Seeing that the old lady had lain down, Zhan Chunlan wanted to go back to her own room to rest.
As a result, the old woman, perhaps having practiced some kind of magic, had her left hand grabbed again the moment she turned around.
"Where are you going?" The old lady barely opened her eyes and stared stubbornly at Zhan Chunlan.
"I'm not leaving, I'm going to the restroom." Helpless, Zhan Chunlan forcefully pried the old lady's hand away, turned around and went out.
Then, she regretted it.
Standing in the pitch-black backyard, where you can't see your hand in front of your face, my initial urge to urinate, which was only a fraction of a second, has now become a full ten.
She suddenly wanted to challenge the limits of human endurance.
Feeling resigned to her fate, she turned around and closed the door in one swift motion. But to her surprise, when she turned back, she saw a dark figure standing by the door. Terrified, she opened her mouth wide but couldn't utter a sound.
"Who's there?" The person who came was also a little startled and turned on his flashlight.
Zhan Chunlan quickly reached out to shield her eyes; the light was too strong.
She pointed at the person who came and said "Aba aba aba," but couldn't say anything, so she eventually gave up.
"Zhan Chunlan, what are you doing so late at night? Pretending to be mute to scare people?" Xiao Cheng guessed from her babbling that she was frightened. Was she really that timid?
Zhan Chunlan tried to speak softly, "Ah-ah-", but she still couldn't speak. She could only stare fiercely with her big eyes. If eyes could kill, Xiao Cheng would have died a thousand times over.
"Say something, why are you glaring at me?" It's just being glared at, it won't hurt you. Xiao Cheng thought to himself, if you want to glare, glare all you want.
"Xiao Cheng, what are you doing up so late at night?"
Finally, after five minutes of Zhan Chunlan's continuous efforts to press her chest, she was able to speak again.
"I need to use the toilet? Zhan Honglin told me to use the chamber pot in the room, but I'm not used to it." Xiao Cheng was curious about what the chamber pot was like at first, but it turned out to be just a wooden bucket with a handle on it. Zhan Honglin said that it was usually used to hold pig feed, but at night it was placed in the room as a chamber pot.
Because there was only one flashlight in the house, which was kept at Grandpa Zhan's place, other people couldn't see it when they went to the toilet at night.
Xiao Cheng was really not used to this thing. Luckily, he took the flashlight from home when he left, so at least it would be convenient for him to go to the toilet at night.
"Then go by yourself!" Zhan Chunlan didn't want to appear timid in front of him, so she turned around and went back to the old lady's room.
That's the downside of wooden doors in the countryside; they creak when you open and close them, making it hard for light sleepers to get a full night's sleep.
When the old lady heard the door open, she stretched her feet out in front of Zhan Chunlan.
"Grandma, what are you doing?"
"Help me pick my toes."
"Why are you picking your toes at night instead of sleeping?"
"Oh dear, what a tragedy! When I was young, I didn't have shoes to wear and often worked barefoot in the fields. Once, I got a splinter stuck in my foot and I haven't been able to get it out. My foot is so itchy. Can you help me pick it out? Otherwise, I can't sleep."
Zhan Chunlan looked confused: "Excuse me, what kind of thorn is so tough? It's been there for decades and it's still lying on the sole of your foot?"
Zhan Chunlan refused to do it and sat on a stool against the wall, closing her eyes to rest.
The big show is about to begin!
"Mother, Mother, please take me away! I'm in so much pain, and no one cares about me. What sins did I commit in my past life to deserve this suffering in this one?"
"Mother, please come and take me away. I can't go on living. I've worked so hard to raise so many people, and no one cares about me."
"Mother, if it weren't for me, Zhan Chunlan would have been drowned in a chamber pot after she was born. I was the one who decided to raise her, and now she doesn't side with me at all. What's the point of living like this?"
Her cries were so heart-wrenching that they brought tears to the eyes of anyone who heard them. She was skilled in singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, and you couldn't tell at all that she was an injured patient.
