◎ Second update ◎ 

“Zhou Guoping, what do you think you are doing?” Liang Baozhen and Zhou Yun walked over arm in arm. 

Zhou Guoping was holding his wailing son, Xiao Hu, in one arm, while Xiao Long was holding his thigh tightly and kept yelling at him to put his brother down. 

Seeing that help had arrived, Zhang Rong sighed in relief. She had just sent Biaozi to call for someone, but it seemed Xu Shengjie still wasn’t around. There weren’t many people in the courtyard today, and she worried she wouldn’t be able to stop them. 

“Baozhen, you should go back and rest first.” she said. With her big belly, it wouldn’t be good if she got caught in the commotion here. 

“It’s okay, Aunt Zhang. I happened to prepare some candies for Xiao Long and Xiao Hu and just wanted to give them some,” Liang Baozhen said, pulling out a few fruit candies from her pocket and extending her hand. “Xiao Long, Xiao Hu, come get your candies.” 

Zhou Guoping looked at Liang Baozhen with some resentment. If she hadn’t helped Liu Nianhua catch him cheating back then, he wouldn’t have ended up like this. But when he thought of the man behind her, the tall veteran soldier Xu Shengjie, Zhou Guoping felt dispirited again. “No, I won’t let them have any. I’ll take them out to eat instead.” 

“Zhou Guoping, if you have something to say, wait until Nianhua comes back. She’s working outside. How can you just take the kids away?” Zhang Rong said, pushing his hand away to stop him from leaving. 

Xiao Hu was frightened by his strong father. Although he liked his father, his father was very fierce today and insisted on taking him away! His mother said that he had to get her permission before going anywhere, especially when he saw his father. 

“Father!” Xiao Hu twisted his body, trying to escape from Zhou Guoping’s grasp, but his father held him tightly. “I don’t want to go! I want to get down!”  

“Xiao Hu!” Zhou Guoping looked at his youngest son with a wounded expression. His eldest son already had his own ideas, and ever since leaving home, he was never enthusiastic every time he saw him. He suspected that Liu Nianhua had said something to him and was deliberately sowing discord between him and his son. 

Even though he had done something wrong to Liu Nianhua, he hadn’t done anything wrong to his sons. How could that venomous woman stir up trouble between him and his sons! 

Fortunately, Xiao Hu was still young; he still joyfully called out to him when he saw him. 

At first, Zhou Guoping had thought about having more children with Wang Fang, but that wretched woman had stolen all his savings and run away. No matter what, he couldn’t sever the blood ties with his sons.  

“Xiao Hu, be good and listen to me. Father will buy you candy.” 

Xiao Hu sniffled. It was too cold outside, and he had just been warming himself by the fire in the house when his father had carried him out. He hadn’t even had time to put on his cotton-padded jacket and had been outside for over ten minutes. His little face was red, and he was close to tears. “No, I want to go home.” 

There was fire in the house, which warmed his little hands. He struggled to move towards his home. 

“Father!” Zhou Long is a big kid now. He can distinguish a lot of things. For example, he could tell that his father wasn’t being reasonable. “Xiao Hu is going to catch a cold!” 

“If you come to my place, you won’t be cold anymore. It will block the wind!”  

“Zhou Guoping, look how cold the kids are! You still want to take them outside?” Zhou Yun couldn’t bear to watch. This man kept saying that he wanted to take his sons to celebrate the New Year and buy candies, but he didn’t even care that his sons were cold. 

“This is our family matter; why do you care?” Zhou Guoping knew that his disgrace had been exposed long ago and everyone in the courtyard knew about it, but he didn’t care. He was ready to sever ties with the friendly neighbors he used to have. 

“If you truly care about your son, let Xiao Hu go inside to warm up first. If this continues, he might get sick.” Liang Baozhen was a little tired from standing and spoke while holding her stomach with her hand. 

Xiao Hu cooperated. He sneezed three times at this time and cried, “Father, I’m cold! I want to warm myself by the fire.” 

Zhou Guoping knew that this group of people was deliberately wasting his time. They wanted to wait until Liu Nianhua came back so that he couldn’t take his son away. Thinking of this, he grabbed Xiao Hu and was about to leave. 

“Just hold on a little longer; we’ll be back inside soon.”  

As Zhou Guoping tried to leave with Xiao Hu, Zhang Rong and Zhou Long stepped forward to pull him back. Zhou Yun hurried over, trying to grab him and warning her daughter-in-law not to get too close.  

