CHAPTER 6
Li Xia didn’t know how to explain to the child. Grandma’s disease had spread all over her body, and the doctor said she could die at any time. She might be talking to you one minute, and then she’d roll her eyes and die the next.
If this happened at night, she was afraid that it would scare the child, but she couldn’t explain it directly.
”Huihui, listen to mom. You and your sister go sleep over there, and let mom stay with grandma.”
The old lady obviously knew why she came, and she explained to her grandson. The little guy knew that his grandmother was seriously ill, and he was reluctant to leave his dearest relative. Hearing this, he ran to the edge of the kang, took his grandmother’s hand, and asked quietly why.
”I can also help you pour water and get things. I want to be with grandma.”
She had been raising the little guy since he was born, and her grandson was her lifeblood. She touched the child’s head lovingly and smiled to comfort the child.
”Grandma has something to tell your mom tonight, and we need to have a private conversation. So just go with your sister and don’t get in the way here.”
”Oh, okay.”
This child is really well behaved. This is the conclusion Li Xia came to after these few days of contact. The neighbors also said so. But Li Xia took care of Shen Haiyang every day. The more she looked at him, the more she felt that the suspect in the newspaper in the previous life who was murderer was a bit like him.
Is it all just a coincidence?
With this question in mind, she laid out the bedding for the two children and arranged for them to sleep, then went to the side room to chat with the old lady. As they chatted, they came to the place where Shen Hui’s biological mother came from. When she mentioned this, the old lady sighed.
”At the beginning, they were in love relationship. Many of her sisters had to go to the countryside, but she stayed because Haiyang found a job for her. Soon after they got married, they had Huihui. She was very impatient with the child. I thought it was because of her young age, but later when Haiyang got into trouble, she divorced and left…
I cooked and took care of the child for many years after they got married. I thought I would have a daughter. I treated her well and she would treat me well in the future. Who would have thought that once something happened to Haiyang, she would divorce and leave so quickly, not even caring about Huihui. “
”what is her name?”
”Murong Danling.”
Oh my god, it matches. The news didn’t mention the specific name, but it did mention the surname. It couldn’t be such a coincidence that everything fits perfectly.
”What’s wrong? Why are you suddenly silent?”
”Nothing.” She quickly calmed down, thought for a moment and continued the conversation. “Where is she now? Why haven’t I seen her before?” “Is she still working in the union?”
The old lady sighed, “She left more than a year ago, and I haven’t seen her since. Huihui would ask about it before, but now he doesn’t mention it anymore.”
Li Xia was silent. She felt that she had not raised her own children well, and now she had multiple stepchildren who might be like this. How should she raise these children in the future? While she was worrying about this, the old lady thought of another thing.
”Do you miss your son? If so, go see him, or you can let him come here. No matter how much you hate that man, don’t take it out on your child.”
”without,”
She said this word in a confused manner, not knowing whether she missed her son or hated the man. The old lady said so much to her just to put herself in other people’s shoes, and not to blame the child for everything, as the child was young and innocent.
The old lady fell asleep in a daze. She looked out the window for a long time before closing her eyes. She was awakened by groaning in the night. It was the old lady who couldn’t bear the pain. She quickly went to get her some painkillers. After taking a lot, she fell asleep again.
The old lady couldn’t get out of the field these days, and all the neighbors in the courtyard knew about this. The next day, Li Xia found that her neighbor to the east was actually using a cart to bring in bricks, each of which was neat and new.
”Why are you carrying these bricks? Why are they piled up under my window?”
”Build a room. I’m getting married and there’s no room for me. The company said it would give me some money but now it doesn’t. I can only do it myself to make ends meet.”
The neighbor to the east has two sons. This man, Liu Biao, is the second oldest. The eldest is married and lives in the east wing with his parents and sister. Li Xia felt something was wrong. Could this guy be planning to build a room outside the east wing for himself? As expected, she guessed right. This guy really planned to build a house here.
”You can’t build this house.”
”Why can’t I build it? It’s right under my window. I can build it if I want. Haven’t you seen how many people are building it in the yard? It’s none of your business.”
The boy had a thick back and big eyes that looked very fierce. Huihua was afraid that her mother would be beaten, so she ran over and held her mother’s hand. Li Xia smiled and comforted the child first, then winked at Shen Hui to take his sister away. The little boy was very sensible and coaxed his sister to go away. The two of them stood at the door of their main room.
