"We really can't blame Mother; it's my second brother's fault. He's genuinely gotten foolish from all that studying, always going on about how a man needs great ambitions, aiming for distant horizons, and shouldn't be stuck in trivial romantic matters. He claims he's still young..."
Yet here I am, already about to be a father, while my second brother still says he's too young. He truly has no shame.
Of course, he acts so willfully because both our grandfather and father support his decisions.
After all, the Zhao family is an apricot forest family, with ancestors who were doctors. It's rare enough that we have a scholar, and since it was his own desire to tie his hair to the beams for sleepless nights and prick his thigh to stay awake for studying, we have to support him fully.
Never mind marrying later; even if he doesn't marry at all, it's not a problem. The Zhao family may not have many other things, but it sure has many sons.
