Chapter Thirty-Six: Quarrel

  Zhao Fei accompanied Duo'er into the house, and soon after, his mother Li Shi returned.

  "Mother, you're back. How was the harvest?" Zhao Fei hastily got up as soon as he saw his mother return. Duer also quickly ran to Li Shi. "Mother, mother, I'm hungry."

  "It's almost done, just a few more days and it'll be basically all finished. This year's harvest is pretty good, aside from the leftover grain at the end of the year, we can get quite a bit more out of it, and then we can take it to the city to sell. Mentioning the good harvest, Li was visibly delighted, with a happy smile on her face. Li looked at Zhao Fei with satisfaction, then patted Duan's head. With affection, she said to Duan: "Duan is well-behaved, Mom will go cook dinner for you now." Li wiped her hands clean, turned around and walked out, going to prepare dinner."

  Idle Zhao Fei could only continue to accompany Duer playing. The sky had gradually darkened, but Zhao Hu was still not back. "Alright, dinner is ready, come out and eat!" Li Shi's voice came from outside. Hearing Li Shi's shout, Duer ran out skipping and jumping, muttering as she went: "Eat rice, eat rice, eat rice." Looking at Duer, Zhao Fei smiled helplessly, then followed her out together.

  "Mother, Father hasn't come back yet, shouldn't we wait for Father?" Seeing that it was so late and Zhao Hu still hadn't returned, Zhao Fei felt a bit worried. He kept looking out the door.

  Although Li didn't say anything, but after hearing Zhao Fei's words, his face was instantly filled with worry. "You guys eat first." After saying that, Li walked to the door and looked around. "Don't worry, mom, it's fine." Zhao Fei came over to comfort Li.

  "Alright Xiao Fei, you're also tired after a day's work, go eat first, I'll wait for your dad." Li looked at Zhao Fei and was about to push him into the courtyard.

  "It's alright, mother, I'm fine, you go eat first, I'll wait for father here."

  "But..." Mr. Li was still very worried.

  "Don't worry about me, I'm fine, go ahead and go." Zhao Fei half-pushed and half-sent Li into the courtyard, while he himself stood at the door waiting for Zhao Hu's return.

  The sky has already darkened, but Zhao Hu's figure is still nowhere to be seen. "Father hasn't come back yet," Zhao Fei paced back and forth at the door, his expression extremely worried. He muttered to himself nonstop.

  "Has your father returned yet?" Li asked as she arrived at the gate, seeing only Zhao Fei pacing back and forth alone.

  "Not yet, do you want me to find your dad?" Zhao Fei stopped in his tracks and asked as he saw Li coming out. Suddenly hearing some noise from the side, he quickly turned his head to look. And then he saw a figure swaying and staggering towards him from the side. Upon closer inspection, it was actually his own father.

  "Dad, are you okay?" Zhao Fei hastily ran over to support his father.

  "It's okay, it's okay." Zhao Hu's voice was a bit soft, and his gait was slightly floating, seemingly somewhat lacking in physical strength.

  "How can they be like this, I'll go reason with them." Seeing Zhao Hu's exhausted appearance, Zhao Fei suddenly burst into anger, clenching his fists and about to go reason with Zhao Cai. But Zhao Hu grabbed Zhao Fei in one swift motion.

  "What are you going to do?" Zhao Hu glared at Zhao Fei.

  "I'm going to reason with them, who calls for help like this?" Zhao Fei shouted, her eyes red.

  Seeing Zhao Fei's appearance, Li also rushed over to hug him. "Xiao Fei, calm down. Don't be impulsive."

  "They're really too much." Held by his parents, Zhao Fei didn't dare to be too reckless and could only cry out blindly.

  "What are you yelling about? Aren't you ashamed? Go back." Zhao Hu glared at Zhao Fei, his expression gloomy and intimidating. Seeing that his father was furious, Zhao Fei didn't dare say anything else and could only walk away with a dejected look on his face. After entering the courtyard, Zhao Fei didn't eat dinner but instead walked straight into his room and closed the door.

