Du Jianshui's expression changed: "What nonsense are you talking about? Those were wolves I hunted!"
"You shot the wolf?" Du Jianshan suddenly stepped forward. "I shot it in the head, and you come to skin it and that makes it your job? You really know how to take advantage!"
"Jianshan, don't be unreasonable!" Liu Xiuqin quickly pulled him back. "Your brother meant well, he..."
"If he really meant well, he wouldn't have picked out all the chicken meat before I got back, leaving only the necks!" Du Jianshan flung her hand away, his anger almost uncontrollable. "You all eat and drink well, not leaving me a single bite, but when we're short of food and firewood, you come looking for me to come into the mountains! What do you take me for? An animal to be used?"
Someone else approached from outside the door. It was Qiu Mulin, the village team leader, who came in with an embarrassed look on his face: "Jianshan, I heard you're back. I have something to ask you."
Du Jianshan suppressed his anger, turned around and asked coldly, "Is it about going into the mountains again?"
"No, no," Qiu Mulin rubbed his hands. "A few days ago, someone came from Lingnan Village to exchange goods. He said the city's supply and marketing cooperative wanted to buy a batch of badger pelts and roe deer meat. They were offering a lot of coupons, and they wanted to ask if you'd had any luck with your purchases these past few days..."
"You divide and exchange the game I hunted without a second thought, and I haven't seen a single penny!" Du Jianshan looked up at the sky. "Captain Qiu, let me tell you, from today onwards, the game I hunt belongs solely to me. Anyone who tries anything funny, don't blame me for turning against them!"
Qiu Mulin was stunned for a moment, opened his mouth but didn't dare to say anything more, and just turned around and left awkwardly.
The room was deathly silent.
Liu Xiuqin stood up tremblingly, walked to Du Jianshan's side, and said in a choked voice, "My son, if you don't acknowledge your mother, what's the point of my life..."
Du Jianshan's eyes were slightly red, but the lines on his face were as hard as rock. "It's not that I don't acknowledge you, I only acknowledge one principle—in this world, a person must have a conscience. I will repay what I owe, and I will not suffer in vain!"
After saying that, he turned and went out the door. The cold wind swirled up snowflakes, ruffling the tattered cotton-padded coat on his shoulders.
Liu Xiuqin slumped down at the doorway, covered her face with her hands, and burst into tears.
"Du, Du Jianshan—you, you don't even recognize your own mother anymore!" Liu Xiuqin trembled with anger, her face wrinkled like a collapsed mud wall. She swayed a couple of times before grabbing the door frame to steady herself. "I'm your own mother! How can you talk to me like that?"
"Your biological mother?" Du Jianshan sneered, his voice full of sarcasm. "When did you start treating me like your own son?"
He pointed to his chest and said, word by word, "When we were little, you favored Li Fuqiang, saying he was weak and giving him all the good food; when I fell and broke my head, you didn't hold me; but when he coughed, you ran barefoot to town overnight to get medicine."
“I remember it clearly. When I was eight years old, I fell into an ice hole. You didn’t ask if I was cold. You just scolded me for being a disgrace and delaying your trip to the town meeting with Li Fuqiang. When I had a high fever, you put a tattered towel on it for a couple of minutes and then made me lie down in the cowshed. When he had a runny nose, you stayed up for three nights without closing your eyes. Do you want me to acknowledge you?”
Liu Xiuqin's face was deathly pale, her lips trembled, and she gripped the door frame tightly with both hands: "That's because Mom didn't understand back then... But now I'm old, and my heart has softened, and I want to make amends..."
"Make up for it?" Du Jianshan roared, startling Liu Xiuqin. "You're only thinking of making up for it because you're afraid I'll expose your past! Mom? Do you even deserve that title?"
"You—you're too cruel..." Liu Xiuqin's eyes were red, and she squatted down against the wall, her body trembling, tears streaming down her face. "I'm an old woman, I was wrong, I was confused, but it was all for this family... Your eldest brother is getting married, your second brother is taking exams, and you're the only one in the family who's honest and hardworking..."
"So you sold me!" Du Jianshan roared, his roar shaking the windowpane three times.
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