111. 111 will never come back.
Once Xiaohu calmed down, Er Ya led him further away. On both sides of the road were lush green wheat seedlings, just in time to sprout ears, but no one was working in the fields. She sat down on the ground, and Xiaohu, who was still standing, had to look up at her. "You've grown taller. You'll definitely be very tall in the future."
He never lacked milk when he was little, and he never lacked food when he learned to eat. He didn't have to do any housework. After eating, drinking, and sleeping, he would run outside to play. He was also never sick as a child, so it was no surprise that he grew up to be tall.
"Sister, take me with you. I want to be with you. I don't want to stay at home, and I don't want to go to school." Xiao Hu stubbornly repeated these words many times along the way.
"Why don't you want to go to school? If you don't go to school, how will you earn money when you grow up? I can support you when you're young, but once I get married, I won't be able to support you anymore."
Er Ya pulled him down to sit, not wanting to look up at him in the sun.
Facing his second sister, Xiao Hu made no attempt to hide anything. He plucked a handful of grass from the ground and rubbed it in his palm, staring at the juice that was squeezed out. He said with a mixture of shame and resentment, as if he were tattlering, "At school, they ignore me and even scold me. They say Dad went to jail and that I'm a bad kid who steals things. If someone in my class loses something, they all say I stole it. The teacher doesn't care. Even when I tell him, he doesn't believe me. Some people even throw my schoolbag at me."
Er Ya pursed her lips, clenched her teeth, vigorously rubbed her little brother's hair, stared into his eyes and said, "You're not a bad kid, it's the people who bullied you who are blind. Next time someone insults you, just say that you were raised by your sister, that your sister is a college student, and that you will be a college student in the future."
These words did not comfort him. From what she said, she still did not intend to take him away and wanted him to stay at home to study.
"Why are you crying again? When you were two, I told you you wouldn't cry when you grew up, but now you're seven and you've become a crybaby." Er Ya wiped his face with her sleeve. The cuts from the thatch had scabbed over, and the tears made them swell up again.
“You still won’t take me with you,” he shouted.
Er Ya remained silent, reaching for his hand, only to have it pulled away. She tried again, but this time he didn't shake her off. "My older sister is an adult, and her household registration isn't here anymore. As long as she's alive, she can go wherever she wants. You're a child, your guardians are your parents, and your household registration is here. If I take you away like my older sister, even though I'm your biological sister, if Mom calls the police, I'll be breaking the law—it'll be child abduction. I won't be able to go to university. If I'm expelled, I'll have to come back, and my older sister will have to come back too. In less than a year, Mom will marry us both off, and you'll still be all alone at home. We won't be able to take you away then. Is that what you want?"
“But I want to be with you. I don’t want to stay home alone.” He had always been inseparable from his second sister since he was a child, and often slept with her. Later, when his eldest sister came back, his second sister assigned him the task of looking after her. He then had another person to accompany him. His second sister went to school, but his eldest sister stayed home with him. Now that his eldest sister has also left, he feels abandoned.
“I called the police to arrest my father and Erbao,” she said.
Little Tiger nodded with teary eyes, "I know, Poison Spider scolds you at home every day."
"What is a poisonous spider?" The person who cursed was most likely her mother, but the one Xiaohu called a poisonous spider was more likely Dabao.
"Da Bao's Mom".
Er Ya laughed. This time, she didn't have to ask him if he was upset with her, just like she had asked her older sister.
“Give me a year, and you can stay at home for another year. I don’t have much money left. I’ll go back to school and work hard to earn money, then buy a small house in the village, and then come back to talk to Poison Spider about bringing you to my place to study, okay?” she asked gently.
Xiao Hu pursed his lips and remained silent. He didn't want to go to school; nobody liked him.
“You write me a letter every three days, and I write you a letter too,” she added.
"Is this the only way?" he asked, his voice trembling with tears.
“I’ll take you to school this afternoon. I’ll go find your teacher and stand up for you in your class. If anyone insults you, you can insult them back. My brother isn’t a bad kid, nor is he a crybaby. If he’s bullied, he’ll insult them back; if he’s hit, he’ll hit them back. I heard from your older sister that you even fought with a poisonous spider at home. You dared to fight her, so why are you afraid of little kids?” Er Ya encouraged him.
"I'm not afraid."
After a protracted struggle, Xiao Hu finally accepted leaving with his sister a year later. He was already over seven years old, and he understood everything his sister said. He had cried so hard before because he had been kept in the dark and thought his sister didn't like him and was going to abandon him. He had always believed that he and his sister were on the same side, but he never expected to be abandoned.
Just thinking about it makes him want to cry again.
"You have to tell me if anything happens in the future, you can't hide it from me." He stopped her, and only after she nodded did he take her hand and continue walking.
