I was born during the Republic of China. It was a time of war. I have experienced the most difficult times, but also the most passionate times.
I was also one of the earliest party members. I had a loyal heart towards the motherland and participated in many battles in the early days.
My family members were afraid of being implicated by me, so they held me back and wouldn’t let me go out. But many of my brothers in the clan joined in, and as a great man of the motherland, how could I not go?
So I resolutely threw myself into the war, watching my comrades around me die one by one, my heart was filled with worry and understanding, but at the same time, it was firm and full of hope.
Our motherland will surely survive this. With the joint efforts of the Chinese people, we will be able to restore peace and make it more prosperous. We will no longer have to live under the threat of artillery fire.
After the war, some brothers from our clan returned home together, but their home was in tatters and in a state of disrepair.
My wife is a female comrade who shares the same aspirations as me. She died in the war and left me a son. I have no intention of remarrying and I plan to raise this son well until he grows up.
Because I feel that no matter what kind of woman I find, it will be impossible to have the friendship between me and my deceased wife.
Although our village is remote, it has also experienced war and its population has dropped sharply, so it has merged with Zhangjia Village next door.
The men in Zhangjia Village are all a group of brave men. After the merger of our two villages, we are extremely harmonious. We marry each other and there are occasional minor frictions, but they do not affect the overall situation.
Later, when the older generation had grown old, I was chosen as the patriarch of the family.
As the patriarch, he not only has rights that others do not have, but also has the obligation to revitalize the family. The helmsman of a family must not be someone who is ignorant and blindly follows others.
In the early years, I handled family affairs very well, and my body was able to support me to do many things.
I found a virtuous daughter-in-law for my son. She has a good character and it took me a long time to choose her. And my son happens to like her too.
After they got married, they loved each other very much for several years and gave birth to a big fat boy who cried very loudly when he was born. I was so happy, thinking that this boy would be a good soldier in the future.
I cooked a lot of red eggs and gave them to every household. The joy on their faces was probably even greater than when my son was born.
Everyone in the village made fun of me.
I just grinned and yelled, "They always say the eldest son, the eldest grandson, my eldest grandson is born, I have to be very happy, let your old Zhang come over to have a couple of drinks tonight."
I thought that with the first one, the second, the third, and the fourth would not be far away.
At that time, families believed in having many children, which brought good fortune. Some families even had six or seven children.
Even those who favor sons over daughters and have given birth to many daughters will try to have a son.
What I didn’t expect was that my son would die unexpectedly. My daughter-in-law was still young and I didn’t know if she could keep him alive. By that time, I was already prepared to raise my grandson alone.
But my daughter-in-law held on to it, and not only did she do it, she also managed the household very well.
Because of her persistence, I have more respect for her. When it comes to family matters, as long as she has made a decision, I will not refute her, even though I am the oldest and most prestigious person in the family.
So later when it came to the matter of my eldest grandson getting married, she said he couldn't marry Liu Ping, and I didn't object.
Wasn't there any struggle in my heart? Actually, I was also very entangled, because my wife was a PLA soldier at the time, and she also experienced many battles with me, but she still gave birth to a child for me.
There is no such thing as a woman who has served in the military being unable to have children.
But for various reasons, I didn't argue with her.
Perhaps I was thinking the same thing in my heart. What if something really went wrong with her health? Would our family not be able to continue with our descendants? Would our branch of the family be completely extinct?
I don't dare to gamble.
So although I didn't directly refuse Liu Ping from entering, I did play a role in fueling the situation.
My non-refutation is affirmation.
Later, my eldest grandson got married. Actually, I didn't particularly like that granddaughter-in-law. She looked timid and petty, not as generous and likable as Liu Ping's daughter.
But she can give birth. My daughter-in-law has been taking care of the family for so long that her health has long been damaged. She just wants to see her eldest grandson get married and have children.
No matter how much I dislike this granddaughter-in-law, she is very hardworking and became pregnant with a great-grandson for our Pei family in just one try.
Before my daughter-in-law died, she finally saw the baby being born, and she died with great relief.
Although my granddaughter-in-law is not a very generous person, she is very capable and manages everything at home and outside. Gradually, I began to like her. People of our generation are hardworking and are the most popular.
But later, my grandson stopped going to the transport team, and his relationship with his grandson's wife became worse and worse. I have thought about the reasons behind this, and even wondered if my grandson still had Liu Ping in his heart.
But the more I thought about it, the more something felt wrong. The reasons I had thought of didn't seem to apply to either of them.
Because my granddaughter-in-law keeps the house in order, when they have conflicts, I always take her side and often glare at my eldest grandson.
Later, the eldest grandson became the team leader. He went out early and came back late, and didn't take care of the family affairs. I, an old man, and my great-grandson were the only ones at home often. After all, my grandson's wife is a woman, and no matter how old I am, I am still an adult male.
In order to avoid suspicion, I often staggered my going out time with hers. Every time I went out, I could always see her washing clothes, feeding the chickens, and sweeping the floor.
She is good at housework and can also go to work, earning six or seven centimeters a day. I really can't dislike such a granddaughter-in-law.
She is hard-working and willing to work hard. I don’t know what my grandson argues with her about every day. It’s hard to say whether the young man has his own interests.
I didn't care about it anymore.
As for the great-grandchildren, that is no longer my responsibility. It is already great that I can take care of them up to their grandchildren's generation. As a person with half of the earth buried in his chest, how long can you expect me to take care of them?
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