20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 744 Elders
"What did you say? The child is missing?"

Old Meng was stunned, his pupils trembled, and a kind of ominous premonition suddenly came to his mind.

However, it was not too late as it was just getting dark. He barely held onto a glimmer of hope and pretended to be calm and comforted her: "Don't worry, the child may just be playing around and may have gone crazy somewhere."

"You are so careless. Even at this time, you are still deceiving yourself!"

The daughter-in-law kept crying, and then she took out a letter from her bosom, stuffed it into Lao Meng's pocket, and sobbed, "It's written in black and white, read it yourself!"

Lao Meng took the letter, unfolded it, and suddenly his heart felt empty and the back of his head felt buzzing.

The content of the letter was very simple, consisting of only two lines - the day when the workers resume production and the day when the children return home.

The mother couldn't bear the loss of her child. She was crying and complaining.

"I was saying... you have nothing to do all day long, but you have to go and ask for a rest, just to show off your ability. Now you're done... give me back my child!"

"Wife, I didn't expect that they would attack the child!"

Lao Meng looked embarrassed and felt guilty. He stammered, "When was this letter delivered?"

The wife said, "When I came back in the afternoon, not long after I got home, I heard someone banging on the door. It was so loud that I didn't dare to open it. The letter was stuffed through the crack in the door. When I wanted to go out to check, I didn't see anyone."

"No, why did you come back suddenly?"

"The spinning mill fired me."

Lao Meng's expression froze. His family suffered blows one after another. This was undoubtedly a punishment for him for taking the lead in calling for a break.

The wife still had a sad face and said aggrievedly: "They accused me of stealing things from the factory. I said I was innocent, but they didn't listen. Not only did they want to fire me, they also told me to go back and wait for the lawsuit. They were ready to beat me if I didn't leave."

Ordinary people simply cannot afford to go to court, and even if they win, the final result is often not worth the loss.

When Lao Meng heard this, he felt deeply depressed and powerless.

For those rich and powerful bosses, dealing with poor people like them is as easy as crushing an ant.

There is no answer from the heavens or the earth - after thinking it over, I'm afraid the only way to have a chance of survival is to kneel down and beg for mercy.

But the poor also have dignity.

A man's knees are made of gold. It is not easy to kneel down, and it is even more difficult to stand up again.

The most important thing is that even if Lao Meng wanted to kneel, he didn’t know who to find.

It is conceivable that a big boss like Jiang Lianheng would never meet him in person, as that would be disrespectful.

The children of the old Meng family were kidnapped, and their parents went to ask Boss Jiang for mercy. What does this mean?
Are you saying that Boss Jiang kidnapped your children?

Old Meng pondered in silence, this approach would not work.

His wife was also anxious and confused, and suddenly suggested: "Why don't we report it to the police?"

"Call the police?" Old Meng waved his hands quickly, "If we call the police now, our child will really be gone!"

"Why don't you go out and look for him? Why are you still standing here like an idiot?"

"Where can I find it?"

"Where are your usual abilities?" the wife complained. "I didn't let you go to make arrangements for the child to rest, but you went anyway. You're busy talking about useless things all day long. When the critical moment comes, I can't count on you for anything. I tell you, if anything happens to our child, I won't live anymore!"

As they were talking, they suddenly heard a decayed voice coming from the inner room.

"What are you arguing about? Are you two nagging me outside again?"

When Lao Meng heard this, his heart tightened, and he lowered his voice and asked, "Does the old lady know about this?"

The wife shook her head: "How dare I say it? If I say it, people will blame me."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone inside the house started shouting, "What time is it? Why haven't you eaten yet? You two are deliberately starving me!"

"Mom, please wait a moment, I will cook for you soon!"

Old Meng responded to the inner room, and then told his wife, "Clean up your face, don't let the old lady know about this. I'll go in and cook first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

"What are you thinking? Do you still have the time to cook?"

The daughter-in-law was extremely anxious, but when she turned around, she saw that Lao Meng had already run to the inner room.

An old lady was curled up on the kang. She looked to be in her sixties or seventies. Her hair was gray, her eyes were sharp, and her hearing was sometimes good and sometimes not. If someone shouted at her, the old lady would definitely not hear. But if someone whispered something to her, the old lady would immediately sit up and ask back, "Who are you talking about?"

Old Meng's mother is a very difficult person to serve. Not only is she picky and greedy, but she also always finds fault with others.

