Chapter 86: Miscarriage at the Tomb Sweeping
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Zhao returned to his mother's home. He directly picked up a pig's hind leg. No one knew where he got it from. He attracted many people's attention along the way to Ye's house.
These days, it is not uncommon for someone to bring a pig's hind leg when visiting relatives, and that is something that has never happened before.
Ye Tan also thought it was too much at first, but Gu Zhao said that the gift should be more expensive in the first year of marriage, and it would not look good if the pork leg was torn. Lin Qiuyun had no objection and said that their daughter would go to the army after marrying into their family and would only come back once a year during the Spring Festival, so it was reasonable to have more gifts.
Ye Tan wanted to say that they also came back for the Mid-Autumn Festival, but Gu Zhao said that was a special case because Ye Yanlin took leave to come back for his wedding. Otherwise, in previous years, the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday would only be a few days, and he would not have had time to come back.
Since both of them said so, Ye Tan seemed stingy if he said anything more. As a result, Gu Zhao took Ye Tan on a bicycle with a pig's hind leg hanging on it, and came to the Ye family in a ostentatious manner.
Mrs. Luo from next door was standing at the intersection, checking to see if her daughter, who was returning to her parents' home, had arrived. She saw the whole pig's hind leg hanging behind Gu Zhao's car and her eyes were filled with envy.
"Xiao Tan, are you back? I haven't seen you for a long time, and you're still as fresh and beautiful as ever."
Ye Tan got out of the car and motioned Gu Zhao to go in first. He stayed at the intersection and talked to Mrs. Luo for a while. "I didn't see you when I came back from the Mid-Autumn Festival. I heard that you also went away. Grandma's health is getting better and better."
Mrs. Luo grinned, revealing her missing front teeth: "I went to see my daughter at that time, what a coincidence."
Ye Tan took out a few candies from his coat pocket and gave them to Luo Pozi: "Grandma, these candies will sweeten your mouth. I wish you a happy new year and all the best."
Mrs. Luo: "Okay, okay, all is good. You can also have a big fat boy this year."
Mrs. Luo is usually a bit aggressive, but she likes young kids like Ye Tan very much, and always pulls them aside to talk when she has nothing to do. Ye Tan's impression of her is that she is invincible in scolding people in the alley, and she also likes to pull people aside to nag.
Seeing that Ye Tan had not come in for a long time, Xu Huiling went out to greet him. When she saw Mrs. Luo, she greeted her with a smile. Ye Tan also waved to Mrs. Luo and followed Xu Huiling into the house.
Gu Zhao was sitting inside talking to Ye Jianguo, next to him was Shan Qinghe wrapped in a thick cotton jacket. Ye Yanlin had disappeared.
"Where is my brother?" Ye Tan asked.
Shan Qinghe smiled and said, "He knew from the beginning that my sister and brother-in-law were coming back today. He said he was going to a friend's house to get something right after breakfast. When I asked him what it was, he didn't say anything and was very secretive."
Ye Tan: "It seems to be a good thing, let's wait."
Ye Tan sat down next to Shan Qinghe, looked at her belly and asked, "My brother said, sister-in-law, is your appetite okay?"
Shan Qinghe: "That's right. I saw other people's appetites were bad during pregnancy, so I was worried. But I didn't expect that I would feel like vomiting all the time in the first month, and then I didn't feel any nausea at all. I almost forgot I was pregnant several times."
"That's because the child feels sorry for his sister-in-law and can't bear to let his mother suffer. It seems that he will definitely be an obedient child in the future. Is there any seafood you want to eat? There isn't much else on the island over there, but there is plenty of seafood. If there is anything you want to eat, please tell me. Don't think it's too much trouble. I will get some and send it back when I get back."
Shan Qinghe: "Thank you first, little sister. I will definitely tell you when I think of it."
The aunt and sister-in-law were talking warmly. In the middle of the conversation, Ye Tan suddenly remembered and asked why her uncle didn't come.
Xu Huiling: "Your uncle has guests today and can't come. You can go see him this afternoon after dinner."
Xu Huiling turned around and asked why Gu Zhao brought such a large pig's hind leg. "I was shocked when I saw it at first. You guys just come here, just bring something. Don't spend so much on this. We rely on you to come and visit us, not for these foods."
