Chapter 3 – Dilapidated Home
Yan Shuqin’s face filled with anger as she grabbed Yan Xiaosi’s hand. “Let’s go settle the score with those three!”
Yan Xiaosi yelled for her to stop. “Sister, look closely. Am I worse off than the Chen brothers?”
Yan Shuqin finally noticed the three paralyzed on the weir, faces pale and bodies motionless. Chen Sanhe bawled piteously, snot and tears covering his face.
She was stunned. Could her kind, peaceable Xiaosi have done this? Impossible.
“Xiaosi, what happened to them?”
Of course, Xiaosi wouldn’t reveal she had struck their acupoints with rocks. “Don’t villagers say I’m cursed? Maybe they caught my bad energy. Sister, I’m starving. Let’s go home.”
Yan Shuqin let go of her anger. Holding Xiaosi’s hand, they headed back to the village.
“Xiaosi, don’t talk about yourself that way. You’re not cursed,” she chided.
“Yes sister,” Xiaosi answered, not caring as long as she got food soon. She hoped for steaming rice and roasted pork to fill her growling stomach.
Outside the dilapidated temple, their mother anxiously waited with Shuxue and Shuyun. Seeing Shuqin bring Xiaosi, they relaxed.
“Xiaosi must have been hungry and went fishing,” Shuqin explained, shielding Xiaosi from their mother’s anger.
Xiaosi was so famished she felt front and back glued together, drained of energy to walk. She leaned on Shuqin’s shoulder. It was wonderful to have an elder sister’s care.
It’s a wonderful feeling to have the care of an older sister.
“Mom, sisters, I’m home,” she said weakly.
“Xiaosi, why is your face bruised?”
“Did someone hit you?
They fretted over her swollen cheek and asked who had hurt her so cruelly.
“It looks like this spot is swollen. Does it hurt?”
“Which bastard did this? So cruel.”
Despite her hunger, Xiaosi felt the warmth of family care.
Their mother cared yet sternly asked, “Who were you fighting with?”
Yan Shuqin looked at their mother’s face and quickly explained, “Mom, it’s not Xiaosi’s fault. The three Chen brothers were bullying Xiaosi.”
Seeing the bruise, their mother felt guilty for questioning. This was because of her inability to provide a better life, especially for Xiaosi.
“Does it hurt? Let’s go in, I’ll apply cold water,” she said.
Xiaosi had endured far worse in the 183rd Brigade. “It doesn’t hurt, mom.”
“Still, the cold will help,” their mother insisted.
Yan Shuxue grabbed an old bucket for water while Shuqin, Shuyun and Xiaosi followed their mother inside.
The dilapidated temple’s structure was already decrepit enough but when Yan Xiaosi walked inside, she found that it was even worse.
After Yan Bowen died, the elders of the Yan family were furious and evicted them. Since they had nowhere else to go, they cleaned up this dilapidated straw temple and settled in it as a home.
