Chapter 58 Anxin's heartfelt wishes.
Zhong Qiushou drank himself to death.
This was the official explanation, and no one in the Tonggan production team doubted it. After all, only Zhong Ying and Zhong Ni were present when Zhong Qiushou died. If he didn't drink himself to death, how could those two girls have killed him? One was his own daughter, and the other was his own niece—how could that be!
No one would have imagined that Zhong Qiushou was killed by his wife, who had been dead for seventeen years.
The most logical and acceptable explanation is that someone drinks themselves to death.
As the saying goes, "When a person dies, the tea cools." Zhong Qiushou's funeral arrangements were bleak, clearly revealing his estranged family ties and lack of friends after his death.
Zhong Qiushou had few friends in the production team. Who would dare to associate with someone who dared to harm even his own brother's child?
Eighteen years ago, they broke off their relationship, and even blood relatives had become like strangers. Upon hearing the news of his elder brother's death, Zhong Chunsheng remained silent for a long time, while Deng Xia was elated and even secretly complained to Zhong Ying.
“What goes around comes around! That old scoundrel is finally dead. If your brother hadn’t been alright back then, I would have fought him to the death! Would he still be alive at this age?” Deng Xia said fiercely.
Zhong Ying couldn't help but secretly grumble to herself, "Why did he have to mess with a mother of all people? Zhong Qiushou has targeted the child once and twice. He's the dragon's reverse scale; touching it means certain death. He deserves to die."
In the end, only Zhong Ni and her brother Zhong Shuanzhu could not hide their grief at the funeral. Zhong Ni, in particular, cried her heart out, which moved the villagers who were watching to tears. They sighed in their hearts, thinking that Zhong Ni was a filial and good daughter!
Liu Guangtian supported his wife, who was crying so hard she was exhausted. He felt a surge of guilt. The traditional homecoming banquet had turned into a final farewell. If he had been more eloquent and persuaded his father-in-law to drink less, would this tragedy have been avoided?
Only Zhong Ni herself knows what she is crying about and for whom she is crying.
She cried because the father she had longed for for twenty years was actually a hideous demon in human skin; she cried because her mother, who had died when she was young, had never left her; she cried because her mother had lost the chance to be reborn as a human because of her…
A myriad of emotions swirled within Zhong Ni, leaving her unsure of what to do or how to express her distress. All she could do was wail and cry.
In just a few days, Zhong Ni lost a lot of weight, and the spirit of a new bride was completely gone. She knew she shouldn't think like this, but she couldn't control it. The thought, like the ebb and flow of the tide, kept resurfacing in her mind.
Zhong Ni felt that she was the one who harmed her mother. If it weren't for her, her mother would have been reincarnated long ago, instead of staying in the human world for more than ten years because of her, and in the end, she could only be reborn as an animal in her next life.
If only she weren't here...
I wish she had died young like her two older brothers...
If she had a choice, Zhong Ni would rather she never have existed in the first place, so that her mother could have a good ending.
Until Zhong Ying came to find her.
Zhong Ying, carrying a wicker basket, looked at the emaciated Zhong Ni with mixed feelings and silently handed her the basket.
Zhong Ni mechanically took it, and the scraps of cloth covering the basket were pushed aside. Her lifeless eyes widened immediately after seeing what was inside. It was a little yellow puppy that had just been born. As if she had thought of something, Zhong Ni quickly turned her head to look at her cousin.
Li Lin brought the puppy back early in the morning, and he repeated what Niu Tou had said when he handed it to him.
"After all, someone was really killed, so there has to be some punishment. He'll be reborn as an animal for one lifetime, but he can be reborn as a human in the next life."
“We really did treat them leniently. Otherwise, there are plenty of animals that would be slaughtered at will, or rats that everyone hates… Why not live their whole lives as pigs, sheep, and chickens, or rats that everyone wants to kill?”
"Wherever she is, she's a gatekeeper and a guard. I think if she could, she would prefer to come back here."
