Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

The early morning in Kaoshantun was chilly, typical of early spring.

As dawn broke, the distant mountain peaks were still shrouded in a thin layer of bluish-gray mist.

The village roosters had only crowed twice when the barking of a few old dogs broke the village's tranquility, and the air was filled with the mixed smells of firewood smoke and thawing soil.

Inside Erga's main room, the sound of snoring was deafening.

The kang (heated brick bed) was burning hot. Ergazi lay sprawled on the headboard, half his face buried in the pillow, drool still hanging from the corner of his mouth, and his whole body reeked of cheap liquor.

He casually stuck one of his hairy black thighs out from under the covers, half-draped over the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and occasionally smacked his lips, muttering indistinctly things like "drink" and "fill it up."

No wonder he slept like a log.

Yesterday afternoon, the wages and bonuses for the past few months from Hongxing Machinery Factory were finally paid out.

With several hundred yuan in cash in hand, these rough men, who had been holding back for so long, could no longer contain themselves.

The brothers had originally planned to take the money to buy some good wine and meat and have a good drink with Brother Shanhe.

When Erga ran excitedly to the gate of Zhao Shanhe's house, he peeked through the crack in the door and found Zhao Shanhe leaning against a rattan chair in the yard, fast asleep with his eyes closed, his face full of unconcealed fatigue.

Erga knew how much pressure Shanhe had been under lately to deal with the mess at the factory, so he couldn't bear to make a sound. He waved his hand and told Da Niu and the others to quietly slip away.

Unable to find their eldest brother, the brothers simply went to the village store, bought two pounds of pig's head meat, chopped some cucumbers, and a few bottles of strong liquor. They then ran to the big elm tree at the village entrance and drank merrily for half the night.

The group drank and boasted until late into the night before Ergazi finally stumbled home, his steps uneven.

He was still under the influence of alcohol and was dreaming of ordering food and counting money in a fancy restaurant.

Just then, the curtain of the main room was suddenly lifted.

"The sun's already high in the sky! You little brat, still lying there like a corpse! Get up right now!"

With a loud, furious roar, the thick cotton quilt with bright red peonies printed on it was grabbed by Erga Zi's mother and thrown over the kang mat.

When the quilt was lifted, Ergaizi's bare buttocks were immediately exposed.

The cool air of early spring, along with the earthy smell of the yard, poured in unceremoniously through the open door.

Without any hesitation, Ga Zi's mother raised her rough, calloused hand, honed from years of farm work, and delivered a resounding slap to Ga Zi's white bottom.

Erga was dreaming of gnawing on a big pig's trotter when he was suddenly slapped. Startled, he let out a howl and jumped up from the warm kang (heated brick bed) like a zombie.

He hadn't even fully opened his eyes when he quickly curled up into a ball like a giant worm, clutching his groin tightly with both hands, and howled with a strong morning grumpiness:

"Oh my god! What are you doing! I'm completely naked, not even wearing underwear, and you just lift it up like that, and then you hit me!"

"Sleep my ass!"

With her hands on her hips and a blackened fire poker still clutched in her hand, Ga Zi's mother glared at him and yelled, "Look at the time! Your father has already finished turning over one row of the backyard plot. What are you still sleeping for! Get up and wash up, tidy yourself up, and change your clothes!"

Erga rubbed his sleepy eyes, yawned, and muttered, his face full of reluctance:

"Mom, you don't understand. I'm now working with Brother Shanhe on important things, and who knows, I might become a cadre or something. Look at all those big bosses in the city, they all sleep until noon..."

"Who cares if you're a big boss or not! In this family, you're my son, so get up now!"

Erga Zi, with a pained expression, covered his head and groaned:

"Mother, I really can't get up, my head hurts..."

"I'm giving you a headache!"

Gazi's mother didn't tolerate him at all, and she stabbed the black fire poker in her hand directly at Gazi's bare buttocks.

"Ouch, damn it!" Erga Zi was poked by a hard wooden stick covered in soot from the bottom of the stove. He clutched his buttocks and recoiled in pain, fully waking up. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Mom, I'm your own son! You're so mean! Aren't you afraid of ruining me? Then I won't even be able to hold my grandson!"

"If you don't get up, I'll give you a really hard one!"

