Chapter 16 Chapter 16
At this time, my aunt came back from buying groceries and she eased the atmosphere in time. "Dad, Mom didn't mean that. Besides, Bai Duan is indeed old enough to get married. People his age already have two children."
"That's right," Uncle Bai nodded in agreement. He had some old-fashioned ideas, believing that children only became adults and understood responsibility when they started their own families.
As they were talking, the topic turned to Bai He. "Tangyuan, you are not young anymore. If there is a suitable one, you can consider it."
Bai He's face suddenly turned cold, his dark eyes were empty and lifeless.
"I won't get married," he said firmly, without any hesitation. After confirming that his illness would not be cured, he had already decided not to marry in this life.
During his years in and out of mental hospitals, he witnessed all sorts of absurdity and powerlessness. Emotions stem from phenylethylamine, but life cannot be solely based on it. Families of the mentally ill bear immense pressure, facing social discrimination, humiliation, and a sense of hopelessness. Only a very small number of people with mental illness can achieve a permanent cure, while many struggle with their condition throughout their lives. This also means that your loved one will never understand and sympathize with you like an ordinary person would. On the contrary, you need to be more tolerant of their peculiarities and oddities, and provide them with sufficient love and care.
Bai He once witnessed a woman who, because of a patient's outstanding appearance and extraordinary talent, recklessly married him. However, after marriage, all her vows, promises, and expectations were defeated by the madness and ugliness of the patient during his illness.
Bai He had seen his elderly grandparents weeping all night because of him. He had also seen his tall, stoic father kneeling before a doctor. These were things he would never let go of.
He didn't want anyone else to bear the heavy pressure because of him. No one deserved to be delayed by him. He wanted to say to all the relatives present: Don't suffer because of him anymore. It doesn't matter if he rots in the mud.
His cold attitude hurt those who truly loved him.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Grandpa Bai was in a bad mood today and his eyes immediately turned red.
Uncle Bai, who was usually good-tempered, did not intervene this time. Instead, he joined Grandpa Bai in advising, "Starting a family is what everyone wants. Your illness is cured now, so you don't have to feel any more burdened."
Although Bai He suffers from mental illness, his loved ones are still optimistic and try to minimize major issues and look at the bright side of things.
They always thought Bai He would get better one day. They hoped he could live a normal life again. But Bai He knew clearly that it would never happen.
The atmosphere froze for a moment. It looked like Bai He was about to leave. In the end, it was Aunt Bai who intervened. "Mrs. Chen's dishes are more than twice as expensive as usual. Look at how much we've already spent on these things."
Aunt Bai took out the contents of the plastic bag: over four pounds of pork, three pounds of spareribs, and some vegetables like red and white radish and seasonings.
Uncle Bai smacked his lips and said, "Didn't Chen Da say that? The floods are severe right now, and many roads are flooded. Suppliers won't deliver goods. Chen Da is now taking items from the warehouse. And I spoke to Auntie earlier. You have to rush to buy vegetables in the city's vegetable markets and supermarkets. It's raining so hard that farmers in the countryside can't get in. It's the people in the city who are risking their lives driving to the countryside to buy goods."
"So your aunt is now..." Speaking of his own sister, Grandpa Bai couldn't help but feel a little worried.
But Grandma Bai's face fell, and she rushed to say, "Don't talk about them. Our own vegetables will rot if they are soaked in water like this. Let's all put on raincoats and go to the vegetable garden to chop vegetables."
Grandma Bai gave the order, and the others naturally agreed. They had a lot of livestock at home, and without the vegetables from the garden, the cost of just feeding them corn would be too high.
Mr. Bai sighed, thankfully the heavy rain came after the grain harvest. Otherwise, everyone's six months of hard work would have been in vain, and the country would have been burdened again.
Bai He also felt lucky. He didn't have much affection for the villagers, but his family, living in such a community, couldn't stand out too much, especially in times of turmoil. Now that they had harvested enough grain, it would be enough for the family to eat for at least a year or two, so that his family wouldn't stand out too much in the future.
However, Bai He looked at the water droplets on the glass in the room and said, "The humidity in Uncle's house is too high. I'll bring you a few bags of lime. You can put them in the warehouse to prevent the millet inside from getting moldy."
"Hey! You reminded me." Uncle Bai patted his forehead in sudden realization. "The humidity is too high now. We need to spread some lime to prevent moisture. But you don't need to mention it. We already have plenty at home."
"Okay, if you're short of lime, come to me and pick it up. I've got a lot." Lime is very useful, not only for moisture protection but also for disinfection. Bai He bought a lot. But Bai He had another thing to do this time. "Uncle, you used to be a mason and built kangs for people, right?"
"Yes, when I was young, I worked in the Northeast, and every household there had to build a kang." You can't make much money by just farming in the countryside, so most men have some side jobs, such as carpentry, plastering, stone grinder, electrician... During the slack season, everyone will go out to do odd jobs, and some with good skills or who are more flexible will settle down in big cities.
