bookbashuk Chapter 222 As long as you want
Chapter 222 As long as you want
In those days, cloth ration coupons were hard to come by, so clothes were worn out every three years, patched and mended for another three years.
Especially for someone like Du Mei, who grew up in the countryside and experienced the Great Famine, she was so afraid of hunger and poverty that she couldn't bear to waste even a little bit of food.
Even though her clothes were patched quite a bit, she couldn't bear to throw them away and preferred to take more things with her.
Even though Old Lady Qin said so, she couldn't bear to throw it away.
"Grandma, who says you can't wear it? Just find a piece of cloth and patch it up, and you can wear it. Even if you can't wear it, you can use the cloth to make other things."
Du Mei saw that Old Lady Qin was going to throw away the old-fashioned, patched-up clothes that she had worn when she came to the city from the countryside.
She quickly ran over, picked it up, dusted it off, and carefully put the tattered garment away.
Grandma Qin opened her mouth, but ultimately didn't say anything, only sighing.
It's pointless to say anything; this child has been used to hardship since childhood.
She turned around, took off her shoes, rummaged through the soles, and quickly found a few crumpled ten-yuan bills. She then found a handkerchief, wrapped them up, walked up to Du Mei, took her hand, and placed the items in her hand.
"Xiaomei, here, take this money, it's thirty yuan in total."
"It's always good for a person to carry money with them, no matter where they are. Otherwise, they won't be left with nothing when they need money."
"Consider this money as your dowry from your grandmother in advance. Keep it safe, don't flaunt your wealth, and don't let anyone know about it outside."
Du Mei was taken aback for a moment, then quickly pushed the money back, "Grandma, no, how can I take your money? You should keep it for yourself. I have a job now, and my cousin-in-law provides room and board. I don't need the money."
"I can still save money."
She earns twenty yuan a month. In the past few months, after deducting the ten yuan she spent on food while living at the Qin family's house before she officially started working, she still has ten yuan left.
She doesn't usually have many expenses, and now she has saved up several tens of yuan, which is basically untouched.
Grandma Qin waved her hand and stuffed the money back into Du Mei's hand.
"What's yours is yours, and what I give you is what I give you. They're not the same. This is a little dowry from your elders in advance. Your mother is gone, so I have to take good care of you in her place."
No matter what her daughter wasn't like before, she was still her only daughter, and what mother wouldn't love her own flesh and blood?
She used to resent her daughter for being unambitious and for not living up to her potential.
Now that the person is gone, she's still gone. She's an old woman, a white-haired woman sending off her black-haired one. No matter how much grudge there was between mother and daughter, after the person is gone, she will only think of those blood ties and family affection.
Having said all that, Du Mei also thought of her mother who had died young. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer, and with a choked voice, she accepted the money.
"Thank you, Grandma."
……
When Xu Sui arrived home.
Grandma Qin and Du Mei had just finished packing their things. The two children were always with them, and they didn't dare to leave their sight at all.
To be honest, even though Du Mei is young and capable, it's not easy for her to get up in the middle of the night every day to breastfeed the baby, put the baby to sleep, wash the baby's diapers, and change the baby's clothes.
It's alright that she's still in the Qin family; the old lady can still help her a bit.
Normally, she doesn't need to carry both children when she goes to the toilet, but it won't be so easy once she moves to Beijing.
Xu Sui called Old Lady Qin to a secluded place, without going around in circles, since time was running out.
"Grandma, I'm taking Xiaomei and the others to Beijing tomorrow. Would you like to come with us? Yunzhou has a small courtyard house in Beijing that's twice as spacious as the one we live in now."
"If you want to go, we have private rooms available for you. As for other issues, we can also help you resolve them."
Grandma Qin was stunned for a long time before she reacted, her voice trembling slightly.
"Can...can I go too?"
She has never been to a big city in her life. She is in her fifties or sixties, and the farthest place she has ever been is this small county town.
Xu Sui smiled and pursed her lips. "Of course you can. You know I go to school and I'm not home most of the time. There's only Xiaomei and the two kids at home. If something happens, Xiaomei won't even have anyone to talk to."
"It would be wonderful if you could come with Xiaomei to help me."
"As long as you want to go, you don't need to worry about anything, just leave it to me."
Grandma Qin didn't think too much about it and nodded hastily.
"I'll go, I'll go."
"Don't worry, Sui Sui, I'm still healthy and can help you take care of the children. To be honest, I also miss Xiao Mei, but I didn't want to say it before because I was afraid of causing you trouble."
"Now that's great, even this old woman can benefit from your good fortune and go to a big city like Beijing with you. I heard that the top leaders live there, so I have to go and see for myself."
At this point, Grandma Qin's eyes reddened.
People her age have experienced war.
It has only been a little over ten years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. When the Japanese invaders reached this place, she saw with her own eyes the familiar people around her who were laughing and talking with her one second, and the next second they were covered in blood and lying on the ground, dead.
They are able to live such a good life without worrying about dying at any time, all thanks to the appearance of the big leader.
Even if she could only get close to that place, let alone see it, her life wouldn't have been in vain.
Xu Sui laughed too, "Okay, Grandma, you go pack your things first. I'll find someone to help me buy another sleeper ticket. If nothing unexpected happens, we should still leave tomorrow afternoon."
Everything else is easy to handle, but getting a sleeper ticket is not so easy.
She needs to go find her mother.
Her mother knows people inside the railway company, and her mother helped her get these sleeper tickets. She doesn't know if they can afford them. If all else fails, she can only get a hard seat first, and then figure out a way to transfer later.
Grandma Qin calculated the time in her mind, nodded, and said, "Okay, I'll go and discuss it with your sister-in-law right away. Let her take over my street sweeping job and go through the procedures with me as soon as possible."
The reason we didn't get Xiao Fen a job before was because we were worried that she would divorce us after we got divorced, and then run away from the Qin family with her job.
Now that Xiao Fen is pregnant, there's no need to worry about this anymore.
In addition, she had no intention of working for Xiao Fen for free.
Xu Sui was slightly taken aback, and also thought of work.
"Grandma, you should go and tell my sister-in-law as soon as possible. I still have some things to take care of."
If we wait until Wang Yinhua gets off work to talk to her about the sleeper ticket, it might be too late, since sleeper tickets are hard to come by.
The only option is to go to the textile factory and try to find someone.
"Okay, I'll go right away." Old Mrs. Qin knew the matter was urgent, so she didn't dare to delay and hurriedly went back to the house to find Xiao Fen.
Xu Sui went to the textile factory.
As luck would have it, just as she arrived at the textile factory, she bumped into Wang Jianli, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, as he came out of the factory. He saw her too.
Their eyes met, and both of them were taken aback.