Upon learning of the situation, the police immediately arrived at the scene. Many people were fishing there, so there were naturally many witnesses. Knowing that Jia Dongxu had died from poisoning and choking on water, they carried Jia Dongxu's body to the courtyard house.
Jia Zhangshi, who was still waiting for Jia Dongxu to return with fish and shrimp, couldn't accept this fact for a while. Not only Jia Zhangshi couldn't accept this fact, Qin Huairu couldn't accept it either.
With Jia Dongxu around, at least someone could support the family, but now Jia Dongxu is a cold corpse.
Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu held Jia Dongxu's body in their arms and wept in the courtyard, their grief profound.
Looking at Jia Dongxu's corpse, Wei Hua never expected such retribution. But thinking about it, it seemed Jia Dongxu had died around the same time.
As for the specific time, it was either moved forward a little or backward, but in any case, Xiao Huaihua was born posthumously. At the beginning of the story, Xiao Huaihua was only four years old, meaning she was born at the end of 1960 or in 1961.
This made Wei Hua glance at Qin Huairu. Wei Hua didn't know if Qin Huairu was pregnant. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Wei Hua only glanced at her a few times before looking away. It would be a loss if his wife started yelling at him.
Everyone's attention was focused on Jia Dongxu's corpse; no one paid any attention to Wei Hua. Yi Zhonghai, unusually, also stepped forward to mock the Jia family.
Faced with Yi Zhonghai's mockery, Jia Zhangshi felt utterly helpless. Seeing her son's corpse, she knew her fate was sealed.
From then on, the people in the courtyard house would no longer take him seriously. Even his own daughter-in-law might have other ideas.
Knowing that this would happen to her son, Jia Zhangshi shouldn't have argued with Qin Huairu a few days ago. In an attempt to win back Qin Huairu's heart, Jia Zhangshi immediately crawled to Qin Huairu's side. But before Jia Zhangshi could make a move, Qin Huairu pushed her away.
Having finally come to her senses, Qin Huairu would no longer foolishly listen to Jia Zhangshi. Now that Jia Dongxu was dead, Qin Huairu no longer had so many concerns.
"Dongxu just died, I don't want to cause any more trouble with you. Let's wait until Dongxu's funeral is over before we talk about anything else. If you insist on causing trouble, I'm not afraid of you, let's just have our way with each other."
Upon hearing Qin Huairu's words, Madam Jia suddenly felt afraid. Given the current situation, the work of the Jia family would likely fall to Qin Huairu, after all, she still had two children to raise.
Once Qin Huairu gets a job, given their relationship, it's uncertain whether she'll be kicked out. Jia Zhangshi knows she has to make a scene; otherwise, Qin Huairu won't feel any pressure.
No matter how bad their relationship was, if Qin Huairu wanted the Jia family's job, she had to support him. As long as Qin Huairu was willing to support him, he didn't care if he had to back down later.
Looking at her son's corpse, Jia Zhangshi burst into tears, repeatedly pounding the ground as she sobbed. She didn't care if the neighborhood committee arrested her again; this matter had to be handled by the neighborhood committee or the steel mill. Only in this way could she have any hope of survival; otherwise, she might starve to death.
Jia Zhangshi had only been crying for a few minutes when people from the neighborhood committee arrived at the courtyard house. Someone had died in the courtyard; it was impossible for the neighborhood committee not to come. After learning some details from the police station, the head of the neighborhood committee approached Jia Zhangshi. This time, the neighborhood committee members didn't make things difficult for Jia Zhangshi. After all, she had just lost her son.
"Zhang Xiaohua, please stop crying. Let's talk about your son's situation. We know about your family's circumstances. Who in your family is planning to take over the job at the steel mill? And what are your plans for your son's funeral?"
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Jia Zhangshi stopped crying and immediately wiped away her tears.
"Sir, I don't know what to do either. My family's life has become like this. Please, I beg you to help me."
Upon hearing Jia Zhangshi's words, the street office staff called Qin Huairu to their side. At this time, everyone agreed that widows should remarry, but Qin Huairu was only in her early twenties, and the street office staff did not approve of her staying with Jia Dongxu.
“Qin Huairu, we are aware of your family's situation. We will handle Jia Dongxu's matter on your behalf. You should find a way to buy a coffin. We will take care of everything else.”
