In recent years, life has been difficult and the custom of washing the third day of the third lunar month has been gradually forgotten. At most, those who pay more attention to it will invite some relatives to liven up the celebration. After all, when there are too many people, food will be consumed more quickly and every household does not have that much food in stock.
Jiang Yilu is the only child of the eldest branch of the Jiang family. He has already skipped his third birthday. Jiang Cheng still wants to hold a big day like the full moon for his little grandson. It doesn't need to be too lively, just invite some close relatives.
A few days ago, Old Man Jiang had just received a subsidy, and the family had enough food to get by. In addition, the day for the production team to distribute grain was approaching, and Old Mrs. Miao calculated carefully that there was enough food to hold a full-month banquet. Besides, relatives would not come empty-handed, so even if they only brought a few eggs, that would be some income.
Gu Dongmei's father died early, and she was raised by her widowed mother Zhao Hong since she was a child. She also has two older brothers and an older sister. Only she knows the hardship that a widow was able to bring up four children safely, find a wife for her son, and marry off her two daughters.
When Zhao Hong's husband just died, the children in the family were still young, and she was still young. There were often some scoundrels who came to cause trouble. Not only did her in-laws not help her, they also wanted to drive her out so that they could occupy the house left by her husband. Under that situation, Zhao Hong managed to hold on and developed a fierce and tough temper.
Among her four children, she loved her youngest daughter, Gu Dongmei, the most. After all, she lost her father at birth and had never had a good life since childhood. Therefore, she wanted to do everything for her daughter. Because of this, Gu Dongmei developed a soft temper. By the time she realized that something was wrong, it was already too late.
Zhao Hong was so happy when she knew her daughter had finally given birth to a son. In the past, that old hag from the Jiang family always bullied her because her daughter couldn't give birth to a son, but now she can't find a reason anymore.
Moreover, a family in the countryside would be weak if they didn't have a son. Even if Zhao Hong wanted to stand up for her daughter, she didn't have the confidence. When the news reached their Daqian Village, she wanted to go and see her daughter, but she was busy earning work points at that time, and Daqian Village and Qingshan Village were really far apart, so it only took a day to go back and forth.
Qingshan Village is a place that is extremely difficult to enter. It is basically isolated from the outside world. If you want to enter the village, you have to cross a narrow and muddy mountain road first. The road is difficult for a tractor to pass through, so you can only let the old masters drive a donkey cart in and out. If that doesn't work, you can walk on foot, but it will take an hour or two.
However, in this way, their village was the least affected by the riot. It was because of their complicated terrain that the revolutionary Red Guards were unwilling to suffer the pain of going to their village to fight.
Zhao Hong was lucky, as she happened to meet the captain of Qingshan Village who was returning from a meeting in the county, and she rode into the village on his donkey cart. Otherwise, with all her bags and her second son Gu Xiashi, it would have been a real hassle.
As soon as Old Mrs. Miao heard the noise, she came out. When she saw her in-laws and Mo Dashuan walking into the yard, and saw Zhao Hong and her son carrying large and small bags in their hands, she couldn't hide the smile in her eyes.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Zhao Hong, he called out to Mo Dashuan: "Captain Mo, please stay for lunch." This is also the custom of the villagers. Whenever there is a happy event, they will always invite the captain and the party secretary to drink together.
"No, my husband has already prepared dinner. I'll have a chance to have a few drinks with Uncle Jiang later." Mo Dashuan sent the person there, said a few polite words, and left.
Old Mrs. Miao didn't try to keep Zhao Hong and pulled her into the house.
"Shi Tou hasn't found a partner yet." Shi Tou is Gu Xia Shi, the second son who came here with Zhao Hong. Everyone calls him Shi Tou.
"With his idle and second-rate character, no girl from a good family would be willing to marry him." Zhao Hong rolled her eyes at her youngest son. This disappointing son and youngest daughter were what worried her the most. But now her youngest daughter had given birth to a son, so she could feel more at ease in the future.
Gu Xiashi looks smart, not tall, about 170cm, and thin, but in this era, there are few fat people. At this moment, he touched his nose with his hand embarrassedly, feeling a little embarrassed to be said like this by his mother in front of outsiders.
"My dear relatives, this is the food for Shitou and I today. I brought it here. And these eggs and salted fish are for Dongmei to nourish her body."
Zhao Hong opened the package and took out everything inside.
What she brought was sea fish. They were not near the sea, so if they wanted to eat fish they could only catch them from the river. However, all the fish in the river had been cleared out during the three-year famine. Even though there were finally some fish to see again in recent years, it was still difficult to catch them.
Jiang Dahai thought about catching some fish for his wife to make soup, but he could only catch a few fish fry as thick as a little finger, not even enough to fill the gaps between teeth. When he mixed them into the soup, there was not even a fishy smell.
"These were sent by Dongmei's third sister. They are a token of her love." Gu Dongmei's third sister, Gu Qiuju, married far away and could only communicate through letters. These were specially sent after she knew her sister had given birth to a son. In addition to salted fish and dried fish, there were also a few cakes of seaweed. When you want to eat them, tear off a few pieces, soak them in soup, sprinkle some chopped green onions on them, and they taste so delicious.
