“Just a bicycle. You and your wife are working in the city and can’t afford it? This morning, I thought you’d come back to see us because you’re so filial to me and your father, but what happened? You turn around and ask about money for the bicycle, go out and ask around for the married son who begs his parents for money!!!”
Ji Changguang sweated profusely as she scolded him, and could only explain in a weak voice, “Mom, you have to be reasonable, this money was originally lent to Changze by Huifen and I, how can it be asking for money from you?”
“Bah! When you went to the city to be a kept son-in-law, Changze lived with your Father and I. If you ask him for money, isn’t it asking us for money?! You insist that we give this back?! OK! I’ll go to your factory and ask, and see if your leaders also think that it’s right for you to do this, that’s right! If they think it’s right, I’ll pay it back in full!!”
Ji Changze listened for a while, and also could tell that Mother Ji was a clever woman. At first glance she seemed to be a country bumpkin spilling her guts, but was actually threatening to make a scene at the place where the eldest son worked, while bringing up the past to guilt the elder brother.
She is Ji Changguang’s mother. If she accuses her son of not being filial, he will be looked down upon by others, or possibly even lose his job and reputation.
Ji Changze understood it was just to scare Ji Changguang after he was done listening. Although the parents of the Ji family have been pressuring their eldest son for being someone else’s son-in-law, it’s their own child, so they can’t really harm Ji Changguang and make him lose his job.
But Ji Changguang didn’t know that, which left him helpless.
In these times, jobs and reputations are important, and while being threatened by accusations, he’s sure to go soft.
Sure enough, the sound of Ji Changguang’s urgent objection immediately came from outside, “Mom, what do you think you’re doing? You and Dad were not the ones who told me to help haul the bike before, so I thought…”
“What did you think!? You are the older brother, and now Changze is getting married. It’s good enough that I didn’t ask you for money. Just buy a bicycle, and now look at your grievance. Come on, you don’t want to keep pushing. It’s too late now. I’ll ask the in-laws tomorrow, about how they are willing to send out their son-in-law to beg. They obviously married a daughter out, and finally forced my son to be a kept son-in-law. Now, they’re thinking of various ways to take money from our Ji family and take it for themselves. Heh, it’s really disgusting!”
That said, Ji Changguang immediately became anxious.
If his mother was to make such a scene, his wife would have no reputation. Ji Changguang could only hastily coax:
“Mom, I won’t take it back, we don’t want money. This bike will be given to Changze, so don’t get mad at us again.”
Mother Ji glared viciously at her son, thinking that she had just said so much that Ji Changguang wouldn’t let up, but as soon as she spoke of her daughter-in-law, he hurriedly agreed. She suddenly became angrier.
Who’s more bitter than she? She gave birth to a son, worked hard to raise him, and then he got married and forgot his mother!
She didn’t look pleased. She smacked his hand away and turned to enter the house.
As a result, she just turned around and saw Ji Changze, who was coming out of the house.
Mother Ji’s face, which had been so rigid, immediately smiled and greeted him with warm affection. “Didn’t you say you wanted to sleep after eating? It’s not time for dinner yet, why are you awake now? Are you hungry? Mom put dried sweet potatoes in the house. It’s still a little cold. Eat in bed. I’ll take them to the house for you.”
Behind her, Ji Changguang’s face was dim.
He brought the dried potatoes and didn’t even bother to eat them, just so his parents could enjoy them instead.
But in the end, he didn’t get any good treatment, and he was scolded.
Ji Changze looked at his Older Brother, but spoke sweet words to mother Ji. “Thank you, Mom, it’s very kind of you to think about me in everything. I will definitely be filial to you and my dad in the future, and let you live in a big house. Every day, you can eat whatever you want.”
This coaxed mother Ji to smile a little more, and her eyes were full of happiness when she looked at her lovable youngest son: “You are a very loyal child.”
After that, she looked back at her eldest son and snorted coldly: “Not like your brother, who is really a white-eyed wolf.”
(TNote: White-eyed wolf = ungrateful person.)
Ji Changguang, who hands over half of his salary every month, and thinks of his parents when he sees something good to eat and drink, stayed silent.
He was aggrieved. Such a big man was very anxious and almost shed tears.
Ji Changguang just couldn’t figure it out. How could his parents be so biased? It was obvious that he gave more than Changze, and thought of his parents in everything he did, but how come they always had only Changze in their eyes?
It’s not just a matter of getting a bicycle ticket, it’s also a matter of spending all of his savings, and despite that, he hasn’t even gotten a single good impression from his parents.
(TNote: bicycle ticket = in the 80’s people still used tickets to exchange for things, like food, clothing, and stuff. it was still a time transitioning from government rationed stuff to commercialization.)
Frustrated, Ji Changguang had planned to stay at home for the night before going to the city the next day, but now, he suddenly didn’t want to stay.
His parents didn’t like him anyway.
He spoke in a muffled voice, not bashful enough to say that he was jealous of his brother, instead he casually pulled out an excuse to leave. “Mom, I will go back now, because Huifen is still at home waiting for me to eat dinner.”
This was done out of a childish anger.
‘You don’t care for me, but someone does, and I’m not without a place to live and food to eat.’
Turns out it was okay if he didn’t stay the night, but when he made the excuse, mother Ji was so angry that she nearly swung a big broom at her oldest son.
What a stupid thing to do, to not to stay in his own home, and instead run away to his father-in-law and mother-in-law’s house! It wasn’t easy to come back to see his parents, but he didn’t even want to stay in the house, just for the daughter-in-law?!
Why did she have such a bad son?
“Go!! You go!! Who is stopping you, get out of here!!”
