The beginning is a liar (3)
Hongtu and Tian Zhenzhen chatted for a while and then began to clean up the house.
Their families are complicated and neither of them has the support of relatives and elders.
If you have no parents or relatives, you can only rely on yourself for everything.
Tian Zhenzhen stayed in the hospital for a few days and He Hongtu accompanied her throughout the whole process so the family didn’t clean up much and a layer of dust fell on the floor and furniture.
There are also dirty clothes accumulated in the hospital that need to be washed.
Those thermos bottles, lunch boxes, washbasins and other things that were taken to the hospital also need to be cleaned and placed.
Also prepare milk, confinement meals for Tian Zhenzhen.
He Hongtu was so busy that he finished all the work at last in the evening.
“Hiss, husband, I still have a pain on my incision.”
Tian Zhenzhen was lying on the bed, looking at the child while recuperating.
Her complaint, that is she said casually but it inspired He Hongtu.
He Hongtu took out the new mobile phone he bought after receiving the first salary. Well, it is not the latest clamshell and color screen phone but the most common blue-screen candy bar model.
The mobile phone is small and compact, because of the price it is relatively among people and it is not a messy brand.
Dibit, a major brand in Taiwan.
In the small county in 2003, Hong Kong and Taiwan brands were still very popular.
He Hongtu familiarly presses a series of numbers and after a few beeps, the call is connected.
“Hey, is this Aunt Xu? This is Xiaohe, Xiaohe in the obstetrics and gynecology ward of the county hospital!”
“Yes, yes, yes, we were discharged from the hospital today and we have arrived home. Did your grand-daughter give birth? Oh, a healthy boy, congratulations, really congratulations!”
“I said you are always a blessed one, look, now you are all four generations together…”
“That’s right. I have something to ask you. My wife has just had a cesarean section. It’s been several days. The doctor said that the wound is recovering well but she still feels pain from the incision.”
“My wife and I don’t understand this. You have a lot of knowledge and know a lot, so I want to ask you how to care for her in this situation!”
“Oh, eating pigeons? Pigeon meat helps the recovery of the blade? Oh, I said, this kind of thing, I still want to ask you old people!”
“Oh, you can’t drink too much. Pigeon soup will return to milk after drinking too much? Ah? What is the matter with the return of milk?”
“Oh, this way! Eating leeks will bring back milk? Oh my God, thank you. My wife likes to eat vegetarian dumplings and she urged me to go to the vegetable market to buy her leeks!”
“Aunt Xu, thank you, thank you so much. Otherwise, we really made a mess!”
“That is, even the best milk powder is not as nutritious as a mother’s milk!”
He Hongtu praised the phone and in the end his gratitude was even more sincere.
Aunt Xu on the other side can also feel it through the handset of the mobile phone.
Aunt Xu is very pleased. For the elderly, she is afraid that she will become useless and make young people dislike her.
Don’t say you are strangers, when you just face your own flesh and blood and don’t know when you start, old people will become cautious.
And once a person gets older, it is easy to become frustrated.
Sometimes, my children can’t stand her and they become annoyed .
It’s like this time the grandson took his wife back to her hometown, but the great grandson was born prematurely. The son and daughter-in-law were not around. Aunt Xu, the grandmother, went to the hospital to take care of her.
There is a generation gap between Aunt Xu and her daughter-in-law, not to mention the granddaughter-in-law who is another floor away.
Aunt Xu felt that her grandson-in-law was too squeamish and he always talked about science and civilization.
The new urine ring she prepared was made of pure cotton gauze, soft and breathable, how nice. But people look down on it and they have to spend money on diapers.
Oh, yes, there is also milk powder. Before the baby was born, they spent hundreds of dollars on a can of milk powder, which was imported from a foreign country. Breastfeeding is also great, which is both economical and nutritious.
The grand-daughter-in-law thinks that the grandmother is too old-fashioned and she is always “how did we do”, “I gave birth to six children and there are also more than a dozen grandchildren. They were all raised like this.”
The grand-daughter-in-law did not approve or disagree on the surface, but she was crazy in her heart: Did you back then? You still ate chaffy vegetables back then and you depended on forbearance when you were sick! Why are you not like this now?
There are also diapers and milk powder!
This is all my money but I didn’t spend your money either. Why are you holding a face all day?
