The first time Ren Lao Niang saw Ren Dahai disobey her, she was furious and upset. Ren Dahai's behavior, in her view, was a classic case of "marrying a wife and forgetting the mother." Ren Lao Niang burst into tears in the hospital, cursing Ren Dahai for throwing money away on such a worthless woman. Not only that, in front of Ren Dahai, Ren Lao Niang berated Chen Qiuyu, saying she was worthless except for her good looks.
What happened next got a little out of control.
Ren Dahai was furious to see how much Ren Lao Niang disdained Chen Qiuyu. Chen Qiuyu was the wife Ren Dahai had chosen, so how could Ren Lao Niang belittle Chen Qiuyu any differently from belittling Ren Dahai? Ren Dahai, driven by his stubbornness, waited until Chen Qiuyu's fever subsided, and without even returning to Hongqi Village, he took her back to Kyoto City.
At this point, Ren Lao Niang hated Chen Qiuyu, her daughter-in-law. In Ren Lao Niang's opinion, Ren Dahai had been respectful to her for so many years, but now, for his daughter-in-law's sake, he was reducing the money he sent home and was angry with them. It was obvious that he was instigated by Chen Qiuyu.
A few days after Ren Dahai and his friends returned to Kyoto, they received a call from their hometown.
On the phone, Ren Dahai's younger brother Ren Dajiang said that Ren's mother fainted on the day Ren Dahai passed away. She was sent to the hospital for examination and was told that she had heart problems. The doctor told them, the family members, not to provoke Ren's mother and to go along with her in everything.
When Ren Dahai heard his mother was ill, any hint of unhappiness he'd felt vanished. After all, she was his own mother, and Ren Dahai had long forgotten her harsh words. Furthermore, fearing she wouldn't be willing to spend money on treatment, Ren Dahai borrowed thirty yuan from a comrade and sent it back.
Ren Dahai sent money home, but Chen Qiuyu didn't say anything. In Chen Qiuyu's opinion, since she married Ren Dahai, she should think more about him. Although they didn't have money, the old man was sick, so they still had to pay.
Even after getting married, Ren Dahai still couldn't fulfill his earlier agreement to send his parents five yuan a month for their retirement. Fearing his mother's illness might lead to death, Ren Dahai and Chen Qiuyu agreed to continue sending their parents twenty yuan a month, as before. Chen Qiuyu found a teaching job, earning around twenty yuan a month, and the couple could still get by.
Six months later, Chen Qiuyu became pregnant. Seeing Chen Qiuyu, vomiting profusely and looking pale and emaciated, Ren Dahai felt guilty. He was Ren Lao Niang's son, and even more so, Chen Qiuyu's husband. They had been married for over six months, and Chen Qiuyu hadn't spent a penny of his money! On the contrary, Chen Qiuyu's salary had been used to buy things for Ren Dahai.
Now that Chen Qiuyu was pregnant with their child, and his mother's illness wasn't a big deal if she took good care of herself, Ren Dahai felt that after receiving his salary, he should set aside some money for his wife and children. After all, Chen Qiuyu had married him, but she had no obligation to support his family.
Ren Dahai thought and did it. That month, Ren Dahai only sent five dollars of pension money home, and wrote a letter to Ren Lao Niang, telling her that Chen Qiuyu was pregnant and he wanted to save some money to raise the child. The money he would send to Ren Lao Niang in the future would be according to what they had agreed before.
When Ren's mother received Ren Dahai's letter, she wasn't as happy as Ren Dahai had imagined. Instead, she was trembling with anger because Ren Dahai had sent so little money. So what if her daughter-in-law was pregnant? Any woman would give birth. She had already given birth to four children for the Ren family!
Seeing the twenty yuan on the remittance slip reduced to five yuan, Ren Lao Niang felt a pang of frustration. Whenever she thought of Chen Qiuyu and their unborn grandson costing her "fifteen yuan" every month, Ren Lao Niang resented not only Chen Qiuyu but also the child in her belly. Couldn't this child have come later? Wouldn't it be perfect if Ren Dahai could have sent her a few more years of money before having another child?
It must be said that Ren's mother was completely obsessed. She was obsessed with the idea that Ren Dahai was the child she had raised, and now that Ren Dahai had become successful, he should shoulder the burden of the family and help his three younger siblings become successful. At the very least, giving them some money to spend was also his due.
That same day, Ren's mother went to town to call Ren Dahai and asked him whether his mother or his wife was more important. Why did Chen Qiuyu, whose child wasn't even born yet, have to spend several times more than her mother?
Ren Dahai was speechless at his mother's question. He only had twenty-two yuan a month, and he kept two for himself to buy daily necessities like toothpaste and soap. For the past six months, his food and drink had all come from his wife Chen Qiuyu's salary. Previously, because his mother was ill, Ren Dahai had to shamelessly take advantage of his wife, but now his mother was well, wasn't she? In the countryside, the fields produced everything you needed to eat and drink, and five yuan for retirement could buy you a lot. He was a grown man, so he couldn't spend his whole life on women's money, could he?
But no matter what Ren Dahai said, Ren Lao Niang refused to give in and insisted that Ren Dahai send twenty yuan back every month, otherwise she would go to the army to make trouble.
Ren Dahai thought about his wife's pregnancy, which was not looking good due to malnutrition, so he had to temporarily agree to Ren Lao Niang's request.
Nine months later, Chen Qiuyu gave birth to her son, Ren Zhongyuan. Ren Dahai was so happy that he even seemed to be floating when he walked.
With a new baby at home, Ren Dahai and his wife's expenses increased significantly. Chen Qiuyu had only been a teacher at the school for a year and was still a temporary worker without a regular salary. She would not receive any salary for the leave she took for the birth and confinement period.
Ren Dahai had no choice but to spend his salary on his own family. As a husband and father, he couldn't just sit there and watch his wife not eat well during her confinement. If Chen Qiuyu didn't eat well, his son Ren Zhongyuan wouldn't have enough milk to drink.
Ren's mother was also a strange person. She hated Chen Qiuyu so much that she didn't even come to take care of her during her confinement period. Ren Zhongyuan had to go to work every day and was too busy to do anything. In the end, Ren Zhongyuan spent some money to hire an experienced sister-in-law to help, and finally she was able to take care of Chen Qiuyu during her confinement period.
After Ren Zhongyuan was born, Ren Dahai didn't send money home for three months. Ren Dahai felt that since he used to send quite a bit of money every year, and that he and his wife were struggling financially, it wouldn't be too late to send money back home once he had more money.
Three months later, Ren Lao Niang and Ren Lao Di arrived at the army. Ren Lao Niang, under the guise of visiting her eldest grandson, was actually there to ask Ren Zhongyuan for her pension. Of course, in Ren Lao Niang's mind, her pension wasn't the five yuan per month that Ren Dahai had promised her, but twenty yuan per month.
Where did Ren Dahai get his money? Before the marriage, he was generous and sent whatever he had back home. After the marriage, Ren Dahai was forced by his mother to send all his money back home. The couple's daily expenses were based on Chen Qiuyu's salary.
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