After retiring at sixty-six, Zhao Deyong kept riding an old tricycle to collect cardboard boxes, maintaining his own rhythm of life on a few dozen yuan a day. Once the vehicle developed issues, his daughter Zhao Lin and son Zhao Jie, worried that it would be unsafe for their father to keep riding, sold the tricycle to a recycling station behind his back. Upon learning the truth, Zhao Deyong insisted on going to see the vehicle himself to confirm that it was indeed no longer fit for use, but he also explicitly told his children that care cannot replace making decisions for oneself. Afterward, he actively sought out paper product sorting work, continuing to earn money through his own labor and helping his family reunderstand the boundaries of respect and companionship.