There are more than a dozen people from my father's generation who can barely make ends meet.

This group of people who migrated from other places developed into a village after more than a hundred years. They only cared about quantity and not quality. Not only did they fail to educate their children well, but the women they married were all ugly.

Great-grandfather's home is in the village, and Zhou Xiang and her friends followed behind to see the curious villagers.

Zhou Xiang ignored him and told his third cousin to knock on the door. "Knock on the door and ask if Grandpa is here?"

"Isn't the gate open? Just go in."

Zhou Xiang turned around to look at Zhou Yong. Zhou Yong was embarrassed and pushed Zhou Yue away. "You're talking too much nonsense. Just knock on the door when I told you to!"

After saying that, he knocked on the wide-open gate and shouted inside, "Grandpa, are you home?"

"I'm here! Come in!" A strong voice came from the room.

Zhou Quan took the lead and walked in. "Uncle, I'm back to see you." He felt a little embarrassed as he said this. Coming to see someone empty-handed?

Zhou Xiang stuffed a few ten-yuan bills into his pocket. Zhou Quan quickly took out one and handed it to an old man sitting beside the bed.

"Uncle, I didn't buy anything since I came all this way. You can keep this money and buy whatever you want to eat."

The old man was in his seventies, his eyes bright and his spirit vigorous. He looked up at Zhou Quan who had come in and said with a smile, "Yiquan is back? I can't take this money."

"Yeah! I have something to do when I get back, so keep it! Buy something for yourself."

After several refusals, the old man finally accepted it.

As for the people in Zhoujia Village, Zhou Xiang could only recognize a few of his grandfathers and his father's brothers, and he couldn't remember who the rest were.

My great-grandfather is the recognized patriarch of the Zhou family in Zhoujia Village, and is believed to be fair and just in his actions.

Unfortunately, he did not teach his eldest son well, causing the eldest son of his father's generation to become a confused drunkard.

Zhou Quan waved to the little girl, motioning her to come closer, "Uncle, this is my little girl, Zhou Xiang."

"Grandpa." Zhou Xiang called out immediately.

"Hey! Good! Good kid, what grade are you in?"

"Junior high school." Zhou Quan answered proudly.

"Wow! How old are you and you're already in junior high school?"

"It's eleven."

"Oh! It's better to be outside! Here in the village, a ten-year-old is still in the third grade!"

"It's not easy to survive out there. Yihui and his friends can only make ends meet."

"That's not easy anywhere!"

Zhou Quan wanted to say a few more words, but seeing that his daughter was impatient, he quickly got down to business.

"Come back today! I have something to tell my uncle."

"you say."

"My eldest cousin beat his wife in the village. Others can only persuade him and not criticize him, after all, he is 50 years old. But he actually brought his whole family, pulled my eldest cousin's wife's hair, and made a scene at our residence in the county town. What is he doing?

I don't care if he wants to lose face in the county, but he can't take us with him! Think about their three children living in the Water Conservancy Bureau.

Without an adult by their side, others didn't bully them, but their own family members came to bully them. How will the children survive in that place in the future?"

As the old man listened, he stood up and began to touch the whip beside him.

After Zhou Quan finished speaking, he shouted to the yard: "Dayong, call your father in."

"Okay!"

Zhou Yong immediately pushed his father to the center of the yard, hoping that his grandfather would beat his father first, and when he was tired, he and his third brother would be whipped less often.

"Grandpa, Dad is already standing in the middle of the yard."

The great grandfather stood up and prepared to enforce the family rules himself.

Zhou wanted to stop him, "Grandpa, it's no use just whipping him a few times. I have a lawsuit to file."

"Okay, go ahead."

"My eldest uncle brought people to my place looking for my second cousin, and they insisted that I had hidden him. Not only did they enter the house without permission to search, but my third cousin also stole my gold pen. You only gave them a few lashes, and they are thick-skinned. The pain will heal in two days, and they won't learn their lesson."

"What do you say?"

"Announce the offense publicly and flog it in public to serve as a warning to others."

The old man sat back down on the bed. "Are you planning to embarrass our tribe in front of the whole village?"

"He's already lost all his face. It's all over the place, ready for anyone to step on. Just now, when I entered the village, people younger than me started to jeer at him, asking him to break my second cousin's legs.

I think this definitely happened not once or twice, not in one or two years, why?

It's because you're educating your children behind closed doors that you're all trying to cover up your own mistakes.

The villagers are ignorant and stupid, but you are whitewashing the situation. Zhoujia Village is rotten from the inside out and stinks!"

"Think about it!" Although Zhou Quan knew that what his little girl said was right, he still felt that it was too shameless to strip his elder like this.

"You're the same. You've only changed on the outside, but deep down you still agree with this approach. Respect isn't given by others; it's earned by yourself."

Zhou wanted to confront his father again, but when he saw the decadent look of the old man next to him, he turned and left the house.

I really couldn't help it. My great-grandfather's whole life was ruined by my great-uncle. After he passed away, no one could control him. My great-uncle's wife was beaten severely by my great-uncle and was not given any medical treatment. She died after lying in bed for two days.

A person like this still needs face? He should be crippled so that he can never stand up and show off his power again.

Zhou Quan stood there awkwardly, carrying his handbag and his daughter's backpack.

There was silence in the room for a long time, and then the old man looked at Zhou Quan and said, "Yiquan, you raised a good daughter, but it's a pity that it's not a boy."

"Uncle, I've come to terms with it now. Boys and girls are the same. Before, I always thought that this life was hopeless and I would just live a life of drunkenness and dreams, but..."

Zhou Quan told him in detail about the changes that had taken place in his family over the past year.

In the yard, after Zhou Xiang rushed out, Zhou Yiwen was still waiting for his father to come out and whip him, but unexpectedly, there was no movement.

This is so abnormal that it makes people feel uneasy.

Zhou Xiang walked all the way to the lake before stopping. The water was clear, and schools of small fish were swimming under the fish grass.

Several children aged four or five were fishing in the lake with fish baskets. When they caught a few tiny fish or a few shrimps, they smiled as if they had obtained the best thing in the world.

Childhood is beautiful, but you never know when it will be destroyed by adults.

It’s all caused by ignorance. If you want to get rid of ignorance, you have to study, and studying still requires money.

It all comes down to money, just like myself. If I didn't have money, my family wouldn't be in order so quickly, and others wouldn't give me face.

A child about five years old saw Zhou Xiang standing by the lake not far away, and ran towards her with a small wooden bucket in his hand.

"Sister, sister, look, there are so many fish here, let's go and roast them together!"

There were several inch long fish and some small shrimps in the wooden barrel.

"That's all. Who will eat it if we burn it?"

"Make some soup and give each of you one."

"Whose house are you burning it at?"

"Let's go to Erya's house. Her mother is not at home today. She could use some salt."