Yun Qing raised his eyes to look at them and said calmly, “What belongs to me is mine. Even if I give it away, no one else is allowed to covet it. If anyone dares to reach out their claws, I’ll chop them off!
“And Yunlan may be a little girl, but she is still a little girl of the Zhou Family. She isn’t someone everyone can bully.”
After hearing this, Zhao Hongmei’s eyes blazed with anger. “She’s the one I gave birth to. So what if I hit her?”
Yun Qing smiled and said, “You’re her biological mother, so hitting her isn’t a problem. But if you beat Yunlan, I’ll beat Old Third. Let’s see whether you’re harsher or I am.”
“I’m your mother! You’re being unfilial!” Zhao Hongmei said angrily.
“You’re my stepmother. My mother is down below. What? Do you want to go there too?” Yun Qing wasn’t afraid of her at all. If she wanted to provoke him, he would give as good as he got.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you? With conduct like yours, you still want to become a cadre? Keep dreaming!” Zhao Hongmei threatened.
“Go ahead. As long as my admission qualification is revoked, I’ll drag Zhou Yunxue and Zhou Yunxi down with me. Several people die in the city moat every year anyway; one or two more won’t matter.” Yun Qing’s tone was calm, but the chill in his words made everyone in the room shiver despite the height of summer.
Zhou Hongjun slammed the table and roared, “Enough! Are you two ever going to stop? All of you, calm down! Hongmei, Yun Qing is the Old Zhou’s hope. If you dare ruin him, I’ll be the first one not to let you off.
“And you, Yun Qing—Hongmei raised you for so many years, after all. Even if you don’t call her ‘Mother,’ you can’t be this unfilial. You’re going to become a cadre in the future. Don’t you care about your reputation?”
Yun Qing glanced at Zhou Hongjun. It seemed that value determined status. He had actually taken Yun Qing’s side. This old bastard was still useful, so Yun Qing had no intention of dealing with him for the time being.
Seeing that he had subdued the two of them, Zhou Hongjun turned to Zhou Yunxi and said, “Old Third, if you want new clothes, earn them yourself. Stop coveting other people’s things and constantly trying to be clever. If there’s a next time, even if your Second Brother beats you to death, you’ll deserve it!”
Zhou Yunxi fell silent as well. No one knew what he was thinking, but on the surface, he had compromised.
After lecturing them, Zhou Hongjun left the house, but his heart was anything but calm. All he could think about was that gold. Yun Qing would not even let anyone covet a single set of clothes. If he found out that Zhou Hongjun wanted to swindle so many gold bars from him, would he go even crazier?
Would he strike a fatal blow against his own father? But asking him to give half to Second Brother would be like cutting out his own flesh. This was gold, not something else. He had never even seen gold from childhood to adulthood, and he truly could not bear to part with it.
What did a son matter in the face of profit? He had more than one son. If he lost this one, he still had others. Even if this son was the most promising, he still had several years before graduating. If he used this gold to pave the way, might he be able to get promoted too?
Wasn’t being the father of a cadre better than becoming a cadre himself?
Zhou Hongjun pondered for a long time, yet still did not want to give half to Yun Qing. In his mind, once something entered his hands, it was his. Even his biological son had to step aside.
The mentality of a poor man suddenly becoming rich was displayed to the fullest in Zhou Hongjun. He was a miser, and even more absurdly, he dreamed of becoming a cadre.
In this family, the worst of them all was Zhou Hongjun: despicable, shameless, and greedy. Next was Zhou Yunxi, who was always trying to be clever—both stupid and malicious.
Compared with them, Zhou Yunxue seemed much more likable. As for Zhao Hongmei, a mother became strong for her children. Considering her own child was only human nature. Very few people could bring themselves to neglect their biological child in favor of someone else’s son.
Only now did Zhou Yunxue feel afraid. Had Second Brother been holding back whenever he beat him before? Seeing the injuries on Old Third, he felt pain himself. He absolutely could not provoke Second Brother in the future. That kid was vicious when he struck—he was not someone to mess with!