Gu Zhao smiled and said, "This year is Xiao Tan and I's first year of marriage, so it's only right that we give a generous gift. Besides, Xiao Tan followed me to join the army after the wedding, so I can't come back to visit you often. I feel bad about it."
Xu Huiling understood her daughter's intention to make amends, so she said kindly, "Son, it's such a small matter, but you're still worried about it. Even though we don't see each other often, you still send us all kinds of seafood, and we eat a lot of it. So why should you go out of your way to make up for it? Forget it this time, but don't be so reserved in the future. Keep the money. You'll have plenty of other things to spend money on when you have children."
After Xu Huiling finished speaking, Gu Zhao nodded in agreement, but it was unknown whether he had heard it or not.
After a while, Ye Yanlin came back with a bag of dried mushrooms and a clucking hen.
Xu Huiling stood up, took the chicken and asked, "Where did it come from?" Everyone was celebrating the Spring Festival, and the supply and marketing cooperative had closed on the 28th, so it was impossible to buy anything at that time.
"My friend's family raises some chicken, but they haven't been laying eggs very often lately, so I bought some to make soup with. They also have some dried mushrooms, which are perfect for stewing with the chicken."
Ye Yanlin walked into the main room and looked up to see a whole large pig's hind leg on the square table. He snorted, "Did this little sister bring it?"
Ye Tan pointed at the pork elbow on his leg: "I just said that we would stew pork elbow for lunch. Since you want to stew chicken, then..."
Ye Yanlin immediately interjected: "What's the big deal? We can cook both. We have enough pots at home anyway."
Seeing his greedy look, Xu Huiling felt it was unbearable to watch, so she simply asked him to carry the pig's hind legs to the kitchen to chop off the elbows so that they could be put into the pot later.
Gu Zhao stood up after hearing this: "Let me go, big brother, don't hurt yourself if you haven't done this before."
Ye Yanlin was unconvinced: "Even if I haven't done it, I haven't seen it before. It's just chopping meat, what's so difficult about it?"
Gu Zhao did not refute him, but asked him to go to the kitchen together, and the two of them exchanged ideas on the skill of chopping meat in the kitchen.
After seeing her son-in-law leave, Xu Huiling took her daughter's hand and went into the inner room to talk.
"You have been married for half a year. Has your mother-in-law urged you to have children?" These are the things that a mother worries about. She is anxious to find a wife for her son if he is not married yet, and she is anxious to have grandchildren after marrying a wife. For example, she is like this, and she thinks her in-laws should have thought about it as well.
It’s just that her daughter is still a little young, and she doesn’t really want her to get pregnant so early.
Ye Tan said no: "My mother-in-law never mentioned anything about having children in front of me."
Xu Huiling: "What about Gu Zhao? He is 28 years old this year. Isn't he in a hurry?" Most men of Gu Zhao's age have children running around, but Gu Zhao only got married last year and is already far behind his peers.
Ye Tan smiled when he heard this, and said cheerfully: "He, he is not in a hurry, and he even said that having one more person at home is troublesome..."
Xu Huiling: "Having many children is not peaceful." After she said that, she saw her daughter lowering her eyes and smiling, and she suddenly understood something in her heart. This trouble was not that troublesome. Thinking of her son-in-law's physique, the look in her eyes when she looked at her daughter became more meaningful.
Ye Tan's face turned red when she looked at him, and he couldn't sit still and stood up: "Well, I'll go see how my brothers are doing."
Ye Tan ran away in a hurry. Xu Huiling thought about it and smiled after a while. It seemed that her son-in-law was really not in a hurry. Her daughter and son-in-law had a good relationship, so the child was indeed not in a hurry.
At noon, Xu Huiling cooked, and Gu Zhao, the good son-in-law, cooked pork elbow and chicken stewed with mushrooms. After eating the delicious meal, Ye Yanlin looked at the elbow with only a bone left, and said regretfully, "How can there be an elbow on the same leg?"
Shan Qinghe glanced at her man and said, "You want five or six elbows growing on one leg? Would that still be called a pig elbow? I'm afraid it will become a monster. If it dares to grow, do you dare to eat it?"
