Chapter 354 - 311: A Dream Too Beautiful
Chapter 354: Chapter 311: A Dream Too Beautiful
Tang Qingyun had originally intended to take Grandpa, Grandma, and Xiao Man back to the municipal guesthouse for dinner—a kind arrangement made by the committee leadership. However, Grandpa and Grandma hadn’t yet recovered from the joy of finding Jiabao. It all felt like a dream, and they couldn’t bear to leave their son, afraid that if they left, everything would vanish like smoke. They refused to leave the hospital, insisting on staying by Mo Jiabao’s side. Tang Qingyun had no choice. In the end, he had Xiao Feng arrange for a simple meal of about ten dishes from the hospital cafeteria. Since Mo Jiabao couldn’t move, Yu Wumei stayed to accompany him, while the rest went to eat their fill before gathering back in the hospital room.
After dinner, Tang Qingyun looked at Mo Jiabao again and was amazed to find that not only had the swelling on his face gone down, but the dark purple bruises had also faded considerably. He was a man with well-defined, rugged features. Tang Qingyun could now roughly see that while they weren’t strikingly similar, his features and expression held a blend of Grandpa’s and Grandma’s traits. Combined with a voice that was identical to Grandpa’s, he had no choice but to believe that this man was truly the stolen Mo Jiabao.
What he didn’t know was that Xiao Man had given Mo Jiabao spiritual spring water mixed with an elixir. On the outside, he still looked like a seriously injured patient, but in reality, Mo Jiabao’s internal injuries were already under control and gradually healing. As for the external wounds wrapped in gauze and plaster, others couldn’t see them, but Mo Jiabao himself knew they no longer hurt.
Mo Jiabao, however, thought he had forgotten the pain because he was so overjoyed to be reunited with his family. ’Heaven is fair after all,’ he thought. ’After so much suffering, I’ve been granted such immense happiness. I’ve finally found my real parents! I’m a forty-year-old man, yet I can still enjoy my parents’ doting love like a little child!’ His real father was even stronger than him, helping him turn over and move. His real mother used a hot towel to wipe his face and hands, fed him, and insisted he eat a chicken drumstick, saying that every year on his birthday, they would slaughter a chicken, imagining Jiabao getting to eat a drumstick... It all felt like a dream. ’This dream is so beautiful, I hope I never wake up!’ Mo Jiabao had rarely cried in his life, but on this day, he shed almost a lifetime’s worth of tears.
The whole family knew that Xinghua was safe and would be back with them tomorrow. Everyone was relaxed and joyful. Even the two children, who had always been sullen and quiet, suddenly became mischievous. They even started playing with Xiao Man. Qiuyan wanted to play cat’s cradle with Xiao Man, and Dapeng taught her how to make a sound by blowing on a leaf, claiming it could attract crickets. The hospital room was filled with lively laughter.
Looking closely, the two children clearly bore the Mo family’s resemblance. Dapeng, in particular, had a hairline at his temples that was a carbon copy of Grandpa’s. No wonder Grandpa had taken a liking to him at first sight and always remembered to hold his hand wherever they went.
Yu Wumei often stole glances at Grandma. Eventually, she couldn’t help but say that her eldest daughter, Xinghua, had inherited Grandma’s looks and even her temperament. She had always been quiet and gentle, never speaking loudly.
Grandma smiled at this, then turned to look at Xiao Man and sighed. "Being like me isn’t necessarily a good thing. I suffered because I was too soft and kind, and I don’t want the same for you girls. That’s why I teach Xiao Man to be strong, so she won’t always be bullied. Girls need to be tough, at least enough to protect themselves! You also have to keep your eyes open. You can’t know what’s in a person’s heart. We have to learn to read people and see them for who they are to avoid being tricked!"
Yu Wumei’s eyes filled with admiration, and she nodded repeatedly. "Ma, from now on, please put in the effort to watch over Xinghua and Qiuyan. Jiabao’s methods won’t work; he’s raising the kids to be naive. And I... I’m no good either. I’m slow and illiterate, so there’s not much I can teach them."
