Chapter 5: The Eldest Sister is Like a Mother
Chen Qiao had a total of seven yuan and fifty cents, which was considered a fortune among primary school students. At noon, he spent fifty cents to buy a bottle of ice-cold soda. After drinking the water, he chewed on the ice cubes, feeling extremely refreshed.
His pocket money was quite a bit compared to his peers. Normally, if his sister had a share, he would too, but his sister’s allowance was usually twice his own, as the family prioritized raising daughters with a sense of abundance.
His sister was indeed much more capable than he was; her academic performance was outstanding, she did more housework and farming chores than he did, and she didn’t waste money. She was about to save up for two piggy banks.
Chen Qiao often borrowed money from his sister. Typically, it was an advance; when their dad next gave out the allowances, his sister would take back the borrowed amount, receiving it in full without needing to ask.
His sister, the bank for his pocket money.
Chen Qiao carried Chen Xinyu to the entrance of a casino, which was a combination of a barbershop and a small shop. The owner was a middle-aged woman with a limp, and the sounds of gambling could be heard from the back of the shop.
“Bet high, bet low.”
There were also noisy voices, including that of his second aunt, who was Xinyu’s grandma. In a crowd of men, her voice stood out distinctly, and when one got close, they could smell a strong scent of smoke.
There were nearly as many small casinos in town as there were black internet cafés, if not more. Nowadays, casinos were rampant in the town, with people betting everything they had, including their homes and families, and there had been violent brawls and bloody events due to gambling.
As the campaigns against crime and for black market eradication progressed, along with many people going to work elsewhere, casinos began to decline, leaving only a few small mahjong tables and the elderly playing cards in leisure pavilions.
Underground lottery was also popular in the village; his second uncle enjoyed that along with a group of friends, even buying a so-called insider member magazine to study all day instead of looking for work, dreaming of getting rich overnight. But when luck finally struck and they won, they wasted it all.
Seeing Chen Qiao and Chen Xinyu, the shop owner greeted them with a smile, “Xinyu, is your uncle taking you to buy snacks again?”
“Yes,” Chen Xinyu nodded slightly.
The shop owner was quite familiar with them; his second aunt often brought Xinyu to the casino and tossed her in, letting her spend time in the shop watching television.
The shelves were filled with familiar snacks, crispy noodles with little cards, inexplicable water gun toys, and all kinds of spicy strips, costing either ten cents each or in diamond shapes.
The most expensive bubble gum was Da Da bubble gum, which had been advertised on CCTV, while the cheapest watermelon-flavored gum cost ten cents for several pieces.
The most expensive lollipop was the Alps, while a ten-cent lollipop called Zai Zai had no fame. As a child, Chen Qiao thought it was big, but now it looked rather small.
There were also popping candy and White Rabbit milk candy, among others.
Chen Xinyu reached out her small hand and deliberated for a long time before selecting a milk-flavored lollipop. Chen Qiao waved his hand and grabbed four more.
“Uncle bought too much; I only need one.”
“But I want to eat, too.”
He didn’t need to call his second aunt to cook; she would forget everything once she started gambling, leaving everything behind. If she was winning, it would be fine, but if she lost, he would get scolded. If calling her ended up causing her to lose, she would still blame him for ruining her luck.
Xinyu usually only ate what Chen Qiao’s grandma prepared, and occasionally got a meal at Chen Qiao’s home.
“Let’s eat dinner at my house tonight.”
“Okay.”
Chen Xinyu opened the lollipop pack and carefully placed the round candy in her mouth.
As they got closer to home, the front gate wasn’t equipped with an iron door but was surrounded by a one-meter-high wooden fence to keep the neighborhood’s free-range chickens and ducks from entering and making a mess.
“Why isn’t Uncle eating a lollipop?”
“How can I eat while holding you?”
“Then here, you can have mine, ah…”
Chen Xinyu directly shoved the lollipop into Chen Qiao’s mouth.
“Is it good, Uncle?”
“Yes, it’s very good.”
It wasn’t because it had been eaten; in fact, it was sweeter than he had expected. While enjoying the candy, Chen Qiao felt even thirstier.
“I find it very good, but it costs money.”
Chen Xinyu, who had just been happily smiling, suddenly frowned and grimaced.
“Sigh…”
Chen Qiao stuffed the lollipop back into Chen Xinyu’s mouth, pinched her cheek, and said, “Smile more; that expression looks ugly.”
Even such a small child couldn’t escape the topic of money; she should be carefree. Children from poor families grew up too fast. His second uncle and second aunt had often quarreled, blaming each other’s issues. His cousin, Chen Huai, worked outside and occasionally sent back some money, but it always ended up with his second uncle and second aunt. It certainly didn’t help Chen Xinyu at all.
His dad had considered that if they couldn’t support them and didn’t want to, they could let their family take care of her, but his second uncle valued face, and his dad even argued with his second uncle, causing Xinyu to cry. The matter ended up unresolved.
Chen Qiao felt his arms growing sore from carrying Xinyu for too long, and he had no choice but to set her down, holding her small hand as he pushed open the wooden door and stepped inside.
It was still light outside, but the indoor lighting was good; it was dark in the room. The tall trees turned on the light switch, illuminating the dim yellow light in the room dimly lit by easily flammable tungsten bulbs.