Ye Tan also thought her brother was being fanciful and said, "If you have time to think about these things, why not think about the name of the child? Time flies after the New Year. Don't wait until my eldest nephew is born and you still haven't decided on a name."
Ye Yanlin had never thought about this question before, but when Ye Tan reminded him, he subconsciously said, "Shouldn't this be our dad's responsibility?"
Ye Jianguo was just taking a sip of his wine when he heard this and cursed, "You want me to worry about naming your own son? You can choose it yourself."
"Ah? Then I'll think about it later." Ye Yanlin scratched his head, but he couldn't think of a good word. After a while, he thought of something and said, "How can I come up with a name now that I don't know the gender?"
Ye Tan: "That's not difficult. Just pick one boy and one girl."
Isn't that even harder?
The names Chunhua Qiuqin, Xiaofang Aiying flashed through my mind... I felt they were so vulgar, and many female comrades in the factory had this name, so the rate of duplicate names was too high.
Ye Yanlin was worried now. Naming was not his forte. Seeing that his parents were staying out of the matter, he turned to Ye Tan for help: "Little sister, you have read a lot, why don't you think of a good name for the child?"
Ye Tan didn't expect that this matter could be pushed to her, and couldn't help but say: "Others are vying for the right to name the child, why are you pushing it away? You should think of a name for your child yourself. If you really can't think of one, go back and discuss it with your sister-in-law."
Shan Qinghe was also a little dissatisfied and glared at Ye Yanlin secretly: "Think about it carefully."
Ye Yanlin went to think of a name in distress.
Ye Tan and Ye Jianguo asked if they wanted to go to their uncle's house. When Ye Jianguo heard her ask, he said, "Do you want to go?"
Ye Tan shook his head: "All those who got married today are going back to their parents' home. Will Erfeng be there too? I don't really want to go." Erfeng would see him, mainly because she didn't want to see Li Congjun.
"Then don't go. Aren't you leaving on the fifth day of the New Year? Time is tight and you can't make it. If I take my things over to the party, it will be like you've already been there."
Ye Jianguo had this plan, and when they were about to leave, Gu Zhao still said he wanted to go together.
"Xiao Tan, stay at home. Dad and I will go to see her." He naturally didn't care about these things, but he didn't want Ye Tan to be criticized by her family because of this.
Ye Jianguo took Gu Zhao and went to Ye Jianhui's house with a piece of cut pork leg and some fruits.
When they got there, they saw Erfeng there, but no sign of Li Congjun. Seeing that Ye Jianhui looked unhappy, Ye Jianguo didn't ask the reason. The two brothers sat down and talked for a while.
Ye Jianhui looked at Gu Zhao with a look of satisfaction on his face, and said that his cousin had found a good son-in-law, and his words were full of envy.
When he came back, he told Xu Huiling, "This Li Congjun is really outrageous. He didn't even come to visit my aunt on the second day of the New Year. I think Erfeng will have a hard time in the future."
Even now, Erfeng doesn't look very happy. She was sent to the hospital twice because of anger during her pregnancy. When she came back this time, the chubby person looked actually thinner.
Although Erfeng's weight gain was not obvious, she couldn't lose weight during pregnancy, so Ye Jianguo always felt that Erfeng was not doing well.
Following Ye Tan and Gu Zhao, they went to Ye Jianming's place. When they got there, his guests had not left yet and were drinking happily. When he saw them coming, Ye Jianming waved to Gu Zhao to sit down and have a drink together.
Gu Zhao looked at the two people sitting there and sat down without saying anything.
It was not easy to keep Ye Tan, a woman, so she told the two of them not to drink too much and then went back.
When Gu Zhao came back, it was already dark outside. Fortunately, he was not drunk and was able to go home without any problems.
After the second day of the Chinese New Year, Gu Zhao and Ye Tan went to Zhao Xiumei's house. Deputy Director Feng would talk a lot when he drank and loved to reminisce about the past.
Ye Tan heard a lot about him and Gu Zhao's father, and he even started crying while talking. He said that all his old friends had passed away one by one, and he was the only one left.
Later, Ye Tan learned from Zhao Xiumei that an old comrade of Deputy Director Feng from a previous regiment had died of illness that year, and he had been feeling very uncomfortable recently.
