Chapter 46 Chapter 46 [VIP]
"You're so thoughtful." Grandma Bai was touched by her elder sister's thoughtfulness and was already thinking about what practical gift to give her. Her elder sister-in-law had two school-age grandchildren, ready to eat. She couldn't take advantage of them.
"Brother-in-law, my pomelo tree didn't grow much this year, and the pomeloes are small, but they're still pretty sweet. I brought a few for you, don't be disgusted."
Bai Yuelan's husband, Yi Dashan, pointed at a bag eagerly. His hair was gray, his bronze face was wrinkled, his teeth were nearly gone, and his cheeks were as shrunken as a dried-up brown date. His wife could still walk a bit, but he had been carried on his son's back the entire way.
Grandpa Bai's reaction was bland. He had always had a problem with his brother-in-law because his eldest sister had lived such a hard life since getting married, toiling away like a workhorse, taking on both the role of father and mother. Remembering how his sister had once even considered secretly running to the city to sell blood to pay off a debt, Grandpa Bai had always disliked his brother-in-law.
If you want to be a filial son, that's totally fine, but why do you drag your wife and son into the mud?
Yi Dashan stood there at a loss, the atmosphere was a little awkward. But the two women in the living room remained silent.
Bai Yuelan knew her brother's attitude toward her husband, and she hadn't considered mediation. She harbored resentment towards him, too, and if it weren't for her concern for their children, she wouldn't have been able to live with him.
Some people are indeed good and honest people, without any ulterior motives, treat others sincerely and warmly, are willing to help others, and are hardworking and willing to work. Outsiders praise them highly, but for a family, he is not a good husband or a good father.
After her mother-in-law passed away, Bai Yuelan was plunged into a sea of misery. Her husband left for another province to earn money, leaving her home with endless daily tasks and the daunting task of dealing with neighbors and relatives who came to collect debts. Furthermore, her child, barely a year old at the time, cried constantly and needed constant care. Her body and spirit were on the verge of collapse. She spent nights in agony, unable to sleep, and she often found herself carrying the child to the riverbank.
In the end, it was her taciturn second brother and sharp-tongued sister-in-law who sent her a few thousand dollars to help her out when she was about to collapse and commit suicide.
It was during that ordeal that she saw people's true hearts.
Just then, Chen Zhen brought over a few cups of ginger, brown sugar, and red date tea. "Come on, everyone, sit down and have a drink to ward off the cold."
The awkward atmosphere was broken, Yi Dashan let out a breath quietly, and slowly loosened the wrinkled seam of his trousers.
During this period, Grandpa Bai introduced his grandson-in-law and his family to his eldest sister's family.
Bai Yuelan was sincerely happy for Bai Yu and his brother's family. Bai Yuelan still had old-fashioned ideas and believed that "men should get married when they are old enough and women should get married when they are old enough" was the law of nature.
When Bai Yu was only 24, she'd been hinting at her, enthusiastically searching for a suitable man for her. By the time Bai Yu reached 28 and still hadn't found a suitable partner, she was even more anxious and worried than Bai Yu's family. She believed that if a woman wasn't married by 28, it was practically over. Men were often too practical, choosing appearance over conditions. Having suffered the consequences of age and family, she didn't want her niece to suffer the same fate. Women are like rapeseed: if they land in fertile soil, they thrive; if they land in lean soil, they suffer a lifetime of hardship.
Bai Yuelan carefully looked at the tall and handsome young man in front of her and could not help but nod frequently. She also understood why her niece always looked down on the people she introduced to her.
This time, Bai Yuelan braved the heavy snow to come and pay New Year's greetings because this year has been full of disasters, and the two families have been out of contact for a month or two, so she was a little worried.
Bai Yuelan's village was in dire straits this winter. Their economic situation was worse than Sheshui's, and it was a rare opportunity to make a fortune. When food prices soared, countless people, blinded by money, sold all their food.
Decades of comfort and reliability in the country have numbed them, and no one has thought about the crisis of starvation in today's society.
Heavy snow has blocked the roads, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Most families in the village have run out of food, and many are tightening their belts like they did in the 1950s and 1960s. This winter, some elderly villagers have secretly left their homes to visit relatives and gather food to save for their families.
Bai Yuelan's cloudy eyes kept shedding tears as she spoke, her face filled with grief. Everyone knew that in temperatures exceeding -50 degrees Celsius, these elderly people who had left their safe haven had only one way to go, and among those who would never return were her neighbors and friends...
Bai Yuelan feels that her time is almost up, and she says that she often dreams of scenes from her youth and of people who have long since passed away.
