"Son, are you also disgusted with us?" Mother Wei's words just now were not an act; she was genuinely angered by Wei Baichuan.
"Mom, don't think too much. Just stay here and behave yourself. It won't be long before we're all reunited as a family."
Wei Changgen looked at the man impatiently. His mother had lived almost her whole life and hadn't made any progress.
They like to hear nice things and like to be coaxed.
They can't stand the slightest grievance, and they get arrogant after a few days of good times. If it weren't for him, who knows what would have become of them.
"How much longer do we have to wait? You said the same thing last year, but now you've even lost your position as brigade leader. How are we supposed to live?"
Wei's mother was so upset that she didn't want to talk anymore, so Wei's father hurriedly spoke up.
When he was young, he was a good-for-nothing; besides his good looks, he had nothing else to rely on.
What worries him most right now is how they will survive in the future, since their food supplies won't last long.
The land is only so big, there's no place to plant on a large scale, and it's not safe in the mountains.
He no longer wanted to sneak out to hunt at night and then risk his life on the black market. This kind of life, where he could eat his fill and sleep his fill, was just too comfortable.
"Weren't we living just fine before we had all this? I told you to wait a bit. You can save this food and it will be enough for a year."
"I still have the money I saved up from the past two years. If things get really bad, I'll buy some food first." Wei Changgen also thought about the hard times they'd been going through recently.
He's the pillar of the family, he can't fall apart. He needs to be well-fed, and he'll take half of the harvested grain with him.
“That money…money…” Wei’s mother didn’t dare to look at anyone when she said this.
"What happened to the money? Where is all that money?" Wei Changgen sensed something was wrong with his mother's expression and stared at her, not wanting to hear a single bad word.
“I thought you’re the brigade leader and you don’t need anything. Your two older brothers are all grown up and don’t need to get married or support their families. We have enough to eat and drink, so there’s no point in keeping this money.”
"Mom's life has been hard. Now that she's old, she can only enjoy a few days of happiness with her son. All that money has been spent on clothes and shoes. You have no idea how expensive clothes and shoes are these days!"
"These little leather shoes I'm wearing were bought by exchanging tickets on the black market. The shoes and the ticket cost ten yuan. Other things like hair ties and face cream are even more expensive."
"There are many things I haven't been able to bring myself to buy. People nowadays are so lucky; they're much better off than we were back then."
"Back then, we could only use charcoal made from tree branches to draw our eyebrows and red paper to smear our lips. We didn't have many nice things to use."
"I've also heard that big cities have face cream, lipsticks, and perfumes, but we don't have those here."
At first, Wei's mother was a little scared, but she couldn't stop talking as she spoke, and her face was full of longing when she talked about those things.
"Are you out of your mind? Are you a little girl? How old are you?"
Wei Changgen thought a lot, assuming she had secretly hidden the money to leave to his two brothers, but he never expected that she would spend it all on herself.
"My son, I'm just dressing you up. When we become successful in the future, people will know that you have such a beautiful mother, and you'll be proud of yourself!"
Wei's mother was stunned, and looked aggrieved.
Looking at her, so what if she's old? No one her age in the village can compare to her.
She knew they all depended on their youngest son now, so she didn't dare to utter a word of rebuttal.
"Face? Do you expect a woman in her sixties or seventies like you to save face?" Wei Changgen thought she was crazy, and the thought of all that money made him almost go crazy too.
Why was he so comfortable leaving that money to them? Looking closely at their clothes, each one was better dressed than him.
He was sneaking around and being careful outside, while they were just sitting back and reaping the benefits. How could they be so shameless?
"Give me all the money you have. I'll take half of the grain from home, and when the grain here is ready to be harvested in a few days, I'll leave the other half for myself."
"You can't eat the eggs these poultry lay. Give me all the money from selling them, or you'll be left to fend for yourselves. I won't take care of you anymore."
Wei Changgen has really become famous. Why are they enjoying the good life while he's suffering over there?
"Son, don't be angry. I understand. I will definitely save the money from now on." Mother Wei rummaged through her pocket again and again and handed over the last three yuan and fifty cents.
The other family members also looked over, their faces tense, fearing that Wei Changgen would really abandon them.
"Is that all?" Wei Changgen's hands trembled, his voice suddenly rising, as if the world was spinning.
“Son, your mother can still save. The chickens, ducks and geese are laying eggs right now, so we won’t eat them; we’ll save them to sell.”
"We can't sell the grain now, so we'll eat less. Later, I'll send your two brothers to hunt in the mountains, and they can sell the grain on the black market. We'll definitely save up."
Wei's mother is now truly panicked. She hadn't considered these things at all; she just spent the money as soon as she had it, and no one in the family cared about her.
She has plenty to eat and drink, and if she's well-fed, the rest of the family isn't hungry. Why would she save money?
"Why don't you just die?" Wei Changgen truly hated them to the core. Over the years, he had calculated that there must have been at least two or three hundred yuan involved.
Now that he's told that's all he has left, and the rest has been spent, not even on himself, he feels like strangling these people.
This was all his money. He only stopped going crazy when his second son's family swindled all the money from the family.
Now he has nothing left. All his scheming and plotting has backfired, and in the end, anyone can take advantage of him.
"My son, I was wrong. How about I sell these clothes and shoes? Don't be angry."
Wei's mother was genuinely frightened. She knew her son's personality; if she angered him, he really wouldn't care about them.
"Little brother, is it really necessary? What's wrong with your mother spending a little money? Don't forget that you have the life you have now because your mother sent you away."
"Now that you've made something of yourself, you dare to turn back and disobey your mother? And all those things you've done, that child is, in a way, your mother's too..."
He interrupted Brother Wei Changgen before he could finish speaking.
"You want to threaten me too? What did I do that for? Do you think he'll acknowledge you? I'm afraid none of you will dare to show your faces in front of them."
Wei Changgen has had enough of being threatened lately. Now anyone can threaten him, right?
“That’s not what we meant. We’re the real family. We didn’t think that much at first. We thought you were the brigade leader and you didn’t need these things.”
“We will all depend on you in the future, and your sons will also take care of us in our old age. Of course, we want the best for you.”
Wei's father also tried to persuade him, saying that he had never had any opinions of his own and that he had the lowest status in the family.
"For my own good? As family? I advise you to behave yourselves and not ruin my plans. You might have a better life in the future."
"Otherwise, I'd like to see what kind of future you'll have without me. Do you still want to live that inhuman, ghostly life?"
Wei Changgen glared fiercely at the group, a far cry from the filial and affectionate demeanor he had shown when Wei Baichuan was around.
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