stjorthotic Chapter 8 This meal was eaten in front of the whole hospital.
Chapter 8 This meal was eaten in front of the whole hospital.
Then, a miracle happened.
A touch of color appeared on Wang's face, which was originally as pale as paper.
My breathing has become steady.
It was no longer that hurried, bellows-like sound, but became deep, long, and powerful.
"Is... I feel warm now?"
Wang touched her chest in disbelief, "It's not blocked anymore, it's really not blocked anymore!"
"Amazing, absolutely amazing!"
Lu Laogen was so moved that tears streamed down his face, and he was about to kowtow to the medicine bowl.
"Whose divine intervention is this?!"
"Father, don't bother."
Lu Cheng stopped his father and dumped the pair of heavy gold bracelets and a hundred or so silver dollars he was carrying onto the kang table.
Splash!
To the poor, this sound was more pleasing than firecrackers during the New Year.
It glitters with gold and shines with silver.
It made the dilapidated house brightly lit.
"this……"
The elderly couple were completely dumbfounded.
They had never seen so much money in their entire lives.
"Chengzi, this...this isn't illegal, is it?" Wang was so frightened that her hands were trembling.
"Mother, don't worry."
Lu Cheng held his mother's rough hands, his eyes resolute.
"This is what my son earned through his own abilities, it was a reward from Master Jin, and it was praised by all the men, young and old, in Beiping."
"From now on, our family is no longer poor."
"You should keep this gold bracelet as a treasured possession."
"Here's the money, Dad. We'll buy the car tomorrow. From now on, we can haul it whenever we want, and if we don't want to, we can just stay home and drink tea."
"From now on, no one in the southern part of the city will dare to bully the Lu family again!"
That night.
The kerosene lamp in the Lu family's house burned all night.
The old couple touched the gold bracelet, looked at the silver dollar, and then looked at their son sitting cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed).
It feels like a dream.
But this dream was too sweet, too wonderful.
……
Early the next morning.
As dawn broke, activity began to stir in the courtyard.
This courtyard houses more than a dozen families, all of whom are poor laborers.
Near the water tap, several old women who were cleaning chamber pots and washing clothes huddled together, their eyes glancing intermittently toward the Lu family's house.
The words that came out of his mouth weren't very pleasant to hear.
"Have you heard? That kid from the Lu family made an appearance at Deyun Tea Garden yesterday."
The speaker was Aunt Zhang from the east room, who was usually the most snobbish and gossipy.
"Pah, what do you mean by showing off? I'm embarrassed for Lao Lu."
Another woman with a sharp tongue curled her lip and slammed the clothes in her hand down with a loud thud.
"A perfectly normal grown man, instead of learning to be good. He goes and plays an animal! That's 'drilling through a tube,' a beast with fur and horns."
"In the world of Peking Opera, they are the lowest of the low, not even worthy of carrying the shoes of proper opera singers."
"Of course! I heard it's crawling on the ground and barking like a dog."
Aunt Zhang looked disdainful and deliberately raised her voice a few decibels, as if afraid that the Lu family inside the house wouldn't hear her.
"It's just that Mr. Jin was curious and gave him a couple of coins."
"This is trading dignity for food. If I had a son like that, I would have smashed my head against a wall long ago. I can't bear the shame!"
"An actor, and an actor who plays animals at that. What girl would want to marry him?"
In the room.
Lu Cheng was about to push the door open and leave when he stopped, his hand on the latch.
He has excellent hearing; every word of those unpleasant remarks outside reached his ears.
Low-class? Crawling through tubes? Wearing fur and horns?
Lu Cheng's face remained expressionless, and he didn't feel particularly aggrieved.
That's just how the world is; people laugh at poverty but not at prostitution.
If you're broke, even breathing is wrong. If you're rich, even your farts smell good.
But he glanced back at his parents, who were still asleep.
If my parents heard these words, how would they feel?
The two elders were honest and simple people who valued their reputation more than their lives.
These gossipy women need to be disciplined!
Lu Cheng took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and strode out.
He was carrying that large wooden basin, and his energy and spirit were completely different from his usual taciturn self.
He didn't squeeze into the public water tap with those people; he carried a full bucket of prepared water in one hand, as if it were a straw.
Inside the house.
