351 Picking a Fight
Yue Jiaojiao placed Zhao Nian on the bed and walked to the painting to take a closer look. “This painting… It’s the scene I told you about a few days ago, the one in my dream.”
Yue Jiaojiao pointed at the boy in the painting and said, “Zhao Zhan, look at this child. Doesn’t he look a little like you?”
Zhao Zhan looked at it for a while and shook his head. After he had more time with the baby, he clearly knew what he looked like.
“Let’s go look for Zhao Kuazi,” Yue Jiaojiao was anxious to find out the truth. “Let’s take this painting with us. After your father brought you back when you were five, Zhao Kuazi will definitely know what you look like.”
“I’ll get Madam Qin to come over and take care of Zhao Nian.”
As Yue Jiaojiao spoke, she walked to the door and called Madam Qin over. Then, without a word, she put the painting in his hands and dragged Zhao Zhan out of the door, heading straight for Zhao Kuazi’s house.
The place where Zhao Kuazi lived was still the thatched house near the village entrance.
Ever since Lizheng had kicked her out, she had been living there without troubling anyone.
“Zhao Kuazi,” Zhao Zhan called out from outside the fence, “Are you home?”
The room was dark and there was no movement for a long time.
“Is anyone home?” Zhao Zhan called out.
“Coming.” A person walked out of the room shakily. It was Zhao Kuazi, who had a head full of silver hair. She leaned against the wall and staggered out. She narrowed her eyes at Zhao Zhan for a long time.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Zhao Zhan. I brought Jiaojiao here to ask you something. Shall we go in first?”
The gate of the wattled courtyard wasn’t tightly closed.
Zhao Kuazi nodded and stood still. “Oh, it’s you guys. Come in then.”
Zhao Zhan walked up to her and waved his hand in front of her. “How are your eyes? Can you still see things clearly?”
Zhao Kuazi waved her hand.
“It doesn’t matter.”
The smell coming from the room was not pleasant.
Seeing that he didn’t say anything else, Zhao Kuazi turned around and went back to the room to bring out a bowl. She sat on the small bench at the door and ate.
“Zhao Kuazi, your rice has gone bad.”
The weather was cold now, and a bowl of rice would take at least two or three days to defrost. The stinky smell of the bowl of rice in Zhao Kuazi’s hands was so strong that even Zhao Zhan could smell it.
“So be it,” Zhao Kuazi said as she continued to eat. “It’s terrible to go hungry. If I don’t eat, I’ll starve to death. Just tell me what you want to talk to me about. I’m going back to my room to sleep after eating.”
“Zhao Zhan! What are you guys doing here?”
Zhao Wencai’s voice suddenly rang out, and he pointed at Zhao Zhan and Yue Jiaojiao with a limping leg, “Why are you looking for my mother again? Look at my mother now, don’t you think you’ve harmed her enough?”
Zhao Zhan looked at Zhao Kuazi, who was holding the bowl, and then turned to look at Zhao Wencai. He reached out and pulled Yue Jiaojiao behind him. “Does it look like I’m hurting here? Are you sure you’re not the one harming her?”
Zhao Wencai limped into the courtyard and stood in front of her. He glared at Zhao Zhan angrily, “What do you want to do to my mother?”
He pointed at the bowl in Zhao Kuazi’s hands. “Did you make this for her? What are your intentions? Why are you giving her spoiled food! I don’t care, compensate me with silver!”
“I’ll bring my mother to the Hundred Herb Hall now. You’ll have to pay for the medical fees! I won’t ask you for more, just give me twenty silver. If it’s not enough, I’ll tell you!”
He looked arrogant and slanted his eyes, as if he was a gangster. His eyes were bloodshot, and the bottom of his eyes was dark. He looked like he had been hollowed out.
“You’re asking me for silver?” Zhao Zhan looked him up and down. “I can give you money, but you have to beat me first. Otherwise, you can ask Lizheng to solve this problem.”
Zhao Wencai’s eyes widened, “Zhao Zhan, you’ve changed! You’re becoming more and more unreasonable!”
He was immediately frightened by the way Zhao Zhan had protected his wife.
However, ever since they had been separated from the family, no one protected him and no one had given him money. Zhao Wencai had used up all the money he had in his private stash and had nothing left. That was when he realized that his good days had come to an end.
The Zhao family today looked like they were still united, but in fact, they were more or less separated.
Zhao Wencai wasn’t happy at home. He was fascinated by the gambling houses and brothels in the town. He spent all day in them and never came back, as if he was strolling around.
“Mother,” Zhao Wencai turned his head to look at Zhao Kuazi, “When the chief comes later, you must tell him that Zhao Zhan forced you to eat this bowl of rice.”
Zhao Kuazi still had the rice in her mouth, and she cried hard while holding the bowl.
Zhao Zhan couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. “If Lizheng wants me to pay for it, you can go to my house and get it.”
Zhao Zhan gestured with his fist at him. “If you continue to talk nonsense in front of me, I can also break your other leg!”
Zhao Wencai shivered.
He pointed at Zhao Zhan for a long while before dragging his crippled leg to look for Lizheng. “Just you wait.”
Zhao Zhan waved his hand and told him to get lost.
Jiaojiao’s confinement period had yet to reach its 46th day, so she could not stay outside for too long. It would hurt her body.
“Zhao Kuazi…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t go to yang Lizheng and complain.” Zhao Kuazi finished the remaining rice in the bowl, then wiped the tears on her face and put the bowl aside. “I gave birth to an unfilial son. I accept my fate.”
She probably hadn’t had a good talk with anyone for a long time. She had to hold in all the pain she suffered from. “The vegetables I grew, the grain I collected, and the little silver I worked hard to save all year round were all stolen by that good-for-nothing Zhao Wencai. Now that I think about it, it’s all my fault for letting him have his way in the past.”
Zhao Kuazi regretted her actions.
In the past, she had only thought of raising children to help her in her old afe, but now that things had come to this, none of the three sons that she had painstakingly given birth to had come to see her.
She didn’t have any food, so she went home to ask for it. Yang Lizheng had them deliver food directly.
In the end, they did not send food for every meal. Sometimes, it would be one day, sometimes two days. Now that it was cold, they would send a bowl of rice every three or four days.
Zhao Zhan couldn’t tell what he was feeling, so he could only remain silent.
A thought for cause and a thought for effect.
...
Although he despised his cousins, he would not be a hero and shoulder everything on his own.
“Forget it.” Zhao Kuazi felt much better after nagging for a while.
“Didn’t you want to see me for something? Tell me quickly, or else when Zhao Wencai comes back, he’ll come after you again.”
Zhao Zhan unrolled the painting and placed it in front of Zhao Kuazi. “Does the child drawn on this look like me when I was young?”
Zhao Kuazi couldn’t see clearly, but she quickly nodded.
“It’s you. The child in the painting looks exactly like you when you were young.
“When you were young, you were fair and clean. You followed your father around like a refined scholar. Who knew that after your father died, you would become a hunter? Now that I think about it, it’s all my fault.”
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