After asking the question, Huang Mancang curled his lip and said disdainfully, "Tch! You're definitely living a better life than me."
“Every household north of Changping has a kang (heated brick bed), so it’s not cold in winter because of the kang, and it’s not rained on in spring because of the roof.”
Huang Xiaofu shook his head. "You're wrong, terribly wrong."
What?
Huang Mancang looked on with confusion.
"You're already living a life of luxury, and you don't even realize how lucky you are."
"The place to live is neither good nor bad, but no one mistreats you when you're working."
Is this considered enjoying a life of luxury?
Huang Xiaofu pressed down on the agitated Huang Mancang, "Listen to me."
“Recently, many people have suffered again. They came to their door and hauled everything away. Everything in their homes was confiscated, and they were taken directly to a farm. At least you still have a bed and a blanket.”
Do you know what they have?
Huang Mancang shook his head.
“There’s nothing there!” Huang Xiaofu clapped his hands. “They’re sleeping on the floor. Dad knows how cold it is in Changping in winter, especially during the Lunar New Year. Can the places further north be warmer than Changping? Who can stand sleeping on the floor like that?”
"No house?" Huang Mancang's silly question earned him a roll of his eyes from Huang Xiaofu. "Being sent down to the countryside is for reform, not for playing around?"
“The cowshed is just like yours, of course it’s a cowshed, where would you get a house?”
Huang Mancang slowly stopped chewing his food, no longer wanting to listen.
Huang Xiaofu sat right next to him, almost trying to whisper in his ear.
"This is still not a good place to live. You can freeze to death in winter, die of heat in summer, and get soaked to death in spring."
Huang Mancang glanced at himself, who was physically healthy and in good spirits, and clicked his tongue inwardly. They were always dying, so it seemed that he was lucky not to be sick.
Huang Xiaofu continued, "This is only regarding accommodation."
"What else?"
"Of course, it's to go to work and do the job."
Huang Mancang patted his chest and said, "They're definitely not as bad as me. I've dealt with shit before, they haven't."
Huang Xiaofu's eyes narrowed. "You're wrong, just like you."
With a 'gulp', Huang Mancang swallowed hard.
They lived worse than livestock and did inhuman work.
He's really enjoying himself here; at least he has a wife and son by his side.
Huang Xiaofu chuckled inwardly, picked up the food and held it to Huang Mancang's lips, "Is it good?"
"tasty."
"My sister-in-law made it."
Is the food hot?
"hot."
"It was cooked by Jin'e."
Finally, Huang Xiaofu asked, "Do you know what they eat and drink?"
"What?"
"They ate dry, hard biscuits and drank ice water that could chill you to the bone..."
"If it weren't for my older brother and the others, Dad, do you think you would have ended up here with the family, or all alone in a small mountain village in the north?"
Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin exchanged a glance. Although they knew it was true, did the second brother really need to say it out loud, and compare it with Huang Mancang's current situation?
Look how scared their dad is.
Huang Xiaofu looked up and glared at them. This was all for their sake.
For quite some time now, Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin have visited Huang Mancang many times, but each time they have been ignored as if he were invisible.
The old man was clearly angry with his eldest and third sons.
If we don't do this, will we be able to ease the tension between them?
Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin pursed their lips. They weren't even angry about being implicated by Huang Mancang, but he was already furious.
The shed fell silent for a moment. Huang Mancang slowly came to his senses and murmured something.
Huang Xiaofu, who was standing nearby, subconsciously asked, "Dad, what did you say?"
Huang Mancang cleared his throat. "Hey, have the eldest and third brothers eaten yet? Why don't we eat together?"
This statement is a veiled attempt to ease tensions.
"I've already eaten at home, Dad, you eat."
Huang Mancang nodded; this was already the maximum apology he could offer.
Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin smiled and thought about tidying up the simple cowshed, but Huang Xiaofu stopped them.
"The village secretary said that more people will come after the New Year, and the cowshed can only be maintained in this state and cannot be repaired any further."
"After all, it's different. If it's too tidy, what will the people who are sent here after the New Year think?"
"The village party secretary recently visited my home and spoke to my mother, both openly and subtly, saying that he could take care of her with food, but nothing else could be changed or altered."
“If something happens and it implicates the village secretary, our family’s future will be very difficult.”
After all, they didn't know what kind of temperament the newly appointed village party secretary was.
They didn't know whether their attitude towards this matter was lenient or lenient.
So it's best to maintain the status quo.
Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin nodded, and Huang Mancang also nodded repeatedly when he heard Huang Xiaofu's words.
"Don't move, nothing has been moved, it's fine as it is."
He pointed to the top of the straw mat and said, "As long as this top doesn't leak, it'll be fine."
The other blankets are damp; we can just take them out to air them when the weather clears up.
He's just a rough old man; all he needs is a place to sleep.
When Huang Xiaoqiang returned, he was carrying a small table.
Huang Mancang waved his hands repeatedly, "Take it away, take it away, I don't want anything."
Now that he has meals and water delivered to him every day, how will he survive if things go wrong?
Urged on by Huang Mancang, Huang Xiaoqiang carried the small table and followed his older brothers back the way they came.
"What's wrong with Dad? He was complaining about this and that before."
Huang Xiaofu patted his chest and said, "Of course it's me."
After listening to what he said to Huang Mancang, he frowned and said, "Isn't it bad to scare Dad like that?"
"Tch! Trying to scare me?"
Huang Xiaofu stopped and looked at him. "Didn't you hear what the village secretary said to Mom when he came to our house? Or did you not read the letter that Director Jia's wife sent to Mom?"
"How can you call this scare tactics? I'm stating the facts."
"Besides, it indirectly eased the relationship between Dad, the eldest brother, and the third brother. Isn't that a good thing?"
Huang Xiaoqiang sighed.
There's nothing we can do; his dad can't control his own hands.
When the four brothers returned from the cowshed, Old Lady Wu was sitting at home warming herself by the fire. Huang Xiaofu walked straight to the fire pit and squatted down next to Old Lady Wu.
“My dad has had a major awakening and a big change today.”
"You did it?"
How did you know?
Grandma Wu rubbed her warm, tingling calves. "How would I know? We went out together, and you came back like you'd been injected with chicken blood."
Huang Xiaofu nodded, thinking to himself, "Isn't this a little exciting?"
Huang Mancang, silently tidying his own bed, was completely unaware of Huang Xiaofu's feelings at that moment.
"Alright, the village is organizing a trip to town to buy New Year's goods tomorrow. Who's going?"
"I, I'll go."
Li Jin'e raised her hand first, and then took Wang Huijun's hand as well, "And sister-in-law."
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