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Chapter 90 Huang Family Haunted (3)
It turns out that the grandmother's experience was truly tragic. The Huang Family had been farmers for several generations, toiling in the fields. In Mr. Huang's father's generation, it was the same. Mr. Huang's Father passed away when Mr. Huang was very young due to a serious illness, leaving only Huang Mother and her five or six-year-old son.
At that time, Huang Mother was heartbroken and desperate, but fortunately, she had her Son. Otherwise, she would have followed her husband to another world. For the sake of her Son, Huang Mother had to bear the burden of the family alone, taking on both the roles of father and mother to raise her Son.
It is said that children from poor families mature early. Mr. Huang was very sensible from a young age; perhaps he understood how difficult life was for his family. He studied diligently and often helped with farm work at home, which made Huang Mother feel very gratified.
Huang Mother understood the hardships of being a farmer, so when she saw her Son excelling in his studies, she worked hard to earn money to buy him books, hoping he could study more and have a better future, breaking free from the fate of generations of farmers.
One can imagine how difficult it was to make money in the countryside years ago. Unlike now, back then, people in the countryside mostly stayed home tending to their few acres of land, paying taxes and keeping enough food for themselves. Any surplus grain was sold at the grain management office. The money for Mr. Huang's education came from Huang Mother working like a man in the Farmland, selling grain to earn money.
The hardships are needless to say; as a woman, she worked harder than men in order to have more money to send her Son to school.
Moreover, Mr. Huang was very obedient and excelled in his studies. He later successfully enrolled in a prestigious university. At that time, no one from Mr. Huang's Village had ever attended university, so Huang Mother was very happy and proud, knowing that her Son had a bright future ahead.
To ensure her Son would succeed and not follow in his father's footsteps or endure the same hardships she did, she worked even harder to earn money just to afford his college tuition.
Four years later, Mr. Huang graduated and secured a very good job. Huang Mother knew that all her sacrifices were finally paying off, and whenever the villagers saw Huang Mother, they envied her, saying that good days were coming for her. She felt joyful because she believed so too.
Soon after, Mr. Huang met his current wife and they were going to get married. With marriage comes the need to buy a house. Huang Mother told her Son, "You focus on saving money for the house; you don't need to worry about the debts at home; I will pay them off." At that time, in order to send her Son to university, Huang Mother had borrowed a lot of money.
Later, Huang's mother paid off her son's school debts, Mr. Huang bought a house in the city, got married, and even had a grandson. Thinking about spending her life relying on her son, now that he had settled down and was free from financial pressure, Huang's mother waited for her son to take her to the city to enjoy a comfortable life.
However, after waiting for a long time without seeing her son come to pick her up, Huang's mother finally couldn't wait any longer and went to the city to find him. At her son's home in the city, Huang's mother stayed for two nights and noticed that her daughter-in-law was not happy about her arrival. She wanted to hold her grandson, but her daughter-in-law wouldn't let her, saying that she had bacteria on her and was unclean.
Moreover, the couple argued loudly about Huang's mother's plan to stay with them for an extended period. In the end, Huang's mother returned to the countryside feeling sad and disappointed.
Since then, Huang's mother rarely visited her son's home in the city because she felt unwelcome and uncomfortable there. Mr. Huang would return to his hometown a few times each year, but he always came back alone. Whenever she asked him why he didn't bring her grandson along, Mr. Huang would tell her that the boy needed to study and couldn't come.
Although Mr. Huang often returned to visit his mother, she felt extremely disappointed. All along, the two of them had relied on each other; she had worked hard and sacrificed so much, thinking that once her son succeeded, their difficult days would be over. Little did she know that in the end, she couldn't even enter her son's home and would end up living alone in the mountains.
As people age, they tend to overthink things. Recently, Huang's mother fell seriously ill. She didn't call her son because she felt hopeless. She took out her funeral clothes, put them on, lay down on the bed, and eventually fainted from her illness without waking up again...
After death, Huang's mother felt very unwilling to accept it, so she went to Mr. Huang's home in the city, wanting to live with her son and see her grandson every day. This was everything she had always wanted. This led to the previous haunting incidents at the Huang family home.
Hearing this made me feel a mix of sadness and anger; I thought Huang's mother was truly pitiful while Mr. Huang and his family were very unfilial.
At this moment, Mr. Huang was kneeling on the ground crying uncontrollably. He self-reproached bitterly: "It's all my fault; I shouldn't have neglected you. I wanted to bring you to live in the city and take good care of you because I understand how much you have suffered for me throughout your life. But... it's all my fault for being useless; I married a city wife whose views are different from those of rural women; they don't want to live with their mothers-in-law. I'm such a failure!"
Huang's mother only shed tears without saying anything more, filled with helplessness.
I couldn't help but sigh; it was clear that Mr. Huang was also very helpless deep down inside and genuinely wanted to be filial to his mother but was constrained by his wife's disagreement, leaving his filial piety hidden in his heart.
In modern terms, Mr. Huang is a "phoenix man." He graduated from university and came out of the countryside to marry a city woman; as a phoenix man without family wealth, he relied on his wife's support to buy a house. As a result, he often had to listen to his wife's opinions at home.
For modern women, the concept has long changed; getting married means establishing a household, and one must have their own apartment. Without a house, who would marry you? However, for Mr. Huang, a so-called "phoenix man," leaving his mother, who has supported him all her life, to live alone in the countryside is undoubtedly a form of abandonment. While he enjoys a good life and has achieved success, his mother still lives in a rural earthen house, leading a lonely and miserable existence. It's no wonder that Huang's mother feels heartbroken and desperate.
Regarding this contradiction in contemporary views, I can't say who is right or wrong. However, I can clearly see that Mr. Huang genuinely wants to be filial to his mother because he understands the hardships she has endured throughout her life. Yet, he is helpless because his wife is unwilling to accept his mother living with them. For the sake of his wife and their small family, he has no choice but to comply with her wishes. Perhaps in his mind, he believes that his mother won't be angry, but his wife will be. To maintain harmony in the family, he temporarily puts aside his filial duties, allowing that sense of filial piety to remain in waiting.
I sighed and said to Mr. Huang, "You have indeed disappointed your mother too much!"
Hearing this from an outsider made Mr. Huang feel even more guilty. He sat down on the ground and began to pound his chest with his fists, crying and cursing himself for being unfilial.
I didn't try to comfort Mr. Huang; instead, I continued to scold him: "Your mother has depended on you all her life. A rural woman raised you to become a university student; you should understand the hardships she faced. You originally thought that once you succeeded, she would enjoy a good life too, but instead, for your own happiness, you abandoned her in the mountains without anyone to care for her—she's left alone and miserable. If you can't even fulfill your filial duties, what else can you dare to do?"
Mr. Huang kept nodding in agreement, saying yes, the teacher was right; he was wrong—he really was wrong...
Seeing her son cry so heartbreakingly, Huang's mother could no longer hold back. She rushed over to him and pulled him up, saying: "My child, I don't blame you for not being filial; I don't blame you for not bringing me to live in the city with you. I only hate that you haven't achieved anything; I hate that you can't even do what you most want to do. I hate that you're so useless." At this point, Huang's mother could no longer contain herself and began to cry as well.
Watching their painful reunion brought me sadness too. Indeed, I don't know how many men like Mr. Huang there are out there—perhaps many? With differing old and new values these days, many men don't seem to embody masculinity anymore. The phrase "afraid of their wives," which used to mock men in the past, has now become a primary standard for what constitutes a good man today. However, perhaps men like Mr. Huang are just too accommodating in their new roles as good men.
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