Xu Manzhi took a sip of water.
She blinked her big eyes and smiled slightly, saying, "I've finished drinking."
The two elderly people smiled sincerely and with relief, looked at each other, and then Yan Zhouzhen reached into his clothes with a rough hand, trembling as he felt around, and carefully pulled out a piece of paper and a stack of neatly arranged money.
“Girl, now that you’ve drunk the Yan family’s tea, you’re part of our family. This is a gift for you, we hope you don’t mind,” he said.
A gift to mark our meeting?
Xu Manzhi glanced at the mountain of things behind her and shook her head, saying, "I can't take your money. You can keep it for your retirement."
She's quite greedy.
But they don't accept just any amount of money.
Yan Zhouzhen became anxious.
He grabbed Xu Manzhi's hand, shoved the things into her hand, and glared at her, saying, "Silly child, this is something my wife and I started preparing after Lin'er was born. We were afraid he wouldn't be able to find a wife, so we wanted to leave him some capital."
People in the countryside don't have much money even if they save it up.
He and Wang Cuier always tried their best to save money from their own mouths, even a penny or a thread, and would occasionally stuff it into a cookie box.
Over the past 20 years, I've accumulated a few cents or dollars at the beginning, then a dollar or two later, and the highest amount I ever saved was a single black dollar bill. One box wasn't enough to hold it all, so I got a ceramic jar...
The year his house burned down, he ignored the village chief's attempts to pull him away and forcefully moved the scorching hot stones. The fire burned off his hair and clothes, and left a black mark on his body.
But when he dug open the fire pit, pulled out the iron box and pottery jar from the ground, and hugged them tightly as he rushed out of the house, his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. When he saw Wang Cuier, the first thing he said was, "My ugly boy's wife is safe."
Wang Cuier burst into tears.
She didn't even dare to hug him, and made him let go, otherwise the metal box would scald his flesh.
But he couldn't care less and urged Wang Cuier, "Quickly, hide the things so no one can see them, lest thieves take notice."
Year after year, they did not speak to anyone, not uttering a single word.
Their clothes were patched and mended repeatedly. They always kept their distance from their second and third children, never uttering a word of complaint, even when their youngest daughter cried and clung to his leg, pleading, "Dad, go to the village chief's house and borrow some millet, I'm hungry..."
They were so hungry that their vision was blurred and they could barely walk.
Even so, neither of them had a single thought about the jar buried underground.
Hungry, but I'll endure it.
It wasn't until they received a call from Commander Yan Song to the village that the couple dug out a row of pottery jars overnight, lit a soybean oil lamp, and used the dim light of the flame to keep warm all night.
There's too much loose change.
The "Big Black Ten" (a large number of shares) is also not in circulation.
Yan Zhouzhen pondered, thinking that city girls might like saving money, so he decided to deposit the money in the cooperative and then give her the receipt stub...
So, after entering the city, they deposited all the money in a large bag, but still kept a bunch of small bills, just to make it look better.
Before Xu Manzhi could speak, Wang Cuier grabbed her hand and said softly, "Manzhi, we country folk are rough around the edges and don't know how to talk, but you must accept this money, otherwise we won't be able to sleep at night and won't feel at ease."
It's too hard for Ugly Ducklings to live.
She knew it perfectly well.
Every time she saw her son injured, she couldn't help but cry. The old man, afraid of attracting attention, would slap her repeatedly, almost making her deaf in one ear.
But when the night was deep and quiet, lying on the wooden bed, she turned to her side with her eyes closed, knowing that Yan Zhouzhen behind her was silently shedding tears, and his raised hand landed on her ear... very lightly.
He assumed she didn't know.
But if you do too much rough work, you'll have a lot of thorns on your hands, and it hurts a lot when they cut your ear.
She didn't expose his weakness or his heartache for his son, because she knew very well that it was the old man's last bit of stubbornness.
When a bunch of people with bad luck gather together, their lives will all be miserable.
She didn't say anything, and neither did he.
Even when faced with Yan Lin's stubborn and defiant eyes, and the ugly child's unyielding resentment, all the bitterness turned into a sigh.
I can only blame fate.
Heaven left no way for the people in the countryside to survive. Everyone was eager to make revolution and achieve results, but then one natural disaster after another struck. The crops in the fields didn't grow any grain; they were all empty shells. And then came the drought...
There are too many people starving, and life is too hard.
Many years later, a female educated youth in the village said, "Aunt Wang, it's not that the villagers were heartless, it's just that people in the darkness couldn't see any hope, only the fear of death, and wanted a way to vent their frustrations..."
She grew up and was born in the village, and didn't understand big principles. Wang Cuier didn't understand a word of what the educated youth said, but she still silently kept it in mind.
Fortunately, it's all over now.
Yan Lin grew up to be a promising young man, and he joined the People's Liberation Army after donning a military uniform.
Although he never returned to the village after he left, and never wrote a letter except to send them money, they didn't blame him and saved all his money.
"But--"
Looking at the amount written on it, Xu Manzhi knew almost without guessing that it was the food rations saved by the two elderly people.
Don't be fooled by the fact that she has a sum of money stored in her space and often sees the Jiang family with tens of thousands of dollars. For a farmer who only relies on farming to save so much money is truly an astronomical sum.
In particular, they also experienced the worst famine years...
Her eyes were slightly moist, and the coin in her hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
"We don't want this money—"
Just then, a cold voice came from the doorway.
The three of them turned around.
Yan Lin was cold and indifferent, his eyes filled with a bone-chilling coldness. When his gaze swept over the stub, it was as if ice crystals were falling from his eyes, and he wished he could burn the paper to ashes.
“Lin’er…” Wang Cui’er rushed forward, not caring about anything else, and grabbed her son’s hand, tears streaming down her face, crying incoherently.
"You, you can't, this, this is what we gave—"
Before she could finish speaking, Yan Lin's indifferent gaze swept over her, stinging her.
The son blames them.
Wang Cuier realized this, and overwhelmed with grief, she covered her face and burst into tears.
"Yan Lin, I'm your father. I can give my money to whomever I want; it's none of your business," Yan Zhouzhen said angrily.
He went up to slap Yan Lin, but the other man grabbed his wrist.
Yan Lin said in a nonchalant tone, "What, do you think I'm still that little black kid from back then?"
You can hit me whenever you want, or slap me whenever you want?
He let go of Yan Zhouzhen's hand, stepped forward and grabbed Xu Manzhi, saying, "I've brought you here. You should have already told them what you wanted to say. The regimental commander said he wants to see you and have dinner together tonight. I'll take you back to rest first."
As he spoke, he pulled the stub and small bills from her palm, shoved them back into Yan Zhouzhen's hand, and then half-dragged Xu Manzhi out of the house.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
