Siheyuan: Happy Life of Jia Zhang Family

There are many rains in the Qingming season, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls.

Today is Qingming Festival, and there are sporadic drizzles in the sky, like people's tears of missing their families. On the way back home, Jia Dongxu sat in the co-pilot seat, and Zhang Cuihua sat in the car, and none of the three spoke.

A little after nine in the morning, Zhang Dabao's motorcycle arrived at Jiajia Village, "Dongxu, where is your third uncle's house? I will go to his house to call you in the afternoon."

"Seventh Uncle, it's the second house on the left at the entrance of the village. I haven't been back for several years. I wonder how my third uncle is doing now?" Jia Dongxu said with a sigh.

"Go and see if there is anyone at home. If there is, come and call your mother. If not, I will send you directly to the cemetery," Zhang Dabao said to Jia Dongxu.

After Jia Dongxu called, he opened the car door and entered the village, and pushed open the door of Jia Youcai's house, "Third Uncle, are you home?"

"Who is it?" Jia Youcai came out.

"Uncle San, it's me, Dongxu." Jia Dongxu saw his uncle whom he hadn't seen for several years. Looking at the face that looked somewhat like his father, his voice choked.

"Are you Dongxu from my eldest brother's family?" Jia Youcai is only forty years old this year, but he dresses like an old man and speaks like one, too.

"Uncle San, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?" Jia Dongxu asked Jia Youcai.

"I'm hungry. There's not enough food in the village. I only have two meals a day, and they're just porridge and wild vegetables. How can I have the energy? Will you come to visit the grave? You go to the cemetery by yourself. I can't go. I don't have the strength." Jia Youcai let his nephew enter the house first.

"Uncle San, my mother is still in the car. She and I will go to the cemetery first, and then come to your house for lunch. I have brought food." Jia Dongxu finally understood why his seventh uncle asked him to bring dry food when he went out, and to bring more.

"Sister-in-law is back, let me go with you," Jia Youcai heard that Zhang Cuihua had returned, and felt that it was a bit inappropriate not to go to the cemetery with Dongxu and his mother, so he took out a knife and paper from the house and brought his eldest son Jia Dongyong out.

"Dongyong is he seventeen or eighteen this year? He is taller than me." Jia Dongxu greeted his cousin when he saw him.

"Brother, I'm seventeen." Jia Dongyong was a little shy.

"Let's go to the village entrance. My seventh uncle's car is there. Let them take us to the cemetery." Jia Dongxu came over with his uncle and cousin.

"Brother Youcai" Zhang Dabao saw Jia Youcai, got out of the car and greeted him.

"Dabao, you brought my sister-in-law back. Let's have lunch at home at noon." Jia Youcai gave way to Zhang Dabao. He was my sister-in-law's younger brother. He was famous in Jiajia Village. He had beaten countless people, but nothing happened to him. There was no one in Jiajia Village who was not afraid of him.

"Brother Youcai, that's not necessary. I haven't been home yet. Send elder sister and Dongxu down first, and I'll come to your house to pick them up in the afternoon." Zhang Dabao politely declined Jia Youcai's invitation.

He let Jia Youcai sit in the front to point the direction, and Zhang Cuihua and the other two sat in the back. They arrived at the Jia family's cemetery, dropped off the four people, and Zhang Dabao drove back to Zhangjia Village.

When she arrived at Jia Youfu's grave, Zhang Cuihua threw herself on his grave and burst into tears, as if she wanted to vent all the bitterness of these years.

Calling Jia Youfu's name and crying about their lives over the years, Jia Dongxu, Jia Youcai and Jia Dongyong couldn't help but shed tears.

The three members of the Jia family visited the graves of Jia Dongxu's grandparents, great-grandfather, and great-grandmother.

"Sister-in-law, go back. Your brother knows all your suffering, but what can he do? Don't cry anymore. It will hurt your body." Jia Youcai came over to persuade Zhang Cuihua.

"Youcai and Youfu have been gone for more than ten years. I have rarely been back. Now that I have finally come back, I want to talk to them. I don't know when I will come again." Zhang Cuihua stopped grieving and said to her brother-in-law.

"Mom, don't cry." Jia Dongxu also came over to persuade his mother.

"Dongxu, give the things you brought to your third uncle and ask him to go home and cook. You wait for me downstairs for a while, I want to talk to your father." Zhang Cuihua left a little of each offering on the grave, collected the rest, wrapped them into a piece, and gave it to Jia Dongxu.

Upon hearing this, Jia Dongxu gave the bag to Jia Youcai. Jia Youcai asked Jia Dongyong and Jia Dongxu to wait here together, and he returned to the village alone.

Zhang Cuihua stopped crying and began to tell Jia Youfu about the changes in her family. After that she burst into tears again. Without waiting for Jia Dongxu to come and persuade her, she got up and went down the mountain with her son and nephew.

Jia Dongxu and Zhang Cuihua brought food, including seven or eight steamed buns, two fried fish, fried tofu, and a pack of snacks. If Jia Dongxu and his mother hadn't brought anything back, Jia Youcai would have had to let them eat wild vegetables, because it was a lean season and there was no food. Fortunately, there was a mountain behind Jiajia Village, and there were wild vegetables in the mountain, which allowed the villagers to barely make ends meet.

"Dad, my sister-in-law brought a lot of things. Have you eaten them all?" Jia Youcai's wife felt a little distressed.

"Without these, what will we use to entertain sister-in-law and Dongxu? Where is the decent food at home? Let them eat first, and we will eat the rest. We will cook a pot of wild vegetable porridge and let the children have a good meal," said Jia Youcai.

"Well, what kind of world is this?" Jia Youcai's wife sighed and looked at her two sons and one daughter in the family, all looking at the food on the table. She felt very upset, so she opened the snacks and gave one to each of the children. She didn't eat it herself, but just licked the fingers that held the snack. They were too sweet.

Zhang Cuihua and Jia Dongxu came to Jia Youcai's house for dinner and talked about the changes in their lives in recent years. They also heard about how Zhang Dabao made a big fuss in Jiajia Village after Jia Youxing's death, and beat up four or five of Jia's brothers and nephews, making his seventh uncle embarrassed. They felt that Zhang Dabao was really good to his family, both to Zhang Lianhua and to Zhang Cuihua.

"Da Biao does have a bad temper. He is very strict with Dongxu now. Even if Dongxu makes a mistake, his seventh uncle shows no mercy," Zhang Cuihua said to Jia Youcai.

"He also beats his nephew?" Jia Youcai was a little surprised.

"Is it abnormal to beat your nephew? Dongxu has changed a lot now. Dabiao asked someone to get him a job at the post office, and he will be a postman in the future," Zhang Cuihua said proudly to Jia Youcai.

"Postman? Delivering a letter to us?" Jia Youcai and his wife were even more surprised.

"It's so tiring to deliver mail near the steel mill outside the city." Zhang Cuihua finally felt proud of her son.

Zhang Dabao returned to the village and went straight to the cemetery. He drove his motorcycle to the side of the road and visited the graves of his grandparents and parents one after another. There were traces of burning paper in front of the graves of his grandparents, uncle and second uncle, it seemed that his brothers had all visited them.

I didn't go back to the village. I ate something in the hut in front of the tomb and meditated for a while. This is not the top of the mountain, and I don't feel any progress in practicing the exercises. I should go to Wangjiaqiao Village and try again. The top of the mountain there should be more effective.

I looked at the watch and it was already past two in the afternoon. I went down the mountain to Jiajia Village to pick up Zhang Cuihua and her son, and then returned to the city.

I came down the mountain to the motorcycle and saw two people standing next to it.