“You dare disobey me? I’ll go straight to your factory and report you to your leaders for being an unfilial son. I’ll have them fire you!” Old Madam Zhou shouted furiously. The son who had always obeyed her had actually started defying her.
How dare he?
“Grandma, please do! Go tell the factory leaders right away. Hurry!” Zhou Yuwei chimed in. “This is Beijing, not Zhouzi Village. Everyone in this hutong has seen how my dad has treated you all these years.”
In her eyes, her father was simply too soft-hearted. He handed over every penny of his wages.
It was only because her mother had such a good temperament that she could still live with him.
At this rate, it would be better if the old woman really got him fired. Then they could finally cut ties with that side of the family once and for all.
In fact, Zhou Yuwei had deliberately hit Zhang Lihua earlier because she wanted to make the situation impossible to ignore.
If she hadn’t caused such a huge scene today, this family would probably have continued living like beasts of burden forever.
“Just you wait! Zhou Kun, you ungrateful wretch! I don’t have a son like you anymore!”
Old Madam Zhou stormed out in a rage. She was going back to fetch the old man and make him teach his disobedient son a lesson.
“Thank you, Uncles and Aunties, for looking out for our family,” Zhou Yuwei quickly said, thanking all the neighbors in the courtyard.
“You silly girl, we all live in the same courtyard. What are you thanking us for?” Grandma Xu patted Yuwei’s hand.
“Your parents have finally come to their senses. I just hope life gets a little easier for your family from now on.”
“Thank you, Grandma Xu,” Zhou Yuwei replied with a smile.
When she smiled, even the flowers seemed less beautiful.
“That’s more like it. You’re much livelier now. You should smile more often. Come over to Grandma Xu’s place whenever you have time, and I’ll cook something delicious for you.” Before this, the girl had always hidden whenever she saw people.
She was such a beautiful young lady, yet she always carried herself timidly.
But that was because of the environment she’d grown up in.
Now things were changing. Life would gradually get better.
“Zhou Kun,” Old Man Gu said earnestly, “it’s not that we’re trying to meddle in your family affairs, but you really need to stand up for yourselves. You’ve done more than enough over the years. Your daughters are all grown up now. You need to think about their future too.”
“I understand, Uncle Gu.” Zhou Kun nodded.
Now that his wife’s family was no longer in trouble, there was nothing left threatening their family’s livelihood.
“Dad, Mom, is everything okay?”
Zhou Yulan had just returned home when she saw her grandmother storming out through the front gate.
Terrified, she’d hidden in the alley until her grandmother and Third Aunt had gone far enough away before hurrying home.
“Everything’s fine. Go wash your hands and get ready to eat. Tell your sister to come too.”
“Okay.”
Zhou Yulan nodded and went inside.
“Aren’t you going to ask how her job search went?” Zhou Kun asked his wife.
“There’s no need. It’s written all over her face.”
Lin Hongmei placed a bowl of porridge on the table so thin it was practically water.
“Maybe… I should give my job to Yulan.”
But her position wasn’t a good one. She spent all day washing dishes and mopping floors until her back could barely straighten.
“I think it’d be better if Yulan tried taking the National College Entrance Examination.”
“She’s not like Yuwei. She never attended high school, and she didn’t take the exam during the first two years after it resumed. It’ll only be harder now. We failed that child.”
“Yuwei, Mom and Dad are calling us for dinner.”
Yulan’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Zhou Yuwei turned to look at her older sister.
“W-What is it?”
Yulan tugged nervously at her clothes.
“If… if you want these clothes, I’ll take them off and give them to you.”
Their mother had saved fabric coupons for a long time before finally making this outfit for her so she could wear it while job hunting.
“No, Sis. I don’t want them.”
“…Okay.”
Yulan lowered her head.
“I’m sorry. Maybe… maybe I shouldn’t have come back.”
Yuwei blinked in surprise.
“Sis, what are you talking about?”
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten sick.”
Yuwei wanted to rub her forehead.
How could her sister be even softer than the original owner of this body?
With such a timid personality, how had she managed to survive in the countryside all those years?
She must have suffered a lot.
“It had nothing to do with you. I was the one who acted immaturely.”
“No…”
“Yulan, why don’t you go back to school with Yuwei? Let’s try taking this year’s National College Entrance Examination,” Lin Hongmei suggested.
“I won’t pass.”
Yulan shook her head before lowering it again and silently drinking her porridge.
Watching her, Zhou Yuwei couldn’t shake the feeling that her sister lived entirely inside her own world.
She wouldn’t even look people in the eye when she spoke.
