Chapter 613

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Xiaohua and Li Jianjia were browsing the bookstore when his phone rang; it was his second brother Wang Erhai calling.

"Third Brother, I've already arrived at the county town. Where are you? I'll come pick you up."

On the other end of the phone came Wang Erhai's voice.

"I'm at Zhengjia Bookstore."

Wang Xiaohua answered truthfully.

"Fine, wait there then. I'll drive the car to the entrance of Zhengjia Bookstore."

After hanging up, Wang Xiaohua said to Li Jianjia:

"My second brother is here to pick me up. I'm about to head home."

Li Jianjia couldn't help but feel disappointed:

"Leaving so soon?"

She had wanted to spend more time with Wang Xiaohua; whenever she was with him, time always seemed to pass especially quickly.

Still, she didn't insist on anything—just being able to go out together today was already quite nice.

"Then when your second brother arrives, I'll head home."

So the two waited in the bookstore.

After about ten minutes, Wang Erhai arrived.

Li Jianjia saw Wang Xiaohua into the car, waved goodbye, and said:

"Wait for me. I'll definitely get into your school's graduate program!"

Wang Xiaohua's heart trembled:

"Okay!"

The small sedan moved slowly, leaving the crowded pedestrian street, passing through the center of the small county town, getting onto the national highway, and heading toward Shanggou Village.

Along the way, Wang Xiaohua was still chatting with Li Jianjia on WeChat.

The two seemed to have endless topics to talk about.

Sharing their joys and sorrows, recounting what they had seen and heard.

Back in Shanggou Village, at dinner, Wang Zhanggen suddenly said sternly to his three sons:

"There's something I'm not sure whether I should tell you three brothers, especially Dashan and Erhai—you just got married, but then again, now that you're all grown up, adults, it's time you took responsibility for this family."

Wang Zhanggen finally no longer acted willfully and stubbornly as he used to.

Because he also knew he was old now, and all three sons had grown up and could each support themselves, so some important matters had to be discussed with them.

"Dad, what is it?"

Wang Dashan asked.

Wang Erhai said:

"You're not going to ask us to split the family, are you? Nobody does that anymore."

In the past, when siblings in the village grew up and started their own families, they would split the family, so Wang Erhai's first reaction was that this was the matter.

However, Wang Zhanggen shook his head:

"I don't want you three brothers to split the family. Your uncle and I fell out because of splitting the family, and now our relationship is distant."

The detours the older generation walked, they certainly don't want their own children to walk again, so the family-splitting ritual common among the previous generation had pretty much disappeared by the eighties and nineties generation.

"What is it then? Dad, just say it straight."

Seeing Wang Zhanggen's stern expression, Wang Xiaohua felt what he was about to say was probably not a small matter.

Wang Zhanggen lit a cigarette for himself, then said:

"Zhou Aidi is dead. She hanged herself in our new house."

"What? Aunt Zhou actually hanged herself in our new house? Why would she do that?" Wang Xiaohua didn't know about the ancestral grave being dug up, which was why he was so surprised.

Wang Zhanggen said:

"Our ancestral grave was dug up, and she was the culprit. Because of this, I had a falling out with her. For Dashan and Erhai's wedding, I invited the whole village to the feast, but only didn't invite her. She probably couldn't swallow this anger, so she hanged herself in our new house. She even wore red clothes, probably wanting to become a vengeful ghost to take revenge on us."

Wang Xiaohua found this fact hard to accept. In his memory, Zhou Aidi was a very pitiful but also very kind old lady. Back when she wanted to go to Shenzhen to find her son, it was Wang Xiaohua who took her to the bus station and helped her buy a bus ticket. The image of her simple smile thanking Wang Xiaohua was still vivid in his mind.

"Zhou Aidi hanged herself on the day before New Year's Day. That day, your mother and I happened to be at the Country Garden Villa helping decorate the marriage room, so we weren't in the village. Yesterday morning, which was New Year's Day itself, Zhang Zhongtian called me to say she had hanged herself in our house. Her son Liang Xinghua came back yesterday. Fortunately, he didn't make too much of a fuss. If he had come yesterday to cause a scene at the wedding, this matter would have been serious. Liang Xinghua is still a reasonable child."

Wang Zhanggen's expression was stern as he recounted the details of the matter.

He then continued:

"Now there are three problems. First, Zhou Aidi's funeral and cremation is tomorrow—should we go? Second, someone died in our new house, so it's definitely unlucky now. How should we handle this? Third, although Liang Xinghua said he doesn't want our compensation, the dead are the greatest, so we still have to give them some spiritual consolation. How much should this money be, and who should give it to him?"

Wang Zhanggen had thought about these three problems all night, until his head ached, and he still didn't know what to do.

Especially the question of how to handle the new house—he really couldn't think of a good solution.

Not living in it? After pouring two or three hundred thousand into the newly built raw house, it would be a pity to just let it go to waste.

Continue renovating and move in? It's creepy, especially late at night when everything is quiet. Just thinking about Zhou Aidi hanging herself in the living room—how terrifying!

"For Zhou Aidi's funeral, you just represent our Wang Family and go." Li Xiulan spoke at this time. "Don't let all three of them go. Dashan and Erhai just got married; going to a funeral is unlucky. Xiaohua has to go to Beijing tomorrow and has no time to attend."

Wang Dashan chimed in: "Right, having one representative from our family go should be enough."

Wang Erhai said: "If they insist we go, then going is fine too. We should still have some human feeling and not make the relationship so stiff."

Wang Zhanggen said: "For the funeral, I'll go alone. Your mother is right—you just got married, so going is unlucky. Xiaohua, when are you leaving for Beijing tomorrow?"

"In the morning. The noon flight, so we have to leave in the morning."

Wang Xiaohua answered honestly.

Wang Dashan said: "If I don't have to go to the funeral, then I'll take Third Brother to the airport tomorrow."

Wang Zhanggen nodded.

He had finished one cigarette, and lit another:

"You all say, how much compensation should we give Liang Xinghua?"

Wang Erhai said coldly:

"If you ask me, we shouldn't give compensation. Liang Xinghua probably knows it himself too. Although his mother died, she was in the wrong, so he didn't come to make a scene."

Liu Meiqi, sitting beside Wang Erhai, echoed:

"Exactly. His mother hanged herself in our house. We didn't ask him for compensation, which is already good enough. This house can't even be lived in!"

Wang Dashan said instead:

"We should still give some compensation. Liang Xinghua is quite pitiful. His father passed away not long ago, he's supporting his family while working in Shenzhen, which is already difficult, and now his mother has died..."

Wang Dashan was still more sympathetic. After all, he had been a soldier, and his thinking was more upright.

"Big Brother, your thinking is too kind. If we actively give compensation, Liang Xinghua will think we are soft persimmons easy to handle, and then he'll make a lion's big mouth demand. What will you all do then?"

Wang Erhai considered things more carefully and was more guarded.

But what he said was also reality. Things like this have happened in rural areas before.

Casually shown mercy might not only bring no good reward, but might also bring trouble.

"Anyway, I'm unwilling to give Liang Xinghua compensation. I don't want to give him a single cent!"

Wang Erhai stated his position.