Several times, when Liu Shuzhen could no longer bear it, Gu Ning gently pressed the back of Liu Shuzhen's hand to prevent her from speaking.
Seeing her daughter being manipulated by her granddaughter, Mrs. Liu was unsure. After a while, she sighed and finally broke the silence.
"I know what you are here for."
As soon as she said this, Liu Shuzhen's face turned pale on the spot, and she shouted timidly, "Mother."
Old Mrs. Liu has a fierce temper, otherwise she, a widowed woman, could have raised a pair of children without remarrying.
Therefore, Liu Shuzhen's fear of her mother seems to be hidden in her bones.
When they met each other, she was both respected and afraid.
This is the habit of spanking children.
Old Mrs. Liu looked at Liu Shuzhen for a long time without saying anything, but Gu Ning sighed. She opened her clear and clean eyes and looked at Old Mrs. Liu, "Grandma, the eldest aunt led Liu Baoliang to go to Gu's house to make terms.
do you know?"
As soon as I asked this question, it seemed that the fig leaf of both parties was suddenly torn away.
Mrs. Liu's face stiffened for a moment. Did she know?
Of course she knows, but if she was young, she would naturally stop her daughter-in-law from doing this. After all, it is unethical to do things like this.
Take the secret of your daughter's life experience to give your grandson a chance to have an iron rice bowl.
However, she knew she knew it, but there was nothing she could do about it, and she was even happy to see it happen.
Because there was really no other way. Before she closed her eyes, she wanted to watch the Liu family's only grandson settle down, get a formal and decent job, marry another daughter-in-law, and continue the family lineage for the old Liu family.
In this case, even if she closed her eyes and went underground, she could still explain to the old man.
However, what Mrs. Liu didn't expect was that Shuzhen was confused, but her former granddaughter was extraordinarily sharp.
It was revealed immediately.
Mrs. Liu was silent for a long time. When Gu Ning thought she wouldn't speak, she spoke, "I know."
"But, I can't help it."
This is a fact.
When she said this, Liu Shuzhen seemed a little unacceptable, "Mom, you taught me back then that you must be kind and not biased, and you must not resort to unscrupulous means for the sake of profit."
However, the sister-in-law came to the house with Liu Baoliang and asked about her background and conditions.
Isn't it an uncompromising method?
Old Mrs. Liu lowered her eyes, her silver-gray hair sticking to her cheeks, showing a little more vicissitudes of time, "Shuzhen, now and then, I am no longer young, and now I only have one wish, that is, Baoliang can stabilize and beg for peace."
A daughter-in-law gives birth to a big fat boy."
Therefore, she turned a blind eye to what her eldest daughter-in-law did.
What else does Liu Shuzhen want to say?
However, he was interrupted by Gu Ning, "Grandma, let's put aside family ties, let's just talk about interests today, right?"
Old Mrs. Liu was stunned for a moment, and then she looked as if she had aged many years. She was a little puzzled, "Ning Ning, after all, the Liu family raised your mother and sent her to get married, didn't they?
"
This is the grace of nurturing. For the sake of nurturing, isn't it natural for Liu Shuzhen to take care of her brother and take care of her nephew?
At least, in the eyes of Mrs. Liu, this is the case, or in other words, the entire brigade is like this.
How can a married girl not care about her mother's family?
"You raised my mother. Over the years, my mother, or everyone in our family, has respected you." Gu Ning's voice was extremely calm, "So, even in our family, my mother and uncle
We have severed all ties with each other. Over the years, my mother has been taking care of you, and she has always respected and loved you, right?"
She could even say that her mother would continue to provide for him in old age even if she didn't know the truth.
Not to mention knowing the truth.
Her mother's gratitude to the old lady could only be more, not less.
These words made Mrs. Liu speechless for a moment, because this was a fact, even if Shuzhen and the Liu family had a falling out.
Over the past few years, her retirement life has been more decent than that of the entire brigade.
Why?
Because her daughter Liu Shuzhen's husband has changed her husband, and her granddaughter is a capable person, so her daughter always respects her, even after she saves it and gives it to her child.
She also lived a very decent life.
These were all brought by Liu Shuzhen.
It was her momentary softness that led to her raising this child.
