CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER 19: PARENTS’ WORRIES

In the East Wing of the main house, Mr. Zhang and his wife also lay down on the bed to rest. As they got older, their energy on the farm was not the same as when they were young. The two of them chatted about idle topics, watching their son marry, have children, and as the kids grew up, they each had their own small families once separated. There were worries and joys; branching out like this from generation to generation, separation was something parents couldn’t bear. For the sake of future harmony in the big family, early separation was to avoid trouble, reduce conflicts, all for the sake of their children and grandchildren. The couple’s hearts were a mix of various emotions.

Mother Zhang looked at her husband lying beside her with his eyes closed and brow furrowed. She spoke softly about the funny and embarrassing things the kids did when they were little. Thinking it might be better to talk about something else to ease his mind, she thought even if they were separated, their son was still their son, and they were all filial. Their children were different from others’ children.

"The father of the children, today Xiao Wu bought a lot of things back, all trendy goods. I reckon he got someone in the big city to bring them back. I won’t list everything now; we’ll look at them when there’s time. Jiao Jiao had a few words with me, and I found them quite meaningful, thinking they overturned what I thought before. I wanted to tell you about them."

Mr. Zhang listened with surprise on his face. No wonder his wife had been smiling today. He didn’t realize that their young daughter-in-law had such a big impact on her. He was also curious to hear what could possibly be so different from her usual thinking.

"Today, Xiao Wu bought a big bag of special rice, along with red dates, brown sugar, two pig trotters, and two black-bone chickens. You wouldn’t have guessed, but he heard that red date congee is good for replenishing blood; he wants me to drink it every day to nourish myself, and the two black-bone chickens are for Jiao Jiao and me to share. He said he bought more so I could eat too; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bought two. But I really didn’t intend to take food from someone doing a month of recovery. I refused no matter what."

Later, Jiao Jiao said that since Xiao Wu bought the stuff, I should be happy to accept and eat it. In the future, when he buys things for eating and wearing, I should accept them happily too. Jiao Jiao said if your child is filial to you and you don’t accept, it makes the child unhappy. Then when he sees something nice, he’ll think, ’Although this is nice, my mother won’t want it.’ When he sees other nice things again and wants to buy them for me, he’ll believe I won’t want them either. Over time, Xiao Wu wouldn’t want to buy anything anymore since I won’t accept it anyway. Gradually, when he sees nice things, he won’t think of buying them to show filial piety to us, believing we won’t want it anyway. Then eventually, no one will buy anything to show us filial piety. So Jiao Jiao thinks that when the child buys something for you, you should happily accept it, so in the future, when he sees nice things, he’ll think, ’This is nice, my mom will definitely like it,’ and want to buy it. And when he then sees something else, he’ll think, ’This is something Mom also likes,’ and buy it. Bring it back to me, and I’ll accept it with joy. Xiao Wu and the others will feel that their choices are genuinely liked by their mom, resulting in everyone being happy. Then in the future, they’ll still buy these things for their mom, feeling pleased that their tastes align, thinking of their mom when they see nice things. Because he knows his mom likes what he buys, they’ll continue to show us sincere filial piety thereafter.

Do you hear that? I think there’s sense in her words. If I refuse everything, he’ll think I don’t like them. But when we’re old, who will take care of us? But immediately thinking the other way, it doesn’t seem right. Which mother doesn’t want to give everything nice to her sons and grandsons? Do you think Jiao Jiao’s words make sense?"

Mr. Zhang listened and laughed heartily. This was a roundabout way to persuade her. The children were dutiful and didn’t want to enjoy good things alone. Seeing that their parents wouldn’t accept them, they tried all sorts of ways to comfort and persuade their parents. They were good children.

"It makes sense. From now on, you’ll do that. They can afford to buy, so they won’t be unwilling to let you eat. If they didn’t have money or capability, they’d only be concerned about their own needs. Which child wouldn’t think of giving back to their elderly parents? This is a child not wanting to eat alone."