Zhao Hong did not make a sound when she received these things, for she was afraid that her eldest daughter-in-law would be short-sighted and steal the things. So she simply brought her youngest son with her and went to Qingshan Village with the bags while everyone was still asleep.
Her eldest daughter-in-law was still laughing secretly, thinking that she had saved some gift money.
"You are too polite, my dear relative. I will get a fish to cook right away. Dongmei and the child are in the house. You can go in with Shitou." Old Mrs. Miao narrowed her eyes and walked back to the kitchen happily, not forgetting to take everything with her.
Jiang Yilu had heard the voices of his grandmother and second uncle a long time ago. He looked excitedly at the straw curtain at the door, waiting for them to come in.
If he has any close elders here besides his aunt, they must be these two.
Compared with the Jiang family, the conditions of the Gu family are far worse. After all, Zhao Hong is a widow, and no matter how capable she is, she can only raise a few children. The reason why the eldest son of the Gu family, Gu Chunhui, was able to marry a wife was because the old house left by Gu's father was big enough, so someone was willing to marry into the family. The Gu family has never split up, and Zhao Hong lives with the eldest son's family and the unmarried second son. It was fine for a short time, but friction was inevitable over time.
The eldest daughter-in-law of the Gu family only gave birth to a son, but she started making plans for her son very early on. She wanted to occupy the old house of the Gu family and tried every means to find fault with Gu Xia Shi in order to drive him out.
Boss Gu is cowardly and afraid of his wife. He always pretends to be a wooden man and watches his wife show off at home. If Zhao Hong wasn't so powerful, his eldest daughter-in-law would have turned the house upside down long ago.
Zhao Hong worried about her children all her life, and she still had to endure the anger of her wife in her old age. When Jiang Yilu was fourteen years old, she had an argument with her aunt and was pushed down by Niu Fang. Her head hit her waist and she could not move at the time. A person with such a strong body became a paraplegic and had to be taken care of by others even for his excrement and urine.
Gu Chunhui was such a fool that he was afraid of the bad influence on his son, so he even dared to ask the old lady to let Niu Fang go. The old lady was also tough and directly drove the family out of the Gu family. The old house of the Gu family was named Zhao Hong. She didn't understand it before, but she finally let it go when her son pleaded for the murderer.
No matter how much Niu Fang made a fuss, she still ran away in shame when she saw the old lady calling the police.
Fortunately, my second uncle was filial and did not despise his disabled mother at all. However, the old lady could not accept the fact that her son would never be able to marry with a paralyzed mother like her. So she secretly drank DDT when no one was paying attention. When Gu Xia Shi came back from work, the body was already cold.
After Zhao Hong died, Niu Fang brought people back to argue, saying that the house left by the old lady should also have a share for their eldest son. Gu Xiashi directly found a group of thugs to drive them out. Even Niu Fang was almost strangled to death by the angry Gu Xiashi.
From that day on, Gu's younger brothers and sisters severed ties with their eldest brother's family. Gu Xiashi never married in his life and lived in the old house. Apart from taking care of his nieces, he never went anywhere.
Jiang Yilu knew that his second uncle was no ordinary man. In her previous life, she was able to go abroad smoothly, not only because of her aunt's relationship, but also because of the box of antiques left by Gu Xiashi.
No one expected that he would be so bold as to hide so many things that were considered reactionary at the time during that turbulent decade.
Jiang Yilu felt that if her grandmother had not died, her second uncle, who seemed to be lazy and unproductive in the eyes of outsiders, would definitely be able to create his own career.
In this life, he was reborn and would never let the tragedy of his previous life happen again. All good people should have a happy ending, and all those who have done evil should get the punishment they deserve if they commit the same crime again in this life.
"Grandma——"
Today, Da Ni and Er Ni did not take their two younger sisters out with them. They left them at home to accompany their younger brother. San Ni's eyes lit up when she saw her grandma, because she knew that as soon as her grandma came home, she would bring delicious food for them.
"Hey, grandma's little greedy cat." Zhao Hong walked forward and hugged her granddaughter, took out a tightly wrapped handkerchief from her arms, opened the handkerchief, and there were several candies inside, colorful, like glass balls.
Sanni clapped her hands happily. Children like these sweet things, but sugar is so expensive at that time. When she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to weigh the white sugar, she wanted to count the grains. How could she bear to buy these expensive fruit candies?
Sanni picked up the smallest one, carefully bit off a small piece with her teeth, and put it in her mouth. Her little eyes narrowed into slits, looking so beautiful. She reached out and put the rest into her grandma's mouth.
"Grandma's teeth are almost falling out, so she can't eat candy." Zhao Hong smiled and moved her mouth away. She is not yet fifty years old and her teeth are all neat and tidy. She just can't bear to part with it.
Gu Dongmei and Gu Xiashi also smiled and rejected her kindness. Sanni tilted her head and put the remaining half of the candy into the enamel cup on the kang table.
"My sister said that Si Ni is still young and can't eat hard things. I dissolved the sugar so that my sister can eat it." San Ni said seriously, and Si Ni also gave her face and said "ah" to express her gratitude.
Sanni carefully hid the remaining candies and gave them to her eldest and second sisters when they came back.
It was just the most ordinary fruit hard candy. Jiang Yilu felt a little sad. Thinking of the various candies in his space, he wondered when he could find a suitable opportunity to take them out.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com