Like bandits, they are ruthless and make people want to hide when they see them.
“Mother,” Huang Hai said, unaware of Liao’s thoughts, “it was just a little quarrel. Lai Zi shouldn’t mind. Don’t scare yourself.”
“This is no small quarrel,” Liao was extremely anxious, but she didn’t want her son to know about these dirty things. “Forget it, I’ll go find your father. You go to sleep and rest tomorrow. Let your brother go do his corvée labor.”
"No need, I can go by myself. Let my brother rest for a couple of days."
"Okay, okay," Liao agreed without even hearing what her son said, her mind in turmoil.
At the Huang clan chief's house, the clan chief called his son into the study and inquired carefully about what had happened that day.
“Father,” Huang Qing looked at the clan chief Huang with a puzzled expression, “I always feel that Lai Zi and Aunt Wu are getting a little too close.”
“Lai Zi’s matter is not that simple,” Chief Huang sighed. “In a way, the clan has wronged him.”
"Back then, Huangjiakou and Dingjiacun fought over the village's dock. His father risked his life to drag the leader of Dingjiacun to his death, which is how our village won that fight."
“He was a hero of our village. According to the rules, regardless of whether he is alive or dead, the clan should support his wife, children and elderly mother. His wife died in childbirth and his parents have also passed away. Only Lai Zi is left as the only heir. The clan will do everything they can to raise him.”
"But people's hearts are fickle!"
"Year after year passed, and Lai Zi grew bigger and bigger, eating more and more. Every household had to tighten their belts to make ends meet, and they still had to give away grain. Gradually, some people became dissatisfied."
"As a result, all sorts of sarcastic remarks began to circulate, and they became increasingly harsh. At first, only the women took it to heart, but later, the men in the village also became unwilling to accept it."
"Later, the words became increasingly harsh, the food supplies dwindled, and Lai Zi grew more and more gloomy. I saw the astonishing hatred in his eyes several times."
"So, you just let it go?" Huang Qing asked knowingly.
"Hmm," Chief Huang nodded almost imperceptibly, "You know how many children die every year. They have no parents to take care of them, and they go hungry one day and full the next. Who knows if they can grow up? It's just a waste of food."
Hearing this, Huang Qing felt heavy-hearted. "And then?"
"Later, the child attempted suicide by starvation, but was saved by your fifth uncle and aunt."
"I've never heard of any of this," Huang Qing said, looking bewildered. "Father, are the three scourges of Huangjiakou really as terrible as the rumors say?"
Why are what he hears and what he sees completely different?
Neither Lai Zi nor Aunt Wu were as bad as the rumors suggested.
“Those rumors are just gossipy old women talking nonsense, don’t believe them.” Chief Huang earnestly advised his son, “Qing’er, remember, mountains crumble and people run away, never put your last hope on others. Live, you must live no matter what, only by living can you avoid everything going to waste.”
Lai Zi's biggest regret is that his father didn't survive.
Otherwise, it would certainly be a different story.
"Otherwise, even if you bestow kindness upon the entire village, your own son will only be treated like a stray dog, suffering scorn and waiting for charity while being scorned and cursed, right?"
Huang Qing's words caused the Huang clan chief's expression to change drastically.
Ultimately, he bears the greatest responsibility for this matter.
However, he still nodded emphatically, "That's right, that's how cruel the world is. Everyone is doing whatever it takes to make their lives better."
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