She Only Cares About Cultivation-Chapter 832 - 780: Famine Era 21 (First Update)

For her, this little sister deeply respected her, always lively and cheerful. Perhaps because their family never mistreated girls, her character was excellent and she was very polite. The entire Ye Family adored her, and she was generous to her younger siblings, always thinking of them when there was something good to eat.

On the first day of the new year, they went to the elder relatives’ home to pay respects, receiving twenty yuan from Uncle and Auntie, and only a few loose coins from the rest of the family.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, they went to grandma’s house. Sister-in-law accompanied them first to Grandparents’ house and then changed course back to their mother’s home, as they were close by, not far.

Grandparents were in good health, and if not for those terrible uncles and aunts, she would have been happy to visit them.

From the year before last, since Second Aunt and Mom started cooking, not for the Big Uncle’s family, they were never welcomed warmly whenever they went to Grandma’s house.

Yet, when it was time to give New Year’s money, they were the first to rush over.

No matter how much Second Aunt and Mom offered, those people always halved it, if you gave them ten yuan, they would give you back one yuan, harsher than a simple halving.

After suffering so many years of loss, the sisters seemed accustomed to such treatment. But considering their mother’s brothers were having a hard time, regardless of how they treated them, they bore it with gritted teeth, never giving a cent less than what was due.

Sometimes she couldn’t understand why they would subject themselves to such frustration, to which Second Aunt said earnestly.

"Treat them a bit better, so the elderly can suffer a bit less. After all, we can’t stay by their side every day."

However, the fact remained, no matter how well you treated those people, their attitude towards the elderly remained consistently poor. It would not change even a bit for more money, more things, or many years of friendship, because selfish people were stingy to themselves, even more so to others, even if they were their own parents.

The most ridiculous thing was Big Uncle’s family, obviously benefitting the most, yet they treated the elderly the worst. Even if Third Uncle and Third Aunt had faced years of unfair treatment from Grandpa, they never mistreated the elderly in terms of meals. At least they could face their conscience, perhaps sometimes the words they said were harsh, but they never did anything unconscionable. Yet Big Uncle’s family was stingy to the point of begrudging even a lump of bread or a clove of garlic.

Every time she went to Grandma’s house and listened to Grandma talk about it, she felt a belly full of anger, but with Second Uncle and Elder Aunt not at home, what could they do?

They could only leave a little more money for the elderly and visit them more. After all, who made them not even wash socks for the old ones?

Whenever Second Aunt and Mom came over, they would first wash clothes and then cook, especially Mom, who would visit almost every week.

Third Brother and Sister-in-law sat for a while and left. Second Aunt’s three sisters had all been admitted to teacher training colleges, studying in Kaifeng, Xi’an, and Luoyang, which were closer to her. Therefore, although the sisters were all of marriageable age, due to attending college, no matchmakers came calling.

Their family didn’t have many relatives. Aside from needing to visit Grandparents with siblings, the rest were visited by Mom and Dad, at most bringing the younger brother, as they were too old for such visits, since visiting meant giving New Year’s money.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, she started packing, because due to the landslide before the New Year, this time she would have to change trains, making the travel time even longer.

Before leaving, she prepared a basket of fruit for Mom and Sister-in-law each. Then her brother took her to Luoyang Railway Station, helped her buy a ticket, and saw her onto the train before hurrying home.

Little did she know, on the night of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Sister-in-law went into labor, and on the fifteenth, Sister-in-law gave birth to the first grandson for their second family.

They began school on the twentieth day of the first lunar month. She spent six days on the road, arriving at school on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month.

With the extra two days, she went around the city, either eating delicious foods or swapping for some grains, daily necessities.

Until school started on January 20, 1948, after which there was nothing much happening, so she no longer went out. The lesson from last year was deeply etched, studying hard was more important than anything and safer.

Although she was at school, it was a military academy, and as they neared 1949, the changes across the country were increasingly evident.

Good news of liberation came from various regions.

And their former provincial capital of Henan, Zhengzhou, announced liberation in October 1948, by which time Ye Huan was already a sophomore.

In June 1948, she finished her first-year courses, but she did not go home for summer vacation. Instead, she spent time both in military training and studying in the library.

Because military school not only emphasized the cultivation of knowledge but also focused on the development of military qualities, especially as they were future military doctors, improving their abilities was one of their essential professional standards to avoid causing trouble for future warriors.

Not going back meant she couldn’t see the newborn little nephew. Although she wanted to mail a package or something, she worried her family wouldn’t receive it, so she reluctantly gave up, thinking there would be opportunities to make it up in the future.

On December 1, 1948, the People’s Bank of China was established and began issuing RMB.

At the end of January 1949, Beiping was liberated, and thereafter, more and more cities announced liberation.

In mid-July, most of the Nationalist Party retreated to Tai Province.

On September 27, Beiping was renamed Beijing. On the 29th, the first plenary session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference was held, passing the design of the flag of the People’s Republic of China.

On October 1, 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded, the founding ceremony held at Tiananmen in Beijing.

In the following months, more good news of liberation came from around the country, as China was so vast that every month, a city announced liberation.

And that year, she was already a junior student.

However, Chongqing had not yet been liberated because—

On November 27, Nationalist Party agents committed the heinous ’11.27’ massacre of Communist Party members detained in Zha Zidong and Bai Gong Mansion in Chongqing.

Because of this event, the common people harbored even more profound hatred for the Nationalist government.

By the end of the month, Chongqing was finally liberated. As for what became of people like Liu Meng and Zhang Shuan, she guessed they either returned to Tai Province or surrendered.