Aunt Xu and her grand-daughter-in-law looked dissatisfied with each other and the grand-daughter-in-law was even more dissatisfied . Two days after giving birth, the hospital hadn’t told them to leave yet but she urged her husband to return to the provincial capital quickly .
“Don’t flash your child, after all, wait for confinement before leaving!” Aunt Xu was really anxious.
But the grand-daughter-in-law of the family felt that if she lived in her husband’s hometown again, she would have to be angry with the great grandmother-in-law.
The grandson was caught in the middle and was in a dilemma. In the end, He was forced to pack a van by his wife and pulled up the two tightly wrapped mothers and sons. Then they set off directly from the hospital and returned to the provincial capital without having lunch.
Aunt Xu looked at the fast-driving van, her face turned black with anger.
Of course, Aunt Xu is not the kind of unreasonable person.
She knew that she might be outdated in her thinking and could not accept the young people’s style.
But she has a good heart for her children and she really loves her grandson and great-grandson.
No matter how upset the grand-daughter-in-law is, it should be because of her being an elder.
To the contrary—
Uncomfortable in Aunt Xu’s heart, she returned home from the hospital angrily.
Sitting in the empty living room, she couldn’t help but wonder: Is this set of my old lady really outdated? Young people don’t like it?!
Ah, it seems that I am really old and I have become an old trash that my children and grandchildren dislike.
Just when she felt disappointed and self-denying, He Hongtu called.
“Aunt Xu, thank you, thank you so much. Although this is not appropriate, I just believe you. If there is anything else in the future, can I still call you?”
I couldn’t see He Hongtu’s expression through the phone but Aunt Xu still remembered He Hongtu’s young and honest face in the hospital.
Associating the appearance in his mind with the voice, Aunt Xu has no doubt that He Hongtu is really grateful to her and really feels that her old lady has helped him a lot!
This feeling of being needed, recognized and even respected is really great.
Aunt Xu had a good impression of He Hongtu but now she likes this sensible and clever young man more and more. She hurriedly said, “Oh, it’s not a big deal, I just said something!”
“Hey, if you like me, an old lady’s nagging, you can call me anytime!”
He Hongtu hurriedly nodded and bowed, even if Aunt Xu couldn’t see his movements, he still had to use these movements to give himself a psychological hint.
He really respects Aunt Xu, an enthusiastic old lady.
“Aunt Xu, look at what you said. You helped me a lot. I am really grateful. So why would I despise you?”
He Hongtu chatted with the old lady for a quarter of an hour and then reluctantly hung up the phone.
I just hung up the phone, and seeing the call time on the screen, He Hongtu felt a little distressed.
Woo, it costs 25 cents a minute. 25 cents plus in seventeen minutes, which is enough for him to buy a catty of pork!
However, this kind of money cannot be saved but a necessary investment.
In addition to phone bills, there are more investments.
He Hongtu rushed to the vegetable market to buy vegetables and bought the pigeons mentioned by Aunt Xu as well as pig bones, black-bone chicken, trotters and some fresh vegetables.
When he left the vegetable market, He Hongtu also bought a watermelon and then directly touched Aunt Xu’s house according to the address Aunt Xu told her.
“…Auntie, I didn’t want to disturb you, but I still don’t feel relieved. You always help me to see, I bought this pigeon, right?”
He Hongtu asked embarrassedly.
Aunt Xu was interested. She didn’t care about He Hongtu’s rush to come but carefully looked at He Hongtu’s vegetable basket: “Yes, this pigeon is quite fresh. By the way, don’t add soy sauce when making the soup. It will turn black, so just add a little salt.”
“Oh, you also bought trotters. By the way, you can go to the traditional Chinese medicine store to buy some trotters and stew trotters!”
“Oh, Tong Cao, the person in the pharmacy that way? Hey, Aunt Xu, fortunately I came this time or I wasted good stuff again!”
He Hongtu wrote down Aunt Xu’s words and thanked her again and again.
Before leaving, He Hongtu left the watermelon to the old lady, “Auntie, don’t dislike it. I just think it’s too much trouble for you, this is—”
Aunt Xu declined a few times but seeing that He Hongtu insisted, she did not refuse.
It’s just a watermelon and it’s not a valuable thing. Even if He Hongtu finds something else in the future, she can still afford it!
(End of this chapter)
