Chapter 202
Ma Tianbao carried a bucket of water and put it outside the door.
This bucket of water is used for fire prevention.
Now there is no fire brigade on the street, yesterday there was black smoke in the distant sky, there should be hooligans robbing and burning houses again. Hooligans in broad daylight, the oil-soaked rags rotten wood broken glass windows thrown into the house, and when the people ran out, they then draped in water-drenched quilts to run into the house to rob things.
Some of the men in the family have blood, and fight with the hooligans, both sides have their own deaths and injuries.
Alas, the world has changed for the worse.
But a month more than a hundred dollars of firefighting fee is still collected.
Ma Tianbao put the bucket outside the door, the street a prone beggar climbed up, holding a broken bowl over, kneeling in front of Ma Tianbao, kowtow two heads, said: “adults, reward bowl of water to drink it.”
Ma Tianbao sighed two sighs, take his bowl in a bucket of a bowl of water to him, and back to the house to give him two steamed bread.
The beggar thanked him profusely and left.
This beggar is a few days ago, the night to hide in the windy alleys, during the day on the street lying in the sun. Ma aunt not let Ma Tianbao every day alms him, Ma Tianbao every now and then, encountered to give him two steamed bread.
Ma Tianbao back to the house, Ma aunt looked at him and sighed, did not say anything, said what is useless, she did not waste saliva.
Ma Tianbao also silent.
Maybe his kindness is a burden, but that is the only good he has, he can not give up his kindness.
In the past, when he was in the Golden Mansion, he also tried to be a good person, a noble person. Auntie Ma never said anything at that time, and the subordinates in the Golden Mansion also said that he was good, good heart, and did not look down on people even after studying in college.
He always thought he was doing the right thing.
Now he realizes that everything has to do with the environment. In the Golden Mansion and at school, he would be praised for his kindness. But in poverty, kindness would not be praised.
But was it better to become shrewd? Then why hadn’t he been a shrewd man from the beginning?
It’s not that he didn’t know the benefits of being shrewd, but right then and there he chose to be a kind person, a decent person, a person who helped others.
He hoped it would stick.
He went inside and looked at his dad.
This new lower room that their family had moved into had windows, the bottom half of which was boarded up, showing only a small piece of the top where the sun would pour in.
His dad couldn’t keep his eyes open too wide now, they were always half open and half closed. But even then, when he was awake, his face must have been toward the window.
Dad was asleep now.
Barely breathing.
He reached under the covers and felt around, and sure enough, he had wet himself again.
Now his dad couldn’t talk all day, couldn’t eat a bowl of rice a day, and could only drink half a bowl of water. He couldn’t control his pee, and whenever he touched it, the mat was wet.
He pushed his dad to lie on his side, wiped the urine underneath, and then spread the newspaper. Newspaper absorbs moisture and odor.
He flattened the man again, and Dad gasped twice, and his eyes seemed to open for a moment, and then they seemed to just roll under his eyelids.
Dad was dying.
Ma Tianbao knew it well.
After that doctor applied the needles, dad stopped hurting, and could breathe smoothly, and would no longer say that his chest hurt, shoulder hurt, or back hurt.
It was as if he had recovered.
But soon, he became weaker. He ate and drank less, no longer had control over his bowels, and slept more and more.
By now, it was no longer even possible to speak.
Ma Tianbao and Aunt Ma were already discussing the funeral.
Aunt Ma said that she would rent a room outside and move his father there.
“We can’t let him die in the Zhu family, it’s not appropriate, and it doesn’t make sense. It’s just that people don’t mind, and we have to do all the rituals ourselves.” Auntie Ma said, “Looking at the day almost, you go rent a room, it doesn’t have to be much better, just have a bed. We’ll carry your father over there, wait for him to die, wrap him up, make a plot of land, and bury him. At this time, there is no need for ceremonies, no need to stop, no need to do a Taoist ceremony, no need to sing or play, and no need to invite any relatives or friends. Your father and I are doing underlings, biological parents do not know where. Your friends …… alas, don t have to be invited now either.”
