Family Matters

  Skilled in riding a bike through the crowds, Zhao Guotang felt the faint scent brought by the crowd.

  This is a special smell that comes from the mixture of soap and shampoo on countless women's bodies, which can only be enjoyed in a textile factory where there are many young unmarried women. Zhao Guodong could sense the gaze of many women cast upon him, surprise, astonishment, but more of it was curiosity.

  After all, there are not many people riding bicycles in the factory area. The whole factory area is like a self-sufficient closed circle. Except for the nearby vegetable farmers who come to sell vegetables in the market, almost everyone knows each other's roots and bottoms, even if they are newly recruited female workers, they will also establish their own circle of friends after a year or so.

  Zhao Guotong's image is obviously not like the nearby vegetable farmer's son, and the factory son seems to have nothing to do with this outsider who has been away from this circle for many years.

  In the early summer, the girls fully showed off their beautiful body curves in the air. Most of the female workers were unmarried girls or newlywed young women, wearing T-shirts, short-sleeved shirts, or dresses in a variety of colors such as orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black and white. The vibrant colors were fully released at this moment after work, and it also made Zhao Guodong savor the feeling of years ago.

  Some old brown wooden doors, with greasy kitchen windows still wafting a few wisps of smoke, the original beehive coal was replaced by natural gas two years ago, which made all the housewives in the factory praise the current leadership. Suddenly, Zhao Guodong rushed to the front door and woke up, slamming on the bicycle brakes, stopping fiercely at the doorstep.

  "Mom! Dad! I'm back!" As soon as he stepped through the door, the familiar scent that wafted up to his nose made Zhao Guotang feel an indescribable warmth. The pot on the stove was simmering with braised pork trotters, and the enticing aroma made Zhao Guotang swallow a mouthful of saliva. In the iron wok, stir-fried wood ear mushrooms and meat slices were being cooked, which was also one of Zhao Guotang's favorites.

  "Guo Dong is back?" His father's back was also slightly bent, after working for decades, nothing was left at home, just raising five children, Zhao Guo Dong also felt a little sad.

  "Guo Dong, how come you're only back now? I thought you'd be back at noon. Was work busy?" Mother Xu Xiujin's face was always so kind and gentle, Zhao Guodong seemed to feel the warmth of coming home for the first time, before he would rush in and out of the house, rarely having such a feeling, his father and mother were more like vague impressions.

  "Uh, mom, I've been transferred to the Jiangmiao police station, so it'll be more convenient for me to come home in the future." Zhao Guotong nodded and put down the bag he was holding.

  "I heard Changqing say that today is the weekend, and you and your dad will probably come back too." His mother's words were always the most considerate, not even asking him why he had returned to Jiangmiao Police Station, which warmed Zhao Guotang's heart.

  "Guo Dong, you were doing well in the criminal police team, why did you get transferred back? Did you make some kind of mistake?" His father's serious face used to be what Zhao Guodong feared the most, but now it had lost its former power.

  "It's nothing, it's just because of work requirements. The Jiang Temple is short of people to handle cases, and the bureau needs to send someone from the criminal police team. My family is on the side of Jiang Temple, so I became the first choice." Zhao Guotang didn't want to take this topic further, but facing his father's caring eyes, he couldn't help but respond.

  It seems that Lao Zhao was somewhat dissatisfied with his son's response, but seeing that his son didn't want to say more on this topic, he could only sigh and stop talking. His son had grown up and was a public security police officer; in some sense, the role of father and the role of public security were opposing each other, and it seemed that the latter was more powerful.

  "Brother, you're back? When did you get back?" A figure with a strong smell of sweat burst in, the basketball still spinning skillfully in his hand, and he let out a loud whoop of excitement as soon as he saw Zhao Guotang.

  "Hmm, just got home and you went to play basketball again?" Zhao Guotong snatched the ball from his opponent, bounced it on the ground twice, and threw it back at him, "Did you win or lose?"

  "Haha, brother, when have I ever lost?" The newcomer was Zhao Guozhen's second brother, Zhao Deshan. He was 183 cm tall and weighed over 170 kg, with a bare upper body that had well-developed chest and abdominal muscles, like those of a trained bodybuilder. His deep blue sports shorts were slightly faded, and the sports shoes on his feet were still the ones he bought when he was in police college. This kid had grown quite a bit in the past two years.

  The slight unhappiness of being sent to Jiang Temple was quickly drowned out by the warmth of family, and when all six members sat down at the dinner table, Xu Xiujin casually asked: "Lingshan, why didn't Little Liu come? Didn't you ask him to come?"

