The mother and daughter had no income, not even ration allocations. Simply putting food on the table was a major problem.
She had hardly ever experienced hunger herself, but she knew that her eldest brother, Zhuang Tunan, had once been so hungry his stomach growled and he could not sleep in the middle of the night.
Zhou Cheng gave her little time to think and simply continued:
"With Zhou Qing and her mother added to the household, everyone in Wang Yong's family has to tighten their belts. Things are stable now, so they can just barely get by, but if something unexpected happens, will Zhou Qing's mother willingly make sacrifices and give way? There's only so much Wang Yong can do, and only so much food for the family. If someone eats an extra mouthful, someone else has to eat one less. Deny people food, and grabbing it won't be all they do!"
He paused, his tone calm but certain. "Zhou Qing's mother and Wang Yong are both adults with families of their own. Their first responsibility is to their own households. Wang Yong at least knows his own limits. When it comes to making them leave, he isn't really wrong."
Zhuang Xiaoting opened her mouth, finding it hard to accept what Zhou Cheng had said.
After all, starting a family was still a long way off for her. All her affection was still centered on her parents and older brothers, and she could not yet truly understand the cruel choices of the adult world.
Zhuang Chaoying wanted very much to argue with Zhou Cheng, but the words "their first responsibility is to their own households" left him unable to utter a word.
Huang Ling thoroughly agreed with Zhou Cheng. She had not expected her son to have understood this