CHAPTER 8
She took the foreign exchange certificates and deposit slips home to show them to the old lady and explained everything to her. She was worried about how to tell the old lady that it would be more cost-effective to use the money to buy real estate in the future. Otherwise, life would get better and better in the future, but the currency would become less and less valuable, and it would be too much of a loss to deposit it in the bank.
”Mom, I’m thinking of using Haiyang’s share of the money to buy a house. It will be valuable when I sell it in the future, or I can rent it out to make a living. What do you think?”
The old lady was silent for a while and said, “I’ll listen to you. I’ll keep Huihui’s portion for him to use in the future, and you can handle Haiyang’s portion.”
The old lady thought carefully, and Li Xia nodded and smiled. “Mom, are you really not afraid that I will lose money if I mess around?”
”You are the daughter-in-law of the Shen family. I picked you myself. I trust you.”
”The deposit is in the name of their father and son, and Haiyang will take care of you no matter what you do. I can’t continue to take care of them, I can only trust you. However, the old lady lived in the Republic of China for many years, and she felt that if the current situation were to return to the Republic of China, let alone being so open, it would be more appropriate to have a house.”
”Don’t worry, I will definitely take good care of them.”
”Go make yourself some new clothes. You’ve been wronged by the wedding. Now that you have money, don’t treat yourself badly. Go quickly. Make wear something festive to bring me good luck.”
The old lady gave her all the foreign exchange coupons and insisted that she go to buy cloth to make new clothes. Li Xia didn’t really care about this, but the old lady wanted to compensate her, so she had to ride her bike to the foreign trade mall to make the old lady happy.
In summer, single clothes are made quickly and look brand new the next day. She wore dark blue pants with a short-sleeved shirt with a white background and red flowers, and dark blue cloth shoes. She tied her hair up with a handkerchief and put it on the back of her head, and smeared the vanishing cream she bought yesterday on her face.
She has a very good foundation, with delicate and fair skin. After so many years of hard work, her skin is not so white, but her foundation is still there. Once she is dressed up, she looks young and sunny, and she is obviously a capable young wife.
”Good, that’s great.”
The old lady praised her happily, and she looked very energetic, drinking milk powder from the bowl. Li Xia was worried about her and asked her what she wanted to eat.
”Red-braised pork.” The old man smiled and said, “I’ve been thinking about that smell a lot lately. The smell of meat, so good.”
”Wait, I’ll go buy some meat.”
She went to buy meat with a basket and new clothes on. She greeted her neighbors on the way. She picked a piece of pork belly with fat and lean meat and went home. People who knew her talked about it behind her back.
”This wife looks pretty after she’s dressed up. She’s no worse than Shen Haiyang’s previous wife.”
”She must be pretty, otherwise she wouldn’t have been favored by her ex-husband in the city.” Fang’s neighbor shook his head: “What a pity, such a good young wife is now married to a vegetative man with a burden. The rest of her life will be difficult.”
Fang Xiaomei snorted disdainfully: “No matter how she dresses up, she is still just a rural woman. She would be living with a vegetative for her whole life. She must be born cheap.”
Her neighbor retorted, “That’s not necessarily true. You may not know, but I heard that Shen Haiyang’s father sent back a lot of money from abroad. Didn’t you see that everything she wore today was new? Maybe she is richer than your family. Didn’t you see that she is wearing better clothes than you? She even bought meat just now.”
The younger sister of the Fang family was speechless. She was jealous of Li Xia’s new clothes, which were made of the latest materials. She wanted them but couldn’t buy them. Unexpectedly, Li Xia wore them.
When they heard about the wealth, everyone envied her for a moment, but then they shook their heads. “No matter how rich you are, but you have to take care of a vegetative person and a burden, it’s just like a widow. It’s too pathetic to stay like this for her whole life.”
The aunties secretly felt sorry for Li Xia, who was busy planning for the future. The old lady was dying, so they tried their best to take care of her in her last days. They would deal with their own affairs after the old lady passed away. She had already asked someone to make a cart and welded an iron stove. She had done the preparations and could start working when the time was right.
When she got home, she first went to the side room to look at the old lady, and then went to the kitchen to make braised pork. The old lady hadn’t eaten for many days, but today she ate a piece of meat. After eating, she drank some soup and sighed with satisfaction.
