When weddings are held in the village, the neighbors will actively participate, especially close relatives, who are even more happy to ask if they need to help with the bride price.
In recent years, rural weddings seem to have turned into a bride price competition, with one family taking 180,000 and another taking 200,000. Regardless of the amount, it means that the old couple will have to work hard for many years to raise money.
However, Jianguo's child is about to get married, and he can't sleep because of it. Although all the money that could be borrowed had been borrowed, the bride price was still not enough. He wanted to borrow some money from Zhiqiang, because Zhiqiang was the child he raised. However, Jianguo has not spoken, because Zhiqiang is not his own son.
Even, it has been a long time since Jianguo saw Zhiqiang!Zhiqiang has little impression of his mother. People in the village said that Zhiqiang's mother left while working outside the home and eloped with a man, and that his father had been addicted to alcohol for a long time and even indifferent to Zhiqiang and threw him to his grandfather.
When Zhiqiang was 7 years old, his father was diagnosed with liver cancer and died a few months later. In the days that followed, Zhiqiang lived with his grandfather.
Originally, the people in the village felt that Zhiqiang's fate was bitter enough, and it was a question of whether the child could grow up healthily, however, tragedy still came.
Due to his grandfather's advanced age, he also passed away after taking care of Zhiqiang for two years, and for a while, Zhiqiang really had nowhere to go. Originally, he also had an aunt, and his aunt considered taking Zhiqiang away, but his uncle's family had three sons, and it was also difficult to bear the pressure of life, and his aunt felt helpless and did not express this idea.
So what now?The child is only 9 years old, where will he go?
The uncle was silent because he also had two sons.
Eventually, the eldest lady interjected, and she asked Zhiqiang to go to her house, but before accepting Zhiqiang, she asked him to write a letter of guarantee. Only by writing this promise can he be allowed into this home. No matter how rich or poor you are in the future, you will not be able to support your biological mother!”
Zhiqiang is only 9 years old, although he can already recognize similar words. He read the words on the paper repeatedly, perhaps not understanding the meaning, or not understanding why the eldest mother hated his mother so much. But in the end, he signed his name on a piece of paper.
The uncle quarreled with the eldest mother many times because of this. He believes that there is no need to instill hatred in a child, which will only lead to unhappiness in his future life.
However, in the eyes of the eldest mother, Zhiqiang's mother left the family and eloped with other men, which is already an unforgivable crime. When Zhiqiang's father was sick, she found Zhiqiang's mother, but she didn't say a decent word. Even if Zhiqiang cried and called for his mother, she was not soft-hearted. In the eyes of the eldest mother, such a woman does not deserve to be called a mother at all.
The uncle was dumbfounded by the mother's accusation, and never mentioned it again in the future. However, having three sons in the family is a huge responsibility for anyone. After thinking about it again, Jianguo decided to take his wife out to work, leaving the three brothers to take care of each other.
Jianguo's eldest son, Zhihui, is 14 years older than his two younger brothers, Zhiqiang and Zhiming, but he is only a fourth-grade student in primary school due to the late start of school in the countryside. Despite his young age, Zhihui's body appears precocious and has an adult-like appearance. This is a good thing for taking care of my two younger brothers on a daily basis.
Although the mother left a little money, she did not teach the three children how to cook. Zhihui is usually busy in the kitchen alone, while his two younger brothers help light the fire. However, he accidentally set the kitchen on fire twice, so that Zhiqiang was so scared that he never dared to enter the kitchen again, so he could only play alone in the yard, and his two cousins were in charge of cooking. For him, what he eats is no longer so important, as long as it can be cooked.
When sitting in the yard, when the neighbor comes back from the field, he will give Zhiqiang the small white he planted. According to the teachings of the adults, he would first soak in the well water, and then prepare to cut it after eating, which would be more delicious.
One day, Zhihui heard a scream from the kitchen, and quickly ran to take a look, and found Zhiqiang sitting on the ground with blood flowing from his feet. It turned out that when he was cutting the melon, he was unsteady with the knife in his hand, and because the knife was too heavy, he fell directly on his foot, and blood gushed out instantly.
