The years 1972 and 1973 passed slowly, and Zhou Jiao had unsurprisingly moved up a generation. With nephews and nieces already married, it was natural that she would have great-nephews and grandnieces born.
In the past two years, she has been constantly sending gifts to her hometown. Since Mai Miao got married, her two brothers Zuo and Ziwu have also started their own families one after another.
Her family never had the chance to return to their hometown. Firstly, it was inconvenient to ask for leave, and secondly, the situation was already turbulent, and the pressure on the Zhou family could be imagined.
All this made Zhou Jiao afraid to leave home easily.
Outsiders jokingly call Zhou Xiaozheng "evergreen". Besides teasing him for still being young after he turned fifty, they also mean that he remains neutral and steady as a rock.
But who knows how much effort her father and Zhang Guoqing put in privately for this?
——I had to secretly help innocent comrades while also entertaining the Digital Corps. This couldn't be explained in a few words.
Since ancient times, the most difficult thing for a lone minister is to be a loyal minister, especially Zhou Xiaozheng, the old leader, who is getting older and older. When an old man leaves the world one day, how can there be any real long live?
The Zhou family could only wait and see, just like the Yi family and other families, and maintain their stance. However, since they were already in the midst of a storm, and refused to go along with certain people, how could they claim to be as stable as a rock?
This year, someone has experienced ups and downs again. After a long period of suffering on the bench, he has returned to host the actual work of the Chinese version, but it seems that it is not easy to correct the chaos.
One can imagine how agonizing the days of 1979 were...
In this turbulent year, Mrs. Cheng was suddenly admitted to the hospital again.
This time it was not as simple as a cold. Not only did her body functions decline with age, but several of her closest old comrades also passed away in accidents.
These successive blows crushed Old Lady Cheng. She couldn't understand why these old comrades, who had weathered decades of wind and rain, traveled through wars and battles, and had never been defeated, were now in their seventies and unable to fight back, but were wrongly accused and passed away in an unclear manner.
Even at this point, the old woman did not reveal her true feelings to anyone else because she still did not want the next generation to be involved in the turmoil.
Instead, she used a high-sounding excuse. In the old lady's words, she had completed all the things she needed to do, and it was time to leave this life.
In the ward, Zhou Jiao burst into tears and choked up, "Who said that? Ping'an and his family haven't gotten married yet, and I don't know anything yet. Aunt, you can't say that. My uncle would be so sad to hear that."
The old lady held one of her hands, stretched out her other hand to wipe away the tears on her face, and chuckled: "Silly child, everyone will die one day. I have lived longer than your grandmother..."
"Don't tell me, I won't listen." Zhou Jiao shook her head desperately, holding back tears, and grabbed her hand tightly. "Aunt, please listen to me. You must not think like that. Good days are still to come. You must live with us until you are a hundred years old. I also want to take you to see the revitalized Gu family."
The old lady patted her on the shoulder with a smile, "Good, I've reached centenarianhood, that's all right now."
Regardless of whether the old lady's words were sincere or not, the city of Sijiu could no longer allow her to rest peacefully. The only way to relieve her inner depression was to stay away from it and walk around more.
That night, after Old Mrs. Cheng fell asleep after being forced by Zhou Jiao to eat a bowl of porridge, the Cheng family members who stayed in Beijing and the Zhou family gathered together. After repeated consideration, Old Mrs. Cheng finally decided to wait until his wife recovered some strength, and then the old couple would go out to visit relatives and friends.
"When she was young, she longed to travel around and see the beautiful mountains and rivers of our motherland. This time, we can finally fulfill our wish."
Old Cheng looked at the worried younger generations, smiled and said soothing words, "This time we will go to the second eldest's place first, visit old friends, and then go to the eldest eldest's place to stay for a while. I miss the children too."
Cheng Ruzhu heard this and said, "I just wanted to go out for a walk too."
Old Cheng glared at her and said, "You can't leave now. You have elderly parents and young children to take care of. Why would you leave? Take care of the family first. When you retire, you can let Congwen accompany you wherever you want."
"But what if you and my mom go out without anyone around?"
"Who said there's no one left? Aren't aunts and guards human? Okay, it's settled. You guys work hard at work, and we'll be back for the New Year after we've taken a walk."
"Dad, don't forget to keep in touch with us wherever you go. And don't even think about going to remote places with inconvenient transportation. I think a relaxing trip to the seaside would be nice, too."
Hearing this, Old Cheng smiled but said nothing. He was already worried before they even left. They weren't children, and they had guards following them. How could they get lost?
He now only hopes that his wife, who has suffered a lifetime, can live a few more years in good health, waiting to be buried with him. As for how far it is, he is willing to go to the ends of the earth as long as his wife likes.
Zhou Jiao opened her mouth, glanced at the people present, but ultimately said nothing. She should not cause more trouble. Even if she could leave for a while, it wouldn't last long.
So, in the following time, Zhou Jiao basically stayed at the Cheng family to take care of the old lady personally except for going to and from work. She just wanted the old lady to be in better health and to be together for a while longer. Everything else seemed to be nonsense.
A month later, when Mrs. Cheng was able to move freely and, in her words, even walk very fast, she led the Zhou family up the mountain to pay homage to Zhou Jinyu and Gu Mingzhu.
Standing in front of the grave, Old Mrs. Cheng touched the three words "Gu Mingzhu" on the tombstone. No one knew what she was thinking about, but she just kept looking at the Zhou family with a smile on her face.
Zhou Jiao felt that the old lady might be very happy because she could finally take care of the Zhou family, so that her eldest sister in the underground would finally have a successor.
On the third day, after settling their eldest grandson's family, Mr. and Mrs. Cheng finally left together and embarked on their journey.
Unlike what Mr. Cheng had agreed to do beforehand to go to Cheng Siyu first, this time the old couple boarded the train directly to Jiangcheng, preparing to rest for a few days and then go to Lingnan.
Zhou Jiao thought she should be able to guess the old man’s final destination. Why was it Lingnan?
Besides the fact that the climate was more suitable for recuperation all the way south, there was another reason: it was the second hometown for her grandparents and the old lady, the three elders who had escaped from the Gu family.
Old Mrs. Cheng misses her relatives.
The person left so suddenly. Not only Zhou Jiao was not used to it, but the three children also felt that the compound seemed even more deserted. They didn't know whether it was because the elder who loved them the most was gone, or because they had lost a place where they could visit at any time.
Fortunately, over the next one or two months, the old couple, who traveled around and visited old friends, would contact each other from time to time, and I would hear the old lady's laughter on the phone.
That’s good!
Perhaps going out for a walk is really good for health. It finally made up for Zhou Jiao's regret for not having the old lady's company.
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