Gazi's mother held up the fire poker as if to poke it forward again.

Ergaizi, startled, quickly pulled the corner of the blanket over himself, muttering resentfully, "What's the point of getting up? Every day, the first thing I do when I open my eyes is feed those two wretched pigs or dig in the fields. Working myself to the bone all year round, how much can I possibly earn?"

"To be honest, we don't need those few cornbreads anymore! I'm working with Brother Shanhe now, and I earn more in a month than our whole family would make in a year of farming. How about this: we can stop farming, sell the pigs as soon as possible, and from now on, we'll buy everything we eat and drink from the supply and marketing cooperative at high prices! You and Dad won't have to do any work; you can just stay home, wander around, and enjoy your retirement. Your son is doing well now; in a while, I'll even bring you a big color TV!"

It would have been better if those words hadn't been said; as soon as they came out, Ga Zi's mother's anger surged to her head.

"Bullshit!"

This time, Ga Zi's mother was really anxious. She swung the fire poker down on his head, and with a "smack," it hit Er Ga Zi's arm, making him howl in pain.

"You've got a few bucks and you've forgotten who you are, haven't you? How dare you say something as heartless as not farming! What is money? Money is just paper! In years of famine or war, can you fill your stomach with that stack of paper? The land is the lifeblood of us farmers!"

"That pig is the meat for the end of the year! As long as you have land, even a blind sparrow won't starve! You've only had a few days of full meals, and you dare to spit in your ancestors' rice bowl? I'll beat you to death today, you ungrateful little brat!"

Erga Zi covered his head and scrambled across the kang (a heated brick bed) to avoid the mess, complaining, "Mom! Times have changed! Now you can buy anything with money, why can't you see that?"

"I'll spin your grandma's leg!"

Gazi's mother chased after him, swinging her fire poker with a whooshing sound. "I'll show you how times have changed! I'll show you how to buy expensive grain! You think you can fly to the heavens? Let me tell you, even if you earn a mountain of gold, your life is still thanks to me! As long as you're breathing in this yard, you have to listen to your old mother!"

In the courtyard outside the gate, Ga Zi's father, who was squatting by the wall smoking a pipe, puffed on his pipe twice, exhaled a puff of white smoke, and slowly added insult to injury:

"Beat him, beat him hard. This brat deserves a beating. This land is our foundation, how can we just leave it fallow? Listen to your mother, get up now. Go and shovel up the pigsty in the backyard, and mix up the pig feed. If those two big white pigs get too thin from starvation, you'll see if I don't whip you with a belt."

When Erga Zi heard that he also had to shovel the pigsty, and then looked at the fire poker in his mother's hand that was swinging so fast it was almost a blur, he immediately looked like a wilted eggplant.

Outside, when he followed Zhao Shanhe, no matter how much he dared to fight with a knife and act arrogantly, once he returned to this courtyard, in the face of his "mother's" ironclad rules, he was just a little brat who could be beaten at any time.

He dejectedly picked up the faded, tattered cotton trousers, and as he pulled them on, he muttered a protest:

"Shovel the pigsty, huh... I just made a fortune following Brother Shanhe, and he won't even let me get a good night's sleep? What kind of boss is this...?"

"Stop talking nonsense! Put on your clothes and get out there to work!"

After finishing her tirade, Ga Zi's mother turned and left the house, slamming the curtain shut with a loud bang.

Erga Zi sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and sighed. He slowly put on his clothes, got out of bed, and shuffled into the yard in his cloth shoes.

A gust of cold wind blew in early spring, and he shivered. He walked to the well and pumped half a basin of ice-cold water, splashing it haphazardly on his face to fully wake up.

Looking at the large wooden basin filled with rotten vegetable leaves and rice bran at the base of the kitchen wall, Erga sighed resignedly, rolled up his sleeves, and walked over.

Last night, he was bragging to Da Niu and the others under the big elm tree, saying that he would definitely hire a driver when he went out in the future. This morning, he was stirring the pig feed with a big wooden stick in his yard.

Ergaizi stirred the pot of sour-smelling pig feed vigorously while muttering to himself.

Even though I have enough money in my hand to build three big brick houses, why do I still feel like I'm poor?