Playing with shit
Zhou Lexing remained silent.
Zhou Dongqiang thought his words had worked, and continued babbling on, "Everything I said is true! That Gu kid asked me out this morning! I..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Lexing punched him, making one of Zhou Dongqiang's eyes bloodshot and blackened. Zhou Dongqiang felt dizzy and almost fell into the latrine.
"My patience is limited."
Zhou Lexing's cold expression made him look like a living Yama in Zhou Dongqiang's eyes.
Zhou Dongqiang, recalling the past reputation of Zhou Yuanxiang's third son, trembled even more, his heart shaking uncontrollably. He assumed that Gu Jiansheng had specifically sought out Zhou Lexing to stand up for him, probably knowing the inside story and coming to warn him. Finally, he told the truth indirectly.
"I...I just find Gu likable, and I thought I'd open up to him. I didn't intend to do anything to him..."
The chill emanating from Zhou Lexing seemed to be turning into black mist that enveloped his face.
Despite Zhou Lexing's usual cheerful and optimistic demeanor, as an illegitimate son of the Zhou family, his experiences and knowledge are far richer than those of ordinary people.
The meaning behind Zhou Dongqiang's words, along with his disgusting behavior when he flirted with Gu Jiansheng, immediately made Zhou Lexing understand his sordid intentions.
"Heh, go eat shit!"
Zhou Lexing sneered and kicked hard. Zhou Dongqiang let out a scream and scratched at the edge of the latrine with his hands in vain. However, his right hand had already been injured by Zhou Lexing's foot. This scratch only made him feel excruciating pain and also weakened his strength.
Zhou Lexing, having landed a successful blow, quickly retreated and slipped outside the toilet.
He had just stepped out when he heard a splash from the toilet, and drops of feces even splattered onto the toilet doorway, almost landing on Zhou Lexing's shoes.
"Walk."
The toilet smelled terrible, but Zhou Lexing didn't linger and led his underlings home.
“That guy is a thief. You saw him climbing the wall, right? I was just punishing evil and helping your brother Gu deal with him.” When they arrived at the door, Zhou Lexing didn’t forget to explain to his younger brother, and also needed to give him a good reminder, “Don’t tell Mom about what happened today, or I won’t dare to take you out next time.”
I guess I can't take him out either. After all, Zhou Lexing has personally experienced the power of the feather duster, so he'll probably need to rest for a day or two.
Zhou Shusheng was still in a daze, just like the fish in the bucket he was carrying, which had been swayed all the way. He was almost rolling his eyes and blowing bubbles. He felt like his brain had been impacted. All he knew was that his third brother not only beat people, but also played with poop.
Although Zhou Shusheng was a bit simple-minded, he knew that hitting people was wrong, and playing with feces was even more wrong, and that people would laugh at him.
He didn't want his third brother to be laughed at by others.
So when Zhou Shusheng heard his third brother's words, he nodded solemnly: "Yes! I won't tell anyone!"
Zhou Lexing nodded in satisfaction and finally pushed open the door.
They came back late. Zhou Yuanxiang had already eaten and was sitting on a small stool mending something. Hearing the noise, she looked up and said, "The food is on the stove. Hurry up and wash your hands and go eat. Next time, don't let Shusheng play outside for so long. You have to be back before mealtime."
The two obediently replied, "Okay!" and went to wash their hands, shoulder to shoulder.
Zhou Yuanxiang was happy for her third son to take Zhou Shusheng out to play. With her clever third son leading the way, Zhou Shusheng was less likely to be bullied, and she didn't have to worry about him getting into trouble while he was out alone. It also kept her troublesome third son under control, killing two birds with one stone. Therefore, she was very easy to talk to and didn't care about these small details.
Zhou Lexing looked rather listless while eating.
The reason was simple: the smell of the toilet from the last kick to Zhou Dongqiang was too strong, which made him lose his appetite.
Zhou Shusheng, who stayed outside the whole time, was unaffected and ate his rice bowl with great gusto.
"I'll give you mine too." Zhou Lexing poured the remaining half bowl of sweet potato rice into Zhou Shusheng's bowl.
Zhou Shusheng knew he couldn't speak when he had something in his mouth, so he just held the bowl closer, smiling and shaking his head.
Zhou Yuanxiang glanced into the room: "I'll make you some bitter melon soup tonight to cool you down." This must be the heat of summer.
They played so much during the day, they need to eat well first.
"Oh, right, there's a bag of boiled peanuts on the cabinet. Go get some and eat them."
Zhou Yuanxiang's words stunned Zhou Lexing.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Yuanxiang was startled by his dazed look. "Does your head hurt? Don't worry, you might have heatstroke. You can't go out this afternoon!"
Zhou Lexing touched the stubble on his head and smiled wryly: "Mom, I might really be a little stupid."
He was initially distracted by the cucumber throwing knife and the feather duster when Gu Jiansheng brought him the bag of peanuts, and completely forgot about it. Later, when he finally remembered, his attention was taken away by the naked, greasy man and a group of lackeys. Only now did he realize that he hadn't told Zhou Yuanxiang about it yet.
"Huh? I thought the second brother brought it home." Zhou Yuanxiang didn't think there was anything wrong with it: "It's okay, I'll make some bitter melon and pork rib soup tonight, you can send a bowl over."
These days, while eating meat isn't difficult, it's still a rare treat.
This time, Zhou Yuanxiang bought some pork ribs for a treat because Zhou Lixing rarely came home. There was still a small piece of pork rib left, and it was too hot to store, so she decided to cook it.
After finishing what was in his mouth, Zhou Shusheng imitated him and said, "Bitter melon is for selling, so we can't eat it."