It is easy to get drunk when drinking when people are in a state of emotional ups and downs. Feng Xian cried and talked while drinking, and Gu Zhao accompanied him silently. Before Ye Tan and Zhao Xiumei finished their conversation, Feng Xian fell on the table and passed out drunk.
Gu Zhao helped Zhao Xiumei get the guy into bed, and then they said goodbye and went home. Gu Zhao was a little silent on the way, and Ye Tan felt that he was unhappy.
Is it because Deputy Director Feng mentioned his father that you miss your father?
Ye Tan didn't know how to comfort him in this situation and could only accompany him silently.
When he got home, Lin Qiuyun was not at home. She must have gone out to visit someone. After Gu Zhao entered the house, he leaned on the bed and looked through a photo album.
Next, Ye Tan did not go out. She changed into light clothes, took off her shoes and climbed onto the bed. Gu Zhao took the opportunity to reach out and hold her in his arms.
Ye Tan saw in the photo album a man with a faint smile, holding a child, and next to him stood a woman in her twenties, who was obviously Lin Qiuyun when she was young. Behind them was a familiar department store.
It was the first time that Ye Tan saw the photo of this father-in-law. She looked at his face carefully. The photo was black and white, and it was a bit distorted due to the age, but she could still see that the man's facial features were 65% similar to Gu Zhao's.
"This is a photo of me when I was four years old. He took my mom and me to the department store to buy clothes. We took the photo there. After taking the photo, he left and never came back. I found this photo later among his belongings."
Ye Tan hugged his waist, deliberately using some strength, as if this could pass on the power of comfort to him: "Dad looks like a gentle person."
Gu Zhao thought for a moment and said, "That should be the case. I only remember that he loved to laugh, but I don't remember much else." He was too young at the time. Most children at the age of four don't remember much, and the only impression he could recall of his father were some vague fragments from this photo.
Ye Tan looked at his gloomy brows. This man was missing his father, silently but deafeningly. She felt a little distressed and raised her chin to place a gentle kiss on his cheek: "Why don't we go see Dad? I haven't paid formal tribute to him yet." Time was tight when they got married, and they didn't have time to take care of this matter.
Gu Zhao was also a little moved after hearing this. He moved the hand that was hugging Ye Tan's back and said, "Dad's grave is in the cemetery outside the city. The road is not easy to walk to."
Ye Tan: "It's okay. If it's hard to walk, just walk slowly and take a look at the scenery outside the city. I'm tired of wandering around in this alley all day."
Gu Zhao: "Then tomorrow morning."
Gu Zhao was particularly well behaved that night. I don’t know if it was because he was going to visit his father and felt that he was being pure and unselfish.
Ye Tan got up early the next day and told Lin Qiuyun about his plan to go to the cemetery while having breakfast.
Lin Qiuyun paused while eating and said, "I need to prepare something. Wait for me to get it."
Lin Qiuyun got up and went to his room. A moment later, he returned with a black cloth bag. Inside was a roll of bright yellow paper money. He stuffed it into Gu Zhao's pocket and said, "When you get there, have a good chat with your father and let him see Xiao Tan. But don't stay too long. Be back before noon."
According to the older generation, noon is the time of day when yin and yang alternate and yang energy is at its strongest. The living should not be in the cemetery at this time to avoid disturbing the dead or causing bad luck.
After Lin Qiuyun gave her instructions, she watched the two of them leave and turned back to clean the table.
Gu Zhao rode a bicycle with Ye Tan all the way out of the city. The road outside the city was not easy to walk on, with potholes everywhere. When they reached the foot of the mountain, Ye Tan's butt was about to be broken.
Gu Zhao stopped the car, Ye Tan jumped out and twisted his waist, looking around, and found that the mountain was not high, but the trees grew very densely. When the sky warmed up, the scenery would definitely be great.
Ye Tan walked forward a few steps and found that there was a river flowing around the mountain below. Ye Tan didn't understand Feng Shui, but he thought that a place with mountains and water must be a good place.
Gu Zhao parked the bicycle, locked it to a willow tree with a chain, and walked up with Ye Tan.
