Stepmother Reborn: Dad, my mom hasn't hit me for three days

The night in the countryside is so dark that you can't see your hand in front of you, as if endless thick ink has been poured across the sky. In contrast, the earth is white and covered with thick snow, which makes a rustling sound when you step on it.

On November 2002, 11, Zhang Xiuhua and Li Jianguo got off a tricycle carrying their luggage, paid the driver, and the driver rode away on the tricycle.

After getting off the car, Zhang Xiuhua complained to Li Jianguo, "I told you to stay in the county town for one night, but you insisted on coming back. One night's stay doesn't cost much. Why are you so stingy?"

Li Jianguo felt wronged, but he did not forget to defend himself, "I'm not stingy, I just can't get used to living outside."

Zhang Xiuhua curled her lips, "Forget it. Let's go out for a trip. I see you sleep so well. You snore every night and it keeps me awake."

Li Jianguo's dark face turned slightly red. "That's different. We're already home, and we're still wasting money. You have too much money to burn!"

Zhang Xiuhua laughed, "Look at you, you've been exposed, haven't you?! And you said it wasn't for saving money."

Li Jianguo's ears turned red. Who was that person who had to expose his past? Didn't she miss home? He quickened his pace and walked forward. When he was almost at the door, Zhang Xiuhua took out the key from her warm pocket and tried to open the door. Suddenly, Li Jianguo tripped over something and fell to the ground with a thud.

Zhang Xiuhua glanced at him sideways, "What's wrong?"

Li Jianguo climbed up from the snow, adjusted his slightly crooked cotton hat, and flicked off the snow on his body, "I'm fine!"

He kicked the hard object that had tripped him just now. It was frozen hard. He frowned and said, "Who is so wicked as to put such a thick piece of wood in front of our house?"

Zhang Xiuhua put the key back into her pocket and tried to identify it in the light of the snow, but she couldn't see it clearly.

Li Jianguo took out a flashlight from his backpack and shone it. It didn't matter that he saw a frozen face. The face was covered with snow. The light shining on the face made it look a little weird.

Zhang Xiuhua looked down and was startled by the face. She screamed, her teeth chattering, and she asked with trembling lips, "Who is this?!"

Li Jianguo fiddled with the hair on the corpse's face, identified half of it, and sighed heavily, "Oh, isn't this Jin Bao's father? Why is he lying at my doorstep?"

Zhang Xiuhua felt that this matter was difficult to explain, so she immediately knocked on the door of Aunt Wang's house next door.

It was snowing heaviest, and it was nine o'clock in the evening, so every household was sleeping in their homes.

Uncle Wang and Aunt Wang were sleeping soundly when they were suddenly awakened by the noise.

Listening carefully, it seemed to be Zhang Xiuhua.

Aunt Wang thought the couple had just returned and wanted to borrow a piece of coal, so she got dressed, got out of bed, and went to open the door for her.

The cold wind rushed into the room, and Aunt Wang shivered. "Xiuhua, huh?"

"Yes! Auntie, it's me. I'm back." Zhang Xiuhua was shivering with cold. "I just came back and found someone dead at the door of my house."

Hearing that someone had died, Aunt Wang was startled and all her sleepiness disappeared. She rubbed her eyes and asked, "What? Who died?"

"Jinbao's father." Zhang Xiuhua's nose was red from the cold, and she kept rubbing it with her hands. "I don't know why he is lying at my doorstep?"

When Aunt Wang heard this, she was shocked and immediately woke her husband up.

The couple put on their clothes, shoes, and hats and came out of the house neatly dressed.

Uncle Wang ran to the door of Zhang Xiuhua's house and asked, "Are you sure she's dead? It's only nine o'clock."

Li Jianguo has confirmed it, "He is completely dead."

He shone the flashlight on the body and said, "There's an empty bottle over here. I guess he drank a lot before."

"Oh!" Aunt Wang clapped her hands. "I heard that he had gout and needed money for surgery. He rented out his land to others and spent all his savings. He went to his son to ask for money, but Jinbao ignored him, so he started drinking again. I didn't expect him to freeze to death."

Zhang Xiuhua was speechless. Drinking alcohol while suffering from gout, is this a way to kill yourself?!

With Aunt Wang's loudspeaker, all the nearby villagers woke up soon. Many villagers came with torches. The originally dark village soon became as bright as day.

When Zhang's mother learned that her husband had frozen to death, she ran over and knelt in front of him, crying bitterly, "Dad! You died so tragically. How could you be so depressed? My God, we gave birth to eight children, and none of them were filial and selfish."

In the past, the villagers would have scolded her for not being clear-headed. If your children are not filial, it's because you didn't teach them well. But now that death is the most important thing, no one scolded her, but only comforted her, "Auntie, please accept my condolences."

"Yeah. Your man is gone, you have to take care of yourself."

It would have been better if she hadn't tried to persuade him. Once she did, Zhang's mother cried even more bitterly. She cried about her children's unfilial behavior, but it was more like she was crying about her own future fate.

Aunt Li Si patted her shoulder and said, "He's dead, you have to take care of yourself. Hurry and bury him. It's so cold, why are you still drinking? And you even passed out drunk in front of Jianguo's gate."

Zhang's father's brother asked Zhang's mother, "He drank a lot and you couldn't control him, I understand. But he didn't come home, why didn't you go look for him?"

When Zhang's mother heard her brother complaining about her, she also got angry, "Do you think I don't want to find him? I advised him to take good care of himself, but he didn't listen and insisted on drinking!"

The villagers saw them quarreling and quickly pulled them apart. "It's already like this. What's the point of bringing up the past? Let's just focus on burying the person now."

The villagers helped to arrange the funeral. Since the Zhang family did not have enough money, the villagers paid some from their account.

In the mourning hall, Zhang's mother cried until she was out of breath. None of her seven daughters and one son came to pay their respects. She could almost foresee her own future.

"They say raising a son can protect you from old age?! I gave my heart and soul to him, even to the point of offending his seven daughters, but in the end, what did I get?!"

Zhang's mother raised her neck and cried.

Ergou's father usually didn't get along with Zhang's father, and when he saw their miserable plight, he couldn't help but shudder.

No one could tell her the answer. Raising children to provide for one's old age is a business in itself. Since it is a business, there will be losses and gains. If you lose, you have to bear the consequences yourself.

After Zhang's father was buried, the issue of Zhang's mother's support was also put on the agenda.

I don't know if she was desperate or had some advice from someone above her, but she took all seven daughters and one son to court.

She had not intended to sever ties with her sister, as she had always thought her seventh daughter had died a long time ago. But during the lawsuit, the lawyer told her that her youngest daughter was still alive, running two restaurants and leading a prosperous life.

Only then did Zhang's mother realize that her little daughter did not fall into the river and drown, but was killed.

After learning about this, she fell into a long silence. At that time, her youngest daughter was only fourteen or fifteen years old, and could only work illegally. In order to escape from them, she would rather work outside. Is their home a cage for her? !

She didn't dare to think about it any further, and just said that her little daughter didn't know what was good for her. Then she sued her little daughter as she did with the other children.

Finally, the court ruled that the seven daughters and one son should each pay 300 yuan in alimony per month and visit their mother at least once a year for no less than an hour each time.

After the verdict, Zhang's mother got what she wanted. But the loving mother and filial son she had imagined did not happen. The children left in a hurry after they came.

Even if Zhang's mother put aside her dignity and tried to please her daughter, whom she had always looked down upon, she was always met with sarcasm and cold eyes.

But she was happy with the sarcasm, because at least someone was talking to her.