Dashan Makes a Living 1984: Chapter 5 Father-in-law

   Chapter 5 005: Father-in-law

  The room fell silent.

  Wang Xiaozhu got into the quilt, stuck out his head and looked at Wang Tianxiao, "Second brother, your chimney was really filled by the third sister-in-law?"

"Sleep with you." Zhang Meifeng pulled the quilt to cover the little daughter's head, and then glanced at Wang Tianxiao, "Second brother, the eldest is not at home. You are the only head of this family, and you must have a big heart. Family and everything will be prosperous." I have told you the truth since childhood, you must always keep it in your heart.”

Looking at his mother's pale hair, Wang Tianxiao felt sad for her secretly, thinking that it would be useless to tell her too much before the incident happened, so he said: "Mother, I will not shirk what I am responsible for, but don't think about it when others ask you." **** on my head."

   "You have such a stubborn temper, and I don't know who you are following." Zhang Meifeng sighed, "How about this, you bring your daughter-in-law to your mother first, women can't move their fetus at this time, or they will suffer a lifetime of punishment."

"Um."

   "Then you go." Zhang Meifeng said wearily.

  Wang Tianxiao returned to her cave, Li Yali hugged her daughter and looked at the door eagerly, seeing him coming in, asked nervously: "Is the chimney really blocked?"

"block up."

  Li Yali showed embarrassment, and said helplessly, "I don't offend them on weekdays, but I don't know why I keep staring at us."

   "It's none of your business, they just want us to move out sooner."

  Wang Tianxiao comforted his wife.

  My wife is kind-hearted. Even so, she still has no resentment in her heart, and only thinks about whether she has done something wrong.

  She has been like this all her life. Fortunately, she is very good, but she has been suffering all her life.

   Having said that, it is also fortunate that she has this temperament to be able to live with her for the rest of her life. If it were any other woman, she might have run away early.

   "You mean separation?" Li Yali's expression changed.

   "Yes, that's what they mean. It's because Hua'er is getting old, and it's not convenient to live with the third child all the time."

  Li Yali nodded, "That's true."

  Wang Tianxiao was stunned, and smiled wryly.

  My wife is really a considerate person. It's this season, and I can still think of others.

  He didn't accuse his wife of being stupid.

  Two lifetimes taught him a lot of truths, there is nothing wrong with kindness, what is wrong is to disappoint a kind person.

  She is a kind woman, what I can do is to protect her all the time, and prevent her kindness from being used by those with ulterior motives.

   "It takes time to poke the chimney, so go to Mother's place for a day."

  Li Yali shook her head, "I'm not cold, why should I be cold when you are at home."

  Wang Tianxiao was stunned again, seeing his wife's bright red face with a little shy red cloud, he gently stroked his wife's hair.

   "Let's go, too cold is not good for children."

  Speaking of children, Li Yali's eyes are full of tenderness. She stroked her big belly and said gently, "I've been craving sour food lately. This must be a big fat boy."

   "It's possible, it's sour." Of course Wang Tianxiao knew that there was a son.

   "But my sister-in-law Runlan said that if it is a son's baby, the belly is pointed, and the girl's baby is round. Why do I think my belly is round?"

   "Is there any? I think it's pointed." Wang Tianxiao said with a smile.

   "Let's be sharp," Li Yali said happily, "I want to give birth to a son for you, and everyone else has them, but you don't have a son, and my mother will not like me."

   "Nothing, I like my son and daughter," Wang Tianxiao rubbed Huilongjue's daughter's head, "As long as it is our child, I like it."

  In this era, sons are preferred over daughters, and the old lady naturally prefers grandsons. The eldest, third, and fourth families already have sons, but Wang Tianxiao, the second eldest, has no sons.

  The old lady didn't say anything, but she acted countless times.

  Hearing what her man said, Li Yali felt warm in her heart, and felt that the sky was not so cold anymore.

  Wang Tianxiao thought that there was no food at home, so he asked Li Yali to rest first, and he went to the town to buy some food and came back.

   Originally planned to return to work early today, but with the current state, it is impossible for him to leave.

   Whether to return to the unit or not is another matter.

  Because it was too early, many places were not open. Wang Tianxiao waited for a long time, and bought some cornmeal and a bottle of oil after the grain and oil store of the supply and marketing cooperative opened. He saw someone selling vinegar in a vinegar barrel on the street, so he bought a bottle by the way.

