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Later, they had a daughter. Being the only girl, she didn’t quite compare to the sons, but she still received a fair amount of attention. Eventually, they had a younger son as well. Being the youngest, he was spoiled a bit more by his parents.
Looking back, they realized they had neglected their second son too much over the years. Although he had never lacked for anything that was due to him—he was even married and had children—Tang Laohan still felt a bit guilty compared to the other kids.
It wasn't too late to make amends, so Tang Laohan decided he would compensate his second son from now on. “Alright, let’s hurry. Eldest, go outside and see if you can find a phone. Call the captain and tell him we received a telegram from the third one saying that the second should come along too,” Tang Laohan instructed after thinking for a moment.
“Dad, isn’t that inappropriate? We’re in the busy farming season, and if we don’t work, we might not have enough food for winter,” Tang Zhi hesitated to say. “And what if the captain gets angry?”
Tang Zhiwu also looked nervously at Tang Laohan, fearing he might change his mind and not let him go.
Tang Laohan gave Tang Zhi a deep look, making him lower his head in guilt. “If I say you can go, then you go. Just bring back a box of good cigarettes from Beijing,” he finally said.
Seeing that Tang Laohan wouldn’t change his mind, Tang Zhi quickly went out to find a phone. The post office wasn’t far from the train station, so he wouldn’t take long to return.
Once Tang Zhi ran off, Tang Zhiwu hurried to buy tickets as well.
After both sons left, Tang Laotai spoke up, “Old man, what’s going on? Are we really letting the second one go with us?”
Tang Laotai was quite understanding; she never directly contradicted Tang Laohan when he educated their children or made decisions. She would wait until the children were gone before asking him privately.
It was also because of her unintentional support that no one in the family ever dared to argue with Tang Laohan. “Let the second one come along, my dear. I’ve realized how much we’ve overlooked him all these years. From now on, we need to pay more attention to him,” Tang Laohan sighed.
“What’s wrong? We’ve treated the second one well! He’s had plenty to eat and drink over the years. We even found him a wife when he came of age. He hasn’t lacked for anything in our home,” Tang Laotai asked in confusion.
Tang Laohan understood that his wife didn’t grasp the deeper issue because everyone in the village lived this way: ensuring children were well-fed and warmly dressed, marrying them off when they reached adulthood—that was considered fulfilling their responsibilities.
In the current rural setting, achieving such a situation is indeed not easy. After all, every family has many children, and raising them all is already a challenge; there’s hardly any extra emotional energy left for anything else.
Moreover, having more children at home inevitably brings about differences. This is perfectly normal. Even ten fingers vary in length, so how can we expect hearts to be the same?
It’s not that we treat the second child poorly; rather, we often overlook him too much. Take this time, for instance—he must have wanted to go to Beijing with us. Yet, none of us asked for his opinion; we simply decided to let the eldest go along.
Didn’t you see how his eyes lit up when I suggested that the second child could join us? Such instances have happened many times over the years; we have consistently and unintentionally neglected the feelings of the second child.
Over time, he might harbor some resentment in his heart. The old man carefully explained this to his partner.
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