Although it was freezing cold outside, the family had a fulfilling time and was always busy.
Then one day, there was a knock on the door outside the courtyard, which surprised the whole family. They were astonished that someone would be walking around outside at this hour.
"Uncle Ming, it is I, Yun Jianying."
Si Cheng put on his coat before coming out to open the door for him. "Why are you here at this hour? Come inside and warm up."
As Yun Jianying walked, he said, "If something happens, I'll let you know later."
"Where did the trouble happen?" Hearing this from inside the house, Yun's father quickly called out.
"Grandma Yang has passed away."
Hearing this, the whole family was shocked. Yun's mother hurriedly asked, "Why did Aunt Yang leave? She seemed fine before."
Yun Jianying replied, "I don't know the specifics either. This morning, Yun Heng knocked on our door, crying and saying that his grandmother had passed away last night. My father went over first and asked me to help Yun Heng come out and deliver the message. I still need to go and inform the relatives later."
At this point, Mr. Yun did not try to persuade him to stay any longer. "Then you go and inform them first. We'll pack up here and come over right away."
While packing up, Yun's parents talked to Sicheng about Grandma Yang.
The reason she is called Grandma Yang is because she married Yunyang from the Yun family. At first, everyone just called her Sister-in-law Yang, then Aunt Yang, and now Grandma Yang. As for her real name, no one knows anymore.
Grandma Yang has two children. Her eldest is a daughter who married and moved to Northeast China many years ago and rarely comes to visit. Her second son, Yun Dongxing, is a son who also ran a business in the city and has a son and a daughter. His daughter, Yunxia, is about the same age as Yunqi and came to visit when she got married. Her youngest son, Yunheng, just graduated from university.
Yun's father decided to let Yun's mother stay home to take care of the two children, while he took Yun Qi and Si Cheng with him to see if there was anything they could help with.
Now, in the village, not every household is responsible for de-icing a small section of the road. This is to prevent the ice from freezing solid, which would make clearing the road much more difficult later.
When we arrived at Grandma Yang's house, we found that many relatives had already arrived. Several elderly people from the village had also come here with the help of their younger relatives, but the house was filled with the sound of weeping.
Recalling all that happened to Grandma Yang before her death, Yunqi couldn't help but shed tears as well.
At this time, Yunxun, who had come with his second grandfather, told them why this had happened.
It turns out that Yun Dongxing used to run a business in the city, and it was quite successful. This time, his elders insisted that they return home. Yun Dongxing, being a dutiful son, brought his wife and children back with him.
When we first came back, the family was living a harmonious and happy life, but before long, conflicts gradually emerged.
The daughter-in-law is from the city and is used to the glitz and glamour of city life, especially when the village reclaimed its land and required the villagers to cultivate it themselves. A major conflict erupted in their family, but they kept quiet because they were too proud to admit it.
Yun Dongxing's wife directly stated that he could either come back to the city with her or go back on his own after the divorce was finalized.
At the beginning of the argument, everyone was tolerant of her and even stopped asking her to do anything. But she was still not satisfied and felt that staying in the countryside every day was a way to commit suicide.
Unable to handle the commotion, the elderly woman had no choice but to agree to let her return to the city to live for a while, while the two children were forced to stay behind by the elderly woman.
Who knew that such a huge earthquake would happen just three days after she left? We still don't know her condition, and there's nothing the family can do even though they're worried.
The family had weathered all the hardships before, but as the days grew increasingly difficult, their worries intensified. On the night the cold wave hit, Yun Dongxing, overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety, couldn't release her emotions. She found some strong liquor at home and, ignoring her family's attempts to stop her, got completely drunk.
Grandma Yang was alerted when the cold wave arrived. Thinking of her children at home, she didn't bother to wrap herself up properly and went to add firewood, thinking that there wouldn't be any major problems in the short term.
For this reason, I developed a fever the next day. Since then, I've used up all the medicine I have at home, but my condition hasn't improved. I found some Yunnan medicine, but given the shortage of medication, I can only rely on what I have to keep going.
The old man still couldn't make it. A minor illness that used to be cured with just two injections could now so easily take a life, making everyone feel the cruelty of this world more directly.
Yun Dongxing was deeply remorseful. If he hadn't gotten himself drunk, or if he had been more alert, his mother wouldn't have rushed to add firewood. If he had prepared more medicinal herbs when stocking up on supplies, perhaps she could have been saved.
Si Cheng was also puzzled when he heard this: "Why didn't he go to the village to ask? Everyone should have some medicine on hand."
"My grandfather asked this question before, and Uncle Xing was still stammering and wouldn't answer. It was Yunheng who secretly told us that they had asked several places before, trying to exchange some medicine, but everyone said they didn't have any. They were told to go to Uncle Nanyao, but after they ran out of medicine with Uncle Nanyao, Grandma Yang told them not to ask anyone for medicine anymore. Before you came, my grandfather and the others had just beaten up Uncle Xing. They scolded him for being so foolish, saying that if all else failed, he should go to the village and knock on doors, and he would eventually be able to get the medicine."
Si Cheng and Yun Qi exchanged a glance. They knew that in the days to come, people's worst instincts would slowly emerge, and they had already begun to consciously guard against the people around them.
Yunyang held his wife's hand the whole time, sitting there blankly.
Speaking of Yunyang's grandfather, he was an honest and upright man his whole life. When he was young, his mother made the decisions for him, but after he got married, his grandmother made the decisions for him. He never argued with anyone in his life, and his presence in the village was very low.
But seeing him like this now, everyone can't help but worry.
Yunheng and Yunxia knelt on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), but no one from the family came out to handle the funeral arrangements.
Grandpa Yang's generation had been the only son in several generations, with no close cousins. It was only because some elders couldn't stand it that they had the younger generation in the family start to take care of him.
At this time, everything must be kept simple, and a plan must be drawn up for whether to cremate or bury the dead.
Cremation requires a lot of firewood, while burial, by which time the soil has already frozen solid, would be a considerable undertaking to dig.
Grandpa Yang, who had been silent all along, spoke up at this moment: "Cremation. She has always liked cleanliness and would definitely not want to be buried in the ground where insects and ants would eat her. We also had some diesel fuel at home before, so it won't use much firewood."
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