Chapter 359 - 316: The Hu Family
Chapter 359: Chapter 316: The Hu Family
When night fell, Xinghua ultimately refused to stay in Xiao Man’s room. The room Dapeng was staying in already had two bed frames, so Grandpa and Grandma brought out quilts and made up the beds. Xinghua would sleep in one bed with Qiuyan, while Dapeng slept in the other. Grandma said to Xiao Man, "You wouldn’t even let Hao Hao stay with you, so why the sudden generosity? As long as there’s a place to sleep in the house, we won’t make anyone squeeze in with you!"
Xiao Man shot Grandma a wounded, accusatory look. ’How could you say that about me? You’re definitely biased against me!’
Grandpa laughed heartily. "This fall and winter, we have a batch of herbs to harvest. People took samples for testing and confirmed our herbs are top-grade, with excellent potency. They’re offering a very high price. Once we sell them all, we’ll get a huge sum of money. We’ll keep planting next spring, and other herbs will be harvested one after another, batch after batch. If this keeps up, our family will save up some serious cash! After we pay off the loan, in two or three years, we can build a small, Western-style house in this courtyard—three, even four stories tall! By then, our third son will be home for good, and you kids will each have your own big room!"
Dapeng and Qiuyan clapped their hands happily. "Yay! We’re going to live in a Western-style house!"
Xinghua looked emotional. "Grandpa, I’ll follow you and learn to grow herbs. Please teach me. I promise I’ll study hard!"
Grandpa smiled and nodded. "Good! Tomorrow, I’ll have Xiao Man give you her copy of the Hundred Herbs Atlas. Xiao Man is a clever girl; she learned to identify most of the herbs just by looking at the illustrations. You can try to learn them on your own first. If there are any you really can’t figure out, Grandpa will take you out and teach you, just like I did with your Uncle Chengfu. We’ll go through them slowly, one plant, one branch, one leaf at a time. Xiao Man usually helps me organize the herb storeroom, and she’s very methodical. She’s going off to university, so you’re just in time to take her place and learn the ropes! Also, tomorrow I’ll go look for that young woman from the Lan family, her name is Lan Jiaying. She graduated and was assigned to teach at our village’s elementary school. Xiao Man said we could ask her to be your private tutor. She can spend a year helping you catch up on your elementary school curriculum, and by next September, you’ll be able to start middle school!"
"..." Xinghua was speechless for a moment. Looking at the encouraging expressions from Xiao Man and Grandma, she bit her lip and nodded firmly. "I’ll do what Grandpa says! I will study hard! I’ve suffered the bitterness of being illiterate and uneducated. It’s okay if I can’t be as accomplished as Xiao Man. Just knowing more words and being able to do some arithmetic is always good!"
Grandpa and Grandma nodded again and again. "Well said, well said!"
In the adjacent room, Mo Jiabao lay on the bed while Yu Wumei organized the wardrobe. The couple could clearly hear the voices of the elders and the children.
A hundred emotions churned within Mo Jiabao. ’So this is what a real mother and father are like. Their love for their children and grandchildren flows so naturally. They discuss family finances and plans openly, without holding anything back. It’s nothing like Hu Laosan. When it was time to work, he expected our whole family, young and old, to toil like beasts of burden. When the production team distributed dividends and grain, Hu Laosan was always the one to collect it, never even letting me get close. Only he knew how much we actually received! How could I have been so foolish before, to think that Hu Laosan held any fatherly affection for me at all?’
Yu Wumei’s expression was also a mixture of sorrow and joy. ’Fate plays such tricks on people. Mo Jiabao did search for his birth parents when he was younger. Whenever he had a chance to leave Hu Village, he would go around making inquiries. One time, the production team sent him with a technician to help carry some things, and he even traveled to G Province. He never would have dreamed that his real parents were right there, within the borders of that very province!’
’If Mo Jiabao had met his real parents sooner and lived with them, he might have had a good life and been spared Hu Laosan’s exploitation. But then I never would have met him, and our children would never have been born!’
Yu Wumei glanced quietly at Mo Jiabao, thinking to herself, ’Heaven’s plan was the right one! It’s better that we were all reunited now. From now on, I will work as hard as I can, keep the house neat and tidy, and be doubly filial to my father-in-law and mother-in-law!’
While Grandpa Mo’s family in Gongdao Village, G Province, began a new life filled with warmth, harmony, and boundless energy, life for Hu Laosan’s family—thousands of miles away in Hu Village, Yutian Commune, Shiyuan County, H Province—had not been easy ever since Jiabao and his wife left with their children.
Without the capable support of Jiabao and his wife, the household fell into disarray. The old and the young alike had grown accustomed to depending on them over the years and were completely unable to cultivate their allocated farmland on their own. Their relatives had their own work to attend to and couldn’t always come to help. In the end, Hu Laosan and Mrs. Hu had to bite the bullet and spend a painful amount of money to hire laborers. They managed to get one season’s crops planted, but due to neglect, the harvest was dismal. They nearly failed to meet their public grain levy. Meanwhile, there were many mouths to feed at home. Their son had just started working and needed to save money and grain coupons to find a wife from the city. Their daughter, just a substitute teacher, had no grain allowance and had to come home for supplies. On top of that, their several grandchildren were growing adolescents, an age when they ate the most. It was already clear that this year’s grain supply wouldn’t last until spring. They would have to find a way to scrape together money to buy more grain to supplement their stores. The situation was a constant source of worry and frustration.