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

Amidst a great deal of noise and bustle, the Jiefang brand truck adorned with a bright red ribbon rumbled out of Kaoshantun at the village entrance.

In Old Zhao's dilapidated courtyard, the accumulated snow had been trampled into filthy black mud.

Zhao Xiaoyu was wearing a thin, worn-out old jacket with sleeves that were too short, revealing her wrists, which were purple from the cold and covered with purplish-red chilblains.

She was holding a broken wooden basin covered in ice crystals, and her face was covered in soot from the stove.

He stood there blankly in the biting cold wind, staring intently at the large truck that was gradually disappearing at the entrance of the village.

Ever since the second brother, Zhao Shanhai, threatened to report the eldest brother in the city, and then disappeared without a trace, the family's world has completely collapsed.

When the family cut off the family's food supply, her mother, Li Cuihua, resorted to crying, making a scene, and even threatening suicide, forcing her to drop out of school.

From then on, this once pampered young woman, who never lifted a finger and whose older brother even had to prepare her wash water, became a slave in this household.

Not only did she have to brave the wind and snow to forage for food in the fields, but she also had to do laundry and cook. The worst part was taking care of her third brother, who was completely useless in the east room.

Zhao Shanlin's arms and legs were broken, leaving him paralyzed on the kang (a heated brick bed) and a cripple.

He didn't dare to seek revenge on Zhao Shanhe, so he vented all his resentment on his younger sister.

He tortured Zhao Xiaoyu in different ways every day, deliberately defecating and urinating in his crotch, or even smearing it on the kang mat, forcing Zhao Xiaoyu to wash the smelly diapers while vomiting.

If she was even a little slow, she would be met with a barrage of beatings and scoldings from her mother and third brother.

Zhao Xiaoyu held the wooden basin, her fingers throbbing with excruciating cold.

She looked at the magnificent truck, and extreme regret gnawed at her heart like a venomous snake.

If only I hadn't followed my mother and pushed my older brother to his death back then.

If I had been a little nicer to my older brother back then, even just a little bit... wouldn't I be sitting comfortably in a scorching hot red brick house now, eating juicy stewed meat?

Just as Zhao Xiaoyu was staring at the truck's exhaust fumes, so desperate that even her tears seemed to freeze,

"Squeak—"

Suddenly, the drafty, dilapidated wooden door of the main room was pushed open.

Old Lady Li Cuihua leaned half her body out from behind the door frame.

Surprisingly, today Li Cuihua's old face was not filled with her usual vicious curses, but instead with an extremely warm smile.

"Xiaoyu! What are you doing standing there in the wind? Come inside!"

Li Cuihua waved to her repeatedly, her tone so gentle it gave one goosebumps: "Come in quickly, we have guests. Don't let them laugh at our family for being unruly!"

Zhao Xiaoyu stood in the snow and suddenly shivered.

In this living hell where you can't even lift the stove lid, what kind of respectable guests could there be?

Carrying the broken wooden basin, her legs felt like lead as she walked anxiously toward the main house.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, a pungent smell of cheap tobacco mixed with the lingering stench of excrement and urine hit me like a ton of bricks.

Zhao Xiaoyu looked up into the room and was immediately stunned.

On the warm edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), a man was sitting steadily.

The man was in his late thirties, almost forty, and was none other than Zhao Laizi, the old bachelor at the village entrance.

Zhao Laizi was clearly dressed up carefully today, looking quite presentable.

He was wearing an extremely ill-fitting, cheap, oversized suit with a crumpled red tie underneath, and his hair was slicked back with hair oil.

Even Zhao Shanlin, the third brother who usually had a gloomy face and was full of resentment, was leaning against the pile of tattered quilts and giving Zhao Laizi a fawning smile.

"What are you all standing there for? Call for help! Don't you have any manners?"

Li Cuihua walked over, grabbed the broken wooden basin from Zhao Xiaoyu's hand and threw it on the ground, then turned around and put on a smiling face again.

Zhao Xiaoyu stood timidly to the side and stiffly called out, "Brother Lai Zi."

