I slightly lifted my eyelids and saw Old Zhang, with a stern face, shuffling over from the front yard in his slippers.
"Everyone in the village is saying that you've been noticed by a big shot in the county and have gotten in touch with the supply and marketing cooperative?" Old Zhang stood in front of Zhang Cheng and spoke in a stiff tone.
Zhang Cheng didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to adjust his breathing without making a sound.
Old Zhang was immediately annoyed, and his voice rose a little: "Er Gouzi! What kind of attitude is this?! No matter what, I'm still your father! Even if we've separated the family, it doesn't change the fact that you have my blood in your veins!"
Zhang Cheng's lips twitched almost imperceptibly before he finally spoke, his voice flat and emotionless: "Speak, what do you want?"
"You!" Old Zhang was furious at his stubborn attitude. He pointed at him, his finger trembling.
"If you have nothing to do, don't stand here and get in the way," Zhang Cheng said in a calm tone.
"Buy rice!" Old Zhang gritted his teeth, practically squeezing out the two words.
"No!" Zhang Cheng answered crisply.
"You, you, you!" Old Zhang, his face flushed and neck red from being confronted with those two words, cursed angrily.
"Ergouzi, you ungrateful wretch! Are you really going to be this heartless?! Everyone in the village can buy things from you, but you refuse to sell to me, your father?!"
"It's not that we don't want to sell, it's that we really don't have any left!" Zhang Cheng finally straightened up and spread his hands helplessly. "I only brought back 500 jin of coarse grains, and they were all sold out yesterday. You saw it yourself."
"But...but there's still white rice, isn't there?" Old Zhang persisted.
"White rice? That's for me to eat myself." Zhang Cheng looked at him with a frank expression.
"Can't you spare some?" Old Zhang's tone softened, with a hint of pleading.
"It can't be distributed!" he declared resolutely.
"Fine, fine, fine!" Old Zhang was so angry at Zhang Cheng's stubbornness that his chest heaved violently, and he was panting heavily like a broken bellows.
He stared at Zhang Cheng for a long time, and seeing that he had no intention of backing down, he finally angrily flicked his sleeve, turned around and left.
Watching Old Zhang storm off, Zhang Cheng shrugged slightly. He really wasn't deliberately making things difficult; the coarse grains were indeed sold out.
I only brought back fifty catties of rice in total. Yesterday, seeing how pitiful Zhao Qingwan was, I gave her another twenty catties. Now I only have thirty catties left.
Even if you eat sparingly, a pound a day is only enough to last a month.
With the mountains blocked by this heavy snow, it will take at least two or three months for the snow to completely melt after the New Year and spring... It seems that I need to make another trip to Funing County before the snow melts and bring back more supplies.
When the snow melts, the mountain roads are muddy and slippery, it's really deadly. Even if he had the guts of a bear and the courage of a leopard, he wouldn't dare to walk on them.
Just as Zhang Cheng had re-established his horse stance and was considering when to go to the county town and what he needed to prepare, a sharp, angry voice shattered the tranquility of the backyard.
Mom's here.
Her wrinkled face was contorted with rage, and her triangular eyes gleamed with malice. She rushed toward Zhang Cheng like a gust of wind, as if she had seen her father's killer.
She stomped one foot hard on the snow, kicking up a cloud of snowflakes, and raised her other hand, almost poking Zhang Cheng's nose, before opening her mouth to curse:
"You damned ingrate! You short-lived brat! I should have given you a dose of medicine to abort you when I was pregnant with you! You were born a debt collector! You beast..."
Zhang Cheng frowned instantly, staring at the woman in front of him who was cursing him with extremely vicious language.
He really wanted to ask: Am I really your biological child? How could you say something like that?
A feeling of inexplicable irritation and disgust welled up inside me.
He was too lazy to argue with her and turned to go back to the mud house.
But how could the old woman give up? Seeing that he was about to leave, she immediately reached out and grabbed the dog-skin felt hat he was wearing.
Zhang Cheng reacted extremely quickly, tilting his head to easily dodge her withered claws.
Before Zhang Cheng could say anything, seeing that she hadn't caught anyone, the old woman simply rolled her eyes and went limp.
With a "plop," he collapsed onto the snow and began to throw a tantrum, rolling around on his knees and wailing and wailing as he did so.
"Oh my God! This is outrageous! His own son has become successful, and now he's ignoring his old mother! This is trying to drive this old woman to her death..."
The cries were shrill and piercing, accompanied by all sorts of foul language that was unbearable to hear.
"Sister Ping! What are you doing!"
Just then, a loud female voice came from the front yard, and then Zhang Da Tou's mother, Aunt Hua, came running over like a gust of wind.
Her voice arrived before she did, shouting:
"Oh my, Sister Ping! You're getting more and more shameless! You've already separated from your family and are living separately, what kind of behavior is it for you to come to Er Gouzi's yard and throw a tantrum? What? Are you jealous because Er Gouzi is doing well and his life is good? You come here to cry poor, trying to cry away his good fortune?!"
"None of your business! Get out of here!" The old woman got halfway up from the ground and pointed at Aunt Hua, cursing.
"Hey! You're really getting aggressive, aren't you? Like a mad dog? Biting anyone you can get your hands on?"
Aunt Hua wasn't one to be trifled with either. She immediately rolled up her sleeves, put her hands on her hips, and stood still, spitting as she started hurling insults at her mother.
"Who doesn't know what you're thinking? You looked down on Er Gouzi for being useless and sent him away, but now that he's doing well, you're shamelessly coming back to him! Bah! Have you no shame?!"
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