To help Yuanyuan's goose egg-shaped hairline disappear, Sister Miao found a folk remedy from her hometown: "Just apply some tea oil."
If a child falls or bumps themselves, just apply some homemade tea oil.
It wasn't anything expensive, but Sister Miao called her niece with great interest and asked, "Could you get a small bottle from your mother-in-law?"
Based on their long-standing relationship of "borrowing" from each other, Sun Lifang felt that getting a small bottle of oil wouldn't be difficult.
When Sister Miao made the phone call, she was very happy. She winked at Sun Lifang and said smugly, "It will still come in handy, right?"
"I told you, they are not bad people. Family members are the closest people in the world."
Oh, what a statement! Sun Lifang usually doesn't want to argue with her.
Miao's niece readily agreed, "What is it that you're talking about, Aunt? It's just a small bottle of oil. Even if I don't have any at home, I'll ask someone to get it for you."
ask for help?
With the hands-free speaker on, Sun Lifang immediately sensed something was wrong.
Sure enough, Sister Miao's niece started playing the victim, saying, "Business has been bad this year. It rained heavily, and the tea trees were flooded for four seasons. We haven't even paid for the seeds yet."
On a cloudy day with heavy rain, even those plants that survived had their roots rotten from the rain.
Sun Lifang felt terrible after hearing what Miao Jie's niece had said. "I could tell she was just trying to gain sympathy. How much is a jar of oil worth?"
They talked for so long, as if they had received a great debt of gratitude.
But the old woman is different. Sister Miao came from a farming background, working the land from dawn till dusk, and she knows how hard it is to grow crops.
Hearing my niece say that, I can already imagine the scene of "planting hundreds of acres, planting one tree after another, only to get nothing in return and have the plants rot on the ground".
Sitting on the ground, I wanted to cry but couldn't.
"The land is rented from someone else. They said they didn't need to pay for the seeds. They came to help when we were planting the seedlings, and now we're going to help them."
It's like exchanging work for work; people in rural areas often do this.
"Oh, that's difficult. You all need to take care of yourselves." Sister Miao felt sorry for her niece.
It's already so difficult, yet they still want to "find someone to borrow a jar of oil and send it to you."
Feeling upset, Sister Miao hung up the phone with tears welling up in her eyes. She sat on the sofa, staring at one spot without saying a word.
Her nose and eyes were red; she looked like she wanted to cry.
Sun Lifang handed her a tissue, and seeing this, she didn't know what to say.
With something on her mind, Sun Lifang finally found a moment to speak.
She asked Sister Miao, "You're not thinking of retiring and going back to your hometown, are you?"
If even her nephews and nieces can't make ends meet, what consequences could there be for Sister Miao, this "rich woman," going back with most of her life savings?
With a ton of worries on her mind, Sun Lifang would just say whatever came to mind.
"I won't stand on ceremony with you. I'll just say what I have to say. Just think I'm young and don't understand how you old people behave."
"People naturally want to go to places of peace and stability, but you insist on creating trouble and problems for yourself. What's the point?"
Upon hearing this, Sister Miao sniffed, looked at Sun Lifang, and said, "You don't understand."
You kids are so naive.
"We should learn to be tolerant." This is a phrase that Sister Miao often says.
She felt that Sun Lifang was too extreme, saying, "Your generation is not tolerant. We are all family, why distinguish between you and me? Being too calculating will hurt feelings."
Sun Lifang had said this before, but now that it's being brought up again, she's still completely baffled. "How was I being extreme?"
"You're at a disadvantage, can't you see that?"
Miao Jie's relatives have been taking advantage of her all along.
When children come to Shanghai, they ask her for money to buy clothes and shoes, stay in guesthouses, and play with them.
After everything was done, we still had to give each child a red envelope to take home.
How much money does Sister Miao make in a year, including taking food and gifts?
This whole thing wiped out several months' worth of wages.
But Sister Miao never seemed to care. Every time Sun Lifang brought it up, she would say, "Don't be so particular. They only want money because they're short of it."
"The children have never traveled far from home. They came to visit their elder, and I just wanted to make them happy."
Why are you all all lovey-dovey and acting all stiff?
Sister Miao is a generous person, but Sun Lifang feels that she cannot be as open-minded as her.
"Perhaps it's because times have changed. I'm getting old, so naturally I have to look back and exchange value with people."
They use money to buy the affections of their descendants, hoping to maintain a kinship.
"And you are still young, you want to look forward, and you don't want to be held back, right?"
To Sun Lifang's surprise, Sister Miao saw it very clearly.
"Of course I know they're after my money."
But, "If they're not after money, what else could they possibly want from me?"
At this point, Sister Miao suddenly smiled, gently patted the baby's head in her arms, and sighed almost imperceptibly.
"It's better not to be too clear-headed; a little bit of ignorance is better."
Sun Lifang felt as if her heart had been struck by a heavy hammer; she had never heard such words before.
"Sober" here is not a positive term, but rather a neutral one.
No one taught Sun Lifang this, and she has always lived a very clear-headed life.
"Maybe it's because of the age difference; you wouldn't trade feelings for money, or money for feelings."
With a smile, Sister Miao picked up the sleeping baby from her arms, stood up, and left with the words, "But I will."
At her current age, Sun Lifang probably still can't quite understand why someone would be after her house and money.
Being schemed against is never a pleasant experience.
However, she has already come to understand the concept of equivalent exchange between adults.
Just as Sister Miao said, "Life is divided into stages, and the experience of our predecessors is wisdom."
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