After the first snow in winter, the situation in the yarn mill became even worse. On the 10th of that month, we waited for a day with anxiety, but there was no news of pay. Everyone came to the workshop office on the second floor and surrounded the followers. The followers were bitter and explained over and over again, saying that the factory had difficulty in capital turnover and the salary was delayed.

In the following days, everyone was looking forward to their hard-earned money, but there was still no news. The people in the factory were filled with doubts and dissatisfaction with the Nanmanzi and his gang. Fatty Zhang encouraged everyone to go to the factory headquarters to find Lao Hou, the Nanmanzi. A bunch of Mao Xiaoli curled his lips disdainfully and said, "Old Hou has been to the south for more than a month and is not in the factory at all."

My mind is full of Xiaozhuang's affairs all day long. He needs to take a lot of medicine, increase nutrition, and undergo surgery as soon as possible. But now he can't even pay his salary. Where does such a large amount of money come from? I was so depressed that I almost went crazy. After thinking hard for a few days, I secretly made up my mind and prepared to go home with a tough bullet.

On that day, as soon as Sister Hong left the house at work, I handed over the tightly dressed Xiaozhuang to the old couple of landlords and asked them to help take care of her. I said that there was something urgent about my hometown and needed to go back immediately. I asked them to wait for Sister Hong to get off work and told her that I might not be able to come back tonight.

After thinking about it for the middle of the night, I pushed my bicycle out of the village with a dizzy head, climbed the canal dam without any barriers, and the howling cold wind blew towards me, so I woke up. I was still riding the "big eternal" of Senior Brother Xiao Cai. I borrowed it from Senior Brother Xiao Cai at noon yesterday and from Master Cai. After get off work, I rode back to Xizhangzhuang and put it in the west room where the miscellaneous items were placed, so I did not let Sister Hong, who came back from get off work know.

It was the coldest time of the year. The winding river water lost its usual joy and became stagnant and arduous. In such a ghost weather, the birds and beasts on the river beach were gone, and the pedestrians on the road became sparse. While I was pedaling the car hard, I continued to think about how to talk to my home. My mother should have no problem. The main reason was that my father was anxious on the spot and fought with me.

Because I was facing the northwest wind all the way, I had to rest for a few days in the middle of the journey. It was not until the evening that I rushed to Xiawuwa exhausted.

Not long after the winter solstice, it became dark early. I went down to the Dayan and entered the village. There was no trace of people around me. When I pushed open the yard door with a cold air, my mother heard the sound and poked her head out of the pot house (the name for kitchens in rural Huaibei) to the west of the wall.

"Daping?" With the light in the door, my mother was shocked to see clearly that it was me.

"Where is Dad? Are you at home?" I asked a little nervously at my surprised and happy mother.

Before my mother could reply, she quickly pulled me into the main hall, slapped the floating soil on my body hard, and looked at it carefully for a while, up and down, left and right.

"What's wrong with you? You haven't been home for almost a year? I'm thinking about going to see you, but your father just won't take me. You two are really a pair of enemies." My mother pressed me to the table and sat down, and then she came to tell me, "Your father has gone out to work and hasn't come back yet."

"Work, what's the job?" I asked with confusion.

"This year, Secretary Gao, who took office in our village, asked his brother to book the old kiln factory in the north end of the village. Your father was there to mix mud and pour bricks. He had been working on it for several months. He wanted to save more money so that he could build a house for you to get married."

My mother's confession was beyond my expectations. She blocked my words back as soon as I just came to my mouth. I felt uncomfortable and sat blankly, not knowing how to speak for a while. The little sister called me, quietly put down her bowl, flipped up the electrician bag I brought with me. Seeing that there was no candy inside, my little mouth immediately pouted.

I smiled apologetically at my sister. My mother glared at her dissatisfiedly, blamed her for two or three words, and then served me a bowl of corn porridge. While asking me to drink it slowly, she took out half a bowl of newly brewed salt beans, picked up three eggs, and turned back to the pot room.

I drank hot corn porridge and ate the fragrant wheat pancakes. Looking at the unhappy little sister, I asked casually: "When will you have winter vacation? Have you had the exam recently? How are you doing?"