She had explained everything she needed to, and had eaten what she wanted. She had complained about the pain before, but now she didn’t. After she finished eating, she asked Li Xia to help her go to the main room.
”I’ll carry you over.” Li Xia squatted in front of her.
”No, I can walk.”
The spirit that comes suddenly,
Li Xia knew something was wrong. She obediently helped her to the main room. After a few steps, she saw that she had no strength left, so she bent down and picked her up.
The two children were in the front and were ready to lift the door curtain, but their grandmother walked too slowly. Seeing Li Xia pick her up, the two children hurriedly lifted the door curtain completely.
Li Xia knew that the old woman wanted to see her son, so she carried her directly to Shen Haiyang’s bed. She sat behind the old woman to support her. The old woman looked between her son and grandson, and reached out to hold Shen Hui’s hand with her rough and dry hand. Before she could speak, the little guy spoke first with a pursed mouth.
”I will take care of Dad, don’t worry, grandma.”
Tears silently flowed as he spoke. Li Xia turned her head and looked at Shen Haiyang, hoping that he would wake up suddenly. The old and the young looked pitiful. She had only been in this family for a short time, and it was impossible for her to replace her and give them enough sense of security.
Huihua saw Shen Hui crying, and she cried too, silently holding her brother’s hand. Her brother was so pitiful, his father was lying in bed motionless, and his grandmother was also seriously ill.
”Good boy,”
The old lady touched her grandson’s head and turned to lean on Li Xia’s arms. “I’ll leave everything to you.”
”Don’t worry, I will do what I promised.”
After sitting in the east room for about ten minutes, the old man could no longer hold on and was carried back to her original room by Li Xia. She died that night, holding Li Xia’s hand tightly.
”Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m here.”
The old lady passed away with her promise, and according to the custom, they cried to send her off. The neighbors heard the cries and came to help. The next day, all of Shen Haiyang’s classmates, friends, and colleagues who had a good relationship with him came to help. Li Xia had no shortage of money, so things went smoothly. Three days later, in the hottest weather, the old lady was cremated and buried.
————
She wore mourning clothes to see her mother-in-law to her grave. After the matter was over and the people who helped her were sent away, she went into the house to change her clothes. She folded the newly made short-sleeved shirt with a white background and red flowers in the closet and put it at the bottom of the box.
The purpose is to make the old lady happy. She cannot wear this dress again before mourning for three years. Black cuffs are put on the short sleeves with white background and blue flowers. Wearing mourning clothes for the elderly will make outsiders know what is going on.
After a day off, they cleaned up the house. Most of the old lady’s things were burned, leaving only a few as souvenirs. The bed was replaced with new sheets, and the room was tidy. Only the owner was missing. Shen Hui couldn’t control his tears when he came in. Li Xia patted the child and squatted in front of him.
”Don’t be sad, grandma knows how distressed you are.”
When she said this, the child cried even harder. She hugged the child and let him vent. Busy with the funeral, the child was sensible and didn’t dare to make trouble. The pain of a loved one’s death is like a thorn piercing your flesh. After the initial numbness, you will find more and more clearly in your daily life that she is really gone and you will never see her again.
The child cried with tears in his eyes, and Li Xia patted him to comfort him. “It’s okay, you will have your mother in the future, and she will accompany you to grow up. If you are unhappy, tell me, I will see you grow up, get married and have children . Then we will go and tell grandma together, she will be very happy.”
”Mom, can grandma really see us?”
”Yes, grandma is always by your side.”
”Can I sleep with my sister in the west room tonight?” After saying that, he pursed his lips and felt a little aggrieved when Li Xia didn’t respond for a while. Li Xia quickly said yes.
”I originally thought that since you are a boy, you need to be trained to be independent from a young age, but your grandma just passed away and you are not used to it for the time being, so I’ll just keep you company for now.”
After settling the two children at night, she turned around and went out to close the door. She fetched some water and went to the east room to wash the man, talking to him while she worked. The doctor said she should talk to him more, but she didn’t know what to say, so she told him about her daily trivialities.
