January, 1970.
It was the coldest time of the year in December. Early in the morning, just as the sky was getting light, the sounds of doors opening could be heard one after another in the courtyards of Xinghuali Hutong. The place became lively in no time at this early hour.
For no other reason than to grab the toilet early in the morning.
Soon, there was a queue at the public toilet in the alley. Some people rolled up their sleeves, bent their backs and stamped their feet in a hurry to urinate, while others held chamber pots and waited to empty them. The queue was long and there were many people.
Although this public toilet is not small, it can't handle the crowds. The entire Xinghuali Hutong depends on it. The line is getting longer and longer. At this time, a woman with a long melon face from the 44th courtyard in the hutong came out. She was wearing a gray flowered cotton jacket and was full of energy. She stood in the line with a chamber pot.
Someone in this row started to talk to her. The round-faced woman in a floral cotton jacket at the front of the line asked gossipingly, "Zhao Guihua, your third son is getting married too. Are you going to split up the family?"
This is a topic that everyone is interested in, and those in the queue pricked up their ears.
The lady with the long melon face, Zhao Guihua, remained calm and said, "We still need to discuss this with the old man. It's not a small matter."
That being said, she didn't want to split up the family. What parents would want to split up the family, and Zhao Guihua was no exception. But in such a public place, she didn't bite the bullet and left some room for maneuver.
I was distracted on the way back to the yard after emptying the chamber pot. I didn't pay attention to my steps. When I reached the door, I slipped on the thin ice and sat down on the ground with a thump. My head hit the pillar at the door - "Ah!"
"mom!"
"Old woman!"
Early in the morning, every household in the courtyard rushed out, "What's wrong? What happened?"
"Hurry up, carry the person in..."
"Just take him to the hospital, why are you carrying him in the house?"
"Why did he fall for no reason? I told you not to pour water in the yard when it's cold..."
"Old woman, old woman..."
Zhao Guihua was in a daze and felt someone calling her, a voice that sounded familiar yet unfamiliar.
This voice sounds so familiar. Is the old man here to pick her up?
When Zhao Guihua heard the voice, she tried hard to open her eyes. Even if he was a dead ghost, she wanted to see the old man again. After he left, she no longer had a person who understood her feelings and talked to her. Zhao Guihua tried hard to open her eyes, but when she opened her eyes, she was startled.
Scared! Everyone looked down at her... "Old man? How come you are so young?"
When Zhuang Laonian, the head of the Zhuang family, heard this, his face turned red. What an old woman! He coughed and said, "What are you talking about? The children are still here."
Seeing the old woman staring at him, his face turned redder. After he finished speaking, he remembered that the old woman had a head injury, so he quickly said, "How do you feel? Is it serious? I'll take you to the hospital to check your head?"
Zhao Guihua didn't seem to hear what he said. She turned her head in slow motion and saw several other faces. Without exception, each face was exceptionally young. She looked around and seemed unable to react to what was going on.
Zhuang Laonian quickly said, "Boss, go push the bicycle, I'll take your mom to the hospital."
As he was talking, he saw Zhao Guihua stretched out her hand and twisted his arm hard. The thick cotton jacket could not resist the cruelty of the scissor hand. Zhuang Laonian was in a daze: "Ah!"
He cried out suddenly, and before he could ask any more questions, Zhao Guihua asked, "Does it hurt?"
Zhuang Laonian: "..."
He pursed his lips and said, "Why doesn't it hurt?"
Did this old woman break her brain?
He became more and more anxious and said, "Let's go to the hospital quickly..."
Zhao Guihua held his hand, shook her head and said, "No need!"
Zhao Guihua waved her hands, asking everyone to move aside, and sat up. After taking a closer look, her emotions fluctuated a bit, but she soon calmed down. She looked at the furnishings in the room, and then at the worried eyes of the family members, she took a deep breath and said, "I'm fine."
Although she still didn't know when she would be reborn, as a fashionable old lady, Zhao Guihua had watched time-travel TV dramas, and she was sure that she had traveled back to when she was still young.
Although her son has married now, she is still called Aunt Zhao. But forty or fifty years old is still young, isn't she not even halfway through her life?
"Mom, don't be so stubborn. Let's go to the hospital. I'm on wedding leave today and won't be working anyway." The tall young man standing in front of the crowd spoke.
Zhao Guihua looked up and her eyes fell on him. The young man was energetic, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he looked very heroic. This was her youngest son.
Zhao Guihua has three children, two sons and one daughter, and this is the youngest.
However, when she heard this, Zhao Guihua knew what day it was. It was the second day after her youngest son's wedding. He only took two days off for the wedding. When she saw her daughter-in-law standing beside him, she knew it was the second day.
On this day, she did fall and hit her head. She was fine, but because it was the second day after the third daughter-in-law got married, she couldn't help but wonder if this youngest daughter-in-law was unlucky for her. She was originally complaining to her old man and didn't take it seriously. But she didn't expect the eldest daughter-in-law to hear her. The eldest daughter-in-law was a gossip, and the news spread to the courtyard and then to the ears of the youngest daughter-in-law.
