Novel Bin Chapter 203 - 203: Admiration
Xu Niu watched his brother-in-law’s approach to educating his child with genuine admiration.
He could feel that his brother-in-law was respecting Jiang Gu’s emotions, treating them both as equals in their communication, and teaching the child valuable life lessons.
Xu Niu had never seen such an educational style before. In his own childhood, at his home or others, any misbehavior was met with physical punishment. If he caused trouble, reprimands were inevitable.
The old saying goes, “Beating is love, scolding is affection”. In this era, many people believed that if a child was not beaten or scolded, but always treated kindly, they would undoubtedly become spoiled, troublesome, and difficult to raise. Such children would certainly cause problems everywhere they went.
Families didn’t have money to spare. Raising a child was seen as an investment for an extra helping hand when they grow up, someone to support you in your old age, not a source of constant trouble forcing the family to apologize and pay compensation.
Furthermore, the most prevalent belief of this era was that parents were the child’s elders. They had given life to the child, and having lived longer, they naturally assumed whatever they said was correct. There absolutely wasn’t the concept that parents could be wrong and the child could be right.
Such a teaching method as Jiang Chuan’s was not just rare, but practically unheard of. Witnessing it, Xu Niu began to contemplate how he would educate his own children in the future. He too wanted to learn this approach from his brother-in-law, aspiring to raise his children to be obedient, sensible, and clever!
Jiang Chuan watched the group of children walk away, still concerned about Jiang Gu, but felt completely at ease with Jiang Xia handling things.
With that thought, Jiang Chuan no longer watched them. He turned around and continued walking home with Xu Niu.
He had specifically brought Xu Niu out today to inquire about his in-laws’ situation. Now that the topic had come up, he asked, “Brother-in-law, how are our parents doing at home? How’s life in the village?”
Xu Niu thought about the life of the elderly couple, his own family, and his older brother’s family, and couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
This year’s drought, although not leading to a complete crop failure, greatly impacted the harvest. The grains were mostly empty husks, and what was reaped was only about a third of what was sown. And of this, a large portion had to be handed over.
After all, not every village chief was like Jiang Chuan, resisting pressure and refusing to exaggerate the harvest.
Their family was considered well-off compared to the rest of the village, but they still faced food scarcity due to limited grain allocations. They hoped to set aside some leftovers to feed the pigs, hoping to fatten them up and exchange them for more grain tickets at the purchase station.
The other families were not as fortunate as to raise pigs for the sake of the family. This was probably the situation before the Jiang Chuan family split up. Sometimes, they encountered acquaintances on the road who were so malnourished that their faces had turned yellow and their cheeks had sunk in. It was truly heartbreaking.
Before leaving, Xu Niu was asked by his elderly parents to assure their daughter Zhou Lan that they were fine and that she should lead her life without worrying about them.
Xu Niu didn’t say much more. “Our neighboring villages are all more or less in the same state, so every family is facing similar hardships. At least we have a pig at home, which is better than most. Well sell the pork, buy a piglet, and try to get by. Don’t worry about us, brother-in-law. Just take good care of our nieces. That’s the best thing you can do. Our parents miss Jiang Xia and Jiang Gu. If you have time, bring them to visit!”
Xu Niu’s tone was light, but Jiang Chuan could still sense the underlying situation. It seemed their living condition wasn’t good. Yet the old couple was still concerned about Zhou Lan and even wanted to give her some pork, cherishing their daughter deeply.
Jiang Chuan didn’t say much. He had understood the situation and silently vowed to help the Zhou family when he was able to. However, there was no need to voice this directly, as it might just make Xu Niu feel worse..”