Ge Erping helped Grandma Ge into the house. As soon as the door opened, a pungent smell wafted out. Ever since Grandpa Ge fell ill, Ge Erping had to smell that odor almost every day.
After searching around, they discovered Ge Erlin was missing. They went inside to complain to Grandma Ge, who was still defending Ge Erlin. The two of them glanced together in the direction where Grandpa Ge was groaning and making noises.
The cloth covering Old Man Ge had been pulled down to his lower body, leaving him with only one leg and one arm that could move. He was lying naked on the kang (a heated brick bed), covered in excrement and urine, and grinning foolishly as he looked at Old Mrs. Ge who came into the room.
This made Old Mrs. Ge so angry that she almost fell over. Seeing this, Ge Erping hurriedly went to the kitchen, scooped a basin of cold water from the water vat, and then rushed upstairs. Carrying the basin of cold water, he held it with one hand against his waist and reached out to pull the door open with the other.
The winter temperature suddenly froze my hands. "Mom, Mom, save me!"
Ge Erping started crying and shouting outside. When Grandma Ge heard Ge Erping's cries, she almost fell when she got off the kang (a heated brick bed). "This family is hopeless."
Upon seeing Ge Erping, they scooped out warm water from the pot and poured it over Ge Erping's hands until they were soothed. Ge Erping then picked up the basin and went back into the house to wash the rags in it to clean up.
Grandma Ge kept hitting Grandpa Ge with his pipe, but Ge Erping didn't care. He was also full of anger. The more he hit Grandma Ge, the more unbalanced he felt. He threw the rag at Grandma Ge and said, "Mother, why don't you let Third Brother marry Dalingzi? I don't want to live like this for another day."
Grandma Ge, panting heavily, was undressing Grandpa Ge. She hadn't put trousers on him to begin with, afraid he'd get them on his pants. At first, she'd laid a mattress under him, but later she'd used a straw mat.
Now that the kang mat has been washed, Old Mrs. Ge scolded Old Mr. Ge while asking Ge Erping, "Where is your third brother? Has he been at Dalingzi's house these past few days? Find him for me later."
Upon hearing that there was a chance, Ge Erping quickly tidied up, hung up the cloth covering his father, and ran out the door.
Grandma Ge wanted to strangle Grandpa Ge, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to do it. So she beat Grandpa Ge up to vent her anger before covering him with a cloth.
Old Man Ge stared intently at Old Woman Ge, his mouth slanted crookedly, and when he grinned, drool dripped down his chin.
Grandma Ge picked up a dirty cloth so dark you couldn't even tell what color it was, and wiped her mouth while cursing.
She only stopped talking when Ge Erping led Ge Sanlin back into the house. Seeing Ge Sanlin pinching his nose and reluctantly sitting down on the kang (heated brick bed), Old Mrs. Ge didn't seem to mind. She was thoroughly fed up with taking care of Old Mr. Ge, so she went straight to the point:
“I went to Xiaoyue’s house today. Your wife is lying on the kang just like your father. You should hurry up and issue her a divorce certificate, then bring Dalingzi into the house, and also help me and Erpingzi.”
Ge Sanlin glanced at Old Madam Ge's ashen face and said directly, "Then my father agrees to my divorce."
Grandma Ge said angrily, "He's already like this, what's with all this talk about agreeing or disagreeing? He's practically an animal. Does he even understand what we're saying?"
Ge Sanlin smiled at Old Madam Ge and said, "I'll go find Gao Lei now. He's still here. I'll have him write me a letter of divorce."
Father said that the Ge family could not divorce their wives, so they had been delaying things. After hearing what Old Madam Ge said, he immediately went to the East Courtyard to beg Gao Lei to write a letter of divorce.
As darkness fell, Ge Sanlin entered the main room with two sheets of paper in his hand. He gave one to Old Madam Ge and put the other in his pocket.
Grandma Ge handed the letter of divorce to Ge Erping: "Go and run to Xiaoyue's house and give her the letter of divorce."
Ge Erping really wanted his new third sister-in-law to move in as soon as possible, so he delivered the divorce papers to Xiaoyue's house late at night.
Just then, Li Lei was carrying the trash out when he heard Ge Erping's words. He grabbed the letter of divorce and didn't even let Ge Erping into the house.
At the dinner table, Li Lei handed the letter of divorce to Lu Xiaomei.
Lu Xiaomei couldn't read, but Xiaoyue said she had learned some characters from Liang Qi. She took the letter, looked at it, and then took Lu Xiaomei's hand, saying cheerfully, "This is a letter of divorce. From now on, you will have no relationship with the Ge family."
Lu Xiaomei also smiled, but it was a bitter smile.
After writing a letter of divorce to Lu Xiaomei, Ge Erlin went to Da Lingzi's house to tell her the good news and discuss the wedding arrangements.
When Da Lingzi's parents were sixteen, they went to the market. That day, a blizzard struck, and their oxcart got stuck in the snow. After two days and two nights of blizzard, when the villagers finally brought Da Lingzi's parents home, they were already dead.
After losing her parents, Da Lingzi's arranged marriage was called off. Only her aunt, who was a relative of her uncle, lived in Hejia Town. She arranged several marriages for Da Lingzi, but after inquiring about her, they all said she was a jinx to husbands, so no one wanted to be engaged to her.
Until the year before the New Year, Grandma Ge found her and betrothed her, saying that her third daughter-in-law would die in a few days and she was afraid that the little boy would be left unattended, so she betrothed him to Da Lingzi.
Today, Ge Erping came to see Ge Sanlin, her eyes filled with anxiety. She knew about Ge's father's illness, but Ge Sanlin hadn't visited him, and she didn't intend to interfere. Since she was an orphan, Da Lingzi was well aware of her place.
The reason she was so eager to find Ge Sanlin and bring them back was simply because she wanted them to get married as soon as possible so that she could serve her father-in-law. But she didn't want to get married anymore. After thinking about it for a long time, Da Lingzi decided to go to her aunt's house to hide for a while that night.
On December 7th, Liang Qi pulled a cart full of cabinets, including standing cabinets and kang cabinets. Xiao Yue measured the dimensions and told Li Lei and Liang Qi where the kang cabinets came from.
Where did the cabinet come from? The children ran around inside and outside the house all year round. Li Qianqian also came out of the house and touched the kang cabinet in the west room, admiring it very much.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com