Zhang Jiao looked at her, pointed at her, and spoke with great enthusiasm, "Neighbor."
She glanced at her mother, who was leaning against the back of her chair with her eyes closed, and at her mother, who was sitting in a chair patting her chest and crying about how she was unfilial to her mother. Finally, she couldn't help but burst out.
"Mom!" Zhang Jiao cried out, her hands clenched into fists.
The surroundings fell silent, and even Zhang's mother forgot to cry, staring blankly at her.
Zhang Jiao said, trembling all over, "Mom, what have I done wrong? You're making me look bad in front of the neighbors. Do you want me to be seen as an unfilial daughter by everyone? Do you want me to be so ashamed that I can't face anyone in the future?"
Zhang's mother hesitated, unable to speak.
"Didn't I take care of you? For the past ten or so of you in the hospital, I've been putting aside my work, neglecting my children at home, and taking care of all eight of you by myself!"
“I’m taking care of not just one person, but eight, eight!” Zhang Jiao said emotionally, gesturing with her hand to indicate the number eight.
“The medical expenses for the eight of you in the hospital amounted to more than 800 yuan, and I alone paid more than 500 yuan out of my own pocket. You clearly have money in your hands, but you are unwilling to contribute it.”
The neighbors fell silent upon hearing this.
Zhang Jiao, acting as their daughter, put everything aside to take care of them at the hospital for ten days and even paid over 500 yuan in medical expenses. Isn't that doing a great job?
When Zhang's mother said that, they thought Zhang Jiao hadn't gone to the hospital to take care of her.
Zhang Jiao continued, "I broke my tailbone, and you went to take care of me, but didn't I give you any money?"
“You took care of me for half a month and only got 10 yuan for your hard work, plus 10 yuan for living expenses. You said it was hard work taking care of me and the child, and you even said you would cook nutritious food for me.”
“But you took care of me at my house, and how many nutritious things did you cook for me? The bones you bought to make soup were all cleaned so thoroughly that there was only tendon and no meat.”
"Do you know how much I lose face in front of my husband and father-in-law because of what you did? But you are my mother, and even though I know you want to take advantage of me, I have kept quiet."
She didn't say anything not because she didn't know, but because it was her mother.
"Hey, Jiao Jiao's mom, you're getting paid to take care of your daughter? You only get ten yuan for half a month, that's more than my husband Lao Wang's level six salary." A female neighbor who had always been at odds with Zhang's mother looked at her mockingly.
Zhang's mother turned pale at these sarcastic remarks, but she retorted righteously, "At my age, I have to take care of my sick daughter, look after my grandson, and cook for the whole family. Shouldn't I be entitled to some money? Besides, when Lin Guodong came to invite me, he said he would give me money."
Zhang Jiao: "The reason he said he wanted to pay was because we all knew that you wouldn't come if you didn't pay."
“Besides, Guodong said it was twenty, and you raised it by ten more yourself. I’m not a person who cares about money, but Mom, your behavior is really, really disheartening. It makes me feel like you and I don’t care about me, your daughter,” Zhang Jiao said, patting her chest.
“My father-in-law gave me an extra 600 yuan as betrothal gifts, and you counted out half of it and took it right in front of them. Do you know how embarrassed I was?”
Upon hearing this, the neighbors looked at Zhang's mother in shock. Her daughter had been married for four or five years and had already received over a hundred dollars in betrothal gifts.
No wonder her family is rich enough to open a noodle shop; their daughter got a great marriage, they can even get two dowries.
Zhang's mother said, "So you said you would give me the bride price, and this bride price should belong to the bride's mother. I only took half of it, and I didn't take the whole thing, so it's already considered good."
Zhang Jiao: "I did say I would give it to you, but couldn't you have waited until I gave it to you privately? You counted out the money and took it in front of my father-in-law and the man. It was really disgraceful."
"Also, you went to the Lin family to take care of me and help look after Junjun. You took a lot of money, but did you even see Junjun? He was playing in the yard while you were knitting woolen socks for my brother and the others inside. You even closed the door because you thought it was cold. Junjun ran out for more than an hour and you didn't even know."
