CH 44

Who could it be at a time like this?

Xu Zhao, Mother and Father Xu, and even Xu Fan all curiously looked toward the door of the small courtyard. Borrowing the bright August 15th moonlight, the first thing they saw was the joy on the faces of Xu Dawa and Xu Erwa. The happiness on Xu Zhao and the other three people’s faces instantly froze. By the time Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng appeared, Xu Zhao and the others were already showing displeasure.

“Mom, Dad, happy Mid-Autumn,” Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng gave their greetings together as they smiled apologetically.

“Why are you guys here?” Mother Xu asked, standoffish.

“We came to see you and Dad.” Xu Zuocheng continued to smile.

“We don’t need you to visit,” Mother Xu directly refused, her attitude very tough.

However, Xu Zuocheng seemed unafraid and continued to shamelessly smile as he strolled into the courtyard.

Xu Youcheng’s line of sight already landed on the small table as he glanced at the fragrant dishes.

Xu Dawa and Xu Erwa were filled with even more envy as they walked toward the small table.

Xu Zhao immediately shared a look with Mother Xu.

Mother Xu instantly understood. She leaned over and directly lifted the whole small table up and walked toward the kitchen without saying anything. As Xu Dawa and Xu Erwa followed Mother Xu, Xu Zhao quickly picked up Xu Fan and said to him, “Sanwa, let’s go wash our hands.” Afterward, he used his own body and Xu Fan’s body to block Xu Dawa and Xu Erwa’s path.

It gave Mother Xu just enough time to lock the wooden door to the kitchen with the lock Xu Zhao had purchased.

Therefore, inside the courtyard, besides the Xu family and more people of the Xu family, there wasn’t a single piece of vegetable leaf.

Xu Youcheng was disappointed, and he cursed that old witch, Mother Xu, for being stingy inside his heart.

Anger involuntarily appeared on Xu Zuocheng’s face.

Xu Dawa and Xu Erwa were even more focused on the wooden door of the kitchen, wanting nothing more than to get inside so they could eat.

Xu Zhao ignored the two children of the Xu family. They had already been led astray by their parents, so he couldn’t do anything about them. He could only hug Xu Fan to sit on the small stool in the middle of the courtyard.

Mother Xu also returned to her seat next to Father Xu’s side and said, “Look, your dad and I are here.”

Didn’t they say they were here to visit their parents? They could visit all they want and look at them enough they were satisfied!

Xu Zuocheng secretly gritted his teeth.

Xu Youcheng looked unhappy. He didn’t look at Mother and Father Xu, and instead, turned his attack to Xu Zhao as he asked, “Xu Zhao, I heard you’ve been selling mooncakes recently?”

“Mn,” Xu Zhao replied

“How much money did you make?”

“Not much,” Xu Zhao calmly answered.

“How much is not much?”

“Barely enough to eat.”

“Barely enough to eat?” Xu Youcheng’s voice was filled with dissatisfaction as he asked, “Then why did you give mooncakes to Da Zhuang’s family?”

“I can give them to whoever I want,” Xu Zhao directly replied.

Before, Xu Zhao had no money on hand because he was selling popsicles and mooncakes, therefore he was able to avoid Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng. Even though he had to suffer a bit of their anger, he could still bear it. However, he now had money on hand.

He had 3-4,000 Yuan on hand, and it was already a huge sum of money in this era. Not only was it enough to purchase Father Xu’s medicine, it was enough to let him comfortably support the two elders and one child for a year or two. He wasn’t scared anymore.

Moreover, Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng weren’t people who did things that followed the norm, so patience and understanding would only make them worse. Therefore, Xu Zhao wasn’t as courteous to them as before. On the contrary, his words were filled with indifference and thorns that were pointed at Xu Youcheng.

Sure enough, Xu Youcheng was upset. He was originally leaning against the fence wall, but he stood up at this moment, pointing at Xu Zhao as he said, “Xu Zhao! What’s with your tone? Who are you speaking to like that? I’m your second brother!”

Xu Fan was frightened and drilled into Xu Zhao’s embrace.

Xu Zhao hugged Xu Fan, giving him a kiss as he whispered, “It’s alright. Don’t be scared.”

