The gluttonous little boy is four and a half years old, and even the wealthy family kneels down and

Jiang Shulan and Yun Mingyue accompanied him on either side, while Yun Mingyuan and Yun Mingyi greeted the guests in front.

There were quite a few people who came, and they were all important figures.

There are old friends who worked with Yun Zhengbang when they were young, as well as several families that are on good terms with the Yun family.

Yun Zhengbang was surrounded by several old friends. Once he started talking, he couldn't stop, and his laughter grew louder and louder.

Xiao Jin, carrying a full jar of candy, walked towards the yard. Yun Tianlin, dressed in a navy blue suit, was quietly watching the koi in the pond.

Suddenly, a little boy who was half a head taller than him pushed him from behind, causing him to stumble forward and hit his knee on the marble edge of the fountain.

The little boy's name was Zheng Jiale, the youngest grandson of the Zheng family. He was spoiled and fearless.

He saw Yun Tianlin almost fall into the fountain, but instead of apologizing, he clapped and laughed.

Yun Tianlin clutched his knee, both angry and anxious. "What are you doing!"

Zheng Jiale made a face: "Who told you to block my view of the fish!"

After he finished speaking, he went to step on Yun Tianlin's new leather shoes.

"Don't step on my shoes!" Yun Tianlin shoved Zheng Jiale.

Zheng Jiale suddenly burst into tears.

The crying attracted Madam Zheng and Yun Mingyue.

Madam Zheng, lifting her skirt, hurried over. Seeing Zheng Jiale's face streaked with tears, she felt a pang of heartache and knelt down to embrace her grandson.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying all of a sudden?"

Zheng Jiale sobbed, feigning resentment: "He pushed me! He pushed me first!"

Yun Tianlin was already feeling extremely wronged, and upon hearing this, his eyes reddened even more.

He gripped Yun Mingyue's hand tightly, his voice trembling slightly:

"He pushed me first. I was looking at the fish, and he pushed me from behind, scraping my knee. He also tried to step on my new shoes, so I pushed him."

As he spoke, he pointed to his knee, which had hit the edge of the fountain.

Yun Mingyue squatted down, lifted his trouser leg, and took a look. The skin there was bruised, and blood was faintly seeping out.

Her face immediately darkened, but she suppressed her anger and stood up to look at Madam Zheng: "Madam Zheng, you heard it too. Jiale struck first, and Tianlin only pushed him away. Children may quarrel, but a knee is scraped; there has to be some explanation, right?"

Madam Zheng pulled Zheng Jiale closer to her, her tone light and casual: "Oh dear, it's just children playing around, how can you take it seriously? Jiale is a bit mischievous, boys are bound to get bumps and bruises, isn't that normal? Miss Yun, don't take it so seriously."

As she spoke, she patted Zheng Jiale's head, as if he were the one who had been wronged.

Yun Mingyue's face turned completely cold.

Just as she was about to speak, Xiao Jin appeared out of nowhere.

She wore a pretty pink dress and little leather shoes today, looking like a soft rag doll.

But when she walked up to Zheng Jiale, she put the candy jar on the ground, and without saying a word, she reached out her little hands and took Zheng Jiale out of Madam Zheng's arms.

Zheng Jiale is more than half a head taller than Xiao Jin, and weighs at least fifty or sixty pounds more.

Xiao Jin carried him, her steps steady and deliberate, like carrying a round sack of rice. She reached the fountain and loosened her grip.

With a "splash," Zheng Jiale sat down in the fountain pool.

Water splashed everywhere, and the koi in the pond were startled and scattered in all directions. The surrounding guests all looked over.

Zheng Jiale sat in the shallow water, stunned for two seconds, and then burst into loud sobs, several times louder than before.

Madam Zheng screamed and rushed over to pull her son out of the water, shouting, "Whose child is this! How can he be so unruly!"

Standing by the fountain, Xiao Jin clapped her hands, looked up, and said softly, "Pretty Auntie, please don't be angry. Xiao Jin was just playing with Brother Jia Le. Children's play is just play, you can't take it seriously."

Her tone was soft and sweet, and she even sighed softly, mimicking Madam Zheng's earlier manner.

Yun Mingyue stood behind, and couldn't help but slightly curl the corners of her lips.

