The grandson and granddaughter-in-law came back from working in Zhejiang, probably because they were overtired, and slept until the sun had already shone into the house, and the two of them still did not leave the door.
In the morning, my grandson went to school early, and every day I prepared half a pound of fresh milk and two eggs for him, and the bread I bought at the cake shop downstairs because my grandson likes to eat it.
My name is Xu Chao, I am 69 years old this year, and my wife passed away 5 years ago due to illness. Since my son and daughter-in-law have been working in other places for many years, I have to take care of their children in my hometown.
My wife and I have a pair of children, the daughter is an older sister, she has excellent grades since she was a child, she worked in another city after being admitted to university, and later settled down in another city, so that our old couple don't have to worry too much.
When his son was studying, he was half-hearted, only went to a vocational high school, and could only work in a factory outside to earn a living.
When we were in the prime of life, we started our own business to grow oyster mushrooms and fungus in greenhouses in the countryside. From the preparation of raw materials, seed packing, bag picking, to daily spraying, water management, to later picking and sales, every step needs to be done by ourselves. The efforts of those years allowed us to provide for a pair of children** and marry our sons.
Although mushroom cultivation is a job that requires both skill and physical labor, the hard work of those years made our family stand out in the village and earn some money.
When our sons got married, we also bought a house for them in town. At that time, no one in the village was able to buy a house in the city.
Later, due to his old age and physical strength, my son felt that mushroom cultivation was too hard, and would rather go to work in a factory than take over the greenhouse in the countryside, so I had to end my mushroom business.
After my wife passed away, I had to learn to stir-fry and cook so that I could take care of my grandchildren at home and let my son and daughter-in-law have no worries when they went out to work.
At that time, it was the period of family planning, so there was a large age difference between grandchildren and granddaughters. The eldest granddaughter has graduated from high school and is in college, while the younger grandson was born after a fine and is currently in elementary school.
I live in the house that my son bought in the town, and I am mainly responsible for taking care of my younger son, including taking him to and from school, and the work I do is basically a mother's responsibility.
My son and daughter-in-law have become accustomed to this, and every time they come back from working in other places, they will ask my old father to cook for them. They usually slept until the sun rose a third of the way, and I had to knock on the door and tell them to get up to eat when lunch was ready.
They always procrastinate when they get up, and they can even sit down at the dinner table after washing. The daughter-in-law picked a few bites of rice and said unhappily: "Dad, you cooked the rice too soft, there is no chewiness at all, it seems that you only take care of yourself, and you don't consider our taste at all!".”
I replied sincerely: "I cook such soft glutinous rice every day, Xi it, forgetting that you young people like to eat hard rice." Next time I'll add less water. ”
The daughter-in-law looked at the dishes on the table and complained: "Why are these pork fried green peppers, and I don't buy some fish and shrimp or the like, I am almost tired of eating vegetarian food every day in the factory, and I can't improve my life when I go home!."”
I feel a little aggrieved in my heart, after all, I fried the dish, and it was my money that was spent. However, every time my daughter-in-law came home, she was picky and dissatisfied, always saying that I was not good enough for them.
In order to avoid causing family strife, I had to say, "I can only fry pork and vegetables, and I can't get those shrimp or anything, so you can eat them." ”
When my son saw that I was a little displeased, he comforted his wife and said, "It's already good to have meat in the pot, you don't spend a penny on ready-made meals and pick and choose, and you don't want to think that my dad didn't know how to cook before." ”
The daughter-in-law said: "Cooking some food is still called picking, isn't it hard for us to work outside?"Who doesn't help with the elderly?Do you have to be a waste at home?Hmph, it's not for your family that I'm working so hard now!
I said angrily, "Stop arguing, when am I going to be a waste?".I bought this house, and I paid for my grandson's tuition and living expenses, and you two didn't pay a penny!I worked hard, but I never got a good word. My daughter often buys me clothes and nutritional products, and cares about me”
The daughter-in-law's face became even more ugly, and she muttered: "We don't have the ability of the eldest sister, she should give you money to spend if she has the ability." We are going to buy your grandson a school district house to go to junior high school, which costs more than raising your eldest sister to go to college, and now you should use the money to subsidize us, right?”
