'How stupid was I in my past life?'
'In my past life, I was even more blind than Grandma!'
'I had people I could have trusted, people I could have taken refuge with, yet I turned a blind eye to them all!'
'The truth was, Grandma had always been there. If I had just cried out when I was beaten, shouted for help, Grandma definitely would have helped me just like she did today. Liu Fengying wasn't afraid of Grandma, but she was somewhat wary of Grandpa! If I had hidden by Grandma's side, Liu Fengying wouldn't have dared to hit me so casually!'
In her memories, Grandma had doted on her. When Xiao Man was sick or scalded by oil, Mo Guoqiang and his wife refused to spend money on a hospital visit. When Grandma found out, she would tell Grandpa to quickly find some herbal remedies while also giving money to Liu Fengying on several occasions. She told them to take good care of the child, to take her to the hospital and see if they could get better, faster-acting anti-inflammatory drugs. But Mo Guoqiang and Liu Fengying just took the money and still refused to take her to the hospital. It made Grandpa so angry he couldn't stop cursing them. All he could do was his best to find herbs to apply to Xiao Man's wounds. In the end, Xiao Man recovered, but she was left with an ugly, hideous scar.
Grandpa knew a lot about medicinal herbs and often went into the mountains to gather them. When he collected enough, he would carry them on his back to the city to sell. He didn't sell to the state purchasing station, claiming he had his own connections that paid better. This was how he managed to save up some money. Grandpa never revealed how much he had; it was his and Grandma's private retirement fund. Grandma was in poor health and needed to eat nutritious food regularly. Grandpa also had one big dream: to save enough money to take Grandma to the city and get her eyes cured.
Grandma was the one who told Mo Xiaoman this. Xiao Man wasn't very talkative, but she could always exchange a few words with Grandma. Even though they didn't live together, whenever Grandpa went into the mountains to gather herbs, he would ask her to check on Grandma—to see if she had eaten, had anything to drink, and had hot water to wash her face and feet.
Second Aunt Mo would never bother with such things, so when Grandpa wasn't home, the responsibility fell to Xiao Man. But she wasn't able to do it for long, because less than two years after Grandpa and Grandma moved out of the small courtyard, they both passed away.
It started when Grandpa fell from a mountain cliff while gathering herbs and died instantly. A villager who was in the mountains found him and brought back the news. Grandma waited for Grandpa's body to be carried home and properly dressed, then she swallowed a deadly poisonous herb she had prepared long ago. Just like that, the devoted old couple, who had supported each other through thick and thin, passed away together.
It was a windfall for Mo Guoqiang and Uncle Mo. They carved up the few hundred yuan Grandpa and Grandma left behind. Uncle Mo also claimed the clean, tidy, square courtyard that Grandpa had just bought. The Mo family's ancestral home, along with the large vegetable garden out back, all went to Mo Guoqiang.
'In my past life, I was ignorant and naive. Now that I understand certain things and have the benefit of foresight, I have to seize this opportunity!'
'I'm going to leave with Grandpa and Grandma and live with them. It's the most perfect reason to get away from Mo Guoqiang and his wife!'
Grandpa and Grandma had no biological children. Mo Guoqiang and Uncle Mo were the sons of Grandpa's older brother. The brothers had lost their parents when they were just a few years old and were on the verge of starvation when Grandpa and Grandma returned to the village. The couple raised the boys as their own sons, helping each of them get married and establish their own families. The brothers married in consecutive years. At the time, Uncle Mo had volunteered to live with the elders, so Grandpa and Grandma's grain rations were allocated to his household. This meant that the old couple was supposed to live with Uncle Mo and Second Aunt Mo for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, Mo Guoqiang and his wife, who had established a separate household, were only required to contribute to the coffin fund when the elders passed away. This was a long-standing rural custom in the area.
Mo Xiaoman remembered that in her past life, neither Mo Guoqiang nor Uncle Mo treated Grandpa and Grandma well. They wouldn't even greet them when they passed each other. Uncle Mo was always smoking and insisted on drinking two glasses of liquor with dinner, yet he never paid a cent. He simply smoked the homegrown tobacco that Grandpa planted, cured, and cut himself. And whenever Grandpa bought a new bottle of liquor, Uncle Mo would always end up drinking more than half of it.
Liu Fengying would at least put on a superficial show for Grandpa, but she wouldn't even deign to give Grandma a proper look. Second Aunt Mo was even worse. She often used Grandpa's absence as an opportunity to skimp on Grandma's meals. While her little family ate well, they would serve Grandma a porridge so watery you could see your reflection in it. This was ultimately why Grandpa insisted on splitting the household. Mo Guoqiang even sided with Uncle Mo to curse Grandpa, adamantly refusing to give the old man a share of the ancestral house. Their reasoning was that since Grandpa and Grandma couldn't produce a son, the old couple had no claim to the ancestral home—they didn't even have the right to live in the courtyard.
It was Grandma who stopped Grandpa from fighting it to the bitter end, saying it was all too ugly and humiliating. One could only imagine how heartbroken the two old folks were when they left.