Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 311 - 0311 Bone Setting 1_1

Chapter 311: Chapter 0311 Bone Setting 1_1

The snow had been falling nonstop for two full days, and all throughout that time everyone was continuously sweeping the snow.

Finally, when the snow subsided, they could rest.

The four youngest children, with rosy cheeks, ran to the kitchen to boast to Feng Qingxue, "We’ve cleared all the paths in our yard, so grandma (sister) won’t slip."

Feng Qingxue was just boiling a pot of water to soak some dried kidney beans. She praised them, "Oh, the children in our family are so well-behaved!"

She washed her hands, opened the cupboard, took out six pieces of malt sugar, and gave one piece to each child. She asked the eldest, Lu Tianzhi, to deliver the remaining two pieces to Lu Tianjun and Guan Cheng, "Don’t huddle in the kitchen anymore, I have no space to move around. You kids can go play in the yard." Taking the candies outside would draw too much attention; a piece of malt candy was too large to be simply stuffed into one’s mouth.

"We understand!" The obedient children filed out of the kitchen, immediately leaving it noticeably empty.

No sooner had she cut a piece of wild boar leg to throw into the pot for boiling than she heard Guan Cheng calling from the yard: "Auntie, someone’s looking for you."

"Who is looking for me?" Asked Feng Qingxue as she wiped her hands and untied her apron. As she stepped out of the kitchen, she saw an elderly woman trembling as she stood at the door, "Third Grandma? What’s the matter? The roads are not easy to walk on because of the heavy snowfall."

As she spoke, Feng Qingxue opened the front door.

Lu’s third grandmother grabbed her hand anxiously, "Qingxue, come quickly with me."

"Calm down and tell me what happened," she urged.

"The snow caused our roof to collapse in the middle of the night, and your Grandpa was trapped underneath. His leg may be broken. You need to take a look at him," the woman said in a panic.

Feng Qingxue froze for a moment, then turned around and instructed, "Acheng, bring me my medical kit."

After Guan Cheng fetched the medical kit, Lu Tianjun brought her military coat, Lei Feng hat, and leather boots. "Auntie, change your shoes before going out. The snow outside is thick. Once you step into it, it reaches your calf, don’t let your ankles freeze."

The leather boots were a gift from Guo Xiuying before she got married. They were lined with lamb’s wool and covered with cowhide, making them perfect for winter’s rainy and snowy weather.

Feng Qingxue quickly changed out of her violet-red corduroy cotton shoes and put on the leather boots. She then wore her military coat, shouldered the medical kit, and followed Grandma Lu, walking unsteadily through the snow.

Long Grandma Lu wore a pair of clogs. She was old, and the wooden clogs were heavy. Seeing her struggle to walk, Feng Qingxue offered her support, "Third Grandma, didn’t you clear the snow accumulation from your roof?"

Nearly ninety percent of the houses in the Wanglou Brigade were constructed with adobe walls and thatched roofs, which required annual replacement of the thatch and clearing of accumulated snow.

The villagers were accustomed to doing this. Besides the lazy, everyone did it for their own and their family’s safety.

Long Grandma Lu sighed, "Who’s going to clear the snow for us? Your grandpa and I are old. We can’t climb up to do it ourselves. Our sons are lazy. You push it to me, I push it to you. They haven’t even cleared the snow from their own houses - how can they come clear it from ours? Don’t even think about it! They say, ’Raising children to care for you in your old age and storing grain to prepare for famine’, but the more sons you have, the more conflicts there are."

She could not help but ramble, "When we were young, and our family only had one son, I was worried that he would be lonely, and worried that when we were old, there would be no one to give us a hand. When we got old and had raised four sons, helped build their houses, find their wives, and taken care of their children for nearly ten years, none of them wanted to take care of us in our old age. The youngest said the eldest should take care of us first. The eldest said we spent more time with the second. The second said the third spent more money on his wedding. And the third said we favored the fourth. If we only had one son, no matter what was said, the responsibility of taking care of us in our old age would fall on him alone. Now...sigh!"