Yu Laojiu looked at Yu Sui steadily: "Yes, you didn't listen carefully. Where should I put the candy first and then where?"
Yu Sui actually had some guesses, but she pretended to understand nothing and slowly described: "This... Yu Zhu took it and put it in her pocket first, and then... she gave it to Old Octopus, and Old Octopus gave it to his grandson..."
"No." Yu Laojiu suddenly interrupted Yu Sui and began to shake his head, looking away: "Yu Er girl, forget it, I figured all this out by myself, I... forget it, I shouldn't talk nonsense, human life is at stake, I shouldn't talk nonsense."
Yu Sui began to confirm her guess with Yu Laojiu:
"Do you think that Old Octopus already has... rat poison in his pocket? So, after Yu Zhu gave Old Octopus some candy, and Old Octopus gave it to his grandson, that woman wouldn't want it anyway?"
Yu Laojiu's eyelids twitched, but he didn't look at Yu Sui. He just continued talking as if he were talking to someone else:
"All of this is just my own guesswork. Because that day, Yu Zhu dragged Old Octopus out of the factory. She told Yang Shuisheng to watch over Old Octopus and do her job, and then she left. As she left, she angrily dug the remaining candy out of Old Octopus's pocket, threw it on the table, and mixed it with other candies wrapped only in rice paper, waiting for me to wrap the outer layer of candy.
I was sitting at the table, and when she threw the candy at me, I felt some powder flying onto my face. Normally, powder is common in a food factory, but that day, when I wiped my face, I smelled… I smelled the smell of ammonium hydrogen titanate. I know that's what rat poison smells like."
Yu Sui was still immersed in what he had just said, and was furious: "How can the candy be brought back after it has already been taken out? This is too much! How can we guarantee food safety like this? Is she crazy?"
Yu Laojiu looked at her and lowered his head: "So, who would tell such a thing? If I didn't want to live, I wouldn't want to tell you either."
"You...!" Yu Sui looked at Yu Laojiu's dejected look and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I'm not blaming you. I know that when you work with them, you often listen to them."
Yu Laojiu: "Yu girl, this world has always been like this. The strong bully the weak, and the weak bully the weak. It has always been like this. Forget it, let's not talk about this. You promised me that you wouldn't tell anyone else what I said."
"Yes, I won't tell. I understand. You three, the packagers, all know that what you're doing is against the law, so you won't tell the police about it, right?"
"They must have been like that. I was really afraid that if I said something wrong, it would harm the factory and Zhang Caifeng, so I didn't dare to say it. But who knows, whether I said it or not, it would have had no effect on Zhang Caifeng, and she was arrested anyway."
Yu Sui was silent for a while and stood up from the ground.
Basically, now she already knew what happened: "One last question for you, Uncle Laojiu, how do you know that rat poison smells like titanate?"
Yu Laojiu raised his wrinkled hands and covered his face: "Because, I bought it."
"when?"
"Go to hell. My daughter-in-law hit me."
"What... do you want to do?"
"I want to die."
"Oh!" Yu Sui sighed heavily.
The room fell silent again.
After a long time, Yu Sui squatted down again:
"Uncle Laojiu, let me tell you something. I heard a big story out there. A certain place has secretly started implementing the household contract responsibility system, where they divide up the land among everyone and let them farm it themselves. It seems the higher-ups are already on board, so I estimate that in another month or two, this policy will spread all over the country. Then you'll have your own share of land, and you can grow and eat your own food. You can live on your own without having to worry about your son and daughter-in-law's mood. It'll happen quickly in a month or two."
Yu Laojiu stared at her blankly: "One or two hours? It's been too long. I don't even know if I can survive."
"You have to live hard. Zhang Caifeng hasn't come out yet. If she knew that she came out and you, the person she once took care of, were dead, she would be very sad."
"Alas!" Yu Laojiu sighed again, but nodded gently: "I understand. I will try my best to survive. Even if I tell you all this, can you get Zhang Caifeng out?"
"It's not that easy. Honestly, you know that your actions were truly irresponsible. Even if it was really because Old Octopus's daughter-in-law put rat poison in his pocket that accidentally caused this incident, it's ultimately because Zhang Caifeng didn't strictly control hygiene. She's still responsible. So I have to work with Secretary Zou to figure out how to get her out of this."
Yu Laojiu silently got up from the ground and sat on his shabby and simple bamboo bed.
His back was so arched that he climbed up with the same effort as an old turtle.
Yu Sui felt sad when she saw how old and frail he looked. Before leaving, she took out the five yuan and stuffed it under his pillow.
"Keep the money, don't push it around. Keep it for yourself, and occasionally buy some eggs at the market. Also, you said it yourself, this is how the world is. The strong will bully the weak, but who is born strong? It's because you've learned from others that you know it's right to be strong. Why can't you be strong? It's your own choice."
I heard that your eldest grandson is going to marry into a family soon. If you're willing, you can tell your son and daughter-in-law that if they treat you like this again, you can go and complain to them loudly, saying they don't support the elderly and don't respect you. And see if they still marry their son into a family!
Yu Laojiu's eyes widened: "I...will they beat me to death?"
Yu Sui sneered:
"Beat you to death? Then why don't you say it when there are many people around? If they dare to beat you in front of many people, doesn't it mean that what you said is right? You are shameless at home, and they dare to be shameless in front of your father? Then your son really doesn't want to marry you. At the very least, you can go to the brigade and find Secretary Zou to report this!"
Since they're being ruthless, you have to be even more ruthless than them. Perhaps your son and daughter-in-law treat you this way because you've given in time and time again? You're a century old, and you've figured out the whole story of the rat poison. It's impossible that you can't figure out all these things about your family.
Stop worrying about your so-called face. That thing can't feed you, nourish you, or support you in your old age. Isn't it you who have allowed others to treat you this way, time and again? If you had been tough from the beginning, why would it have come to this? But it's not too late now. There's an old saying that goes, "Those with bare feet are not afraid of those with shoes." If you're not even afraid of death, then they should be afraid of you. I'm leaving now. Think about it, don't live your life like a coward.
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