Zhihui was also stunned when he saw this scene, and he didn't know what to do. But he quickly calmed down, called his brother to get a cotton coat, bandaged Zhiqiang's wounds, and found a pedal tricycle to take him to the village clinic for a doctor's examination.
The news soon reached Dad's ears. It was the ripening season for the crops, and the father told his daughter-in-law that he was going back to harvest and take a look at the children. He thinks that there are only a few acres of land at home, and one person is enough to deal with it, and there is no need for both people to go back.
However, when he returned, he found things more complicated. When the countryside is busy with crops, almost everyone goes out early and returns late, and it is very hard to harvest by hand. Although whoever has more children may complete it faster, in addition to the eldest son, the children of Jianguo need to be taken care of by Zhiqiang, except for the eldest son, who can do some farm work. In the morning, Jianguo brought a pot of freshly boiled hot water, instant noodles and chopsticks, and bought a bag of ham sausages, worried that the children would not be able to eat well. The food was in a thermos, and he bought some extra as he passed by the shop.
One year, during the Spring Festival, the couple who had not seen each other for many years reappeared. This time their purpose is very clear, they want to recognize Xiaoyu. The lame master wondered that the family had disappeared for so many years, and now that the child had grown up, they had reappeared.
The couple explained that in the past few years, their family has several children who have gone to school, life is stressful, and the village is still building buildings, and they want to build a house for their son, so the family has been working outside the home, busy with work, and neglecting to take care of Xiaoyu.
The lame sister-in-law asked: "I didn't take care of it at that time, why do you take care of it now?""Both sides were unable to communicate calmly after many arguments.
Eventually, Xiaoyu personally sent them out of the house and told them not to come back in the future!However, it didn't take long for them to meet unexpectedly!
After the Spring Festival, Xiaoyu left the construction site and left all her savings to her family, only taking a little living expenses. She said that as long as she stepped out of the house, she could earn money. Now she is no longer the Xiaoyu who just started working back then.
However, it didn't take long for the lame master to call Xiaoyu and tell her that her mother was critically ill and asked her to hurry home. Xiaoyu told the boss about the situation after hanging up **, and considering that he needed money for hospitalization, his business had not opened much now, so he asked the boss to advance two months' salary, bring the money, and rush home overnight.
However, in the end, she didn't get to see her mother for the last time. The lame sister-in-law left, and kept talking about Xiaoyu when she was parting, and she couldn't rest assured. Weeping bitterly at the grave, crying hoarsely.
She actually understands that the woman in the grave is not related to her, but if it wasn't for her back then, I'm afraid she would have been gone a long time ago.
He drove his two-wheeled car through the rugged terrain of the village, and the three children in the car were jolted from side to side. A child clings to the side of the basket, while Zhiqiang holds on to the thermos.
While passing through a dirt pit, in order to avoid the motorcycle in front of him, Jianguo suddenly turned around, causing the car to jolt violently. Then came Zhiqiang's screams, as well as the shouts of his eldest son. Thermos, broken!
The hot water gushed out instantly, and almost all of it was sprinkled on Zhiqiang's thighs. Because the distance was too close, Zhihui also had a little on his back, while Zhiming was relatively safe.
Zhiqiang cried out because of the pain, and Jianguo immediately stopped the car, carried them all out of the car, and carefully examined the injuries. At this time, some kind neighbors came out to see what was going on, and they all discouraged them from taking off their children's clothes in a hurry. A villager arrived and quickly transported the children to the village clinic on a motorcycle.
After some **, Zhiqiang's injuries appeared to be the most serious. From below the navel to the lower half of the left leg, all of them were burned, and to a considerable extent.
Jianguo urgently sent the children to the county hospital for acceptance**. After a period of hard work, they were finally discharged. However, Zhiqiang still needs to recuperate at home, constantly change the wound ointment, and closely observe his ** condition to prevent the new skin and flesh tissue from being implicated and bringing more serious consequences.
What will be the consequences?Jianguo asked anxiously. "It may cause lameness!The doctor's answer made Jianguo's heart sink. "Crippled?Zhiqiang could become a cripple?On the way back from Jianguo, his mind was full of worries about Zhiqiang's lame appearance in the future.
How he wished that he was lame, even if it was his own child, he could accept it. But why, it's Zhiqiang?Without parents, if you are disabled, how can you marry a daughter-in-law in the future?Jianguo felt extremely annoyed!
