——————
"Xie Yuye, what did you just say?" Xu Xiaofen bellowed angrily.
With the chicken feed pan in her hand, she flung it onto the stone pavement in her fury—empty.
If there were special effects, her hair could be standing on end as she faced the sky in outrage!
"Mom, I said, tear down this wall!" Xiao Yi nodded to Xiao’er, signaling him to lead his sister back a little to avoid getting caught up in their mother’s wrath.
That’s right, it was he who had used eye contact to signal Xiao’er to bring their mom here.
The rot in the family has gone too deep; if they don’t promptly scrape it away, the siblings will surely be the ones to suffer in the future!
"Also, my surname is Xie, and this is the Xie Family!" Xie Yuli pointed to the clearly newly built wall, articulating each word clearly as he stated it once again.
As if the mother before him, engulfed in rage, was actually someone inconsequential, he spoke with indifference and a cold gaze.
The voice was even fine and hoarse, with the acuteness characteristic of one’s voice changing.
"Bullshit, I know your surname is Xie! But this wall, it took your dad and me two days to build it, and you want it torn down just like that? Do you even realize that I’m your mother? That he is your dad?"
"Mom, if I didn’t know you were my mom, I wouldn’t have been able to hold it in until now!"
Xie Yuye half-closed his eyes, concealing the indifference within, then took a large step forward, standing tall directly in front of Xu Xiaofen and responded.
"You—you’re rebelling?"
"Rebelling? Mom, isn’t it exactly because of your teaching that I have this present-day learning?"
"Huh?" Xu Xiaofen was stupefied, not understanding why her usually reticent eldest son was suddenly so explosively confronting her, his own mother—what was going on!
"Mom, since I was young, you’ve been manipulating Dad, making him favor you, helping your family. Have you ever thought about how Xiao’er and I will end up just like Dad in the future?"
Like his dad? Xu Xiaofang’s face darkened, and she shouted angrily:
"You brat, you dare!"
"Look, deep down you know that Dad’s behavior all these years has been wrong, so why do you let him continue to make the same mistakes?"
"I..." Xu Xiaofen was at a loss for words, her son’s piercing gaze had her, despite the cold weather, breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Mom, the wife I will marry in the future must be one I like myself... She has to take care of her family, and you must not stop her! If my mother-in-law were to pass away early, I would have to observe heavy filial piety for her, and you shouldn’t harbor any thoughts about it in your heart—I learned this from you oh~~"
"You unfilial son—" As Xiao Yi laid out his case, especially about observing heavy filial piety for his mother-in-law, Xu Xiaofen instinctively started cursing!
"See, even you know it’s wrong! But you, knowing it’s wrong, why do you indulge Dad in his repeated mistakes, what exactly is it you want?"
With each point Xiao Yi made, he took another step closer, pressing down on Xu Xiaofen as if stepping on her.
Xie Jingwei stumbled back a step, his eyes closed in pain—so Xiao Fen had known it was wrong all along, yet never considered for him, what repercussions he would face for this in the future!
What does she want? Xu Xiaofen asked herself—what she wanted was for her man to think of no one else but her, not his family!
Xu Xiaofen recalled the early days of her marriage.
Xie Jingwei was the eldest son, and in the beginning, he would always finish the household chores before sneaking over to help her with the farmwork. But by then, she would have almost finished everything—who needed his help?
Since when did her three children start to confront her with such guarded expressions?
"Mom, do you see? While you were inciting your husband on how to treat his parents, your children, under your tutelage, mimicked the same behavior. The grievances grandma suffers now will one day be revisited upon you—oh~~"
Xiao Yi seemed to have finally discovered that his mother, too, could feel fear, and it was good that she feared!
Fear implied that there was still hope for her!
"No—"
"Why not? Can’t you? Shouldn’t you?" Xiao Yi sharply cut her off, so loudly that even Xie Jingwei was startled awake.
Xu Xiaofen fell to the ground, her face distraught, staring blankly at her furiously irate eldest son—
If someone else called her unvirtuous and unfilial, she’d fight back with all her might. But the one questioning her was her own flesh and blood, her own son!
"Grandma is sick, you let Dad ignore her and even confront Grandpa fiercely, so why can’t I challenge my own father the same way? When you are sick in the future, can my wife treat you the same? ’Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself,’ don’t you know this?"
Xu Xiaofen’s mouth fell open. She wanted to say she didn’t know—since she was thirteen, her life consisted only of the words "hard work."
But she couldn’t speak.
Because this phrase, Grandpa drilled into them almost every third, fifth, or seventh day, in her presence, without fail!
So, the person Grandpa was continuously educating wasn’t the grandson, but her?
"Heh heh, Mom, you see? Grandpa has been trying to wake you up, but you’ve repeatedly disappointed him, embedding in us siblings’ memories: In the future, we too can give our parents perfunctory treatment just like you!"
No—
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