Chapter 22

Lu Xiao’s mother Lu Wan and Lu Xiao’s father Gu Hongye are representatives of free love. The Lu family opposes their relationship. Lu Wan runs away from home. When she returns home, Lu Wan brings Gu Hongye and Lu Xiao to their home. The Lu family has to accept Gu Hongye as their son-in-law.

But the good times did not last long. Lu Wan already had a heart disease, and her health deteriorated after giving birth to Lu Xiao. Gu Hongye began to have unfaithful thoughts and fell in love with his widowed first love. When Lu Wan found out, Gu Hongye promised to break up with her, but he continued to contact her secretly.

Lu Wan was pregnant with her second child. When she was about to give birth, she discovered that the two had an affair. She had eaten rat poison, resulting in two deaths. From then on, Lu Xiao changed his surname from Gu to Lu and was adopted by the eldest wife of the Lu family.

The Lu family has a large population and has now split up. The old man and the old lady of the Lu family live with the eldest wife in their old age.

Just as she was about to close the door and enter the house, Li Lihua heard several people cursing angrily.

Mr. Lu was furious. He pointed at Mr. Lu’s nose and cursed, “It’s all because of you, a useless thing. You are so old, but you are still a division commander. Why don’t you move up?”

“That’s right. If you were a high-ranking official that no one else dared to offend, would those bitches outside dare to scold Ah Xiao?” This was said by Old Lady Lu.

She only had one daughter, who died early. She was blind enough to fall in love with Gu Hongye, but after that bastard climbed up the high branch of the Lu family, he turned his back on her. He despised her Wanwan for being unable to have children, and found a strange woman outside to have children with.

He also dislikes Axiao’s poor health.

Mrs. Lu clutched her chest and cried, “Poor Xiao, he lost his biological mother. His biological father married his stepmother, and he became his stepfather, and he abused him. Woo woo, why are you uncles and aunts so useless that you can’t even protect my dear grandson.”

“If I hadn’t discovered that Gu Hongye and that bitch Liu Hemei were abusing their grandson, I wouldn’t even be able to see Ah Xiao.”

Lu Hongjun wiped the saliva that his mother had sprayed on his face and said with embarrassment, “Mom and Dad, please stop crying. I can’t do anything about it. I’m just a division commander. There are officers higher than me in the army.”

The two old men used to work in a cotton mill and retired a long time ago. They have nothing to do at home every day, but they are still in good health. They can even scold people with full energy.

Lu Hongjun continued, “As you know, I’ve been competing with those families for the position of a top leader recently. I suspect they’re setting up a trap for Xiao. There are six children in my family. Xiao and Mingjie are both old, unemployed, and unmarried. I want them to go to the countryside to avoid trouble.”

“If I lose, they will stay in the countryside as educated youth. If I win, they won’t be able to come back for a while. There will definitely be people watching me. I’ll just treat it as a training exercise.”

“The worst-case scenario is that I’ll have to sever ties with you. I’ve already found a place to go to the countryside, in the Victory Brigade. The brigade leader and I have a life-and-death friendship, as you all know.”

If Zhang Dagui had not retired due to injury, it is possible that he would have become a high-ranking leader.

Mr. Lu’s heart skipped a beat. “What? Red Army? Is it that serious? It’s just a fight. Who hasn’t fought before? How about I take Ah Xiao with me to apologize?”

His selfish motive was that he didn’t want Axiao to go to the countryside. He and his wife were both seventy-three years old and had only a few years left to live. He just wanted to live to see his grandchildren get married and have children.

Li Lihua took a deep breath and said resolutely, “There’s nothing we can do about it. I don’t want my child to be an educated youth, but Ah Xiao smashed his head. We have to show some attitude.”

“Besides, Ah Xiao has such a bad temper and a sharp tongue. There’s no comrade in the compound who likes him. When other female comrades confessed their love to him, he scolded them as ugly, and made them run away crying. Maybe if he goes to the countryside, there will be female comrades who don’t despise him.”