Zhong Ying nodded, confirming Zhong Ni's guess, "Take good care of it."
Tears instantly filled Zhong Ni's large eyes. She nodded repeatedly, her words tumbling out incoherently, "I will, I will..."
Zhong Ying reached out and patted the little yellow dog's head, wishing it a happy and peaceful life before starting anew.
A heartfelt wish.
——
The death of a person is like a sudden downpour. When the rain stops, the ground is wet, but as time goes by, the ground will eventually dry out.
Just like the Tonggan Production Team, which has resumed its peaceful life, everything is the same as before, except that there is one more grave among the many graves on the hillside of Yingshan.
After work that day, Zhong Ying strolled back to her parents' home, carrying a net full of fish.
As soon as he entered the house, Zhong Chunsheng saw the fish his daughter was carrying and couldn't help but ask in surprise, "When did you catch these fish in the river?"
Not long ago, the people who had been working in the fields had gone home to rest. Zhong Chunsheng had just returned home and washed his face when his daughter caught a bag full of fish. And fish are not so easy to catch.
Although the Tonggan production team was right next to the Ganlin River, when there was no food or water, wild vegetables and tree bark could be served on the table. Naturally, the fish in the river could not escape either, but it would take more effort and strength.
In contrast to her father's surprise, Zhong Ying remained calm, "Oh, your son-in-law gave it to me."
Zhong Chunsheng, "..."
Clearly, Li Linshi's attempts to please his father-in-law did little to improve his image in Zhong Chunsheng's eyes. Zhong Chunsheng still had a very bad impression of him. This deadbeat who forced his daughter to marry him and live a life of widowhood for him, Zhong Chunsheng would rather starve to death than eat his food.
The pancakes, golden brown and crispy, were rolled with fried small white fish—a rare treat of meat in a farmer's daily life. Yet, Zhong Chunsheng didn't touch them at all, only silently picking up the plate of stir-fried cabbage in front of him, his disdain quite obvious.
Li Linshi, who was taking the blame, looked at Zhong Ying with a deep gaze.
Zhong Ying pretended not to see it and continued to roll up the fried white fish in the pancake, which she ate with relish.
He was also considered a "thief" by his mother-in-law.
After the meal, Deng Xia pulled Zhong Ying aside and asked her the same old questions in private: "You didn't let him touch you, did you?" and "Don't let him get involved in anything shady"... It was like she was guarding against a thief.
Zhong Ying was at a loss for words. She didn't know how to tell her mother that she was the one being guarded against. Her mother allowed her to kiss but not touch her, and even if the kiss was fierce, she could resist taking it any further.
Feeling helpless and unable to express her grievances, Zhong Ying slipped away and ran out of the house to talk to her sister-in-law.
After washing the dishes, Miao Suyun played with her son in the yard. When Zhong Ying came over, she saw the two of them squatting side by side on the ground. Zhong Guoqiang was holding a wooden stick in his little hand and writing his name on the ground.
“This is ‘country’, this is ‘strong’,” Little Guoqiang said in his childish voice as he wrote.
Miao Suyun also held a wooden stick and, imitating her son's movements, drew on the ground.
Zhong Ying walked over and took a look. Miao Suyun copied the characters and actually wrote them all correctly. "Sister-in-law, if you're willing to learn, you can go to the nursery to attend classes when you have time."
Miao Suyun instinctively refused, as if she had heard something funny, "What would I do there? Isn't that a place for teaching children? I'm an adult."
“Learning knows no age limit; it’s never too late to start,” Zhong Ying said casually. “Recently, the older children in kindergarten started learning to write their own names, and the younger children all followed suit.”
Zhong Guoqiang, a student in the small class, nodded vigorously in agreement, confirming that what his aunt said was true.
"Erni and her two younger sisters, as well as Xiao Ximei from the Liu family, would rush to the nursery whenever they had a spare moment... Yang Zhiqing was overjoyed; she couldn't wait for more people to come and learn to read and write with her."