She pulled Xiao Jin back to her side and said to Madam Zheng, "Madam Zheng, Xiao Jin is right. It's just children playing around; there's no need to take it too seriously."

She paused, glanced down at Zheng Jiale's soaked clothes, and added, "But it's chilly today, so you should take Jiale to change his clothes quickly, lest he catch a cold."

Madam Zheng's face turned pale and then flushed, and her lips trembled.

She wanted to get angry, but with all the guests watching and it being the Yun family's birthday banquet, she could only force a smile: "Yes, yes... the children were just playing, it's nothing, it's nothing." She glared at Xiao Jin and pulled the wailing Zheng Jiale away.

Xiao Jin watched her furious back and made a face.

Yun Tianlin sniffed and whispered, "Xiao Jin, the way you picked her up looked like Superman."

Xiao Jin snorted twice and puffed out her little chest: "Xiao Jin only acts like this with bad guys. You're Xiao Jin's family, no one can bully you."

Yun Mingyue patted her head, her eyes full of smiles.

Shortly after this minor incident, an extremely loud shout suddenly rang out at the courtyard gate.

"Jung-bang—my old brother!"

The sound was loud and clear, like a gong exploding on flat ground, drawing everyone's attention.

Xiao Jin also turned her head and saw a thin old man sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed by Zhou Kai, passing through the flower hall and heading towards the main seat.

The old man was wearing a blue long gown, with a blanket covering his legs. His face was so thin that he was almost unrecognizable, yet he was smiling broadly, as if he and Yun Zhengbang were old friends who had known each other for a lifetime.

"Zheng Bang! I've come to see you!" Zhou Kun was pushed in front of Yun Zheng Bang and shakily reached out his hand.

The smile on Yun Zhengbang's face froze the moment he saw him clearly.

He stood there, his face filled with shock and astonishment.

Zhou Kun had already grabbed his hand, his withered hand gripping it tightly, as if afraid he would run away.

"It's been over fifty years," Zhou Kun said with a smile, his voice so loud that the surrounding tables could hear him clearly. "I've wanted to come to Beijing to see you for a long time, but you've been too busy, and I was too embarrassed to come."

As he spoke, he turned and gestured to Zhou Kai. Zhou Kai then had a brocade box brought forward.

The box was opened, revealing a jade Guanyin statue inside. The jade was of excellent quality and gleamed with a warm light under the lamp.

Yun Zhengbang looked at the jade Guanyin statue, then at Zhou Kun, and after a long while, finally asked, "When did you come to Beijing?"

Zhou Kun didn't answer, only smiled: "I've always been here. It's just that you're standing higher now, so you can't see us anymore."

His tone carried a mix of regret and malice: "I don't blame you. People always have to look after themselves first."

Yun Mingyuan had already walked over.

He calmly helped Yun Zhengbang up, his voice polite but devoid of warmth: "Sir, who are you?"

"You don't even recognize me? I'm an old acquaintance of your father!" Zhou Kun said with a forced smile.

Yun Mingyuan frowned slightly. "Today is my father's birthday banquet. If there's anything I need, I'll personally visit another day."

Zhou Kun glanced at Yun Mingyuan and smiled even wider: "This must be Mingyuan, right? Good boy, you've grown into a grown-up."

He patted Yun Zhengbang's hand and said, "I see you surrounded by children and grandchildren, enjoying your company. You are truly blessed."

Yun Zhengbang's face had turned completely cold.

He stared intently at Zhou Kun for a long while before speaking, his voice extremely low:

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Zhou Kun grinned, his smile appearing particularly exaggerated on his gaunt face.

He patted Yun Zhengbang's hand and said, "Brother, don't be nervous."

"I just wanted to catch up with you."

"It's been over fifty years, and there are some things I've kept in my heart that I need to say. Today is your birthday, and I came uninvited, which is inconsiderate of me as your younger brother. But I've missed you."

Yun Zhengbang withdrew his hand and slowly straightened his back.

He turned to Yun Mingyuan and said, "Go and arrange a quiet room. I need to talk to my old friend alone for a while."

Yun Mingyuan was about to say something when Yun Zhengbang raised his hand to stop him.

He nodded and turned to make the arrangements.

Zhou Kai pushed Zhou Kun, following behind them through the corridor and into a side hall.

Once the door is closed, the music and noise outside seem to be shut out into another world.