Hearing this, Grandma Bai and her wife quickly said "Pooh, Pooh". Grandma Bai clasped her hands together and said to the sky devoutly, "This is nonsense from my elder sister. God, please don't believe it."
His son frowned and said angrily, "Mom, what are you talking about? You are in good health and can live for at least another twenty years."
"Yes, Mom, Yi Feng and I are both hardworking people. We still have a lot of food stored at home, enough for our family to eat for two to three years." Yi Feng's wife, Song Shuangshuang, also held her mother-in-law's hand tightly to comfort her.
The Yi family was even more hardworking than the Bai family, raising livestock and contracting orchards, ponds, and fields. When food prices rose, their sales were undoubtedly among the highest in the village. The envy and sympathy the villagers felt for them then was matched only by their sympathy now.
In reality, their family hadn't sold out of food, as outsiders might think. They still had a fresh supply of food. However, they were also worried about losing money and bringing disaster, so they kept a tight budget. They had deliberately chosen to leave in the dark of the night to visit New Year's greetings.
Everyone was in panic and worry. Bai Yuelan herself was calm and resolute. If one day she became useless and a burden to her children, she would take the initiative to leave like these old people.
What Bai Yuelan and the others said made the Bai family more clearly aware of the cruelty of the current situation, and at the same time, their sense of crisis was also aroused.
Society and the state have always told them that human life is precious and protected by the state, but now some people are starving to death, being forced to death by the situation.
At that moment, something in everyone's heart was shattered, and an unprecedented fear and worry surged into their hearts.
"The heavy snow has affected the country's rescue efforts. Everything will be fine once the snow melts in spring." Uncle Bai is a government official after all, and he spoke to reassure everyone.
"Yes, when spring comes, everyone can go back to school and work..."
"Everything will return to normal."
There was longing in everyone's eyes.
Meeting each other and knowing that we are both doing well is the best news in this terrible winter.
After having a hearty lunch here, they left. Before leaving, the Bai family prepared a few bags of things for them, but the Yi family only took some medicine, milk powder and snacks for the children.
The village regained some of its vitality during the two days of the New Year, but later it became dead again.
In a day of fifty degrees below zero, all I could see through the window every day was a vast expanse of white, and all I could hear was the whistling sound of the wind. In the terrible cold and dead silence, all traces of life in the world almost disappeared.
Not every household in the countryside has the habit of storing food, but there are always relatives in the same village who can borrow some food from each family with a thick face, so they will not starve to death. At worst, the team has reserves, so Sheshui Village can still maintain a stable state.
The town dozens of miles away was a completely different world.
The town's faded billboards and advertising papers were all torn down and used as firewood for heating. Even the large trees along the road were cut down and taken home.
Even though the snow on the streets was two meters deep in the first half of the month, some shops still hung up their signs and were open for business. But now the town is in shambles, with almost all the shops smashed open and their belongings looted.
Everything changed because ten days ago, dozens of drug addicts attacked unsuspecting police officers during the supermarket's busiest and noisiest hours. Three officers were killed and more than a dozen were injured. The supermarket was also looted by the robbers and surrounding residents.
The fact that a few dozen people were able to manage this town with tens of thousands of people was based on people's long-standing belief and fear of national laws.
The riots also made many people realize that the town government was weak inside. The government was broken, especially after supermarkets were looted. Countless people lost their only source of food. With survival unavailable, moral laws became worthless.
On the night of the supermarket riot, countless people left their homes, their faces covered and weapons in hand. Grocery stores, clothing stores, even feed stores... were all smashed and looted.
Those who regularly flaunted their wealth became prime targets for robbery. One family in Baiyuegui's neighborhood owned a restaurant. While everyone else was starving, the aroma of meat still wafted from their home from time to time, naturally attracting the attention and envy of countless people.
That night, the door of his house was violently pried open by countless tightly wrapped people holding fire hammers, wrenches, sticks and other items.
Everyone in the community heard the heart-wrenching cries and screams from his family that day, but except for a few people who went to dissuade them, the rest stayed at home and said nothing.
Bai Yuegui's family, with only their elderly parents and children at home, were so frightened that they blocked the door and windows with all the furniture. Listening to the screams and banging outside, both near and far, the family clung together and endured the night in fear.
On the first floor of the mining area's residential quarters lived an elderly couple in their seventies. Their children, all employed elsewhere, were reluctant to leave their hometown, so they remained. Due to their age and poor health, they stocked their home with a large supply of medicines and other essentials, which led to their being targeted. Initially, one person knocked on the door, but the elderly couple were wary and wouldn't open unless they knew them. When their plan failed, several others pounded on the lock with hammers, sending sparks flying. The decades-old building groaned in pain, and large flakes of wall plaster fell.
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