Zhong Ying wasn't exaggerating; she was telling the truth. After focusing all her energy on production in the fields, Yang Meijuan also put in a lot of effort on the new path of rural development, eager to make everyone in the Tonggan production team literate, so as not to let down her glorious identity as an "educated youth."
According to Zhong Ying, it probably won't be long before the senior classes in nurseries turn into literacy classes.
However, she was happy to see it happen; it was a good thing.
Zhong Ying then continued to persuade her sister-in-law, "Don't feel embarrassed about learning to read with these little ones. What's wrong with that? If you want to learn, then learn. Learning is not something shameful. Is it more troublesome to learn to read or not to read? Not being able to read is like being completely in the dark. You can't read letters or read quotations."
Miao Suyun was persuaded by her, "Then, then I'll go listen when I have time."
Zhong Guoqiang jumped up and down with joy, "Mom will come with me tomorrow! We'll study together!"
Miao Suyun smiled as she watched her son excitedly jumping around the yard. After a while, her smile faded slightly, and she looked hesitantly at Zhong Ying, saying that she had been worried about something lately, "...We haven't received any letters from your brother in the past two months."
Zhong Ying was surprised. If you do the math, then isn't the letter Zhong Cheng sent back last time the "shouting letter" he sent her?
This is indeed unusual. Zhong Cheng is actually a very family-oriented person. Since joining the army, he has sent letters home almost every month, writing down all sorts of things. Zhong Ying once complained to herself, "This guy is writing letters like a diary."
It was indeed unsettling that I hadn't received his "diary" home for two months.
Zhong Ying frowned, but communication was inconvenient at the moment. When one party lost contact, it was as if the other had vanished into thin air, and it was very difficult to get any news from them again.
Moreover, this era is not one where the country is strong and powerful in the future, and the nation is not to be violated. Right now, the country is still a "child," and the international situation is one of the strong bullying the weak. It is not so peaceful. Zhong Ying suddenly seemed to wake up from her peaceful life. The joy she once felt when she received the liberation shoes and green satchel vanished, leaving only worry for her brother.
For the first time, Zhong Ying truly understood the meaning of a saying she had once read: "All the peace and tranquility we enjoy is because someone is bearing the burden for us."
She lived a peaceful and idyllic farming life in the village, and her family's life in the production team was much better than before because of her military dependent status. However, her brother had encountered some kind of hardship outside, and there had been no news of him for two months.
Zhong Ying's mood suddenly became heavy.
At that moment, she suddenly understood those who prayed to gods and Buddhas. Sometimes, when people are at a loss and powerless, they really need some spiritual comfort. They are not asking for gods, but for peace of mind.
Despite her anxiety, Zhong Ying tried to appear calm and reassured Miao Suyun, "Perhaps the letter was lost on the way, or maybe my brother has been too busy lately, just like me a while ago, he was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as he got home. Don't worry too much, sister-in-law, the Mountain Goddess is here to protect him, my brother will be fine."
Miao Suyun trusted her sister-in-law completely, "Then we'll find some time another day to go and offer incense, praying to the Mountain Goddess to protect your brother and keep him safe while he's away..."
As they were talking, someone suddenly knocked on the Zhong family's door and called out to them before anyone could open it.
"Yingnier, something's happened!" It was Li's eldest sister-in-law Tian Mei's voice outside the door. "Mancang's wife has fainted, and her condition doesn't look good. Father sent me to find you and told you to go and check on her quickly!"
Zhong Ying was startled. She heard Tian Mei's anxious voice from next door and opened the courtyard gate almost at the same time as Zhong Ying.
Nie Ying anxiously pressed, "What's wrong with my Dani?"
"I suddenly fainted while washing clothes by the river," Tian Mei said, also panicked and quite frightened. "I woke up for a short while, but then I vomited, and now I'm unconscious again!"
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