Chapter 86
The day before the company went on holiday, Xia Zhongqin received a call from Zhu Hongmiao.
Zhu Hongmiao called to ask her to go to her home for the New Year.
A month before the holiday, Lian Yijian wanted Xia Zhongqin to go to his house to celebrate the New Year, and she agreed.
When Wang Haiyun was alive, Wang Haiyun and Zhu Hongmiao worked at the Sunset Red Nursing Home 365 days a year without a break. It was their selfless dedication and professionalism that made this co-built private nursing home run so well.
Xia Zhongqin knew clearly that Zhu Hongmiao would be spending the New Year with the elderly in the nursing home again. It would not be appropriate for Xia Zhongqin to live in her home when she was not at home, so Xia Zhongqin declined Zhu Hongmiao's invitation on the phone and only said that she would visit her at the Sunset Red Nursing Home after the New Year.
One day before the Chinese New Year, Xia Zhongqin and Lian Yijian returned together to Lian Yijian's Shengqing Yunjin community in Qingpu New Town.
When they heard that Lian Yijian was going to bring his girlfriend back to celebrate the New Year, Lian Yijian's mother Huang Caihua and three sisters started preparing early.
Xia Zhongqin prepared gifts for Lian Yijian's mother and three sisters.
Lian Yijian's home is Room 802, Unit 2, Building 15, Shengqing Yunjin Community, Qingpu New Town.
Originally, Lian Yijian's three sisters were all developing their careers in their hometown, Harbin in Northeast China. The eldest sister Lian Zhaodi's family was in the scrap collection business, the second sister Lian Pandi ran a barbecue restaurant, and the third sister Lian Niandi ran a breakfast shop.
Lian Yijian is 20, 15 and 13 years older than his three sisters respectively. He grew up on the back of his second sister Lian Pandidi. These three sisters all dote on him, but he is closest to his second sister.
In his first year in Shanghai, his eldest sister's scrap collection business was affected by the outflow of population from Northeast China, and the business was getting worse year by year. Later, his mother Huang Caihua was worried about him being alone outside, so after discussing with the family, his eldest sister and brother-in-law came to Shanghai first to explore the market.
As the saying goes, "A tree that is moved will die, but a person who moves will live." What's more, in Shanghai, his eldest sister and brother-in-law went to several small and medium-sized scrap collection stations and found that the flow of people was very large, which was beyond the reach of their hometown. So, after many twists and turns in Qingpu District, they found an abandoned factory with the help of fellow villagers and continued their scrap business.
In less than two years, his eldest sister and brother-in-law used the money they earned from the scrap business to buy a house in Pangu Jingfeng, Qingpu New City, Qingpu District.
Later, my second and third sisters who were doing business also came to Shanghai to develop their business. They have now bought houses in Qingpu New Town, Qingpu District, and the elderly and children in the family have also followed them here.
When Lian Yijian bought a house, his three sisters wanted to take out money to help him pay for it in full, but he refused. He wanted to buy it with his own ability and didn't want to be a brother-supporting demon.
When he was ten years old, his father went to the reservoir to catch fish and drowned. Since his father passed away, he was raised by his mother Huang Caihua and three sisters. He was very filial to Huang Caihua.
After the house he bought was renovated and ventilated, he immediately took leave and flew back to Harbin to bring his mother Huang Caihua to the new house in Shanghai.
Previously, his three sisters bought a house and went back to their hometown to pick up Huang Caihua, but the old lady did not go and just said that she would only live in her son's new house.
Lian Yijian bought a 130-square-meter apartment with three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom.
It was already 2:30 in the afternoon when the two arrived at Shengqing Yunjin Community.
Lian Yijian parked the car in a parking space on the ground, and he and Xia Zhongqin got out of the car together.
Lian Yijian opened the trunk and took out all the gifts bought by Xia Zhongqin.
These gifts in the trunk were bought by Xia Zhongqin after consulting Lian Yijian. She bought a Bosideng down jacket for Huang Caihua and her three sisters.
After taking the elevator to his doorstep, Lian Yijian did not take out his room key, but pressed the doorbell twice.
After waiting for almost five minutes, just as he took out the key and was about to insert it into the lock, the door was opened from the inside.
Seeing the person standing at the door, Huang Caihua was full of disbelief. She squinted her eyes and muttered to herself, "Dabao?"
