HCB Chapter 51 Are You Home?
Chapter 51 Are You Home?
Inside the dilapidated courtyard
Before entering the yard, Zhang Jincai tried his best to suppress the depression and sorrow in his heart, and deliberately put on a smiling face when he entered the house.
Although he lost his job, Zhang Jincai felt a lot of pressure, but he didn't want this pressure to infect his family.
As soon as he entered the yard, Zhang Jincai saw his wife Zhang Lishi sitting on a small bench, leaning against the door frame, with a worn-out pair of patched trousers on her knees, and patching the trousers with both hands.
During the period of the Republic of China, poor people could not afford clothes, so when their clothes were torn, they could only choose to sew and mend them.
Some poor men have no money to marry wives, but they don't know how to mend their clothes, so they will hand over the clothes to some women for mending, and then give the women a little money as a reward.
Over time, the work of 'sew poor' came into being.
Many women with weak bones and limited mobility will do this work in order to earn some money.
However, the business target of "sewing the poor" is the poor after all, so every time they mend clothes, they don't make much money.
But it's better than not earning a penny!
Because Zhang Li's body was weak, he couldn't go out to find something to do, so he started to "sew the poor" to earn some ration money for his family.
As soon as Zhang Jincai entered the courtyard, Zhang Lishi, who was mending clothes with his head down, raised his head immediately, as if he had a heart-to-heart connection.
"Why are you back now?" Zhang Lishi asked suspiciously.
Zhang Jincai squeezed out a smile, took off his shirt, and lied, "Oh, today the new director took office, giving us old patrolmen a day off."
Zhang Lishi nodded: "That's good, you should take a rest for a day, walking on the street every day, your legs are running thin, cough cough cough..."
While talking, Zhang Lishi suddenly coughed violently.
There was a trace of panic on Zhang Jincai's face, and he hurried forward, stroking his wife's back incessantly, trying to comfort her.
Immediately afterwards, he quickly ran into the room again, and took out a glass medicine bottle with more than a dozen pills in it, and a bowl of cold boiled water in his left hand.
"Hurry up, take this pill!"
"This western medicine works quickly, and the cough will stop after taking it!" Zhang Jincai said.
However, Mrs. Zhang waved her hands vigorously, and panting, said: "No, these western medicine tablets are expensive, and a bottle of medicine is worth several bags of white flour, so you have to save it."
"I don't have a bad cough today, just take it easy for a while, and when the cough becomes unbearable, there's still time to eat!"
"But then you can't bear it, you coughed up blood last time!"
"I've finished taking these pills, I just have to buy more!" Zhang Jincai couldn't help but raise his voice.
"Don't waste the money, my coughing is not a disease that will kill people, just bear it for a while and it will be fine."
"Besides, the boss is about to talk about his wife's age, and when the second and third sons are growing up, we have to use the money wisely." Zhang Lishi finally stopped coughing, but his expression was different. White and white.
A small medicine bottle weighed a thousand catties in Zhang Jincai's hand. Instead of persuading his wife to take the medicine, he silently handed the water up to let his wife smoothen her Qi and blood.
Zhang Jincai lowered his head, with deep guilt on his face. Since his wife married him, he has never enjoyed happiness.
But who made me incompetent? I was already old, and I was still a small patrolman. The money I earned a month was barely enough for the family to eat and drink.
After finally plucking up the courage, he borrowed a usury loan to give Li Zhang a gift, thinking that he could save some money by finding a job in the house.
But in the end, the bamboo basket fetched water in vain, the gate of the house did not stand, and 10 yuan was deducted by Li Zhang.
"I'm so fucking useless!"
Zhang Jincai scolded himself silently.
At this time, a hand rested on Zhang Jincai's neck, feeling the familiar roughness from the palm, Zhang Jincai knew it was his wife's hand.
Think about when you first got married, your wife's hands were white, thin and smooth, but now, they are as rough as sandpaper, like a crumpled root carving, engraved with countless imprints of hard life.
And the reason why his wife has been sick all the time is because she just gave birth to the third girl in the cold winter months. In order to earn more money to subsidize the family, she went to wash clothes for a family when she was not confinement.
In the cold winter and the twelfth lunar month, the water was full of ice slag, which directly made Zhang Li, who was not confinement, seriously ill, and finally fell to the root of the disease, which has not recovered until now.
Zhang Jincai felt even more lost.
"Father, I don't know what happened to you today."
"If you don't want to talk, I won't ask any more."
"But···"
The husband and wife have been married for 20 years, and they already have a tacit understanding. Mrs. Zhang and Li can clearly feel that her husband has encountered difficulties.
Moreover, it must have something to do with money to make her husband feel so uncomfortable.
However, he didn't want to worry about it himself, so he kept silent.
Zhang Lishi is willing to save the last face for her husband, she said softly: "Father, our family is short of money, but the eldest will be able to go out to work and earn money soon, and the two younger ones can also help me with housework. "
"Although I can't leave the house, I can earn a few catties of cornmeal by sewing and mending."
"Don't put everything on yourself. If there is any difficulty, our family will take it together."
"Our family does not steal or rob, and does not deceive or deceive. God will not embarrass good people!"
Although the voice of his wife Zhang Lishi was soft, it broke Zhang Jincai's inner defense line like flowing water.
Just for a moment, Zhang Jincai's eyes were red, and two lines of turbid tears flowed down.
He lost his job and had no money to support his family. On the way home, Zhang Jincai didn't know how to face his wife.
He planned to hide it, but what his wife said made Zhang Jincai let go of his guard, and he decided to confess everything to his wife:
"Damn, I offended Li Zhang, I lost my job as a policeman, and I lost my monthly income of six yuan."
Hearing this news, although Zhang Li was already mentally prepared, she was still stunned for a few seconds in shock.
No wonder her husband left work early today, no wonder he felt that something was wrong with her husband as soon as he entered the courtyard.
Zhang Li was silent for a moment and comforted:
"It's okay, isn't it just an errand? If you lose it, just lose it. Let's find some other work."
"I haven't had such a severe cough during this time, so I don't need to take medicine anymore, which can save me a lot of medicine money."
"If you find any job you want to do, our family will still not die of hunger."
Zhang Jincai also nodded, and after confessing to his wife, he relaxed a lot: "No, no, you still have to take the medicine, this money can't be saved."
"I've also thought about it. I'm going to pull a foreign car. The owner of Tongshun Automobile has a good relationship with me. I can rent a foreign car from him. I can earn a lot of money in a day, which is better than being a policeman!"
Zhang Lishi was a little worried: "But you are already forty, and you still go to pull a foreign car, can your body take it?"
"Let's find another errand, at least not so tired."
Zhang Jincai laughed: "Don't worry, don't look at me forty years old, I've been patrolling the streets and walking around all day, and my bones are stiff."
"Then you have to take it easy. It's enough for us to eat and drink. Don't carry it hard. If you collapse, our family will lose its backbone!" Zhang Lishi said.
"Don't worry, I know it!" Zhang Jincai said with a smile.
Just when Zhang Jincai and his wife were about to continue discussing how to live in the future, an abrupt and familiar voice sounded in the yard.
"that···"
"Zhang Jin..."
"Oh, no, is Brother Zhang at home?"
Zhang Jincai looked up, and his expression was startled.
Outside the gate of the courtyard, Li Zhang, who had expelled himself from the police station, was looking into the courtyard with his head full of cigarettes, white wine, snacks, fruits, etc. in both hands.