The dining table was a common eight immortals table, and the walls were plastered with certificates, mostly belonging to his sister, each year from her kindergarten until now in her second year of junior high school. Many of the older awards had turned yellow and were weathered. Chen Qiao only had last year’s Excellent Young Pioneer award, which he considered a stroke of luck, and he was no match for those more excellent than he, like Wu Xinyu who had won the Three Good Student award and the class monitor who was an excellent class officer.
The kitchen had a wood-burning stove and a coal stove, using honeycomb coal. There weren’t many electrical appliances; the most prominent was a double-door Haier refrigerator, purchased as part of this year’s rural appliance subsidy program.
The house didn’t have a water heater, so in winter, they relied on the water tank next to the coal stove to take showers, boiling water with a kettle.
When Chen Qiao was younger, he used to bathe with his sister, sitting in a large red basin. One, to save water, and two, because their mom was very busy before he learned to bathe on his own. His sister would help scrub his dirt away quite vigorously, almost rubbing his skin raw.
Thinking back, it felt like just yesterday. The last time they bathed together was probably last winter. Chen Qiao felt very shy then, cognizant of the differences between boys and girls, wanting to avoid any awkwardness, while his sister did not think much of it and continued as before.
His sister was already in junior high and starting to develop; it was bothersome—why were those images of her so vivid?
Chen Qiao shook his head vigorously, trying to discard all distracting thoughts, leaving Chen Xinyu looking up at her uncle in bewilderment.
Chen Qiao picked up the kettle and poured a bowl of cool, boiled water, gulping it down in one go, spilling a little water, soaking his chin while quenching his thirst, his mind gradually calming down.
Since Chen Qiao got home earlier from school, he was in charge of washing the rice and cooking. When his sister returned, he would then prepare dishes. They would eat first, and when their mom came home from work, his sister would almost have to leave for night classes. As for his dad, he came and went as he pleased, though his culinary skills were actually the best in the family.
The rice cooker was an antique mechanical type that only had a signal for cooking and an indicator for water, filling it to just above the first knuckle of his index finger.
In the vegetable basket, there were water spinach, cucumbers, and green beans, and the refrigerator had a block of lean meat and a piece of pork belly.
The vegetable cabinet contained leftovers from lunch: stir-fried pickled vegetables with fatty meat, leftover water spinach, and a yellow enamel basin filled with lard, a nationally uniform model.
Chen Qiao cleaned and prepared the ingredients, contemplating whether to cook as before, or rather as in the future, waiting for his sister to return.
After all, Chen Qiao had lived alone for a while, choosing to cook for himself to save money rather than eat takeout. After becoming a full-time streamer and cohabiting with his sister, he mostly cooked to ensure she would have hot meals ready after her shifts.
But he thought better of it; it would be too sudden. His sister was smart, so she would certainly notice something was off. It wasn’t that Chen Qiao couldn’t share the secret of his rebirth with his sister.
If he couldn’t even trust his sister, then living another life wouldn’t be meaningful. Yet, if he told her about his rebirth now, she would probably think he had read too many online novels and that he was not the brother she knew, possibly reporting to their mom about him.
The countryside was still very superstitious; even if their mom was a doctor, it wouldn’t fully mitigate that. When children got sick or were frightened, they could develop high fevers, and if going to the hospital didn’t bring improvement, they would resort to divination and burning paper offerings. Sometimes it truly seemed effective; it could be due to the medicine or for reasons that couldn’t be easily explained.
After all, if he could be reborn, then there were too many things that couldn’t be explained by logical reasoning.
Chen Qiao planned to subtly influence his sister over time, revealing everything when the moment was right.
“Chen Qiao, is the rice cooked? Xinyu’s here too.”
The first thing Chen Feifei did upon returning home was to ask this.
“Auntie, hello.”
“Sister, you’re back!”
Chen Qiao saw his sister, Chen Feifei, in her junior high school uniform. Her delicate, fair face was fresh and elegant, her skin glowing under the lights, tied back in a simple and common ponytail.
His sister was still young and innocent; in Chen Qiao’s eyes, she could even still be considered a child.
But Chen Qiao couldn’t help himself and rushed toward his sister, hugging her, rubbing his face against her chest like a young child seeking affection, even though he was a head shorter than her; it was actually his sister hugging him.
An eldest sister is like a mother; during the most challenging times at home, coupled with the pressures of school, Chen Qiao had sometimes thought of sacrificing himself to lessen her burden.
“If you’re gone, what’s the point of me living? Even for my sake, you need to live well, understand?”
That’s what encouraged Chen Qiao to carry on. He didn’t know how he and Xinyu were in that other world. Just thinking about leaving his sister alone made him hold her tighter, feeling a surge of emotion as if he might cry.
“What’s wrong? Were you bullied at school? Did some girl pick on you?” Chen Feifei asked, patting Chen Qiao’s back. Though he was short, he did have Xinyu’s rough cousin backing him up; boys who liked to bully others wouldn’t dare touch him. Instead, he was poked with a pen by girls behind him, making his uniform dirty, leading to a seat change by the teacher, a source of lifelong shame for Chen Qiao.
“No, I just suddenly wanted to hug you.”
Chen Qiao blushed a bit and rubbed his nose, stepping back a half-step. His face had just brushed against his sister’s chest, and even through the thin summer uniform and her bra, he still felt the touch and noticed a faint yet familiar scent of youthful fragrance, delicate like orchids and musk.
