Chapter 9: Since You Chopped It Off, Don’t Pick It Up Again

Zhao Yuanyi’s grandmother, Li Shi, finally looked a little better when she heard Su Jinyan was willing to provide for them in their old age, putting away her sharp and mean expression. “As expected of a child from the big city, the education is different. That’s right, in the end, we’re all family, there’s no overnight feud. Now…”

“Hehe, right? We’re family, we bicker and argue, but there’s no overnight feud, is there?” Su Jinyan interrupted her with a smile, and continued, “Grandma, I knew you had a sharp tongue but a kind heart. How could you watch our family be driven to desperation?”

“Thank you, Grandma. Now that you’re finally willing to help our second son’s family, Yuanyi and I will remember your kindness for the rest of our lives.”

Li Shi was stunned, the more she listened, the more something felt wrong. She asked blankly, “What do you mean I’m willing to help your second son’s family?”

Help the second son’s family with what?

Su Jinyan also asked blankly, “Didn’t Yuanyi tell you last night that we were taking Dad and Mom to Beijing for medical treatment?

This medical treatment, schooling, renting a house, living expenses will definitely require money. Weren’t you and Grandpa here early this morning to give us money?”

“Oh, and Aunt, weren’t you worried that Qiqi and Huahua would have no one to look after them, so you asked Aunt to help take care of them? And also help us cook and clean the house?”

“Bullshit! Pui!”

Li Shi spats fiercely on the ground. “You shameless little hussy! How dare you!”

“My daughter will marry a rich man and become an official’s wife in the future. How can she serve you! Have you no shame! You, as a niece-in-law, don’t serve your aunt properly and even want to treat her like a nanny! Why don’t you just die of laziness?!”

Su Jinyan’s eyes turned cold, stopping Zhao Yuanyi’s outstretched hand. She slightly curled her lips, her voice still amiable, calm, and without anger. “Grandma, this is what you said, a family should help each other.”

“Back then, Dad took out the money for his leg treatment and gave you fifteen hundred yuan as old-age support, which led to him not having money for treatment in the end and becoming disabled. After many years, my father inquired everywhere and finally found a good doctor who said he could cure Dad’s leg and Mom’s eyes. However, the surgery fee alone requires four to five thousand yuan.

Grandma, the family only has travel expenses left. We are about to go to Beijing. Dad, Mom, and Yuanyi don’t even have decent clothes, and settling down in Beijing will also require a large expense, plus the medical treatment…

Dad often says at home that Grandma has a sharp tongue but a kind heart. How could she be so heartless as to rob us of our money and drive us out of the house? You must still care about our second son’s family in your heart.

Since we haven’t officially separated the family yet, could you please give us two thousand yuan for emergency use first?”

Seeing Li Shi and Zhao Xiaofei’s faces turn red with anger, wanting to spew venomous words, she quickly added, “Grandma, don’t worry. If you want us to take Aunt, we will. If you don’t want Aunt to help me, take care of the children, then she won’t. If you want Aunt to find a job and a good man in Beijing, we will ask around as soon as we get to Beijing to see which factory is hiring someone who hasn’t graduated from third grade. As for marrying an official, as long as… as long as Aunt takes a fancy to him, I will inquire. Even if it’s shameless, I will get his phone number and address so that Aunt can go to his door to propose marriage.”

Before her voice even faded, the surrounding villagers burst into laughter.

A niece-in-law proposing marriage for her aunt-in-law?

This Educated Youth Su was really going to make people die of laughter!

“Li Donghua, you’re really something! The factories in our small town require at least junior high or high school graduation for recruitment. How can you be so shameless as to want your precious dumpling who hasn’t finished third grade to work in Beijing?”

“Hahahaha, what nonsense! So, what if she hasn’t finished third grade? So, what if she’s ugly? So, what if she’s lazy? That’s Li Donghua’s daughter! Whoever official she takes a fancy to; it’s their good fortune for several lifetimes!”

“Hahaha, that’s right, that’s right! When Zhao Xiaofei takes a liking to which factory, just let Li Donghua go to the factory and find the director. At worst, if they don’t arrange a job for her daughter, she’ll just cry, make a fuss, and threaten to hang herself.”

