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

When Zhang Dafa returned home, his face was still dark.

The chill from his cotton-padded coat hadn't dissipated yet. He had just taken off his hat when Sun Guifen, who was by the stove, glanced at him and asked, "You're back?"

Zhang Dafa hummed in agreement and was about to go inside when Sun Guifen added, "Guowei is here. He's been waiting for you in the inner room for ages."

Zhang Dafa stopped in his tracks, his brows immediately furrowing: "Why is he here?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Guifen immediately became displeased, slamming her spoon against the side of the pot: "Why can't he come? He's my nephew, not an outsider."

Zhang Dafa threw his hat on the table, his face darkening. "You can come. Just don't cause me any trouble."

Sun Guifen immediately exploded: "Causing trouble? How did he cause you trouble? That's my nephew, not some shady character! He comes to you, his uncle, to ask a question, and you immediately call him a troublemaker. I think you, the deputy factory director, are getting more and more arrogant!"

Zhang Dafa sneered, "Questioning? Isn't it just to get on the list and make up for lost wages? He doesn't deserve it! How many days did he actually work last month? Did you even ask? He was either late or leaving early, or hiding in the back leading people in card games and smoking. How many times has he even touched the equipment work? If I weren't keeping an eye on him, he would have been fired long ago!"

Sun Guifen retorted immediately, "Don't give me that crap! What young person doesn't like to have fun? Who hasn't been a bit reckless in their youth? When you first started working at the factory, you were so poor you could barely afford to wear a belt, and you were looked down upon all the way through life, weren't you? Now that you've made something of yourself, you're the one complaining that my nephew is useless?"

Zhang Dafa's face immediately turned ugly.

At this moment, the curtain of the inner room was lifted, and Wang Guowei came out, leaned against the door frame, and said in a sarcastic tone with a crooked mouth.

"Aunt, don't say that. My uncle isn't what he used to be; he's the deputy factory director now. How could he possibly look down on us, his family?"

These words were aimed directly at Zhang Dafa's heart.

Zhang Dafa suddenly turned to stare at Wang Guowei, his anger barely contained: "Stop being sarcastic!"

Wang Guowei, however, did not back down at all. Instead, he crossed his arms and took two steps forward, a smile on his lips, but his words became more and more cutting.

"How could I dare? I just don't understand. When you married my aunt, you patted your chest and said such nice things, that we would all be family from now on, and that you would take care of her family. Now look what's happened, you can't even get a single position. Uncle, your position as deputy factory director... isn't very strong."

The room fell silent instantly, and Zhang Dafa's eyelids twitched violently twice.

Sun Guifen chimed in, "Exactly! They've been pushed back from outside, and now they're giving us, uncle and nephew, the first thing they do is give us attitude. Why don't you try giving Zhao Shanhe that kind of treatment then!"

"You know nothing!" Zhang Dafa gritted his teeth.

"I don't understand," Wang Guowei continued, pressing his advantage. "I saw it. Zhao Shanhe has only been here a few days. You put in a word for me at the meeting, and he brushed you off with a few weak words. Instead of getting angry at him when you got back, you took it out on me. What kind of skill is that?"

Zhang Dafa's face turned genuinely red, as the mother and son were holding him up from both sides.

"You really think it's because I can't fit in? It's because you're not good enough! The moment I mention your name, the faces of Old Chen, Wang Daikui, and a few workshop directors change instantly. You can't see it, but I can! The first batch are the backbone of the factory, the key to the factory's transformation, not someone you can just fill in."

Sun Guifen immediately raised her voice: "Stop giving me that bureaucratic nonsense! What backbone, what key personnel, in the end it's just that you don't have the ability, you can't control people? You act like a deputy factory director at home, but when you actually get to the factory, Zhao Shanhe has only been here for a few days and he's already shut you down so you can't utter a single coherent sentence!"

Wang Guowei leaned against the door frame and gave another sarcastic laugh.

"Exactly. Uncle, there's no point in telling me this. I'll just ask you one question—if I were truly an outsider, would you have spoken up for me at the meeting today?"

Zhang Dafa's face stiffened, and he didn't answer.

Wang Guowei, on the contrary, became even more enthusiastic, crossing his arms and swaying forward a couple of steps: "You spoke up, which means you know I can get in. But as soon as you said it, Zhao Shanhe just said a few weak words and turned you away. To put it bluntly, it's not that I'm incapable, it's that you, as the deputy factory director, don't carry much weight with him."

Sun Guifen added fuel to the fire: "That's exactly right! If you really had any influence, would Guowei be completely powerless? If I had known you were this useless, I shouldn't have agreed to marry you back then!"