In fact, rather than saying that she raised Liu Shuzhen, it is better to say that she raised herself. Children in the countryside are like this. When they are four or five years old, they will sit on the bench on the stove to cut vegetables and cook, and when they are seven or eight years old, they can go to the ground to dig.
Wild vegetables, go to the mountains to collect firewood.
Not only can you feed chickens and pigs, but if you are older and have skills, you can also do some needlework, which is also a way to make money.
And Liu Shuzhen is one of the best. When she was a girl, she learned a good craft from an old embroiderer who went to the countryside.
For a long time, the family relied on her embroidery to supplement the family income.
Mrs. Liu looked at her daughter Liu Shuzhen's red eyes, feeling guilty after all.
After a long while, she said, "Nier, you have done enough. It's my mother who is greedy."
As soon as she said these words, Liu Shuzhen's tears fell one by one, "Mother."
"It's my mother's fault." Mrs. Liu wiped her tears as she did when she was a child, and then said slowly, "I found you at everyone's grave in Xiaonanshan."
this--
The room suddenly became quiet.
There was only the vicissitudes of the voice of Mrs. Liu, "Back then, when I went to bury my girl, I heard the cry of a baby next to me."
"It's just a few feet away from my daughter's grave." Coincidentally, the place where she buried her daughter was very remote, and no normal person would go to that place.
Therefore, it stands to reason that Liu Shuzhen's life is a life without a future.
If it weren't for that day, she happened to go to Xiaonan Mountain and heard Liu Shuzhen's weak cry again when she was burying the girl.
For a moment, she felt soft-hearted, thinking that God was going to take her daughter away and give her another daughter.
Only then did she pick up Liu Shuzhen, who was still in her infancy.
Gu Ning glanced at her mother, who was already in tears, and asked, "When you picked it up, did you have any identification? Or was it something left behind?"
Mrs. Liu staggered forward, touched the head of the bed, and slowly touched the lock plate from inside a wooden box, only to hear a snap.
Opened the door of the box.
She looked back at Liu Shuzhen, "Nier, when you were a child, didn't you always want to see what was in this box?"
Because of the contents of this box, she once beat Liu Shuzhen once, and that was the hardest beating ever.
Later, Liu Shuzhen improved her memory and never made a fuss about opening the box.
On the contrary, my incompetent son Liu Baoliang once thought that there were treasures, gold bars, and a lot of money inside, so he secretly opened the box with a wrench.
After rummaging around inside for a while, I found nothing good. I rummaged through the box and ran away.
For this reason, Mrs. Liu was angry again.
However, this was an old thing decades ago. Now, this gray-brown box with patina was exposed in front of Liu Shuzhen again, which made her feel a little dazed.
Before she could regain her senses, Mrs. Liu reached into the box, groped for a while, and pulled out an old cotton silk material.
Although the color is a bit old, it is easy to see that it has been well kept.
The style has not changed, even the delicacy of the cotton silk is still there.
Old Mrs. Liu held the cotton silk fabric for a long time before handing it to Liu Shuzhen, "Nier, this is the swaddling clothes you were wearing when I picked you up."
Liu Shuzhen's hand shook and she took the cotton silk from the other party's hand.
The material is very soft and comfortable. When I picked it up, my fingertips had some barbs from doing housework all year round. It would be a bit irritating when scraped against the cotton silk.
She was in a daze, "Mom, back then -"
She was speechless.
Old Mrs. Liu, "You can see it too. From this swaddling clothes, you can see that the conditions of your biological parents' family should be good."
At that time, the People's Republic of China had not yet been founded, and ordinary people could not even afford food, but the swaddling clothes Liu Shuzhen was wrapped in were surprisingly good.
This is not something ordinary people can have.
Gu Ning touched the material and suddenly asked, "Grandma, have you ever guessed which family my mother is from?"
Old Mrs. Liu fell into deep thought and memories, "When I picked up your mother and brought her back, I told the public that when she was buried, she breathed again, so she came back to life."
"So, I haven't asked about any families who have lost their children, but I have observed for a long time. Anyway, in our mountain nook, girls born from all over the country, if they don't want them, basically just throw the urine cans and drown them.
It's said that the place is as far away as Xiaonan Mountain, and even the silk swaddling clothes your mother is wearing are not something that can be found in our world."
As I said, in the countryside, some families committed countless sins in those years just to have a son.