The cemetery was halfway up the mountain. The two of them walked for twenty minutes in the wind. Ye Tan raised his hands to shield his eyes and looked out. The cemetery was in sight in the distance, surrounded by cypress trees. The wind blew, and the leaves swayed. It was quiet and peaceful.
When they arrived, they found that there were already people there. They were all people who came to visit their relatives after the Spring Festival. Everyone did not disturb each other and quietly accompanied their relatives.
Gu Zhao took Ye Tan to the left side of the second row. The three words "Gu Mingzhi" were engraved on the white tombstone, and next to it was the epitaph. Ye Tan read it and it was about the life of Gu Zhao's father.
Gu Zhao reached out and wiped the dust off the tombstone, sighing, "I haven't visited him in a long time, and my mother doesn't come often either, because she cries when she sees the tombstone and always gets sick when she goes back."
Lin Qiuyun did not remarry after her husband left. The two must have had a very good relationship. Who wouldn't be sad to see them separated by death when their love was at its strongest?
Ye Tan and Gu Zhao cleaned up the area around the cemetery and burned paper money. They said, "Let's kowtow to Dad. The next time we visit him will probably be at the end of the year."
Gu Zhao did not object. They both knelt down and kowtowed together. After standing up, he brushed the dust off Ye Tan's knees.
When he came, Lin Qiuyun asked him to talk to his father, but Gu Zhao was not a talkative person, and he and his father who passed away early did not have many common experiences to talk about. He was silent for a long time and just talked about trivial matters in daily life and his work experience.
Ye Tan stayed with him silently until 11 o'clock in the morning. Gu Zhao remembered his mother's words and did not stay any longer. Before leaving, Ye Tan bowed to the tombstone and went down the mountain with Gu Zhao.
On the fifth day of the New Year, the two packed their luggage, said goodbye to their families, and boarded the train to Lian Province.
Arriving on the island on the seventh day, the two immediately called home to report their safety.
It was Ye Yanlin who answered the phone on Ye Tan's side. As for Xu Huiling and Ye Jianguo, they both went to the hospital.
When Ye Tanchu heard this, he thought something had happened to his parents. After asking carefully, he found out that something had happened to Erfeng again. This time it was a serious problem. Erfeng had a miscarriage.
Ye Tan was dumbfounded and stunned for a long time before he uttered a word: "How could she have a miscarriage? Isn't she going to give birth in two or three months?"
Ye Yanlin also felt sad: "It seems that Li Congjun, that pervert, got drunk and came back to have an argument with Erfeng. They even got physical. Erfeng was pushed down by him and her stomach hit the table. That's it..."
Ye Yanlin also didn't like Erfeng. He had thought about having more children before, but he never thought that she would lose her child, and two of them. They were already seven months old. Who wouldn't feel sorry to hear that?
Ye Yanlin and Ye Tan scolded Li Congjun on the phone. In the hospital, Ye Jianguo was outside the operating room and heard Erfeng's heart-wrenching screams coming from inside. He was also in great pain.
Ye Jianhui on the side even had red eyes.
He held his head, feeling pain and regret in his heart. He had thought before that it would be better if Erfeng didn't exist, but that was just a thought. He didn't expect that she would really die. Ye Jianhui was so angry that he hammered the wall next to him, and the back of his hand was bleeding.
Ye Jianguo couldn't bear to watch it any longer and went over to hold him back, "Brother, stop torturing yourself. If you want to hate someone, you should find the right person. There's no point in torturing yourself."
When Ye Jianguo heard his brother's reminder, he remembered the instigator of this incident. He stood up suddenly, looked around, and asked sternly: "Where is that bastard Li Congjun? He hurt my daughter like this, I will not let him go!"
Ye Jianhui shouted and looked around but didn't see anyone.
Ye Jianguo was also puzzled. The Li family had clearly come together just now, so why were they all gone now?
Ye Jianhui's eyes were bloodshot and he clenched his fists and said, "He must have gotten away. What a bunch of bastards I raised in the Year of the Dog. The monk can run away but the temple cannot. I will eventually settle accounts with him."
The next moment, the door of the operating room opened from the inside, and Erfeng was pushed out. Beside her was Jinguihua, crying her heart out. She held Erfeng's hand tightly, looking at her daughter with lifeless eyes, and felt heartbroken beyond words.