"Do you know how many people were after me back then? From the commune's grain station to the supply and marketing cooperative, weren't they all more respectable than you? Some of them are now directors, and some have already moved into apartment buildings. And look at you? After all these years, you're just a deputy factory director, and you can't even get your own nephew to move up a step!"

Zhang Dafa's neck was flushed red. He stood there, his chest heaving, his anger rising to his throat.

"Let me tell you, Sun Guifen, don't try to use what happened back then to pressure me! I didn't skimp on the bride price back then, and I gritted my teeth to scrape together the 'three turns and one ring' (referring to a set of three-wheeled trains and a radio) for you. I was practically broke when we got married!"

Sun Guifen's eyes widened immediately: "How dare you bring this up—"

"How could I be embarrassed to mention it?!"

Zhang Dafa suddenly took a step forward, his eyes red, "You may have forgotten how your family treated me back then, but I haven't! Your father was always so rude, treating me like I was a beggar! Your mother always said 'my daughter married down,' how many years have I heard that?!"

"My parents were so honest and simple back then. They went to your house with smiles on their faces, and came back with their faces all white! Your Sun family's reputation was built on stepping on my parents' faces, and you still have the nerve to bring up this old grudge with me?!"

The room fell into a deathly silence, and Wang Guowei was stunned.

Sun Guifen shouted in a shrill voice, "Zhang Dafa, have you gone mad today?!"

"Am I crazy?" Zhang Dafa sneered, his eyes bloodshot.

"If I were truly insane, I would have broken ties with your family years ago! Over the years, for every single matter, big or small, that your family has faced, I've been the one running around, spending money and embarrassing myself every time! Who's been keeping Wang Guowei in check for all this time—not working, gambling, causing trouble?!"

"You still have the nerve to say I'm incompetent? If I were truly incompetent, your nephew would have been dragged out by Old Liang and publicly shamed throughout the entire factory! I've been protecting your family all this time, getting myself all smeared, and now I have to come back and listen to you two smearing my face! What, do I owe your family something?!"

These words turned Sun Guifen's face pale.

Wang Guowei remained defiant, gritting his teeth as he retorted in a low voice, "Uncle, after all you've said, Zhao Shanhe still managed to shut you down, didn't he?"

Zhang Dafa suddenly turned his head and stared at him, his eyes filled with a frighteningly sinister look.

"Yes, I was stopped by Zhao Shanhe."

Zhang Dafa sneered, his voice hoarse as if he had coarse sand in his throat.

"But Zhao Shanhe was right about one thing: he said that the Red Star Factory doesn't support rich kids."

He took a step forward, staring intently at Wang Guowei, his right index finger trembling as he tapped Wang Guowei's forehead.

"Just think about how many favors I've lost over the years because of your petty affairs. How much spitting has the old workers at the factory given me behind my back? Your aunt always says I lack authority as deputy factory director, but who wore that down?"

Seeing that things were not going well, Sun Guifen was about to open her mouth and put her hands on her hips to curse a few more times when Zhang Dafa glared at her from the side, silencing her half-finished words.

"Shut up! Sun Guifen, you always say who pursued you back then, who was more successful than me. Fine, then why didn't you go with them? Wasn't it because you thought I, Zhang Dafa, was honest, and that I could drag your bunch of burdens from the Sun family forward like an animal?"

Zhang Dafa suddenly slapped his chest, making a dull thud.

"Let me tell you, I won't mention this list again. Not only will I not mention it, but as long as I'm in this position, you'll obediently squat by the equipment door fixing your wrenches. Want to be in the first batch and get full pay? Want to touch foreign machines? Unless I, Zhang Dafu, die and make room for you in this deputy factory director position!"

Wang Guowei's face turned pale, and his lips twitched a few times. He was truly frightened by Zhang Dafa's ruthless and all-or-nothing attitude.

He had never seen his uncle, who was usually so timid and never dared to speak harshly to his aunt, have such a predatory look in his eyes.

Zhang Dafa was breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently. He grabbed a hat from the table and put it on his head, then turned and gave Sun Guifen a cold look.

"You can eat the rice in the pot yourself, I think it's dirty."

After saying that, he yanked open the door and rammed into the biting cold wind outside without looking back. With a loud bang, the two wooden doors were slammed shut, and dust from the roof beams fell down, landing right on Sun Guifen's stunned face.

The room was deathly silent.

Wang Guowei swallowed hard and muttered under his breath, "Auntie... my uncle, has he taken the wrong medicine?"

Sun Guifen slumped onto the bench, her eyes reddening, and remained silent for a long time.