064, The Old Patriarch’s High Hopes
064, The Old Patriarch’s High Hopes
"Tie the donkey there and give it some water. The donkey pulled you back to the village from the city. It must be tired after walking such a long way." Farmers all take good care of their livestock. Seeing that the big blue donkey looked so amazing, old Mrs. Dou also felt fond of it.
It just so happened that their family had a cowshed for raising cattle, but the cowshed was empty at the moment and the cows were not there, so Mrs. Dou asked Lu Youtian to pull the donkey to their cowshed and tie it up.
"Oh, I remember now. Two years ago, I heard Chunping say that your wife gave birth to another boy and sent us some red eggs." Old Mrs. Dou then remembered that her family had eaten other people's red eggs, but had forgotten that other people's families had given birth to a boy. She felt a little embarrassed.
"These were all prepared by Sanniang, saying that there was a new baby in the family and she wanted to tell everyone the good news. At that time, she was not feeling well after giving birth to her second child, and the second child was also young, so I didn't want to bring her back to the village. Later, when she was out of confinement, she was busy with the business of the stall and had no time to come back." Lu Youtian untied the rope that was tied to the donkey, pulled the donkey to a pillar outside the cowshed, and tied it.
There was a trough for cows to drink from, so he went to fetch a bucket of water and poured it into the trough for the donkey to drink. He then said, "We gave you a few red eggs that time, and you guys gave us a lot in return. Fifth Grandma, your family also gave us an old hen and a basket of eggs. You are so kind."
In fact, he had also asked Lu Chunping to send a message and red eggs back to the Lu family's old house that time, but they accepted their red eggs without saying anything in return. After that, they also understood the intentions of those people in the Lu family's old house, so after that, they sent gifts to other people in the village, but never sent anything to the Lu family's old house again.
When other people in the village received the red eggs from their family, they knew that they had a new baby. Not only did they give them chicken, duck, fish or meat as return gifts, but they also gave them a handful of wild vegetables and dried mushrooms. They were very happy in their hearts because they could feel the care and blessings of their fellow villagers.
There was no news at all from the Lu family's old house, which was really disheartening.
So for some things, it's not that he, as a son, should cut off contact with his parents and brothers, but those people are really not worth their kindness.
"Haha, we happen to have a few hens at home and a few eggs. I thought your Sanniang just gave birth and needed something good to eat, so I caught an old hen and asked Chunping to send it to the city to make soup for you. In recent years, you have often asked Chunping to send gifts to our home during the New Year, and we don't have anything good to give you back." Old Dou knew what good things others had sent to her family. When Liu Sanniang gave birth to a son, the basket of chickens and eggs she sent was just a return gift.
Old Dou hadn't forgotten that it was Lu Youtian who had given them the method for growing bean sprouts. Their family and their clan were able to thrive today thanks to that method. They had been able to save a little money from selling bean sprouts over the years, and their lives were no longer as tight as before, with enough money to settle down.
In the past, life was not easy for everyone else in the clan, even for their own family. Although their youngest son had some success, working in the city, his meager monthly salary wasn't enough to support such a large family. Not to mention their eldest grandson was still studying, and the annual tuition, paper, and ink alone cost a considerable amount of money.
After they began growing and trading bean sprouts, and profiting from the difference, their family's life became a little easier. With more money at home, their son no longer had to be afraid to even go out for a drink with friends and acquaintances. Their eldest grandson no longer had to be so frugal with his pens and ink. They even had another grandson to study. They also had clothes for the whole family, and throughout the year they could scrape together a piece of fabric to make new clothes for everyone. They could even eat meat once or twice a month. There were many other things, and I won't go into detail, but they all showed that their family's life had improved.
Seeing that Lu Youtian had tied up the donkey, Old Lady Dou pointed to the small shed in the corner and said, "There's hay in there. Go get some hay for the donkey."
"I was just thinking about where to find something to eat for it. I won't be polite. I'll go get some hay for it." Hearing this, Lu Youtian didn't hesitate and went into the shed to get a handful of hay and put it on the ground for the donkey to eat.
At this time, Old Lady Dou pointed to the empty cowshed and said to Lu Youtian, "Before dawn this morning, your father-in-law and Youfu came to our house and took the cow away, saying they were borrowing it for Zhiyuan's wedding."
Only then did Lu Youtian realize why the cowshed was empty. It turned out that the cows had been borrowed by someone from the old house.
"I heard you talking outside from inside the house. How come you have been talking for such a long time but haven't come in to sit down?" The old patriarch, who had been waiting in the house for a long time but no one came in, could no longer sit still and walked out to ask his old wife who was talking in the yard and Lu Youtian who had returned to the village.
Hearing the voice, Lu Youtian turned around and saw the elder standing behind him. He quickly turned around and respectfully called out, "Fifth Grandpa."
"Hello, Fifth Master." Lu Mingfei smiled at the old patriarch.
