GBP Chapter 113 Returning to My Hometown for Reorganization
Chapter 113 Returning to My Hometown for Reorganization
On this day, Gong Yong sawed small square timbers and strips of wood, and also cut down a lot of bamboo in front of and behind the house, storing it in his space.
He then began assembling small wooden strips into an antique-style semi-circular door, next to which was a display stand that resembled a curio cabinet but was not quite one, with glass inlaid behind it, providing both light and privacy.
On the third day, he installed this object, which served as both a display shelf and a semi-circular door, in the place where there used to be a wall. Inside, a transparent glass panel served as the base wall.
In front of the glass is an antique-style display shelf, where you can put bottles, jars, flowers, plants, books, and the like.
Moreover, because Gong Yong had cleaned up the back ditch, the sunlight and light coming through the back window were particularly good.
Gong Yong placed a large wardrobe along the side of the bed, followed by a bedside table, a 1.8-meter bed, and another bedside table.
Outside, the bedside table is about 60 centimeters away from the wall behind it, which is quite spacious.
Gong Yong placed the mattress, and the foot of the bed was about 1.5 meters away from the wall of the main room.
Gong Yong then placed a small sofa, which could probably seat two people, in that spot, and put a small round coffee table in front of it.
After it was placed, there was still nearly a meter of space between the small coffee table and the bed, making the room seem quite large. On the side of the bed closest to the window, he placed a dressing table against the sofa.
With this arrangement, the whole room looked warm and elegant. He then took out a curtain, positioned it, and installed the back curtain.
This isn't one of those opaque curtains, but rather a thin veil that allows light to pass through from the outside, making the room feel bright and well-lit.
After everything was settled, Gong Yong asked his brother and his wife to take a look and see what they thought.
When the two elderly people walked in, they felt that the room was warm and elegant.
Gong Yong said, "This is for you two old folks. Aren't your feet tired from climbing up and down every day?" The two looked at each other and chuckled.
After doing all that, Gong Yong took out a large quilt measuring two meters by two and a half meters, covered himself with it, and also took out a bunch of new pillows and put them away.
Gong Yong said, "You two can sleep here tonight."
In the outer room, Gong Yong moved the stove from the main room back into this room, vented the smoke out of the window, and then placed the heater in its proper position.
After putting it away, I put the refrigerator back next to it, placing it in a spot next to the display shelf.
A 90-centimeter-wide space was left in front of the refrigerator, and a small round dining table with four chairs was placed there.
Actually, if you fold the chairs in, you won't see them, and the space will be very spacious. Even if you take out a chair to sit on, it will still be very spacious.
After tidying up briefly, Gong Yong waited for the people who would arrange for the natural gas installation to arrive.
Two gas company personnel arrived and, after they finished setting things up, Gong Yong arranged for the gas to be installed in the kitchen where the cabinets had been placed before.
In this way, the room can be used for both cooking with a wood-fired stove and using natural gas.
The natural gas was placed where the water tank was. He moved the water tank, moving it away from the cabinet next to it.
After installation, the gas stove was also installed, and then the water tank was moved a little closer to the wood-burning stove, so that the position was just right.
Gong Yong arranged these infrastructure projects perfectly.
He worried that after he left, or never came back, the elderly couple would have problems with eating, drinking, and using the toilet. These were basic things, and he had to get them sorted out for his brother as soon as possible.
Gong Yong installed the cabinets under the aluminum alloy frame perfectly to prevent insects from getting in.
He packed nearly 20 bags of rice, bought nearly 10 bags of flour, and then put in 10 buckets of 10-liter oil.
After he finished all that, he drove off and asked if they needed him to take them for a medical check-up, but the elderly couple said no.
Then Gong Yong drove to the market and bought them 5 chickens, 5 ducks, and 5 goslings.
To feed these little creatures, Gong Yong bought another 5000 jin of corn and placed it in a metal enclosure in the room next to the main room where miscellaneous things were stored.
After placing the grain, Gong Yong used the opening of an automatic feeder to place it at the grain storage area of the iron warehouse.