“Why bother crying, making a fuss, and threatening to hang herself? Just tear her clothes and shout indecency and rape, wouldn’t that be quicker? Maybe she could even become an official’s wife herself!”

“Tsk, what can’t Li Donghua do? Back then, she drove someone’s family out. Now that she sees that family is about to become successful, isn’t she shamelessly coming to make trouble?”

“With that lazy and gluttonous girl Zhao Xiaofei, even if she really got a worker’s spot, could she endure the hardship?”

“She’s going to be an official’s wife in the future, why would she need to endure hardship?”

The old women in the village stirred up trouble with veiled sarcasm, enjoying the spectacle. However, everyone’s opinion of Su Jinyan had changed somewhat.

After all, she had brought honor to their village. A city’s top scorer, going to the best university in Beijing, that was already something. Now she was even returning to the city and taking her husband and in-laws with her.

A group of villagers felt like they had misjudged her all these years.

“The village leader is here; the village leader is here!”

A commotion suddenly arose in the crowd, and as the words fell, a middle-aged man’s authoritative voice came.
“What are you all jabbering about? If you have nothing better to do at home, go to work!”

As he spoke, a man in his forties entered the gate.

It was the village leader, Zhao Changqing, also Zhao Yuanyi’s paternal uncle, tall and sturdy with a stern face. The villagers were instinctively afraid of him, and the earlier teasing gradually subsided.

“Second Uncle, Second Aunt, you have already severed ties with Zhengjun and his family. What are you doing here making trouble today? Or do you think the severance letter issued by me and the commune doesn’t count?”

Zhao Hongwei was afraid of this cousin, and Li Donghua was also wary. But compared to the potential benefits, that little bit of fear was nothing.

“Look at what the village leader is saying. Can a piece of paper sever blood ties? Would that still be called a blood relationship?”

“I carried my child for ten months, risked my life to give birth, and raised him with my own hands, feeding him and cleaning his messes. How can you say sever ties so easily? Which family doesn’t have some conflicts? Can a son and his own mother hold a grudge overnight? Even if my second son still resents me, as his mother, so many years have passed, his anger should have subsided, right?”

“Wuwu, who can truly sever ties with their own son? He was born after all my hard work and near-death experience!

In the end, it’s still because the family is poor! Back then, when my second son broke his leg and my eldest daughter-in-law went blind, I wanted to treat them too, but there was still the eldest son’s family, the third son’s family, the fourth son’s family, and Yuanyi’s aunt. Getting married, getting married off, how much money did that take?

Ten fingers connected to the heart; everyone is flesh. But I couldn’t cut off both hands for the sake of one finger! So, I could only cut off one finger!

Wuwu, poverty! If we weren’t poor, would we have driven our own son and grandson to live in this dilapidated house?”

“Every day when I think of their family living in this broken house, I can’t sleep all day and night!”

Li Donghua’s weeping was so heart-wrenching that some villagers were moved.

Yes, it was all because of poverty.

However, Zhao Zhengjun’s family had long been numb to this. They all had indifferent faces, coldly watching Li Donghua’s dramatic performance.

Never advise someone to be kind if you haven’t experienced their suffering.

Zhao Changqing twitched the corner of his mouth. He knew this aunt could talk, but he didn’t expect her to be so good at twisting things.

Zhao Yuanyi said coldly, his eyes icy, “Since you chopped it off, don’t pick it up again.”

“You don’t need to wail here, pretending to be a good mother and grandmother. Since all ten fingers were yours, why could the children of the eldest uncle’s and third uncle’s families go to school, while my father brought money home every month, yet my brother and I couldn’t go to school?”

“You treated everyone as your own, so why did you secretly call Aunt and several cousins to your room to eat fine grains, eggs, and meat every time, using the money and food stamps my father sent back? When you secretly fed them, you didn’t even let us drink our fill of coarse grain porridge?”

“Several cousins wanted to go to school, and you provided for them no matter how much it cost, even if they didn’t study well and didn’t have to work or do housework. I was first in my class every year, always getting perfect scores. Every night after school, I had to go up the mountain to cut grass, gather firewood, and fetch water before I could continue studying?”

“Dear Grandma, you wouldn’t have forgotten all of this, would you?”

“Isn’t this not your finger, but your enemy?”