Mrs. Chu tightened her grip on the phone: "Well, everything is fine."
"Mom, my dad went to your place to celebrate the New Year this year. My brothers and sisters have a child to take care of, so they can't come back in time. I'm sorry to cause trouble for you and my eldest brother and sister-in-law.
Say hello to my elder brother and his wife for me. Xiaoci is there, so especially say thank you to my elder brother and his wife for their hard work.”
The daughter-in-law became more and more polite when speaking to her.
Well, just accept your fate, the bond with your son is gone.
Old Mrs. Chu nodded, squinted her cloudy eyes, looked at the family portrait hanging on the wall, and looked seriously at her youngest son Chu Hongchi in his military uniform.
Another year has passed in a flash.
Back then, the daughter-in-law did not stand up like other military wives, nor was she as hard-hearted as her.
Instead, he was like a psychopath, crying and yelling at her in the middle of the night: "Hong Chi asked me to bring him some clothes, Mom, he's cold!"
She knew that her daughter-in-law could no longer bear it mentally, so she let go of her and walked away.
It is said that the distance is tens of thousands of kilometers. Old Mrs. Chu didn't know how far it was. She just knew that a happy family was broken up and it had been several years since they left, leaving only the lonely Xiaoci.
"It's not a big deal. Jing'an, you're doing well too, right? You need to eat well and stay healthy."
…
When it was Chu Ci's turn to answer the phone, the old lady passed the phone over and over again, looking up at her little grandson and waiting, praying that Chu Ci could say a few words to her daughter-in-law. "If there is no father, there must be a mother. Xiao Ci, there is no mother who doesn't love her child."
Old Mrs. Chu was very sad. When Chu Ci refused to take it, she stretched out her arm and passed it to him, despite her age.
Compared to Chu Ci, she, a mother who had to bury her son before her, was not pitiful. She had been with her son for decades, but it was a hardship for the child.
Hong Chi was too busy and didn't leave any memories for Chu Ci.
Chu Ci took the phone under his grandmother's pleading gaze, while the person on the other end of the line had already asked repeatedly:
"Is that Xiaoci? Xiaoci? It's mommy, Xiaoci."
The boy, who was less than fourteen years old, stood straight beside the phone, looking out the window, pursing his lips and saying nothing.
Zhang Jing'an held the phone in one hand and the necklace around her neck with the other, speechless and choked.
Although Chu Ci didn't respond, she knew her son must be listening. As if admitting her mistake, she coaxed Chu Ci repeatedly:
"Mom will definitely return to China next year. I've applied, and this time I'm really going back to stay with you, only you.
My son is learning English, and in the blink of an eye you are in junior high school.
Ah, your grandpa said you don’t know foreign languages. It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter, son. If you don’t want to learn, then don’t learn. Wait for mom to teach you when she goes back.
You just need to be fine, be fine.
Xiaoci, please say one word to me, just one word, Mom is begging you."
Chu Ci heard his mother crying over there, her eyes reddened, and she was so emotional that she couldn't help but purse her lips together. Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore and shouted in her hoarse voice:
"You're really annoying, don't you know? If you want to come back, just come back. You called me crying on New Year's Eve, and my grandparents couldn't stand it. Can you please be more understanding?"
Zhang Jingan paused in her tears, raised her tearful eyes, and said, "Ah, Xiaoci, is that you? Did you talk to Mom?"
Chu Ci rubbed his face vigorously with his sleeve, too lazy to answer his mother's nonsense, and hung up the phone with a click. When he looked up at Old Lady Chu again, tears fell from his eyes again, and he shouted angrily:
"Why are you crying?!"
Old Mrs. Chu had a complicated expression.
There were traces of tears on her cheeks, and her eyes were full of tears, but she was smiling. She looked at her little grandson and replied in a clear voice after a long absence:
"Why should I cry?"
She finally had expectations for the new year and told herself: Don’t look down on being eighty, I must live well and strive to live to ninety-eight.
…
Sweet and sour spare ribs, braised pig's trotters, braised pork slices, boiled pork with sauerkraut, large rice noodles with sesame sauce, candied sweet potatoes, pork jelly with garlic sauce, stewed chicken with mushrooms, stewed pork with vermicelli, and braised three scales.
Bi Yue was like a little maid, bringing dish after dish to the table.
The outer kitchen was filled with the smell of breath from opening and closing doors. Snow was falling in the yard, but the aroma of food was everywhere in the house.
Liu Yafang had a square piece of floral cloth tied around her head to cover her hair, and a blue cloth apron wrapped around the front.
She was busy from morning till night just to prepare this table of dishes. She was so tired that she seemed unable to straighten her back, but she kept busy and chattering with a smile on her face.
The ten dishes on the Bi family's dining table symbolized perfection, which amazed Bi Sheng.
Bi Sheng no longer felt any pain in his head or buttocks. He sat on the kang and watched the dinner begin.
That kid got up this morning and insisted that he had a cold. Bi Tiegang scolded him and tried to find him some pills, but he protested:
"What medicine should I take for a headache or fever? It's not good to take medicine during the New Year. Just take some canned food to deal with it."
I ate two bottles of canned yellow peaches in a row, and now I feel hungry again when I look at the vegetables.
Bi Yue picked up the chopsticks and found that her mother had not yet come to the table. Finally, she showed some attentiveness as a daughter and went downstairs to put on her shoes and invite her.
"Mom, can you wait until after dinner to clean up? As soon as the table is served, you wipe here and there. This habit needs to be changed. Tell me, are they waiting for you or not? Come on, come in and eat."
Liu Yafang sniffed her nose. She was freezing from opening and closing the door.
"I'm just using the lid to keep it warm so it's easier to wipe. Okay, come inside and eat, and stop nagging me."
Bi Yue simply didn't know how to say nice things properly. She wasn't complaining, she was just feeling sorry for Liu Yafang. She wanted to help with the housework and cooking, but her mother didn't trust her.
How can I not feel bad? I really feel attached to her.
During this period, Liu Yafang used her rough hands to warm her feet, and always put a cotton jacket on the quilt in advance. She was used to crawling into Liu Yafang's quilt when the kang became cold in the second half of the night.
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