"Uncle, I want you to help build a stove for my family."
Uncle Bai, who was sitting by the fire, was stunned. He thought his nephew had lost his mind, so he went over to him and explained carefully: "Tangyuan, in the north, they only build stoves when the temperature drops to dozens of degrees below zero at night. Here, the coldest winter temperatures are only a few degrees below zero, so they don't need them."
"I know. But the weather is not right this year. Look, it's only a few degrees Celsius in September, and it will definitely drop even more. I have a client who works at the Meteorological Bureau, and he said this year there will be a severe cold wave that will not be seen in a century."
"That's not true." Uncle Bai knew that his nephew was promising. Although he was ill, he was well-known on the Internet. People were scrambling to buy his paintings, and his clients were from all walks of life.
But Uncle Bai really couldn't imagine what the scene would be like when Gaolin Province and the once-in-a-century cold wave were combined.
"This cold wave is nationwide, with temperatures possibly reaching dozens of degrees below zero. Uncle, just wait and see! The national television station will issue a notice soon. I'm building the kang in advance so I don't run out of materials when the time comes."
"Uncle, come and do this with me. If you worry about the money, I'll pay for it."
"What nonsense are you talking about? Why should I ask you to pay? I'm not broke. No, no, this is not a matter of money. Let me think about it." If we want to install a kang, the entire layout of the house must be changed.
"Uncle, you think about it first. If you have time, please speed up and help me! Besides, the epidemic is serious, so I plan to stay at home for the next few years."
"That's great." After hearing this, Uncle Bai no longer worried about whether to build a kang or not, and looked at Bai He with shining eyes.
Grandpa Bai, Grandma Bai, and his aunt looked at Bai He excitedly. Grandpa Bai couldn't help but walk over to his grandson and pat him on the shoulder. "That's right, family is so wonderful. We can always look out for each other." They knew Bai He had insisted on living out of town, fearing any trouble. But family matters are nothing. Now that he'd changed his mind and was willing to return, the worried couple finally felt relieved and felt they had fulfilled their son's (his uncle's) trust. They were all grinning from ear to ear.
In fact, in addition to building a stove, Bai He also planned to install floor heating and renovate his home. He had already contacted the construction team and would have started construction if it weren't for the rainstorm.
Grandma Bai was so happy that she hummed a folk song quietly. My aunt checked the time in the living room and saw it was already past eleven. She quickly started to boil some rice, but when she pressed the button on the rice cooker, she realized the electricity had gone out that morning.
The aunt shook her head and walked back into the old kitchen. "Changqing, call Old Xu and ask him when the electricity will come back. Without electricity, we can't even cook."
Old Xu is a veteran employee of the power bureau. Although he's retired, his son still works there, and he's also been involved in projects, overseeing things like the village's power lines. Therefore, whenever there's a problem like this, the villagers tend to go to him.
Uncle Bai shook his phone, which only had one bar of battery left, and said unhappily, "Need you to bring it up? I asked Old Xu a long time ago, and he said the village power station was damaged. We can only wait until the rain stops and then send a construction worker to repair it."
"It's so troublesome. I can only cook in a pressure cooker."
"Mom, I can't control the heat. Every time I use a pressure cooker to cook rice, the rice is either burnt or undercooked. I have to trouble you."
"Okay." Grandma Bai took the rice from her daughter-in-law and poured it into the pressure cooker. When closing the lid, she couldn't get the teeth aligned because the light was too dim. She tried several times but couldn't get them to line up properly. Bai He saw the opportunity and helped her close the lid.
Grandma Bai removed the bone soup from the stove and put the pressure cooker on it. Steaming rice with a pressure cooker is a technical job and the heat is very important, but if the rice is steamed successfully with this kind of firewood, the rice will be particularly delicious, especially the rice crust inside, which the whole family loves.
During a break in the cooking process, my aunt chopped up the chicken offal she'd taken out that morning, then pulled out a handful of pickled chilies from a jar. Her cooking wasn't great, but she was a master at pickling vegetables. The tangy, sour flavor of her pickled chilies, even from the moment they were chopped, was enough to make my mouth water.
It was cold, so I needed something warm to eat. I grabbed a handful of dried cabbage and soaked it in water, preparing to make some cabbage and egg soup later. I also cut up a pot of stir-fried meat and carrots. Bai He went to the vegetable patch and picked a handful of greens.
They worked together to prepare the meal in a short while. However, they were not very comfortable sitting in the dark living room.
Grandpa Bai is used to playing Peking Opera while eating, but he forgot to charge his radio after playing it yesterday, and now he won’t turn it on.
Uncle Bai likes to watch short videos. His mobile phone has battery, but he doesn’t know when the power will be restored. He dare not use his mobile phone too much, for fear that he will not be able to make an urgent call.
"You said we were able to live well without electricity before, but now you all feel like you can't survive without electricity." Grandma Bai's words were so vicious that her son's mouth twitched.
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