I glanced at my son, and he looked at me awkwardly and smiled: "Dad, let's come back to see the house, and we plan to take a mortgage to buy a school district house in the city, so that my grandson can also go to junior high school in the city." Dad, you've been growing mushrooms for so many years, you should have saved a lot of money, right?Just give us a little help, shall we?”
I sighed: "Dad** has so much money?."All these years for you to study, to buy a house for your marriage, and for your mother's medical expenses for illness, I have borne all these expenses, and I have not left much money left. ”
The daughter-in-law said, "Who knows if you are telling the truth or not?"The neighbors in the village all said that you made a lot of money in the past few years, don't you leave it to your son and grandson, but also to your daughter?”
I feel uneasy about my son and daughter-in-law's obsession with my pension. In those years, my wife and I worked hard, and even overdrew our bodies in order to earn some money. Now I have a lot of pain and I can't move.
I still have 500,000 yuan in savings, which I have for my retirement. If my son and daughter-in-law are not filial, I also have to leave some way back for myself, and the elderly always have to think about it for themselves, don't they?
I said to my son and daughter-in-law, "Your mother and I are farmers and earn money by doing menial work. Now I only have about 10 more than 200,000 yuan, but I don't plan to spend it on you. When you get old, you have to prepare a pension for yourself, and if you get sick or something, you can at least have some protection. ”
The daughter-in-law said, "Dad, I thought you had saved tens of millions, but I didn't expect such a little." Are you still reluctant to buy a house for our grandson?Don't you still have a monthly rural pension insurance?”
Yes, I bought a rural pension insurance in my early years, and I was able to receive it when I was 60 years old, 780 yuan per month. The daughter-in-law even cares about this income, she is really careful.
I said, "If you go out to work, I won't eat or drink at home, so don't you need to spend money?"”
The faces of the son and daughter-in-law looked a little ugly, and the son sighed and said to the daughter-in-law: "My dad can't help much with this money, so let's forget it, let's go to see the house first, and then find a way to raise money when the house is optimistic." ”
The son turned to me again: "Dad, we are not greedy for your money, the main thing is that buying a house may be a little bit short, I want to borrow it from you, anyway, you will not rely on us to support the elderly in the future, when you really have nothing to eat, can we still watch it?"”
I remained silent, and my son and daughter-in-law returned to the room together after almost finishing their meal, leaving me alone at the dining table, and I had to pack up the dishes and chopsticks and go into the kitchen to wash.
Early the next morning, my son and daughter-in-law got up early and said that they were going to the city to see the house. They drove the car their son bought a few years ago out of the old neighborhood where they lived and parked on the side of the road.
My son called me ** and said, "Dad, you give us the 200,000 yuan to use first, and we will provide for you for the elderly." Today, your daughter-in-law and I will go to the city to see the house, or you can go with you, one more person has one more idea. ”
Hearing my son's soft grinding and hard bubbles, I felt a little distressed in my heart. The couple also worked hard for the education of their grandson, and now that the funds to buy a house are insufficient, if my old father does not provide any help, wouldn't he seem too indifferent?
So I said to my son, "Okay, I haven't been to the city for a long time, today you have a car, I'll go and see it, and if you really buy a house and have a little money, I'll help you a little." ”
So, I changed into clean clothes, went downstairs to my son's car, and went to the sales department in the city to see the house. Following my son and daughter-in-law, the staff of the sales department led us to the site to see the house after introducing the suitable **.
As the youngest grandson is about to enter junior high school, the son and daughter-in-law plan to buy an existing house to ensure that the grandchild's education will not be delayed. We visited three communities, with different floors, some with elevators, and some are rough houses without elevators, which belong to the old communities.
I followed behind my son and daughter-in-law and walked all the way. At the moment, the sun is scorching, and the temperature has risen to 38 degrees. His mouth was dry, his physical strength was gradually exhausted, and his old cold leg had not walked such a long way for a long time, and he began to have some pain. Gradually, I walked behind my son and daughter-in-law and pulled away for a while.
The guy who led us on the tour had been introducing my son and daughter-in-law**. At this time, he looked back at me and said to his son and daughter-in-law, "This is your old father, right?"I see that the weather is too hot, and the elderly seem to be a little tired. Why don't we go to the sales department and sit down, blow the air conditioner, drink some cold water, take a rest, and then continue to look at the house. ”
My daughter-in-law looked back at me and began to mumble dissatisfiedly, probably saying that I was not in good health, but I wanted to join in the fun, which slowed down their progress.
