Chapter 31: Gray Memories
Now that the family had their own business, financial stability wasn’t an issue, and Yang Jiabo had successfully prevented the takeover of the small grocery store. However, the matter of building a new house was still brought up. The atmosphere at home had been tense these past few days, but such major decisions wouldn’t involve discussing things with a child like Yang Jiabo.
After some discussion among the adults, the Yang family’s courtyard was divided, with 100 square meters allocated to Yang Qiaohui for construction. Once the house was built, ownership would belong to Yan Ruofei (her son). While Yang Jiabo’s grandparents were still alive, the rent would serve as their pension fund.
The allocated 100 square meters took up the entire roadside section of the courtyard, which meant the Yang family’s main gate would have to be moved. Yang Qiaohui's husband, Yan Youwen then suggested demolishing the old house and rebuilding it entirely, promising to help. He even had someone draft a blueprint, a four-story building where the first floor would house the grandparents, and the remaining three floors would be divided among the four siblings.
Aunt Yang Meizhen and her husband had no house of their own, and with her pregnancy nearing its end, they needed to plan for the child. Grandpa Zhang remained silent, while Grandma Yang was enthusiastic about the idea of living in a new building.
Yang Jianjun was tempted but still cautious. Where would Yang Jianguo’s family get the money for construction? Even covering his own portion would be a struggle. A four-story house sounded nice, but it would cost a fortune.
Li Guizhen, however, was worry-free, naively saying, “Why stress? Doesn’t your eldest sister have money? And didn’t your brother-in-law promise to help? As for Yang Jianguo’s share, your parents will handle it.”
Yang Jiabo sneered. “Who would just give you money for free? Even if they lend it, they’d think twice about whether you can pay it back. Just because they said they’d help doesn’t mean they’re handing you cash, wake up.”
“Stay out of adult matters. What do you know?” Li Guizhen snapped impatiently.
“I don’t mind Auntie building a house, but I absolutely disagree with us doing it now.” Yang Jiabo knew his objections were useless, but he couldn’t help speaking up.
History repeated itself. Yang Jiabo opposed the construction, despite earning some money over the past two years, it was far from enough. The aunt’s family, led by Uncle Yan, initially promised assistance, but after the demolition, apart from arranging the construction team, they provided no further support.
The Yang family’s new house ran out of funds before the first floor was even completed. The foundation alone had cost a fortune. To build the house, the Yang family emptied their savings and took on debt, barely finishing the first floor. This was only possible because Aunt Yang Qiaohui secretly sold her gold jewelry to help Yang Jianjun.
The new house stood with exposed red bricks, crumbling cement, and uneven walls hastily painted white. The structure was crooked, rooms meant to be rectangular ended up trapezoidal. The doors and windows were old, and the main gate was welded from scrap metal pipes. Despite being a new house, it looked more dilapidated than before. As for that blueprint? Hah.
When Uncle Yan built his house, he demolished most of the Yang family’s old home, leaving only two rooms at the very back. With nowhere to live, the members of the Yang family were temporarily housed in a rented place, one far too small for everyone. Yang Jianjun and Li Guizhen stayed in the remaining old rooms, while Yang Jiabo was sent to live with his fourth aunt’s family.
For a year, Yang Jiabo lived under their roof, never even given a key to their house. On winter nights after evening self-study, he’d return to find them out, leaving him locked outside. In someone else’s home, he was scolded for "wasting water" when washing clothes and "wasting electricity" if he stayed up late.
If he refused to eat their meals, they accused him of looking down on their food. If he ate, they complained to Li Guizhen that he was greedy. When Tian Tian rented DVDs and didn’t return them for over ten days, Fourth Aunt went to Li Guizhen, blaming Yang Jiabo.
Living under someone else’s roof, especially a nosy and stingy relative’s, was suffocating. It added another layer of gray to his already gloomy adolescence.
Pushing someone to the brink isn’t done in one go, it’s the accumulation of countless small things, until one final spark ignites an explosion.
It wasn’t that Yang Jiabo was ungrateful. By any measure, even as tenants, the Yang family owed them nothing. Fourth Aunt’s family had debts from buying their house, and Li Guizhen, sympathetic to her sister, shared everything good with them.
She often helped take Tian Tian to school, covered her pocket money, and even bought her clothes whenever she got some for Yang Jiabo. Tian Tian ate at the Yang family almost daily, and Fourth Aunt’s family frequently joined too. Fourth Aunt’s husband had no job until Yang Jianjun pulled strings to get him into the factory during its better days.
Li Guizhen was selfless with her siblings. Even though she was hot-tempered and foul-mouthed, but she was utterly devoted. Yet they treated Yang Jiabo poorly, and Li Guizhen never noticed. She assumed her kindness would naturally mean they’d look after her son in return.
It wasn’t until Yang Jiabo finally snapped in a fit of rage that she realized something was wrong. After that, he’d rather live in the shabby old house than return to Fourth Aunt’s. By then, Yang Qiaohui’s house was finished, and Yang Jiabo moved into the second floor with his grandparents.
No comments:
Post a Comment