Zhou Jian'an was stunned for a long time before he remembered his bedridden father.
Zhou's father has been paralyzed in bed for many years. No one listens to him when he speaks at home, and he has little presence in the family.
Zhou Jian'an remembers the year he was admitted to university. His father was extremely excited and called him to his bedside to ask about his situation.
Zhou Jian'an impatiently wiped his sweat, not wanting to see the man's cowardly and incompetent eyes, and coldly replied:
"Ask, ask, ask! All you do is ask. What good will it do to tell me? Will you give me money or pull some strings for me? Fine, mind your own business. My affairs are none of your concern."
Zhou Jian'an was like a bird soaring high. He needed his father to guide and support him so that he could fly to a farther place. However, his father was just a useless paralyzed man. When others asked, Zhou Jian'an would only say that his father had passed away many years ago.
It's a pity when a man dies, but if he becomes paralyzed, he'll only become a burden that everyone dislikes.
Zhou Jian'an's disdain for his father was obvious. Jiang Meifeng not only didn't say anything to him, but also thought her son was promising. She felt that not only could Zhou's father not help, but he had also become a burden to his son.
If people knew that Zhou Jian'an, a college student from a prestigious university, had a paralyzed father, what would they think of him?
Jiang Meifeng grew angrier the more she thought about it, feeling that she should have killed the old man long ago and shouldn't have let him be a burden to her son.
Later, Jiang Meifeng brought Zhou Chufei to Beijing, leaving the old man at home. She gave the neighbors some money to help take care of him. This time, she was preparing to run away, taking everything with her, not even the unfinished pickle jar, but she forgot about Zhou's paralyzed father back in their hometown.
Perhaps because it was time to say goodbye, Jiang Meifeng felt a rare sense of guilt.
They were husband and wife after all. Jiang Meifeng couldn't just leave Zhou's father alone in his hometown to fend for himself, could she? Although it wouldn't be a big deal if he were left to fend for himself, they were planning to run away, leaving Zhou's father alone. Wouldn't that be considered abandonment?
Zhou Jian'an plopped down on the sofa and muttered:
"Yes, I brought everything, except for my dad."
Zhou Fangchun happened to walk in and was a little dazed when she heard this. Indeed, someone was eyeing even the pickled vegetable jars at home, but no one cared about Zhou's father, who was far away in his hometown.
Zhou's father was not a bad father. At least in Zhou Fangchun's memory, he never favored boys over girls. He always bought things in triplicate and treated his three children equally. Even when they made mistakes, he rarely scolded or beat them like other fathers. Instead, he patiently taught them.
In Zhou Fangchun's memory, her father was the man who would carry a hoe back from the wheat field, bringing back a bucket of fish, shrimp, and loach, saying he would cook her something delicious for dinner.
She was the man who, while riding his bicycle to the village to sell malt candy, took a dime from his pocket and gave it to her.
He was the man who would secretly give her a chicken leg if she came home late from evening self-study.
Zhou Fangchun has experienced fatherly love.
Most girls living in rural areas like her don't have a very good life, but Zhou Fangchun and Zhou Huilan are different. Their father was kind and gentle, and in the ordinary years of their lives, he gave them a lot of shining light.
Later, when Zhou's father became paralyzed, Zhou Fangchun would often buy things to visit him. However, as a paralyzed man, he no longer had the ability to support the family. He was forgotten in the corner of the house and was gradually rarely mentioned.
Zhou Fangchun choked up a little, "Mom, how could you forget about my dad? Did you leave him any money before you left?"
"Exactly, didn't you leave him anything before you left?" Zhou Jian'an blamed. "Mom, really, my second sister and I have been away from home for years, so it's not convenient for us to take care of Dad, but you shouldn't have mistreated him. It's one thing to ignore him, but to leave him to be cared for by someone else, do you even have the behavior of someone's wife?"
"I was penniless when I left, how could I have money to leave for him?"
Jiang Meifeng jumped up from the sofa and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
These ungrateful wretches never go back to visit her normally, but now, they're all blaming her!
Jiang Meifeng scoffed, "All these years he's been paralyzed in bed, doing nothing but dragging us down. I cook, farm, and take care of the whole family by myself, and I still have to find time to take care of this old geezer! Do you know how tiring it is to take care of a paralyzed patient? Cleaning up his excrement, wiping his body, preventing bedsores, and in the summer the room reeks of urine, even dogs won't go in, and I'm the one running around taking care of him."
Zhou Jian'an rolled his eyes.
"Ha, you've been running around taking care of him? I remember it was always Shu Hui who took care of him. After Shu Hui married into the Zhou family, you thought my father was a burden to you, so you wanted to starve him to death. You didn't give him food or water for three days in a row, and even though he cried out in the house until his voice was hoarse, you wouldn't open the door. It was Shu Hui who cut the lock with a knife and fed my father water and rice, which saved my father."
Jiang Meifeng, having been exposed, became enraged and said:
"Yes, I wanted to starve him to death, don't tell me you didn't! If you didn't want to, why didn't you go up and save him? Even a stranger like Shu Hui knew to cut the lock, what about you? Why didn't you break the window and the door to go in and bring your dad food, clean up his excrement, and take care of him?"
With his fig leaf removed, Zhou Jian'an's face flushed red and then paled. He dared not admit that back then, he had also despised his father for being useless and a burden on the family, and did not want to take care of such a burden, fearing that his father's medical expenses would become a burden for him.
When Jiang Meifeng wanted to starve Zhou's father to death, Zhou Jian'an only offered a few token words of advice before giving up. He became a cold-blooded bystander, watching helplessly as his father starved to death without offering any help.
Shu Hui's arrival thwarted Jiang Meifeng's scheme, and as a result, Jiang Meifeng particularly disliked Shu Hui, taking the opportunity to dump the task of taking care of Zhou's father onto him.
Even at this hour, the family was still arguing. Zhou Fangchun had a terrible headache and impatiently yelled:
"Enough! What time is it? Still arguing?"
Jiang Meifeng snorted coldly, and Zhou Jian'an also turned his head away.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Zhou Fangchun frowned, impatiently found an envelope, stuffed a few bills inside, and planned to send it home to her neighbor so that they could help take care of her father.
"Mom, does Dad have an account that hasn't been closed yet?"
"Yes, if the person isn't dead, they definitely haven't cancelled their account."
"That's good. I'll deposit some money in tomorrow and try to make his life easier. That's how I'll fulfill my duty as a child."
The departure date was set for Thursday night. Jiang Meifeng and Zhou Chufei planned to go to Guangzhou first, and then take a ferry to illegally cross the border. Once in Guangzhou, they would pay a fee to obtain legal residency status.
Zhou Chufei is leaving Beijing. He's a little reluctant to leave this place and feels that before leaving, he should show off to that brat Chuchu and let them know that he will only live better with Zhou Jian'an.
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