Then he drilled a hole in the wall and put an automatic feeder there. He also put a 1.5-meter-long trough in the area where chickens, ducks, and geese could eat. It could be used for both watering and feeding. He put the feeding device there.
Then they connected a pipe from the kitchen to the eaves and placed it there. There was also a water dispenser next to it, which was also an automatic feeding system.
After this arrangement, chickens, ducks, and geese can all go there to eat and drink.
Because that area is a bit far from the main entrance, it won't get dirty from the droppings of chickens and ducks.
Gong Yong thought that their droppings might have some benefits, since there were vegetables planted in the yard, so he put the droppings into the vegetable garden.
Gong Yong then went to renovate his pigsty. Since the chicks and ducklings lived there, he filled in the large gaps in the pigsty with wooden stakes. He then put a layer of plastic wire mesh over the pigsty so that the chicks and ducklings could live on it, allowing their droppings to fall into the pigsty below.
In this way, all you need to do is turn on the water hose and flush these things into the biogas digester you built earlier. You can also shovel up the pig, duck, and chicken manure and put it into the trough where you grow your vegetables.
After finishing all that, Gong Yong felt he had nothing to do, so he took a deck chair and placed it in the yard. After lying down for a while, he felt that besides planting, the ground in the yard also needed to be tilled.
Gong Yong didn't want to work too hard, so he hired two people from his neighbor's house to level the rest of the yard except for the areas where he grew vegetables.
After leveling the floor, it would be easier for the elderly couple to come and go, and it would also make Gong Yong feel more comfortable.
Gong Yong felt that the yard couldn't just have vegetables without fruit, so he went to look for more and found two grapevines. He planted them on a pile of soil next to the bamboo frame and built a pavilion. Later, he felt that the location was not good and that it smelled a bit bad, so he moved the pavilion to an open space on the left.
Then, when building the lawn, they left a one-meter by one-meter space where the grapes would be planted, dug it out, filled it with soil, planted two grapevines, built a trellis, and put a simple tea table and two chairs inside, so that the elderly couple could come out to drink tea and bask in the sun in the future.
Before he knew it, Gong Yong had been at home for seven days.
During those seven days, the elderly couple told their two children about their uncle's return.
Over the weekend, his son and daughter came back with their daughter-in-law, son-in-law, and grandson.
Seeing that the originally dilapidated farmhouse had been completely transformed by my uncle's return in the past 7 days, becoming clean and refreshing, with all the furniture and appliances replaced, and even the upstairs furniture and appliances fully equipped.
The family enjoyed a happy dinner together.
When the nephew asked for some help from his uncle in a tactful way, Gong Yong only said one sentence: "You will have to create your own future with your own hands. Your uncle can't help you."
Even his niece wanted Gong Yong's help, but Gong Yong politely declined.
As for why he refused, Gong Yong felt that these two people were not good to his parents, and that his brothers and their wives were not doing well, so he felt that there was no need for their children to help.
Both children were raised by Gong Yong's mother from childhood, so they are not very close to their brothers and their wives.
However, the couple did their best to earn money in society so that their children could go to school properly.
However, the two children lacked gratitude and did not understand their parents' hard work.
Therefore, the only house the couple owned in Chengdu was a small two-bedroom apartment that their brother and his wife had worked hard to build. The other houses were all secretly bought by Gong Yong for his brother.
However, these two houses were given to them by Gong Yong, but they were still not satisfied. The two siblings each got one house and wanted to get some money from their uncle. They even wanted to become managers in their uncle's company.
Therefore, Gong Yong felt there was no need to help them, simply because neither of them were filial to their parents.
The two siblings and their spouses took turns going to their uncle's place to appeal to his emotions, speaking in a pitiful tone and mentioning the future development of their children, etc. No matter how eloquently they spoke, Gong Yong did not agree.
When the weekend evening arrived, the two families drove off. The brother and his wife had initially wanted to offer to help their child, but after seeing the look in the older brother's eyes, they didn't say anything.
Gong Yong told his brother and his wife, "I won't help these two children, which are from either family."