When she saw Ye Jianhui, she immediately burst into tears and said, "The children are gone, two boys, with complete eyebrows and eyes... Oh, God, how can you be so cruel?"
As she spoke, her eyes rolled. She was about to scold Li Congjun to vent her anger, but after looking around, she couldn't see him. "Where's my son-in-law? Where did he go?"
Ye Jianhui: Furious: "What son-in-law? You don't have a son-in-law from today on. That guy who was raised in the Year of the Dog just heard that his child was dying, and the whole family ran away. What else can you expect from such a irresponsible person?"
Jin Guihua was also angry when she heard this, but she still hesitated: "What about Erfeng?"
Ye Jianhui: "What else can I do? I can't keep this man anymore. I'm going to divorce him and break up completely. I'm going to sue him!"
Ye Jianhui swore in his heart that he would not let Li Congjun go.
After returning home and settling Erfeng down, he started looking for someone to help.
After Li Congjun and his parents ran back home from the hospital, everyone around them heard that Li Congjun had caused his wife to have an abortion.
The whole family stayed at home and didn't dare go out, for fear that they would be pointed at if they showed their heads.
Father Li felt a pang of pain in his heart when he recalled the doctor's words at the hospital that the baby couldn't be saved, not to mention later hearing that it was two boys. He couldn't help but point at Li Congjun and curse: "Why can't you control yourself? You used to be such a decent person, how come you have become so careless, flirting with other women everywhere? Now look, the child is gone, and Ye Jianhui is suing you everywhere. How can you survive in this business in the future?"
Father Li felt sad for his lost grandson, but after all, he had not yet been born. He felt sad and regretful, but he was more worried about his son's future.
Mother Li thought about it and suddenly said, "Why don't we let Congjun go to her aunt's house to take shelter first, and come back in three months or six months. By then, there will be a few people here who still remember this matter."
Father Li remained silent and didn't say whether it was okay or not, so Mother Li looked at her son.
Li Congjun had been silent since running back from the hospital. When his mother told him to go out and hide, he took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a few puffs before saying quietly, "Will my aunt's family be willing to accept me? I'd rather go to Guangdong Province than go there. I heard it's more open and developed than here, and it's easier to make money there."
Father Li was stunned when he heard this and looked at Li Congjun: "You want to go to Guangdong Province?"
Li Congjun nodded and said casually, "Anyway, my reputation here is terrible. The grain station doesn't want me anymore, and it's hard to find other jobs. I might as well try my luck over there. Once I settle down, I'll take you all over to live there."
Li's mother: "Is it that easy to make money over there?"
Li Congjun actually didn't know much about it. He just heard others mention it when he was hanging out. They said it was a coastal city with developed trade and many foreigners doing business there. There were countless large shopping malls and restaurants, and you could make money by doing anything.
At that time, Li Congjun didn't take it seriously, but recently he often thought about what the man said.
He was very hesitant at the time, but now that he has lost his child, he has made up his mind to give it a try. He just needs capital. His own savings have been used up recently, and now he asks to see if his parents have any money.
Li's father asked him if he really planned to go. Li Congjun nodded, and he stood up to get the money he had saved over the years.
Li Congjun took it and counted it, which was only more than two hundred yuan. It was enough for food and drink but not enough to do anything.
Li Congjun looked at his mother again: "Mom, do you have any more?"
Li's mother shook her head and said with a wry smile: "You don't know me yet. I don't have any money at all." The husband manages the couple's money.
Li Congjun looked at his father again and asked doubtfully, "Is this the only savings our family has had in all these years?"
Father Li didn't look at him. He said in a grave tone, "We need money to live. I gave some of it to the widow because of your situation, so there's not much left. These are what I saved by living frugally. I originally planned to give them to my two children, but now they don't need them anymore. You can take them all."
Li Congjun understood that the family was really out of money, so he didn't say anything else. He put the money in his pocket, stood up and said, "Then you guys can rest. The Ye family probably won't be able to come over and make trouble today. I'm going to go out for a while."
Li Congjun left after saying that. The couple looked at each other in the room and sighed.
They couldn't understand why their good days suddenly turned out like this?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com