Lin Shu was counting the days to save up his vacation time. He remembered his mother said she would come over in these few days.
He hadn't told his mother yet that he had found his aunt, as he wanted to give his mother a surprise.
Chen Xiahua, also known as Chen Xia, has been looking forward to meeting Chunhua every day since she found out that Lin Shugan was Chunhua's son. Knowing that they were coming, she nervously cleaned the house almost three times.
Jiang Weimin looked at his wife cleaning the cupboards again, feeling both angry and amused.
"Hey, hey, hey, Xia Hua, that cabinet is almost cracked, just leave it alone."
Chen Xiahua was wiping it unconsciously, just to pass the time. When Jiang Weimin exposed her mistake, she glared at him unhappily.
"Are you that nervous? Isn't she your biological sister? Can she eat you?"
Jiang Weimin sat in a chair and flipped through his memories. "Is it the little girl who gave you the handkerchief?"
Chen Xiahua nodded. She had always treasured the handkerchief. It was the only thing she brought from there.
"Stop calling her a little girl all the time. I'm almost 45, and Chunhua must be 40 too. The book says she has an older sister and a younger brother and sister... After so many years, she must be a mother of four children."
She sat down on the sofa, her face full of memories.
She had no feelings for that family, except for her two younger sisters, both of whom she raised.
The younger brothers are all treasures. They all grew up in their mother's arms. When she was still barefoot with a runny nose, Chen Chunhua followed behind her, who also had a runny nose and tears on her face and walked unsteadily.
She went to pick wild vegetables, and Xiao Chunhua sat on the ground playing in the mud. She cut grass to feed the chickens, and had to keep an eye on Xiao Chunhua to make sure she didn't steal the chickens' food. At night, the quilt was very thin, and sleeping with Xiao Chunhua in her arms made her feel much warmer.
Later, Chunhua began to speak fluently, and then Donghua appeared.
The two babies were girls in a row, and the mother didn't want to take care of the newborn at all. She just wanted to recover quickly and give birth to another one. In the countryside, one son was not enough.
So Chen Xiahua, who was only 10 years old, carried Donghua on her back and held Chunhua's hand and went to work.
She also wondered why her younger brother could just nestle in her mother's arms, get whatever he wanted to eat and play with, while she had to do so much work.
But she also knew that most girls in the village were like this and could only wait to get married.
If you marry well, you only need to serve your husband and children. If you marry badly, the whole family will be waiting for you to serve...
To her, her two younger sisters were her few comforts in this family, but she never treated them particularly well, because she knew that none of them belonged to this family and would be married off in exchange for a dowry one day.
She has seen too many sisters in the village crying at their weddings. Some of them may never see each other again after they get married. She feels sad when she sees them and doesn't want to end up like this in the future.
So when she was a teenager, she developed a hot-tempered temper. Whenever Chunhua or Donghua acted naughty, she would scold them and hit them.
Once, Chunhua was scolded by her and cried. Donghua also cried and asked her sobbingly, "Sister, don't you like me too? Why do you always scold me..."
Yes, why yes? Because anyone in this family can slap them, be it their father, mother, elder brother or younger brother, they can take their anger out on them when they are in a bad mood.
Donghua was only five years old. What did she know? She just felt that everyone disliked her and would beat or scold her at the slightest provocation.
What could she do? She could only hug them and cry together, then tell them to work hard, raise themselves up, and get married in the future, and maybe things would be fine.
…
Chen Xiahua was pretty, and when she was a young girl, she had dreamed of marrying a capable man. They would work hard together, you farming and I weaving, and have one or two children, raise them, and live a good life...
Until her father sold her to Jiang Weiren for 100 yuan...
Chen Xiahua immediately calmed down when she thought of this and turned to look at the man sitting next to her drinking tea.
"I think Chunhua probably doesn't have a very good impression of you."
"Huh? Why?" Jiang Weimin looked over with a puzzled look on his face. "What did I do?"
You didn't do anything, but you were a symbol of power back then.
Jiang Weimin reached out and held his wife's hand across the small coffee table, patting it soothingly.
"The hard times are over."
Yes, the hard days are over, and all that is left for them now is hope and joy. Why think so much?
When Chen Chunhua and Lin Guoqing took the old and the young to the city where Lin Shugan was, it was two days after they said goodbye to Lin Shuying.
Although there was enough time to rest on the way, the transportation at that time was not as developed as it is now, and the roads were not as smooth as they are now. When Lin Shu rushed to pick them up, Liang Shengdi felt that her eyes were already covered with mosquito coils.
"Second brother~" Liang Shengdi held onto Lin Shugan's hand and yawned violently. "Where is that guesthouse you told your father about? Hurry, hurry, I need to lie down for a while, my bones are falling apart."
Having another meal before going to bed was Liang Shengdi’s last act of stubbornness.
As soon as the door was opened, she lay down on the bed and fell asleep, and no one could wake her up.
Lin Shugan felt a little guilty when he looked at his parents, brothers and sisters who also had dusty faces.
"It's all because of me..."
"Because of you, why not? Don't take the blame on yourself for no reason." Chen Chunhua retorted while pulling her son around.
"You've become thinner and darker." It would be a lie to say I wasn't heartbroken. "But look, isn't he a little taller?"
Lin Shugan grinned and nodded vigorously, "Yes! One centimeter taller." Only a mother would be so sensitive as to notice this one centimeter.
"I'm not thin, I'm just stronger." Lin Shugan rolled up his sleeves to show his parents his arms. "Our squad leader said this is what we call lean and strong. It looks thin, but it's actually all meat! It's much better than the pile of white flesh before!"
"Hahaha! You have to be in the army to learn that!" Lin Guoqing patted his son's shoulder and laughed, "How's the food here? Your grandma is thinking about your little treat. See that bag? It's full of local delicacies! She brought them all for you and has been preparing them for a few days!"
Lin Shugan looked at the woven bag, which was a circle bigger than before he set out, and his eyes were slightly red.
Liang Shengdi walked around Shanghai, gave some of the things in the bag to Lin Shuying, and then put more goods in. Now there was really everything you needed in the bag, even two cans of malted milk!
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