”Other people have at most occupied a public passage, and usually it’s behind someone else’s house.” Li Xia said as she stretched out her hand to stop him from building a house in this location.
”Your window is right in front of the east window of my main room. If you build a small house here, the light to the east of my house and the light to the side room will be completely blocked. Moreover, the road to the side room has already been blocked by you, leaving only a narrow strip, and the side room has no light at all and has become a small dark room. How can this have nothing to do with me? Who would allow others to build a house right under their windows?”
”Hey, originally your mother-in-law was throwing a tantrum and not letting us build it, and now you’re stopping it again. This is really like family members living together, only caring about yourself and not caring about others. Your house is spacious and can accommodate a large number of people, so you don’t care about us, right? I don’t care about you too, I want to get married and I want to build a house.”
”If you want to build a house, please find another place. You are not allowed to build it in the passageway of my house or in front of my window.”
”I, I’m going to do it, let’s see what you can do to me.”
During this period, illegal construction was rampant in the shantytowns, and the housing management department did not have clear regulations prohibiting this, so they did not enforce it strictly. When they came, they just tried to persuade them, and sometimes they did not come at all, and people continued to build after they left. Li Xia knew this, and she did not even think of calling the housing management staff.
”I’m standing right here. Do you have the guts to pile cement, sand and bricks on me?”
Facing the burly man, this woman was not afraid at all. Liu Biao was helpless and could not bring in bricks because of her blocking him. When the two were about to fight, Liu Biao’s mother came out to separate them.
”Shen’s wife, you can’t do this. You can’t just ignore us because we have no place, when you have a place to live, right?”
”It’s not my responsibility that you don’t have a house to get married. You should go find your boss. I’m in the Shen family, and I have to maintain the house in the same condition. You want to take my things, but I can’t let you bully me.”
”You daughter-in-law, why are you so ruthless with us?”
”Am I being ruthless?” Li Xia pointed at the house and two children behind her, and said to the crowd with a wry smile, “There is a old and sick, a disabled and two small children in our family, all of us are weak. Liu family, you want to build a house to block my passage and my windows, and I just come out to stop you. So how come I am being ruthless? It’s you Liu family, bullying our family of weak and orphan.”
As she spoke, her mouth trembled with grievance, her face full of pain. The two children came to stand beside their mother, crying pitifully. Well, this time the weak and orphan were portrayed vividly. The public began to pity them and no longer supported the Liu family.
”This courtyard is different from other places. Their is a side courtyard, and the house is cramped, not as big as the main courtyard over there. Your house completely blocks these people’s space, which is really inappropriate.”
The neighbor in the west room said, “I just knew that the yard was too small and never thought about it. Otherwise, if you had built it like this under my windows, and the windows and doors of the main room would have to be sealed.”
”The yard is too small. It can’t compare to the big yard over there. You can’t learn from others.”
Although the public opinion was in favor of Li Xia and her family, Liu Biao had already bought the bricks and tiles, so how could he let the matter go? He waved his hand and refused to listen to the advice, still carrying bricks in.
Li Xia stood in front of the flatbed truck and refused to let him in. The two of them were fighting silently. Liu Biao’s mother raised her hand and moved a few bricks inside, then scolded her family.
”Why are you standing there? If she doesn’t allow us to push the cart in, then we’ll just use people to move it in.”
As the Liu family members were about to start, Li Xia saw the right moment and stepped aside, and Liu Biao could not hold back and rushed straight in. Some of the Liu family members who were moving bricks were crushed by the wheels of the cart, and some were scratched by the side of the cart. Liu Biao himself fell on the cart due to inertia, and the bricks made his mouth taste rusty. When he opened his mouth and spat out a tooth and blood.
”Ah,” the man was furious, looking at Li Xia and about to hit her. Li Xia had expected this, and had just signaled the child to go home. At this moment, she also turned around and went home, closed the door and packed it.
”Get out here, I won’t let you go.”
”What does your falling have to do with me?”
Li Xia spoke with tears in her voice. She sounded pitiful, innocent and wronged when she questioned him. Huihua was stunned. She thought her mother was going to pick up a knife and fight with others, but she just showed weakness again and again.
”Don’t bully us. You rely on your Liu family’s large numbers to bully us orphans and weak. Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning for doing this?”
