Chapter 22: The concerns of my second sister

My eldest sister was 13 years old and already in the first year of junior high school. Although she also attended a middle school in the village, her workload was heavier than that of my younger sister and me, who were still in elementary school, so she usually came home later than we did.

“You have the nerve to ask? Where did you go last night? My younger sister came back once at noon and said you were sick. She came to my school after school and I took the last class off to see what kind of illness you had.

Hearing my sister say this, I was a little moved. My second sister and I both went to elementary school in the countryside. It was hard for her to skip lunch and come back to see me. It was also hard for my sister to skip the last class when she heard I was sick. My sister and second sister were both very studious.

“Okay, big sister, don’t pinch him anymore. Our mother said he has a fever.” Seeing that my big sister was pinching my face, my second sister whispered to her.

My sister probably didn’t want to argue with me because I was sick, so she let go of my face and took out a white-iron lunchbox from her bag. It was the lunchbox she used to bring her lunch in. She opened the lunchbox and put it in front of me and said, “You’re lucky. Eat it.”

I was happy when I saw the lunch box, because it contained a bunch of purple grapes, which looked ripe.

I couldn’t wait to reach out and grab it, but my second sister grabbed the lunch box and said gently, “You need to wash it. Wait for me to wash it.”

I laughed nervously and asked my sister, “Where did you get them?”

“The grape vines in my classmate’s yard bear fruit later than those in the fields. I heard you were sick, so I didn’t ask for them. Now I have to copy someone else’s notes for a week. If you’re so naughty again, I’ll beat you up.” My sister spoke in a hurry, but my thoughts were completely on the bunch of grapes. I just smiled and agreed to whatever she said.

Soon, my second sister had washed the grapes and sat by my bedside, carefully peeling the skin and feeding me. My eldest sister kept on lecturing me, but I didn’t care. The grapes were so sweet, what did it matter if I was lectured a little?

As I was eating, my second sister suddenly looked at my eldest sister and said, “Sister, when you were walking back with me, did you see a strange woman?”

“What strange woman?” My sister was too busy scolding me to pay any attention to her.

“She was standing under the big locust tree not far from my house. I saw her by accident. She…” My second sister’s face looked bad, as if the memory was not very pleasant.

But my sister didn’t care at all. It was just a woman. There aren’t many women and children in this village. It’s not uncommon for people from the neighboring village to come over. Besides, isn’t it normal to stand under a tree to avoid the sun?

Not only did my eldest sister not care, I didn’t care either. I said that my thoughts were all on the grapes, and even if there were no grapes, I would definitely not pay attention to this little matter.

So when my second sister brought up the topic, my eldest sister simply said, “I didn’t see it. Besides, it’s not our business if a woman is strange.

So my second sister stopped talking, a little sullen, just feeding me grapes one by one. Obviously, she suddenly had a heavy heart, but my sister, who was just as carefree as I was, didn’t notice at all.

Not noticing, my second sister didn’t mention it. She was just the type of person who was quiet, seemed to be afraid of causing trouble to others, and was very weak.

After eating the grapes for a while, my second sister seemed to have mustered up the courage, looking at my eldest sister with a look that seemed to say she really wanted to speak, but unfortunately, my mother called out in the yard, “Lai Fu is here!” and caught my attention!

Is the crispy pork here? My heart was excited. To be honest, it’s good to be sick, you can sleep as long as you want, but it’s boring. Now that the crispy pork is here, it won’t be boring anymore. I immediately jumped out of bed and shouted, “Mom, is the crispy pork here?”

This shout seemed to dispel my sister’s hard-won courage, and all that was left in the room was my sister scolding me: “Chen Chengyi, look at you. You don’t look like a sick person at all. I fell for your trick and brought you grapes.”

As soon as the crispy meat came in, my eldest sister took my second sister’s hand and went out. They still had homework to do, but they were happy to have crispy meat to keep me company.