Xiao Man found this amusing. ’This aunt isn’t slow at all,’ she thought. ’She’s quite sharp and decisive. She’d barely acknowledged her new mother-in-law before pushing her kids onto her for discipline. I mean, who wouldn’t want to pass the buck and have an easy life?’
"Auntie, did my Uncle Jiaobao ever go to school?" Xiao Man asked.
Yu Wumei smiled and said, "When your uncle was little, that Mrs. Hu treated him pretty well. She sent him to school at age five, and he studied for about two years before she passed away. But your uncle is a determined person. He loved to read, but Hu Laosan wouldn’t let him. So, he’d pick up the books Hu Laosan’s own sons threw away and read them himself. When the village started a literacy class, he went every night. He knows a lot of characters and can do arithmetic. Whenever there’s a public notice or a newspaper posted in the village, he can read it aloud to everyone!"
Grandma sighed. "The boy knows the benefits of being literate, so why wouldn’t he let his own children go to school?"
Yu Wumei’s face fell. "It’s because we were useless and not strong enough. We made the children suffer! Where we’re from, it’s normal for girls not to go to school. Of course, some girls do get an education, but those are from well-off families. When we moved back to the Hu Family Courtyard, Hu Laosan and Old Mrs. Hu’s youngest daughter was allowed to go to school, but Xinghua wasn’t. Hu Laosan coaxed Jiabao with nice words, saying boys could go to school, but girls didn’t need to. He said they’d just find a good match for Xinghua and give her a bigger dowry. But after our second and third sons started school, they ran into one problem after another. They were either getting beaten up or being falsely accused of stealing. It got so bad that the two brothers didn’t want to go to school anymore. Our second son, trying to protect the third, was pushed into a cold river on the way home from school. His health has been ruined ever since... Looking back now, it was all Hu Laosan’s doing!"
Yu Wumei began to sob quietly. Grandma’s eyes welled with tears, her face etched with sorrow.
Xiao Man asked Yu Wumei, "Hu Laosan only let you move back to the Hu Family Courtyard because his two biological sons died. It was obvious he wanted you to be his laborers and support his whole family. Why were you so obedient? Couldn’t you have just said no?"
Yu Wumei shook her head. "Child, you don’t understand. It’s a large village with many rules passed down through the generations. Things like filial piety are taken very seriously. A father can discipline his son however he wants. If a son dares to be disobedient, he can be tied up and brought to the ancestral hall, where every person in the village, young and old, gets to hit him with a stick. They’ll beat him half to death! Hu Laosan forcing us to move back to the Hu Family Courtyard was discussed and approved by the village elders, which is why he dared to burn down our grass hut. He promised the elders that if we, as a couple, went back to support the Hu Family, let his two youngest siblings study in peace, and raise the grandchildren left behind by his two dead sons, he would give Jiabao a share of the dozen or so large, tile-roofed houses! The elders thought this was very reasonable because Jiabao was also a son of the Hu Family, with the responsibility to support the household and the future right to a share of the family property! Besides, when comparing living in a lonely grass hut to a large, tile-roofed house in the village, of course the elders thought moving back to the village was better! With all that pressure from every side, how could we have refused?"
"..."
Xiao Man sighed to herself. ’This must be what they mean by "the person in the situation can’t see clearly." Mo Jiabao was trapped in the middle of it all. With no one to pull him aside and offer a word of advice, he might never have been able to escape that hopeless situation his entire life. If not for the serious incident of their daughter being abducted and sold, and the couple’s profound love for their own flesh and blood, they probably would never have summoned such immense courage to defy Hu Laosan and flee with their entire family to search for her.’
They stayed at the hospital until after ten o’clock. Tang Qingyun urged Grandpa and Grandma to get in the car and go rest at the guesthouse. After all, a large group of people couldn’t possibly sleep in the hospital room.
Grandma saw that Xiao Man had had a long day and stood up, ready to take her to rest.
Grandpa, however, didn’t want to leave. Mo Jiabao also said his wounds no longer hurt and that he felt fine. He told Yu Wumei she didn’t need to stay by his side, telling her to go with Ma to take good care of the elders and look after the children. Anyway, there was a spare bed in the room, so he asked his dad to stay with him. The father and son still had endless things to talk about.