But she was lucky. When she was young, she was beautiful and her husband doted on her. She didn't have to do any heavy work. When she was old, she had a filial son who was very obedient to her - that was in the eyes of others. In the eyes of the old lady herself, she had been wronged all her life.

Seeing her son enter the house, the old lady immediately rolled her eyes and snorted, "You still remember to come back? How hungry was I when I was at home?"

"Mom, I have something to do at the printing factory. I'll be back late. I'll go make dinner for you now."

"Don't you see that my teacup is empty?"

"I see. I'll boil some water for you right away."

"You don't even bother to empty the urinal for me, and I have to remind you all the time. If you don't like being served, just tell me. I can go to your brother's house."

"Mom, I just got back." Old Meng was busy with his work and couldn't help but mutter, "Don't go to his house. It would be strange if he could care about you."

The old lady glanced at her son, curled her lips and said, "Better than you."

Old Meng sighed, as if he had gotten used to it and was too lazy to argue anymore.

"Why hasn't the child come back?" the old lady asked again.

Lao Meng kept working and pretended to be calm, saying, "Oh, they went to a friend's house to play today and won't be back tonight."

After saying that, he hurried to the outer room and asked his wife to help cook.

You can eat leftover rice and vegetables by just heating them up a little, which is simple and convenient.

Soon, the bowls, chopsticks, cups and plates were placed on the kang table.

The old lady looked at it for a few times and was dissatisfied again. She said with a twisted reason: "The children are not at home, so I have to eat leftovers."

"Mom, what are you talking about!" Lao Meng had no appetite and just pushed the food in front of his mother. "The children are not coming back tonight, and we are missing two people. Let's just make do with one bite. What do you want to eat? I'll buy it for you tomorrow!"

The daughter-in-law said nothing, but she was worried about the child and looked a little anxious.

Seeing this, the old lady immediately threw down her chopsticks and said coldly: "I don't want to eat anymore!"

"Don't eat?"

Before Lao Meng could react, he saw his mother slapping her thigh and crying. "Oh, old man, how can you be so cruel to leave me alone? My son is not filial, and my daughter-in-law is always giving me a hard time. How can I live? I don't want to live anymore. I'll go find you!"

His cries were so earth-shattering and his howls were so loud that the sun and moon dimmed.

The daughter-in-law was already anxious, and when she saw her mother-in-law making trouble again, tears welled up in her eyes. She accused her on the spot: "Old lady, are you being unscrupulous when you say this? What else can I do to make you satisfied? At this time, I still have to cook for you. I, I..."

"Stop talking!" Lao Meng tried to persuade her. "Mom, please don't do this. I'm already annoyed enough!"

The old lady scolded him immediately: "You little bastard, you still find me annoying. You married a wife and forgot your mother. I raised you in vain!"

"She didn't give you a cold look."

"Bullshit, just protect her. I'm going to find the old lump and let him support me."

"Then go ahead!" the wife said, "You always say you're going to find your old son, but I've never seen you move. Go find him and see if he'll support you!"

The old lady was startled, and then burst into tears: "Oh, now in this family, everyone bullies me, how can I live, old man!"

The two women quarreled more and more fiercely, and Lao Meng felt his head getting bigger. He was so angry that he couldn't control himself anymore. He raised his hand and overturned the kang table to the ground with a "crash".

"Okay, everyone, calm down!"

The room finally became quiet.

The old lady glanced at the mess on the ground and suddenly became speechless. She no longer shouted about going to find Old Gege.

The daughter-in-law stopped talking and just kept sobbing.

Lao Meng took a breath for a moment, went downstairs to clean up the things, and felt that he could not hide this matter any longer, so he sat down and said softly: "Mom, don't pick on Cuiping. She was fired by the factory today, and she is unhappy, not because of you."

The old lady was reasonable this time and quickly comforted her: "Oh, it's nothing, don't worry too much. Nowadays, it's hard to keep the same job until old age. At worst, you can change jobs and look for a job slowly. Cuiping went to elementary school, so she should be able to find a job."

"Well, that was in the past. It's hard to say now."

"how?"

"It's all because of him!" the wife continued, "He had to go and make arrangements for the funeral, bringing disaster to the family. It would be fine if I suffered as a result, but..."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Lao Meng interrupted harshly.

However, the old woman was not stupid. She was very clever. When she heard the conversation between the young couple, she immediately came to her senses.

"Wait a minute, were those two kids kidnapped?"

"No no……"

"What do you mean nothing? Don't lie to me. If Cuiping just lost her job, would she cry like this?"