"I was talking to you and almost forgot to invite you to come up and sit down. Come up and sit down. Have you had breakfast? If not, I'll make you a bowl of noodles. Qin'er's mother and Xue'er's mother have gone to your house to help, so they are not at home now." The Qin'er that Old Dou mentioned was her eldest grandson Lu Qin, and Xue'er was her youngest grandson Lu Xue. Qin'er's mother was her eldest daughter-in-law, and Xue'er's mother was her youngest daughter-in-law.
When someone in the clan has a wedding, the daughters-in-law of the same clan will go over to help with the cooking, so now her two daughters-in-law have gone to the Lu family's old house to help, and the two old people will wait until later to go over for dinner.
"No, no, we all had breakfast before leaving the city." Lu Youtian waved his hands busily, telling the elder to stop working. As he spoke, he bent down and took out a small jar from a basket and put it in the elder's hand. "I came from Sanniang this morning. This is the braised food she asked me to bring you. It's all cooked, so you can just heat it up when you eat it."
"That won't do, that won't do. You can take it back and sell it for money, you don't have to give it to us." A jar was stuffed into Old Dou's hand, and she was busy pushing the jar back.
"Fifth Grandma, please hold it. Don't push it around. It might fall to the ground and break." Lu Youtian refused to take it.
"Why don't you take it back to your mother's house? There's a wedding there today, so add some dishes." Old Mrs. Dou looked embarrassed.
"I bought two pig's trotters and I'll take them over to add to their dishes later. This jar of meat is for your family. There won't be enough to share over there, so you can keep it for yourself, Fifth Grandma." Lu Youtian asked the elders to take the meat away, and he brought his son to where the clan leader was waiting for them.
After greeting the old patriarch, they followed him into the house and sat down.
Old Mrs. Dou, who was outside, saw Lu Youtian bringing the child into the house. She looked at the jar in her hand, and then looked at the big basket on the donkey cart which was full of things. She thought that Lu Youtian had prepared something for the family.
She could smell the aroma of meat coming from the jar in her hand through the lid. After thinking about it, she took the jar of meat to the kitchen.
***
In the house over here, the old patriarch poured tea for Lu Youtian and his son and asked Lu Youtian, "Is your food stall business in the city going well?"
"Business has been a little slow recently, but it was better in the first two months." Their family's food stall has always purchased eggs and bean sprouts from the village through the clan leader, as well as some other vegetarian dishes. So the old clan leader knows whether their stall's business is good or not, so Lu Youtian feels there is no need to hide it from the old clan leader.
The old patriarch nodded, knowing that the amount of bean sprouts Lu Youtian had recently received had decreased significantly compared to the previous two months. He knew the reason clearly, "It's getting colder now, with snow falling every now and then. Not only in the city, but even in the village, there are fewer people going out."
"Yes, there are fewer people walking around in the city." Lu Youtian said.
The two chatted about things in the city. The old patriarch looked at the young man sitting next to Lu Youtian and asked, "When does Brother Fei plan to end his life?" The old patriarch knew that Lu Mingfei had studied in the city a few years ago. He knew that the child had the opportunity to study only if he followed his parents to the city. If he stayed in the village, he would have no chance to make a name for himself.
For ordinary farmers like them, a family can only afford to send one child to school, and they cannot afford to send more than one.
Their family originally intended to support one of their eldest grandsons to go to school. After they made money from growing and trading bean sprouts in the past few years, they sent another grandson to a private school.
But no matter which grandson he sent to school, the other grandchildren were all his own grandchildren. He would never be as partial as the couple Lu Gensheng and Old Wang, to the point that his own children became alienated from him.
"I'll give it a try next year." Lu Mingfei replied.
"The county exam will be in February next year, so it's almost here." The old patriarch had a grandson who was studying, so he knew the date well. He looked at the bright-eyed child before him, who was clearly intelligent, and said to Lu Youtian and his son, "When the results are out, remember to send a message to the village. If you have time, come back and burn incense for our ancestors."
Lu Mingfei understood the meaning of the old patriarch's words, smiled, nodded and said "Okay".
Looking at his shameless son, Lu Youtian didn't know what humble words to say to change his son's arrogant image in front of his elders.
After giving the father and son some instructions, the old patriarch said to Lu Youtian, "Let's stop drinking tea today. It's a rare opportunity for you to come back, so why don't you take the child back to visit your mother?"
"That big blue donkey outside looks quite energetic. He's a good donkey."
"It's not ours. That's the donkey I rented from the car dealership yesterday. I have to return it to the dealership when I get back to the city. There are a lot of people at my mother's place today, so I'll leave the donkey outside in your yard, okay? When we leave in the afternoon, I'll come and take it away." Lu Youtian was telling the old patriarch that the donkey outside was not theirs.
"Okay, just tie it there." The old patriarch waved his hand nonchalantly. Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading
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