After a brief exchange of greetings with the villagers, Fang Lin's family of four arrived outside Wang Gandong's home.
There are two sets of courtyards separated by a low wall. One side is Wang Gan's east house, and the other side is Wang Gan's west house.
In Wang Gandong's house, there was a rural woman in her fifties who was feeding pigs in a basin next to the pigsty. When she saw Wang Xiu'e and her family coming, her smiling face suddenly changed.
The woman had a sullen face and showed no intention of welcoming her. She asked unceremoniously: "Why are you here? What's going on here this time?"
This woman's name is Zhang Yueying, and she is Fang Lin's aunt.
Wang Xiu'e glanced at Zhang Yueying and couldn't help but think of what Zhang Yueying said when she came here to borrow money for Fang Lin's tuition.
"As for your little ones, who are very rich, if you don't have any money, why don't you settle down and pay for them to go to college?"
"I'm borrowing money from your family. I might as well use the money to buy more feed, give our pigs more food, and kill a few more kilograms of pork for the Chinese New Year."
"Go, go, go! I can't even lend you a penny."
There was also Zhang Yueying’s sarcasm when she paid New Year’s greetings to Wang Fen and Li Fengxi.xdw8
"You have come to pay New Year's greetings, and you have made it clear that you are here to eat and drink. Let me tell you, there are only so many dumplings to make this year. Just take care of the mouths in your family and give me less."
"My son Wang Mao married a wife at the age of nineteen. I don't think your Fang Lin will be able to marry a wife in his lifetime. He will be a bachelor for the rest of his life. Sooner or later, your Fang family will have to cut off their relationship."
Those scenes from the past appeared in her mind. Faced with Zhang Yueying's cold attitude, Wang Xiu'e couldn't get close to her, so she said in a neutral tone: "Let's just come and see my mother, and then we'll leave."
Zhang Yueying said angrily: "What's there to see?
I don’t usually see you buying your parents some food, drink, or giving them some money to spend.
What’s the point of coming to see it when the crowd is almost gone?
Why, are you afraid that you will be unfilial and others will gossip about you?
It's okay, don't worry, no one will say anything to you.
Let me see, you'd better go back quickly.
You've been here for a long time, and I still have to take care of your food.
I have a very busy day, and I have to feed pigs, so I don't have time to care about you. I'm worried or not.
Wang Xiu'e's brows jumped in anger and she said in a deep voice, "What does it have to do with you that I came to see my mother? Don't worry, we won't eat a grain of rice from your family!"
Fang Baoguo and Fang Tianai both frowned and looked unhappy.
Fang Lin smiled but did not take Zhang Yueying's words seriously.
He held the box of vegetables and said, "Auntie, we just came to see grandma, and we won't bother you for too long.
I came in a hurry and didn’t bring anything with me. These are fresh vegetables grown in our village, and I’ll bring them to you to try.”
Zhang Yueying looked nonchalant and said coldly: "Is it necessary to go back and forth to get vegetables? Isn't our harvest in Wangjiazhuang better than yours in Fenghuang Village?"
Even if you bring it, no one will eat it, and if you feed it to the pigs, you will be afraid that the pigs will dislike it."
Zhang Yueying originally saw the box in Fang Lin's hand, her eyes flashed, and she was more or less expecting it, but when she heard Fang Lin actually said that it was just some vegetables, she immediately felt disgusted.
Rural people don’t lack anything but food, right?
Fang Baoguo was an honest man and tried to explain: "Sister-in-law, this vegetable in our village is so beautiful and delicious that it is almost sold abroad."
"Look at how good you are, it's almost sold abroad."
With a dark face, Zhang Yueying pointed to the pig pen in the corner inside the gate and said, "Just put it in front of the pig pen. I'll feed the pigs in the afternoon."
After saying that, he turned his head and went back by himself.
Wang Xiu'e snorted and said: "Xiao Lin, throw the vegetables in the yard, whether they like it or not. Let's take a look at your grandma and go back if nothing happens."
Fang Lin shook his head and smiled, and placed the vegetable box in the yard. Fang Baoguo also took advantage of the situation and put the vegetable box for Wang Ganxi together.
Zhang Yueying went to the south room to work in the kitchen and ignored the family.
They did not ask for trouble and walked directly to the house in the north row where their grandfather Wang Fen and grandma Li Fengxi lived.
Opening the door curtain, there was actually a gathering inside. Almost all the Wang family were here.
Grandpa Wang Fen was sitting cross-legged on the bed, still looking as old as he remembered, wearing a dark blue shabby Zhongshan suit, his half-white hair was a little messy, and the wrinkles on his face were like old tree bark.
He sat cross-legged and smoked dry cigarettes as always. The house was filled with the strange smell of firewood and dry cigarettes.
Also sitting or standing on the ground were my uncle Wang Gandong, my second uncle Wang Ganxi, my aunt Wang Xiumei, and my uncle Niu Zhuangchang.
As for grandma Li Fengxi, who Fang Lin and the others came here to see, she was covered with a thick quilt and lying by the corner wall of the bed. Her face could not be seen clearly from the doorway.
Seeing Wang Xiu'e's family walking in, Wang Fen and others were stunned, as if they didn't expect why they would come here.
Wang Fen raised his eyebrows and said, "Why are you here?"
With that said, Wang Fen turned to look at Wang Gandong and asked, "Did you call them too?"
Wang Gandong frowned and shook his head: "No, I only told Xiumei and the others."
Wang Ganxi stood up and said, "I asked eldest sister and the others to come over and see my mother."
Li Fengxi didn't suffer from any illness, but when she came this year, she seemed to have reached her end of the road, and her health was getting worse.
Especially during the recent period, I have been suffering from blurred vision and have spent almost all of my time in bed.
During the day yesterday, Wang Fen saw something was wrong with Li Fengxi, so he called the barefoot doctor in the village to take a look.
The doctor pointed his finger at Wang Fen and the others and said clearly that Li Fengxi would die in three to five days at most.
Yesterday afternoon, Wang Fen asked Wang Gandong to contact his youngest daughter Wang Xiumei and asked Wang Xiumei's family to come over and see Li Fengxi as soon as possible.
As for Wang Xiu'e's family, they were directly ignored by Wang Fen.
Still this morning, Wang Ganxi thought about it and felt something was wrong, so he called Wang Xiu'e and asked her to come back and take a look.
Therefore, with the exception of Wang Ganxi, all of them were unaware of the arrival of Fang Lin and his family, and seemed extremely shocked.
Wang Xiu'e returned to her parents' home four years ago because she couldn't borrow the tuition fee she borrowed from Fang Lin. In the past few years, she didn't even come to pay her respects during the Chinese New Year.
Unexpectedly, this time Li Fengxi’s deadline was approaching, and they would come here to see her off?
Wang Fen banged the cigarette pot twice on the bedrail and said in a deep voice: "What are you doing here? Even if your mother dies, she will be taken to her grave and buried. The Wang family does not welcome you."
Wang Xiu'e said with a dark face: "We are here to see my mother, it has nothing to do with you."
"Hey!" Wang Fen blew his beard and glared, saying angrily: "What do you mean?!"
Fang Baoguo pulled Wang Xiu'e and said, "Dad, we have come all the way here, why don't we take a look at the child's grandma?"
Li Fengxi, who was lying on the bed, raised her head from the pillow with difficulty, looked at the door with cloudy eyes, and said in a low voice: "Let my eldest daughter come over... let them come over."
This chapter has been completed!