The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 11.2 - The Reason to be Strong (2)

The door of the vehicle closed. Jǐ Yi looked towards Nuannuan's mother.

"Xixi, don't be nervous," Nuannuan's mother soothed her. "Grandpa Jì told me to have a little talk with you. By chance, I also had the same thought."

Jǐ Yi nodded, unable to guess the content of the conversation.

The discussion with Nuannuan's mother began with talking about Jǐ Yi's paternal grandfather and grandmother. This was somewhat outside of what she had expected. Jǐ Yi's grandmother was uneducated, taken in by the Jǐ family since she was a child and raised as the future daughter-in-law. Grandfather Jǐ left the home and went to Beijing to study, while Jǐ Yi's grandmother stayed behind in a village in Guangxi. After the Liberation, Jǐ Yi's grandfather brought Jǐ Yi's grandmother out from Guangxi and took her here to Beijing. Finally, at the age of forty, she had a son. However, because there was simply too great a difference in their education level, the two divorced.

Jǐ Yi's grandfather wed his second wife, and they had another two sons.

Back when the divorce occurred, there were people whose political views conflicted with Grandfather Jǐ's. They advised Jǐ Yi's grandmother to make a tremendous scene. She had thought that this could change the result, but in the end, they still parted ways. At the time, many people from this older generation had divorces, but only the Jǐ family's divorce caused an uproar that left everyone talking.

"That is why the father-son relationship between your father and grandfather is very bad." Nuannuan's mother was quite reserved and subtle with her words. "Your father is the only one in the family who has not donned a military uniform. During that era, if you didn't wear a military uniform, you would have to go to the countryside. That's how your father met your mother over in the northeast region of the country. They both went through a lot of hardships. By the time the two were finally on the return journey home, your grandmother died of illness. Because of this, your father came to physical blows with your grandfather many times."

Jǐ Yi's father despised Jǐ Yi's grandfather for abandoning his wife and son. Jǐ Yi's grandfather hated his son for being so unfilial and had even written several versions of the agreement to sever their father-son relationship. Regarding these matters, outsiders who knew did not breathe a word about them to anyone. It had only been in these last few days that Grandpa Jì had told Nuannuan's mother about them.

"That's why, Xixi, if your grandfather does not treat you lovingly, it's not your fault." Nuannuan's mother said, "Auntie should not have been the one to tell you all this. But your Grandpa Jì, Uncle Jì, and I all watched you grow up, and you're so good and well-behaved. We don't want to see you get hurt because you don't know about some things. You're sixteen already, a big girl. Knowing and understanding is better than being kept in the dark, right?"

"Mm."

"Your grandfather is old now. Your two [paternal] uncles and their wives, as well as the grandson, are always by his side, so the relationship between them is strong. Anything they say, your grandfather will very much believe. You cannot really blame the elder for that. After all, when you're old, you can only count on the sons and daughters who are by your side taking care of you, and the ones who are not filial, you will just view them as if they were never born. This is human nature."

There were many children and grandchildren in the Jǐ family. The second and third sons and their wives all were filial and took good care of their elders—they were good children. And hence, in the ears of the elderly man, those groundless, inciting accusations that those good children said must be true.

Jǐ Yi's two uncles and aunts were all of the opinion that Jǐ Yi living there was something that Jǐ Yi's father had deliberately arranged so that in the future, when they were dividing the estate, he would have something he could use as a discussion point. After all, the father-son relationship was already broken; the granddaughter was the only person linking them together. These sorts of words were ones that Jǐ Yi's aunts would say to anyone they encountered, and they would also often prattle on about this to Jǐ Yi's grandfather. So, over time, everyone had come to view them as true.