Cave Refuge-Chapter 159 - 158: Family Status_1
My parents’ life here is fairly calm, without any major disturbances.
Perhaps it’s because that this place is used for ice production, so regardless of how high the outside temperature rises, the temperature in the underground Refuge Center always hovers around thirty degrees.
Although this can’t compare to an air-conditioned room from our old world, it’s much comfortable in comparison to the temperature in other Refuge Centers.
Moreover, those who live here are family members of the high-ranking officials at the West City District Command Post, this place has a deep well that leads directly to the river, as well it still has the leftover resources stored, and most importantly, people who live here know each other very well.
As Kingston Leo once said, despite the natural disasters raging on, the way of life here remains essentially unchanged where people can still drink wine, sing songs, and doesn’t appear as hard as the surviving folks living outside.
In other underground shelters, even drinking water is rationed, yet the survivors who live here can even take a bath once a week.
After hearing Mr. Thompson saying all this, Dong Tianyu was very relieved that he had placed his parents in this place. Although the donation of saltpeter did bring him some follow-up problems, as long as his parents live comfortably, everything else counts as minor issues.
Suddenly, Dong Tianyu was struck by an idea of fobbing off Lee with saltpeter, since what he really wants is exactly that, giving him three to five hundred kilograms wouldn’t put much pressure on Dong Tianyu.
However, this idea didn’t last long in Dong Tianyu’s mind, and was outright rejected by him.
Sometimes, being generous in handing out gifts cannot reduce troubles for oneself. Instead, those people, seeing your generous behavior, may become insatiable and want to get more from you.
In fact, in a typical family, it’s hard to have the kind of equal conversation between parents and children as in other countries, the elders dominate communication since they’re stronger in the early life of their children.
When the older generation ages, the younger generation, finally able to manage the family and hold sway, will not easily give up their high position in the family.
Like the old joke:
When you were a child: You went to the internet cafe again, didn’t you? I’m sending you to a school for internet addiction treatment now.
Now an adult: Mom and dad, why are you playing cards again? I’m sending you to a gambling problems nursing home now.
When they were kids, parents didn’t understand why their children went to internet cafes, and when they become adults, children didn’t understand why their parents play cards.
The root of the matter is that the dominant side cannot spend enough time with the weaker side, and as a result, the weaker party can only take pleasure in their own way.
Once the dominant side fails to understand the pastimes of the weaker side, the above-mentioned situation occurs.
However, although Dong Tianyu is the dominant party now, he lives separately from his parents, so even if Mr. Thompson is slightly weaker in capacities, as Dong Tianyu is not yet married, they essentially live as two separate families, therefore, there is no conflict over who gets to have the final say.
Take the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Those families with such conflict are usually the ones where children live with their parents after marriage.
No matter if you live with your husband in your mother-in-law’s house, or live with your wife in your father-in-law’s house, you are always an outsider to them, even after you marry. Even if the elders keep telling you kind words, you will always remain an outsider in their hearts; whenever a problem occurs, you will always be the first one to be blamed.
Unless the whole family relies on you for living, you will always be seen as an outsider and you will also be the first person they would think of to blame when a problem arises.
But after marriage, once you start living separately from your parents, you can escape from their control and start living in the way you want, which may conflict with the concept of life of the older generation.
But once two people get married, their values should be similar. With the support of your wife (husband), you are bound to resist.
This is also why a lot of older generation people say:
Son, after marrying, forget about his mom,
And say about their daughters, marrying out is like splashing a bucket of water out.
These are the reasons behind these two phrases.
In fact, the key for the older generation and the younger one to sit down and communicate peacefully and fairly, is for the older one to give up their superiority notion of age, don’t always wield their age before them by saying things like "I’ve eaten more salt in my life than you’ve eaten rice" or "my experience should be your lesson".
Please, times have changed. In the fifties and sixties, workers were highly glorious. If you became a formal worker, you could then just follow the pattern of living throughout your life, and life would be without too many worries.
But what about nowadays? If you follow the concept of the older generation and go into the factory to work, even if you get a formal job, what about it? Factories can’t even distribute houses to you, even if you saved your wages for twenty or thirty years, you still couldn’t afford a set of houses.
This is the difference between times, experiences of the older generation cannot fit into this era.
A position as a driver can’t even be bought out by a county head, but now driving licenses can be found everywhere.
Mr. Thompson’s mindset is really good. Although he used to be a bit more dominant in the family, thinking that everything he says is right, but ever since the natural disaster arrived, he has been observing Dong Tianyu’s every move, realizing that times have changed, and now his son has become the pillar of the family.
Once Dong Tianyu truly wins the recognition of Mr. Thompson, and when in Mr. Thompson’s heart, Tianyu is no longer a child, Mr. Thompson can then take every word Dong Tianyu seriously.
Actually, there’s not much to talk about between father and son, besides knowing each other’s situation, they share the recent happenings of their lives.
Dong Tianyu blatantly mentioned that he was tracked after he left last time, and also pointed out that the people who might have tracked him could be Lee’s arrangement.
Of course, Dong Tianyu didn’t cover up the reason why he thought he was being followed, and also the result after the tracking failed.
Listening to Dong Tianyu’s narration, Mr. Thompson fell into deep thought.
Seeing his father in thought, Dong Tianyu didn’t disturb him, and just sat next to him quietly, waiting.
"Can you still get hold of the saltpeter?"
In response to his father’s query, Dong Tianyu didn’t intend to hide anything: "I can."
Hearing Dong Tianyu’s firm answer, Mr. Thompson didn’t say anything right away as if he was gathering his thoughts, he paused for a while before he continued:
"Even if you can, do not give it to him so easily. I have some understanding of Lee’s character. Among my circle of friends, his reputation is not exactly solid.
Sometimes, Mr. Smith jokingly said, if it weren’t for Lee being the only son of Lee Smith, he wouldn’t even have made sergeant.
I heard the outside temperature is still rising, the saltpeter you gave last time was taken away by Pengville Plaza’s refuge center which accounted for two thirds of it.
The saltpeter that was taken away, when being distributed to other areas, mysteriously disappeared a lot during transportation. This made the Pengcheng government issue an order to track down the lost saltpeter, having more saltpeter at this time will lead to unnecessary trouble.
I know as long as me and your mom live here, you will definitely bring out some saltpeter for the shelter. But at this time, don’t hurry to give it, hold him back, leave him hanging for a while and then see."