“Sis, when you were in the countryside, didn’t you study with the educated youths?”
Yuwei couldn’t help asking.
She clearly remembered that when the National College Entrance Examination was reinstated, many educated youths had studied together in their communes to prepare for it.
The bowl slipped from Zhou Yulan’s hands and shattered on the floor.
“Are you alright?”
Yulan immediately crouched to pick up the broken pieces.
“You child…”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
She apologized quickly, trembling slightly.
“Don’t touch them. You’ll cut yourself.”
“Hiss…”
A shard sliced her finger.
“Where are you hurt? Are you okay?”
Lin Hongmei hurriedly grabbed her hand.
“I… I’m fine, Mom. I’m full.”
Yulan jumped to her feet and ran outside.
Lin Hongmei sighed softly.
When Zhou Yuwei returned to their room, she found Yulan hiding under the blanket.
The quilt was shaking.
She was crying.
Yuwei quietly walked over, lay down beside her on the bed, and wrapped her in a hug.
“Sis… it’s good that you’re home.”
Yulan’s body stiffened.
She bit down on the corner of her pillowcase and cried silently.
That night, Zhou Kun went out to take care of something.
Early the next morning…
The Zhou family arrived again.
This time, everyone from the Zhou family had come.
Everyone except Old Madam Zhou.
The tiny room was packed to the brim.
There was barely any space left to stand.
“Zhou Kun,” Old Master Zhou said, tapping his long tobacco pipe as he shot his son a sidelong glance. “I heard from your mother that you’re trying to rebel.”
“Dad, I don’t understand what you mean by that. How exactly am I rebelling? Haven’t I already done enough for this family over the years?”
Zhou Kun knew this confrontation had been inevitable.
He had simply endured enough.
Now both of his daughters were home, his wife’s family had finally put the past behind them, and he wanted to live for himself for once.
He wasn’t afraid of his parents making a scene anymore.
“What did you say? Setting everything else aside, we’re your parents. Have you forgotten how you managed to marry this woman in the first place?”
“That’s right, Second Brother,” Zhou Shi chimed in, tugging at Zhou Kun’s sleeve. “We agreed on all this before. Besides, you haven’t even collected your next paycheck yet. Why keep holding onto that job? You might as well hand it over to your nephew so he can get married.”
Zhou Kun ignored him completely.
“What’s gotten into you?” Old Master Zhou snapped. “Has that shameless wife of yours finally led you astray?”
“You even made your mother sick yesterday! What kind of son does something like that?”
Standing off to one side, Zhou Yuwei kept unusually quiet.
She had finally realized something.
Her parents weren’t fools.
They’d been keeping score all along.
Even if yesterday’s incident hadn’t happened, today’s showdown probably would have happened anyway.
“I’ve been supporting this family since I was seven years old. I left home to become an apprentice under my master in the county. For eight years I did nothing but menial labor. I never had enough to eat, never dressed warmly, and took on every dirty job there was. It wasn’t until I was fifteen that my master finally acknowledged me and formally accepted me as his apprentice.”
“I’ve suffered more than anyone here knows.”
“Yes, you gave birth to me.”
“But for the past twenty years, every cent I’ve earned has gone straight back to this family.”
“If I’ve done all that and you still call me unfilial…”
“Fine.”
“Then today, I’ll be an unfilial son for once.”
He lifted his chin stubbornly as he spoke.
“Second Uncle, I really love Zhang Yu. Please help me.”
Zhou Jinshui pleaded.
“That’s right, Second Uncle,” Chen Ju added. “Jinshui’s about to get married. Just give him your job so he can marry a wife.”
She had already decided that if her son got the position, she would never let him foolishly hand over all his wages.
If anyone was getting his money, it would be her, his mother.
“If you like someone, then figure out how to marry her yourself,” Zhou Kun shot back. “You’re not my son. Why should I, your second uncle, be responsible for finding you a wife?”
“Second Uncle… you…”
Since when had his second uncle changed?
The truth was, Zhou Kun hadn’t changed at all.
This was who he had always been.
He simply no longer had anything to fear.
The marks against his wife had finally been removed from her personnel file.
No one had any leverage over their family anymore.
So what was he afraid of?
“Zhou Kun.” Old Master Zhou’s face darkened, veins bulging across his forehead.
“Are you determined to cut ties with this family?”
“Yes.”
“Today…”
“I want to split the family.”
“Split the family?”
“No!”
Both Zhang Lihua and her sister-in-law, Qi Dafang, objected at once.
If the family split apart…
How were their households supposed to keep taking advantage of Zhou Kun after that?