Hu Guangcong turned and headed for the door.
Hu Chunhua hurried to grab him. "Fifth Brother, where are you going?"
Hu Guangcong sneered, "I’m going to find Xu Lijuan right now. Since she dared to scheme against you, I’m going to beat her to a pulp!"
Hu Guangcong had dropped out of school early and had been working in the fields ever since; he was significantly stronger than Hu Guangjin. Imagining the scene of the fifth son throwing a punch and seeing Lijuan’s delicate frame flying off like a fallen leaf, Hu Guangjin felt a pang of anxiety.
He hurriedly stepped forward to block Hu Guangcong. "You are forbidden to go! She is my girl, and your future fourth sister-in-law. You cannot show her disrespect!"
"Oh, you still haven’t woken up from your dream? You’re calling her your girl before there’s even a shadow of a match? Why don’t you ask if she even agrees to that?"
Feng Yun truly wished she could crack the fourth son’s head open to see exactly what kind of garbage was inside.
Hu Guangjin’s face flushed red, and he roared at Feng Yun. "That’s only because you won’t help me! Lijuan said her family is well-off and she’s definitely going to college. If I can’t get in, her parents certainly won’t let her marry me! If I just get into the top-tier class, my chances of getting into college will be much higher. You’re my mother—why won’t you think of my future? Are you even my mother?"
When Feng Yun heard this, her rage flared up instantly. She picked up a wooden mallet and chased Hu Guangjin all around the room.
"Blame me? Blame me? Why don’t you blame me for giving birth to you? Why don’t you blame me for not drowning you when you were born? With your level of ideological awareness, you’re not even as good as a donkey on a production team! Even a donkey knows to walk in circles to show gratitude after grinding grain, but you’ve been eating this family’s food for over a decade and all you’ve learned is how to kick back?"
She beat and scolded him as he howled, yet not a single person in the Hu household stepped in to stop her.
Hu Jianjun, standing to the side, felt his blood pressure soaring. "Enough! What is all this racket? Won’t it be fine if we just go to town this afternoon and clear things up? Feng Yun, tone it down—hitting the child day in and day out, isn't he a piece of flesh that fell off your own body?"
Feng Yun held her ground. "I’m disciplining my own child, why do you care so much? What, you’re fond of Guangjin? Then take him back and raise him yourself; I have no objections!"
Hu Jianjun clutched his chest. "Listen to that! Is that something a mother should say? If you don’t want me to interfere, I don’t want to, either!" He turned on his heel and walked away.
Once Hu Jianjun had left, the room fell silent. Feng Yun took a few deep breaths to steady herself and sat down at the table. "Go heat up the food; we still need to eat."
Hu Guangjin looked no better than Feng Yun. He stood a few meters away from his mother, his throat making a wheezing, rasping sound like a broken bellows. He pointed at his own nose and stammered, "Me? Go? I don’t know how to do that, Big Sister, you..."
Before he could finish, Feng Yun slammed her hand onto the table, causing the chopsticks to jump with a sharp "clack."
Hu Guangjin jumped in fright. His instincts faster than his brain, he zoomed into the kitchen.
Hu Jianguo sat in his chair, stealing cautious glances at Feng Yun. "Old woman, how did the fourth one turn out like this?"
Feng Yun gave a cold laugh. "As if that isn't because you coddled him."
Hu Jianguo hummed, about to retort, but he stopped immediately when he saw Feng Yun roll up her sleeves.
In the kitchen, Hu Guangjin stood before the stove, completely at a loss. He had never done chores like this before. He held the fire tongs but had no idea how to use them. Every time he tried to pick up a piece of firewood, it dropped; after a few attempts, he began banging the tongs against the stove in frustration.
The clanging rang out far and wide. In the main room, Feng Yun heard it and roared, "Bang, bang, bang! What are you trying to break? Do it again and get out of this house!"
Hu Guangjin shivered in terror and finally stopped banging. He had to grit his teeth and endure the heat while tending the fire. Before long, his hand was scalded. He let out a yelp and rushed over to Feng Yun, acting pathetic. "Mom, I really don't know how to do this. Let Big Sister do it. Look at my hand, it got burned, it hurts so much."