The act of closing the door is to avoid, the orphan and the widow hide inside, and the burly man outside is ferocious. Although Liu Biao’s forehead was cut and the corner of his mouth was bleeding, everyone thought he was bullying. He could do nothing but watch, so he went back to move bricks in anger.
If you don’t believe me, I’m going to build a house today. You can hide if you want.
He pushed the cart out, and Li Xia walked out of the house. She picked up a brick from the yard and stood in the middle, her chest heaving violently with anger, as if she had been pushed to the extreme and could no longer bear it.
”Liu family, you are bullying me so much, let’s fight to the death today. As long as I, Li Xia, am here, you can never block the doors and windows of my house.”
The passage was not as spacious as before, and the lighting was worse, which made her sound as if she was blocking their house into a grave. Liu Biao’s mother tried to pull her away, but she raised her hand and threw her aside. Just now she was weak flower, and in the blink of an eye she became strong man. Her arms were very strong from years of farm work. In order to earn more work points, she did all the work of men, and her arms were full of muscles.
”I’m telling you, don’t try to bully us weak people. If you provoke me, I’ll trade you for my entire family. I’d rather die than live on, but don’t even think about blocking my house.”
A simple dispute over building a house to block out the sun made her shout like she was breaking out of a desperate situation on the battlefield. She shouted at the top of her lungs, and before Liu Biao came over with his cart, she rushed over and hit him on the forehead with a brick. The man’s head immediately started bleeding, and everyone quickly arranged to send him to the hospital.
The Liu family members were busy with other things. She clapped her hands and piled the red bricks they had pulled in onto the cart. “Huihua, Huihui, come and help.”
The mother and her two children worked together, and the neighbors who were watching were dumbfounded and didn’t know what was going on. The red bricks were quickly cleared away, and soon the Liu family returned, along with the police from the police station.
This time, Li Xia turned into weak again. She cried silently when she saw the police and nodded obediently to admit that she was the one who beat Liu Biao.
”We are an family having old, sick and a vegetative husband with no one to stand up for us, and he bullied us by building a house right under my window. Policeman, tell me, why did he want to build a house right under my window? He also wanted to beat us. If we hadn’t dodged quickly, we three would be lying down now.”
”Hey, you are confusing right and wrong. Where did our family beat you? And who built a house under your window? It’s obviously under my window.”
The east window of the main room and the north window of the east wing, were too close to each other. After listening to what the two families said, the police mediated the situation and said not to build a house.
”This place is too small. If you build a house here, it will definitely block other people’s lighting and passages. No one would be happy about that.”
Liu Biao’s injury was bandaged for a few cents, and the rest was fine. The attitude of the police and the housing management office was to not allow the house to be built again, and the Liu family was anxious and had no idea what to do.
When it comes to public management, they can act first and ask for permission later. They can do nothing about building a house. But now that Li Xia has made such a fuss, the house cannot be built, whether in public or private.
”Then I got beaten for nothing?”
”If you don’t bully others, will they beat you?”
This period was different from later times. There were no specific regulations on compensation for disputes, and people did not have the concept of suing for hospitalization fee. As long as nothing serious happened, the government would basically mediate. When comparing the two families, one family had strong people and the other had old and sick people , it went without saying that he must have bullied the other too harshly. Besides, his injury was not serious, so the mediation was over.
The housing management and police officers left, warning him not to build any more houses. The Liu family had worked in vain, and returned all the bricks, tiles, prefabricated panels they had bought.
Li Xia went to the kitchen to cook and then went inside to take care of the old lady. The old lady heard the commotion outside from inside. The Liu family had this idea before, but the neighbors knew that she would definitely not allow it. When she got old, she just sat on the ground and they had no way to deal with it. They were waiting for her to die, so that she couldn’t stop them.
”Not bad, you can hold the door.”
Li Xia smiled and said: “That’s right, we can’t let people bullying us. If the passages and windows are blocked, what will become of our house? If we can’t stop the east, the west will also start to make plans. Then we won’t be able to live in this house.”
”Be careful when you do that. Don’t hurt anyone. If you hurt someone, you’ll have to pay compensation at best, or you might go to jail at worst.”
”Yes, I hit him right on the forehead. This is the strongest part, so usually it will just bleed and break the skin, nothing serious will happen.”
The daughter-in-law is quite capable and can handle both public and private affairs. The old lady let out a long sigh and felt that she had chosen the right person. As she was comforting her, she looked up and saw her cousin-in-law and his wife coming in with a big net bag in their hands.