Zhou Yuanxiang laughed immediately: "Yes, Shusheng is so smart. I'll take you to town to sell vegetables this weekend."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Shusheng immediately cheered.
Not only do they have sugar cakes to eat in town, but they also have meat!
Although Zhou Lexing didn't know what was in the town, he still agreed earnestly.
With him around this time, Zhou Yuanxiang's workload will be much lighter, at least someone will share the task of carrying vegetables.
.
The afternoon sun was even more intense, baking the ground so much that it looked like smoke was rising from it, and it looked somewhat distorted from a distance. If you put an egg on the ground now, it would probably cook in a few seconds.
However, eggs are a precious commodity now, as they can be exchanged for money, so people are reluctant to leave them lying on the ground.
The Zhou family stayed home quietly in the afternoon, so Zhou Lexing took out Zhou Shusheng's third-grade textbook and gave his younger brother some extra tutoring.
Zhou Shusheng trembled at the sight of the textbook, cowering timidly in his chair, his lips pouting so much they could hang an oil bottle.
"What? You want to repeat a grade again?" Zhou Lexing opened his textbook. The Chinese textbook looked clean and there were notes. But when he opened the math textbook, he saw the word "idiot" written in big red pen. When Zhou Lexing flipped through it again, he saw the word "stupid egg" written in big red pen, followed by a zero.
He flipped through the math textbook without changing his expression. The colors and handwriting of the pens varied, but the words he left behind were all equally sharp and sarcastic.
Zhou Lexing looked up at Zhou Shusheng's lowered head.
Don't let Zhou Shusheng's simple-mindedness fool you; he has a stubborn streak. The fact that he doesn't fight back when bullied suggests that he harbors some strange belief, which is likely unconsciously passed down to him by his family, such as the belief that one shouldn't hit people.
Zhou Lexing asked, "Let me ask you, if someone hits your brother now, should you hit him back?"
Zhou Shusheng's round face was wrinkled. He thought for a long time before hesitantly shaking his head.
"What if that person killed your brother? Could you avenge him?"
It took Zhou Shusheng a few seconds to realize the meaning behind those words. His face turned pale, and he shook his head repeatedly, crying, "Brother can't die! Brother doesn't want to die! Brother won't die—! Waaah—!"
As he spoke, his eyes reddened, and he suddenly looked up and cried out.
"What's going on?!" Zhou Yuanxiang, who was sitting in the hall continuing to sew and mend, quickly peeked in. When she saw the textbooks spread out on the table, her tension eased. "Shusheng, you still have to study. If you listen to me and study hard, I'll beat him to death if your brother dares to hit you."
Zhou Lexing objected: "Comrade Zhou Yuanxiang, you're wrong. There's no reason to hit a teacher!"
Zhou Yuanxiang glanced at him: "You have no manners!"
After she finished speaking, she pulled her head back and went back to her own work.
The curtain blocking the doorway swayed for a moment, then quickly returned to calm. Zhou Shusheng sniffed and gradually calmed down as well.
"Stop crying?" Zhou Lexing asked lazily, propping his head up with his hand.
Zhou Shusheng shook his head honestly, got up, took a clean handkerchief from the cabinet, wiped his face, and sat back down.
Those round eyes were glistening with tears, but unfortunately, they still failed to evoke Zhou Lexing's pity: "Now that you're done crying, answer the questions."
Zhou Shusheng's lips trembled, his face turning red from holding it in, but he couldn't manage to utter a single word.
Zhou Lexing wasn't in a hurry. Anyway, there was still a while before the summer vacation ended, so he simply propped his head up and dozed off, waiting for Zhou Shusheng's answer.
It wasn't until the aroma of dinner wafted into the house that Zhou Shusheng lowered his head and whispered, "Brother, if someone hits you, I... I want to hit back. I'm the worst kid, the kid Dad hates the most..."
Glistening water droplets fell onto the table, forming a small puddle.
Zhou Lexing was silent for a moment, then reached out and patted his head: "You can stand up for your family and for yourself. You are my favorite child and the smartest child."
.
When Zhou's father had the accident, Zhou Shusheng was only 5 years old and Zhou Lexing was 10 years old. They were both at an age where they were not fully aware of the world. However, without exception, their time with their father at the beginning of the year became the most vivid and profound memories of their time with their father.
Zhou's father knew martial arts, and when he had nothing to do, he would lead a group of little kids to practice in the yard.
Zhou Shusheng was already showing some signs of change by then. The village children would hold hands and surround him, singing and laughing, and making up nursery rhymes about the mentally challenged man.
At first, Xiao Shusheng just laughed along foolishly, but gradually he started to panic. His eyes blurred, and those tender, smiling faces turned into distorted, grotesque monster faces, snarling and trying to devour him.
He uttered incoherent pleas for mercy, but failed to gain the monsters' mercy. Instead, their faces drew closer and closer to him, and shrill songs and laughter kept drilling into his ears.
Five-year-old Xiaoshusheng screamed in fright, clenching his little fists tightly, and punched one of the strange faces.
“Brother Guosheng, you’ve made contributions to the country, and everyone in our village respects you for being successful. But your son can’t just beat people up without even knowing what happened! Look at him! Look at him! What have you done to him?! What if he’s disfigured?!”
Little Shusheng shrank behind the door in fear, watching his father, Zhou, speaking in a low voice to the group of people who had surrounded their house. As if sensing his gaze, Zhou's father turned around and glanced back. That one glance was enough to give little Zhou Shusheng a dream.
In that nightmare, the children's faces were rosy, with crooked smiles, surrounding him and emitting sharp, twisted laughter. The most reliable shadow in his heart stood outside the circle, gave him a cold look, turned and walked into the endless darkness, never to return.
His father didn't want him anymore.
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