Lao Meng was a little flustered, and quickly comforted her: "Mom, don't worry..."

"Why should I be anxious? Is there any use in being anxious?" the old lady asked, "Before our family came to Fengtian, Old Chen from the next village was a bandit. I, your mother, have crossed more bridges than you have walked. What have I not seen? Did someone send a letter over there? Bring it over here so I can have a look!"

The couple was stunned. They didn't expect that the old lady would be the calmest person in the family despite the sudden incident.

"Whether you have delivered the letter or not, you two should tell me something!"

"Well, I sent it."

The daughter-in-law came to her senses and hurriedly handed over the kidnapper's letter.

The old lady waved her hands and said, "Read it to me. I can't read."

The daughter-in-law recited: "The day when the workers resume production, the children will return home."

When the old lady heard this, she immediately said, "The child is fine. At most he will be hungry for two days."

"Mom, how can you be so sure?" Lao Meng was a little confused. "They are kidnappers. They know I was the one who took the lead in calling for a break. They won't take their anger out on my child, right?"

"You know nothing. You get beaten for giving birth to someone else's child. The reason for the beating is to find out how much money the family has. For someone like this who knows everything about him, there's no need to use force. Unless you want to kill someone, who would have the time to show off to a child? You have to have a beard to show off. If it gets out, people will laugh at you."

"But we have a girl, will they..."

"Don't worry, we don't move Guanyin in the rice seedling room. This is the industry rule and it is also unlucky."

The old lady pointed at the letter sent by the kidnappers and said, "When they say that the children are returned home, it means that they are returned intact and in good condition. Otherwise, there is another explanation. Besides, if Hu Zi wants to find a woman, he can just rob her directly. Why would he quench his thirst with rice from business? This is not like destroying a kiln."

The couple looked at each other and suddenly felt a chill on their backs. They couldn't help but ask, "Mom, what did you do before?"

The old lady waved her hand and said, "Don't ask about the things that happened in the old days."

The wife was still a little worried, so she asked, "Then... do we really not need to go out and look for it?"

"It's useless to look for him. Even if you find him, there are cruel people watching in the rice room. They are the most ruthless people in the gang. Why would you go there? Don't risk your life there. Reporting to the police will lead to a dead end. Besides, didn't they write clearly that they will return the person when the work resumes?"

With just a few words, the old lady calmed the couple's anxious hearts.

Then he began to scold Lao Meng a few more times.

"I say, you are such a fool. Why do you love to be a hero and show off so much? We are just ordinary people. We should just live a good life. No matter how big your butt is, you should wear pants that fit your size. Why do you have to follow that brat Zhang Lianfu and show off? What good have you gotten?"

"Mom...the two sentences you just said don't sound like an ordinary person!"

"Don't be stubborn, just listen to me and that's it!"

The old lady picked up her pipe and continued, "That's all reasonable - the first bird to stick its head out gets shot! The higher you jump, the harder you fall. You have no ability at all. What can you use to fight others? You can't beat a big man with your arms. Don't you understand this principle?"

"I understand, but the factory is too bullying. If we don't give them a break, they will kill us sooner or later."

Lao Meng naturally had his own explanation. As prices in the provincial capital skyrocketed, the factories had intensified their exploitation and everyone had long since become unable to bear it.

Although the shutdown of the printing factory was an accidental outbreak, it was also an inevitable result.

"You can take a break, but I didn't say you can't take part. But you can't take the lead. Anyway, remember, the law doesn't punish everyone, so we just follow the crowd. If everyone is clamoring for a break, you can't not go, because you'll be excluded. If no one is talking, you can just play dumb and wait for others to take the lead."

"But..." Lao Meng muttered to himself, "I wait for others to take the lead, and others wait for me to take the lead. Everyone is waiting like this, so someone has to take the lead first, right?"

"Why does it have to be you, then?"

The old lady took two puffs of her cigarette, shook her head and said, "The world will still go on without you. You are the only one who is capable and courageous. Are all the others stupid? I think you are the stupidest one. Only a fool would rush forward. You should be smarter! Listen to me. Go to the factory tomorrow to persuade everyone. It's almost time to go home!"

Old Meng remained silent, but he had already made a choice in his heart.

There was no way. He really couldn't convince himself to ignore his own family for the sake of the public.

The old lady tapped her pipe, her back seemed to straighten up again, and asked hurriedly, "Okay, are you going to eat or not? Do you two want to starve me to death?"

(End of this chapter)