She was pregnant and they couldn’t afford to have any accidents.  

Liang Baozhen was sensible enough to know that getting too close while being pregnant would only cause trouble. She couldn’t be of any help and could easily get hurt, so she stayed back, hoping that the neighborhood office or Xu Shengjie and Liu Nianhua would return soon. 

She looked around; there was no one else at the other houses; everyone had gone out. 

Zhang Rong and Zhou Yun naturally couldn’t stop Zhou Guoping. No matter how injured his right hand was, he was still a tall man, and he had a lot of strength. He easily pushed the two of them away and dashed to the entrance of the courtyard.  

“Xiao Hu!” Xiao Long chased after them. 

Liang Baozhen approached to check on Zhou Yun and Zhang Rong, who had been pushed aside by Zhou Guoping. Thankfully, there was no serious problem. The three of them followed them out but saw Zhou Guoping being blocked at the entrance. 

When Xiao Long saw Zhou Qingdang coming back, he rushed to him and cried loudly, “Uncle Zhou, my father wants to take Xiao Hu away!” 

Uncle Zhou? Zhou Guoping looked at the man in front of him. He recognized him. He was Zhang Rong’s son who had returned to the city from the countryside—Zhou Qingdang, an educated youth. When did his son become so familiar with him? 

“Uncle Zhou, I’m cold!” Xiao Hu started fussing again when he saw Zhou Qingdang. He had eaten lunch at Zhang Rong’s house and was familiar with Zhou Qingdang. Moreover, Zhou Qingdang loved to play with him. When Xiao Hu saw him, he felt like he had found a savior and wanted to leap into his arms. 

“Xiao Hu, whose son are you? Huh? Your father is right here!” Zhou Guoping’s voice was filled with heavy anger. 

“Don’t be afraid, Xiao Hu. Uncle will take you to warm up by the fire.” Zhou Qingdang had just got off the bus and was walking toward the courtyard when he heard some commotion. Every house should have gone out to buy New Year’s goods today, so the courtyard shouldn’t have been so lively. 

Just as he reached the gate, he saw a man rushing out with a child in his arms and collided with him. Looking closely, it was Zhou Guoping!  

Zhou Guoping became a bit alert when he saw a man suddenly appear. Zhang Rong and Zhou Yun were old, and Liang Baozhen was pregnant, so they couldn’t stop him, but Zhou Qingdang… 

“Who are you? How can you interfere in our family’s affairs?” 

Zhou Qingdang sneered and tried to snatch Xiao Hu away when Zhou Guoping wasn’t paying attention, but Zhou Guoping reacted quickly and held Xiao Hu tightly, refusing to let go. Worried that their struggle might hurt the child, Zhou Qingdang had no choice but to release his grip. 

“Zhou Guoping, are you really so shameless that you would snatch the child?” He knew about Liu Nianhua’s situation and saw Zhou Guoping as a despicable man who had been messing around outside. 

“Who are you calling shameless? No matter what, Xiao Hu and Xiao Long are still my sons!” 

“Father, you still remember we’re your sons? Then let go. Xiao Hu is freezing.” 

“Zhou Guoping, regardless of everything, at least let Xiao Hu put on his cotton-padded jacket! It’s so cold, and he’s only wearing a thin sweater. Just look at how cold he is!” Liang Baozhen found Xiao Hu’s cotton-padded jacket on the sofa in Liu Nianhua’s house, took it, and wanted to put the clothes on Xiao Hu first. 

“Xiao Hu was being blown by the wind and snow. The thin sweater he was wearing didn’t block the wind at all, unlike the cotton-padded jacket. He was now shivering from the cold and desperately wanted to put it on!” 

But Zhou Guoping stepped back a few steps, watching Liang Baozhen warily. “You want to take the chance to snatch Xiao Hu back while dressing him, right? Don’t think I can’t see through your plans. I’m taking Xiao Hu today!” 

He had already lost everything, but his sons were his blood. That could never change. 

“Father, wuwuwu, I’m cold! I’m so cold!” Xiao Hu’s nose was running, his ears and cheeks were red, and he was trembling and crying loudly, “I’m cold!” 

“Xiao Hu, be good. You won’t be cold soon. If it weren’t for these people blocking the way, we would already be home by now.” 

“Where are you taking Xiao Hu?” Liu Nianhua ran to the gate of the courtyard after receiving the news. She just happened to hear her youngest son’s wailing and Zhou Guoping’s words. Her eyes turned red, and she rushed forward to take her son back. 