Zhou Yunxue had become obedient, but Zhou Yunxi had not. He had always believed that fighting was the behavior of a brute, and that the person with brains was the most formidable. He would remember today’s grudge. One day, he would get his revenge.
Zhao Hongmei wiped medicinal oil over Zhou Yunxi’s injuries while shedding tears, all the while scolding Zhou Yunxi.
“Just look at you. You suffered all this over a set of clothes. Once I’ve saved enough cloth coupons, your mother will definitely make some for you. I guarantee you’ll be wearing new clothes for the New Year. We don’t need his, all right?”
Zhou Yunxi grimaced in pain but agreed aloud, “Mother, I understand. This time, it was my fault. I don’t want his new clothes anymore. I’ll wait for you to make me some.”
But inwardly, he was seething. Zhou Yunqing, just you wait. Sooner or later, I’ll beat you half to death!
Did Yun Qing care? No! In the face of strength, they were all paper tigers. Zhou Yunxi’s little tricks were truly not worth mentioning.
And so, the disturbance passed. When the neighbors asked about it, they merely said it had been a minor disagreement between brothers. Whose brothers didn’t fight? They were all young men, and a little roughhousing was normal.
Before Yun Qing’s school term began, the two outfits were finally finished. They were in the style of Sun Yat-sen suits and fit him perfectly.
“Second Brother, tell me if anything doesn’t fit, and I’ll alter it.” Zhou Yunlan was very happy as she watched Yun Qing try them on.
“They’re quite good. I didn’t expect you to have this skill. Not bad!” Yun Qing said with a smile. He wasn’t short of clothes, but none of them suited this era. The Sun Yat-sen suit style looked good on him as well.
“As long as Second Brother likes them. If you want more clothes made in the future, leave them to me. I guarantee I’ll satisfy you.” Under Yun Qing’s protection, Zhou Yunlan gradually became more cheerful, and she smiled more often.
She was not unattractive. The longer one looked at her, the more pleasing she became. She also had a gentle temperament—the standard hardworking, long-suffering good wife and mother type.
She was very close to Yun Qing. After having no one protect her for more than a decade, she suddenly had an umbrella over her and naturally wanted to draw near.
Yun Qing could still protect her.
“After I start school, don’t provoke them at home. If anything happens, come find me at school. It isn’t far, and you can get there by bus. Don’t confront them directly. No matter what happens, protect yourself first.”
Yun Qing instructed Zhou Yunlan, and the little girl nodded with reddened eyes.
Apart from Zhao Hongmei, no one in the family would hit her. At most, they would ignore her and make her work. She had no problem with that. There were still several years before anything happened to her, and he would certainly be able to protect her completely.
Yun Qing had no intention of graduating step by step, either. His plan was to graduate a year early. The secondary technical school program lasted three years, and graduation would put him at the center of the storm. Graduating a year early would also help him avoid becoming Cannon Fodder.
Their school assigned graduates to jobs. The machinery factory and agricultural machinery factory were the main destinations. Being assigned to another province would be good too—preferably Northeast China. Staying far from the capital city would save him a lot of trouble. Especially during those years, it was best not to remain in the capital city.
Time passed quickly, and Yun Qing started school. He had prepared his own luggage separately, while giving his old bedding to Zhou Yunlan. The little girl’s quilt was so thin that light could pass through it, and the cotton had clumped together. Every winter, she spent every night serving as the “regimental commander.”
He had never had anything to do with Mechanical Manufacturing in either of his two lifetimes. In this life, he would become a master capable of handcrafting a nuclear bomb. Whether in theoretical knowledge or practical ability, he was the best of his class.
Yun Qing was like a sponge, constantly absorbing new knowledge. With the knowledge assistance collected by the System, things proceeded exactly according to his plan. In only two years, he finished learning the theoretical material. After another six months of practical training, he would be able to graduate.