The frugal father

QTO - My aunt called and asked if Ly had called me. Where had he gone yesterday without telling her? The reason was the same as always. He had an argument with his father. His uncle scolded him for being a soldier's son, and that if he thought of himself as an official, he would spend ten times what he earned, and his wife and children would have to eat dirt. He argued back, saying that his father had saved his whole life, so how could his mother and children be happy? So his uncle slapped him.

I mumbled because I was used to these calls. Every few weeks, my uncle and aunt's house would be noisy, even though there were only three of them. Ly was the same age as me, and when I became the father of two children, he was still "wandering" and "thoughtless" as my uncle often said. Ly and I were both close friends and cousins. We studied together and played together since childhood, so I was familiar with his personality. Ly was a person who loved freedom, loved comfort, an artistic soul who loved to wander and experience this and that. He sang well, studied well, but did not focus on anything. However, the fundamental reason why he and my uncle argued the most was his generosity, which contrasted with my uncle's stinginess and thriftiness.

He is a retired soldier. His childhood was difficult, combined with the nature of his job, so he was always disciplined and strict. When Ly was young, he lived far away and had very little time with his children. Every time he came home, instead of taking his children to the park, buying toys or going to the bookstore, he spent time "interrogating" Ly, asking him about things at home, how he was studying, how he helped his mother. Ly told me, I am your son, not your soldier, so I don't have to report all the time. Ly and his father often argued since they were young. When they were young, they would get angry and skip meals, and when there was a big problem, Ly would come to my house to sleep. My aunt complained, she named him Ly because he refused to come out after a month or two, but now he is stubborn and won't listen to anything his father says.

Illustration: HH

Actually, Ly said that because he was too strict and frugal, he deliberately disobeyed, so he became used to it. Ly said that in sixth grade, Ly asked to buy new slippers. It had been a long time since he asked his uncle to buy them because his aunt was sick and no one took him to buy them. He examined the shoes and took out a needle and thread to sew them, saying they were still wearable. Because it was urgent, he had to bring them to class. That day, his deskmate bent down to pick up a pen, saw Ly's shoes, and said, "Is your family really that poor?" All that day, he sat in a corner, using his left leg to cover his right leg, afraid that his friends would see his shoes. Those childhood stories were like a wound to him, he said he was hurt by his father's frugality.

He often talks about the past, tells stories about the time when we ate mixed rice, burned oil lamps, about how hard it was in the past, and how happy we are now. But the young people today don't know how to appreciate it, they live too wastefully. They waste time, money, and their parents' efforts. That for the lives of ordinary people, if they want to change, if they want to progress, there are only two ways: one is to study hard, the other is to save. I agree with him, but I want him to understand that, you can save but don't lower the quality of your life and that of your loved ones. It's hot, Ly is lying in the air conditioner, he scolds, saying that young people can't stand the heat, how can they live. My wife was going to put clothes in the washing machine, but he stopped her, saying he'd wash them by hand, there are a few things that are put in the washing machine, why waste electricity, washing clothes is just exercise. My wife said, I've lived for nearly thirty years now, I'm used to it, just endure and get over it, but Ly is not. And strangely, the more his father saves, the more this guy is wasteful.

“I think my dad has a gold box that he keeps very carefully, that box is beautiful, the other day after scolding me, he went into the room, opened it, looked at it, and hid it, hid it. There must be gold bars in there. He always said “trading ships and rafts is not as good as being frugal”. Having saved all his life like that, he must have a lot of money, not a little gold and silver”. Ly told me that. I asked him what he was planning to do, he was already looking at the assets, he was the only child, but who knows, maybe his aunt and uncle had other plans.

Suddenly, he had a stroke. A healthy, active person who did not drink alcohol like him, suddenly had a stroke, which made people worried. He was given emergency care in time but was still in a coma. His wife cried her eyes out. He had just retired not long ago, father and son were close to each other, not worth the time apart. Ly cried bitterly, the regretful tears of a son who always disobeyed his father, deep in his heart, I knew he was a filial son. He said that if anything happened to him, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

He had been in the hospital for ten days when a stranger came to see him. The woman looked exhausted and brought two children, one was about ten years old, the other was only three. My aunt was stunned, her body trembling. She grabbed my hand, could it be that he had another wife and children? Everyone had different thoughts until she spoke. Sister and I, don't misunderstand, my mother and I are grateful to you, you are our family's benefactor. According to my sister, her husband was my aunt's subordinate and died in an accident. At that time, she had just given birth to a baby. Her family was poor, both sets of parents had no one to rely on. Since then, she has received one million every month to take care of her two children. When asked, she was told it was money sent by the unit, to support her and her children, but when I found out, it was his own money. He helped her and her children secretly, and occasionally he even sent gifts to them. Her older child had a heart condition, and he had just managed to get the surgery done. Now, thankfully, the child is fine. Usually, when it was time to pay the older child's tuition, he would text her to ask and send more money for the child's tuition. For a few days, it was time to pay the child's tuition but he had not texted her. She was also surprised. She called her old unit to ask and then heard the bad news, so she hurried to visit. She said that now the younger child was grown up, she could send him to daycare so she could go to work and earn more money to raise the child, so she did not dare to bother him anymore. He was not rich. Everyone was very surprised when they heard the story. The aunt was surprised, where did the money come from to raise someone else's child, it was so strange, people who have been frugal all their lives could be like that. It turns out that living together for a long time does not necessarily mean understanding each other.

During the days he lay unconscious, his phone rang continuously. This person and that person asked about him. His aunt gave the phone to Ly, asking him to reply to the messages for him. The first time he held the phone, Ly went to his Facebook, posted a status line thanking him and informing about his father's current health condition so that his teammates and friends could rest assured. A few messages arrived, curious, Ly went to read. It was a message from the "Raising Children" group, a project that Ly had heard about on TV. He was raising two children in the Northwest, even visiting and giving them gifts. Why had he never heard his father tell his mother and son about these things? Ly remembered that at the end of each school year, his father often checked his books and then took them to give to other people's children, including clothes, school bags and shoes. Ly thought his father only gave that much to others, but unexpectedly he also spent money to raise children he didn't know.

He miraculously woke up, very alert but temporarily unable to move. He was sent home to rest, then slowly did physical therapy to be able to walk again. He called Ly into the room, handed him the wooden box that he had kept carefully for many years. Those were all the things he treasured, he wanted to give them directly to him, afraid that if something happened he wouldn't be able to give it to him in person. Opening the box, Ly found a calendar page from the day he was born, some bloody hair and a dry, shriveled umbilical cord, a few old children's clothes, a pair of tiny sandals, a notebook with crooked handwriting... Ly's first things. He said those were his possessions.

Ly told me with tears in her eyes. She said she thought that box contained gold, but to her father, it was more precious than gold.

Miraculous Love

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/202510/nguoi-cha-tiet-kiem-20a552a/