“We were worried sick, we were frantically searching for Junjun in the neighborhood, even the neighbors we didn’t know came out to help us look for him, but what about you?” Zhang Jiao asked her mother.
Zhang's mother avoided her gaze somewhat guiltily.
"You packed your things and ran away by yourself!" Zhang Jiao said, then covered her eyes and cried. "You actually ran away, hahaha..."
"Do you know that Junjun ran into the road and almost got hit by a truck? It was the truck driver who took Junjun to the police station, otherwise Junjun would have been lost."
"Luckily, Junjun was lucky and nothing happened to him. If anything had happened to him, I would never forgive you as his mother!" Zhang Jiao shouted, her hands clenched into fists.
Upon hearing this, the neighbors all began to criticize Zhang's mother.
“Jiaojiao’s mom, that’s wrong of you. You didn’t watch the child properly. The child is lost. You should have helped look for her.”
"That's right, how could you, a woman who's supposed to be a mother-in-law, sneak off like that?"
“Jun Jun is also your own grandson. What you’re doing is really heartless to Jiao Jiao.”
"Isn't that right?"
Faced with the neighbors' accusations, Zhang's mother clutched her chest, too angry to speak.
"Bang!" The weak Zhang slammed her hand on the table, glaring fiercely at Zhang Jiao and scolding, "Zhang Jiao, is this how a daughter should criticize her own mother?"
Zhang Jiao looked at him through her tears and asked, "Dad, when Mom accused me and told everyone I was unfilial, why didn't you say anything? I was just trying to clear my name. What did I do wrong?"
“Over the years, how much have I sacrificed for you, my mother, and this family? I’ve helped my mother with chores since I was little, and I’ve worked in the fields. I only kept two yuan for myself and handed over the rest. After I got married, every time we celebrated the New Year or your birthdays, Guodong and I would bring back gifts and give you money as a token of our respect.”
“Every time we come back, you take a lot of things and give a lot of money, but you still try to make Guodong and me spend money to buy things for the family. But Junjun can’t even get chicken wings, let alone chicken legs, in this family.”
"Do you think we don't know these things? We just don't expose them to maintain at least a semblance of decency!"
"Cough cough cough, you say you and Lin Guodong are filial, but this time our whole family was hospitalized, did Lin Guodong even come to visit once?" Zhang said, coughing.
Zhang Jiao: "Why doesn't he come to see us? It's all because my mother did something that broke his heart. My father-in-law has already said that he won't visit our family anymore."
"!" Zhang glared angrily.
Zhang Jiao took a deep breath. "I won't say any more to you. I have to go home. When I was discharged from the hospital, the doctor said that my brother, second brother, and two sisters-in-law are all recovering very well. I've taken care of you all so much, it's time for them to take care of you."
“You’ve given all the work to your two sons and thought of everything for them. Now that things have come to this, you can’t rely on me, your married daughter, for everything.”
Many neighbors nodded in agreement, agreeing that Zhang Jiao's words made sense. The mother's dowry was meant to be left to her son, and the daughter's dowry was also left with her parents. When the mother grew old and sick, it would be the son's turn to shoulder the responsibility.
This has been a matter of tacit acceptance for thousands of years.
Zhang Jiao raised her hand and wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve, then turned to leave.
Zhang, panting heavily, looked at her and said, "Zhang Jiao, if you dare to leave today, I'll pretend I never had a daughter like you."
Zhang's mother slapped her thigh and cried out, "Jiaojiao, how could you be so heartless..."
Zhang Jiao gritted her teeth and said, "All you do is pressure me. Guodong and my father-in-law already have a lot of complaints about me because of you. I've taken care of you so much and spent so much money, and I'm not even going back for the New Year. They'll only have more complaints about me."
“You don’t consider my feelings, you’re not afraid that Lin Guodong will divorce me, but I am afraid! I can’t let my little family fall apart.”
“His parents and brother have all been divorced, so divorce is nothing new to him. If he thinks I don’t care about my family and that my family is too much trouble, it’s not impossible for him to divorce me and find someone else.”
Many people think divorce is shameful, but after seeing many divorced people around him, he doesn't think that way anymore.
(You know what I mean, two points)
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