Rebirth He Yuzhu stays away from troubles

When Pan Meili was young, she followed her parents to the city of Beijing to make a living. She was introduced by a matchmaker and married to Yi Zhonghai when she was 16 to 17 years old. During the Japanese occupation and the chaotic years of the Republic of China, her parents died one by one, and she gradually lost contact with her relatives after she got married.

Relying on memory, I walked along the narrow path on the muddy road to Panjia Village. There were no high walls between the houses along the way, like the courtyards in the old city. Instead, they were simple fences surrounding a courtyard. The houses had adobe walls and thatched roofs.

Along the way, we met people working in the fields, and most of them were wearing clothes with many patches.

We hurried to Panjia Village. There were more than 60 families in the village, low thatched houses and adobe courtyards. There were several children aged seven or eight picking grass in the ditches. Aunt Yi asked the children for directions to the village chief's house and gave each of them a candy.

The village chief's house is also a courtyard surrounded by a fence. The house has blue brick walls and a thatched roof.

When Aunt Yi met the village chief, she gave him some cakes from Sijiucheng and told him that she was there to look for her relatives.

Relying on his decades of memory, the village chief searched repeatedly in his mind, checked some personal information with her, and helped her find the home of her distant nephew.

Aunt Yi looked at the low thatched house in front of her, the adobe courtyard with broken walls, and the family of more than ten people. Everyone was wearing tattered clothes, and some of them wore shoes with their heels exposed...

After a round of mutual greetings, reminiscences, and verifications, the two sides recognized their relationship as relatives.

After a round of greetings and chatting about trivial family matters, Aunt Yi asked her distant nephew to help find out if there was any relative who was willing to adopt a child for her and bring him to the old city to raise.

Her distant nephew looked at the 6-7 children in the family and begged her: Don’t look for one outside, just choose one from your own family!

Aunt Yi looked at the children, the youngest of whom was about 5 to 6 years old. Although she was hesitant about taking them home, she thought that it was a rural custom after all, and if they were adopted by someone else, they would have very few contacts in the future.

Moreover, my distant nephew has several sons, all of whom will get married and have children in the future. With such great pressure, given their conditions, they would not be willing to ask me to return my son.

The distant nephew breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Aunt Yi nodded in agreement. He pulled a little boy about 6 years old in front of Aunt Yi and changed the name on the spot.

The children ate the cakes and candies brought from Sijiucheng and were as happy as if it were New Year's Day.

Aunt Yi stayed at her distant nephew's house that night and ate corn paste and wild vegetables. Under the light of a kerosene lamp with a flame the size of a broad bean, everyone slowly fell asleep.

At dawn, Aunt Yi and her distant nephew went to ask the village chief and went to the commune to get an adoption certificate. Before leaving, Aunt Yi secretly gave her distant nephew 50 yuan, and the distant nephew watched his son and Aunt Yi get on the car until the car disappeared.

As soon as she returned to Beijing, Aunt Yi took the child to the Nanluoguxiang Street Office, completed the relevant adoption procedures, and changed the child's formal name to Yi Nianyu.

I went home to get some receipts and money, and took the child to buy new shoes, clothes, and get a haircut. After the child took a bath, changed into new clothes and put on new shoes, a satisfied smile appeared in his dark and stubborn eyes.

Aunt Yi cleaned up the small room full of miscellaneous items and made a bed. Pan Danian looked at his future sleeping place and smiled happily. Yes, there is no need to worry about the wind or the rain...

The second aunt in the front yard saw Aunt Yi bringing a little boy back to the courtyard. As soon as she came back, she asked, "Aunt Yi, I haven't seen you for a few days. What's wrong with you..." She stared at Yi Nianyu.

At this moment, Aunt Yi was still trying to calm down her excited mood, and replied with full energy: "This is the child of my nephew. When I go back this time, I will bring him to Sijiu City to raise him."

"Yi Nianyu, this is the second aunt of the Yan family, call her second aunt quickly." Aunt Yi gently instructed Yi Nianyu.

Yi Nianyu called out softly, a little nervously, "Hello, Second Auntie!"

Yes, stepping into the unfamiliar old city, Yi Nianyu looked around curiously: high-rise buildings, busy traffic, courtyards with blue bricks and red tiles, everything was so new and fresh.

Following his current mother to this unfamiliar courtyard, he felt a little overwhelmed, but also full of curiosity and anticipation for this place.

As Aunt Yi brought a little boy home, all the aunties and grandmas in the courtyard gradually knew that the Yi family had adopted a boy, and they began to talk about it everywhere.

"Why did the Yi family suddenly adopt a child? I haven't heard any news about it before."

"This is so sudden. We haven't had a child for decades."

"If you ask me, you should have adopted one a long time ago. Haven't you seen married couples who couldn't conceive, but once they adopted a child, they had their own children born one after another not long after."

"There is such a saying. As the old saying goes, adopted children bring good luck to children."

"This Aunt Yi has finally come to terms with it. Life is not easy!"

"From now on, Aunt Yi's life will have a bright future."

"Is it Uncle Yi who can't have children, or Aunt Yi who can't have children?"

"It is said that Aunt Yi often goes to see an old Chinese doctor for treatment. It seems that Aunt Yi cannot have children."

"Some things are hard to predict..."

"It will not be so easy to fleece the Jia family from now on."

"How can you say that? I don't understand what it means."

"Think about it, the Yi family has their own child, but they are still so heartless and unscrupulous as to side with the Jia family."

"Yes, I have to live my own life too. How can I let the Jia family do whatever they want?"

...

Yi Zhonghai returned to the courtyard after get off work and saw that everyone in the courtyard was secretly looking at him, and some were even whispering to him. He felt that the people in the courtyard were acting weird today.

When he opened the door of his home, he saw a strange little boy playing with a cardboard box. Yi Zhonghai looked at the child in confusion: the child had a dark face and a somewhat stubborn look, and was looking at him with confusion and curiosity.

When Aunt Yi heard the sound of the door being pushed open, she thought that it must be Yi Zhonghai coming home from get off work, so she hurried out of the kitchen and said happily, "Zhonghai, you're back!"

Yi Zhonghai looked at the man who had shared the joys and sorrows with him and endured the hardships for decades. Although his mind was full of thoughts, he said nothing and just nodded.

Perhaps out of consideration for his reputation as a Level 7 worker, or perhaps just because of his remaining conscience, Yi Zhonghai ate his dinner in silence, as if the children around him did not exist.

At night, Yi Zhonghai was lying on the bed thinking: I am a level 7 worker earning more than 80 yuan a month, and having one more child would just mean having one more pair of chopsticks. I might as well raise this child and give my wife a companion.

Aunt Yi, lying on the bed, looked at Yi Zhonghai, thinking about his indifferent attitude towards the child. She must have brought a child back without discussing it with Yi Zhonghai, which scared him... She blamed herself in her heart.

Yi Nianyu was lying on the small bed in the utility room, thinking about the beauty of the day: tall buildings, the hustle and bustle of traffic, the courtyards with blue bricks and red tiles, new clothes and new shoes that he had never worn in his memory, and big white flour buns that he had never seen before... He fell asleep with a smile on his face.