Ji Changguang, who had been scolded for no reason, was even more wronged. He turned and walked out. Ji Changze saw that he was going to set foot on the ‘drowning road’ and hurriedly chased after him.
“Older brother, I’m just going to the outhouse, come along.”
Saying that, he playfully reached over his older brother’s shoulder, as if they had a good relationship, and pulled a befuddled Ji Changguang out of the house.
Outside, Ji Changze said directly, “Older brother, why do you always make Mom angry? She was so angry that her face was green.”
Ji Changguang was still befuddled by the sudden willingness of his younger brother, who had never been close to him, to go with him, and when he heard this, his heart soared with aggravation.
He said in a muffled voice: “I didn’t annoy Mom. She doesn’t like me.”
Ji Changze was still the same: “Mom likes you very much. When you first went to the city, Mom cried every day when she thought of you. She talked about you when cooking and eating, and she mentioned you at least 800 times a day.”
Ji Changguang, who was in the middle of the ‘Mom and Dad don’t love me and my brother and only want to spend my money’ phase, looked up in disbelief. “Really?”
“Really, why would I lie to you? I heard Mom say your name so much it made my ears ring.”
Ji Changze is not lying, mother Ji has been talking about her eldest son every day.
But it was all while gnashing her teeth.
Ji Changguang, who didn’t know about the details, felt his heart become a little lighter. “Mom actually thinks about me like this?”
He thought his Mom didn’t like him.
“Older brother, I’m not the one talking about you. Mom and Dad love you so much, so why do you always do things that make them sad?”
Ji Changguang was stunned. “I didn’t do anything that made them sad.”
“You still say no? Just tell me. You gave us a bike today, right? No matter who hears of your gift, it’s one to be praised, so why is it that when it comes to you, Mom doesn’t praise you, but scolds you?”
Ji Changguang shook his head blankly.
Ji Changguang patted him on the shoulder. “Speak for yourself, Mom already thinks you’ve been snatched away by your wife, and now you’re acting like you’re afraid that Mom doesn’t hate my sister-in-law enough already. What did you just say? You and your wife see each other every day in the city. Mom and Dad see each other a few times a month, but you still want to go home and have dinner with her, so how can Mom be happy? Can she not feel that this son of hers has been raised for nothing?”
“I’m not … I don’t think so, I …”
“You didn’t think so, but you said so. I know you have a good relationship with your wife, but is it good to show off in front of your mother? Ah, she gave birth to you and raised you. And then, you turned and ran off to your wife’s house. You didn’t want to stay at home for one night. Tell me, how can your Mom be happy?”
Ji Changguang lowered his head. “I really didn’t mean that.”
“I also know that you didn’t mean it. So, pay attention to it next time. I’ll put in a good word for you. You should also boast about my sister-in-law’s filial piety in front of Mom. Every time you buy something, you need to mention my sister-in-law. It’ll be weird for Mom to be affectionate to someone she never sees.”
“Anyway, next time, when you mention something, just say that your wife insisted on buying it for Mom and Dad, and I’m sure Mom won’t scold you.”
Ji Changguang noted it down, looked at his Brother with a little more gratitude, and with a little more intimacy, asked in a small voice.
“Changze, then why do you think Dad and Mom had to let me buy you a bicycle for you if they also love me?”
If she wasn’t biased toward Ji Changze, why would she say that?
Ji Changze snapped his fingers and counted for him, “Look, when we were kids, you took me out to play, but you didn’t watch me because you were so focused on playing, so I fell into the water, do you remember that?”
The tall man in front of him nodded.
“I’ve always had a good body and a smarter brain than you when I was a kid, you remember that too, right?”
Ji Changguang nodded again.
Ji Changze: “Since I fell into the water and almost drowned, I have become physically weak, and I can’t do this or that, and as you know, my brain is not as smart as before.”
But not being able to do this and that, was all a pretense by the original owner in order to take advantage of being sick and not work, and be freely given food and drink.
But Ji Changguang didn’t know.
Recalling that he almost killed his younger brother in the past, he showed some embarrassment in his eyes. “Changze, I really didn’t mean it at that time …”
Ji Changze appeased him. “Older Brother, you certainly didn’t mean it, but think about it, why didn’t I go to school before? Isn’t it because I am weak and can’t get up early? Look at yourself again, you are in good health, you have gone to school, and you became a worker after graduation. What about me, your brother?”
He sighed, as if he was very sad: “Just because I drowned when I was a kid, I’m weak, and because I’m weak I can’t go to school, I can’t go to the city and work like you can. Because I was physically weak and couldn’t do farm work and find a job, finding a wife is so hard for me. Because it was hard to find a wife, I found one who was mute. Although I like my wife very much, in our situation, we definitely need to keep up appearances in the village, so wouldn’t we need a bicycle?”
“If I hadn’t drowned when I was a child, wouldn’t I be working in the city now like you? Getting paid that much every month! And, would I be using a bicycle to save face? I’m sure I wouldn’t have to!”
The logic is as flawless as ‘you ate my egg, the egg could become a chicken, and the chicken would have laid more eggs, in conclusion: you ate my entire chicken farm’.
(TNote: I bow to thee… master of word tai chi… make me your disciple!)
Combined with Ji Changze’s righteous expression and attitude, it was more convincing.
“So, brother, do you think you should give this bike, or not?”
The honest man Ji Changguang was fooled successfully, and nodded stupidly.
“Yes, it should be yours!”
He was filled with guilt at the thought that he had actually rejected his brother because of the bicycle, and didn’t even want to stay home.
“Changze, I’m the one who didn’t think of it before. Please don’t blame me as your elder brother.”
“Eh, we’re family, that’s a bit harsh to say.”
Ji Changze smiled and patted his older brother on the shoulder: