The cold wind blew, bringing with it the chill of thawed snow after a heavy snowfall. The villagers of Zhoujia Village, who had come out to watch the Xiao family's funeral, fell silent. Almost everyone in the village was unaware of the Zhou family's taking things from the post office, but they had always claimed it was sent by Zhou Laosan or one of their relatives.
Now, Li Guihua said that it was a thank-you gift from Zhou Yan’s parents to the Zhou family and also to Zhou Yan.
There are so many people in the village, and it is unknown how many of them feel sorry for Zhou Yan, but everyone is jealous.
How the Zhou family raised Zhou Yan is known to everyone in Zhoujia Village, who is older than Zhou Yan and was born and raised there. Why should they repay the favor without spending a penny?
If they said that, didn’t the others also raise Zhou Yan?
"Zhou Yan, you, tell me, have our Zhou family done you any favors?" Zhou Dafu, the old village chief's eldest son, gritted his teeth. If this matter wasn't resolved today, not only would their position as village chief be lost, but the other young men in the Zhou family working in the town and county would also be affected. The Zhou family had been jealous of their people in Zhoujia Village for more than a day or two.
Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes and looked at the middle-aged man next to the old village chief, whom he should call brother, and pondered: "Should I say you are grateful?"
"What do you mean?" Zhou Dafu's face darkened.
☆
Zhou Yan thought of the previous frame-up, thought of Zhou Heng, and then looked at the large group of people in the Zhou family who were staring at him covetously, and suddenly laughed.
He turned and bowed to Li Guihua: "Thank you, Grandma Li, for telling me today. Zhou Yan has nothing now. If you need me in the future, please let me know."
Li Guihua was so frightened by his gift that she quickly waved her hands: "No, no, I just saw Zhou Laosan's brother-in-law and Zhou Laosan's son in town, and I felt unbalanced."
Villager: (⊙_⊙)? Didn’t Zhou Laosan’s son die?
☆
"...These people from the Zhou family eat and drink your food, not only do they want to repay you with a favor, but they also want to kill you. Over the years, the Zhou family has been so arrogant and domineering in Zhoujia Village. They are still using the name of you and Zhou Laosan. The Zhou family secretly hates you so much for your retirement. Because of your retirement, they have kept a low profile in the village." Li Guihua curled her lips and said sarcastically.
In the crowd, several villagers murmured, "Yes, I've heard the Zhou family cursing Zhou Yan behind his back several times."
"I once heard Zhou Laoqi's son scold Zhou Yan, saying that since he had retired from the army, he might as well just die outside. That way, Zhou Laosan's house would belong to them."
"My grandson said that the Zhou family's grandsons all called Zhou Yan a bastard and said he shouldn't come back to their Zhou family."
"Tsk tsk tsk, this is really..."
Since Zhou Yan came back, he had to go to the mountains from time to time to take care of his "younger brothers and sisters", but whenever he got something good, he would remember to give it to the uncle in front of him.
Now it seems ridiculous.
His expression grew colder and colder. He looked at the old village chief and said, "Ever since I came back, the Zhou family has stopped associating with me. I thought it was because I was raising those younger brothers and sisters, or because I'd been away from home for so long that I wasn't familiar with them. Now it seems that's not the case."
"..." The old village chief was also a little embarrassed. The older generation was afraid that the Zhou family's children would let the cat out of the bag, so they privately told them not to have too much contact with Zhou Yan. But they never expected that the Zhou family's younger generations were such good-for-nothings and didn't know how to hide it.
☆
"Regarding my discharge, I want to say something. Actually, it wasn't my intention to retire, but the first thing my adoptive father said to me before he died was that I should immediately retire, or he would die with regret. If I hadn't, with my military achievements, I would at least be a regimental commander by now."
Villager: (⊙o⊙)…What, God, what does Zhou Laosan mean?
"...The fatherly love you're talking about. I don't remember it much when I was too young. After I turned six, I usually stayed with a few child soldiers from the village, eating and sleeping together. Some uncles and aunts may still remember that the child soldiers were not in our village at the time. Later, a group of us child soldiers followed the army, and I was still assigned to the Youth Corps because of my age, and I was not with my adoptive parents. They..."
“…”
"They only come to see me and help me celebrate when I've accomplished something. All my military achievements before I was sixteen were credited to my adoptive father. That was my adoptive mother's wish. She said, she said, 'A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind.'"
Villager: (⊙o⊙)…Zhou Laosan’s wife is really cultured! She schemed so hard to adopt her son.
☆
"Pah!" Li Guihua slapped her thigh, her expression exaggerated, a laugh that matched her singing and songwriting. "See, was I wrong? I was saying how good bamboo shoots would come out of bad bamboo. How could the Zhou family have any military merits? They were all exploiting their adopted son. Even with this bunch of bastards, what kind of favor can they claim? Even if they did have any, wouldn't their military merits be enough to repay them?"
"Zhou Yan, you, you slander my third uncle like this, you are ungrateful, you are an ungrateful person." Zhou Dafu roared loudly, like a trapped beast in trouble.
The other members of the Zhou family, those who were more shy, lowered their heads. The thick-skinned ones, along with Zhou Dafu, stared at Zhou Yan fiercely, sharing a common hatred for the enemy.
Zhou Yan didn't actually mean to completely abandon the Zhou family. He just told the truth. He just didn't want the Zhou family to feel that he owed them anything.
The most important thing is that Old Lady Li didn't care that Uncle Zhou was the village chief, but stood up for him and exposed the Zhou family's hypocrisy. If he did nothing and said nothing, what kind of person would he be?
☆
"Bah!" Li Guihua spat, "You are the ones who are truly ungrateful, aren't you? You have enjoyed so many benefits from my nephew, don't you have any idea? In the end, have you given him a needle or a thread in return? My nephew has been back for two years now, and I'm afraid you haven't even given him a leaf of vegetable, right?
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