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

The wind and snow howled as they poured into the house through the cracks in the door that wasn't closed properly.

Zhao Xiaoyu stood at the door, her eyes, painted with cheap eyeliner, fixed on the pot of greasy meat on the kang (a heated brick bed), and her throat involuntarily moved.

Without any hesitation, she slammed her schoolbag down on the end of the kang (a heated brick bed), kicking up a cloud of dust that even splashed into Lin Xiu's bowl.

"Brother, that's enough."

As Zhao Xiaoyu brushed the snow off her coat, she frowned, her tone as familiar as if she were scolding an ignorant servant:

"Mom's almost sick with anger, and Second Brother got splashed all over himself and is still shivering in bed; Third Brother was beaten so badly he can't get out of bed. And you're just hiding here eating with your mouth all greasy?"

She sighed, adopting a magnanimous demeanor that suggested, "I'm doing this for your own good."

"Alright, Mom said that as long as you take this bowl of meat back, kowtow to your second brother to apologize, and carry the stolen grain back, this matter will be over. We're still family, so let's not let outsiders laugh at us."

The room was very quiet.

The only sound was the crackling of firewood burning in the stove pit.

Zhao Shanhe sat cross-legged, not even lifting his eyelids, and slowly picked up a piece of the fattest, most tender meat and placed it in Niu Niu's bowl:

"Niu Niu, eat meat. Don't listen to the dog barking."

Zhao Xiaoyu, left standing to the side, couldn't bear the embarrassment.

She walked over in a few steps, reached out to untie the red scarf around her neck, and complained matter-of-factly:

"Brother, did you hear me? I came here because I didn't want to see you take your own life!"

"Also, such good meat, isn't it a waste to feed it to a girl? Aren't you afraid she'll get indigestion? Hurry up and pack it up, take it to Second Brother to help him get some brain nourishment, he has to meet with his superiors tomorrow."

As she spoke, she casually tossed the red scarf she had taken off into Lin Xiu's arms, like throwing away a dirty rag.

Because she disliked Lin Xiu's dirty clothes, she even clapped her hands after throwing them away.

"It's good that your sister-in-law is here. This scarf is pilling, and people will laugh at us if we wear it out. You'll have to do the work, don't sleep tonight, take it apart for me, scald it with boiling water, and knit it again. This time, make the stitches denser."

Lin Xiu, clutching the scarf still warm from her body, stiffened.

Those hands, covered in chilblains, cracked and bleeding, hung helplessly, neither daring to take it nor to throw it away.

Zhao Shanhe finally stopped using his chopsticks to pick up meat.

"Clatter".

The chopsticks were slammed heavily on the table, causing the oil and soup to splatter.

He slowly turned his head, his dark eyes fixed on the bright red scarf, his voice so calm it sent chills down your spine:

"Is this scarf warm?"

Zhao Xiaoyu was taken aback, subconsciously touched her neck, and looked disgusted:

"What's so warm about it? This yarn is so cheap, it's itchy. Could I ask my sister-in-law to knit it again?"

"You think it's prickly? You think it pills?"

Zhao Shanhe smiled.

His smile was colder than the wind and snow outside.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Niu Niu's little foot, who was gnawing on a bone.

Take off your shoes.

A wrinkled, tattered sock was showing, the heel worn away, the big toe sticking out red and covered with purplish-black chilblain marks, some of which were oozing yellow fluid.

"Zhao Xiaoyu, you've probably forgotten."

Zhao Shanhe pointed to those rotten feet, his voice deep and thunderous:

"I bought this ball of red yarn by selling two fox pelts at the market. I was going to make cotton socks for Niu Niu."

Zhao Xiaoyu paused, her eyes sweeping over Niu Niu's rotten feet before quickly looking away as if burned, her eyes darting away.

Zhao Shanhe stared intently at her:

Last winter, Niu Niu's feet were frostbitten and she couldn't even walk. I was going to knit her socks. But when you saw that ball of red yarn, you started crying and making a fuss, insisting that you had to go to the school party and that it would be embarrassing not to have a red scarf.

"Mom forced your sister-in-law to unravel the half-knitted socks overnight and turn them into your scarf."

"This year, when you were complaining about it being prickly on your neck and pilling."

"My daughter's chilblains on her feet keep festering and healing, and even now, in the dead of winter, she's still wearing tattered socks that expose her toes!"

Zhao Xiaoyu's face flushed red instantly.

The shame of having her sore spot touched made her furious. She yanked the scarf back from Lin Xiu's arms and screamed as if her tail had been stepped on:

"Brother, what do you mean by that?!"

"Mom made me take it! Besides, what's a ball of yarn worth? I won an award for my recitation on stage, didn't that bring honor to our family?"

She pointed at Niu Niu with an air of self-righteousness, even a hint of condescending arrogance:

"She's just a kid, what's wrong with her getting a little cold? She can do it later, right? I'm going on stage, don't you understand how important my image is? My reputation is our family's reputation!"

"Besides, wasn't I just trying to make you, as the eldest brother, look good? We're all family, you're being too petty."

"To fuss over..."

Zhao Shanhe lowered his head, looking at the sharp dagger in his hand, the blade still stained with roe deer blood.

"hehe……"

A cold laugh.

Suddenly, Zhao Shanhe slammed the knife into the table!

笃！

The blade pierced deep into the wood, causing the bowls and chopsticks to bounce wildly!

"Zhao Xiaoyu, since you've all turned your hearts away, I really can't let this go unpunished!"

He suddenly stood up, his tall figure looming over Zhao Xiaoyu. The oppressive aura emanating from him, as if he had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, terrified Zhao Xiaoyu, who turned pale and took two steps back.

"A family? I poured my heart and soul into this family, and what did I get in return? Not only did I become their slave, but my wife and daughter suffered alongside me, trampled underfoot and looked down upon by you all!"

"Who stepped on you? Mom only does that because she loves us younger ones. As the eldest brother, shouldn't you do more?" Zhao Xiaoyu was still being stubborn, but her voice was already trembling.

"Should I?"

Zhao Shanhe's eyes were bloodshot, like those of a raging lion.

"I was fourteen that year when Dad passed away. I was only a few years older than you. I was carrying 100-pound sacks of grain at the granary! The skin on my shoulders was chafed raw and stuck to my clothes! At night, the pain was so bad that I could only sleep on my stomach, biting the corner of the blanket, afraid to cry!"

He pounded his chest hard, making dull thuds.

"I accept this hardship because I'm the eldest brother! I have no complaints!"

"But my acceptance of suffering doesn't mean I accept your evil!"

He approached step by step, extending his rough finger and poking it directly in front of Zhao Xiaoyu's nose:

"Let me start with Mom! The third son snatched the egg from my bowl! When I vomited blood and had a fever, Mom said I should just tough it out; but when the third son cut his finger, she wanted to kill a chicken to make him stronger!"

"And then there's the second brother! Wearing the polyester shirt I earned carrying stones, he went around the county telling people I was an illiterate peasant, and they thought I was a disgrace!"

"It's you in the end! Zhao Xiaoyu!"

Zhao Shanhe suddenly reached out and grabbed the red scarf in Zhao Xiaoyu's hand.

"Ah! What are you doing! This is mine!" Zhao Xiaoyu screamed, trying to snatch it back.

"Yours? What right do you have to say it's yours!"

Zhao Shanhe suddenly pulled.

Stab it!

The sound of yarn snapping.

He snatched the scarf away and gripped it tightly in his hand, as if he wanted to crush all the resentment he had harbored over the years.

"You complain that the scarf my wife knitted with her own blood is itchy! You think it's wasteful to see my daughter wearing torn socks!"

"You climbed up by stepping on my shoulders, ate your fill, and got warm clothes, and then you turn around and complain about my sweaty smell? You think I'm destined for hard labor?"

Zhao Xiaoyu looked at the scarf that had been taken from her, trembling all over, and managed to squeeze out a sentence through her trembling lips:

"Well... that's because you're not capable enough... If you could have gotten into university, you wouldn't be doing manual labor..."

"Shut up!!!"

Zhao Shanhe roared and unleashed the final thunderous roar!

"Zhao Xiaoyu, ask yourself this honestly!"

"That year, my dad had just passed away, and I ranked third in the entire county's top high school! I was a potential candidate for Tsinghua or Peking University! Teachers were all coming to my house, urging me to attend high school!"

Zhao Shanhe stared intently at Zhao Xiaoyu's bloodless face, tears welling in his eyes but refusing to fall.

"If only I hadn't torn up that acceptance letter back then! If only I hadn't gone and carried sacks to feed you ungrateful wretches!"

He pointed at Zhao Xiaoyu, speaking slowly and deliberately, each word dripping with emotion:

"Those people who sit there eating meat, wearing new clothes, going to university, and complaining about others' rough hands—"

"Is it you? Or me?!"

boom!

It was like a thunderbolt splitting open the top of my head.

The string of pride that Zhao Xiaoyu had been holding onto snapped with a "snap".

She opened her mouth wide, making a "gurgling" sound in her throat, but she couldn't breathe in no matter what she did.

That pitiful sense of superiority was shattered by this cruel truth.

Her "talent" and "future," which she was always so proud of, turned out to be nothing more than something she obtained by stealing her older brother's life!

Looking at her distraught appearance, Zhao Shanhe's anger slowly subsided, leaving only a chilling coldness.

He gently placed the red scarf that he had taken back beside Niu Niu's frostbitten little feet.

"From now on, this thing will be used as a bedding pad for the doghouse, and you won't be allowed to wear it."

He sat down again, picked up his chopsticks, and didn't even bother to look at her again.

I've finished speaking.

"I used to endure it, as the eldest brother paying off the debts of our deceased father. Now I see through it all..."

He pointed his knife at the door, his voice as cold and hard as iron:

"Even if all the blood and sweat I've poured into this past ten years has gone to waste, I've paid it all back, with interest."

"From now on, you go your way, and I'll go mine."

"roll."