night to look for them, unable to sleep. But he was still young, still naive, and couldn't fully grasp the true meaning of death. No one around him, except his eldest brother, Tiezhu, told him to remember them. When he asked about his second aunt, she simply told him not to ask again. People were gone, gone. Everyone's lives were no different from when their parents were still alive. The neighbor lady still cried at dinnertime, calling her children to eat. The team leader still walked around the fields, urging them to work. His playmates still climbed trees to get bird eggs and competed to see who could urinate the farthest. His "world" was normal, no different at all, except that the people he called his parents no longer lived at home. Shugen was still young, and he didn't understand why his eldest brother, Tiezhu, cried secretly every night.
The weight and depth of sadness are different at the age of six and nine.
But he was a little curious whether his uncle and aunt would die like his parents in the future.
Facing Shugen's clear and ignorant eyes, Hao Yuanchao felt his throat dry for a moment. When he wanted to nod and admit that they would die if he told others, but they would live for a long time before that, Jiang Shuyao spoke first.
"Shugen, your second uncle, I, you, your eldest brother, your younger brothers and sisters, the six of us together will live for a very, very long time." As for the issue of death, he understood it when he grew old enough.
Hearing this, Shugen grinned, his little eyes sparkling. "Then let's stay together, the six of us. We can live a very long time."
He died a horrible death and was buried in the ground.
This is her villa bedroom, which has two floors. The decoration style is a blend of Chinese and Western styles. The most notable feature is probably the lush vegetation on the outside and the minimalist decoration of the rooms inside. There is a large open kitchen on the first floor. The living room is connected to the kitchen. One wall is also a floor-to-ceiling glass window, which faces the swimming pool. Outside the swimming pool are tall trees, which block the view from outside.
The second floor was her private territory, rarely bringing anyone up. Each room was decorated differently: a study, a darkroom for developing photos, a studio, etc. The villa also had a small wine cellar, which contained some of her own wine collection, as well as wines she had bought while traveling or had been given as gifts, both expensive and cheap.
There is a garden in the backyard of the villa with a grape rack. After she had wandered enough and was ready to settle down, an area here was cleared to grow some seasonal vegetables. There were only a few varieties, and it was also a place to kill time.
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