The brother asked, "Big brother, can't you lend a hand?"
Gong Yong said, "It's not that we don't want to help, it's that the ungrateful bastards we help aren't worth helping."
The brother said, "After all, that's my child."
Gong Yong said, "Yes, it's precisely because they are your children that I cannot help them."
The brother asked, "Why, eldest brother?"
Gong Yong said, "You two old folks could have lived a good retirement in Chengdu, so why did you come back to this little courtyard you haven't lived in for decades?"
The brother said, "We came back of our own free will."
Gong Yong said, "If they cared about you, I could help you, but they don't care about you at all."
The brother said, "They're already doing very well."
Gong Yong suddenly flew into a rage and said, "Do you really think I'm a fool? Or is it because I've been in seclusion for too long that you've taken your elder brother for a piece of trash and can't understand?"
The younger brother didn't expect his older brother to get angry and said, "Brother, I'm sorry."
After calming down, Gong Yong said, "There's nothing to apologize for. I just feel that you two have worked hard all your lives and earned money for them all your lives. It's not worth it now."
The brother said, "After all, they are both my children, and I can't help them."
Gong Yong said, "So what do you want to do? Are you going to give them your life?"
My brother said, "You can take my life if you want."
Gong Yong said, "But those two children aren't my children, they're yours. You can give them your life, but I won't give it to them."
The brother wore a bitter smile.
Brother, please help the child. Gong Yong sternly refused: "I won't help."
The younger brother sighed heavily in front of his elder brother. His wife said, "Brother, I understand what you mean. Neither of our children accepts us, right?"
Gong Yong said, "Yes, those two houses were bought for you two before, right? Both are four-bedroom apartments. Why couldn't they accommodate you two? Why did they have to send you two, who are both so old, back to your hometown?"
The brother's wife said, "They really did something wrong. After all, young people have their own lives."
Gong Yong said, "Since you're coming back, shouldn't they have tidied up the house beforehand and installed natural gas for you?"
Should we get the house and appliances set up before letting you come back?
But in reality, they just brought you two back and then didn't care about you at all.
"So how have you two been living these past two years?" The brother's wife remained silent.
Gong Yong looked at their clothes and saw that they were some of the best clothes he had bought for his brothers and their wives 10 years ago. They had been wearing them for over 10 years. Although the clothes were not worn out, they were faded from washing.
Gong Yong had already seen a lot, but he didn't want his brother's wife to live such a miserable life.
If he wants to ask his uncle for help, then he must first be filial to his parents.
Since they are unfilial, I certainly won't help them.
This is what Gong Yong thought in his heart, and this is what he told his brother's wife.
“If both families treat you two well in your later years, I will help you. But if they continue to treat you like this, then I have no reason to help you.”
When Gong Yong finished speaking, his brother and his wife's eyes filled with tears, which dripped down their cheeks one by one.
They knew they were being wronged. They were getting old and couldn't help their children in the city anymore; instead, they were becoming a burden. Their health wasn't good either, and they had to go to the hospital frequently. They couldn't eat whatever they wanted like before, and they couldn't eat the spicy food their children made. That's why they wanted to go back to the countryside.
Go back to the countryside. The old house has been uninhabited for decades. Since my parents passed away and moved to the city, the house has been left unattended and empty.
No one had lived there for so many years. When the elderly couple came back, they cleaned it themselves. Their two children simply drove them to their doorstep, but didn't even sit down for a drink of water before rushing back to work in Chengdu.
Thinking about it, the elderly couple felt that their lives had been meaningless, and they didn't know how they had raised their two children so badly.
The older brother's refusal to help the child was simply to give his parents a sense of pride.
Thinking of this, the elderly couple didn't ask their elder brother for help with the child again. Instead, they walked shakily into the yard, took out a stool, and lay down there like their elder brother, basking in the sunlight, feeling that the sunset was so beautiful and moving.
For decades, I haven't really looked at this azure sky, these fiery clouds.
Looking back on these past decades, the bitterness, the humility, the happiness—all flash through my mind like a movie.