Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

Zhou Shijie, who had been loafing around all day, finally couldn't stand the hunger and went home.

He still enjoys attracting attention, just like always.

Zhou Shijie was not outstanding. He lacked the decisiveness, steadiness, composure, and restraint of the eldest brother, Zhou Shiwei, and the intelligence and studiousness of the third brother, Zhou Shiping.

He was just an ordinary Zhou Shijie.

His family was poor, and he was bullied by Li Dehua, who came from a wealthy family, from a young age. This made him doubt himself, feel inferior, and eventually give up on himself. Even in his old age, he was still not serious.

Zhou Shiwei sighed softly, then spoke as if he had made up his mind:

"Second brother, still want to eat meat and drink alcohol? There's not a single thing left to eat in the house."

Zhou Shijie was taken aback upon hearing this. "Brother, isn't my nephew rendering lard?"

Zhou Shijie, who had just entered, clearly saw Zhou Rui standing by the stove, and naturally also saw the lard in the pot emitting a fragrant aroma.

He smelled a delicious aroma before he even entered the house, and he assumed that his neighbors had eaten meat again.

But he forgot that he had no neighbors next to his house, and the nearest one was two or three hundred meters away.

"That meat was brought by your nephew. How can you eat it? If you want some, earn it with your own hands."

"Don't wander around the village tomorrow, come with me to town to sell pork."

Zhou Shiwei was chopping wood nearby, and he spoke very bluntly and without any politeness.

Sure enough, Zhou Shijie blushed upon hearing this and hesitated to speak.

He took a couple of steps, looking somewhat lost, but still couldn't come up with anything coherent.

He glanced at his elder brother, then at Zhou Rui by the stove.

Finally, he managed to squeeze out a sentence:

"Brother, I'm afraid I won't do a good job and will only cause you trouble..."

Zhou Shiwei focused on chopping wood and ignored him.

Zhou Shijie is running away.

Everyone in the village, both inside and outside, called him a lazy bum, someone who loved to eat and did nothing. Even Zhou Rui, who had been reborn, felt the same way.

But Zhou Rui also knew that behind all this was his second uncle, who was insecure and afraid to take on important responsibilities, and needed guidance. In his previous life, he only woke up after being stimulated.

Looking at the oil residue in the pot, Zhou Rui, relying on his experience from his previous life, finally took action when he felt that the last drop of oil was about to be extracted and that the pot would burn if it was heated any longer.

"Second Uncle, give me a hand, the pot's going to burn!"

Zhou Shijie did not hesitate upon hearing this.

Quickly take out the enamel lard basin and strainer to help Zhou Rui scoop out the oil residue.

The enamel basin is decorated with the Chinese character "囍" and mottled printed patterns around its perimeter.

"Dad, it smells so good."

Zhou Rui turned to Zhou Shiwei and said something, then turned back and said something in a nonchalant manner.

"Second Uncle, I heard a storyteller say this in town a couple of days ago."

"It doesn't matter how others see you; what matters is how you see yourself."

Zhou Shijie was interrupted as he was about to say something discouraging.

Hearing his nephew's words now left him somewhat puzzled, yet he vaguely felt that they made sense.

He hadn't read many books and didn't react for a moment.

Of course, this phrase is not popular nowadays; it was quoted by Zhou Rui, who has memories of his previous life.

Zhou Rui paused for a moment, then finally got straight to the point:

"Second Uncle, it's not that you can't do it well, it's that you're afraid of being gossiped about... But if you don't do anything, how will you know you can't do it well?"

"Moreover, if you do nothing, there will be more and more gossip, and the more gossip there is, the less you dare to make changes."

Zhou Shiwei is known in the village as a hard-working, reliable, and responsible person.

Therefore, under the shadow of his eldest and third brothers, Zhou Shijie was afraid of being criticized by others if he did not do well.

After Zhou Rui said those two sentences, even Zhou Shiwei, who was chopping wood, stopped what he was doing.

According to rural customs, younger generations generally should not interrupt when elders are speaking.

But Zhou Shiwei knew that his eldest son was smart from a young age, with a forward-thinking mind and always had some strange and unusual ideas, which meant he had some of the intelligence of his third son.

Zhou Rui also possesses his own decisiveness, composure, and steadiness.

That is why the family's chance to turn their lives around may lie with their eldest son.

Moreover, at Zhou Rui's age, many people of the same age in the village have already started families and established careers.

After a short while, the fire in the stove had long since gone out, and the lard in the pot was cooling down.

Zhou Shiwei walked up to his second brother and patted him on the shoulder.

"Second brother, your eldest nephew is right. Don't be afraid of what others say about you. As long as you do it, your elder brother and I, the old man, will not blame you."

After a while, Zhou Shijie sighed and murmured:

"Brother, I don't know what to do. You are known in the village as steady, reliable, and capable. And I am an intellectual."

"And I, I'm just a useless burden, a good-for-nothing..."

Zhou Shiwei walked up to Zhou Shijie, stared into his eyes, and said, word by word:

"You're not a coward, you're my second brother."

……

Just then, the sound of conversation came from outside.

"Grandpa, we're home—Dad and my older brother seem to be here too."

"Cough cough cough—yes, I'm home."

"Old Zhou, what's wrong with you? I told you to listen to me and just go, but you insisted on coming along."

"If I don't go, Old Jiang won't lend you grain..."

Zhou Rui's face lit up with joy, but then he felt a pang of heartache.

The good news is that my grandparents are back, so I can eat some meat to supplement my nutrition.

What's heartbreaking is that at this time, Grandpa's body was already giving him warnings, yet he still insisted on walking a long way to borrow food.

Zhou Shiwei glanced at his second brother, said nothing more, and turned to walk out of the inner room.

"Dad, Mom, youngest child."

"Here, I'll help you carry it."

Zhou Shiwei took the meager amount of grain from his second son.

Zhou Rui then walked over.

The grandfather, who was so thin he was practically skin and bones, was in very poor spirits, yet he still managed to force a smile at him.

Among his grandchildren, Zhou Rui was his favorite.

"Grandpa, we're having meat tonight—wild boar!"

Zhou Rui stepped forward to help the old man up. The old man was taken aback, clearly surprised, and almost instinctively said:

"Grandson, are you hurt? You can't beat a wild boar; it's very dangerous. Didn't the eldest son go with you?"

The old man subconsciously thought that his eldest grandson had gone hunting alone. He glanced at him and pretended to slap Zhou Shiwei.

"Grandpa, it's alright. This wild boar was injured, and I was just lucky to find it."

"Brother, you're amazing! You actually brought back a wild boar."

The first to react was Zhou Rui's underling, Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming has admired Zhou Rui since he was a child because his brother was the most quick-witted. He often took Zhou Ming to play with strange and unusual things and always came up with ideas that others couldn't.

In his previous life, Zhou Rui had a unique vision and went to the coastal area, where he seized a good opportunity, which gave him the chance to turn his life around.

Zhou Rui scratched his head and smiled.

"Grandpa, Grandma, little brother, what are you still standing outside for? Come on, let's go back inside and wait for Mom and Auntie to come home. We're all having meat today!"