  "Hey! Little Fei hasn't eaten yet!" Li exclaimed, discovering that Zhao Fei hadn't eaten and had gone straight back to his room. "Little Fei, hurry up and open the door, eat your rice first!" Li called out, rushing to Zhao Fei's room and knocking on the door. But there was no response from inside. "Little Fei, won't you even open the door for your mother?" Li shouted again, but Zhao Fei still didn't open the door. Li had no choice but to leave. "It's all because of you, Little Fei is also good to you, he didn't even eat dinner waiting for you to come back. What did you yell at him for? You've never yelled at him like that before, today you actually scolded your own son for Zhao Cai." Li's tone grew heavier as she spoke, glaring at Zhao Hu.

  "You think I'm going to yell at Xiao Fei? You also know that Zhao Cai's son is working in the county town, and Xiao Fei went to his house to reason with him, can he get some good fruit to eat?" Looking at Li Shi, Zhao Hu also felt that today was a bit too much, but he had no way out. If it weren't for Zhao Cai having a son working in the county, how would he dare to be so arrogant in the village? Since ancient times, ordinary people do not fight with officials, although Zhao Cai's son is only an official in the county, he is not someone that ordinary people like them can afford to provoke.

  Hearing Zhao Hu say this, Li didn't know what to say anymore. She could only keep glancing at Zhao Fei's house with a worried expression and a bitter face.

  Zhao Fei lay alone on his bed, his face filled with confusion and helplessness. He didn't know why his father had yelled at him, when he was just trying to help his father get justice back. Suddenly, a growling sound came from his stomach, and Zhao Fei remembered that he hadn't eaten yet. Earlier, he had been so focused on going inside that he forgot about dinner. Another growl came from his stomach. As the saying goes, "A day without food is like a year of hunger." After working all day, how could Zhao Fei not be hungry? Rubbing his stomach, Zhao Fei didn't know whether to go out or not. Just as he was hesitating, his stomach expressed its strong discontent once again. Forget about saving face with his family members; filling his empty stomach was more important.

  Zhao Fei quietly opened the door and slipped out, looking like a thief sneaking into a house. As soon as he reached the entrance, Zhao Fei heard his parents' conversation, and in an instant, he understood everything. His heart filled with emotion, without saying a word, Zhao Fei walked straight to his father's side. With a thud, Zhao Fei knelt down in front of Zhao Hu.

  "Dad, I was too impulsive, I was wrong, I hope you can forgive me." Zhao Fei knelt down in front of him, Zhao Hu stared blankly for a moment, then quickly helped Zhao Fei up, and Li Shi also assisted on the side. "Xiao Fei, what are you doing? Hurry up and get up."

  "It's all my fault, I've worried you, Father." Zhao Fei said with tears in his eyes. He thought about how much his father had done for him and yet he had wronged him. Of course, Zhao Fei also hated the couple even more, "Just wait, one day when I achieve something, I will definitely get justice back for my father."

  "Alright, alright, get up quickly. Dad knows you're also doing it for me, and dad has his own wrongdoings too. Don't cry anymore, get up and eat." Seeing Zhao Fei's appearance, Zhao Hu also felt very moved, and his eyes welled up with tears. He hastily pulled up his son, turned around to wipe away the tears in his eyes, he didn't want to cry in front of his wife and child either.

  "Dad..."

  "It's all right, it's all right, nothing happened, sit down and have dinner." Li smiled with relief as she looked at the father and son in front of her.

  "Come on, sit down and eat quickly, Little Fei. It's been such a long time since you've eaten, you must be starving." Zhao Hu pulled Zhao Fei to sit down. "Next time, don't wait for me again, just go ahead and eat yourself, got it?"

  "Hmm..." Zhao Fei replied vaguely while eating his meal.

  "Slow down, no one is competing with you." Seeing Zhao Fei's eating posture, Li couldn't help but hastily stop him.