novellhall Chapter 1042 - 915: One Man’s Honey Is Another Man’s Poison
Chapter 1042 - 915: One Man’s Honey Is Another Man’s Poison
Zhang Guoqing understood her implied meaning and nodded in agreement. Those figures who are fixtures on the board are more despicable than the bootlickers; when the time comes to break through directly, let’s see who dares to intervene."The superiors lead by example, mistaking trivialities for orders, openly persecuting some people under various pretenses for personal gain. They’ve truly gone mad, their conduct is ugly."
"Even here in the Imperial City, they act without remorse; in remote places, isn’t it just the local overlords doing whatever they please?"
Under the lamplight, as she looked at him with bright eyes, she sneered and pouted disdainfully. This little expression was completely unguarded in front of him.
Zhang Guoqing chuckled and patted her head, "Silly wife, this isn’t like you." Not only was her behavior more relaxed, but her mentality also started to change.
With her long hair cut short, the young wife seemed even more youthful and innocent. Zhang Guoqing secretly pondered whether he should also learn how to maintain himself; otherwise, the age gap between husband and wife might be too glaring.
"Hotheaded?" Zhou Jiao shook her head with a light laugh. She too was just an ordinary person, often not daring to voice her objection on the spot, fearing that one wrong move would have her dragged out as an accomplice.
She was tied to this world, with parents, a husband, a son; she wouldn’t dare let her rashness put her loved ones in a predicament.
Even acting secretly, she’d worry about being exposed. It’s no wonder everyone nowadays feels uneasy, managing to keep the family intact amidst chaos is the limit.
"You’ve done very well," and Zhang Guoqing truly felt she was being honest. In recent days, his wife wasn’t just accumulating wealth; she was also distributing most of it.
He didn’t want unpleasant matters to affect his wife’s mood, especially worrying she’d recall those distressing scenarios. Who could feel light-hearted seeing decent people beaten for unfounded charges and badly hurt?
After complimenting her, he playfully pretended to be a money grubber, "Once things stabilize a bit, we’ll take a holiday far away. A single night could earn thousands, tsk tsk, what’s faster than this to make money?"
Zhou Jiao laughed despite herself. She knew he was joking, yet inwardly agreed wholeheartedly. If wrongfully gained wealth could be shared by all, it might as well be saved for her future charitable endeavors.
With those people, wait until they lose and leave wealth for their descendants?
Though she didn’t agree with the saying about noble sons and daughters, she found some truth in the idea that dragons give birth to dragons and phoenixes to phoenixes, and mice would know how to burrow.
See how, in the current environment, isn’t the deep-rooted malice in human nature fully triggered?
Speaking of future generations, Zhou Jiao thought of her son and worriedly asked, "It’s been a while since school started for Ping’an, should we send a telegram asking them to return first?"
"Just for that bit of knowledge at school?" Zhang Guoqing dismissively shook his head, "Since spring has arrived, let them stay a bit longer in the Southwest."
"There are many mountains over there; I’ve already asked Brother Xiao Chen and a few others to take Ping’an to collect herbs and hunt when they have time. If the old lady plans to stay a bit longer, I would also want your master to take Ping’an to stroll around when he returns."
As she remained silent, Zhang Guoqing explained, "With our son’s intelligence, never mind if Ping’an attends classes or not, even Liu Yi and his brother can understand their elder brother’s textbooks, not hindering their education."
Zhou Jiao smiled and nodded. Regarding school curriculum, she had no worries. Apart from language, math, and English, there were industrial and agricultural basic knowledge.
Not to mention the language textbooks filled with era-appropriate text. The math textbooks had calculations like how much money was exploited by landlords before liberation?
And the simple 26 letters in English textbooks and their praises. Truly simple, though industrial and agricultural basic knowledge was practical, touching upon some physics and chemistry content.
However, given Ping’an’s foundation, she wasn’t worried. Let them play if they want to play, until they attend university, there’s plenty of time.
Contrary to their thoughts, when Qingming came, Ping’an and his brothers returned with Mr. Cheng. Though parents suggested over the phone they could stay longer, the children were more concerned about happenings at home.
Not only in Beijing but even in the Southwest region, they witnessed real-life scenarios unfolding, once hearing the boom of cannons in the suburbs, how to explain the chaos?
With the return of the three kids, the Zhou Family immediately became lively, making Miao Lishan sigh that the home needed the kids; otherwise, returning from work always felt like something was missing.
Indeed, after months away, Ping’an and the others talked nonstop with their elders about all they saw and heard on the journey, making it particularly vivid with their childish voices.
On the way back, Ping’an instructed his brothers not to disclose the outside to the women at home. They were little men, meant to protect their grandmother and mother.
Especially their mother, whose little courage couldn’t be frightened!
The children busied themselves entertaining the family, avoiding the outside mess, focusing on weddings, customs from other places, and talking about foods and entertainment.
Zhou Jiao cooperated graciously, smilingly echoing their words. She wouldn’t break the children’s little schemes, even intentionally creating time and space for these little men and big men to discuss in the study.
Her expectations for the sons were simple: to safely grow into adults, and once they had some capabilities, she would then protect them and provide a sky for them to soar.
When the eaglets grow a bit, the eagles will break their wings and push them off cliffs; some eaglets would die from the fall.
The eaglets, to survive, had to try flying as they flapped their wings. Yet they’d often fall into the ravine. The eagles would then grab them and continue training. After much suffering, the eaglets finally learned to fly freely.
She wouldn’t use such cruel teaching methods, nor expect her children to become elite. Whatever the children needed, she’d strive to provide under her conditions.
She wouldn’t impose her emotions, her ideals on the children; their future was theirs. Non-fish cannot comprehend the joy of fish under water.
Having seen too many parents demanding their children’s direction as an exchange for raising them... Is her candy not another’s poison?
Zhou Jiao took her mother’s arm and headed to the kitchen, planning to welcome the children back.
The mother and daughter spoke softly, as Miao Lishan mentioned rumors heard from colleagues and subordinates, knowing somewhat about the outside world.
"The little ones deliberately avoid these topics; don’t ask them. If the family treasures are willing to talk to their grandpa, dad, it’s because they worry for us, don’t blame the kids later."
Zhou Jiao laughed happily, nodding continuously.
Though her mom isn’t the most competent as a mother, she has a redeeming quality: she doesn’t act egotistically like mothers nowadays, assuming she knows best.
She respects the children’s wishes.
This quality suffices to compensate for all her shortcomings.
No one is perfect, gold is not pure, and that’s enough. Zhou Jiao was especially bothered by the mothers of her friends in the Big Courtyard, who meddled in everything from jobs to marriages to childbirth.