Feng Yun glanced indifferently at the fingernail-sized mark. "Oh, is that all? You’re a grown man and you can’t handle even this much pain? Back in the day, when I was working outside, my hands would be cut by sickles, and I’d still have to come home to wash clothes and cook. Besides, you’re a man; these wounds are a man’s medals. The more you have, the more secure a woman will feel. You should do more and get burned more."
Seeing that Feng Yun’s heart was as hard as iron, Hu Guangjin looked at Hu Chunhua, hoping she would volunteer to do the work. Who would have guessed that when she saw him looking, she turned her head away, pretending not to see anything.
His vicious glare landed on Hu Chunhua, and Feng Yun caught him in the act. She swung another heavy slap across his face.
"What are you glaring at? You can't even handle a small task like this; what kind of prospects do you have? Still wanting to study? You might as well quit—giving you an education is just a waste of the country's grain."
After being berated head-to-toe, Hu Guangjin couldn't take it anymore and skulked back to the kitchen.
Ten minutes later, he finally had the food heated. When it was placed on the table, Hu Guangjin’s face was covered in streaks of black soot. Hu Guangcong and Hu Chunhua saw it and couldn't help but stifle their laughter.
Hu Jianguo couldn't stand to look. "Guangjin, go wash your face. Look at the mess on you."
Before washing, Hu Guangjin caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Seeing the black soot, his face contorted. He was a scholar—if others saw him like this, what would remain of his scholarly image?
"What are you looking at? A grown man staring in the mirror all day—people might mistake you for a sissy. I’ve said it before, marrying you off to Li Tiezhu would be perfect. A sissy paired with a pervert; let’s see who can disgust the other more."
Hu Guangjin: "..."
"Mom, can you stop bringing that up? If others hear that, how could I show my face in the village?"
Feng Yun scoffed. "You still have a face?"
Hu Guangjin: "..."
His face had truly already been thrown onto the ground by his mother to be trampled by others.
"Enough, wash your face and come over to eat. What’s the matter, expecting us to wait for you?"
Hu Guangjin scrubbed his face roughly and sat down. He reached out to grab the remaining egg from the chive-and-egg dish, but before his chopsticks could touch it, Feng Yun slammed her own chopsticks onto his hand, causing a sharp sting.
"Eat, eat, eat, what are you eating? You don't do a lick of work all day and you want to eat all the good stuff? In your dreams!"
After snapping at him, she placed the eggs into Hu Chunhua’s and Hu Guangcong’s bowls, then added one last bit to her own. The eggs had been sparse to begin with, and after Hu Guangcai had snuck some earlier, there was hardly anything left. Hu Jianguo frowned, quickly grabbed his chopsticks, and searched through the dish, putting the last few scraps of egg into his own bowl.
Hu Guangjin got nothing. He looked at everyone with resentment.
Hu Chunhua and Hu Guangcong were pleasantly surprised and looked at each other, not daring to reach for their food.
Feng Yun said offhandedly, "From now on, the family’s food and drink will be distributed based on labor. Whoever works more gets to eat more, and gets to eat better. People are most afraid of having no conscience; when someone treats you well, you get arrogant and take it for granted that they owe it to you. You should find a puddle and look at your own reflection to see what kind of creature you are—why should anyone indulge or spoil you?"
Hu Guangjin’s face burned. Although his mother hadn't named him directly, every single word was clearly aimed at him. He wanted to argue back, but the consequence of that would be more beatings and abuse, so he had to swallow his anger.
Feng Yun snorted and continued, "You don't know the exhaustion of labor until you've done it. You always think, 'Isn't it just a little bit of work?' From now on, everyone will take turns doing the housework. No exceptions."
As soon as Hu Jianguo heard this involved him, he immediately objected. "Old woman, I..."
"You will do it too!"
Hu Jianguo choked. "How would I know how to..."
"If you don't know, learn! Who is born knowing these things? You’ve been waited on hand and foot every day, thinking we were the ones enjoying a good life at home. From now on, you can all enjoy that 'good life' for yourselves."
Hu Chunhua and Hu Guangcong exchanged a glance, their eyes brimming with suppressed laughter. If it was like this, their lives would be much easier.