Chapter 7: A Little Sister
“Mom, I’ll take Xinyu back to the old home first so Grandma won’t be able to find her.”
“Mm, check if Grandma has cooked. If not, tell her to come out for dinner; I’ll prepare an extra dish or two.”
The old home is not far from Chen Qiao’s house; it takes about two or three minutes to walk, just across a road.
“Remember to look left and right before crossing the street.”
Chen Qiao repeatedly reminds Chen Xinyu, almost every time they cross a road.
“I know, Uncle, you’re so annoying.”
“I’m doing this for your own good.”
Grandma is already outside the old home, calling Xinyu’s name in the local dialect, standing by the field.
Although Grandma has a very serious preference for boys over girls, she is relatively fond of Xinyu, the only great-granddaughter. After all, her beloved grandsons are not home. Once a great-grandchild is born, Xinyu will quickly lose her favor. However, Chen Qiao knows that all of his cousins’ firstborns have been daughters.
“Grandma.” Chen Xinyu loosens Chen Qiao’s hand and rushes into Grandma’s embrace.
“Eh…”
“Grandma.”
Chen Qiao invites Grandma to his house for dinner, but she politely declines.
“Uncle…” Chen Xinyu turns back to wave goodbye to Chen Qiao. Seemingly realizing something, she changes her words, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Brother.”
“Mm, see you tomorrow.”
Although Chen Qiao’s family often invites Chen Xinyu to their home for meals and insists she doesn’t need to be formal, Xinyu always worries about being a burden to them and never takes the initiative to come, while it is Chen Qiao who happens to encounter her on the way home from school and takes her back.
It seems that in the future, he needs to bring Xinyu home to eat more often.
When Chen Qiao gets home, his mom, who is cooking, asks, “What did Grandma say?”
“She’s not coming out to eat; she cooked for herself.”
“I knew it.”
Chen Qiao’s dad is the fourth child, the youngest, and the least favored by Grandma, so he worked hard to make money and buy land to build his own house.
Chen Qiao hears the clanging of metal and the roaring of an engine nearby, and knowing such a commotion, he understands that his dad has returned.
Chen Qiao runs outside to greet his dad.
A blue dump truck stops in front of their house. Chen Feng jumps out of the car. He is still quite thin but looks strong now, has a lot of hair, and not that much gray hair; he has only gotten chubby after experiencing imprisonment.
Chen Qiao’s mom is named Chen Lili. They share the same surname, and even their ancestral hall is the same. They are distantly related, with the Chen surname being the largest in the village, having even two ancestral halls. They can at least be considered childhood friends. In the past, Chen Feng was somewhat of a petty bourgeois, and their family ran a rice noodle factory. During elementary school, he would spend money getting classmates to help with homework, and their family had a Dandy bicycle and a black-and-white Panda TV.
However, after Grandpa passed away early, Dad had to drop out in the third grade and went to collect coal and chop firewood. The rice noodle factory also went bankrupt, and it was only when he learned to drive a tractor that his life began to turn around.
The truck is still quite new, having been replaced with a new model at the beginning of the year. The truck bed has been raised and welded to carry more goods, but it has not made much money yet as it has to be sold cheap due to Dad’s situation; after all, it is considered an accident vehicle.
Chen Feng pulls the water pipe from the front to fill the truck with water, prepping for an early morning drive tomorrow, as the tank gulps down water.
“Have you eaten?” Chen Feng asks, smelling of engine oil.
“I ate with my sister and Xinyu. Dad, go eat first. Mom’s waiting for you. I’ll go upstairs to help you with the clothes and then take a shower.”
The clothes are all dried on the rooftop of the second floor. Usually, Chen Qiao is asked to run errands; not only his parents ask him to bring in the clothes, but also his sister. After all, he stays at home all the time, being closest to the rooftop.
The rooftop has a wooden shed covered with a tarp, containing various beams and wood left from the house construction. Chen Qiao has even put old rags inside to make a secret base; as a child, if he quarreled with his parents, he would hide here waiting for his sister to find him.
There are several pots with succulents that his sister takes care of, as well as cacti and prickly pears.
Chen Qiao also takes the opportunity to gather clean clothes for the whole family. When he picks up his sister’s bra, he can only sigh how small it is now, although it probably won’t grow much bigger.
