Hearing that the Old Lady planned to leave with Gong Mingxia, the Gong Family household suddenly buzzed with excitent; however, the Old Lady and Gong Mingxia didn’t even glance at them, heading straight into the house to lock the door and sleep, completely uninterested and too weary to listen to whatever commotion was going on outside.
An illness had allowed the Old Lady to witness the ugly faces of her children, and for the remainder of her life, she wished only to live quietly for herself and to stop thinking about them anymore.
The deeper the love had been, the sharper the bla, the deeper the love once was, the more painful it was now.
In the village, those who needed to say farewell had already been greeted by the Old Lady during the funeral. Thus, the next morning, Gong Mingxia, supporting her mother and carrying a handbag, stepped on the dew before dawn and made it to the town, catching the first bus away from the ho she had lived in for most of her life.
After Gong Mingxia left with her mother, she didn’t leave behind a single word or a trace, not an address, not a phone number, decisively severing all ties with this place.
Gong’s mother would be lying if she said her heart didn’t ache, but however much it hurt, it couldn’t compare to the tornt of the cold violence from her children.
Fortunately, she still had one filial child, which sohow made it all worth it to have raised her.
On this visit, Gong Mingxia had spent over 40,000 yuan, which the Old Lady was aware of and had recorded in her account book. Although she could not repay it, she hoped to compensate her child in another way.
This ti Gong Mingxia returned and didn’t ask about Zhang Liang’s family, nor did the Old Lady ntion it. The journey back was by train, in a sleeper berth. By the ti daughter and mother could sit face to face, casting everything else aside, it seed they had already co to terms with it all.
"Zhang Liang has prospered over the last few years," Gong Mingxia recounted. "I heard that he made a fair bit of money in the Southern region and even ca back to marry a wealthy woman. They live in the county now. I was actually quite scared that you’d bump into him, but thankfully, during the ti you were here, you had no entanglent whatsoever with the Zhang family."
"What about Zhang Liang’s parents? Did they go to the city with him?"
"How could they? They still live in the countryside. Ever since Zhang Liang beca successful, all we’ve heard is how ostentatiously rich he acts every ti he returns to the village. But when it cos to his parents, there’s been no word about them living any better or eating any better, nor has there been any ntion of his wife. They seem to go out even less now."
A man married into his wife’s family, what’s there to be happy about?
Zhang Liang had wealth outside, but the truth of the inside was likely known only to the Zhang family themselves.
The daughter-in-law existed only in rumors and would probably never return to Zhangjia Village in this lifeti. Zhang Liang’s parents went from full of hope to slowly losing that hope bit by bit. Outsiders might not feel it, but she understood it all too clearly.
This only confird the saying that what goes around cos around, it’s not that karma doesn’t happen, but the ti hasn’t co yet.
The journey consisted of nothing but reminiscences from the Old Lady, and Gong Mingxia thought to herself that this was good, as she seed to have found the inspiration for her next book.
After three or four days of travel, they finally arrived in H State. Once off the train, she imdiately called a taxi, heading straight for Shuiyunjian.
Tired from the journey, all she wanted was to get ho quickly, so she had no interest in squeezing onto a bus. By the ti she and the Old Lady returned to Shuiyunjian, it was just around three or four in the afternoon.
Even though Cao Yuan had not yet finished work, Xiao Xiao and Cao Yang had already co back from Beijing, having had their fill of fun. Not only had they spent the five thousand yuan given to them, but they had also borrowed another two thousand from Aunt ng. They truly knew how to live it up, yet Gong Mingxia didn’t mind, because in that month and a half, they had thoroughly explored all the sights Beijing had to offer, and the seven thousand yuan included everything from als and entertainnt to gifts for Aunt ng and Little Duoduo.
Gong Mingxia had called ahead to briefly inform about the situation here. Grandma was very sympathetic toward Gong’s mother, so as soon as they arrive ho, she led her three children in giving Gong’s mother the warst and most enthusiastic welco.
Although Xiao Xiao didn’t rember this Grandma, she looked at her kind and amiable face and thought of having another person to love her in the future, and sweetly called out,
"Grandma, welco ho, you must be tired from your journey."
User Comments
0 comments from readers