HNYWEF -Chapter 177 Releasing the Floodwaters

The curtain to the main room was lifted, and Zhou Xiong walked in.

The light inside was dimmer than outside. The windows were open, sunlight filtering through the lattice frames and falling onto the floor in neat squares.

Against the wall stood a square table with two chairs. On the table sat a teapot, teacups, and several plates of pastries.

Two people were seated behind the table.

One was an old man, his hair completely white, holding a scroll in his hand.

When he saw Zhou Xiong enter, he set the scroll down and stood up.

His movements were slow, but steady.

Beside him was an old woman, her hair also white, half a head shorter than the old man, her apron still untied.

As she stood, she braced herself against the edge of the table.

The two of them looked at Zhou Xiong together.

Watched him walk in and stop in the middle of the room.

The old man’s gaze slowly swept across Zhou Xiong’s face once, then again. His lips trembled slightly, but no sound came out.

The old woman spoke first. Her voice shook with the urgency of emotions suppressed for far too long.

“You… you are…”

Zhou Xiong looked at her and nodded.

Tears immediately streamed down the old woman’s face.

She did not wipe them away. She simply stood there, letting them fall.

“You’ve gotten thinner. Much thinner than before.”

She stepped forward and looked him over from head to toe. Her hand lifted as if to touch his face, but halfway there, she pulled it back.

“Where have you been all these years? How come there wasn’t a single word from you?”

The old man stood beside her without speaking, but his eyes never left Zhou Xiong’s face.

He looked for a long while, then his gaze shifted to Zhou Yi and Li Lizhi, who had followed Zhou Xiong inside, before returning to him again.

Then he finally spoke.

His voice was steadier than the old woman’s, but the faint tremor beneath it could not be hidden.

“And this child—”

Zhou Xiong stepped aside slightly, allowing Zhou Yi and Li Lizhi to stand in front.

Then he spoke, his hoarse voice rough like sandpaper, yet every word clear.

“Call them Grandpa and Grandma.”

Zhou Yi stepped forward, bent deeply at the waist, and gave a respectful bow.

“Grandpa. Grandma.”

Li Lizhi followed beside him and bowed as well.

“Grandpa. Grandma.”

The old man and old woman exchanged a glance.

The old woman took Zhou Yi’s hand, then Li Lizhi’s, looking them over again and again.

“Good, good… they’re already so grown up.”

She looked at Zhou Yi, then at Li Lizhi, and tears welled up once more.

“And this girl is truly beautiful too.”

Holding the two children, she began asking endless questions—what their names were, how old they were, whether the journey had been tiring.

But as she spoke, her gaze began drifting toward the doorway.

One glance, then back again.

She spoke a few more sentences, then looked again toward the door.

The curtain hung motionless.

She looked once more.

The old man’s eyes also flicked toward the entrance before quickly returning.

He looked at Zhou Xiong for several breaths, then suddenly spoke.

His voice was quiet, but every word landed clearly.

“Where’s our girl? Why didn’t you bring her with you?”

The room instantly fell silent.

Not the silence of no one speaking—

but the silence of everyone freezing in place.

The old woman’s hand stopped midair, still clutching Li Lizhi’s wrist, neither loosening nor moving.

The old man’s gaze fixed firmly on Zhou Xiong’s face.

Zhou Yi stood there, even his breathing slowing for a beat.

Li Lizhi lowered her head, not daring to look up.

Zhou Xiong stood in the middle of the room, looking at the two elderly people before him.

He looked at them.

Then suddenly, his knees bent, and he dropped straight to the floor.

No warning. No prelude.

With a heavy thud, his knees slammed against the green brick tiles, the dull sound striking everyone’s chest like a hammer.

The old man’s expression changed instantly.

He stepped forward, bent down, and grabbed Zhou Xiong by the arms, trying to pull him up. The old woman released Li Lizhi’s hand and bent down as well, supporting him from the other side.

“Get up, get up—what are you doing?”

Her voice trembled. Her hands trembled too. But the hand gripping his arm held on tightly.

The old man said nothing, but the strength in his hands never loosened as he tried to haul Zhou Xiong to his feet.

Yet Zhou Xiong remained kneeling there, his knees nailed to the brick floor, utterly unmoving.

The old man’s hands shook.

The old woman’s hands shook too.

Even with both their strength combined, they could not pull him up.

Their hands still held his arms, but they were no longer trying to force him upright.

The old man slowly let go and stood there, lowering his head to look at the man kneeling before him.

The old woman neither released him nor pulled anymore. She simply supported him, her hands still trembling.

Zhou Xiong straightened his back while kneeling on the bricks, his spine rigid and upright. He looked at the two elders before him for two breaths.

Then he bent down.

His forehead struck the ground.

Thunk.

A dull sound—not loud, not heavy—

but everyone in the room heard it.

Zhou Yi stood behind him, staring at that kneeling figure bowing to the floor, and suddenly, tears spilled from his eyes.

It wasn’t the kind where the eyes slowly reddened.

The tears burst out without warning, impossible to stop.

He wiped at them with his sleeve once, and more immediately welled up again.