”Now that mom is gone, the saddest person is Shen Hui. In this family, besides grandma, you are the closest to him, but you are quiet now. The child must feel insecure, and his timid eyes make me sad. I hope you can get better. So the child at least has a father without a mother. It’s okay, I’ll just keep talking to you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get up. The child still has a father lying here.”
After finishing her work, she went to sleep in her own little bed, getting up two or three times a night to take care of him. The next day, she began to pack her cart, stove and other items, and after finishing them, she borrowed a cart to go to the suburbs to buy vegetables.
It’s 1982, and It’s not completely open. The southern frontier is more open and no longer relies on various coupons, but in the north, you still need a ticket to buy everything. She couldn’t buy large quantities of vegetables in the vegetable store, so she thought of going to the suburbs to try.
”Mom has prepared everything. Huihui, you and your sister stay at home to take care of Dad. I’m going to go shopping and will be back as soon as possible.”
Huihua ran over and grabbed her hand: “Mom, what are you going to do?”
The little girl was much braver than before, holding her hand and looking at her with her big watery eyes, looking like a spoiled child. Li Xia smiled and touched her daughter’s head, thinking about where to find a painting teacher for her child.
The baby has been dexterous since she was young and has a unique understanding of beauty. In her previous life, she could make paper-cuts come alive and draw anything lifelike. Unfortunately, they lived in the countryside in their previous life and no one thought it was a big deal. An art teacher told her about her child’s talent, but she was so poor that she couldn’t even buy paints and brushes, let alone provide her with professional art courses.
”Mom is going to the suburbs to buy vegetables. When she comes back, we will make dumplings and sell them early tomorrow. When mom earns money, she will buy Huihua delicious food and new clothes.”
”I’ll go with mom then. If there’s an uphill road, I’ll help mom push the cart.”
Bend down and hug your daughter. How can this child be so caring? At such a young age, she always feels sorry for her mother. Maybe she is too incompetent as a mother. Life is already difficult, and she always puts that bastard Fang Zhongcheng first.
”No, I don’t need to buy a lot. Mom can pull it all by herself.” Seeing that her daughter still wanted to help, she smiled and said, “Help me pick the vegetables when I come back. I have already fermented the dough. You can help me steam the buns together.”
”Okay, I’ll help you when you get back.”
The girl nodded obediently, so sheput on a straw hat, and pushed the cart out of the house. In this trip to the suburbs, she bought cheap leeks, water chestnuts, and cabbages without much effort, but the rest of the beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. were not sold to her.
”These are all supplied to the state-owned enterprises. You didn’t even tell us in advance. If you wanted then we would have grown more.”
”It’s okay. Youcan plant radishes and cabbages now. You can grow more and sell them to me in the fall.”
”Okay, no problem. The land has been distributed to households this year, so we have enough space to grow vegetables.”
As Li Xia was pulling the vegetables home, she was thinking about getting a business license so that she could work legally. In her previous life, she seemed to remember that the first small stall in Beijing was in 1980. This year is 1982, so it should be approved, right?
When she drove home, she saw Shen Haiyang’s classmate who worked at the police station. He was holding a red book and gave it to her as soon as they met.
”Your household registration has been processed, and I heard that a job will be arranged for you as soon as possible.”
”Really?” She excitedly went to take it, but pulled back her hand and rubbed it vigorously on her clothes before taking the red book from him. The first page was the household head, and her name was on it. The second page was still hers, and the third page was written as Li huihua, and her relationship with the household head was mother and daughter.
”Huihua, come and see. We have settled down. You can go to school with your brother in the fall.”
Huihua had already run to her side, happily took it and looked at it from left to right. Although she could not read, the child knew what it meant. She and her mother had a household registration, and they would never be chased away again. Her mother said that if she made money, she could buy a house in the city and become a city people.
”Li huihua, look, this is your name.”
The little girl stroked the household registration card and said, “That’s great. I have my mother’s last name.”
Happy about the household registration, Han Jun ( the male classmate) asked her why she pulled so many vegetables: “Pickled vegetables?”
”No. I want to get up early and sell buns.”
He knew she had so much money, but he didn’t expect her to work so hard. This was good, because it showed that she was not the kind of person who liked to take advantage of others.
”I’ll help you get the license. You can go find Lao Wang, he’s at the Industrial and Commercial Bureau a friend of mine.”
”Really? Thank you very much.”