  Zhao Lingshan glanced at Zhao Guotang and her face suddenly turned red. "He has something to do, the factory still needs overtime."

  Zhao Guodong was taken aback for a moment, then looked at the other three brothers with some mysterious expressions, and immediately understood, "Oh, big sister also has someone?"

  "No, no, it's not certain yet." Zhao Lingxiao's face suddenly turned red as she hurriedly explained.

  "Look at Liu Cheng, that good-for-nothing, he doesn't even dare to come see my brother, and yet he wants to marry you? I've already told him, if he wants to enter our family's door, first he has to pass my brother's test. If my brother doesn't approve of him, then he might as well give up now." Zhao De Shan's face showed a look of disdain, clearly not satisfied with his older sister's partner.

  "You!" Zhao Lingxuan's face flashed with a hint of anger. She had long known that her second brother was dissatisfied with Liu Cheng, but this was her own blind date, not arranged by her family. For Zhao Deshan to publicly discuss her partner in such a disdainful tone, especially when her eldest brother was finding out for the first time, naturally made her very angry.

  "Alright, second brother, does sister's matter need you to handle? Do you still have the right to speak here? I haven't been back for a few days and you're still so arrogant? Get out of my sight!"

  Seeing the big sister's face swollen with redness, and tears in her eyes, Zhao Guodong hastily scolded Zhao Deshan. This guy's mouth had always been foul-smelling. During their school days, he and his brothers didn't know how many unnecessary fights they got into because of this mouth of his.

  Zhao De-shan grunted heavily and stopped talking, focusing on eating his meal.

  Since graduating, Zhao Deshan has been displeased with everyone in the house except his older brother. It's been over two years since graduation, and there's still no chance of getting a job at the factory. Zhao Deshan is anxious and restless, wandering around like a wild horse every day. Someone comes to complain about him every few days, but Old Zhao can't control him anymore. Feeling guilty for not being able to get Zhao Deshan a job at the factory, he secretly tries to make amends everywhere.

  Zhao Guodong saw that the atmosphere was becoming somewhat chilly due to this topic, and hastily spoke up: "Old Three, you're also about to graduate soon, how's your confidence in taking the university entrance exams?"

  "Big brother, the teaching quality of Jiang Miao Middle School is also average. My grades in class are just mediocre, I really don't have much confidence." Zhao Changchuan saw big brother's gaze turn to himself, his eyes also became somewhat evasive, he knew his own business and didn't dare speak nonsense in front of Zhao Guotang.

  "Hum, no matter whether you get in or not, you must study hard for me. If you can't get into college, then go take the self-study exam. In this day and age, without skills or a diploma, I don't see how you'll make it. Are we all just going to wait for the factory to assign us work?"

  Zhao Guotong also knew that Zhao Changchuan's grades were decent at the school for children of officials, but they would be average at Jiangmiao Middle School. Every year, only about a dozen students from Jiangmiao Middle School could get into college or vocational schools, and Zhao Changchuan was clearly not among them.

  There are five people in my family, and my elder sister is fine and has been arranged to work in a factory. Female workers are needed in large quantities, so it's easy to arrange for them. As for male workers, the arrangement of factory apprenticeships is very tight. If I don't get accepted into university, I'm afraid my family will really be worried sick.

  It's already difficult as it is, and Second Brother is running wild everywhere. Mom has told me several times to come back and discipline De Shan myself, but for the first half of the year, I was really too busy and didn't have the energy to ask about it. Now that I finally have some free time, I can tighten the reins on Zhao De Shan's neck, otherwise, there will be a big problem one day and I won't know what to do.

  The only one who is still making an effort is the fourth child, Zhao Yunhai, who is now in his first year of high school at Jiangkou County Middle School. The whole family is counting on him to follow in their footsteps and get into college, which would be a great honor for the Zhao family, as they would then have two university students, making them the first family in the textile mill to achieve this feat.

  A meal was ruined because of Zhao De Shan's two sentences, and Zhao Guo Tong also realized that there seemed to be some discordant factors in his own home. He hadn't returned home for a long time and didn't expect that his own harmonious family would also have problems, which gave Zhao Guo Tong a headache.

  Father was silent at the dinner table, obviously unable to hold back Zhao De Shan anymore. Mother also wanted to speak but stopped herself with a worried face. De Shan had no job and Chang Chuan would soon graduate from high school too. With two strong laborers idle at home, it's no wonder Father and Mother were worried.

  After dinner, only Zhao Guotang and his mother were left in the living room. Washing dishes was usually a job for his elder sister, while his father had gone to find some chess friends to play a few rounds with. The other younger brothers had all quietly slipped out of the house, as if they knew that their mother and elder brother had something to discuss.