Siheyuan: Cooking journey

In the past, my mother had many opportunities to live a better life, and even abandon this burden - herself. But she chose to sacrifice everything just to take good care of her. For so many years, I have been worried about life every day, and I have never had a good day.

Time flies, and half of my life has passed in a blink of an eye. When my mother finishes her studies and has a stable job, it is still unknown whether she will have enough energy and time to enjoy this peace and happiness.

Thinking of this, Lin Qingqing became more convinced that her decision was right: doing so was not only for a better life for her mother in the future, but also a way of being responsible for her own emotional choices, not simply because she fell in love with someone.

After a while, Mother Lin walked into the room. As the room was too small, there was almost no place to stand, so she had to stand at the door and asked softly, "Qingqing, we don't need to take other things with us, but we should still take the bedding..."

Why take her away? Although Lin Qingqing thought so in her heart, she just nodded and asked, "Where is Amei? Did she go back?"

"She's moving things..."

Mother Lin sighed softly, "This girl has had a hard time. I can't find the right words to describe her situation."

"You might say she's stingy, but she's actually very nice to Granny Cai. She's willing to buy whatever Granny Cai wants to eat."

"But for herself, she really saves as much as possible. She cooks two kinds of meals for each meal. There is a big difference between what Granny Cai eats and what she eats. She is so thin that she looks like a gust of wind can blow her away."

Lin Qingqing frowned after hearing this. She knew that Ruan Mei lived frugally, and her mother often mentioned it. But she had been focusing on her studies before, and didn't know much about Ruan Mei, her peer.

Now, hearing her mother talking about Ruan Mei's frugal lifestyle, she asked in confusion, "Why does she choose such a lifestyle? Does she save all the money she earns from manual labor?"

"She..."

Mother Lin sighed again, and after making sure no one was paying attention, she continued, "This child has a tragic fate. She had a heart disease when she was young, and her parents and sister also died of heart disease."

"She was always worried that she would suddenly fall ill one day and no one would take care of Grandma Cai, so she wanted to save as much money as possible for emergencies."

"At the same time, she has no hope for her future and is always pessimistic that no matter how well she eats or uses things, it is a waste of money. Therefore, she is unwilling to spend money on herself."

After hearing these words, Lin Qingqing felt a mixture of emotions. They were of similar age, which made her feel like she was feeling the same way.

Thinking about the life crisis her mother had once faced made her realize the fragility of life.

Time and health wait for no one. No one can predict what will happen in the next second. Because of this, we should cherish everything we have now and not leave regrets in our lives.

"Is it true that Mei's heart disease cannot be cured?"

Seeing such a young life shrouded in a shadow, Lin Qingqing felt heartbroken. She had studied abroad and wanted to help Ah Mei find a professional heart hospital for examination.

"How can congenital heart disease be cured?"

Mother Lin shook her head and said helplessly, "I heard from Grandma Cai that their family originally lived in the mainland. They came to Hong Kong to seek medical treatment."

"But the disease was not fundamentally cured. Ah Mei's father met a woman who also had heart problems and married her."

"Unfortunately, due to genetic factors, both Amei and her sister suffered from the same heart disease."

"The family tried many methods to seek a cure, but the results were always disappointing."

"Having witnessed her family members pass away from sudden heart attacks, Ah Mei has long lost faith in curing the disease. Every day she feels hopeless and dreamless, and can only passively wait for that day to come."

For serious incurable diseases, the only thing left is time.

Anyone who has experienced this understands how it feels, and this also makes Mother Lin even more sympathetic to Ruan Mei, who is the same age as her daughter.

"Alas, this is her fate. I can only pray that she will have a better life in her next life."

Faced with this situation, Lin Qingqing didn't know what to say and felt deeply powerless.

I gave up my previous idea. Although Hong Kong is one of the most developed cities in the world and is closely connected to other metropolises, the medical level here is already world-class, and going abroad may not be of much help.

If it can't be cured here, there is no hope in America either. If I bring this up rashly, not only will Ruan Mei have a glimmer of false hope, but she will fall into despair in the end, which will only increase the harm.

I didn't bring much stuff.

Ruan Mei was very enthusiastic and moved all the things downstairs at once.

The luggage was put into the taxi.

Sitting in the car, I watched Ruan Mei's thin figure gradually going away.

Lin Qingqing felt a little sad. She didn't know if this farewell would be forever. The two were about the same age, but their fates were very different, which made her sigh.

Lin Qingqing is a sensitive person and wants to help Ruan Mei as much as possible.

