Chapter 250 This door will not open for you.
Yang Qingyan, who was hiding behind her, peeked out, her face still streaked with tears, her small hands tightly clutching the hem of Zhou Liya's clothes.
"You're mean...you're being unreasonable...you're not allowed to bully my aunt. My aunt is the best to me, you can't scold her..."
Zhou Yongjun was choked by the two children until his face turned red and his neck bulged.
He pointed at Zhou Liya, his fingers trembling violently, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"You little brat, you have no manners at all! Who taught you that? You're lawless! How dare you be so disrespectful to your elders at such a young age! You've gone too far!"
"You're the one with no manners!"
Li Huachen suddenly took a step forward.
"She protects her mother out of kindness and conscience! That's something your Zhou family has long since abandoned! And what about you? Back then, when loan sharks were suffocating Shufen, she knelt down and begged you for help, and what did you do? You stood by and watched! You watched her daughter being sold, and you didn't even dare to say a word of justice! Now you're pretending to be a kind elder? Trying to gain sympathy by wearing old clothes? Do you deserve it?"
Zhou Shufen gently patted Zhou Liya's shoulder.
She gestured for her not to get angry and to stop escalating her emotions, then looked up and stared coldly at Zhou Yongjun.
"Second Uncle, it's not that I'm being heartless, it's just that your Zhou family never gave us a way out back then. Now that things have calmed down and you see we're doing well, you want to turn back? Let me tell you, no one in my family will agree. Not a single one. If you have any shame left, you'd better leave now and stop embarrassing yourself here. This door won't open for you."
Zhou Yongjun looked around.
Zhou Shufen stood there, neither humble nor arrogant.
Li Huachen stood to the side, her gaze sharp.
Even that half-grown child, Zhou Liya, dared to curse him to his face.
His heart was burning with anxiety, but his mouth felt as if it were blocked by something, and he couldn't utter a single word.
More and more people gathered to watch.
Are they really going to leave in such a dejected manner?
He couldn't swallow his anger.
He was unwilling to accept that his ten years of hard work had all come to naught.
Zhou Yongjun's eyes darted around, and he suddenly put away his angry expression, replacing it with a bitter look.
“Liya… Your second uncle knows that we were wrong in the past, that we uncles were confused, and that the elders were wrong. But now, we really can’t make ends meet… Your mother is capable; she opened a factory and made money. Helping her out is just a matter of a word, isn’t it? We’re family, so why make things so difficult?”
Don't give me that nonsense!
Zhou Liya interrupted him, her voice sharp.
"You think you can just say sorry and my sister's college entrance exam results will come back? When I was bought, I was eating their leftovers and stale food! I worked over ten hours a day, worse than a dog! I dreamed of going home every day, but no one came to pick me up! No one came looking for me! Where were you all then? Drinking and dividing up the money! Now you say you'll help me? Do you think I'm stupid? It's too late!"
She raised her hand and pushed hard.
Although she didn't use much force.
But this push caught Zhou Yongjun off guard, causing him to stagger backward a few steps and almost fall to the ground.
"Get out of here! If you don't leave, I'll call for help right now! Let the whole village see how the clan chief acts like a scoundrel!"
Zhou Liya's voice is shrill.
Just as Zhou Yongjun was about to explode, his face flushed red, and he raised his finger to point at her, he suddenly glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
On the path in the distance, several neighbors were looking this way.
His heart tightened suddenly, and a chill ran down his spine.
If people see me like this, how can I hold my head up when my son works in town?
He suddenly turned his head, glared at Zhou Liya, and then turned and left.
But after taking a few steps, he slowed down again, still unwilling to give up, and couldn't help but look back.
Just then, Zhou Liya grabbed an old broom from the corner of the wall, rushed to the door, and swung it fiercely at his back, the broom slicing through the air.
"Pah! What a jinx!"
She spat loudly as she swept the broom.
After she finished scolding, she quickly turned around and threw herself into Zhou Shufen's arms.
She lowered her voice, her voice trembling slightly, and asked, "Mom, are you alright? Did he scare you?"
Zhou Shufen reached out and gently rubbed her daughter's soft hair.
She should have been the one protecting the child.
But now, how come it's her daughter protecting her instead?
"Mom's fine," she forced a smile. "But you, are you thinking about those hard times again? Feeling suffocated? Does seeing him bring back all those memories?"
"Mom, let's put it behind us and not talk about it anymore."
Zhou Liya raised her head and forced a calm smile.
It hurts, how can it not hurt?
In those years, in the dead of night, she would hide under the covers, hugging her knees and crying silently.
I woke up in the morning with puffy eyes, but I still had to force myself to keep working.
To make a living, she spends her days soaking her hands and feet in icy, salty water.
They were so hungry that their stomachs were practically touching their backs, they were unsteady on their feet, and they couldn't even stand up straight, yet they couldn't even get a hot meal.
She had to watch over that silly boy every day, never leaving his side, for fear that something might happen to him.
Upon arriving in the port city, I found myself in an unfamiliar place with no one to my name or relatives.
She and her mother ate leftovers and spoiled food that others had thrown away for months, and often curled up in a corner with stomach pain.
But Zhou Liya dared not let Zhou Shufen see it.
She knew that her mother had already suffered enough, and she couldn't add to her heartache.
Now things are finally looking up; we've finally made it through.
I never have to experience that kind of suffering again in my life.
She can finally stand tall and hold her head high.
Zhou Shufen hugged her daughter tightly, her arms wrapped around her so tightly.
"Okay, let's not talk about it. With Mom around, no one would dare let you suffer any more grievances."
Li Huachen stood to the side, her hands hanging at her sides, her gaze fixed on Zhou Liya's slightly trembling shoulders.
Her eyes welled up with tears without her even realizing it.
Those years I spent with Li Rongkai in the countryside.
In winter, it was so cold that even three tattered quilts couldn't keep me warm. I steamed pot after pot of sweet potatoes until I felt like throwing up at the sight of them.
The drafty room creaked and groaned, and at night the wind seeped in through the cracks in the walls.
She understood that kind of endless suffering better than anyone else.
She went into the kitchen, where a small pot of sugar water was still warming on the stove; it was something she had secretly made earlier.
The dried osmanthus flowers were brought from her hometown and soaked for a long time before being cooked.
A few minutes later, she brought out a bowl of steaming hot sugar water, with tiny white steam rising from the rim of the porcelain bowl.
She walked over, bent down, and gently placed the bowl in Zhou Liya's hands.
"Liya, have something sweet to warm your stomach. The sweetness will dispel the bitterness."
Zhou Liya lifted her head from her mother's arms, her face still bearing traces of wet tears.
But she forced a trembling smile and reached out to take the bowl.
"Thank you, Auntie."
She scooped up a spoonful, blew on it carefully, and then gently put it into her mouth.
The warm sugar water slid down my throat.
Yang Qingyan also came over, wearing a pink padded jacket.
Her small hand gently tugged at Zhou Liya's clothes.
"Sister Liya, I have some candy here. If you eat it, you won't cry anymore."
As she spoke, she took a piece of fruit candy out of her pocket.
She carefully unwrapped the candy and held the candy ball between her fingertips.
Then he carefully raised it to Zhou Liya's lips.
Zhou Liya felt a surge of warmth in her heart, and her nose stung with tears again.
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