Hard work after winning the lottery

However, Hua Mutou, who was sitting in the main seat, reacted quite differently.

He didn't roar or howl.

The moment that earth-shattering phrase "my own father" fell, it was as if all his strength had been instantly drained from him.

That upright spine, which had stood tall all its life, collapsed at this moment.

His body swayed suddenly, he staggered, and fell straight down from the chair.

Fortunately, Hua Shu behind him caught him quickly, preventing him from falling to the ground.

He leaned against his son's arm, breathing heavily, staring blankly at a point in the void, and remained silent for a long time.

Scenes flashed wildly through his mind.

It was the exhausted figure of the granddaughter holding three crying infants in the dead of night.

It was the helplessness of him, the grandfather, who could only stand by anxiously, unable to offer any real assistance.

Every bit of hard work and every tear shed over the past five years has found its source at this moment.

Then, he thought of that person again.

Zhou Yinchuan, the old comrade-in-arms who fought alongside him, drank with him, and boasted about his younger generation.

Old Zhou...

Old Zhou's grandson, whom he praised to the skies, is a dragon among men!

Hua Mutou's heart was filled with a mixture of emotions, like a bottle of mixed flavors spilled over. Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty—all sorts of feelings surged into his heart at once.

There was heartache for his granddaughter, anger towards Zhou Yanjin, shame and annoyance at being kept in the dark, and also... a complex emotion he couldn't express towards his old comrade-in-arms.

For a long, long time.

He seemed to have finally found his voice again, his throat dry as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper.

He shakily raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at his wife.

"Does Old Zhou...he...know?"

His voice was so hoarse it was almost incoherent, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

Looking at her father-in-law's face, which had aged ten years in an instant, Li Guifen felt a pang of sadness and quickly shook her head.

"Yunyun said that Grandpa Zhou should not have known about it."

"It's that Zhou Yanjin... He found out about the child himself and that's why he came looking for me."

Almost at the same time that the earth-shattering explosion occurred in the main hall of the Hua family home.

In the guest room where Grandpa Zhou was staying, the atmosphere was as if all sound had been removed, and it fell into an extreme silence.

Zhou Yanjin stood behind the door, her fingers just withdrawing from the doorknob.

"Click".

A soft click of the lock clicking shut, though not loud, clearly separated the inside and outside of the door into two completely different worlds.

Outside the door lie reopened old wounds and an impending storm.

Inside the door was a solemn confession, five years overdue.

Zhou Yinchuan was sitting in a wicker chair by the window, slowly wiping his reading glasses with a soft cloth in his hand.

The moonlight outside the window shone through the carved wooden window frame, casting dappled shadows on his deeply lined face.

He heard his grandson enter the room, heard the sound of the lock clicking shut, but he didn't turn around.

It was as if he had foreseen this moment.

Zhou Yanjin did not speak immediately.

He simply stood there, his tall figure casting a heavy shadow under the dim light.

He looked at his grandfather's back, that once majestic spine, now slightly hunched under the erosion of time.

His Adam's apple bobbed silently.

A few seconds later, he took long strides and walked to the side front of the rattan chair, a position that would allow his grandfather to see him clearly while also appearing respectful enough.

He stood still, his posture upright, like a silent pine tree.

"grandfather."

He spoke, his voice as deep as ever, but with an added solemnity he had never shown before.

There's something I must formally confess to you.

The word "frankly" is extremely strong.

This means that what follows is no longer a test or speculation, but a weighty petition that needs to be judged.

Zhou Yinchuan finally stopped wiping the lenses.

He slowly raised his head and put his polished reading glasses back on.

The eyes behind the lenses were cloudy, yet surprisingly sharp.

Those were eyes that had witnessed life and death and seen through the ways of the world.

At this moment, those eyes were quietly watching the grandson she had raised, without any surprise in them.

He didn't speak, but simply raised his chin slightly.

That was a silent signal.

—Go ahead and speak, Grandpa is listening.

Zhou Yanjin took a deep breath of the cool air, which carried the fresh scent of grass and trees in the countryside, and forcibly suppressed the emotions surging in his chest.

He looked directly into his grandfather's eyes, his gaze unwavering.

"Si'an, Si'le, Si'tao".

He pronounced each of the three names etched in his heart clearly and deliberately.

"They are my biological sons."

This sentence, like a boulder thrown into a deep lake, did not stir up any huge waves, but it made the entire lake bottom tremble.

Zhou Yanjin's gaze remained calm and composed as she continued speaking.

Five years ago, I had an unexpected connection with their mother, Hua Yun.

He used the word "fate," but added "unexpected" as a modifier before it.

There was no shirking of responsibility, no excuses, only the most calm and objective statement of the facts.

This is Zhou Yanjin; even when confessing the biggest mistake of his life, he maintains his almost cold rationality and sense of responsibility.

"I didn't know the children existed before."

"It wasn't until recently that the truth was uncovered through some clues."

"My primary purpose in coming to Baixi Village this time is to confirm this matter."

At this point, he paused, and his tone finally revealed an undeniable firmness.

"And I will take on all the responsibilities I should bear as a father."

The words were spoken.

The room was completely silent.

Only the occasional chirping of insects outside the window made the air inside the room seem even more stagnant.

Zhou Yinchuan just stared at him quietly for a very long time.

Zhou Yanjin had waited so long that she thought her grandfather would unleash his fury like the elders of the Hua family.

However, no.

The old man's eyes gradually reddened.

The hands gripping the armrests of the rattan chair, covered with blue veins and age spots, began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.

He leaned on the armrest and stood up shakily from the chair.

"good!"

A low, hoarse cheer, as if squeezed from the depths of his chest, filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Okay! Okay!"

Zhou Yinchuan took two steps forward and grabbed his grandson's arm with astonishing force.

"I knew it! I knew it!"

The old man's voice was thick with nasal tone, and the thin layer of moisture in his eyes finally condensed into scalding tears.

"The moment I saw those three little ones, I felt an instant connection! I felt like they were cut from the same mold as the rest of the Zhou family!"

"Those eyebrows, those eyes, they're exactly like you when you were little!"

It was as if he wanted to release all the speculations, all the affections, and all the disbelief that had been building up in his heart over the past few days through this outpouring.