The spoiled daughter-in-law could not stand this grievance. They were at a disadvantage by not dividing the family, and they were also gossiped about by their mother-in-law and sister-in-law. They immediately started to make a scene. A few days after the marriage, their family had their first "family war".
Zhao Guihua thought of her past life, rubbed her temples, and decisively nipped the shit in the bud, saying, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me. I just don't know which bastard poured water at the door of my house, causing me to fall!"
Zhuang Laonian twitched his lips: "Uh..."
Zhao Guihua glared at him: "What! Did you do it?"
Zhuang Laonian immediately cried out in injustice: "How can you say that? It's not me! Didn't you fall down last night?"
What I fear most is that the air suddenly becomes quiet.
It's okay to scold yourself.
The sons and daughters-in-law all pretended to look away silently.
The other neighbors who came to help also laughed. Zhao Guihua quickly said, "Thank you all for coming. Go back, go back, go back. I don't have anything to do here. Thank you for your concern."
Seeing that Zhao Guihua was indeed fine, the neighbors all said, "Okay, then I have to go back to make breakfast and go to work."
"I'll go back and do some laundry..."
"I still have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative..."
Most of the people dispersed, leaving only our family members.
Zhao Guihua was not embarrassed at all. She faked a cough and changed the subject in a split second: "Why are you all surrounding me? You don't need to cook, right? You don't want to eat, right?"
The eldest daughter-in-law, Liang Meifen, quickly said, "Mom, I'll go cook. What are we going to do this morning?"
Although she was also responsible for cooking, it was usually the food that her mother-in-law distributed, and she could only cook when the quota was set. It was not up to her. Usually, it was corn porridge, but today was the second day of her brother-in-law's wedding, so it shouldn't be like this.
Zhao Guihua hadn't reacted to her question yet. She was about to scold this indecisive man for asking her to decide what to eat, but then she suddenly remembered that it seemed like she was still the head of the family at this time. The words choked in her throat. She paused and said, "It's getting late. Don't do it. Today is the second day of the third brother's wedding. Let's buy some fried fruit."
When these words came out, except for the daughter-in-law who seemed to be distracted, the others looked at her in shock, unable to believe what they heard.
Zhao Guihua was stared at by several people without blushing, and shouted: "What? Can't I buy some fried fruit? My eldest daughter-in-law, you go buy it..."
She counted the number of people and said, "Buy eight fried fruits, and eight servings of tofu pudding, and the same for tea eggs. Go ahead."
Although several decades had passed, she still opened the drawer and took out the money as if she was familiar with it, saying, "Go ahead."
Liang Meifen had never seen her mother-in-law buy breakfast frugally. She had been married for seven years, but this was the first time she went out to buy breakfast. She was a little dazed when she went out. As soon as she went out, the cold wind blew and she suddenly woke up. When she looked at the money in her hand, her heart suddenly became sour.
It seems that the old lady likes the third daughter-in-law very much. She even bought breakfast for her. She didn't get this treatment the day after she got married. Thinking of her current situation, she felt even more confused and worried, and a little more sad. She felt bitter in her heart.
Although it was difficult to eat breakfast outside, Leung Mei-fun was not happy at all and had a bitter face.
Several neighbors who were washing in the yard exchanged meaningful glances with each other.
At this time, Zhao Guihua was also very straightforward: "Just do what you need to do, no need to surround me."
The two sons of the Zhuang family stared at their mother and asked, "Mom, are you really okay?" They always felt that their mother was a little strange today.
Zhao Guihua rolled her eyes: "Why are you still hoping that something will happen to me? It's okay, it's okay, go away."
Zhuang Zhiyuan, the boss of the bank, nodded and said, "Then I'll go wash up."
The third brother Zhuang Zhixi also pushed his wife's shoulder and said, "Let's go."
His newlywed wife Mingmei's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she followed Zhuang Zhixi out of the house and back to her room like a little puppet.
Zhuang Laonian was still a little worried: "You really don't need to check the head?"
Zhao Guihua: "No, just give me the mirror so I can take a look."
Zhuang Laonian was obedient. Zhao Guihua looked at herself in the mirror. It was not a big deal that she had hit her head. Her face looked much younger. She should be 46 this year, and her old man should be 48.
So young!
She sighed sincerely, and after looking at it for a while, Zhao Guihua finally came to her senses and saw the old man's worried eyes. She said, "What? What are you looking at?"
Zhuang Laonian whispered: "I think you hit your head."
It's weird.
Zhao Guihua knew what he meant, and she glared at him and said, "Are you afraid that I'm stupid?"
When Zhuang Laonian heard the loud voice, he felt relieved instantly. If he was so fierce, he must be okay.
He said, "I know you're fine. Look at you, you're so fierce."
He asked again: "Why are you willing to buy breakfast?"
Not to mention the eldest daughter-in-law Liang Meifen was surprised, as her bedmate, Zhuang Laonian was also surprised.
Zhao Guihua: "Now that our children are married, we have put our worries behind us. We should relax a little. A good breakfast will keep us from going broke."
Zhuang Laonian thought about it and nodded: "That's true. With the arrival of the youngest daughter-in-law, the family will be more well-off..."
Since this topic was brought up, Zhao Guihua tightened her jaw and said, "Lao Nian'er, I want to split up the family."
(End of this chapter)
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