"Fuck your grandpa."

Liu Mancang felt as if he had been bitten by something. He didn't even bother to brush the dirt off his pants before raising his hand to slap Zhao Jisheng.

Zhao Jisheng tried to dodge, but failed and was slapped on the arm by Liu Mancang.

While Liu Mancang was frowning and patting his pants, Zhao Jisheng continued to say to Xie Zhuo, "Some time ago, Zhao Jihou took some money from home and went out to gamble. He lost several tens of yuan, and recently several groups of people have been coming to our house every day asking for money."

Xie Zhuo looked at him.

“But it’s nothing,” Zhao Jisheng said. “Aside from being a little annoyed, there’s nothing else. It’s just that my grandpa and grandma have suffered. They’ve both gotten sick from being upset by him these past two days.”

"Don't your uncles care?" Xie Zhuo asked.

I had heard before that Zhao Jihou gambled, but Qingshan Brigade wouldn't let him play, so he went to other brigades to play, and later he went to the town to play.

I never expected that something like this would happen while he was away.

“I can’t control them,” Zhao Jisheng said. “I told my parents that we should just separate the family and have my grandparents come to live with us, but they didn’t agree.”

Xie Zhuo nodded, unsure of how to bring it up.

The three of them walked quite fast, and it only took them a little over half an hour to get to the city. On their way to the state-owned coal mine, Liu Mancang told Xie Zhuo something else.

“Just two days before you came home, Wang Ermazi and his mother came back,” Liu Mancang said. “After being gone for so long, I thought they had forgotten all about home, but I never expected that Wang Ermazi would come back with a limp.”

"Didn't you get the money?" Xie Zhuo asked.

"He's almost there," Zhao Jisheng said. "I saw him playing cards in town yesterday."