It's just that Zhan Chunlan is too virtuous; she really didn't want to wake others up in the middle of the night.
She got up and looked around, found a back scratcher, sat down in front of the old lady, held her ankle with one hand and used the back scratcher to scratch the sole of her foot with the other.
The old lady felt comfortable and fell asleep.
Zhan Chunlan also gently released her foot and prepared to walk away.
As a result, the old lady simply wiggled her foot in her direction, signaling her to continue.
Zhan Chunlan was so tired that she grabbed her feet and scratched them haphazardly a few times before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
I don't know how much time passed before the old lady woke me up again: "Chunlan, I need to go to the toilet."
"Didn't you say you didn't drink any water? Why do you need to go to the toilet again?" Zhan Chunlan looked out the window. It was still dark, and the roosters hadn't crowed yet, so it was probably only late at night.
"That's how it is when you get old. Help me up."
"Chunlan, pass me that glass of water, I'm a little thirsty."
"Chunlan, my feet are itchy, can you scratch them for me?"
"Chunlan, I need to use the restroom, can you help me?"
...
Cluck cluck
The rooster crowed, dawn broke, and people gradually got up.
With her eyelids drooping, Zhan Chunlan looked at the old lady sleeping soundly in bed, and for the first time, a dark thought arose in her mind: "She's so old, how come she's still alive and well? If she passes away sooner, the younger generation can have an easier time."
If the old lady torments people like this every night, then it's understandable that my second and third aunts kept asking Xu Lixia for money.
Like her, after serving her for only one night, she didn't even want the money anymore, only wanting the old lady to go and see her mother as soon as possible.
Zhan Chunlan vaguely heard Zhan Honglin calling Xiao Cheng to get up:
"Brother Xiao Cheng, it's your turn to fetch water today. I'll take you with me, but you'll have to carry the water yourself."
"Carry water?" The voice was still a little groggy, and you could tell he wasn't fully awake yet; he was just repeating it unconsciously.
"Get up quickly, or you'll have to wait in a long line later."
Behind them, they could still hear rustling sounds. Zhan Honglin led Xiao Cheng to find the water bucket. "Squeak," came the sound of the door opening. The two of them went out with flashlights and water buckets on their backs.
"Carrying water on his back?" Zhan Chunlan thought of the scene when she carried water on her back before, and felt a little smug. She could only say, "I wish him good luck."
Zhan Chunlan went straight out to wash up. She had to mail a letter this morning, which required walking to the commune. Although it was tiring, it was better than being a maid at home.
After washing up and drinking a large bowl of thin porridge, she set off.
On the way, they also encountered Xiao Cheng, who was carrying water on his back.
You know what, Xiao Cheng is really smart. After a day of work yesterday, he had a good understanding of his physical strength and didn't fill the bucket completely, only filling it about halfway.
Unfortunately, although he was smart, his body couldn't adapt and he couldn't memorize it.
The water in the bucket swayed with his steps, spilling most of it halfway through, leaving him completely soaked.
Zhan Honglin, who was standing next to him, kept advising, "Brother Xiao Cheng, slow down. If you walk too fast, all the water will spill, and you'll have to carry it all."
"Don't take such big steps, walk more steadily."
"The water tank needs to be filled to barely last a day for the whole family. You'll have to come several times like this, getting up early for nothing."
Xiao Cheng's clothes were soaked through, and the cold wind made him shiver. The water was gushing even more, but thankfully there wasn't much water left, so it wasn't easy for it to spill out.
He didn't even notice Zhan Chunlan passing by him, focused only on the road in front of him, carefully walking step by step into the house.
Zhan Chunlan didn't say hello, lest he turn around and spill water out of the bucket again.
She stood quietly, carefully observing his disheveled figure. She didn't know if the happiness would transfer; but when the pain shifted from her last night to him carrying water, she felt as if all her ailments had vanished, and even a trace of depression had drifted away with the floating water, leaving only a feeling of complete ease.
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