Knowing that he would face a bad situation when he returned home, Lu Xiao had a gloomy face all the way home. Noticing that Lu Xiao looked unhappy, Lu Mingjie comforted him, “Brother, don’t be afraid. You will just get scolded at most. My parents will only beat me and won’t touch you. Aren’t we used to it?”

This is how he has been living since he was a child. He always follows Lu Xiao around, and whenever he gets into trouble, his grandparents will protect Lu Xiao while his parents will take care of him.

At first he was a little unconvinced, but when he heard his mother comfort him by saying that his cousin’s biological mother had passed away and his biological father had abandoned him, but he was still taken care of by his parents, he was lucky, slowly he felt balanced in his heart. Beating is love and scolding is care.

Lu Xiao still had a bitter face: “Mingjie, I’m afraid I’ve caused trouble. Damn it, I should be put in a sack. Why did I do it in the family compound and let so many people see it?”

He always felt that something was wrong. He had avenged his great hatred, but today he was too proud of himself. He couldn’t help but get into a fight with someone when he was provoked, and he split the person’s head open.

When the two returned to the Lu family, the family meeting had not yet ended.

Mr. Lu was so angry that his face turned red and his nose became thick: “Lu Xiao, Mingjie, get out of here.”

Hearing his grandfather’s angry voice, Lu Mingjie walked over with heavy steps and knelt down, “Grandpa, I was wrong. I should have stopped my cousin. If you want to hit me, hit me.”

He looked up and said sullenly, “My cousin is not in good health. Don’t make him angry. This time, it’s all Pei Zhao and Gu Jun’s fault. They called my cousin a sickly person and a short-lived ghost. They also said that my aunt has poor taste in men and my uncle is a heartless man. They called my cousin a beast for reporting my own father and said he deserved to be struck by lightning.”

He felt a little bit sympathetic towards his brother. Lu Xiao inherited Lu Wan’s heart disease and grew up surrounded by medicine, taking it all the time. It was not until he was ten years old that his health improved. Even his peers in the Lu family protected him carefully, for fear that he would accidentally anger others.

Madam Lu clutched her chest, breathing heavily with anger, “I knew it wasn’t Ah Xiao’s fault. Who told them to be so mean? My Wan Wan died, and two lives were lost. Why didn’t they just call Gu Hongye a black-hearted man? He deserved to die.”

“Ah Xiao, you’re right. It’s only natural for you to avenge your mother. If it weren’t for you, I, Gu Hongye, would have dealt with him long ago.”

“Now that you’ve graduated from high school, it might be a good idea to go to the countryside and avoid trouble.”

The conditions in the city are good, and the family compounds are relatively safe. Ordinary people cannot enter. As for fighting, it happens everywhere. I didn’t expect that in recent years, the city has become less safe than the countryside, and even tricks have been used.

Lu Xiao looked defiant. “I’m not wrong. I accept their scolding, but they actually said that mother was lucky to marry Gu Hongye. I don’t agree with that. It was obviously my father who was attracted to our Lu family’s family background, but after marriage, he despised my mother for not having more children. Gu Hongye is a Chen Shimei, a heartless man.”

“I reported him for having an affair with Liu Hemei and having a child with her. Liu Hemei also accepted bribes from others and allowed Gu Hongye to tamper with the military enlistment quota. This is illegal. They made the mistake first, and I reported it later. I avenged my mother and have a clear conscience.”

Old Madam Lu’s eyes were red, and she couldn’t help but shed tears. She hugged Lu Xiao and cried, “You, Xiao, ah, my Wanwan, you can see in heaven that your son is a responsible and courageous man. But Xiao, don’t be impulsive next time. Just put a sack on someone and don’t let anyone see you.”

“Mom, why did you allow Axiao to hit people? It’s so lawless.” Lu Hongjun got a headache.