Chapter 158: No Need For Them To Support Us In Old Age
As soon as they heard Sister Qiao was going to Second Son’s home, Old Ding Man and Old Ding Woman exchanged a glance and immediately stood up, saying, “We’re going too. I’ll just ask that couple why they can’t tolerate us?”
Sister Qiao couldn’t stop them either. Not only did Old Ding Man and Old Ding Woman follow along, but even Ding Laoda came with them.
Ding Laoda’s wife was now retired at home looking after her grandson.
Her eyes darted around, and she also followed along to Second Son’s home.
Second Son’s house was over forty square meters, because they were now all actual area, and it had one more large room than Eldest Son’s home.
It did look quite spacious; at the very least, the living room wasn’t piled with luggage.
At this moment, Ding Jianshe was holding his head and sitting on the sofa.
A middle-aged woman in her forties was sitting on the other side with a gloomy expression.
This person should be Ding Jianshe’s wife, Chen Ying.
Sister Qiao said, “Ding Jianshe, you know the basic principle that children should support their elderly parents, right?”
Ding Jianshe didn’t speak but nodded silently.
Sister Qiao continued, “We’re here today to understand the real situation. You two as a couple both refuse to support your parents—is it because of some difficulty or other reasons?”
Old Ding Woman said angrily, “What else could it be? They just look down on us two old folks coming to eat idle rice.”
Old Ding Man said, “Second Son, think about it with your conscience. For so many years, it’s always been your older brother taking care of us. Now it should be your turn, right?”
Chen Ying immediately let out a cold laugh: “You say that easily. When you were young and strong, you stayed with Ding Laoda. Now that you’re old, you come to us. Where’s the reason in that?
Do you remember what was said back then?
Older Brother is your eldest son. When you split us off, you gave us nothing and said we didn’t need to provide for your elderly care. Even though nearly twenty years have passed, I still remember those words.
I may only have two children, but my son needs to get married too. If you come here, where will my son and daughter-in-law live?”
If you think about it carefully, Eldest Son’s home was already four generations under one roof.
But this was the 1970s. Even though the military factory had plenty of land to build residential buildings, where would the building materials come from?
Most importantly, there was no money!
It seemed her own method still had some hope.
Lu Qiaoge glanced at Old Ding Man and Old Ding Woman.
Although both could take care of themselves, they were clearly getting old.
Faced with the second daughter-in-law’s unceremonious questioning, Old Ding Man obviously felt somewhat in the wrong.
Back when he was young, that’s how he thought: stay with the eldest and live off him since their eldest son was reliable, and split off the second son without needing them for elderly care later.
Who could have imagined the situation would be like this now.
Old Ding Man glanced at Eldest Son and eldest daughter-in-law standing there silently, and sighed inwardly.
To tell the truth, when young, he could help them watch children, cook, do housework, and even earn money for them to spend.
But now at this age, he often needed to see the doctor, and the old woman had no retirement salary.
His health really wasn’t as good as before.
He was just old and now despised.
He wasn’t without regret in his heart; back then, he shouldn’t have spoken so absolutely.
But what could be done about it?
In the end, he was still the father.
Before he could speak, Chen Ying turned to Ding Laoda: “Older Brother, back when you split me and Ding Jianshe off, didn’t you swear up and down that we didn’t need to take care of Dad and Mom for your elderly care? At that time, you didn’t even give us a pair of chopsticks. How can you have the nerve to stand at my home’s main door now?”
These words clearly weren’t being said for the first time.
Ding Laoda and his wife didn’t take it to heart at all.
Anyway, now as long as they could place the elderly at Second Son’s home, getting scolded a few times didn’t matter.
Ding Laoda still said, “This is different from that time. I really have difficulties now. Look at how many people are in my home; the house isn’t even as big as yours. I really have no method. Can’t you two show some understanding? Besides, didn’t Dad and Mom also raise Ding Jianshe and get him a wife?”
Chen Ying immediately retorted, “Your dad and mom raised Ding Jianshe, but they didn’t raise me. Your younger brother has the responsibility to provide support; do I? I’ve never heard of any daughter-in-law having the responsibility to provide support.”
“Chen Ying, that’s unreasonable talk. Which daughter-in-law doesn’t show filial piety to her parents-in-law?” Ding Laoda’s wife immediately became unhappy.
“Yeah, you show filial piety to your parents-in-law, so why are you driving the old man and old woman out? In the end, isn’t it because they’re old and can’t work anymore, can’t help with anything and have become a burden, so you’re shamelessly dumping them on us?
Sister-in-law, you’re the smartest in the whole world; everyone else is a fool. You’ve got the abacus beads clicking away, all the benefits in your home and the downsides on others. You two cadres from the neighborhood committee, do you think there’s any reason in this?”
Sister Qiao was somewhat at a loss.
This matter inherently involved unfairness and unreasonableness.
But upon saying it, such situations were actually quite common.
When elderly folks were young, they favored whichever child they liked and helped them as much as they could. When they got old and were despised, they got dumped on the child they liked the least.
If they encountered a sensible, filial one, they’d accept it.
But meeting someone like Chen Ying who couldn’t swallow that resentment, they really refused to provide care no matter what.
Lu Qiaoge said, “From a legal perspective, children all have the responsibility to support their parents. You all admit this point, right?”
Old Ding Man and Old Ding Woman gratefully looked toward Lu Qiaoge.
Yes, from a legal perspective, children all have the responsibility.
Ding Jianshe and his wife didn’t say the legal regulations were wrong.
But they didn’t speak.
Not objecting was admitting it.
Ding Laoda and his wife nodded vigorously: “Yes, yes, that’s how the law stipulates it. Didn’t the factory cadres give us popular law education during the study class before?”
Old Ding Man and Old Ding Woman also nodded vigorously.
At first, seeing Lu Qiaoge was young, they hadn’t taken her seriously.
Unexpectedly, she opened her mouth and used the law to pressure them—really impressive.
But unexpectedly, Lu Qiaoge continued, “From a moral perspective, Grandpa Ding and Grandma Ding, your two’s actions were unfair and unreasonable. Just now your second daughter-in-law said it: when dividing the family, you didn’t even give them a pair of chopsticks, which is no different from leaving with nothing.
Under the circumstance of not holding the bowl of water level, you’re asking your second son and them for fair treatment. They definitely have ideas in their hearts; you two elderly folks must show understanding.”
Sister Qiao immediately followed up, “That’s the reason. They’re both your sons, but you couldn’t treat them fairly—how could they not have ideas in their hearts? Although it’s all in the past, if they insist on remembering it, our neighborhood committee can’t force them to forget it. Often, grievances bottled up inside are very uncomfortable.”
Chen Ying sat there with her eyes starting to redden.
Old Ding Man turned livid with anger: “I want you from the neighborhood committee to help solve the problem, not hold a criticism meeting against me. What, do I as the father still have to apologize to her? Should I kneel down to them?”
With the words said to this point, Old Ding Man actually made as if he was really going to kneel on the ground.