"Regarding the steel rolling mill job, in theory we support you taking over. After all, you are Jia Dongxu's wife and have two children to support."
"But Zhang Xiaohua is, after all, Jia Dongxu's mother. Since you've taken over Jia Dongxu's job, you have to support her. Considering you're still young and will definitely remarry in the future, we're giving you a choice now. You can choose for yourself."
"The first thing is to give up Jia Dongxu's job, which will be inherited by Zhang Xiaohua, but Zhang Xiaohua will give you 20 yuan a month in child support."
"The other option is that you will inherit Jia Dongxu's job, but you must pay Zhang Xiaohua six yuan a month in child support."
Upon hearing what the person in charge of the street office said, Zhang Xiaohua became unhappy and immediately crawled over.
"Leaders, you can't make this decision! Why give the job to Qin Huairu? And six yuan a month isn't enough!"
“Zhang Xiaohua, stop making trouble. If you keep doing this, don’t blame us for being rude to you. With the current standard of living, six yuan is more than enough for you to live on. Besides, we didn’t say that Qin Huairu should kick you out.”
“You can still live with Qin Huairu. However, if Qin Huairu wants to remarry, you can't stop her. No matter how Qin Huairu lives in the future, you must give her six yuan every month. You're not that old, and you can earn money yourself, which is enough to support you.”
Hearing what the person in charge of the subdistrict office said, Jia Zhangshi dared not say anything more. She was even more afraid that the subdistrict office people would take her to a labor camp.
Qin Huairu was no fool. She went to work at the steel rolling mill and became a full-time employee as soon as she entered. She earned more than 30 yuan a month, gave Zhang Xiaohua six yuan a month, and still had more than 20 yuan left for herself.
If things improve this year, five yuan will be enough to support my two children. That way, I can save 20 yuan each month. If I get married, my family's situation will become even better.
If Zhang Xiaohua is obedient, she can stay home and help take care of the children while she goes to work at the steel mill. If she is disobedient, she can kick Zhang Xiaohua out. Anyway, Jia Dongxu is dead, so she has no other concerns.
Qin Huairu really didn't have the money to buy a coffin for Jia Dongxu, because the Jia family's money was all tied up in Zhang Xiaohua and her son.
“Mother-in-law, the Jia family’s money is all tied up in you and your son. Now that Dongxu is dead, you should quickly take out some money to buy him a coffin.”
Upon hearing Qin Huairu's words, Jia Zhangshi reluctantly took out a dozen or so yuan from her pocket. The head of the neighborhood committee took the money and sent someone to buy a coffin. Less than an hour later, someone dragged the coffin to the outside of the courtyard house.
“Zhang Xiaohua, do you want to arrange your son’s funeral? If you are willing to do so, we will put the coffin down. After you have finished, I will find someone to help you bury him. If you don’t want to do so, we will put Jia Dongxu in now and find a place to bury him. You can take care of the tombstone yourself; we don’t have that much time.”
Hearing what the neighborhood committee staff said, Jia Zhangshi thought about it and finally decided not to hold the event. Without Yi Zhonghai, the people in the courtyard wouldn't give her any face. Given her relationship with the other people in the courtyard, they wouldn't give her any money either.
The few dozen yuan I have on me probably won't even be enough to cover all the expenses. It would be better to just have the neighborhood committee bury my son directly. That way, I can save myself a lot of trouble. Anyway, the current economic climate isn't good, so people aren't really making a fuss about weddings or funerals.
Even if I don't do it myself, no one will say anything to me.
"Distinguished leaders, doesn't the country advocate handling major events as minor ones and ignoring minor ones? I'll leave my son's affairs unattended and ask you to help with his funeral arrangements."
Upon hearing Jia Zhangshi's words, the person in charge of the neighborhood committee immediately prepared to put Jia Dongxu into the coffin. Before putting him in the coffin, Qin Huairu changed Jia Dongxu into clean clothes. As for funeral clothes, the Jia family didn't have any; no one expected Jia Dongxu to die so young.
After Qin Huairu changed her clothes, the neighborhood committee staff put Jia Dongxu into a coffin. Then they carried the coffin away from the courtyard. Once they reached a random hillside in the suburbs, they buried Jia Dongxu there.
After the burial was completed, Jia Zhangshi and Qin Huairu were taken to confirm the location of Jia Dongxu's grave. Jia Dongxu's funeral was thus hastily concluded.
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