Chapter 25: Zhou Bingkun, do you still see me as an old man?
A family meal ended in a tense confrontation between the two brothers Zhou Bingkun and Zhou Bingyi.
Looking at Zhou Bingyi and Hao Dongmei who were about to say goodbye, Zhou Bingkun wanted to give Zhou Bingyi a piece of advice, can we not become a door-to-door son-in-law?
However, every time the words came to his lips, Zhou Bingkun would forcefully swallow them back.
In fact, the relationship between me and my eldest brother Zhou Bingyi is already very tense, so there is no need to make it worse!
Zhou's mother, Li Suhua, watched Zhou Bingyi and Hao Dongmei leave, and belatedly discovered that there was a conflict between the two sons.
"Kun'er, what happened to you and your brother?"
"Mom, it must have been the incident in 1972. That incident probably made him resent me!" Zhou Bingkun guessed.
"Kun'er, it's all your fault for talking too much back then!
If you say you mind your own business, that's fine!
Your brother is such a face-saving person, and now all the face has been lost to you!" After hearing Zhou Bingkun's guess, Zhou's mother Li Suhua complained.
"Mom! He is my brother, of course I want him to live a better life!
It is said that the eyes of the beholder are clear, but the authorities are confused.
But he didn’t take my reminder seriously at all!
Is it really all my fault?"
"Kun'er, you are all adults!
Each has his own way of life, there is no need to always try to influence the other!
Besides, your brother is also a man of ideas, so he won’t listen to your advice!” Zhou’s mother, Li Suhua, sighed and said with a wry smile.
"Okay! I finally understand what mom means!
I am a blind man who lights a lamp in vain!
I’m so impressed!
In fact, in my brother's mind, I am just nosy!"
...
A few days later, Zhou Zhiqiang, Zhou's father, also returned to the Northeast. Seeing his drastically changed home, Zhou Zhiqiang's originally good mood was ruined by Zhou Bingkun's concealment.
After returning home, Zhou Zhiqiang had a droopy face the rest of the time, except when he faced his grandson.
Seeing Zhou's father's behavior, Zhou Bingkun certainly knew that Zhou's father was really angry.
In fact, Zhou's father, like Zhou Bingyi, is a very conceited person. It is impossible to admit that he is inferior to others, and the other person is still his son.
"Bingkun, someone introduced a partner to Guangming, I went to check it out!
The girl is quite beautiful!
There are just some intellectual problems!”
Zheng Juan felt the awkward atmosphere in the Zhou family, like a powder keg about to explode, and quickly deliberately told the story about her brother Guangming in public to ease the atmosphere.
“This won’t work!
Guangming always needs someone to take care of him!
If you marry a wife with intellectual disabilities, who will take care of whom in the future?" Zhou Bingkun said without hesitation.
"Hey, Zhou Bingkun, you are such a great writer, you are so awesome!
Not only do you write good articles, but you also make decisions for others!
Have you ever asked Guangming for his opinion on his marriage?" Zhou Zhiqiang finally caught the topic and said sarcastically.
Not paying attention to Zhou Zhiqiang's ridicule, Zhou Bingkun explained, "Dad, Guangming's opinion is that he wants to become a monk!
I thought that by escaping to the deep mountains and old forests, I would no longer endure the suffering!
Dad, do you think this is possible?"
Zhou Zhiqiang ignored his son Zhou Bingkun's explanation, and just wanted to use the topic to vent his inner dissatisfaction, "Humph! I think you, Zhou Bingkun, are self-righteous!
Too conceited!
No one is taken seriously by you now!
Even my father is dispensable!
Don’t tell a blind brother-in-law that he can’t see!”
"Dad, can we be reasonable? We are talking about a bright marriage now. Why are you blaming me!"
"Huh! It's all the same thing! You're used to making your own decisions! You never care about other people's feelings!"
"Dad, what you said is a bit serious!"
"Seriously? Why didn't you tell me in advance about such a big thing as building a house? Do you still think of me as your father?"
"Dad, most of your monthly salary will be mailed home.
If I tell you about building a house.
Apart from a job that makes you feel uneasy, it doesn't help your family at all, right?" Zhou Bingkun looked at his angry father and expressed his thoughts without hesitation.
"Your work unit has been unable to do without you. Just because of this trivial matter for our family, are we going to ask you to take a month or two of leave and come back to build a house?"
After hearing his son Zhou Bingkun's explanation, Zhou Zhiqiang lost his temper. He really couldn't leave the company and enjoyed the working atmosphere there.
But I just feel unhappy and always want to find fault with this younger son, "Then let me ask you, where did you get so much money?"
“How much money is this!?
I originally planned to build a two-story courtyard house, but I was worried that it would be too eye-catching!
So I reluctantly built the most ordinary one!" Zhou Bingkun said disapprovingly.
Hearing his son Zhou Bingkun's shameless words, Zhou Zhiqiang was very angry, and then said angrily, "I'm asking you again, where did you get so much money?
Don’t bullshit me here!”
"You'll earn it!"
"What? You actually learned how to speculate?" Zhou's father, Zhou Zhiqiang, was very excited because he could finally teach this hateful son a lesson.
"Dad, where are you thinking? I make money by writing articles!
For my first article, "The Rise of Great Powers," the National Daily gave me a royalties of 1,200 yuan.
I lent one hundred yuan to Sun Ganchao to buy land!
Six hundred yuan to build a new house for Guangming!
With the remaining five hundred yuan, I bought Uncle Lin’s house next door, as well as the Su family’s house and land behind it!”
"Then... where's the money to build the house?" After hearing his son Zhou Bingkun's explanation, Zhou Zhiqiang, Zhou's father, became dumb again.
"A newspaper in Hong Kong took a fancy to my "Rise of a Great Power" and bought the copyright.
I wrote another article and sold it to newspapers on Hong Kong Island."
"Then why didn't I see another article of yours in the National Daily?" Zhou's father, Zhou Zhiqiang, was still confused.
“The National Daily is so stingy!
I didn’t publish the second article on it!
Dad, if you want to read it, I will give it to you right now!" Zhou Bingkun complained about the stinginess of the National Daily, and quickly got up and went back to his room to get the first draft of "Hexi Corridor".
Zhou Zhiqiang took "Hexi Corridor" from Zhou Bingkun, ignored anyone, and started reading it by himself.
After a while, Zhou Zhiqiang completely lost his temper and could only smoke by himself.
Seeing that Zhou Zhiqiang, Zhou's father, was no longer making trouble, Zhou Bingkun quickly took out the Chinese cigarette, handed it to his father respectfully, and said with a smile, "Dad, smoke this! This is good!"
Seeing his son Zhou Bingkun's playful smile, Zhou Zhiqiang snorted coldly, and then took the Chinese cigarette from his son.
"Who designed such a nice house for our family?"
Hearing what Zhou's father Zhou Zhiqiang said, Zhou Bingkun knew that Zhou Zhiqiang was no longer angry, so he quickly explained with a smile, "He is an old retired painter, also named Zhou!
I used to be the deputy director of the cartoon department of Northeast Film Studio!"
"What about these building materials and construction teams?"
"It was also through Mr. Zhou's help that we contacted him!"
"Since they have helped us so much!
After the Chinese New Year, while I’m at home, I’ll invite them to my house for a meal!” Zhou Zhiqiang suddenly arranged.
"Okay, I will invite them soon!" Zhou Bingkun behaved very well.