"Oh, what's the deeper meaning?"
In the bedroom, Zhang Guoqing suppressed his smile. He had previously thought too simply, but with the birth of the twins, looking at his eldest son, he had come to understand a father's heart.
——No matter how partial I am, my sons are my real children.
It's true that both sides are like flesh and blood, and no one wants to be wronged. If he himself is like this, how can he not understand the position his two brothers hold in his father's heart?
"Deep meaning? Not really. I've just been thinking a lot lately. If you don't think long-term, you'll have immediate worries. For the sake of my three children, there are some things I can't afford to be careless about."
Zhang Guoqing said this and looked at the twins in the cradle again.
"A thousand yuan may seem like a lot, but I have to accept it. I didn't understand before that filial piety means giving as much money and material things as possible to make their lives happy. But I forgot the principle that a full bottle of water will overflow."
Zhou Jiao pursed her lips, "Are you worried about Dad?"
"Well. I did some calculations. Let's not talk about how much my two brothers give each month. Let's start from the time we split up. Over the past few years, openly or secretly, we have given them almost a thousand yuan. He has at least a thousand yuan in our gifts. What else is there?"
Zhou Jiao looked at him thoughtfully. She had handled all of this, so of course she knew. But the moment she gave it away, she no longer considered it her own money.
"Don't forget, before we came to Beijing to attend school in 1959, we filled our entire basement with supplies. Look how many times we went to the black market. Food was so precious in those last two years, the prices were exorbitant.
How many kilograms of rice and flour are those jewels worth? I didn't have the nerve to ask my godfather how much he earned. But I roughly estimate that besides the food coupons and other coupons, he had quite a bit of cash. Apart from the coarse grains he exchanged for to support relatives and friends, just from the gifts we gave them, they had at least two thousand yuan.
Zhou Jiao nodded in understanding. This was still an underestimate. Given her in-laws' personalities, they'd likely sell a lot of the fabric and brown sugar through other channels. She was well aware of this. "So, you should accept the money Dad gave you this time. Are you worried he'll keep it to support his two brothers?"
Zhang Guoqing shook his head. "With Mom still around, it's unlikely we'll use our money to support our two sons, but it's a good bet to support our grandchildren. Otherwise, why would they keep such a large sum of money?"
After all, a nephew is just a nephew. I have three biological sons. I have no one to support but the older ones. I still have to support the younger ones. A child who cries will be loved by others.
No wonder this man started patting and searching when Father Zhang came over this time. He was just putting on airs! Zhou Jiao secretly felt lucky that she had the foresight to let him take full responsibility.
"The most important thing is that I have some concerns. Since we had a pair of sons, even if I am partial to Ping An, I still want to treat them equally. From another perspective, does Dad have the same idea?
These days, I've increasingly felt that I can't let my parents live in the capital permanently. People are hard to feed, and their desires are insatiable. As long as they're in the capital, not only my two sisters-in-law, but even the younger generation will have their own ideas.
Why is it that the Zhou family's ancestral precepts require all descendants, except the principal branch, to move back to their ancestral land? It must have been because of these concerns."
Yes, Zhang Guoqing began to reflect on himself the moment his father suggested that his two sisters-in-law come to Beijing. He had given too much away so easily in recent years, wasn't that a hint to his father?
With the twins now born and more sons, it was time for him to make his position clear: he couldn't support the Zhang family. Otherwise, his safety would be in constant trouble in the future.
After hearing this, Zhou Jiao saw a reflection of her father in Zhang Guoqing. Years of careful instruction had finally paid off.
Zhang Guoqing looked into her big, smiling eyes and asked in a low voice, "Wife, am I being a little unkind?"
"No! You're great like this. Just make sure they have enough food and clothing. How can you blindly follow their wishes? Foolish filial piety is unacceptable."
Hearing his wife's praise, Zhang Guoqing was so happy that he almost wagged his tail like a puppy. He smiled and said, "Well, I'm most worried that in a few years those kids will grow up and their dad will drag me down for the sake of their grandchildren's future."
"My man is really smart! This is very possible, so let's just live our lives quietly. When Ping'an grows up, he will represent the Zhang family in the capital."
"Zhang Zhoushi? The first generation of the Zhang family in the capital?"
"Of course I can! Didn't Grandpa say long ago that I'm the Zhang family's patriarch? That necklace is proof."
Zhang Guoqing, who had fallen on the kang with laughter, was reminded by these words and sighed: "I wonder what's going on in Hong Kong now? Does the Zhang family still exist? My grandfather..."
"Hahahaha... Ouch, I'm dying of laughter. Too funny. How old is the old man now?"
"It's a pity that I don't have the chance, otherwise I really want to go there and take a look." Zhang Guoqing rubbed her head and paused for a moment, "Jiaojiao, don't you want to go to Tao County?"
Zhou Jiao wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and replied nonchalantly, "I'm different from you! Not to mention that couple hasn't been born yet, there are no good people in that place."
Zhang Guoqing suddenly felt foolish. Just as his father-in-law hated setting foot in Zhoujia Village, didn't his wife also hate facing the past?
After all, I have been hurt and there is a shadow in my heart. Unlike myself, I always want to visit my old house and see my grandfather when he was young.
The next day was another sunny day. In such a hot and humid season, Wan Dayong and his family had already followed the old men in the family to the beach.
It was not until the evening that Zhang Guoqing, who was bored, took his eldest son out of the compound. The father and son strolled hand in hand towards Houhai.
Just as they reached the first intersection, a boy of about eleven or twelve years old rushed up from the front. Seeing this, Zhang Guoqing immediately picked up his son.
"Uncle, an old man just asked me to give you something."
Zhang Guoqing glanced down and saw the little boy in front of him holding a small cardboard box the size of an A4 paper.
"Did you find the wrong person?"
The little boy shook his head quickly: "No, he just pointed at you. I won't make a mistake, if you don't believe me, just look..." As he said that, he turned around and looked, "Hey, why is the person gone?"
Zhang Guoqing frowned, realizing he and his father were being targeted while out and about. He took the box, weighed it, and shook it; it didn't look like anything dangerous.
"Uncle, this is really for you. Look, you and your brother are the only ones wearing white shirts and green pants on this street. Uncle said that if I give it to you, you will buy me soda." The little boy licked his cracked lips.
"Okay, tell me first, how old is that old man? Does he have any special features?"
The little boy shook his head in confusion: "I forgot."
Zhang Guoqing didn't make things difficult for him. He took out fifty cents from his trouser pocket and handed it to him. Since this man was deliberately avoiding him, he wouldn't let himself be discovered.
"Could it be a bomb, like Mom said?"
"Not like it." Zhang Guoqing smiled with relief. This child has a strong sense of defense.
"Is it a trap? Should we throw it?"
Zhang Guoqing carried him across the intersection quickly and found a place: "Don't worry, open it first and see if there are any clues."
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