"Right, you didn’t see the bags Xiao Wu carried today. I left them in the other room. Besides what’s mentioned earlier, there are things you haven’t seen, like those diapers whiter than white towels, said a classmate got them. With those, the child won’t have a rash. There are those special baby bottles which are obviously special supplies, unlike anything we’ve seen. We don’t even know what his classmate’s connections are. Oh, he also bought two bags of milk powder and left one for the two girls at home to drink. The bags were all in English, rare stuff. I don’t think even in the provincial city you could find them."

"The son is a good son, the daughter-in-law is a good daughter-in-law too. If they can get these things, it shows they’re capable. Remind them afterwards to keep things low profile, not to let the village know, or it’ll spread. You should also put some of the milk powder in a bottle and burn the packaging with the English words. After the kids drink, don’t let them go around talking about it."

"Alright, I know. Just now, Xiao Wu was going to talk about something with the Zhou Family, but the topic shifted to the separation. I asked him at noon, and he said he’d wait until you came back to discuss it. But he did briefly mention a big fight with a shrew. Probably related to some dispute with the Zhou Family. I checked he wasn’t hurt, and I suspect he wants your advice on the matter."

"If it’s urgent, Xiao Wu will come over soon. Let’s wait and see. Don’t you know your son yet? If it’s not a big deal, he would have let the whole village know to come and see. The boy knows what he’s doing, he’s clever."

Mr. Zhang said this to his worried wife, not concerned about the youngest son at all. That boy has been clever since childhood, an expert at handling matters and interacting with people. Everyone in the village praised him; it’s just the second son was a bit challenging. Comparing them among the three brothers at home, it seemed difficult. But in the village’s terms, they were not. For the second son, he didn’t hand over his private money the past few years, probably accumulating about 200 yuan. His wife’s claim the daughter-in-law squandered it all he didn’t believe. If she had money, she wouldn’t steal sweet potatoes, a laughable matter. That boy was also tricky, slyly cautious, unlike the eldest and Xiao Wu, who were generous. But for family, he still cared, just loved money too much.

He knew his three sons very well. The most astute was the second; the eldest had no selfishness, but his wife would stash some private money too. He didn’t worry about the youngest, today’s purchases by just listening cost hundreds. That boy’s savings wouldn’t drop by 2000 yuan without stretching. But the boy’s hands were too loose, Jiao Jiao was like him, the couple didn’t value money much; he’d have to remind them.

The second one also had quite a bit of money; add the house they’ll build after the separation, 150 yuan was leftover. So when the brothers divided and moved into the new house, there wouldn’t be a big burden, and it would be easy to live daily. When they first separated, they truly started with nothing. The one who had it the hardest was the eldest; he was the biggest and worked the hardest. After the separation, when he and his mother had no money, they relied on him to take care of the younger siblings. The family’s foundation was built through him working hard day and night.

When writing the separation agreement, he’d mention that all three sons’ private money would be given to them. He remembered it clearly. The eldest’s private money also needed returning; it wasn’t reasonable that the recent years the second son hadn’t paid private money while the eldest and the third had theirs included in the separation of family assets. What is separation? Separation, is dividing the parents’ leftovers. As parents wanting to treat the children equally weren’t possible, the eldest was in much more difficulty compared to his brothers, raising three takes effort, no one understood more than him how hard it was to raise three children well.

As for the eldest’s honest nature, letting him toil in the field, relying on work points to support his three brothers and a daughter; it would be so hard. After the separation these years, he supported them, having the two younger brothers from the Yue Family and Xiao Wu’s help wouldn’t pose a major issue. The things in the cellar would have to remain, they couldn’t be divided. Now the whole country was overthrowing the landlord system, in such times, letting these things fall into the children’s hands would be a crime.

The old clan leader’s words constantly reminded him of the saying, ’Prosperous times are for antiques, chaotic times for gold.’ He wondered if he’d live to see the peaceful prosperous years.