He thought back to how his mother had been. No matter how badly his father treated his older sister, his mother never dared to resist—she had to obey him. Later, when his father treated his second sister the same way, she still wouldn't say a word, knowing he was the head of the household. So, he reasoned, now that she had married another man, she would just obey him instead. If her new husband didn't want her to take him in, then she wouldn't.
Once Zhou Cai figured this out, he knew there was no hope of going with his mother. Zhou Mazi wouldn't let him leave the Zhou family, either. With all hope lost, he returned to the village. From then on, he started to eat, drink, and gamble alongside Zhou Mazi, eventually becoming a second version of his father.
