After 90 years, my mother changed

(Xinhua News Agency, Jin Mengxi/Photo)

The second sister Yun lai gave up the low-wage income outside and returned to her hometown to take care of her old mother. Among the sisters, count her as the most attentive and thoughtful. However, in just one week, she was close to collapse: her mother had changed, changed, and become unrecognizable to me! This is my own mother, if I serve other people, eight million a month, I will not do it!

People with Alzheimer's disease often don't recognize their loved ones. Kiss the mother whose daughter can't recognize, what is this "disease"? What is "change"? The 92-year-old man, of course, will change: get old, get weaker, become deaf, become hungry, become ugly... However, listening to the tone of the second sister, her mother is "changing" in the direction she cannot bear.

The second sister chatted with her sister Yun Mei, who rushed back, and her mother came from her room: You guys are muttering, discussing how to deal with me? The sister ripped open her voice and was in a hurry. Mom then said: Oh, fiercely refuted, can you still say a good word?

What the sisters can't accept the most is that her mother is so old, there is no expense, and she is still "tight" (Suzhong dialect, hand control tightly, refuse to spend money) very much, sometimes simply drilled in the eyes of money.

This year's Spring Festival home, and finally deliberately lost two packs of good cigarettes at home, to her hospitality. My mother quietly hid a bag, bandaged it in a plastic bag, and put it in the refrigerator's refrigerator, and she thought about using it again during the festival next year. Receiving a "report" from my sister, I "ordered" her on the phone: Smoke can't be put away! Guests came to take it apart and send it.

The mother promised to be well, and after two days, the second sister who had been accompanying her at home discovered the situation, and the neighbor Xiaolan at the door sent two notes and two coins to her mother. After Xiaolan left, her mother seemed to repay the credit: I gave them a pack of cigarettes, and she also sent 22 yuan. The second sister listened, blindfolded: You "sold" your son's cigarettes? Mom defended: He left it at home, it's mine, don't you care how I get it? The sister stood on the side of the second sister: This cigarette can be given to others to smoke, how can you ask for other people's money? For 22 bucks, you "bought out" the neighbor's affection! Put your own path up! Mom continued to argue: I didn't ask her for money, she sent it to the door herself. After half a day, she added: This pack of cigarettes is sold for 45 miles outside. The second sister was angry and funny: You, just a little bit of money? Mom ignored it and said to herself: Will the heavens drop money? Now, which piece not to spend money on?

When children face their parents, sometimes they feel that xiu has just met a soldier. The "lawsuit" hit me. I had no choice but to ask the second sister to find out the 22 yuan change herself, quietly return it to Xiaolan, and ask her to accept it, and she must not let the old mother know.

The neighbor Behind the house, Xiaoping, wants to go to the town to buy something, the electric car is out of power, and runs over to ask the second sister to borrow her car. The second sister quickly pushed the car out, turned her head and found that her mother's face was flat, as if someone had borrowed her a debt. More than half an hour later, Xiaoping's car came back. Mother preemptive step: Xiaoping, the car first put your home to charge, our family is not good to charge now... The second sister quickly rushed out, stopped her mother, and apologized to Xiao Ping. Xiao Ping smiled: I am older, I don't blame her, I understand, I understand. The second sister was speechless, and she couldn't understand it. Has my mother ever been so stingy? When did it become so calculating? After Xiaoping left, her mother did not spare: the electricity bill was paid 400 yuan last year, and it was only more than 200 the year before.

The sisters have long complained about a series of abnormal behaviors by their mothers in recent years. Usually when I come back to see her, the lights can't be turned on more, the mobile phone can't be looked at more, and the charging time can't be too long... Water should be used from wells, not tap water; wood stoves should be used for cooking, not induction cookers... Ninety-something people have to ask and take care of everything. My sister fought with her mother several times, but to no avail. Later, the problem was thrown to me, she thought that my mother would listen to me, in fact, I did not have confidence, only repeatedly emphasized two points: want to open a little, want to eat and use, do not save! Money matter, don't bother! Mom's left ear goes in and the right ear comes out. Turning her back, she continued her "thrifty revolution" and continued her "old money fan" and "scrooge" model. After my sister's repeated defeats, she thought of a serious problem: the older people in the countryside are almost like this. When we get old in the future, will we also become what we hate? How can children not be bothered?

At the end of last year, my mother received a "huge sum", which may be a pension and a pension for the elderly. Mom was happier than the holidays, happier than when we gave her pocket money, three or four thousand a year, when she herself had so much income at once. The sisters teased her together: You don't use much money, what are you going to collect this money for? Mom said very seriously: What do people do in the end to go empty-handed? When ×× died, I heard that there were 50,000 or 60,000 left behind, and × grandma also saved tens of thousands... When I leave, I can't be worse than others. It turned out that my mother stared at the money every day, she had her little goal, she was secretly competing, and my father left 18,200 yuan when he left 20 years ago. No wonder she now saves small money and big money, usually can not spend money and never spend, can use less money must be used less. Hey, when people reach such an old age, they don't think much about themselves, and they are still calculating how much money they have left behind, how tired they are to live, and how pitiful they are. However, when people live, they always have to have calculations, either this or that. Just counting more money and less money, but simple and cute.

Mom was happy for a few days. When I was pulling with my neighbor's uncle and aunt, I heard that there was a "problem" in the accounts, and I was not as old as her, and I had more money in my hand than she did. Confused, she asked her brother-in-law that he had gone to town to get the money. Ask my sister again, and finally ask me again. Years ago and years later, she kept talking about how to check the accounts. I was a little absent-minded, a total of a few thousand dollars, which would be wrong with her. My sister was also convinced that it was impossible to go wrong. The brother-in-law is the manager, and although he thinks it will not be wrong, he does not explain it clearly. Annoyed by her nagging, the brother-in-law had to consult the village cadres with the town. Two days later, there was a reply: the staff made a mistake in operation, and there was 1600 yuan of zun lao jin, which did not hit the card.

That day, my mother was listless, always wanted to sleep, heard the news, immediately got up from the bed, the face suddenly stretched more, hehe non-stop, there is a kind of lost and regained, false alarm of the joy. I could hear her happiness on the phone. Money, can have such a "healing" use, can change the elderly for a few days more comfortable, that is worth it!

(The author is a Jiangsu media person)

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Zhou Yunlong