Old Man Zhou threw his head back in anger, pointing at Zhou Chen as he shouted, “You’re cursing me! Fine, you think you’ve grown wings now? Let me tell you, as long as I’m alive, don’t even think about dividing this family!”
Wang Guifen slammed the broom onto the ground and poked Zhou Chen a few times with her hand. “You’re crazy! You’re trying to kill your father with anger! You unfilial son, just came back and already causing trouble. Divide the family? Take back what you said and apologize to your father right now!”
The old couple had spent the whole night thinking.
Their youngest son, Zhou Jianmin, was good for nothing—lazy and useless. They couldn’t rely on him.
Now that Zhou Chen was back, the old couple still had to depend on him for support.
But no one expected Zhou Chen to come back and immediately bring up splitting the family’s assets.
Zhou Chen tilted his head and looked at Wang Guifen. “Mother, hasn’t this family already been divided long ago? I just think the previous division was unfair. I want to settle the accounts properly this time.”
Outside the courtyard, a crowd had already gathered, eager to watch the commotion.
At first, everyone just came to see Zhou Chen, who had come back from the dead, but now there was a full-blown family division drama unfolding—it was even more exciting.
Wang Guifen clapped her hands and cursed loudly, then bolted the courtyard gate.
The villagers didn’t leave either; some stood on benches, others leaned over the wall just to get a better look.
Old Man Zhou’s face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. “We raised you all these years, and what do we get? An ungrateful wolf! If you’re going to make such a scene, I might as well be dead!”
“Old Man Zhou!” Zhou Lizhong raised his voice, “How can you say something like that?”
Old Man Zhou snorted coldly and turned his head away.
Zhou Chen pulled out a thick stack of remittance receipts from his pocket and laid them on the table. “These are the receipts for the money I sent home over the past few years. In total, one thousand seven hundred sixty-nine yuan and eight mao.”
The villagers erupted into a noisy chatter.
“Tsk tsk, that’s a lot of money! No wonder Zhou Jianmin is always off in town eating and drinking!”
“Exactly! The money Zhou Chen sent back never made it to his wife and kids—it all got swallowed up by his parents to cover Zhou Jianmin’s holes.”
“Zhou Chen is so successful, yet Wang Guifen still favors that younger son?”
“……”
Old Man Zhou’s face flushed pale and dark in turns, as if he’d been publicly stripped bare.
“Your wife can’t keep things in order, and now you come looking to cause trouble for us. Your mother only did it for your own good! Otherwise, she would’ve pocketed all the money herself!”
Wang Guifen gritted her teeth in anger. “So what if we took the money? I’m your mother, and taking your money is only natural. No matter how much you send, it’s what you should do!”
“That’s a separate question,” Zhou Chen said with a bitter smile, “Mother, how did you promise me before? I told you, after you received the money, you had to give half of it to Zhilan. Did you?”
Lin Zhilan had never been to town and didn’t dare to go there, so she had no way to withdraw the money.
Wang Guifen exploited this fact and kept the money all to herself.
Feeling very guilty, Wang Guifen knew that with so many villagers watching, all aware of the hard life Lin Zhilan had endured, no one would believe her if she said she gave the money to her.
Suddenly, Wang Guifen burst into tears, pounding her thigh as she cursed, “You ungrateful wolf! I knew you were after that fox spirit! Raising you wasn’t easy! And now you come back and start settling accounts with us? Are you trying to kill us?”
Zhou Chen watched her cry, his face expressionless.
“Secretary Zhou, I don’t want all the money. Just give me back half, and consider it repayment for raising me. From now on, treat me as if I’m dead. I won’t come back to bother you.”
Wang Guifen sobbed, “What money? We don’t have any! It’s all spent long ago. If you want money, you might as well take my life!”
“Aunt Wang!” A young man climbed onto the wall, smirking, “Over 1,700 yuan? Are you eating dragon meat at home, or wiping your ass with money? How can you spend so fast?”
“Pfft!” Wang Guifen spat at him, “Mind your own business!”
Everyone burst out laughing.
Old Man Zhou’s face turned the color of pig liver, his lips trembling for a long moment before he suddenly spun around and cursed Wang Guifen, “It’s all your fault, you old woman! I told you to treat those mother and daughter a little better, but you insisted she couldn’t keep them and treated them cruelly.”
“Look what’s happened now! His wife ran away, and his son’s turned against us. Are you happy now? Are you satisfied?”
“I…” Wang Guifen opened her mouth but was too choked up to say anything.
Zhou Chen sneered, “Dad, it’s not all Mom’s fault.”
Wang Guifen looked sharply at him, thinking her son was finally having a change of heart.
Zhou Chen looked at Old Man Zhou and said, “My mother didn’t like my wife and child, treated them harshly, but wasn’t that because you allowed it? I’ve lived in this house for so many years. Don’t you know my mother listens to nothing but your words? If you had spoken up for them once, Zhilan wouldn’t have…”
Zhou Chen’s voice cracked halfway, choking on his words.
The onlookers sighed silently.
They thought Zhou Chen meant that Lin Zhilan wouldn’t have remarried.
They had no idea that a life was also lost in this story.
Old Man Zhou was caught red-handed by his son, his face flushed and veins bulging on his neck. He raised his hand to strike.
Zhou Lizhong quickly stepped in, pushing him aside, “Enough! Isn’t this shameful enough already?”
Old Man Zhou stomped his foot, “Our family is cursed! Cursed!”
Zhou Lizhong raised his voice, “You two should be grateful. How many people in the village have someone like Zhou Chen? How many can come up with so much money for their parents? And you still say the family is cursed? Maybe you shouldn’t want this son at all.”
Old Man Zhou turned his head away, silent.
Zhou Lizhong said, “Zhou Chen’s demand isn’t unreasonable — 884.90 yuan. That’s what you owe him.”
“No! Not a single cent!” Wang Guifen slapped the table and started to act stubborn.
Zhou Chen looked around the courtyard, “Secretary Zhou, how much do you think this house is worth?”
Wang Guifen’s eyes flashed, “What are you trying to do? Are you crazy?”
Zhou Lizhong cleared his throat heavily, “At most, a little over 300 yuan.”
Wang Guifen’s eyes darted, and she snorted coldly, “You can live here if you want. My husband and I aren’t moving out.”
“I see.” Zhou Chen looked up at the sky and chuckled softly twice.
He pulled a burning stick from the fire pit, grabbed it, and strode straight into the house. He threw the flaming stick onto his parents’ bed.
The fire instantly blazed up.
Thick black smoke began to fill the room, the sharp stench of burning choking the air.
Wang Guifen rushed in like a madwoman, not even glancing at the burning bed. Her son, panic-stricken, dropped to the floor and crawled under the bed, pulling out a wooden box and clutching it tightly to his chest.
Zhou Lizhong was the first to react. He called out to the young men who were leaning against the wall, watching the commotion, “What are you standing there for? Hurry up and help put out the fire!”
Several young men quickly jumped down from the wall and rushed to the kitchen to fetch water.
Fortunately, the fire hadn’t spread much and was soon extinguished.
But the quilt and mattress on the bed were already burned through with a large hole, and the walls were stained with thick black smoke. The entire room was filled with the choking smell of smoke.
