"Tell me. You're grown now; Mother can't worry over every little thing for you!" Wang Zhengfei's mother nodded and asked, "Besides, Mother doesn't understand painting. Whatever ideas you have, just say them. Mother will listen first! Could it be that you no longer like painting?"
"Mother..." Wang Zhengfei said, pushing his bowl aside and rising to his feet. "Of course I like painting. But after what happened at Master Wang's house yesterday, I feel that painting alone is useless. Even if I became a great painter of Pingxi City, like Father, wouldn't I... wouldn't I still be unable to control my own fate?"
At this point, Wang Zhengfei stole a glance toward the inner room. Though his mother had never told him how his father had died, he had heard bits and pieces from the villagers. His father was probably as upright as he was, and had offended the powerful over some matter, hadn't he?
Wang Zhengfei's mother fell silent. How could she not know these things? But what could she do?
Not knowing what his mother was thinking, Wang Zhengfei hurriedly explained, "Perhaps Mother still doesn't know the details?"
After Wang Zhengfei clearly explained the whole course of events, he continued, "Mother, look. When faced with nothing more than a country bumpkin of a wealthy landowner, the moment I resisted even slightly, they seized Mother, threw you into a dog cage. Did they treat human lives as lives at all? In the end, even though I risked my life and won the wager, I still had no choice but to submit. If I hadn't submitted, even if they said nothing about today, they would inevitably make things difficult for us in the future. We... are fish on the chopping block!"
"And yesterday, if not for that kind-hearted young lady