Looking at Xia Zhongqin following behind Lian Yijian, Huang Caihua immediately stepped forward, enthusiastically took Xia Zhongqin's hand, and called out "Qinqin".
Xia Zhongqin called out sweetly, "Auntie.
When Huang Caihua heard the word "Auntie", her eyes narrowed into slits. She welcomed Xia Zhongqin into the house with a smile on her face.
Except for the time when he came back to ask his second brother-in-law for help when handling the procedures for the new company, he basically worked overtime in several major project groups of the company and never went home. His relationship with Huang Caihua was limited to video calls once a week in the evening. During each video call, Huang Caihua asked him when he would return to Shanghai, and he said that he was too busy with the project and could not leave. Even though he knew he would get the same answer, Huang Caihua would ask again during each video call.
Huang Caihua was already 40 years old when she gave birth to Lian Yijian, which was considered an advanced maternal age. Now she is 70 years old, which is a rare age.
Her three daughters and son are very filial to her. She herself has a good mentality. In addition, she loved beauty when she was young. She dyed her originally silver hair black, kept it meticulously groomed, and wore clean and tidy clothes. Except for the wrinkles on her forehead and crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, there are no age spots common in the elderly. Except for high blood pressure, she currently has no other underlying diseases of the elderly. She is in good health. From the outside, she looks younger than her actual age, at most in her early sixties.
The wooden floor of the living room was kept shiny and bright by the clean-loving Huang Caihua, and the figures of the three people were clearly reflected on it.
At the entrance, a pair of pink women's slippers is very conspicuous.
This pair of pink women's slippers was specially prepared by Huang Caihua for Xia Zhongqin.
The three of them changed into slippers at the entrance and sat down on the sofa in the living room. Xia Zhongqin pulled out a Suzhou specialty walnut cake from her computer bag, opened the outer packaging, took out a piece and placed it in Huang Caihua's hand. "Auntie, try it. I bought this at Caizhizhai in Suzhou. Try it and see if it's any better than the one from Shanghai Chenghuang Temple."
"Qinqin is such a thoughtful child." Huang Caihua took a small bite, nodded, and said, "It's delicious."
When Lian Yijian first entered the house, he didn't feel cold. But after sitting for a while, he felt the freezing cold in the room. He looked towards the living room near the balcony and found that the air conditioner was not turned on.
Lian Yijian had told Huang Caihua many times about the issue of using the air conditioner in summer and winter. The electricity bill for using the air conditioner in summer is only about 300 yuan more than in winter. Lian Yijian pays the household water, electricity, gas and property fees on his mobile phone every month. Every month, Lian Yijian transfers 3,000 yuan to the ICBC card he opened specifically for Huang Caihua. There is an ICBC ATM outside the entrance of the community, but Huang Caihua, who used to live a frugal life, is reluctant to spend a penny more than she thinks she should not spend.
The weather in Shanghai is not like that in Northeast China. There is heating in the Northeast in winter, but it is cold and damp in Shanghai, and there is no heating. You can only turn on the air conditioner or buy a heater to keep warm. Lian Yijian sells heaters, but because Huang Caihua was reluctant to use electricity, she basically left it untouched in the study.
When Huang Caihua buys fruits or leafy vegetables from outside, she always buys those that are about to go bad and are processed at a low price. After buying them, she always picks the ones that are about to go bad to eat first. As a result, in the end, all the ones she eats are bad, and she doesn’t get to eat a single good one.
The rice washing water at home would be collected in a small basin and then used to wash vegetables. After washing the vegetables, it would be used to flush the toilet to maximize the use value of the water. Once, because of this reason, the toilet at home was blocked by vegetable leaves that were not cleaned out. At that time, Lian Yijian was working on the Suzhou Metro project and could not get back in time.
After receiving Huang Caihua's call, he directly found a toilet unclogging person on the Internet. After the toilet was unclogged, he transferred 150 yuan to the unclogging person via WeChat.
Afterwards, Huang Caihua called him and said that he shouldn't have wasted his money.
In Lian Yijian's eyes, his mother, Ms. Huang Caihua, is good in every way except that she doesn't insist on eating bitter food. Fortunately, in addition to saving water and electricity, after being persuaded by him and his three sisters, Huang Caihua no longer picks up the garbage outside.
In the past two years, the large balcony at home has become Huang Caihua's private storage room, which is filled with garbage she picked up from outside. It's okay in winter, but the pungent smell is particularly strong in summer, causing the neighbors living upstairs and downstairs to complain to the property management many times. Finally, he and his three sisters persuaded Huang Caihua and hired a housekeeping company to clean up the garbage on the balcony. It cost 500 yuan to clean up all the garbage.
Fortunately, when the balcony was renovated, white tiles were used on the walls and the floor, otherwise the white walls would have to be repainted white again.
Lian Yijian got up and closed the floor-to-ceiling window on the balcony, turned on the air conditioner, set the temperature to 28 degrees, closed the sliding door of the kitchen, and checked the doors of the other three rooms before sitting down next to Huang Caihua again.
"Mom, the temperature in Shanghai is only one degree Celsius today. You don't need the air conditioner or heater in this room. If you get sick from the cold, the cost will be higher than the air conditioning bill." Lian Yijian then told Huang Caihua about the recent news reports of people freezing to death in China. Finally, he said, "The electricity bill really doesn't cost much. It's so cold, I'm not by your side, and your three sisters are busy with their own businesses. If you say something happens to you, what will we, your children, do? You still don't have your first grandson. Are you willing to accept that?"
When Xia Zhongqin, who was sitting on the other side of Huang Caihua, heard the word "eldest grandson", her face turned red unconsciously.
In the past, even Yi Jian had advised Huang Caihua earnestly, but she always acted as if nothing had happened and would at most reply with "Dabao, I understand." However, today, after hearing the word "eldest grandson," her attitude immediately changed 180 degrees.
"Dabao, you are right. I won't be able to close my eyes if I don't see you get married and have children in my lifetime. From now on, I will no longer be reluctant to turn on the air conditioner. I will also pay attention to the water issue." Huang Caihua had just finished eating a piece of peach cake. She took out a handkerchief from her shirt pocket and wiped the corners of her mouth and hands.
Seeing this, Xia Zhongqin took out another piece of peach cake from the box and handed it over, "Auntie, another one."
Huang Caihua waved her hand. "Qinqin, you're so thoughtful. I can't eat anymore. Dabao, you can put away the rest. Your second sister came home this morning and bought a lot of food. Your sisters and brother-in-law will be here tonight."
Lian Yijian got up and went to Huang Caihua's bedroom first. He put the peach cakes in the box on the bedside table in Huang Caihua's bedroom, then went to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and saw that the meat, fish, shrimp, green peppers, beans, green vegetables and loofah inside had all been cleaned and placed in the fresh-keeping layer.
After leaving the kitchen, Lian Yijian asked, "Mom, did they tell you what time my sisters and the other two would come over this afternoon?"
"Your second sister will come over to cook around four o'clock, and the eldest and third children said it will be seven in the evening." Huang Caihua paused and asked, "Dabao, did you ask the kid who started the group chat to bring his wife and children to your house for dinner tonight?"
Lian Yijian was walking towards the sofa where Huang Caihua was sitting, carrying a cup of warm water he had just filled from the water dispenser in the living room. After placing the cup in front of Huang Caihua, he sat down and said, "I'll call him later and ask."
Huang Caihua picked up the water cup and took a sip. She said, "Last night after dinner at around six o'clock, I was strolling in the small square of our community and ran into Guan Yan and Kai Kai. I just mentioned the child's name in front of her, and she turned cold and took the child away. I, an old lady, was confused. Are these two children okay?"
In Qingpu, Huang Caihua has no relatives or friends here except her three daughters. She has long regarded Xia Kaiqun's family as relatives. Whenever her brothers from her hometown in Northeast China send her some Northeast specialties, such as frozen pears, blood sausage, black pork and Harbin red sausage in winter, she will give some to Xia Kaiqun's family in addition to her three daughters.
Xia Kaiqun also sends Jiangxi's Fairy Lake tea oil and Xinyu honey to her home, and has never stopped doing so over the years. Now there are six cans of Xinyu honey at home.
But since last year, she has never received local specialties from Xia Kaiqun's hometown. She didn't care much whether Xia Kaiqun sent any or not, but just felt something was wrong, because when she went to deliver Northeast specialties in December last year, Guan Yan did not welcome her into the room as usual, but took the things from her and closed the door coldly.
Coupled with several obviously abnormal things that happened after the Chinese New Year and what happened just yesterday, Huang Caihua, an old lady with a keen sense of smell, felt that something was wrong with the couple. So today, she finally couldn't help but asked her own son Lian Yijian, who was as close to Chen Kaiqun as a brother.
Lian Yijian knew Huang Caihua was very serious, so he could only play it by ear and say, "Mom, don't meddle in other couples' affairs. There are some things you can't control, and you can only worry about them."
"Then it seems that my guess was right. Is Kaiqun the kid fooling around outside? Guan Yan is such a good girl. Before, I was distressed for a long time because Guan Yan couldn't be our Lian family's daughter-in-law. If I had known this would happen, I should have fought for her." Huang Caihua became more and more excited as she spoke. "Kaiqun the kid came to my house tonight. I have to teach him a good political lesson. He doesn't care about such a good wife, and he doesn't love a well-behaved child like Kaikai, but fools around outside."
Lian Yijian was overwhelmed by what he heard. He swore that he really didn't say anything, but Huang Caihua, with her sharp eyes, saw through everything through his expression. He had no choice but to pull Huang Caihua's arm and coax her like an adult coaxing a child, "Mom, please don't cause trouble in the group. Do you think that things like this can be resolved by you and me with just a few words? When there are problems in a marriage, it's not the fault of one person, but of both parties. Only the parties involved can deal with it themselves."
"If you go and start a group chat like a mentor again tonight, I'll have to wait until the end of the year before coming back."
Huang Caihua knew her son's temperament very well and always kept her word. She sighed heavily and said, "Dabao, you're right. So many divorced couples wouldn't have gotten divorced if they had really listened to others' advice. It's just that Kaikai never got much fatherly love since he was a child. It's pitiful."
It was as if he had received a lot of fatherly love. At this moment, Lian Yijian forgot the tacit understanding he and Huang Caihua had made over the years: not to mention his father - Lian Fangtong. He suddenly said, "Mom, you made it seem like I had received a lot of fatherly love."
After entering high school, Lian Yijian never mentioned the three words "Lian Fangtong" in front of Huang Caihua again, because every time he mentioned it, Huang Caihua would be very sad, and once, she even fell seriously ill.
As he grew older and became more sensible, Lian Yijian never mentioned it again. However, after Huang Caihua went to Shanghai, he would take Huang Caihua back to his hometown to visit Lian Fangtong's grave every Qingming Festival.
"Dabao, do you know why your dad went to the reservoir to catch fish?"
Time really seems to be able to heal all the pain. When saying these words again, Lian Yijian saw that the expression on Huang Caihua's face was not as excited as it was more than 20 years ago, but there was still a hint of sadness in her eyes. He really didn't know why, and he hadn't heard his three sisters, Huang Caihua herself, or relatives mention it, so he shook his head.
"It was just because it was Mid-Autumn Festival that day, and I wanted to eat fish. At that time, after your second sister was born, we started family planning. Your family spent 1,000 yuan to buy you and your third sister. One yuan at that time was equivalent to 100 yuan today. Our family was not well-off. Your father and I were both laborers and didn't have much ability. The money to buy you and your second sister was borrowed from relatives and neighbors. During the holidays, our family never bought any fish or meat. At most, during the Chinese New Year, your grandmother would secretly send a piece of pork over without your uncle's knowledge, and we would make pork dumplings at home. Even though it was Chinese New Year, on the morning of Mid-Autumn Festival, your dad took his fishing nets and went to the reservoir in the mountains behind our hometown. I've been upset about this for a long time. If it weren't for my greed, your dad would definitely still be alive now, enjoying the blessings of you and my children, just like me." Huang Caihua said this, tears streaming down her face. "Back then, your dad and I were introduced by someone else. We've been married for 22 years and have never had a quarrel. Your grandma used to bully me because I had three daughters in a row, but your dad always protected me, and for this, he often got beaten by your grandma."
Seeing Huang Caihua crying again, Lian Yijian hurriedly picked up the paper towel on the coffee table in front of the sofa, helped Huang Caihua wipe her tears, and comforted her: "Mom, don't be sad, it's all over. Dad's spirit in heaven must also hope that you are well."
"Dabao, Mom was just expressing her feelings about the marriage between that kid and Guan Yan. Kids nowadays are too casual. They get married when they want and divorce when they want. They don't have the loyalty and devotion that we had in our generation."
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