Why!Why does this have to happen to someone?Why can't it happen to yourself?In the days to come, especially in the middle of the night, Zhiqiang would always wake up because of pain, and when he woke up, he cried loudly, and he was in pain.
The eldest lady also came back from out of town, and when she saw Zhiqiang crying bitterly, she couldn't help crying. "He must be crying because of the pain, my baby is the most well-behaved, never crying!As she spoke, she cried even more sadly. Zhiqiang watched his aunt cry and began to speak: "Auntie, don't cry!."”
Child, when my aunt sees you crying, I want to cry too!Zhiqiang began to slowly stop crying: "Zhiqiang doesn't cry, and my aunt doesn't cry!."Slowly, slowly, Zhiqiang began to stop crying and began to tremble, but he stopped crying.
The eldest lady looked at this sensible child and couldn't stop shedding tears. Sometimes, after Zhiqiang fell asleep, she silently prayed, hoping that the child could grow up healthily and not become a cripple, otherwise she would not be able to communicate below. Jianguo no longer dared to let his daughter-in-law accompany him, and decided to go out to work alone.
Zhihui was bored with his studies and chose to go out to work with his father. In a factory, he became an assembly line worker, receiving a monthly salary, and was quite happy.
Under the careful care of the eldest mother, Zhiqiang's legs were good and showed no signs of lameness. But since that accident, there has been a visible scar between the base of the thigh and the knee.
Since then, Zhiqiang has never worn shorts again, and always chooses long pants no matter what the season. He was worried about the ridicule of others and his curiosity about the scar, so he kept dressing that way.
The eldest mother has been responsible for taking care of the two children at home and has never gone out to work again. As time passed, Zhiming took the college entrance examination earlier than Zhiqiang, but his grades were not satisfactory and he could only enter a three-book school.
The cost of three schools is also quite high in the province, which is a huge expense for the family.
Zhiming considered that it was better to go out to work early than to go to three schools, and the construction of houses in the village was booming, and his own house was still a three-room earthen tile house that his grandfather borrowed money to build when his parents got married. The surrounding neighbors are building buildings and pulling soil to pad the foundation, so that the terrain around their house gradually falls into a low depression. During the rainy season, there is always water in the living room of the home.
Zhiming decided after careful consideration, forget it, let's go out to work. After all, he already has a high school diploma, which is better than his brother, and he should be able to find a good job.
Now, Zhiqiang is the only one left at home.
The eldest lady often emphasized to Zhiqiang that she must be admitted to university. She thinks there are three children in the family and now only you are left. Only by being admitted to university can you have a broader career in the future. Don't follow in the footsteps of your uncle and eldest brother, who worked hard in the factory and had a meager salary, and now even building a house has become a luxury.
Zhiqiang went to high school and only went home once a month, but in order to save more than a dozen yuan in travel expenses, he chose to go back every two months.
Sometimes, in order to worry that the child will not eat well at school, the eldest mother always runs to the school gate to buy some biscuits, fried chestnuts, etc. for Zhiqiang, and then sits in the garden at the door of the class.
The eldest mother's favorite moment is to see the child return to class, and then she goes alone to check the child's ranking under the school's honor roll.
Every time she finished reading it, she felt very relieved, and on the way home, she always told Jianguo that this child would definitely be admitted to a good university. There is also joy on the other end. However, there was silence next. How much does it cost to go to college?
The eldest mother said that no matter how much money she had, she would have to provide for her children to go to college, and when the time came, she would rent out the family's land and go out to work, so wouldn't a few people be able to support a child to go to school?
On the eve of the college entrance examination, the uncle took leave to come back from other places, worried that the child would be nervous, and also wanted to witness the moment of the child's college entrance examination, so he came back early and rented a hotel near the school.
The results came out, and the hanging heart was also put down, which was very good, and I was admitted to a 985 university. Jianguo was very happy and called all the relatives who could be contacted.
In recent years, my aunt's family has gradually become richer, and my aunt put 2,000 yuan into Zhiqiang's bank card, saying that it was to celebrate his admission to university, and to celebrate Zhiqiang when he returned home for the Chinese New Year.