Xu Fan closely leaned into Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao easily covered both of Xu Fan’s small ears. He looked at Xu Youcheng and said unhurriedly, “I can give them to whoever I want. So what?”

“Say that again,” Xu Youcheng said, his eyes widening.

“I can give it to whoever I want. Do you not understand?” Xu Zhao repeated.

Xu Youcheng suddenly burst into anger. This was the first time Xu Zhao had spoken to him like that. He already held anger in his heart. He was playing dominoes this afternoon and lost 1 Yuan and 20 cents. When he went home that night, his wife cooked salted vegetables and mixed buns yet again. They didn’t even have sweet pancakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. While he was already annoyed, he heard Dawa say that Xu Zhao gave three packages of mooncakes to Da Zhuang’s family. Even Uncle Zhang and Barber Wang got some.

Mooncakes!

The expensive mooncakes! Even he was reluctant to buy them.

It must’ve been Sun Jinhua, that witch, who gave them the money!

As a result, he and Xu Zuocheng didn’t even see mooncake scraps, making him even more mad. In his anger, he smelled the fragrance of pork and chicken meat. He urged Xu Zuocheng to come get a meal with him, but he didn’t expect that as soon as they entered, that old witch would move all the dishes to the kitchen and lock the door. And now, even the usually polite Xu Zhao was trying to irritate him. How could he endure this!

Xu Youcheng immediately rushed toward Xu Zhao, wanting to teach Xu Zhao a lesson.

Xu Zhao didn’t move.

Father Xu used his crutches to knock on the small table as he incoherently shouted, “What you doing?! What!!”

Xu Youcheng’s footsteps paused.

Xu Zuocheng also stood up.

Mother Xu walked to Xu Zhao’s side.

Xu Zhao hugged Xu Fan and stood up, handing Xu Fan to Mother Xu and told Mother Xu to carry Xu Fan. Do not let him get afraid. He was only a child that wasn’t even three years old yet and couldn’t stand to be scared. After comforting Mother and Father Xu, he (XZ) told them to watch without speaking before turning to Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng and directly asking, “Speak. What do you two want?”

Hearing this, Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng looked at each other. What did they want? Seeing Xu Zhao like this, it seemed like he was going to give them what they wanted, so the two felt happy in their hearts. However, as an older brother, they needed to keep appearances. The two people silently pondered it, then used their expressions to signal for the other person to speak first.

Xu Zuocheng didn’t speak.

Xu Youcheng got impatient and said, “It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, so everyone should get together and have a relaxing and calm reunion dinner.”

This shameless person was still thinking about the dishes inside the kitchen!

Xu Zhao remained expressionless as he asked, “What else?”

“We can speak more after eating,” Xu Youcheng said.

“Let’s finish speaking before we eat,” Xu Zhao said.

“Fine! Divide the money you made from the mooncake,” Xu Youcheng continued.

“Anything else?”

“Yes.”

“Go ahead.”

“In the future, this family won’t be divided anymore. In any case, we’re all one family. We’ll eat and drink together. Being separated isn’t good. We’ll tear down this wall later,” Xu Youcheng pointed to the tall mud wall in the middle of the courtyard and said.

Xu Zhao didn’t directly answer and continued to ask, “Anything else?”

“No. We’re all one family, so what else could there be?” Xu Youcheng said with a grin.

Xu Zhao sneered and asked, “Have you said everything?”

“Yep.”

Xu Zhao turned to Xu Zuocheng and asked, “Eldest Brother, do you have anything else you want to say?”

Xu Zuocheng looked at Xu Zhao with disdain and said, “I want exactly what your second brother said. You can just follow his words and we won’t argue with you in the future about your mom secretly giving you money.”

“Fine,” Xu Zhao said, “Since you guys have finished speaking, then can you listen to me?”

“What do you want to say?” Xu Youcheng asked.

Xu Zhao’s tone wasn’t the same as usual as he said, “I want to say something you two don’t want to hear.”

Don’t want to hear? What was it?

The arrogance on Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng’s face fell, their gaze instantly falling on Xu Zhao’s face.

“What is it that we don’t want to hear?” Xu Youcheng asked.

“Even if you guys want it, I won’t give it,” Xu Zhao directly answered.

Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng were dumbfounded.