"Not very good." The little sister continued to drink porridge and replied without raising her head.

"Didn't you tell me last time? You have to study hard." I frowned.

"I haven't forgotten, but I don't want to go to the city anymore." The little sister raised her head slightly and glanced at me.

"Why? Isn't it fun in the city?" I asked dissatisfiedly.

"It's not fun, we'll be free here." The little sister didn't care about my attitude and replied indifferently.

"Do you just want to stay in the countryside for the rest of your life, marry a man like Ergoudan, give birth to a bunch of children for him, and work hard like a mother for the rest of your life?" I angrily threw the chopsticks on the table and stared at her with my eyes.

When the little sister saw that I was angry, she lay on the table and said nothing. My mother came back with a plate of fragrant fried eggs with salt beans. Seeing that my brother and sister were fighting, she quickly shouted at her sister. The sister angrily put down the bowls and chopsticks, turned around and went out.

I felt unhappy and lost my appetite. At this moment, the door outside the house creaked and a heavy footsteps came from the yard. My father carried a flat-headed shovel with a covered in frozen mud, pushed the door into the house.

When my father saw me, I immediately packed up my unhappy mood, put my bowl of rice in a pleasing manner, stood up and greeted him. My father glanced at me coldly and snorted from his nose.

My father went out and washed his face and hands with cold water by the water table. He went back to the house to change to a clean old cotton coat, and sat opposite me without saying a word. My mother quickly served him a bowl of corn paste and handed him a pancake. I pushed the freshly fried salt bean and eggs in front of his face. My father didn't move any chopsticks as if he hadn't seen it.

After my father finished the meal, he took out his tobacco pipe and lit it. I also put down my bowl and silently thought about what to say in my heart. While my mother was cleaning up the dishes, I mustered up the courage to speak: "Dad, I want to get some money from home."

"Why do you use it?" My father's eyes, which were usually squinting, opened, and he looked at me a little abruptly.

"There's something urgent." I said with a look of guilt.

"An urgent matter? Is the water shore or the fire shore?" Dad's eyes were full of alertness.

"It's even more urgent than this, saving lives..." I fluttered uneasy, but tried hard to make my words calmer. On the way, I thought about it and couldn't be angry no matter what. I had to be patient and procrastinate with them.

"Who's life? Aren't you doing well?" Dad stared at me in confusion.

"It's not me, it's a child." I was still a little anxious, and my voice unconsciously increased by two points.

"Child? Whose child?" Dad's face changed suddenly, and the wrinkles on his forehead became tense. "What's the mess you've done?"

"Don't think about it, what can I do? It's Xiaozhuang, Sister Hong's child, who has congenital heart disease and will die if he doesn't see it in time."

I had originally thought about a set of words, but my father was so chaotic that I could only make it clear and tell the truth, and no longer go around the corner.

"Yinhong? You... are you still together?" Dad's cheeks flushed, two blue veins bloomed on his neck, and his chaotic eyes were filled with indescribable anger, "You really think that Lao Cui's words are indifferent?"

"What does this have to do with Old Cui? This is what saves people's lives! Do you think you give it or not?!" My careful calculations along the way were wasted all my efforts. Seeing my father's expression, I finally couldn't help but argue with blushing.

My father held the pipe in his hand on the table with a "slap" and pointed at me angrily and shouted loudly, "You little bastard, you are such a prodigal son! You can't even pay the salary in the factory now, how can I have money?!"

My father stood up, stepped into the left room where he and his mother lived in three steps, and brought it to the door with a "bang", leaving my mother and I in the main room.

I was originally prepared for the difficult negotiations, but before I started, I immediately responded and shouted in anger: "You are so confused, you know money! Money! Money! You want money but don't live?"

My mother looked at me in a furious look and was helpless for a moment. After a while, she murmured and said, "This old guy, you can't say it well if you have something to do. So are you. Why did I meet you guys in this life, a pair of stubborn people..."

I ignored my mother's dissuasion and stood up angrily and went out to push up the bicycle in the yard. My mother thought I was angry and wanted to ride back to the county town overnight. She quickly chased after me anxiously: "You are so late, where are you going?"
Chapter completed!