Chapter 2 Guo Er’s strange illness

“What’s going on, Mom?” I stopped playing with my sister and looked at my mother with great interest. I knew how much I could eat because I burned a lot of calories, but it would be interesting if someone could eat as much as I did.

I also went to school in the village, but I came and went every day in a hurry. Except for my close relationship with the crispy meat, I basically had no contact with anyone else. In the eyes of others, I was more solitary and completely different from the naughty and cheerful lawless child I was when I was younger.

I knew in my heart that I was afraid that if I got close to these classmates, I would be reluctant to let go of them. It was because the loneliness I felt when my family moved away was too unforgettable for me, and I was really afraid of it!

Because of this ‘loneliness’, I know very little about the big and small things that happen in the countryside.

“You don’t know anything, Sanwa?” My mother was indeed surprised at my ignorance.

“What do I need to know? All day long, I’m either studying at school or practicing kung fu in the mountains. Mom, tell me what’s going on,” I asked.

“That’s right, Mom, why didn’t you tell me about it the other day?” My second sister was also very interested and wanted to know who could be on the same level as her brother, and whether he was really a cultivator like her brother?

“Hey, didn’t I just hear about it yesterday? Yesterday, I went to the city to buy things, and I happened to meet Auntie Liu from our village. Her son is settled in the countryside, you know?” my mother said.

“Mom, just tell us, why are you always asking if we know what it is?” I urged.

“That’s it.” My second sister was also eager to hear.

“Okay, okay,” my mother took a sip of water and then looked back at my father, who was also interested. She couldn’t help but tap my father’s head and continued, “Her son has settled down in the village, so he knows a lot about things in the village. The other day when I met her, we talked for a while, and she told me that Guo Er in the village, for some reason, has been eating a lot since about a week ago he became very hungry. He could eat two catties of flour in the morning, but by noon he was already hungry again. When it was time to eat, he would eat the entire pot of rice for six people, and before the family had even had a chance to eat the vegetables, he would finish them off too. He looked so…

My second sister looked at me and said, “Brother, you won’t become like this, will you?”

I frowned and said that I ate more than normal people, but I was still not as good as Guo Er. In addition, my daily exercise also determined my consumption…

After following the old man Jiang for so many years, I vaguely felt that something was wrong. Without answering my sister, I looked at my mother and asked, “What about at night? Don’t you eat at night? He eats like this, but he’s not sick, is he?”

“How did Guo Er become like this? Although that person was a bit unproductive, his brain was one of the most active in the countryside. During those difficult years, he was able to support the family’s livelihood even though he was unproductive. Who would do such a silly thing as eating like a pig? He couldn’t do it either.” My father was talking.

Because Guo Er was quite famous in the village, not only my parents knew about him, but even my sister and I, who had been studying in the village for many years, had heard about him. Because he was smart and had a big heart, he was also said to be brave.

“Oh, you have to hear me out. I don’t know why he’s like this, but I know that he still eats the same way at night. You don’t think he’s sick, do you? He is. I heard that he usually vomits after eating by noon, and his face turns pale from being sick. Auntie Liu told me that these days no one in his family dares to cook because Guo Er has been vomiting blood. Auntie Liu doesn’t know the details, but the story has spread around the village because Guo Er’s wife has been asking doctors everywhere for help. She said that he was taken to the county hospital the day before yesterday, and if he doesn’t get better, he’ll have to be taken to the city for treatment. My mother finished telling me about Guo Er.

After listening to my second sister, she turned to me and asked, “Brother, is Guo Er not practicing well and has he broken down?”

It was hard for me to explain to my family that how much you eat is not a sign of whether you have successfully cultivated, but I was vaguely uneasy and didn’t know why. I vaguely said to my sister, “He’s not cultivating, I’m afraid he has some strange disease. It’s very strange.”

My second sister had a ‘horrible’ memory, and she was actually quite sensitive. She asked me carefully, “Brother, do you think Guo Er has gone crazy?”

Before I could answer, my mother spoke up: “No, no, I thought about it too, but Auntie Liu said that Guo Er was as clear-headed as ever, just that he wasn’t eating normally.

“Well, that’s it. It’s just a strange illness.” I also said, but in fact I knew that this matter could not be so simple. Over the years, I have gotten along with old man Jiang and heard him talk about many strange things. There are all kinds of strange things in this world, and the ghost-infested thing is just a common little thing.

However, my family members are just ordinary people, and I can’t let them know so much, nor do I want them to know so much. In the early years, they had already suffered enough ‘scares’ because of me.

That was the end of the discussion about Guo Er. I tried not to think about it, and spent a warm time with my family. As I approached the age of 15, I was afraid that such days would be fewer and fewer.

The next day, I went back to the village market early because I still had to go to school. I was afraid that I would be less and less days to spend with my family.

Yes, Liu Chunyan has gone to the town to study. She is a proud girl, and my eldest sister is her target.

After a few classes at school, I went out to find Su Rou at noon. We are now studying together at the middle school in the village, but we are not in the same class.

I found him behind the school building. He was smoking with a few other school delinquents. When he saw me, he quickly took out a pack of green “Jade” cigarettes from his pocket, shook one out, and handed it to me: “Sanwa, want the whole thing?”

I looked at the crispy meat in front of me. This kid has gotten fatter and fatter every year, but he has also grown a lot. Now he is tall and strong, standing in front of me like a stone.

After entering junior high school, this kid fell in love with the “social world” and, together with a few other people, became the so-called bully of the school. They fought and skipped classes, but this did not affect the deep friendship we had built up since childhood.

“No, I don’t.” I pushed the cigarette away from Su Rou, who didn’t seem to mind. He smiled and put the cigarette away carefully in his pocket, then put his arm around me and said, “This jade is a good thing I stole from my dad. Don’t you want to share it with me?”

“I said you were smoking jade.” I felt warm in my heart. This kid, Su Rou! Anyway, I guess his father will find out about the cigarettes he stole in two days, and he will get beaten anyway.

“Big brother.” The kids next to Su Rou were also busy greeting me, and I responded with a few words.

Su Rou is now almost the leader of this school, and he has a few so-called younger brothers under him. He says he is the big brother, and then I am his big brother, so those little rascals must call me Big Brother.

He often brags, “You don’t know, Sanwa doesn’t like to fight, but when he does, he can beat ten people!”

One against ten? I’ve never tried it, so I don’t know!

I have tried to stop him from bragging a few times, but it didn’t work.

“Su Rou, come with me for a moment. I have something to tell you.” I was looking for Su Rou for a serious matter.

“Okay, I’ll be done in two sips. Don’t waste the jade.” Su Rou took two big sips, threw the cigarette butt on the ground, and walked away, holding my shoulders.

Ten minutes later, we were sitting on the school ping-pong table with four large lunch boxes. We were used to eating here, but eating in the classroom like this was considered strange by others.

The lunch boxes, three of them were mine, and one was Su Rou’s. But Su Rou always thought my food was better, so whenever we ate together, he would always eat half of my lunch. If he didn’t eat it, I would slowly finish all three boxes myself.