After Ling Ran sat down, Zhou Niao immediately stood up and took over. He didn't want to be the last one to say a blessing. The closer it got to the end, the fewer blessings there were, and the harder it was to think of. How could he hide it? "I wish you all good luck in the Year of the Rat, and may all your wishes come true."
Zhou Xiang quickly raised his hand and said, "Don't repeat yourself. Even changing one word is fine."
Ling Ran immediately agreed, "Yes!"
They looked at each other, then stood up and picked up their drinks.
"I wish you all good health and good luck."
"I wish you all peace and prosperity every year."
Well! After the first four people finished talking about the familiar things, the people behind them became anxious and rushed to toast and say blessings.
If you say something twice, you will be fined one drink and have to think about it again.
The atmosphere suddenly became lively. Although not much wine was consumed during this lunch, the cheerful atmosphere was always there.
In the afternoon, everyone made dumplings together, and Zhou Xiang called Jiankangkang to the living room.
Jiankang and Kangkang were very nervous because they had always been afraid of their aunt.
"Aunt, we were wrong."
Zhou Xiang waved his hands and said, "Your apology is not true because you don't realize where you are wrong. Come on, I will take you for a walk."
Zhou Xiang was the first to walk out of the living room, followed quickly by Jian Jiankang, and Ling Ran called Lu Zhaochong to follow behind.
Zhou Xiang pointed at the Huang family and Aunt Wang's house and said, "Look at what their houses look like and remember them."
Jian Jiankang nodded, and Zhou Xiang continued walking towards the street. Because North and South Streets were work areas, the buildings there were not very good, but they were all red brick and tile houses.
Walking all the way to the East-West Street at the north end, Zhou Xiang pointed at the adobe houses and said, "Take a look at these houses, and then compare them with the tiled houses in the food station's family compound and our own Zhou family's house. Tell us what you think."
"Very poor, poor, rich."
"Good! It's good that you can tell the difference. You think people are very poor just because of the adobe house. As for that building," Zhou Xiang pointed at Zhu Hang's three-story building, "before it was demolished, it was even more dilapidated than what I showed you. It was so dilapidated that even the benches were three-legged benches picked up from other people's houses. The beds were made of two piles of broken bricks picked up from other places, with a few wooden boards placed on top of the piles to make bed boards.
The three-story building we have today was built by your father, your Uncle Zhong, and six other people, braving the elements and working as a barbecue vendor, with the money they earned and some money they borrowed from me. This is your father's struggle.
Now, let me talk about our Zhou family.
The houses you see in the food station's family compound are made of bricks and tiles, but they are also very dilapidated. At that time, our Zhou family's small courtyard was even more dilapidated.
…
Your eldest uncle lives with our grandfather, your mother and younger uncle live with our grandmother, and your grandmother's monthly salary is only 28.5 yuan.
…
When I'm hungry, I can feel my stomach rubbing against each other. It needs food, so it wriggles, but it's empty. When it wriggles, it rubs against the stomach wall, which hurts.
Days like this are hard to endure and there is no happiness in them. You face poverty and hunger every day. Where does your happiness come from?
In the winter when I was ten years old, after I woke up from a three-day fever, I went to school to ask for leave and only took part in the school's midterm and final exams, and guaranteed to be in the top three in the grade every time. I didn't go to school or attend classes, but still guaranteed to be in the top three in the grade.
The principal didn't believe me, so he gave me a fifth-grade test on the spot. Only after I passed did he agree to my leave.
I went to the city before the New Year and helped people run errands and deliver New Year's goods. I was young and no one paid attention to me. I begged and pleaded with everyone before someone took pity on me and asked me to do something for them.
Of course, ten years ago, children in their teens were able to do a lot of things, but now almost every family has only one child, and no one wants to let their children work hard.
Gradually, I started selling New Year's goods myself, and then I started to make money...
These are my struggle stories, which cannot be replicated by others, because there are many secrets here that others cannot know.
I say all this in response to your behavior at noon. First, you said that Dad was eating for free, which is disrespectful to elders. And you even dared to tamper with your uncle's words, which is also disrespectful to elders.
Second, when you apologized, you still dared to continue to emphasize the reasons? Your uncle and grandfather knew what our Zhou family had lived through in the past, so he brainwashed you.
Money doesn't fall from the sky. You have New Year's money, a lot of it, because we have worked hard to give it to you. When we were young, it was a luxury to get even a penny of New Year's money.
I am very disappointed with your performance. Although your father looks like he is just eating free meals at home, he has a source of income.
Even if he is really a pauper and lives off others, you cannot criticize him or look down on him.
In order to pretend to be well-behaved, you apologize immediately when adults look at you in a bad mood, and then continue to make mistakes. Because your apologies are fake, you don’t know where you are wrong, and of course you don’t know how to correct it.
The most important thing is that you have become proud and arrogant. When you look down on your father, you are showing your pride and arrogance. Are you proud because you have money? Or because you have an aunt who is praised by everyone?
The money was given by us, not earned by you. Where does your pride come from? The aunt that everyone praises is just your aunt. She is just a relative to you. You can be proud of her, but you must not be so arrogant as to think that she is the backing for your reckless behavior.
I can support my family, but the prerequisite is that they must be kind and upright. I don't want willful and ignorant family members because I can't afford them. Such family members will destroy everything I have worked hard for for ten years.
Just one thing, as long as one member of the Zhou family behaves recklessly and doesn't know how to respect others, will tarnish the reputation that I have worked hard for ten years.
When children or family members from ordinary families do something wrong, they are easily forgiven by others. Fame brings not only glory but also the critical eyes of others. We should be more cautious in what we say and do, instead of being too picky.
What others see is not only my ability and the wealth of our Zhou family, but also every word and action of the Zhou family.
If something goes wrong in your words or actions, they won't say it's inevitable for children to make mistakes, but instead say: So what if you're rich? You still can't educate your children well? So what if Zhou Xiang is a college graduate and a PhD? He can't even educate the younger generation in his family well.
"Auntie!"
"Auntie! We were wrong, we will change!"
Jianjian and Kangkang cried out that they never knew that life at home was so difficult before they were born, so difficult that they might not have the next meal after eating the last one.
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