"Dad, I know it's expensive to send another child to college, but both Nianhua and Nian'an have good grades. The teachers all say that if we don't let them continue their studies, it would be such a waste."
Xu Qinghe was honest and simple. Although he was the eldest at home, he had no say whatsoever.
"What do you know?"
Xu Zhong snapped at him and said, "Compared to Zhiyuan, Nian'an's grades are way worse. Just look at all the honor he's brought to our Xu Family."
"Dad," Ji Ying said weakly, "If you go to college, isn't there financial aid? You don't have to pay for it yourself, right?"
"What, you don't need living expenses? You don't need travel money?" Xu Zhong shot back without thinking.
Xu Zhong was in his sixties. His weathered face, his dark skin, and those big, round eyes—when he glared, it was especially terrifying.
Ji Ying instantly didn't dare say another word and could only look for help toward her own husband, Xu Qinghe.
The two children definitely had to go to school. The oldest hadn't been able to, and that was already a big regret for the couple. For the second and third, even if they had to sell everything, they had to go.
"Grandpa." As a junior, Xu Nian'an shouldn't have spoken up, but he couldn't hold back anymore. He said, "Favoritism isn't supposed to be this blatant. Dad is also your son, and I'm your grandson. When my older brother wanted to go to school, you said we had to help pay for Zhihao and the rest, but there was no money."
"Now, when we siblings want to go to school, you say we have to pay for Zhiyuan, and still there's no money. You want me to go work at the brick factory. Are my brother and I just supposed to work so Second Uncle's whole family can go to school?"
"If Xu Jiaojiao can go to school, then why can't my little sister?"
Xu Nian'an had been holding in his anger for ages. He didn't care anymore and just said everything he'd ever wanted to say.
"Nian'an." Xu Qinghe said sternly, "Apologize to your grandpa. How can you talk to him like that?"
"Dad, why can't I say it? It's not like I'm lying."
Xu Nian'an stuck out his neck, refusing to apologize.
Xu Zhong rushed up and slapped him hard across the face, not holding back at all.
"Smack!"
The sound of the slap echoed loudly. Xu Nian'an stared in shock at Ji Ying, who'd stepped in front of him. He quickly helped her, saying, "Mom, are you okay?"
That slap from Xu Zhong made Ji Ying so dizzy and disoriented, she could only stand steady with Xu Nian'an holding her.
The house was in chaos. Although Xu Zhong realized he'd been a bit impulsive, he thought, I'm hitting my own grandson. Who told her to jump in?
Ji Ying sat on the stool, only feeling that all the grievances she'd bottled up over the years burst out at that moment.
"I can't go on living like this. Xu Qinghe, either we split the family or we get divorced."
Ji Ying raised her tear-filled eyes. Every time she thought of her daughter, on the brink of giving up hope because she couldn't go to school, her heart felt as if it was being stabbed with needles. And her sons—two of them—she'd already let down the eldest. Was she supposed to ruin the youngest now too?
If before, Ji Ying had always felt that as a daughter-in-law, she was supposed to be filial to her in-laws, get along with her sisters-in-law, and be courteous to her husband, now she saw that the more she put up with, the more she and her family suffered.
She and her husband suffering was one thing, but this was about the future of their two children. She wasn't going to put up with it anymore.
The eldest never had good grades since he was small, so she let it go. But both the second and third did well. Every time, the teachers said they should be allowed to study. Why, just because their grandpa said no, couldn't they go to school?