The holy, beautiful and brilliant light of the Goddess of Joy shines upon the earth~
Hao Yuanchao didn't directly answer Shugen's question. Instead, he said, "I'm back this time to take the four of you away to the military district to live with me and your second aunt. 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?" Rural people don't shy away from 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 people die while swimming, or are gored to death by wild boars while climbing mountains. In the past few years, there have even been people who starved to death. All kinds of death and death at any time and anywhere make rural people sad but accustomed to it. Even in an era without gossip and entertainment, death is still brought up as a topic of conversation after dinner, especially unnatural death. People 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, or 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 in the ground, never to be seen again. Even if children are confused and don't understand, further questioning won't bring comfort, but rather impatience. At best, they might be more patient and tolerant for a month or two before and after the funeral, but after that, the affection fades.
In an era when food and clothing were still a problem, death would never make rural people sad and depressed year after year. They were still concerned about 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 they would not feel much sadness when they mentioned it.
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.
Alas, there's no point in saying more. With the man gone, all we can do is ask for more benefits. That's the most practical thing, after all, we still have four children. And the commune wouldn't sit idly by. After all, according to Liang Li, Hao Jianguo sacrificed his life for the collective, so they should at least give him some compensation. And with Hao Yuanchao, his brother, an officer, there, they couldn't just award him a collective contribution award, they even gave him fifty yuan.
Fifty yuan is already a lot. The commune is not rich, and it is not just Hao Jianguo who died this time. People in other villages also had their houses collapsed or were injured. The commune has to pay some compensation, even three or two yuan will do. Hao Jianguo was given so much because he sacrificed himself to save collective property. This statement is tenable and will not attract any rumors.
However, Liang Li didn't care that much about the fifty dollars. What he wanted was an attitude and a reputation. With that certificate, no one would dare to make up stories about Hao Jianguo's death, and it would not affect the child.
After this matter was dealt with, the next issue was the four children. From Hao Yuanchao's memory, it was learned that he sincerely wanted to adopt these four children, both out of morality and out of family affection. The four children were too young. If they were older, Hao Yuanchao could let the eldest child stand up and support the family, but the oldest was only nine years old and still a child. It was impossible for him to support a family, especially when there were no close relatives at home who could take care of them. Leaving four small children at home, let alone Hao Yuanchao, even Liang Li, who had received the memory, felt that it was inappropriate.
However, Liang Li could not take the child away for the time being, because Hao Yuanchao's further studies in Beicheng were about to end. After that, he would either stay as an instructor in the military academy or return to his original unit. At that time, for the sake of his fiancée, Hao Yuanchao planned to strive to stay in the military academy so that his fiancée would not have to leave her hometown, and this was also the promise he had made to his fiancée.
But the situation is different now. Liang Li does not intend to accept Hao Yuanchao's fiancée on his behalf. Although he did not see Hao Yuanchao's fiancée's appearance clearly in his memory, he is determined not to accept her no matter how beautiful she is. Moreover, Liang Li looked at the four children at home. His fiancée is only eighteen years old. She is a college student in the 1960s and is knowledgeable and cultured. Combined with the surprised tone in Hao Yuanchao's voice when he said he wanted to bring the four children to raise with him, it seems that she is unwilling to continue the engagement. Maybe she is now discussing how to cancel the engagement and will give him an ultimatum when he returns.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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