Not to mention the cotton and silk swaddling clothes, I couldn't bear to spend even a strand of yarn on that child.
Because it's a waste.
"Besides, since I adopted your mother, I have been asking who has lost a baby girl, but I was told that there was no such thing."
However, even if there is, the other party will not admit it.
After all, this is a sinister thing.
After hearing this, Gu Ning's face became a little dark, "Then it seems that my mother is not a local."
Old Mrs. Liu nodded, maybe she was addicted to smoking. She took a cigarette pot from the drawer, lit the tobacco leaves directly, puffed out the smoke, and then said slowly, "Your aunt is here, she should be with you."
You said that big shots in the capital came to inquire about your mother."
Gu Ning and Liu Shuzhen looked at each other and then nodded.
"Did the other party leave a message?"
Old Mrs. Liu shook her head and squinted her eyes. When the smoke rose, she could vaguely see the old man's shrewdness and sophistication.
"I took a closer look, and it seemed like someone from the capital. Others were wary, so nothing was exposed." She thought for a while, with a serious look on her face, "Besides, when I saw that person coming to your mother, it didn't look like him.
It's sincere, but with some ulterior motives."
"So, when the other party asked about your mother, I ignored many of them, including this baby, he didn't even know."
Speaking of which.
Mrs. Liu put the pipe pot on the table and knocked it, and suddenly there was a cloud of dust.
"Shuzhen, Ningning, listen, I think that person seems to be coming with bad intentions."
"So, I didn't give him your current news at all."
"Furthermore, when I heard the other party's tone, it didn't sound like he was here to find your mother. Instead, it sounded like -" Mrs. Liu thought for a long time, "It seemed like -"
"I can't tell. Anyway, you just need to be more vigilant in the future."
Call Mrs. Liu bad. She really isn't that bad. Otherwise, she wouldn't be so kind. She picked up Liu Shuzhen, whom no one wanted, and raised her. It was so hard and difficult, but she never thought of giving up on her.
It's good to say that she has a common problem among all old people in this era, which is to favor their sons.
I am partial to my son and his family.
I can do anything for my son's family.
We cannot say that this is a heinous thing, I can only say that the environment affects people.
Gu Ning also felt a little complicated in her heart. She felt complicated towards Old Mrs. Liu. Maybe it was family affection. The partial Old Mrs. Liu also had a hint of kindness towards her daughter.
This also makes the relationship between them impossible to break.
This is the reason why Liu Shuzhen must be filial to Mrs. Liu.
Gu Ning sighed, "We know, but, grandma, do you know what the other person's name is?"
Mrs. Liu shook her head, "I heard someone call him Comrade Xu, but I don't know what his specific name was."
She tried to trick her, but the other party was very shrewd, and she was spared every time.
"Capital, surnamed Xu."
Gu Ning thought for a while and stood up, "We understand, thank you, grandma." In any case, he did not sell his mother. For this reason, Mrs. Liu is not bad.
She thought for a while, and before leaving, she took out fifty yuan from her pocket and handed it to Mrs. Liu seriously, looking at each other with a pair of clear and clean eyes.
"Grandma, I know you feel sorry for Liu Baoliang, but if you believe me, you'd better keep this money for yourself and don't give it to anyone. This is life-saving money at a critical moment."
"I won't comment on the quality of my uncle's family, but I want to say, grandma, you have to rely on yourself and my mother to support you in your old age. The only thing you can't do is pass the exam. My uncle's family includes Liu Baoliang and Liu Rongrong."
The uncle above is a strict wife and always listens to the aunt, while the two children below have been raised crookedly by the aunt, although Liu Baoliang has changed a lot now.
But Gu Ning doesn't know what he will be like in the future.
Gu Ning felt that it was extremely unrealistic and unreliable to bet on such a person or a family to support the elderly.
Gu Ning's words silenced Old Mrs. Liu. She looked at the stack of dumplings handed over to her and felt as if her heart was being boiled by boiling water.
A warm feeling.
However, there was some hesitation and struggle at the moment when the flames were about to burn out.
Gu Ning saw the old lady's look and knew that she had listened to her words.
Then he put the money into her hand and said, "Take care of yourself from now on."
"I will ask my mother to send you pension money on time, but you must remember that it is best to keep it yourself."