As soon as the meat pie came in, she said, “Sanwa, I’m not a traitor.”

I hadn’t thought of this before, but when he said it, I suddenly realized that if it weren’t for this kid, my dad and the others wouldn’t have come to the market to look for me yesterday. I said with a stern face, “You’re still saying you’re not a traitor? My dad told me everything.”

Su Rou was embarrassed and laughed, scratching his head. He explained to me, “I really gritted my teeth and held out! My father picked up a broom yesterday and wanted to beat me, but I didn’t betray you. I thought to myself, give me some chili water and put me on the tiger bench, and I won’t betray you.”

“Cut the crap. You still betrayed me in the end, you traitor. The Red Army won’t want you!” I was just bluffing Su Rou. This kid is sometimes so cute and innocent, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to bully him all the time.

“Oh, no, you know I’m not afraid of being scolded or beaten, but I’m afraid of not getting any food. My dad said yesterday that if I don’t tell him, he won’t give me any food for a week, and that I’ll only eat what the chickens eat! You know, the chickens eat vegetable leaves and bran, so how can I eat that?” Su Rou looked sincere.

But I was relentless, and I lifted the quilt and covered Su Rou’s head, shouting, “Comrades, we must overthrow the traitor…”

As a result, Su Rou and I started to have a wild time in the room. To be honest, Su Rou indirectly saved me. I wasn’t angry with him at all. I was just bored and wanted to play the role of a heroic fighter who overthrew the traitor.

After we had had enough fun, Su Rou and I lay in bed, both of us completely exhausted. I had sweated a lot during the commotion, and I felt much lighter.

At this point, Su Rou said, “Sanwa, I don’t think I want to be a Red Army soldier anymore.”

“Why?”

“My father said that the Red Army doesn’t eat well and works hard. If you want to be a Red Army soldier, you have to be a capable person who can drink and eat meat every day, have electricity and a telephone at home, and live in a big house with a big yard.

“That sounds good. If you really become that powerful one day, will you invite me to dinner?”

“Dinner? I’ll treat you to braised pork! I think you’re better than me. The dog lied to you! I’m definitely going to do my best to be that awesome person. When I grow up, I’m going to earn 100 yuan, but I think you have to help me, or I won’t be able to do it.”

“Okay!”

This conversation was quite childish at the time, but when I think back on it, I feel that fate is a pretty amazing thing.

That was the end of our conversation, because after a while, my mother called Su Rou to come over for dinner, and I was still eating porridge and kimchi.

My illness eased the next day, and on the third day I was able to go to school and play around. School life was still the same, except that Su Rou and I had an extra task: to spit on Liu Chunyan every day after school.

Then, when I met Liu Chunyan to complain, I was beaten again!

But who am I? I am a war hero. The more I am beaten, the more I spit and spit, and the more resilient I become. My parents are very worried about my energetic appearance.

While my parents were worried about me, they were also worried about another person, and that person was my second sister. Compared to my energetic self, she was very “depressed” these days.

My second sister was originally a quiet person, and at first her silence didn’t attract much attention from my parents. It wasn’t until later, when she couldn’t say a word for a whole day, and my mother felt like there was a missing person in the family, that she paid attention to my second sister’s situation.

Once she noticed this, my mother found many problems with her. For example, my sister has big, bright eyes, but recently they have been unfocused and seem empty.

In addition, my mother also noticed that when my second sister had eyes, they were quite melancholy, and she didn’t know what she was thinking.

Then, my second sister’s appetite became less and less, and she became even paler.

After discovering these problems, one night, the lights in my parents’ room never went out. How did I know this? Because the small room I live in is separated from their large bedroom. I was even awakened by their voices in the middle of the night, but the voices were muffled. If you listen deliberately, you can’t hear anything.

At the same time as I heard these voices, I also noticed the light coming through the crack in the door. In short, it was still on when I woke up at dawn.