But because she has lived at the bottom of society for a long time, she has seen too many such situations, so it is also very realistic.

Do your best in everything, and if you can help, you will help.

But it is really difficult to intervene in the treatment of difficult-to-cure diseases like congenital heart disease.

Half an hour later.

The taxi drove into the residential area and stopped in front of a building.

Lin Qingqing got off the car carrying her luggage.

Mother Lin looked at the rows of luxuriously decorated residential buildings around her and asked in a low voice, "Qingqing, the rent here should be very expensive, right?"

"It's okay. It's not that exaggerated."

Lin Qingqing knew her mother's frugal character very well. She would definitely feel bad if she told her the exact cost, so she didn't tell her the specific amount.

Mother Lin looked at her and said carefully: "I know you hope that I can live better, but there is really no need to live here..."

I don't know how much the rent is though.

But Mother Lin is not blind. Just by looking at the layout and appearance of the community, she knows that this is a high-end residential area, which is second only to the villa area in Hong Kong Island.

The monthly rent for a place like this is at least several thousand to ten thousand yuan.

In comparison, the monthly rent for a tenement building is only a few hundred yuan, which is a huge difference.

People who live in such an environment are either rich or noble.

I have lived in the most ordinary places all my life, and now I suddenly live in a place like this, and I really can’t adapt to it.

Every breath of air was uncomfortable.

"Just find an ordinary house, or we can go back. We've lived in the tenement building for so many years, and I think it's pretty good. This place is really too expensive. We can't just..."

Mother Lin was speechless for a moment.

She knew very well that her daughter didn't actually have much money except for the scholarship.

The money to rent this place must have been borrowed from my boyfriend.

I always feel a little uncomfortable spending other people's money before getting married.

Even if I get married in the future, I don’t want to be a burden to my daughter.

But now it seems that the monthly rent alone is a considerable expense and has become a burden.

At this moment, Mother Lin regretted agreeing to move here. She should have insisted on continuing to live in the tenement building.

Fortunately, there are still a few months of rent left for the tenement building, so I can move back in anytime.

Just thinking that most of the daily necessities have been given to Ruan Mei.

If I move back, I'd feel embarrassed to ask for it back, and it would cost a lot of money to buy a new one.

"mom……"

How could Lin Qingqing not understand her mother's worries?

She smiled and said confidently: "Don't worry, the cost of living here is not a big problem for me."

"When I was studying abroad, in addition to studying, I also kept an eye on the stock market and invested in stocks."

"I wasn't lying to you when I told you that you could make money by investing in stocks."

"It's just that I need money for treatment, so I have to borrow money."

"Normally, if you give me a year or half a year, I can earn back the money through stock trading."

When she heard the word "stock speculation", Mother Lin's worries were not eliminated.

In Hong Kong today, stock speculation is one of the hottest topics, and it seems that all newspapers are talking about it.

It seems that as long as you invest money, you can make a fortune even if you do nothing.

Made money.

I have also seen many people in the tenement buildings playing with their hearts and minds in the stock market.

This kind of thing is really exciting.

Mother Lin was also tempted, but because she was a cautious person, she always felt that it was not so easy to find a treasure in this world, so she gave up the idea.

Later I heard that stock trading is a very volatile business and some people lost all their money.

But some people still got rich overnight. The stock speculation craze has not cooled down at all, but more people are eager to try.

"Qingqing, investing in stocks is no joke."

Mother Lin reminded: "If you make money, you must know when to stop, then you can really make money."

"If you keep investing, you will eventually lose all the profits."

"If you really make money, remember to stop early and consider other ways to invest."

"Your mother doesn't have any material requirements, and she doesn't need to live in such a good place."

"Wouldn't it be better to save this money?"

“No matter how good a person is at making money, if he doesn’t know how to be frugal and squanders it recklessly, he will still be poor in the end.”

"You know A-Mei, right? She does handicrafts every day. Guess how much she has saved over the years?"

"You probably wouldn't have guessed it, 20! That's right, she saved a full 20!"

"I have been doing it by hand for the past few years, but I haven't even saved 50,000 yuan."

"What does this prove? Doesn't it prove the importance of saving money?"

“No matter how much money you have, if you can’t save it, it’s the same as not earning it.”

20?

Lin Qingqing was a little stunned when she heard this number. After calculating it in her mind, she said incredulously: "This is unlikely. I only earn more than 100 yuan by working more than ten hours a day."

"At most 3,000 to 4,000 yuan a month, and just over 30,000 yuan a year."

"How did she save 20 yuan in five years without eating, drinking or renting a house?"