Chen Qiao neatly folds and separates everyone’s clothes. Meanwhile, Dad is complaining to Mom about various unfair treatment he received while transporting dirt at the construction site today. For example, when it was his turn to carry dirt, the excavator loaded his truck bed heavily, while the vehicles with connections barely filled their beds at all and had it easy.
The construction site pays by load sometimes, and sometimes it’s a daily flat rate. Usually, carrying various building materials is by load.
Many people also like to buy materials on credit, so drivers have to advance the cost of materials. Dad, on the other hand, needs to build good relations with the bosses of the brick and cement factories to be able to buy on credit, which allows him to earn more, especially when the end of the year rolls around, busy with mutual debt collections.
Chen Qiao hesitantly says, “Dad, I have something I want to ask you.”
Chen Qiao has almost never asked his dad for pocket money himself; it’s usually given to him since he can always ask his sister for it when he runs out.
For expenses like school fees, he finds it difficult to bring up himself, often telling his sister first, then having her discuss it with their parents. It is very rare for him to take the initiative to ask for anything, and now as an adult, it feels even stranger to act spoiled with his parents.
“What is it? You run out of pocket money?” Chen Feng asks in surprise.
“No, I want you and Mom to have a little sister for me.”
“Why bring this up again?” Chen Lili frowns and asks.
“A lot of my classmates’ families are preparing to have little sisters!”
That part is true; Chen Qiao isn’t just making things up.
“Are you comparing even this?”
“Is it just okay for you and Mom to compare me with my sister and other classmates, but I can’t compare you with other parents?” Chen Qiao retorts.
“Those families only have one son or daughter. Now that the kids have grown up, the policy has eased a bit. With money, they just pay the fines,” Chen Lili explains.
“I just want the family to be livelier. Think about it: if big sister goes to a high school in the city in the future, and Mom goes to work, and Dad drives, I’d be the only one at home, which would be so boring. While I’m still here, I can help take care of the little sister. By the time I go to high school too, there will only be you two left at home. It would be lonely; having a little sister around would be nice.”
“Isn’t there still Xinyu? When you actually have a little sister, you’ll be tired of her and find her noisy, always not at home, even saying you want to help take care of her,” Chen Lili rolls her eyes at Chen Qiao.
“Xinyu is different; she can’t really stay with you like a daughter, and Second Uncle and Second Aunt would definitely have opinions.”
Chen Feng snorts displeasedly, disapproving of Second Uncle and Second Aunt’s behavior, but as their younger brother, he can’t criticize them, nor can he change them. Interfering would only cause trouble, and since the families have split, everyone leads their own lives. It’s just sad for that little girl, Xinyu, caught in such a family.
“Having one born by parents is different. As long as you and Mom agree to have a little sister for me, can I promise to rank first in my class in the next exam?”
Chen Qiao sets a military order.
“Let’s talk about it when you actually rank first in your class. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a sister.”
“Agreed; no lying. I’m going to study now.”
Chen Qiao doesn’t believe it will be that easy to persuade his parents. He just wants to plant a seed in their hearts. His parents are still in their prime, so who knows what might happen if things take an unexpected turn.
Later, he will ask his sister to help persuade their parents; she is far more persuasive than he is.
Apart from his selfish desire for a sister, Chen Qiao really can’t think of another way to free his mom up. Changing jobs is unlikely; she would only take on busier positions with higher pay. Even if Chen Qiao has made a lot of money due to the information gap of being reborn, mom is likely to work until retirement, earning money for herself and Dad’s pension, and not wanting to trouble the children.
Moreover, it’s not like they can’t have more than one sister; having two wouldn’t be impossible. Mom is just stuck on having another daughter.
Chen Qiao, of course, doesn’t obediently go upstairs to study; instead, he heads out to the black internet cafe, where he begins to plan how to make some pocket money. After all, many problems boil down to money—it’s a sickness of poverty.
Even if Dad hadn’t avoided that car accident, as long as they could afford to pay enough money, Mom wouldn’t be overworked because of it, and Dad’s temperament wouldn’t change drastically.
Of course, Chen Qiao still wants to do his best to prevent this tragedy from happening. It’s not that he has a kind heart or any savior complex.
He does not think he has the ability to save everyone; that would be overly arrogant. He is not Superman; he is just a little commoner who wants to be a beast, mainly feeling that the situation is unlucky and entails human lives.
After the accident, the entire family seems to be entangled in bad luck, with misfortunes coming one after another.