Xu Zhao’s expression immediately sank, his gaze was firm and his tone solemn as he said, “Xu Zuocheng, Xu Youcheng, let me tell you clearly now. I have long cut off relations with you. Don’t try and act like my eldest Brother and second brother, because I won’t recognize you! It’s impossible to try and take a single penny from me or our parents!

“You want money? You want mooncakes? You want to reconcile and become family again? You want to take from us again? Let me tell you, stop dreaming! From today on, as long as there’s still a breath in me, don’t you dare think about bullying others like you did before!!”

Xu Zhao’s words were clear. Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng who were proud a second ago, thinking that Xu Zhao was afraid of them felt like they just received a huge slap on the face. Despite it being nighttime, the moonlight illuminated as if it was daytime, clearly displaying the two faces that turned from white, to green, to red. The changing colors were marvelous.

The two seemed to not recognize the Xu Zhao that was in front of them.

Even Mother and Father Xu didn’t expect Xu Zhao to have such an unyielding side. His aura was completely different.

However, this unwieldiness angered Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng, especially Xu Zuocheng. Xu Zuocheng shouted, “Xu Zhao, who did you say was dreaming?”

Xu Zhao wasn’t scared at all and shouted even louder, his voice overshadowing Xu Zuocheng’s. “You! I’m talking about you two. Stop thinking all the time that my mom hid money to give me. Even if she did, so what? Open your eyes and take a look at your tiled house! I live in a thatched hut. And take a look at your birth father. When he was lying in the hospital hanging on for dear life, who was it that abandoned him and who took care of him? Now that he’s better, you guys came here to demand things again. Do you guys have a conscience? Do you even have a little bit of a conscience?”

Do you have a conscience?

Do you even have a little bit of a conscience?

This was the first time Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng became so embarrassed from what someone said to them. Moreover, since Xu Zuocheng had shouted very loudly earlier, it had already attracted onlookers from the left and right neighbors. Now that Xu Zhao said that, it was equivalent to them losing face in front of the entire village.

The two were ashamed, annoyed, and pissed off. A shred of impulse suddenly surged in their mind, but the two couldn’t beat Xu Zhao in words, but they could with their fists. After gnashing their teeth, the two charged toward Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao already knew what kind of morals Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng had. He grabbed the wooden stick used for lighting the fire. When Xu Youcheng grabbed his arm, he struck the wooden stock to hit Xu Youcheng who screamed. He clutched his arm as he took two steps back.

However, after beating Xu Youcheng, there was still Xu Zuocheng. Xu Zuocheng was a lot more robust than the skinny Xu Zhao, and he grabbed Xu Zhao’s arm.

Xu Zhao let Xu Zuocheng grab him. Xu Zhao merely looked skinny and refined, but in fact, he wasn’t. In the 21st century, he had to fight for himself as he grew up. He suffered a lot and endured a lot of bullying as well. During these difficulties, not only did he learn how to handle others, he also learned to take a beating as well as fight others.

So he actually wasn’t afraid of getting beaten. He slightly leaned to the side and grabbed Xu Zuocheng’s arm as well to feel Xu Youcheng’s strength. After approximating the strength, he wouldn’t suffer as long as there wasn’t anyone beside them. He gracefully turned his body and stretched out his long leg, and using Xu Zuocheng’s strength, he directly kicked Xu Youcheng down.

At this time, Xu Fan was frightened and cried out “Daddy.” Xu Zhao became distracted as he was pushed toward the mud wall by Xu Zuocheng. His forehead hit against the wall, but thankfully it was only a mud wall. Xu Zhao hissed in pain, but didn’t have any dizziness or other reactions. Meanwhile, Xu Youcheng, who was lying on the ground, came back to his senses and followed to surround Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao felt shock in his heart. It was over. He couldn’t beat them now.

At this moment, Da Zhuang’s father hurriedly broke through the crowd and dragged Xu Youcheng away, pushing him to the side.

The sight of Xu Youcheng being pushed to the ground was very comical, and it seemed that his parts also tore open. Someone actually snickered and Xu Youcheng flew into rage. He couldn’t scold or beat Xu Zhao, and an impulse appeared in his brain. He suddenly pulled out the sickle that was stuck in the wall and rushed toward Xu Zhao.