Huang Xiaoqiang was skipping class and wandering around outside with his friends when his older brother caught him red-handed, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and dragged him home.
Huang Xiaomin went to Miao Fengying's house. As soon as he entered the gate, Huang Xiaomin looked like a lovesick fool, washing clothes while staring at Miao Fengying as she poured laundry detergent into the basin and grinning like an idiot.
Huang Xiaomin closed his eyes, revealing a tooth-grinding expression; he simply couldn't bear to look.
Why does his second brother look so stupid? It's so embarrassing! Remembering Old Lady Wu's instructions, he suppressed his shame and called out to him, "Huang Xiaofu!"
Huh? Who called him?
Huang Xiaofu craned his neck and looked around, only to find Huang Xiaomin standing at the door, glaring at him with a look of shame and indignation. He was stunned. "Xiao...Xiaomin? What brings you here?"
"Come out here!" Huang Xiaomin gritted his teeth and waved his hand forcefully. "Mom has something to say, hurry home!"
Huang Xiaofu subconsciously looked up at Miao Fengying in front of him, then looked down at the mountain of clothes piled up in the basin. After hesitating for a long time, he finally mustered up the courage to refuse, "You, you go back first, I'll go back after I finish my work."
What!
Huang Xiaomin stared wide-eyed at his second brother in disbelief. "You should have some dignity when pursuing a girl. You haven't even done anything yet, and you're already going to her house to do hard labor for free. What's the difference between this and paying her?"
Even if he liked Jin'e very much, he wouldn't go to his mother-in-law's house three or five times a day to take on everything and do all the work.
There's really no hope!
Thinking of Grandma Wu's fighting spirit, I sincerely lit a candle in my heart for him, wishing him a safe journey home.
Miao Fengying caught a glimpse of the figure disappearing through the doorway out of the corner of her eye, and her smile deepened, making Huang Xiaofu's mouth practically split into eight pieces.
As soon as the three brothers returned home, they saw Huang Mancang limping out with a basin of water, wiping a rag in one hand and a bowl in the other, washing the dishes with great effort.
Huang Xiaoqiang looked shocked and asked incredulously, "Dad, how can a grown man like you wash the dishes? Where's Mom? Why don't you let her wash them?"
Huang Mancang lowered his head, a hint of embarrassment flashing across his face. He used to never lift a finger when it came to housework, but now he not only mops the floor and washes the dishes, but that old hag just now even said that he would have to wash all of their clothes from now on.
This is outrageous! Before he could even react, a dark shadow loomed before his eyes. Huang Xiaoqiang approached and his eyes widened in shock.
"Dad, why is your face even more swollen than my older brother's? You're almost swollen like a pig's head!"
Huang Xiaoguo strode forward, grabbed him, and pulled him into the house, blocking the prying eyes from his view.
Amidst Huang Xiaoqiang's screeching and yelling, the group closed the door.
"Hey, what do you think happened?"
"very?"
"It's the Huang family. I've been hearing a lot of popping and crackling coming from their house since this morning. It hasn't stopped. Look at Huang Mancang and his eldest son's faces. Even the pigs offered as New Year's sacrifices look better than them."
The man inside, having taken several puffs of his cigarette, glanced impatiently at his wife who was peering out the window. "What else could it be?"
"It must have been a fight between the father and son, and it got that bad. Huang Mancang has so much debt outside that people have come to his door. As the eldest son in the family, how could Huang Xiaoguo let him have his way?"
Seeing the Huang family's door close, Aunt Zhou reluctantly withdrew her gaze. "That's true, given Wu Mingxia's weak and timid nature, she wouldn't do something like hitting someone."
"It's good enough that you mind your own business; why are you meddling so much in other people's affairs?"
The Huang family couldn't hear or pay attention to the conversation between the Zhou couple.
As soon as Huang Xiaoqiang entered, he angrily pulled Huang Mancang behind him and spoke to Old Lady Wu in a very harsh tone.
"Mom, are you crazy? Making Dad wash the dishes is one thing, but hitting him is another! Are you out of your mind?!"
As Grandma Wu picked up her cup to drink water, she suddenly paused, slowly raised her eyes, and her eyes were calm and undisturbed, revealing no emotion whatsoever.
"What did you say?" Huang Mancang's heart tightened when he saw her expression. Although he was touched that his youngest son stood up for him, he still kindly tugged at his arm when he thought about Wu's strange behavior today.
Huang Xiaoqiang felt his arm being pulled, and thinking it was Huang Mancang who was scared, he patted his hand considerately, "Dad, don't be afraid. We have to make things clear with her today, otherwise how will you manage the household and establish your authority?"
Hiding behind him, Huang Mancang remained silent. His earlier reminder was the last vestige of his fatherly love.
Seeing his younger brother's clueless look, Huang Xiaoguo couldn't help but twitch his lips, which aggravated the injury on his cheek. He subtly moved his feet further away from Old Lady Wu.
Huang Xiaomin, on the other hand, looked on with amusement.
With a forced smile, Old Mrs. Wu stared at Huang Xiaoqiang, who was indignant on behalf of his father, and asked him, word by word, "Say what you just said again."
Huang Xiaoqiang stiffened his neck, his head shaped like a gourd egg, and said, "I'm telling you, are you out of your mind? This family is not your place to run wild. Dad is the head of the family."
"If you dare lay a hand on us, none of us four brothers will—!"
Before he could finish speaking, everything went black, and a barrage of slaps left his ears ringing. Old Mrs. Wu's voice rang in his ears.
"You brat, I gave birth to you and raised you, and this is how you treat me?"
"I feed and treat my dog well every day, and he'll even wag his tail at me after a while!"
"And you? You're not even as good as a dog! No, a dog has more conscience than you!"
Caught off guard by the blow, Huang Xiaoqiang felt a burning pain in his face. He tried to push Wu away, but his hands felt like they were being clamped by vises, and he couldn't break free no matter what he did.
Huang Xiaoguo and Huang Xiaomin, who were standing to the side, exchanged a glance, a hint of shame flashing across their faces.
Grandma Wu felt the person beneath her gradually give up struggling, so she released him, turned around panting, and a hint of tears welled up in her eyes.
She really failed. She didn't teach any of the children well. She did the most, but she didn't get a single bit of gratitude from them. Since that's the case, why should she continue to take on so much responsibility from now on?
Not only was it a thankless task, but it also left me exhausted.
Once he had made up his mind, he turned around and looked at his fourth brother, who lay on the ground like a limp rag doll.
"First of all, I am your mother! The debt of giving birth to you is greater than heaven. You should have at least some respect for me. What your father and I do is a matter between us as husband and wife."
"Then why did you hit him?" A weak question rang out from the ground, eliciting a cold laugh from Old Mrs. Wu. What a touching display of fatherly affection! Her gaze shifted to Huang Mancang, whose head was bowed, and her voice was indifferent.
"Why don't you ask your father what he did? You're a grown man, you should understand things better."
As he spoke, Huang Xiaoguo glanced at his boss out of the corner of his eye and immediately realized what was going on. He squatted down and explained the whole story to Huang Xiaoqiang.
As soon as he finished speaking, Huang Xiaoqiang stared at Huang Mancang with his swollen eyes wide open in disbelief, "Dad! You gambled? You even used the house deed as collateral to borrow money to gamble!"
"And this house?" Huang Xiaoqiang was so shocked that tears welled up in his eyes. "Dad, you've really gone mad!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