Aunt Ma looked depressed.
Ma Tianbao could understand.
She and her dad used to look forward to him getting ahead and honoring his ancestors. If he could successfully graduate and get married to Yang Yuchan, then when dad died, dad’s funeral could be held in a very beautiful way, and those who came to pay their respects wouldn’t just be the Jin family’s subordinates, but would include his friends and colleagues, his wife’s friends and colleagues, and so on. That must be what she and her father had been waiting for.
But now none of that was going to happen.
He had failed to do what his parents expected and had let them down.
Ma Tianbao also seldom spoke during this time, he didn’t have many people to talk to.
Mr. Su suddenly stopped coming back to stay, he guessed it was because of what happened when Miss Wang always came. It made him feel guilty because Auntie Ma was scared and upset, worried that her family would be thrown out, and for the first time in a long time, she scolded him and beat him up.
He couldn’t help people if he wasn’t able to, he couldn’t even help himself.
Ma Tianbao realized that he was so incompetent.
Reading a book is just reading a castle in the air.
But some people can build a building with their own hands after reading a book.
And some people in the book after reading, there is no way to convert knowledge into wealth, that in the end, he read the book is just a piece of paper.
Ma Tianbao couldn’t help but begin to doubt his ideal back then. If he successfully married Yang Yuchan, would he finally realize his ideal?
This thought was like a pot of cold water poured on his head, making him awake like never before.
He had always thought that his breakup with Yang Yuchan was only because something had happened at home and it was hopeless.
But now that he thought about it again, even if they got married they wouldn’t get the happy life they imagined.
Because he was still him.
Instead, the accident at home made him recognize himself in a short period of time.
If it hadn’t happened, it would have taken him much longer to realize his incompetence. By then, he might have harmed Yang Yuchan or another woman, and possibly their children.
One should have self-knowledge.
Unfortunately, he didn’t.
For dinner, Aunt Ma only cooked a pot of potato soup. He first took a bowl and fed it to his father, who stopped drinking after four or five sips today.
Ma Tianbao finished the rest of the bowl of soup, remembered the beggar outside, so he filled a bowl, intending to take it out to him.
He carried the bowl to that alley, but heard a woman’s cry for help.
He rushed over, but it was the beggar holding down a woman was bullying her! He could not think much, pounced on the beggar to tear down, holding the bowl to his head, porcelain bowl smashed, cut his hand.
The beggar saw a man, I do not know whether he recognized him, struggling to run away.
Only then did he go to help the bullied woman up.
It was Wang Zhi’e.
There was a bundle thrown next to her.
The clothes on her body were torn, there were injuries on her head and face, and she looked out of place, somewhat confused.
Ma Tianbao could not think too much, helped her up, picked up her baggage, and brought the person back to Zhu Jia Lou.
Aunt Ma knew what had happened as soon as she looked like this and sighed, “Sins!”
She recognized Wang Zhi’e, but didn’t say any more harsh words.
She helped Wang Zhi’e into the house and asked Ma Tianbao to boil water.
When the hot water was brought, Auntie Ma helped Wang Zhi’e scrub clean and put on clean clothes.
Aunt Ma came out with the dirty clothes and said to Ma Tianbao, “I’m glad I didn’t let the villains get away with it. This girl ran out of the house when the family opened the door to buy food, and she still had her bracelet in her bag, I don’t know how long she had planned to run out of the house. But although the person is pitiful, she can’t stay here. We can’t ask her to cause trouble for the Zhu family and Mr. Su. Think about where to send the person later.”
Aunt Ma brought in another bowl of hot soup for Wang Zhi’e, leaving Ma Tianbao sitting on the doorway steps in a daze.
Where would he send Wang Zhi’e?
He had no place to put her.
