The old man wasn't actually that old, only in his early sixties, but he loved to drink, and his hemiplegia was caused by his excessive drinking.
The old lady had been arguing with him her whole life and was fed up with it. Now that he was paralyzed, she had finally become completely obedient.
The old lady is unwilling to take care of the family, and if her children don't care, she will also quit.
Fearing that the old lady might cause trouble again and disrupt their family, they simply hired a nanny.
Of course, when my sister went there, the old man often went out drinking. At that time, he hadn't yet become paralyzed.
When the weather turned cold and he had some free time, the old man lost control. He drank too much and lay slumped on the street, freezing for most of the day. If he hadn't been found, he might have suffered more than just hemiplegia; he might have died.
The old woman felt this was the old man's retribution. "Serves you right for not listening to me? I told you not to drink, I told you not to drink, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what happened, you're completely obedient. Anyway, I'm not going to serve you, and I can't carry you. You have sons and daughters, it's their turn to serve you."
Before, when Cuihua went there, she simply took care of the two elderly people's three meals a day, washed clothes and tidied the room. The main thing was that the old lady had become more mature. After working all her life, she suddenly went out on the street one day and, for some unknown reason, she insisted that her children find them a caregiver.
Sure enough, after only a few months, the old man became paralyzed. If it weren't for the old lady's laziness and the children's indolence, it might not have been easy to earn that fifteen yuan. Most importantly, she provided food and lodging. It was tiring, but it was worth it.
After winter set in, Cuiju and Cuilian had nothing much to do. The two sisters took turns going to town to help Cuihua, without taking advantage of her family. They didn't eat, and left as soon as they finished their work, just wanting Cuihua to rest. Seeing how united and loving the sisters were, the old lady would sometimes generously offer them a meal.
I often see the sisters complaining about their children's lack of filial piety.
"I'm old and useless now, rejected everywhere I go. You think they're being kind by hiring me to work because they're being filial? No, they're just making excuses for their laziness and lack of filial piety, afraid I'll bother them again. Do they really think I don't understand anything? Luckily, I've figured it out now. It's better to be happy than to be happy. I've worked hard my whole life, and these last few years are for me to enjoy myself. I don't want to end up like that old lady from the Zhang family, who worked herself to the bone and got sick, only to end up with no one to care for her and dying from her illness..."
No wonder he was so shocked; it seems there really is an example right in front of him!
After hearing this, Grandpa and Grandma sighed.
“She’s right. Getting old is when you become a burden to your children. Even the most filial children will complain when they are sick for a long time. When we get to that day, we must find a secluded place to end our own lives and never become a burden to our children.”
Xiao Jiu's eyes reddened, and she quickly hugged the old lady: "Xiao Jiu will serve you, Xiao Jiu will take care of Grandpa and Grandma, don't go, Grandma, don't go."
The old lady was immediately taken aback by those words. "Oh my, how can you be so pitiful? Grandma didn't raise you for nothing. Don't worry, Grandma will definitely live to be a hundred years old. I still have to watch my little Jiu go to school and get married!"
"Xiao Jiu will not get married; Xiao Jiu will stay with her grandmother forever."
In the end, the grandfather and grandson actually hugged and cried, making the old man feel awkward, so he turned around and left.
Cuiju watched the old man leave, and clearly saw him gently rub the corner of his eye with his finger. Was he also moved by Xiaojiu?
The sisters' eyes were also filled with tears as they looked at their beloved little sister. It was so good to have such a lovely little sister; they could finally rest easy.
At noon, the two sisters stayed with their parents to celebrate the Laba Festival. In the afternoon, they walked back to Taoyuan Village and bumped into Tang Youtian and his son, who were having fun with their youngest son riding on their shoulders. The two sisters glanced at him indifferently at the happy scene of him smiling and their youngest son shouting "Riding a big horse!" and left without saying a word.
"Sis, did Dad ever laugh like this when we were little?"
Cuiju snorted coldly: "Don't mention him. It's a holiday, it's bad luck to mention him."
Riding a big horse?
That's a privilege usually reserved for sons.
They are daughters, and it's considered unlucky for outsiders to say that daughters ride on their fathers' necks.
I really don't understand what these old ladies are thinking. They are clearly women, and their children don't even take their surnames, so why are they more sexist than anyone else?
As the great man said, women hold up half the sky!
How come in these people's mouths, they all become synonymous with money-losing goods, bad luck, and lowly scum?
——
On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, Xiao Jiu went with her grandparents to Niujia Village to buy pork. It would take three hours to walk there and back. Her grandfather carried a bamboo basket on his back, while her grandmother held the basket in her left hand and pulled her hand with her right.
Today she wore a red floral cotton-padded jacket that looked worn but was actually warm. She skipped and hopped, letting go of her grandmother's hand, and picked up stones from the roadside to play with every now and then.
"Slow down, the ground is hard, it will hurt if you fall."
Grandma followed her around, worried, and would give her a few words of advice every now and then.
The sky was overcast and cold, and the ground was frozen, making it uncomfortable to walk on.
It was because of the cold weather that they chose to walk, and they started sweating very quickly.
Her older brothers were assigned to clean the house by their grandparents, while she was too young to do anything, which gave her the opportunity to sneak out and play.
