Chapter 22: Second Sister’s Worries

My eldest sister was already 13 that year and had started the first year of junior high. Even though it was still the middle school in the township, her schoolwork was heavier than mine and my second sister’s in primary school, so she usually came home later than us.

“Got the nerve to ask? Where did you go fooling around last night? My second sister already came back once at noon and said you were sick. She even came to my school after class. I took leave during the last period just to see what illness you had,” my eldest sister said.

Hearing this, I felt a little moved. My second sister, like me, was in primary school in the township. It must have been hard for her to skip lunch and rest at school at noon just to rush back and check on me from so far away. And my eldest sister, after hearing I was sick, even skipped her last class. Both of my sisters were the studious type.

“Alright, eldest sister, stop pinching him. Mom said he’s got a fever,” my second sister said softly from the side as my eldest sister kept pinching my face.

My eldest sister probably did not want to argue with me since I was sick, so she let go of my face and pulled out a white tin lunchbox from her school bag. It was the one she used to bring lunch. She opened it and placed it in front of me, saying, “You’re lucky. Eat.”

When I saw the lunchbox, I got excited, because inside was a bunch of purple grapes, looking fully ripe.

Without hesitation, I reached out to grab them, but my second sister quickly snatched the lunchbox away, still speaking gently, “They need to be washed. I’ll go wash them for you.”

I gave a silly grin and turned to my eldest sister. “Where did you get these?”

“They’re from a grapevine planted in my classmate’s courtyard. They ripen later than the ones in the fields. Since you were sick, I shamelessly went to ask for them. Now I have to copy notes for her for a week. If you keep being naughty, I’ll beat you up,” my eldest sister said briskly.

But my entire attention was already on the grapes, so I just kept nodding and smiling foolishly at whatever she said.

Soon, my second sister washed the grapes and sat by my bedside, carefully peeling them and feeding them to me, while my eldest sister kept lecturing me nonstop. I did not care. The grapes were so sweet that a few scoldings did not matter at all.

While eating, my second sister suddenly looked at my eldest sister and said, “Eldest sister, when you came back with me earlier, did you see any strange woman?”

“What strange woman?” my eldest sister replied casually, still focused on lecturing me.

“She was under the big locust tree not far from our house. I accidentally saw her…” My second sister’s face looked unpleasant, as if the memory was not a good one.

But my eldest sister did not take it seriously at all. It was just a woman. There were plenty of women and children in the village. Sometimes people from neighboring villages passed by. Standing under a tree to avoid the sun was perfectly normal.

Not only did my eldest sister not care, I did not care either. My mind was entirely on the grapes. Even without grapes, I probably would not have paid attention to something so minor.

So my second sister’s topic was brushed aside by my eldest sister with a simple, “I didn’t see her. Besides, even if a woman is strange, what does it have to do with us?”

Just like that, my second sister fell silent. She seemed a bit down, quietly feeding me grapes one by one. Clearly, something had suddenly weighed on her mind, but my eldest sister and I, both carefree as we were, did not notice at all.

Since no one noticed, my second sister did not bring it up again. That was her personality, very quiet, as if she was afraid of troubling others, very gentle and soft.

After eating grapes for a while, my second sister seemed to gather her courage and looked at my eldest sister, as if she really wanted to say something. But just at that moment, my mother called out from the courtyard, “Laifu is here.”

Su Rou was here?!

My excitement surged. To be honest, being sick was good because I could sleep as long as I wanted, but it was boring. Now that Su Rou was here, it would not be boring anymore. I immediately jumped up and shouted, “Mom, is Su Rou here?”

That shout seemed to extinguish the courage my second sister had finally gathered. The only thing left in the room was my eldest sister’s scolding voice.

Chen Chengyi, look at yourself. You don’t look like a sick person at all. I was really fooled by you, even brought you grapes.

Once Su Rou arrived, my eldest sister took my second sister’s hand and went out. They still had homework to do, and they were also relieved to have Su Rou keeping me company.

As soon as Su Rou entered, he did not even care that he was out of breath from running due to his weight. He immediately said, “San Wa Er, I am not a traitor.”

I had not even thought about that, but hearing him say it, I suddenly understood. If not for this guy, would my dad and the others have come to the township to look for me yesterday? I deliberately put on a stern face and said, “Still say you are not a traitor? My dad already told me.”

Su Rou scratched his head awkwardly and laughed as he explained, “I really held out at first. My dad even grabbed a broom to hit me yesterday, and I still did not sell you out. I even thought, even if they used chili water and tiger bench on me, I still would not betray you.”

“Stop talking nonsense. In the end you still betrayed me. You traitor, the Red Army does not want you!” I was just teasing Su Rou. This kid was sometimes adorably simple, which was why I could always bully him.

“Hey, it’s not like that. You know I am not afraid of scolding or beating, but I am afraid of not getting food. My dad said if I did not confess, I would not get food for a week. He even said I would eat whatever the chickens at home eat. You know what chickens eat at my house? Vegetable leaves and bran. How could I eat that?” Su Rou said earnestly.

I did not let him off and pulled the blanket over his head while shouting, “Comrades, we must defeat the traitor...”

And just like that, Su Rou and I started messing around in the room. To be honest, Su Rou had indirectly saved me, and I was not angry at him at all. I was just bored and wanted to act like a heroic fighter defeating a traitor.

After we had played enough, both of us lay straight on the bed. From all the fooling around, I was covered in sweat, but I felt much lighter and more relaxed.

Then Su Rou spoke, “San Wa Er, I don’t want to be in the Red Army anymore.”

“Why?”

“My dad said the Red Army does not eat well and has a hard life. If you want to be something, you should be someone capable, someone who eats meat and drinks alcohol every day, lives in big houses with electric lights and telephones, and has a big courtyard. That is what counts as impressive.”

“Sounds alright. If you ever become that impressive, will you treat me to food?”

“Food? I will treat you to braised pork! I think you are more capable than me. You tricked me, I will definitely find a way to become someone like that. When I grow up, I want to earn 100 yuan, but I think I will need your help to do it.”

“Alright!”

These childish words sounded naive at the time, but looking back, it feels like fate is something truly strange.

Our conversation ended there because soon after, my mother called Su Rou to eat at our house, while I still had my porridge and pickles.

My illness eased a lot on the second day, and by the third day I was already running around and going back to school. School life was still the same, except Su Rou and I had one more task: every day after school, we followed Liu Chunyan and spat at her.

And whenever Liu Chunyan went to complain, we would get beaten again.

But who was I? I was a battle hero. The more I got beaten, the more “unshakably determined” I became in my spitting. That energetic attitude gave my parents a constant headache.

While my parents were troubled by me, they were even more troubled by someone else, my second sister. Compared to my energetic self, she had become very listless during those days.

Originally, my second sister was a quiet person, so at first my parents did not notice anything unusual. It was only later, when she could barely say a single sentence in a day and my mother felt like someone was missing from the house, that they began to pay attention.

Once they did, they found many problems. For example, my second sister had big, bright eyes, but recently her gaze often failed to focus and looked empty. Whenever someone called her, she would react in a very frightened way.

My mother also noticed that when her eyes did focus, they looked very sad, as if she was thinking about something.

Then her appetite kept getting smaller, and her complexion became paler.

After noticing all this, one night the light in my parents’ room stayed on the entire night. How did I know? Because my small room was partitioned from their main bedroom. That night, I even woke up from their voices, but they were deliberately lowered, and even if I tried to listen carefully, I could not make out anything.