The two cousins were also very happy in **, and said that when they received their salaries, they must buy a mobile phone for Zhiqiang as a reward.
In fact, for the uncle, he is really relieved, the child has finally been admitted to college, and his task has been completed for most of the time, and he has finally let go of the worries that have been hanging in his heart over the years. In the four years of college, Zhiqiang worked very hard, almost did not ask his family for more money, and mainly relied on his own part-time jobs and grants. In his senior year, Zhiqiang, who originally had the opportunity to be escorted, was rejected.
He is eager to step into the society as soon as possible to work hard. Now that he is studying at a university and has a girlfriend, this is already the life that many people dream of, especially for a family like his. The two elder brothers went out to work early to make money, and they have been studying, which is already quite happy. He resolutely gave up the opportunity to study and chose to join an Internet company.
At the end of the year, when I returned home, the family was together. But Zhiqiang found that the uncle had been wearing a sad face, and the situation did not seem to be simple. At the end of the year, everyone expressed their intentions.
Zhihui and Zhiming plan to get married next year, one is May 1 and the other is October 1, and there are only 5 months before and after. However, the more problematic problem is that the family's house has not yet been built.
Although I have saved a little over the years, the expenses are not small. If you want to have two weddings, you have to build a house, which is obviously beyond your reach.
Uncle knows that Zhiqiang fell in love in college, and after graduation, he will also enter the palace of marriage. But Zhiqiang's house has a serious problem, three walls have collapsed on two sides, how can such a residence attract girls to pass through.
Uncle was in trouble, and although he didn't usually smoke, he was now lighting one after another. The eldest lady also felt speechless.
Zhiqiang opened his mouth and said, "Uncle, let's find a way first, what's the use of worrying?"I just graduated and am in no hurry to get married. The money we earn will be used for the eldest brother's marriage first, and then for the second brother's marriage. However, it is almost impossible to settle the marriage of two children within a year.
The money was either used to build a house, to build a brother's house, a homestead, two houses, which are common in the countryside;Either that, let the eldest brother get married first.
The two brothers said that they could not build a house for the first time, but the marriage must be resolved as soon as possible, especially Zhihui, because his girlfriend is pregnant. Zhiqiang said that he would solve the eldest brother's marriage first, and as for the second brother's problem, he would find a way to solve it.
When the eldest lady heard this, she hurriedly said, "Don't be foolish, we never thought of spending your money!.""What's the matter, it's all my own family, can't we just carry this matter together?"”
The eldest lady hurriedly waved her hand and said no, and said: "Your responsibility is heavier than anyone else, your house has not been built, don't spend money on us!."”
The uncle also chimed in and said, "You just graduated, where did you get the money!."The uncle also said: "We raised you, but we didn't want you to repay us for anything, you do this, why do the people in the village look at me and your aunt?"”
After several arguments, the old couple always refused to ask for Zhiqiang's money. However, people still have to bow to reality after all.
After the eldest brother got married, because his wife wanted to raise a baby, the eldest brother left his daughter-in-law at home and went out to work by himself, and the eldest mother took care of his daughter-in-law at home. Seeing that it is about to be October 1, the second son is going to get married, but there is still no money.
The eldest son got married, and basically spent all his savings over the years, and Zhiqiang had just gotten his salary, and he was going to give it to his uncle, but he was rejected.
What now?The wedding date is ahead, and there is no money to do things. The neighbors in the village borrowed everything they could, but it was still much worse. Every day, neighbors can see Jianguo smoking a cigarette in front of his house.
Isn't your eldest nephew quite able to make money?Let him give it to you!”
Another neighbor: "After raising it for so many years, you can take as much as he gives you, and you don't take it for nothing!.""At this time, the eldest lady came out of the house" Don't talk nonsense, you go to see his house and take the house, there is no money to renovate, where did he get the money?”
It's strange to say, in the past few days, there has been no news from Zhiqiang, and he hasn't even hit a **.
A few days ago, Zhiqiang's mother called**, and said that she heard that Zhiqiang is very able to make money now, but he has no parents, and his money should be kept for his own daughter-in-law, and you can't spend Zhiqiang's money.