Niujia Village is a larger village than Taoyuan Village and Xihe Village. Because it is closer to the town, has a larger population, and is well-governed, it is much richer than those two poor villages. So, as soon as people heard that someone in Niujia Village was slaughtering a pig, they all went there.
If you go to town to buy meat, you need meat coupons. Where are they going to get meat coupons?
Before the production team was established, the supply was in the trial stage of rationing. In fact, there were many loopholes in the management, especially in the village, where there was no extra manpower or resources to make arrangements, and there were no assigned pigs. After all, when they were being raised at the beginning of the year, there was no talk of a planned economy.
So this is a personal pig, and if someone wants to sell it, no one can stop them.
As for speculation and profiteering, that hasn't even started yet.
The advertised price for live pigs in Niujia Village is 70 cents per pound, and you can't pick and choose; if you do, you have to pay extra.
The three of them, a grandfather, grandmother, and grandson, set off before dawn, walking and stopping along the way.
She got up early this morning, drank a bowl of goat milk, and ate a steamed egg. Now that she was hungry, her grandma handed her a cornbread.
He casually took out a black cornbread-filled sorghum flour dumpling with mixed vegetables from the basket. Xiao Jiu frowned as soon as he saw it.
"Grandma, why are you giving me special treatment again? I can eat the dark cornbread."
These black cornbreads were hard and unpalatable, so Grandma never gave them to the younger generation; she always ate them herself and Grandpa.
They even said that they should get extra nutrition while they are growing.
She and her grandfather were old, half of them were already in the ground, they were fine with anything as long as they could fill their stomachs.
Every time she heard these words, she felt a lump in her throat, and how could she bear to let them eat these things again?
He immediately snatched the cornbread from his grandparents' hands and stuffed the two cornbreads that his grandmother had given him into their hands.
Grandma laughed when she saw her doing this: "You silly girl, Grandma gets heartburn from eating this, and so does Grandpa, cornmeal and sweet potatoes."
"But you can't chew this grandma's,"
Even if people of their generation have maintained their teeth very well, they will find it difficult to keep up when they reach their forties or fifties.
Eating sweet potatoes, corn, and chives can cause heartburn, and this has indeed been a long-standing practice, mainly due to the wasteful practices of previous years. Their families were not in a position to suffer this hardship, but life is full of things beyond their control.
After weighing the prodigiousness of chewing the cornbread against the heartburn, Xiao Jiu finally decided to eat the cornbread herself. Although it was hard to swallow, she had been so well protected since childhood, drinking milk and eating eggs in the morning, so she should get used to it in advance. Otherwise, how would she survive the famine years?
Seeing Xiaojiu's persistence, the grandparents were moved and looked at each other with admiration.
"This child was raised well; he knows how to care for people better than those other boys."
She was choking on the cornbread, so her grandma handed her a military-style water bottle. These kinds of water bottles are generally available to anyone who can afford them.
Rural people aren't so particular. Five years have passed, so what if they're disgusted by someone else's drink? After all, they don't have the means to be fussy right now.
After drinking water, Xiao Jiu regained his energy. Grandpa and Grandma walked slowly, occasionally taking a bite of the flatbread and chewing it vigorously.
There were quite a few people on the road, all walking, with the occasional donkey cart or oxcart passing by, pulling along people who were hurrying on their way.
The old ladies wore green and red headscarves, the old men carried tattered cotton-padded coats, and the children wore hats and thick scarves. The clattering of ox hooves and donkey hooves as they hurried along made Xiao Jiu glance at them a few more times.
Around 8 o'clock, we finally arrived at Niujia Village. In the distance, we could see smoke rising from a house in the yard, with people gathered inside and outside, and we could hear the squeals of pigs from time to time.
"You guys stay here and wait your turn. I'll go get in line first, and you can come over later."
It was simply that the scene of slaughtering pigs was too bloody, and Grandpa felt it wouldn't be good for Xiaojiu to see it, so he simply asked Grandma to take her for a walk around the village entrance.
Today she came to Niujia Village, and it's definitely not just to buy pork. The eldest sister said that her fifth sister, who was sold as a child bride, is from a family with the surname Niu in Niujia Village. But the Niu surname is very common in Niujia Village, with at least half of the villagers having the surname Niu. How can she find them?
Fifth Sister was tormented from a young age and didn't know how to resist. She was submissive and resigned to her fate. She gave birth to a daughter, lived in a cowshed, and died in childbirth in her thirties. She never enjoyed a single day of happiness.
The older sister had come to Niujia Village before, but she didn't know which household it was. The transaction was conducted with her outside the village.
She went into each house to inquire, but was eventually chased out with a broom, with someone saying something.
"Since it's already been sold to the people of our village, there's no need to look for it anymore. What are you looking for?"
Even if no one says anything, she might try to observe secretly. But everyone in the village knows each other, and if a stranger suddenly appears, they'll definitely be on guard.
Ultimately, nothing came of it, and they left disappointed.
Xiao Jiu is young and doesn't have big goals, especially since Niujia Village is so lively today. She gently tugged at her grandmother's sleeve.
The old lady looked down at her and said, "Grandma, go find Grandpa. I'll wait here for you. Look how many children are here!"
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