CHAPTER 53: 052: FILIAL SON (SEEKING FIRST SUBSCRIPTION)

Seeing her son suddenly return, Old Mrs. Ye was also taken aback. A look of joy flashed across her face, but it soon turned cold again. She didn’t say a word, just turned her body on the kang, and Ye Ling called out "Dad" before lowering her head to tidy the table and then lay down in the outer room.

Having hit a wall with both his mother and daughter, Ye He Ping had anticipated this, but when actually facing it, he couldn’t help but feel awkward. He lifted a hand to touch his nose, and as he sat down on the edge of the kang, he took off his hat and placed it beside him.

"Mom, if I’ve done something wrong, tell me, beat me, scold me, it doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t get angry. Look at you, you traveled so far to come to me without even having a meal before coming back. How could I feel at ease with that?" Ye He Ping’s voice was exhausted, and his expression was helpless. "Mom, I’ve been able to endure any hardship since I was a child. When there was no food at home, we ground chaff and elm bark into powder to cook and eat. I still remember the chaff scraping my throat as I swallowed, it burned like a fire. I only knew I didn’t have a dad, just a mom raising me, so I couldn’t cause her more trouble. So I forced it down and secretly vowed that when I grew up, I’d make sure we lived a good life, eating steamed buns made from fine flour every day. When I became a teacher, during outdoor training, my feet froze in the snow until they were numb, and then soaking them in cold water felt like needles piercing to the bone. I didn’t make a sound, still remembering the vow I made as a child. Even after starting a family and having kids, seeing them suffer with me, I couldn’t help but feel distressed, worried they’d endure the same hardships I did."

"When this incident happened, I didn’t think deeply and made the decision. It was my mistake as a father." In the outer room, Ye Ling glanced through the door crack and retreated again, eavesdropping. Ye He Ping’s eyes were red, "Mom, I also feel for my children. With Ye Qian having this illness, in our family’s situation, I was anxious, wishing I were the one who was sick."

The room was silent, but Ye Ling felt uneasy. Yet she envied Ye Qian, who, after two lives, could still receive her parents’ love. As for herself, she truly felt abandoned.

At this moment, Ye Ling suddenly didn’t want to keep listening. The mother-son relationship between her grandmother and father would never change, and her grandmother always cared for her father. No matter how much wrong he did, now that he brought up childhood matters, wouldn’t her grandmother just forgive him?

Ye Ling didn’t know why she felt this way, but thinking about it, she couldn’t help feeling upset.

Inside the room, after a long silence, Old Mrs. Ye’s voice finally came, "He Ping, I know you’re tired, but life is tiring. The poor have their hardships, the rich have their worries, and it’s only when the struggles are completely over that life ends. Life is just one problem piling on another. As a father now, even if the sky falls, you have to brace yourself. Both the palm and back of the hand are flesh; you can’t be partial."

"Mom, I know I was wrong." Ye He Ping’s guilty voice immediately followed.

In the outer room, as Ye Ling heard her grandmother’s last words, she was already walking out. There was no need to hear what happened next; she knew. It was just her father admitting fault and getting her grandmother’s forgiveness, as if nothing had happened.

Leaving the courtyard, walking to the village entrance, looking at the rolling hills in the distance, Ye Ling took a deep breath and patted her cheeks. She really was going crazy; there’s no such thing as a mother and son truly severing ties. The oppressive feeling in her chest seemed to dissipate, too. With her grandmother and father’s relationship restored, did it mean they no longer had to struggle to earn money for school?

Thinking this way, it felt quite good.

Meanwhile, back at home, Old Mrs. Ye had indeed forgiven her son, especially after hearing about his childhood, which moved her to tears twice. After wiping away her tears with her sleeve, she smiled and said, "Which bus did you catch? Have you eaten yet?"

"A company vehicle happened to pass by here, so I got off in the town and walked from there." Ye He Ping was used to it, so he didn’t feel tired, especially after resolving the worries he’d carried for days with his mother.

"Then I’ll make you something to eat." Old Mrs. Ye hurried to get down from the kang, suddenly remembering and patting her head, "Look at me, just chatting with you and forgetting about Lingzi. You’ve been in the house for so long and haven’t even said a word to the child."

When his granddaughter was mentioned, Old Mrs. Ye remembered to look for her. Seeing no one in the room, she got up and went to the outer room. As for Ye He Ping, who had also gotten up and was now standing on the ground, a look of struggle flashed across his face when his elder daughter was mentioned, but his face quickly returned to calm.

"Huh, where did this child go?" Old Mrs. Ye saw the tidy stove in the outer room and didn’t see her granddaughter, knowing she’d slipped out. Still, she didn’t want to think there was a gap between father and daughter, so she found an excuse, "She’s gone to fetch water. Lingzi does all the chores at home now. She cares for me and has matured."

Thinking of his elder daughter talking back to him, Ye He Ping couldn’t believe she had really matured, but he didn’t want to upset his mother with unpleasant words, "Mom, I’m not hungry. I had some dry rations on the way. Let’s head inside; I have something to discuss with you."

Old Mrs. Ye nodded. Once inside, she worriedly glanced out the window to the courtyard and saw her granddaughter standing at the village entrance talking to a child from the Si Family. Only then did she relax and sit back on the kang. "Go ahead, what do you have to say? How long can you stay this time?"

Hearing her son wanted to discuss something, Old Mrs. Ye thought of her daughter-in-law’s earlier suggestion to move to the city. She was somewhat unwilling, not because she was avoiding chores, but because she’d spent her life in the rural area. In the city, she’d feel confined, unable to go anywhere, which made her restless. Especially after the previous incident, while she forgave her son, it didn’t mean she had forgiven her daughter-in-law.

"Mom, I’ve come this time to take you and Lingzi to the city. You’re getting older, and Lingzi is just a child. If anything happened, she wouldn’t know what to do. With you by our side, I’d feel at ease; otherwise, I’d always be worried about you." Ye He Ping tried to steer the conversation, using his concern for his mother as a reason.

Old Mrs. Ye had never liked going to the city and naturally disagreed when she heard this. "I’m strong and healthy, nothing will happen. Besides, with neighbors around, if anything does happen, it’s not like they’d just stand by. They’d come to help. I can’t get used to staying in the city. Don’t say any more about it, and don’t try to persuade me either."

"Mom." Ye He Ping couldn’t help feeling anxious, his voice filled with a plea that didn’t match his usual exterior, showing he was genuinely concerned. "Mom, because you got angry and left last time, Ye Qian hasn’t gone to school since, feeling self-blamed, saying if you and Lingzi don’t come back, she won’t go to school." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)