Chapter 187 Turning Black into White
"Ha, our Zhou family is worthless?"
Zhou Hairong sneered, then suddenly spat out his saliva, which flew straight towards the railing.
"Where is your family's high and mighty attitude now? You abandon your own son in the countryside, letting him roll in the mud and starve, while you run to the city to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy, becoming their lackeys to make money? Even tigers don't eat their cubs! People like you are worse than animals! What right do you have to talk nonsense here?"
"Wow, you're quite the talker."
Zhou Hongxue's previously calm face suddenly tensed up.
"You're quite good at twisting the truth."
He approached the iron bars step by step.
"Don't you really know why she disowns you? Why would she rather work alone away from home than come back? Because every time you come back, you're just asking for money! Where were you when she was carrying heavy loads, walking through mountain paths at night to deliver vegetables, and kneeling down begging for money to pay off your gambling debts?"
At this point, his suppressed emotions finally erupted.
He suddenly raised his foot and kicked the iron gate hard.
A loud crash echoed throughout the corridor.
The four brothers trembled in fright, and Zhou Haiwei even fell to the ground.
Zhou Hongxue's voice then erupted.
"She didn't abandon you! You've already sold yourselves to greed and shamelessness! Now that you're in jail, you're trying to cry foul? Too late!"
“She saved her meal tickets to feed you, but when she went hungry, why didn’t you mention ‘even a tiger wouldn’t eat its cubs’? At that time, she was so hungry that her eyes were black, her lips were cracked, and she was skin and bones, but she still secretly stuffed the half meal ticket she had saved under the third brother’s pillow. And what about herself? She could only dig tree bark in the gully outside the village.”
"But what about you? You sit inside eating hot porridge, and who has ever asked her if she's eaten a single bite? Who has ever felt sorry for her, sweating profusely from hunger? Now that she's built up some wealth with her own two hands, do you all remember you're her sons? You all come running to claim kinship, demand money, and try to get a share of her fortune. There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world!"
Zhou Hairong's face hardened, veins bulging on his neck, as he stubbornly forced his mouth shut.
"That's what she wanted! Who told her to be our mother! She gave birth to us and raised us, shouldn't she contribute to the family? Isn't it only right that she suffers a little? Besides, we were all young then, what could we do? She chose to do it herself, who can we blame?"
"Pooh!"
Zhou Hongxue spat on the ground.
“She’s not your mother anymore! You watched as Zhou Dajun pinned her to the ground and beat her, and you, her four sons, just stood by, heads down, not uttering a sound! No one offered a helping hand, no one shouted a word! She’s not your mother anymore! A blood tie severed from the heart is more painful than broken bones!”
He suddenly turned around and poked Zhou Haiwei's nose with his finger.
“If I hadn’t secretly slipped her a silver dollar back then, she would have frozen to death in that drafty room! If it weren’t for that silver dollar, she wouldn’t even be able to afford a bowl of hot soup! If my ancestors hadn’t had some conscience left, she would have frozen and starved to death under the cold eyes of your Zhou family! Your Zhou family owes our family a life!”
Zhou Haiwei squatted in the corner, his back against the cold brick wall, his hands tightly covering his head.
He suddenly remembered.
On a cold winter morning, Zhou Shufen knelt in the snow, her knees red from the cold, facing her neighbor's tightly closed door.
She pleaded in a low, hoarse voice, "Aunt Pan, lend me a bowl of rice... just one bowl, I'll pay you back after I sell my eggs..."
Only half a cold face peeked out from the crack in the door, which then slammed shut with a "bang".
He suddenly remembered.
Under the oil lamp in the middle of the night, Zhou Shufen sat on a small stool sewing clothes.
She breathed on her hands to warm them as she sewed.
But as soon as my hands warmed up, they went cold again.
She gritted her teeth and mended the children's torn cotton-padded jackets stitch by stitch.
He suddenly remembered.
She warmed her four sons' shoes in her bosom, afraid their feet would get frostbite.
But what about herself?
Walking barefoot on the ice shards, my feet were cut all over.
She didn't complain of the pain, nor did she cry; she simply walked silently, step by step.
"If she hadn't divorced her father later and gone astray..."
Zhou Hairong was still humming.
"If she hadn't abandoned us, hooked up with outsiders, and engaged in some kind of free love affair, our family wouldn't have fallen apart like this. If she had been well-behaved, patient, and endured it all, would all of this have happened?"
"Wrong way?"
Zhou Hongxue sneered.
"Good riddance! If she hadn't, she would have been beaten to death by your bunch of fathers! Your dad is an alcoholic, and he'd grab a carrying pole and start hitting her at the slightest provocation. None of you four brothers ever stopped him! She runs a small shop, and every penny she earns is hard-earned. What's wrong with that? You're all thieves and swindlers, cheating relatives out of money, and you're always eyeing your own mother's money!"
He suddenly pulled an old cloth bag from his pocket.
The corners of the fabric were yellowed and the threads were frayed, showing that it had been used for many years.
He threw himself into the iron bars with a resolute motion.
With a "crash," several bags of malted milk powder and two boxes of fruit candies rolled all over the floor.
"These were sent by Yang Qingshan."
Zhou Hongxue lowered his voice, his tone becoming more complex.
“He said, out of consideration for the old friendships of the village, we shouldn’t let outsiders laugh at us, saying that the Zhou family’s son can’t even afford candy. But I have to warn you, this is just this once. Next time, if anyone dares to touch a single penny of hers, or lay a finger on her, I will not only smash your pots and pans, but I will also let you know what real retribution is!”
Zhou Hailiang stared intently at the few packets of candy scattered on the ground, his eyes unblinking.
His hand, which he had intended to reach out, suddenly trembled in mid-air.
He then quickly tucked it back into his tattered sleeve.
He didn't dare bend down to pick it up.
Even if the candy was scattered at his feet.
Zhou Haiqing huddled in the innermost corner of the cell, curled up in a ball.
Zhou Hongxue stood at the door, his brows furrowed like a knotted rope.
“You four, squat down and think it over carefully. Besides stealing chickens and dogs and acting tough and shameless, what decent things can you do in this life? When you come out, even that skinny old yellow dog at the village entrance will roll its eyes at you and spit on you.”
The iron gate slammed shut with a loud bang.
The footsteps faded into the distance, disappearing at the end of the corridor.
Zhou Hairong suddenly sprang up from the ground like a spring.
He suddenly raised his right foot and kicked hard at the pile of sugar and milk powder on the ground.
With a crash, the cardboard box tipped over, spilling milk powder all over the floor.
The white powder rose up like a snowfall.
His eyes were wide and round, bloodshot, and his teeth were clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound.
"Who cares about his stinking money! Who wants his fake compassionate face! When I get out of here, the first thing I'll do is smash that department store to pieces, leaving not a single tile behind!"
Zhou Haiqing also stood up abruptly.
He rushed over and kicked the iron bed against the wall hard.
The iron bed slammed against the wall with a loud bang, and the bed boards shook violently.
He roared through gritted teeth, "That's right! Smash it! Let Zhou Shufen open her eyes and see that the brothers of our Zhou family are not someone she can trample on and manipulate! Anyone who dares to look down on us, we'll make sure their whole family can't sleep at night!"
Only Zhou Hailiang remained squatting there, his body motionless.
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