He stood there, crying silently, staring at the person still kneeling on the ground in a kowtow posture.

Zhou Xiong slowly straightened his back and remained kneeling there, looking at the old man and old woman.

His lips trembled, but he forced his voice steady.

Word by word, each syllable sounding like it was being dragged raw from his throat.

“Father… Mother… I didn’t take good care of her. She…”

He couldn’t continue.

His Adam’s apple bobbed several times. His mouth opened, but the word remained stuck in his throat, unable to come out.

The room was deathly quiet.

So quiet that they could hear the wind outside passing through the pomegranate tree, rustling softly, like someone sighing.

The old man and old woman exchanged a glance.

There was no shock in that look, no questioning, nothing at all.

They had already known.

Or rather, they had long since guessed.

Their daughter had disappeared for so many years without a single word. Their son-in-law had raised the child alone and never once come back.

How could they not understand?

The old man’s throat tightened. His eyes reddened, but no tears fell.

He stepped forward, bent down, and held Zhou Xiong by the arms with both hands.

“Good son-in-law, please, get up quickly.” His voice trembled, but every word was clear. “Those were chaotic times, full of war and disaster. If something happened, that’s only natural. How could we blame you…”

Zhou Xiong remained kneeling there, staring at the old man’s deeply wrinkled face, listening to those words:

“We don’t blame you.”

His lips trembled even harder.

Something inside his eyes began pouring out—not just tears, but something else too.

Something he had held back for fifteen years.

Something buried for fifteen years.

Something he had never spoken to anyone about.

His shoulders collapsed.

Not slowly.

But all at once—with a crash, like a dam bursting open and all the floodwaters rushing out.

He knelt there, bent over so far his head nearly touched the ground. His shoulders shook violently, and a sound came from his throat.

He wanted to speak, but no words would come.

Only those muffled, hoarse noises forced out from deep in his throat—as though something that had blocked him for fifteen years had finally found the smallest crack to break through.

Zhou Yi stood behind him, crying even harder as he looked at that curled-up figure on the floor.

His father was kneeling there now, hunched over, shoulders trembling, like a bowstring stretched too tight for too long that had finally snapped.

Li Lizhi stood beside Zhou Yi, tears streaming down her face as well.

She made no sound.

She simply reached out and held Zhou Yi’s hand.

The old woman crouched down and placed a hand on Zhou Xiong’s back, patting him gently again and again, the way one would comfort a child.

Her tears dripped onto Zhou Xiong’s clothes.

The old man stood beside them, still holding Zhou Xiong’s arm, neither letting go nor saying a word.

Footsteps sounded from the doorway.

The younger brother-in-law walked in from outside and stopped at the entrance.

He saw his father supporting his brother-in-law’s arm, his mother crouched on the ground patting his brother-in-law’s back, his nephew standing behind them with tears all over his face, and that young girl holding his nephew’s hand while crying too.

He froze for a moment.

Then he walked over.

He crouched beside Zhou Xiong and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Brother-in-law,” he called softly.

Zhou Xiong didn’t respond. His shoulders still shook.

The younger man called again.

“Brother-in-law?”

Zhou Xiong’s body stiffened slightly.

The younger brother-in-law said nothing more. He simply pressed down firmly on Zhou Xiong’s shoulder.

Very firmly.

Gradually, Zhou Xiong’s sobbing quieted.

His shoulders still trembled, but not as violently as before.

He remained kneeling there with his head lowered, looking as though every ounce of strength had been drained from him.

The younger brother-in-law stayed crouched beside him, his hand resting on Zhou Xiong’s shoulder the entire time, never letting go.

The room slowly fell silent again.

Only occasional choking sobs remained, mixed with the sound of the wind outside.

The old man’s hand, still gripping Zhou Xiong’s arm, slowly began to exert force.

“Get up. The ground is cold.”

Zhou Xiong didn’t move.

The old man tugged again.

This time, Zhou Xiong finally responded, slowly straightening up with the old man’s help.

He still knelt there, knees planted firmly on the floor, tears and snot smeared all over his face.

He lifted his head and looked at the old man.

The old man’s eyes were red too, though no tears had fallen.

He stared at Zhou Xiong’s miserable face for a long time.

Then he reached out and wiped at Zhou Xiong’s face with his sleeve.

The motion was rough enough to twist Zhou Xiong’s face sideways, but Zhou Xiong didn’t dodge.

The old woman stood up and pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve, offering it over.

Zhou Xiong didn’t take it.

The younger brother-in-law accepted it instead and stuffed it into Zhou Xiong’s hand.

“Wipe your face,” he said.

Zhou Xiong held the handkerchief without moving.

After standing there for a while, he finally raised his hand and wiped his face haphazardly.

A large patch of the cloth immediately became soaked.

He clenched it in his hand and didn’t return it.

The old man glanced at him once, then turned and walked back to the table to sit down.

The old woman also returned to her seat.

The younger brother-in-law helped Zhou Xiong over to a chair and pressed him down into it.

Zhou Yi and Li Lizhi stood behind them.

No one spoke.