For the first time ever, Lu Laogen put on his newly bought cotton robe, his face glowing, and he was busy preparing breakfast.
A strong, overpowering aroma of meat wafted out from the cracks in the Lu family's broken window, instantly drowning out the musty and urine smells in the yard.
It made everyone in the hospital's stomachs itch with anticipation.
The food on the table wasn't pickled vegetable steamed buns.
Lu Cheng bought it at the alley entrance early in the morning:
The piping hot sesame flatbread is crispy and crumbly with every bite.
A large pot of braised pork intestines and baked wheat cakes, made with the old broth of "Xiaochang Chen". The pork intestines are stewed until soft and flavorful, and the lungs are soaked in the broth. Garlic paste and cilantro are sprinkled on top.
There was also a plate of thinly sliced braised pork hock, with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, glistening and translucent.
This breakfast is no better than what even the wealthiest landlords eat!
"Old Lu, this..."
Aunt Zhang, who had been cursing loudly just moments before, swallowed hard upon smelling this odor. When she peeked into the room, her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Hey, Auntie, have you eaten yet? If not, come in and have a taste. Chengzi just bought it, it's still warm."
Lu Laogen used to be someone who was trampled into the mud, and he was always inferior to everyone else.
Today, he stood up straight and spoke in a loud voice.
"My goodness, Lao Lu, have you struck it rich?"
Aunt Zhang put down the chamber pot without a care for its dirtiness. Her previous disdain vanished instantly, replaced by a fawning smile as she leaned closer to look at the sumptuous dishes on the table.
"I heard Chengzi became a sensation at the Deyun Tea House yesterday?"
"That's right!"
Lu Laogen picked up a piece of braised pork knuckle and put it in his mouth, chewing it until his mouth was full of oil, and deliberately said loudly:
"Our Chengzi is a star now! Master Jin even gave him a gold bracelet; he earns in one performance what you'd make in a year pulling a rickshaw!"
"See? The child's mother drank the miracle medicine that Chengzi brought back last night, and she was able to get out of bed this morning."
The crowd looked in the direction indicated.
Wang, who usually lay paralyzed on the kang (a heated brick bed), was actually sitting at the table with her clothes on. Although her face was still a little pale, she was holding half a sesame seed cake and eating it with relish.
boom!
The entire courtyard was in an uproar.
"The Lu family has turned their fortunes around."
"Chengzi has really made something of herself!"
The vicious comments from before vanished instantly, replaced by exclamations of amazement and fawning.
"Old Lu, I always said that Chengzi was a good kid from a young age; he had the look of someone destined for wealth and nobility."
"Brother Chengzi, don't forget your neighbors when you become successful."
this is the truth.
What lowlifes, what tube crawler?
When you slam the cash and braised pork knuckle onto the table, everyone can only look up at you.
Lu Cheng stood in the courtyard, watching the changing faces.
He didn't find it disgusting; he just found it real.
No one asks the poor in the downtown area, and the rich has distant relatives in the mountains.
If you want others to respect you and your parents to have face, you have to be strong, you have to be rich, and you have to have a fist!
"Dear neighbors."
Lu Cheng put down the bucket and spoke calmly.
The courtyard fell silent instantly.
"I, Lu Cheng, grew up in this compound. I know who is good to my family and who is bad to my family."
"I bought a lot of this braised pork. If you want some, just bring your own bowl."
"But there is one condition."
Lu Cheng's gaze swept across the crowd, landing on Aunt Zhang, who had been gossiping the most, and the sharp-tongued woman.
That look in his eyes was as cold as a knife.
"If you've eaten my flesh, you'd better watch your mouth from now on."
"What role I, Lu Cheng, play is my business, but my parents still need to live in this courtyard."
"If I ever hear anyone gossiping behind my parents' backs again, or bullying them because they're honest..."
Click!
Lu Cheng casually snapped off a dead tree branch that was about the thickness of his wrist.
It's made of jujube wood, and it's very hard.
In his hands, it was cut in two like noodles, sending a chill down everyone's spine.
"This is what happens."
The entire courtyard was completely silent.
Aunt Zhang shrank back in fright, her smile froze, and she waved her hands repeatedly.
"No, no, how could I, Master Lu?"
Seeing his parents beaming with joy amidst the compliments of the crowd, Lu Cheng finally felt his pent-up frustration dissipate completely.