Chapter 44: Don't forget your roots
After a few days, Li Yuemei's son Wen Zhuangzhuang has become friends with the children in the village.
Surrounded by these children, Su Qing and Lu Xingchen came to the home of their third uncle.
The third uncle had two sons. The eldest son gave birth to a son, Li Jianbing, after getting married.
Five years ago, when Jianbing was six years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia. The whole family borrowed money everywhere to save him, but to no avail. He died less than half a year after being diagnosed with the disease.
On the day he learned the bad news about his son, the heartbroken Li Weizhen was riding a bicycle on his way back from the town. When passing Xiping Mountain, he was driving too fast and encountered students who suddenly appeared on the road to go to school. He was unable to dodge and fell off the cliff, unfortunately dying.
My third aunt passed away early, and my third uncle lost his eldest son and only grandson in one day. He was so heartbroken that he fainted.
At that time, Lu Xingchen was still serving in the army. He happened to be on leave that day to visit his relatives. It was Lu Xingchen who sent his third uncle to the hospital, and he and Li Weimin worked together to handle the funeral affairs for his third uncle's children and grandchildren.
That year, Lu Xingchen donated all his savings from his military service, as well as the living expenses his adoptive father Li Tiejun had given him, nearly three hundred yuan, to his third uncle.
In order to treat their grandson Li Jianbing, the family had already become extremely poor.
Although Lu Xingchen's three hundred yuan was not much, it helped to solve the urgent problem. Third Uncle was very grateful to Lu Xingchen.
Every time Lu Xingchen came back, he would almost always come to visit his third uncle.
But today, Third Uncle went out. I heard that he went to the entrance of the village to repair bicycles.
Third uncle's youngest son Li Weimou was at home.
Lu Xingchen knew that the youngest son of his third uncle was a drug addict. In his early years, he often hung out with idle young people in society and eventually became a drug addict. Because of his severe addiction, he went to a rehabilitation center twice, but the drug relapsed every time he came back.
Third uncle's family was already very poor, and all the valuable things in the house were sold at a low price by Li Weimou.
Moreover, Li Weimou often committed petty thefts and villagers often went to complain to the Third Uncle. On two occasions, people called the police, who even tried to keep him.
After being released, Li Weimou still couldn't change his bad habits. He was hated by the villagers and was feared by everyone.
If Bai Lanfang had not been so tough, all the valuable things in Li Weimin's house would have been cleared out by Li Weimou long ago.
When entering the room, Lu Xingchen saw Li Weimou eating. It was just a bowl of clear porridge that could be used as a mirror, plus a few peanuts.
Li Weimou didn't even pay attention to Lu Xingchen's greeting, staring at Su Qing with his eyes wide open.
Perhaps it was Su Qing's extraordinary appearance and otherworldly temperament that shocked him. For Li Weimou, a bachelor who could not find a wife, women were just a luxury to him.
In his opinion, as long as the woman is willing, no matter what she looks like, he is willing to marry her, but he has never tasted the taste of a woman.
But given his family background and the fact that he was a drug addict, no woman was willing to approach him.
Even his eldest sister-in-law remarried the second year after his eldest brother and his nephew died one after another.
Therefore, he and his third uncle were the only ones left in the family.
Lu Xingchen knew that Third Uncle was over 70 years old and still had to go to the village entrance to repair cars for his three meals a day. But even so, Li Weimou still stole the money that Third Uncle had worked so hard to earn from time to time.
"This is your sister-in-law, right? Xingchen, when did you get married?" Li Weimou sat there, still drinking porridge, without even lifting his butt.
"Yes, her name is Su Qing. We just got married and this is our wedding candy." Lu Xingchen put the last remaining bag of White Rabbit milk candy on the dining table.
"Xingchen, you are really great. Your wife is very beautiful." Li Weimou said and turned his gaze to Su Qing.
Su Qing felt that there was a bit of contempt and frivolity in her eyes. It seemed like something was blocking her heart and she felt vaguely uncomfortable.
At this moment, Li Jianhua and Wen Zhuangzhuang went to the village entrance to call back the third uncle.
"Xingchen, you're here!" After Third Uncle came in, he wanted to shake hands, but he felt his hands were dirty, so he retracted them, fetched water from the bucket, and washed his hands.
In addition to the wedding candy, Su Qing also brought two boxes of malted milk.
In one of the boxes, Lu Xingchen also put fifty yuan in cash.
"Oh, is this the wife you brought back?" Only then did the third uncle realize that there was a beautiful girl standing behind Lu Xingchen.
"Yes, Third Uncle, her name is Su Qing." Lu Xingchen introduced again.
"Have you eaten yet?" Every time he came, Third Uncle was very enthusiastic. "Wei Mou, here is the money I earned today. Go get some meat and vegetables."
Seeing this, Lu Xingchen wanted to stop his uncle, but Li Weimou was quick to grab the money when he saw it was handed over. "Dad, didn't you say you didn't have any money? How come Xingchen has so much money when he comes back? This money belongs to me. I'm full, second brother, so I won't accompany you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Weimou took the money and left.
Under normal circumstances, Third Uncle would have picked up any object that was handy and chased Li Weimou to beat him up.
"Third uncle, hasn't Brother Mou quit smoking yet?" Lu Xingchen remembered that Li Weimou had recently been sent to a compulsory rehabilitation center again.
"He is hopeless. I have such a miserable life. The obedient one is a short-lived ghost, and the one left behind is a prodigal son. I don't know what sins I committed in my previous life to give birth to such a son!" Third uncle beat his feet and stamped his chest, and even Su Qing was moved when he saw it.
"Third uncle, is this your main meal every day?" Su Qing looked at the half plate of porridge left by Li Weimou. Even the plate of peanuts was almost eaten up by Li Weimou.
Third Uncle did not answer, but went over and covered the plate of porridge with the lid.
Seeing this, Su Qing naturally felt compassion and pity for the old man in front of her. All her family members in her previous life died early before her, and Su Qing spent a long period of her later years alone.
Putting herself in his shoes, Su Qing felt that her third uncle was truly pitiful.
"Xingchen, I'm so happy that you can marry such a beautiful and virtuous wife! By the way, didn't your father come back with you this time?" Third uncle patted Lu Xingchen's shoulder with a look of relief on his face.
"No, we've been back for a few days, and after visiting you, we're planning to go back." Every time Lu Xingchen had to say goodbye to his third uncle, he would naturally feel a sense of reluctance.
"Very good, you must come back often, Kenkou will always be your home. Don't learn from your father. He has forgotten his roots, okay?" Third uncle often praised Lu Xingchen for his filial piety, but he did not dare to compliment Li Tiejun.
"Yes, of course." After Lu Xingchen reminisced about the past with his third uncle, before leaving, Lu Xingchen reminded his third uncle that there was money in the box. He didn't say it just now because he was afraid that Li Weimou would hear it. The third uncle was not pretentious in front of Lu Xingchen and did not refuse. He just felt that he had no way to repay Lu Xingchen for his kindness to him.
After returning to the Li family, Su Qing said to Li Yuemei, "I'll put these things in grandma's room. You should be with grandma for a while, so you can keep them. If you can't finish them during this time, you can take them back to the provincial capital Yangshi!"
Li Yuemei nodded and agreed.
"By the way, you must take seriously what I told you last time about my brother-in-law's bookstore." Su Qing did not forget to remind him again.
Because the place was far away and transportation was inconvenient, and he didn't know when he would see her again, Lu Xingchen went into the house to say goodbye to his grandmother and gave the old lady a big hug, feeling reluctant to leave.
He and Su Qing packed their luggage and left Kengkou Village on a tricycle.