  Northwest people like to be jealous. They need vinegar when eating noodles and cold dishes. The vinegar of this era is made from pure grain, which smells very fragrant and tastes even more delicious. Unlike later generations of vinegar, which are all blended, it only tastes sour and bitter.

  He only has more than a dozen yuan in his pocket, and he can't afford white noodles, so he can only make do with cornmeal for the time being. Cornmeal is not corn hazelnuts, but directly ground flour. It tastes very sour. It is okay to eat occasionally, but it keeps nauseating after eating too much.

But it can’t be helped. The yield of corn is higher than that of wheat, and the land in mountain villages is uneven. Some places can’t accumulate water, and the wheat harvest is too poor. Corn, sorghum, and millet are relatively more productive, and they are easy to survive. They have become people’s staple food. .

  After dawn, the snow became lighter, but the snow was still thick. Wang Tianxiao didn't use his bicycle to carry goods for a long time, and fell down twice along the way. It was already past eleven o'clock in the morning when he returned home.

  As soon as he turned into the path leading to his own kang courtyard, he heard sharp curses from a distance.

   Very familiar, it is Yu Xiaofeng.

  Is this hanged ghost bullying his wife again?

  The two corners of Yu Xiaofeng's eyes drooped slightly, a bit like the Hanged Ghost in Liao Zhai, plus she is usually mean and aggressive, so the villagers secretly called her the Hanged Ghost.

  He speeded up and rushed home quickly.

   From a distance, I saw a figure standing alone on the edge of the cliff (the flat land above the pit yard, close to the pit yard, like a cliff. Cliff (ai)), pushing a small wheelbarrow in his hand.

   It turned out to be Li Wanfu, the father-in-law.

  Li Wanfu is a very honest old man. He doesn't know where his ancestral home is. He came to Qingcheng by begging all the way when he was very young. He worked as a long-term worker for a long time. Fortunately, he met a local girl and settled in Qingcheng.

  He has a problem with his articulation, and his personality is dull, so he rarely speaks. Wang Tianxiao was not particularly familiar with him in his previous life, and he had very little communication.

   But he knew that the old man loved his daughter very much.

  Especially the eldest daughter Li Yali, who had a hard life, was still holding Li Yali's hand before she died, and was reluctant to close her eyes.

  Maybe because she knows that this daughter is too kind, and she is afraid that she will suffer and suffer for the rest of her life.

   "I said Second Sister-in-law, come out and see who is on the edge of the cliff, why do I look like a beggar?"

  Wang Tianxiao had just arrived at the edge of the cliff when he heard Yu Xiaofeng's piercing voice yelling in the courtyard of the pit.

  Father-in-law Li Wanfu stood on the edge of the cliff in a daze, not knowing what to do in embarrassment.

   "Uncle, why are you here?"

  Li Wanfu finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his son-in-law, and smiled honestly: "I reckon Lili has nothing to eat or burn, so give her some. When will you come back, Tianxiao?"

   "Last night, wait a minute, I stopped the car and came up to help you push the cart."

  Li Wanfu stretched his head to look under the pit yard, feeling a little stage frightened, "Then I'll wait for you here."

  Li Wanfu did not dare to leave the ground kang courtyard of the Wang family.

  The Wang family is a well-known bandit with a radius of tens of miles. The whole family is so big that almost half of the people in the entire Wangjia Village are listed on the family tree.

  Wang Tianxiao had six grandfathers and brothers, and in Wang Tianxiao's generation, there were thirty or forty households. Not counting the grandfather's cousins, there were one or two hundred households.

  In his previous life, his father-in-law was humiliated by his mother, Zhang Meifeng, as a beggar. He never entered the Wang family’s house. Even when he came to visit his daughter, he always talked outside the door, secretly stuffed some hard-earned money and went back.

  Wang Tianxiao pushed the bicycle down the kang courtyard, and Yu Xiaofeng immediately got into their cave, not daring to come out again.

  When he saw his wife Li Yali sitting on the edge of the kang weeping silently, he was suddenly filled with anger.

   Uncle and aunt are dialects, referring to father-in-law and mother-in-law, but mother’s younger sister and elder sister are also called aunt, anyway, that’s how it is. As for why, the ancestors only know.

  

  

  (end of this chapter)