But he had just saved someone’s life, he couldn’t just push her out again.
Ma Tianbao thought and thought, and called the school, wanting to ask if there was still a class that Mr. Su had said would help the poor learn knowledge, and if there was, he wanted to send Wang Zhi’e there.
The students of the student council received the call and heard that they were sending a girl who had run away from her family, a girl who rebelled against her feudal family and fought bravely for her destiny! It was so touching!
The student who answered the phone said excitedly, “Yes, yes, yes! We’re still running this study class and have been enrolling students! There’s no tuition fee! Where are the people? We can go pick them up.”
Ma Tianbao breathed a sigh of relief and said that he would send the person over tomorrow.
Hanging up the phone, he was still in a daze.
It was as if, across a telephone line, he had returned to that idealistic, hopeful country.
He told Auntie Ma that he would send Wang Zhi’e to school tomorrow.
Aunt Ma sighed and looked at him with sympathy and pity, “Tianbao, Mom and Dad have let you suffer, Mom knows that you have always wanted to do something useful, just like in school. Mom and Dad have dragged you down.”
Ma Tianbao’s eyes flushed, shook his head and said, “Mom, no, it’s not like that. I’m not aggrieved, not at all.”
The next day, he took Wang Zhi’e, the two walked to school.
Along the way, Wang Zhi’e was worried and puzzled. She kept asking Ma Tianbao, “You said you would send me to school, why?”
“How can you go to school without money?”
“What can I do if I go to school? After school, where can I go back to?”
Ma Tianbao pulled her, as Wang Zhi’e stopped several times as if she wanted to run away.
They were pulling and tugging on the road like this, and it looked very much like an evil man forcing a girl, but the passersby saw it and avoided it from a distance, and would not come up to meddle.
Ma Tianbao said, “After you go to school, you will be able to find a job on your own and earn money to support yourself. No need to be a maid and a concubine.”
Wang Zhi’e felt that he was lying, but she also felt that Ma Tianbao was a good person, and a good person would not lie to her.
But what he said, she couldn’t understand, didn’t understand ah.
To be a maid is a job ah, also have a salary, she will live in the master’s house, serve the master, this is not on the line? Why should she go to school, learn skills, and find a job?
What does it mean to earn money to support oneself? You can support yourself by being a maid.
She didn’t want to be a concubine either. But if Mr. Su asked for it, she wouldn’t dare to refuse. If Mr. Su doesn’t want her, she’ll just stay a maid.
She was worried that Ma Tianbao wanted to sell her off and kept trying to run away, but she was too scared of him to resist.
The two walked like this for four hours before they reached the school.
Hearing that a new student is coming, or a female student, Yang Yucan and Yang Yuyan specially went to the school entrance to greet them.
When they saw that it was Ma Tianbao pulling a girl over, both of them froze.
Yang Yucan rushed up to help – to help the female student to break free from Ma Tianbao, she protected Wang Zhi’e, to stop people behind, to Ma Tianbao stuck in the shell, do not know what to say, and began to “you you you” cassette.
Yang Yuyan ran over and said, “A female student? She doesn’t want to come?”
Ma Tianbao: “Not unwilling, she just doesn’t understand.”
Yang Yuyan, who had used every trick in the book for this class, sniffed and said, “It’s okay, we’ll teach her and she’ll understand.”
In order to get a student, they, the enrollment people, dared to do anything!
Yang Yuyan turned her head to look at this new student with a loving gaze – a bit familiar?
Wang Zhi’e also saw Yang Yuyan and was surprised, she immediately greeted her nervously, “Good day, Second Miss Yang.”
Yang Yuyan has seen a limited number of living people lately, and she also remembers.
Yang Yuyan: “The one who wants to be Su Chunjun’s maid?”
Her tone was gentle, with a smile on her face and an upturned tail.
Ma Tianbao felt sweat rising on his back for no apparent reason.
–He should have told Mr. Su first.