Zhao Laizi held a cigarette with a filter in his hand, slowly flicked off the ash, and then his cloudy eyes looked Zhao Xiaoyu up and down.

His gaze, like a sticky barb, first swept over Zhao Xiaoyu's oval face, which, though stained with soot, still couldn't hide her delicate beauty, and then, following her slender neck, blatantly scraped down her thin yet exquisite figure.

Even wearing a tattered, short old jacket couldn't hide the fresh and youthful energy that only a young woman in her early twenties possesses.

After looking around, Zhao Laizi's Adam's apple bobbed, he took a deep drag on his cigarette, and grinned widely with his yellow teeth, revealing an extremely satisfied and greedy smile.

"Auntie, look at Xiaoyu's demeanor! She's truly a golden phoenix who studied at a university in the county. Her knowledge and cultured air are something we peasants who toil in the fields could never hope to match!"

Hearing this genuine praise, Zhao Xiaoyu felt not happy at all, but instead her stomach churned and a chill ran down her spine.

Upon hearing this, Li Cuihua slapped her thigh enthusiastically and turned to Zhao Xiaoyu to boast, "Xiaoyu, don't let your brother Lai's unassuming nature fool you, he's got some serious skills now! A while ago, he made a fortune reselling those gray squirrel pelts!"

Li Cuihua's eyes gleamed with greed as she looked at Zhao Laizi with a fawning expression: "Laizi, how much did you earn in those trips?"

Zhao Laizi leaned against the pile of tattered quilts with extreme pride, exhaled a puff of smoke, and deliberately dragged out his words: "It's not much, I just fiddled around with it for a bit, it's only about fifty yuan."

"My God!"

Li Cuihua exclaimed in exaggerated surprise, spitting as she spoke: "Fifty yuan! Look at that, now that's what you call a capable man! Xiaoyu, remember this: a woman's greatest hope in life is to find a good man with cash on hand! Following your Brother Lai, life will definitely be a hundred times better than that little bastard Zhao Shanhe's!"

Lying sprawled on the kang (heated brick bed), Zhao Shanlin nodded repeatedly, his face full of resentment and flattery as he echoed, "Mom's right! What is Zhao Shanhe anyway? Lai Zi is the real big shot! From now on, our Zhao family will all be counting on Lai Zi's help!"

Standing in the corner, Zhao Xiaoyu listened to the three people's strange flattery, and the feeling of being "at the mercy of others" completely overwhelmed her.

She backed away step by step, her knuckles digging into the hem of her clothes, her voice trembling: "Mom...it's time to feed the pigs in the backyard, I...I'll go do the work..."

As she spoke, she turned and tried to flee.

"Sit down!"

Li Cuihua's smile vanished instantly. She slammed her hand on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and shouted fiercely, "What's the rush! The elders are speaking here. Why are you running around like that? How can you be so ill-mannered!"

Zhao Xiaoyu trembled from the shout and slumped stiffly onto the cold bench, not daring to lift her head.

Zhao Laizi's murky eyes darted around Zhao Xiaoyu like flies.

He smacked his lips dismissively and exhaled a smoke ring.

"Auntie, please don't get angry."

Zhao Laizi stared at Zhao Xiaoyu with a lecherous grin, his tone smug and nauseatingly cloying: "She's still young and inexperienced. Once she's married into the family, I'll teach her a lesson. As long as she stays with me, serves me obediently, and gives me a few healthy sons, I, Zhao Laizi, will definitely treat her well!"

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Zhao Xiaoyu's head.

She stared in horror at the canned meat and fine wine piled on the kang table, her mind buzzing, her voice distorted by utter despair.

"Mom... what are you talking about?"

The laughter and chatter inside the room stopped instantly.

Zhao Laizi stubbed out his cigarette and looked at her with a half-smile.

Li Cuihua turned her head, and the fake smile on her face gradually disappeared.

"What are you saying? Mom is just worried about you, and it's also for the good of our family."

Li Cuihua pointed to Zhao Laizi, who was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) pretending to be a big shot.

"In a couple of days, you'll settle down and marry your Lai Zi Ge."