As soon as these words came out, the big lady couldn't be angry. The eldest lady opened her mouth and slammed back, "We don't spend it, you don't want to spend a penny on him!."Get out!”
Later, the eldest mother also told Zhiqiang about this matter, wanting to see Zhiqiang's attitude, but Zhiqiang didn't say anything. After all, for so many years, there hasn't been a **, and now I'm calling**, it's just that I want some money, just ignore her.
Since then, Zhiqiang has not been seen again.
The wedding was only a few days away, but Zhiqiang never showed up. The eldest lady said in a deep voice: "Maybe I'm too busy with work to come back." At the same time, Uncle received a reminder on his mobile phone that there was a lot more money in the card.
Jianguo was surprised and asked confusedly, "What's going on?".Did someone else type the wrong money?He had heard that some criminals had recently deliberately made the wrong money and then tried to defraud them out of money.
Just as Jianguo was in a panic, the mobile phone rang again. He was so nervous that he shivered, worried about what an emergency had happened, but it turned out to be Zhiqiang's **.
Uncle, the money has been received. This time it's enough, don't worry, hurry up!"The money from Zhiqiang?How does he have so much money?Countless questions swirled in Jianguo's mind.
It turns out that these days, Zhiqiang has been raising funds for his cousin. He borrowed money from his college roommate, and when it wasn't enough, he borrowed it from his girlfriend, but it was still not enough, and he even considered going to the bank for a loan.
Although I ran to several banks, it was unsuccessful. My girlfriend has always been against loans, worried that if something goes wrong in the future, buying a house outside will become a big problem.
In the end, Zhiqiang contacted a few high school friends, collected three or five thousand, and after a few days of hard work, he barely scraped together some money and hurriedly called his uncle.
Zhiqiang comforted the uncle through ** and persuaded him to do things first, and talk about the money later. However, Uncle did not intend to do so.
In the next few years, Zhiqiang also embarked on the path of marriage. Every time the parents intervened, Jianguo and his daughter-in-law would communicate with the woman's parents on behalf of the Zhiqiang family and discuss various details and matters.
Although Zhiqiang's mother said that she would come forward, she was scolded by her mother. However, Zhiqiang's mother just talked about it, and never really came forward.
Originally, the woman's parents were worried about such a family, thinking that their daughter might suffer in the past. However, Jianguo assured the woman's parents that as long as the old couple was there, they would definitely cherish Zhiqiang's family for the rest of their lives.
After years of hard work, Jianguo finally gradually paid off its debts. However, the eldest mother and the uncle had a new plan.
Although Zhiqiang has always said that the family house is gone, he will give the homestead to his two elder brothers, and when he goes home for the New Year's holidays, he still has to live with his uncle, so the house is not important to him.
However, when Zhiqiang returned to his hometown again, he was surprised to find that his home had been completely renewed. The rebuilding of the fence and the renovation of the house, although it is only a simple improvement, at least it will no longer leak rain and no clods of earth will fall overhead, which is already a big change.
Zhiqiang once recalled sadly that he felt very depressed when he came home many years ago and saw the garden overgrown with weeds. And now, the eldest mother has planted all kinds of vegetables in the yard, making the family more vibrant.
Over the years, the uncle and the aunt have been silently paying for this family.
Zhiqiang has never dared to get married, let alone have children, for fear that he will not be able to cope with future difficulties. However, the eldest mother encouraged him: "Even if you give birth to children, I will bring you as many children as you want!."The uncle also smiled and said: "Your aunt has no tasks for the rest of her life, so I'll take you with a child!."”
Zhiqiang said that there was no problem at all, and he would pay his aunt a salary every month, which was higher than the market price.
But the eldest lady insisted: "We raised you, we never thought of spending your money, you never thought about what you had to repay us!."It's all my own children, don't say that!”
Zhiqiang heard these words more than once. Zhiqiang had an ill-fated fate and didn't have many opportunities to see his biological mother, and his father died early. I thought I could live with my grandfather for a few years, but my grandfather also passed away. For so many years, my mother has hardly appeared, and it is all the uncle and his family to support themselves.
With such a pair of good uncles and aunts, it is really fortunate for Zhiqiang to live three lives. Mother's words made Zhiqiang more confident in the future, and his road will be smoother!