The side room was brightly lit, casting long, pale shadows of the two elderly people on the wall.

Zhou Kun pushed his wheelchair to a spot by the window, looked around, and sighed, "You're really lucky these days. When I was young, I couldn't even get through the door to this place."

He paused, his smile fading. "That's true. Back in Nancheng that year, if it weren't for you, I might have died long ago."

"But if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had to hide and run away for so many years."

Yun Zhengbang slowly walked over and sat down opposite him.

He didn't exchange pleasantries or beat around the bush: "Zhou Kun, I don't intend to bring up what happened decades ago. Just tell me why you're here today."

Zhou Kun looked at him; his eyes were deep-set, but his pupils were unusually bright.

He paused for a few seconds before saying, "I just want to know if you remember back then. At the Nancheng Machine Tool Factory, we started from scratch, working together from a single brick. You were the older brother, and I was the younger. Back then, I trusted you so much."

He chuckled, his voice trembling, "But in front of everyone, you called me a traitor and threatened to send me to jail. I only took a few hundred thousand, and you're pushing me to the brink."

Yun Zhengbang frowned, as if someone were peeling away the scab from an old wound bit by bit.

He lowered his voice and said, "You took over a hundred thousand, but have you considered how many people would die if something went wrong with the batch of steel you replaced?"

"I made you redo the work to save you. And what did you do? You ran off with the money. Do you know that I sold everything I could to cover that loss?"

Zhou Kun tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of his wheelchair, as if listening to a story he had heard countless times but refused to acknowledge.

He said, "You sold your assets for your own reputation. You're afraid that the unfinished construction site will ruin Yun Zhengbang's brand."

"And then what? You became a prominent figure in Beijing, and me? I was lying in a rented room, my legs so badly rotten you could see the bone. My wife ran away, and I was ruined. I went to the provincial capital, I went to the south, and I lost money no matter what I did."

"I was right below when the steel beam collapsed during that final accident. I thought, if it had killed me, that would have been better. But I survived, and with these crippled legs, I crawled back step by step to see how well you're doing."

Yun Zhengbang closed his eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, they were calm: "You had an accident. The money for the hospital was sent by someone I arranged."

Zhou Kun suddenly looked up, his withered hands gripping the wheelchair armrests, veins bulging: "You think I don't know it was you who gave it to me?! Of course I fucking know!"

His voice suddenly rose, then gradually fell back down, as if someone had sucked half a breath away from him, "The more you do this, the more I hate you."

"You, Yun Zhengbang, have become a good person and a living bodhisattva. As for me? I've lived my whole life as a pebble under your feet."

"What gives you the right? Tell me, what gives you the right?"

Yun Zhengbang did not answer.

He just stared at Zhou Kun as if he were looking at the young man who had squatted outside the construction shed years ago, stealing and replacing steel bars.

After a long silence, he slowly said, "Zhou Kun, you've brought this situation upon yourself step by step. You can hate me, but you'd better not use that hatred in the wrong place."

Zhou Kun smiled.

The laughter was extremely short, like a knife tip scraping across porcelain.

He stopped pretending and spoke very slowly, as if he wanted to nail each word into Yun Zhengbang's bones:

"I've used my life in the right place. There's nothing to regret about my life anymore. But I will take back the glory your Yun family has enjoyed for decades, bit by bit."

"You'd better stay tough like this, or you'll disappoint me."

As Zhou Kun spoke, he pushed the wheelchair toward the door, but stopped there without turning back: "Zheng Bang, I heard your son's legs are also crippled. That's good."

He said this while letting out a mocking laugh.

Yun Zhengbang gripped his cane tightly and shouted, "Zhou Kun, remember this: you're fighting me, don't touch my child."

Zhou Kun paused for only a moment, then strode away.

Outside the door, Yun Mingyuan and Yun Mingyi stood guard on either side.

They waited for Zhou Kun to leave before going inside. Yun Mingyuan walked to Yun Zhengbang's side and whispered, "Dad, he..."

Yun Zhengbang waved his hand, as if he were exhausted: "Have someone keep an eye on them."

He paused, then said, "Starting today, we will increase the number of staff to take Xiao Jin to and from school."

"You yourselves need to be careful too."

Yun Mingyuan's expression hardened, and he nodded.