“Nianhua!” Zhou Guoping hadn’t seen Liu Nianhua for a long time. When he saw her again, he felt that she had become much more beautiful, as if she had returned to the time when they had just gotten married. 

When facing Liu Nianhua, he was stunned for a moment, which allowed someone to snatch the child back from him. 

Liu Nianhua held the child in her arms and felt that the child was cold. She quickly helped Liang Baozhen dress Xiao Hu in his cotton-padded jacket and then glared fiercely at Zhou Guoping. “What are you doing here, Zhou Guoping? How dare you come here? Do you want me to tell Xiao Long and Xiao Hu about the shameful things you’ve done before you’ll be satisfied?” 

“Nianhua, no matter what, I’m still Xiao Long and Xiao Hu’s father, and that will never change. It’s almost the New Year, and I just want to have a meal with my kids. What’s wrong with that?” 

“How dare you call yourself their father! Look at how cold Xiao Hu is, and you don’t even care? Do you want him to freeze to death?” ” Liu Nianhua shouted at the top of her lungs, denouncing this hypocritical man. She picked up her son and went back to the house first. The house was warm from the burning coal stove. Xiao Hu leaned close to the coal stove, and his body gradually warmed up. 

“Zhou Guoping, I let you go last time for the sake of our children, thinking that divorcing you was enough. But are you even human? You don’t even care about your son!” Liu Nianhua found the letter of guarantee Zhou Guoping wrote last time and was so angry that her head was dizzy. “You just can’t leave us alone, can you? Fine, then none of us will have peace. I’ll go straight to the neighborhood office, the revolutionary committee, and the police. You’ve been messing around outside, so be prepared to face public criticism!” 

“Liu Nianhua!” Zhou Guoping listened to Liu Nianhua’s every word and felt that she was terribly unfamiliar. Was she still his soft-tempered wife who allowed others to manipulate her at will? She stood in front of him with furious eyes, and she didn’t hesitate at all, as if she really wanted to fight him to the death. “Are you really this ruthless? We have been married for so many years, and you want to send me to jail?” 

“Yes! And I regret that I didn’t do it last time!” Liu Nianhua recalled the sight of Xiao Hu just now. Such a small child was only wearing a thin sweater and shivering in the snow. She felt a heart-wrenching pain. Zhou Guoping was even worse than she thought! “I used to think you’d at least have some shred of humanity left, but you don’t even care about your own son. I think anyone in prison is better than you. You deserve to have your hand broken by Wang Fang’s man. You deserve to lose your job and never drive again! You’ll have no children to care for you in your old age either!” 

Liu Nianhua finished scolding him in one breath and then felt a lot better. 

“Liu Nianhua, it’s only been a short time; how come you have become like this?” Zhou Guoping stepped forward and tried to snatch the letter of guarantee from her hand. He wanted to take it back so that this person wouldn’t be able to threaten him. 

“Get away from me!” Liu Nianhua dodged and pushed him away, but Zhou Guoping was still very strong and relied on the brute force of his left hand to hold Liu Nianhua. 

The room was in a mess. The work gloves in Liu Nianhua’s pocket fell to the ground and were torn into pieces by being stepped on during their fight. 

Thud! 

Zhou Qingdang could no longer tolerate Zhou Guoping attacking Liu Nianhua, so he stepped forward to pull Zhou Guoping away and knocked him to the ground with one punch. Seeing Zhou Guoping getting up and struggling, the two of them started fighting. Zhou Qingdang was used to doing physical work when he was an educated youth, and Zhou Guoping was not bad either, but he had an injured hand, so he was no match for him. Within a few moves, Zhou Qingdang landed several punches on him. 

“What’s going on? What’s going on?” A worker from the neighborhood office rushed over after being notified by Xu Shengya. They heard a commotion in the room and found that someone was fighting. “Why is there a fight? Stop this right now!” 

“Help me…” Zhou Guoping was hit multiple times, and his face was instantly bruised and swollen. At this time, the people from the neighborhood office came, and it was like seeing a savior. 

With tears in her eyes, Liu Nianhua rushed over, grabbing the hand of one of the women from the neighborhood office. She cried out, “Comrade Sister Hao, I want to report this! This is my ex-husband. He was having an affair with Wang Fang from Dongsheng Street, and now he’s harassing me and my sons. My son is almost sick from the cold, and he’s even trying to beat me. Fortunately, there are kind neighbors in our courtyard who are helping me.”