Reborn as a Rich Woman in the Eighties
Chapter 244 - 243: Not Worth Pitying

Chapter 244: Chapter 243: Not Worth Pitying

Lin Xia knew that Lin Qiu was a person burdened with worries, so she hurriedly reassured her, "Xiaoqiu! It’s okay! We’ll just be careful! Even if he comes here, it’s nothing! To think that he wants us to spend New Year in the ditch is simply impossible!

What they were like to us in the past, to dream of eating at the same table as them!"

Lin Xia felt that it was only a matter of time before Lin Aiguo found their location, but she preferred it to be later rather than sooner, at least until they had gotten through this New Year peacefully.

As for future matters, there was nothing to fear; they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

Lin Dong echoed, "That’s right! Second Sister! You needn’t worry, you’ve got me and Second Brother! Even if he comes causing trouble again or finds our home, we have legs to walk away; he can’t force us!"

His feelings towards those people in the ditch were the same as his eldest sister’s: why should they have to see those people?

Who among them was worth meeting?

Jiang Mingyuan nodded, "Mm! Anyway, we don’t have much merchandise, we’ll just sell for a few more days and then close up the stall!"

Today, after having noticed someone trailing him and realizing it, the reason he had Lin Xia and her brothers leave instead of confronting the person directly;

was because the New Year was approaching, and he didn’t want Lin Xia and her family to have an unsettling holiday.

After hearing them say this, Lin Qiu felt bolstered in spirit, and her facial expression relaxed significantly.

After sharing a meal together, when Jiang Mingyuan went back home, the three siblings didn’t rush back to their own rooms to sleep. Instead, they sat together on the warm kang bed in the Eastern House and chatted.

"Eldest sister! I realized I’ve grown up, and he’s really aged!" Lin Dong was the most moved; it had been over half a year since he last saw Lin Aiguo, and upon seeing him today, he noticed that the man who was always scowling and cursing in his memories had aged.

Lin Qiu had even less contact with Lin Aiguo than Lin Dong, having not seen him since the middle school entrance exam.

"Dongzi! Has he aged a lot?"

"Mm! His hair is much whiter, more wrinkles on his face, and his back is hunched over!"

Lin Xia was indifferent, "What’s so strange about that! You’ve all grown up, could he remain young forever and become immortal?" She felt no emotional stir at the changes in Lin Aiguo.

It was simply because of her experiences in past and present lives, Lin Aiguo’s actions had left her with an everlasting hatred that she could never let go of.

Lin Dong, agreeing, nodded earnestly, "Yes, Eldest Sister! That’s true!" He paused, then said with some distress, "Today, looking at him like that, I really felt both angry and hateful, but I don’t know why I later felt a bit of pity for him!"

It was as if the tall figure he used to fear and look up to had withered into a small old man. Now that he could look down at him, he felt he was nothing special.

After listening, Lin Qiu felt a strangeness in her heart, but she remained silent, choosing not to express her feelings.

Lin Xia could understand why Lin Dong felt this way; he was, after all, a kind and generous child. Seeing Lin Aiguo’s aged appearance stirring some feelings was normal.

"Dongzi! It’s normal for you to feel that way! But think more about how he treated our mom, us, when he wasn’t old, and you won’t have those feelings anymore!

Think about the suffering our mother endured while she was alive, and you won’t think he deserves any pity..."

For every pitiable person, there’s a detestable side, especially since he doesn’t have a pitiable bone in his body.

The last time he caused trouble at her stall, he was quite capable of hurling abuse.

Lin Dong pursed his lips firmly, and indeed, with a slight reflection on the past, he no longer felt any pity for Lin Aiguo.

The next day, Jiang Mingyuan and Lin Xia headed home from the stall more cautiously, paying extra attention to any followers.

After a day, Lin Aiguo came to the stall front again.

Lin Xia and Lin Dong showed no surprise at his return.

Lin Aiguo, seeing them busy, stood to one side without saying a word.

However, he kept covering his mouth to cough, as if there was phlegm in his throat.

Turns out, Lin Aiguo had tried to follow them that day but failed. Barely catching the last bus home, he caught a cold from the freezing journey.

There was so much to do at work with the Lunar New Year holiday approaching, and he couldn’t find anyone to cover his shift, so he had to grit his teeth and go to work anyway.

Today, Lin Aiguo was feeling a bit better. Having finished the night shift, he rushed over, hoping to speak with Lin Xia and the others. He planned to visit the gully during the New Year’s, even if it meant just grabbing a meal and leaving.

Lin Dong felt a pang of pity; seeing him hunched over, coughing incessantly, he really did seem quite pathetic.

But when he thought about past events, he felt he shouldn’t be soft-hearted.

Was he tender-hearted toward his current frailty, and had he ever been kind to his mother or them when he was younger?

He would always remember his mother’s last days...

Lin Xia watched Lin Aiguo with a cold gaze; indeed, he looked much older and more haggard than before.

In truth, Lin Aiguo was only fifty during the New Year, but he appeared as if he were in his sixties.

At that time, people generally looked older due to the hard labor they did and having many children in the family.

When there were no more customers at the stall, Lin Aiguo approached, "Lin Xia! Lin Dong! Cough cough..."

He continued after his coughing subsided, "Visit the gully during New Year’s to see your grandma. You didn’t go last year! She’s quite old, how many years can she live? She watched you all grow up..."

Lin Xia frowned. He could speak calmly, and she didn’t want to yell, but the past wasn’t something that could be cleared up with a word or two.

"We won’t go! Considering how she treated my mother and us... With things the way they are, it’s impossible to spend New Year’s together. The fact that we can speak calmly now is already not bad!"

Lin Aiguo hadn’t expected to convince them just like that, knowing that things had become too bitter in the past.

If it had been his old temper, he would have started cursing by now, but he knew that once he started scolding, Lin Xia and Lin Dong would be even less likely to go, and things would become even more strained.

"After all, your grandma is an old woman, and your mom has been gone for so long; can’t the past be left in the past?"

He was aware that his mother had gone too far with some things back in the day, but wasn’t that how all mothers-in-law were?

Lin Xia shook her head coldly, "It cannot be forgotten!"

She was indignant because someone being elderly was enough to erase the past? Impossible!

She could say that her own mother’s early bedridden state was closely linked to the actions of Lin Aiguo and his mother.

Without their bullying and beatings, her mother wouldn’t have succumbed to illness, both mentally and physically, and passed away so early.

When a customer arrived to make a purchase, Lin Xia no longer paid any attention to Lin Aiguo.

"So how can it really be..." Lin Aiguo began but found it awkward to continue. He really wanted to say that whatever it was, it should be possible to move on.

Wasn’t the matter of him being sent to a psychiatric hospital in the past now over?

Lin Aiguo looked at Lin Dong, who wasn’t part of this, and spoke to him, "How is your eldest brother doing out there? Is he doing well?"

Ever since Lin Chun left, he had no news of him.

To say he sometimes felt angry was an understatement; leaving a perfectly good job to run off was infuriating.

But what was done was done, and he still hoped his eldest son would make something of himself, as in the end, he would be relying on his sons when he got old.