Chapter Forty: Send this child back to the Li family.
When Zhong Chengfa saw his mother's action, he was terrified. He knew his mother's temper; she could really beat him with a fire poker!
He cried out "Ouch!" and scrambled out of the kitchen. As he ran, he cunningly let go of Zhong Hongqing's hand, leaving the little boy, who was crying so hard he could barely breathe, in the kitchen.
"Mom! Mom! I was wrong, Mom! I'll leave right now!" He had already darted into the yard, his voice still drifting in from outside.
Zhang Chunxue walked to the corner, but before she could pick up the fire poker, she saw that Zhong Chengfa had already slipped away, leaving Zhong Hongqing standing there crying and at a loss.
What else didn't she understand? This damned son was determined to dump this hot potato on her!
Zhang Chunxue felt a lump in her throat, neither rising nor falling, causing her great agitation.
Without even glancing at Zhong Hongqing, who was still crying, she turned to Zhong Chengyi and coldly ordered, "Third brother, you take this child back to the Li family right now and hand him over to Li Hongjuan!"
Zhong Chengyi paused, his hand holding the rice bowl still, dumbfounded. He looked up at his mother in disbelief.
"Mom? Send her back now?"
He glanced at the already darkening sky outside, then at the half-eaten food on the table, and hesitated, "This... we haven't even finished eating, and it's so late..."
It takes more than two hours to walk from Lijia Village to here at night.
Hearing Zhong Chengyi's hesitation, Zhang Chunxue slammed her chopsticks on the table with a "clatter".
"Is food more important or what I say?"
"If you don't send him away, fine, from now on, this child is yours to take care of!"
"Let me make this clear from the start: I will absolutely not give him another second glance or interfere with him in any way!"
Zhong Chengyi was speechless after his mother's resolute words, feeling extremely frustrated.
What could he do? What did he dare to do?
If he dares to say "no," his mother might flip the whole dinner table!
Of course, what he feared even more was that his mother would actually abandon Zhong Hongqing to him.
He doesn't want to have a child before he's even married!
The most crucial question is, why?! Why should he be the one to raise the eldest brother's son?!
Zhong Chengyi was almost speechless. He picked up the bowl, not caring about the taste, and slurped up the rice at the bottom of the bowl in a few big mouthfuls.
He wiped his mouth, stood up, and walked over to Zhong Hongqing, who was still wiping away tears on the ground.
The little guy was sobbing, and when he saw Zhong Chengyi coming over, he shrank back a bit.
Zhong Chengyi sighed inwardly, bent down and lifted Zhong Hongqing off the ground, tucking him under his arm.
Zhong Hongqing was startled, his crying paused for a moment, and then he wailed even louder.
Zhong Chengyi ignored him, picked up the child and walked out of the kitchen, cursing his unreliable older brother Zhong Chengfa in his mind as he walked.
"Zhong Chengfa, you bastard! You caused this mess yourself, and all you do is dump it on me! Wait till we meet, I'll show you what I'm made of!"
In the kitchen, Zhou Mingli and Zhong Xiaoxiao, who hadn't dared to breathe loudly, exchanged a glance.
As Zhou Mingli watched Zhong Chengyi walk away with the wailing child, she shifted uncomfortably and whispered to Zhang Chunxue, "Mom, isn't this... a bit inappropriate? Hongqing is still so young, and it's so dark..."
Zhang Chunxue picked up a piece of cabbage and tofu with her chopsticks, slowly put it in her mouth, chewed it a few times, and then spoke softly.
"You two are not blind, you can see how I treated him before."
"They doted on their grandson like a precious treasure, but what happened? He went back to the Li family with his mother, and it's only been a few days?"
“Look at the way he looked at me just now, it was full of hatred!”
Zhang Chunxue put down her chopsticks, her voice tinged with sarcasm: "What's the point of having a grandson like that? To feed him and make him hate me?"
Zhou Mingli wanted to persuade him further: "Mom, Hongqing is still young. Children don't understand things. Maybe there's still a chance to discipline him..."
Zhang Chunxue shook her head, her face expressionless.
"His mother, Li Hongjuan, is a troublemaker, and his father, Zhong Chengfa, is a good-for-nothing who can't think straight. Like begets like. A rat's son knows how to dig a hole."
“I have so many things to do right now, I don’t have the time or energy to bother disciplining him.”
She paused, her tone softening, and a faint smile even appeared at the corner of her mouth.
“If he becomes successful and accomplished in the future, I don’t expect him to be filial to me. If he is a good-for-nothing and never amount to anything, that’s none of my business.”
Zhang Chunxue looked up at Zhou Mingli and Zhong Xiaoxiao, her gaze softening considerably: "Right now, I just want to have a few days of peace and quiet. I don't care about those troublesome people and troublesome things."
"I'll just take care of the two of you, my Xiaoxiao, and my little granddaughter Yuanyuan. That's enough."
Zhang Chunxue had already said all that, so Zhou Mingli and Zhong Xiaoxiao exchanged a glance. What else could they say?
Neither of them dared to speak again, so they could only silently lower their heads and continue eating.
However, the food didn't taste quite right.
After all, Zhong Hongqing was someone they had watched be born and grow up; he was only three years old at the time.
They didn't think Zhang Chunxue had done anything wrong; they just felt sorry for the child.
As for Zhong Chengyi, he carried Zhong Hongqing, who was crying so hard he was almost out of breath, and walked out of the kitchen with a dark face, heading towards the yard.
As soon as he reached the gate of the courtyard, he saw his good-for-nothing older brother, Zhong Chengfa, sneaking around and peeking inside from under the wall outside the courtyard.
Zhong Chengyi was furious when he saw it!
He strode out of the courtyard gate and shoved the still writhing and crying Zhong Hongqing into Zhong Chengfa's arms!
"Big brother! What are you doing?!" Zhong Chengyi roared angrily, his voice low and filled with rage.
Zhong Chengfa was caught off guard by his son being suddenly thrust at him. He hurriedly grabbed him and almost lost his balance.
When he saw that it was Zhong Chengyi who had brought the child out, he was taken aback, and then questioned him with some dissatisfaction, "Third brother, what are you doing? Why did you bring the child out?"
Zhong Chengyi rolled his eyes, his voice full of sarcasm: "Why wouldn't I bring him out? Leave him at home for the New Year? Isn't that what Mom said? She said that if I don't send this kid out to you, he'll be my responsibility today!"
Seeing Zhong Chengfa's expression, he became even angrier: "Luckily, you're smart, brother, and didn't run far. You even knew to wait here! Otherwise, I would have really had to go through the trouble of personally delivering him to your sister-in-law's parents' house!"
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