The sales guy walked up to me and handed me a bottle of water: "Uncle, are you thirsty?"This bottle of water is for you to drink. ”
I happened to be thirsty, and I didn't care about being polite, so I took the water bottle and poured a few sips. At this time, my son came over and helped me walk slowly with the sales guy.
However, the daughter-in-law appeared very impatient and walked ahead of us and shouted rebuke under the pretext of blaming my son. In fact, she was reprimanding me: "I said a long time ago not to bring him, you have to make your own decisions, how much time did you waste on such a hot day, and you walked so slowly?".”
The son couldn't help but reply: "Is it wrong for me to let my dad come over to see the house?"You only know that you want your father's 200,000 yuan to buy a house, and you don't have a good word, what a stupid woman!”
The daughter-in-law didn't follow, and her voice was louder: "It's natural for grandpa to give his grandson some money to buy a house, and he has to follow him in person to join in the fun, I really haven't seen the world!."I've been pouring bad for eight lifetimes to find a poor and uneducated countryman like you!”
Listening to my daughter-in-law's incessant complaints, I had mixed feelings in my heart, and I couldn't help but pull out my hand from the arm of the sales boy holding me, and quietly wiped my eyes a little astringent.
The sales guy looked at me, showed some sympathy, and said, "Uncle, it's not easy for you to be so old that you still have to pay for your grandson to buy a house!."”
The son glared at the young man unhappily, but the young man was a young man with strong blood, and said bluntly to his son: "You really don't look like a man!."Even if your wife accuses your father like this, you can bear it, and even I, an outsider, can't look at it. I'd rather not have such a customer, and I don't want to go against my conscience to see you bullying the elderly!”
I was grateful to this sales guy who was full of a sense of justice, looked at the changing faces of my son and daughter-in-law, and said to the guy: "You are really a good young man who respects the elderly, thank you for speaking for me!."”
At this time, I made up my mind that I would never pay for the unsuccessful son and daughter-in-law to buy a house again. No matter how good I was to them, they never thanked me for my indifference and calculation.
I said to the sales guy: "Young man, your reminder has made me see clearly this pair of sons and daughters-in-law, and I have decided not to help them buy a house anymore." I can save money on this money, and I should be able to sustain it for a while. ”
My son hurriedly apologized to me: "Dad, your daughter-in-law talks with a knife and a tofu heart, don't take it seriously, we are a family after all, and buying a house is also for you to have a good environment." We really appreciate you, buy the house, you will also have a share. ”
I shook my head and said to my son, "I promised to buy a house for you, but you showed this attitude. When the house is really bought, you won't take my old father seriously, and I can't believe you anymore. Whether you buy this school district house or not, it has nothing to do with me, and I will not look forward to your retirement anymore. "The next day, I called my daughter, hoping that she and her son-in-law would pick me up and go to her house for a few days. The daughter asked strangely: "Dad, you often say that you don't want to leave your brother and grandson, why did you suddenly figure it out this time?".I said, "They are not satisfied with being a free babysitter at your brother's house." I understand that it may not be reliable to let my son provide for his old age, so I want to trouble you and my son-in-law, will you be willing to take care of me?Dad now only has more than 700 yuan of rural pension insurance every month. ”
I tested my daughter, if she was realistic enough, then maybe I could only take the coffin book of 500,000 yuan to the nursing home. My daughter smiled and said to me: "Dad, after all, I was also born to you, you can live if you want to**." You raised me**, you have fulfilled the responsibility of being a parent, even if you don't have a penny, your daughter should also fulfill the responsibility of filial piety and provide for your old age. "Listening to my daughter's words, my mood is much better. I decided to go to my daughter's house for a while, after all, their house in the city is also very spacious, and my son-in-law usually has a very warm attitude towards me, so it seems like a good idea to choose to go to my daughter's house to care for the elderly. As for the 500,000 yuan I have in hand, I plan to keep it quietly. Eventually, whoever provides me with the most retirement help, I will give the money to. Do you think it's appropriate for me to do this?