The two walked to the bushes where he had been standing, retrieved his schoolbag, and continued walking towards the town.
"Didn't I buy you a new schoolbag? Why are you using my old one?" Er Ya asked, carrying her schoolbag.
"My new schoolbag was slashed when I took it to school, and the strap was torn off."
Er Ya took a deep breath. When she went to school, her clothes were tattered and ragged. In winter, her hands would ooze pus and blood, which was disgusting. Even during the years when she brought Xiao Hu to school, some classmates complained that Xiao Hu was immature, talked nonsense, and urinated in a bothersome way. They would just roll their eyes at her. No one ever scolded her or kicked Xiao Hu out of the classroom. Now that she thinks about it, it was probably because Xiao Yuan was safe and sound with her.
She took Xiaohu to the state-run restaurant in town to fill their stomachs and then quickly left. Her sister had already run away, and there was no one at home to cook. She was afraid of running into poisonous spiders that came out to eat.
The siblings went to the old house where Xiaohu had been waiting every day. When the school started to get lively, she took Xiaohu's hand and headed to the school.
"Your palms are sweaty, are you scared?" She looked down at him.
"It's too hot, I'm so hot." He stubbornly refused to admit it, but his legs were actually trembling a little. He had been bullied at school since his father's verdict came out, which was less than a month ago, but it felt like a year. When he woke up, his classmates looked at him differently. Those who used to play sandbag with him would now spit on him whenever they saw him.
He looked up and saw his second sister walking with her head held high. He also tentatively raised his head and looked back at the person who was staring at him.
My second sister wasn't lying; he had grown taller and could now see the tops of other people's heads.
"Which class are you in? Lead me in." Er Ya grabbed his arm and made him walk in front of her.
"This is it."
It was probably close to class time, and everyone in the class had arrived. As soon as they saw her walk in, they immediately fell silent, like chickens being strangled.
"Classmates, I'm Zhang Xiaohu's second older sister. My brother told me you all called him a bad kid and even falsely accused him of stealing your things." Noticing Xiaohu's hands were trembling, she put her arm around his neck and let him lean against her. Her eyes swept over each child, and seeing that they dared not look at her, she snorted and asked, "What did he steal from you? Come on, tell us all. When did you lose your things? Where did you lose them? Does anyone know you brought those things to school? Was my brother there when they were stolen?"
She slammed her ruler on the table and raised her voice, asking, "Who wants to speak first?"
Silence fell. Er Ya glanced at the few people who looked obviously guilty, and pointed the ruler in that direction. "Could it be a case of the thief crying 'stop thief'? They're the thieves themselves, so they're trying to pin the blame on Zhang Xiaohu. I'm telling you, everyone knows who they are. They're young, but they're cunning as thieves. They even called Zhang Xiaohu a bad kid. I think some of them are rotten to the core. They stole needles when they were young, and now they're stealing gold. Who knows, maybe one of them will be in jail in ten years."
"This is the first time Xiaohu has told me this. If it happens again, I'll have my older brother wait for you on the way home from school and show you what a bad kid is like." She patted Xiaohu after saying this. "Go sit down. If anyone bullies you again, tell your older brother. Besides, Dad loves you the most and can't stand seeing you being bullied. He's been to jail and isn't afraid of anything. If you get bullied, write to him and write down who bullied you. When he gets out, he'll get revenge for you. If he kills someone, he can just go back to jail. Anyway, he knows people in prison and has friends to look after him."
She made up the story without batting an eye, revealing that her father was mainly to prevent unreasonable adults from beating Xiaohu. He said that those who commit crimes and go to jail are all bad people, and everyone is afraid of those who have been released from prison. He also said that anyone who dares to beat a child just because they are tall and strong should think twice, because they are afraid of being retaliated against by someone who has been to prison. It is true that Xiaohu is the youngest son, and the youngest son is always spoiled.
Xiao Hu stared at his sister in shock, then returned to his seat in a daze. He glanced at the chubby boy who liked to bully him the most in the class, and saw that the boy lowered his head and dared not look at him. He then turned his head back to look at his second sister who was still talking. He never expected that the boy who was bullied because of his father who was in prison could now use his father's imprisonment to intimidate people.
Just then, the school bell rang. A young man wearing glasses walked to the classroom door, looked at the person on the podium, then stepped back to look at him again, and asked, "Who are you?"
Er Ya put down the ruler and walked out, saying politely, "Hello teacher, I am Zhang Xiaohu's second sister, Zhang Baozhi. You should have heard of me. I'm the one who called the police and got my dad and my second brother arrested and imprisoned."
"Um, what brings you to the school? University isn't on break yet, is it?"
“No, I’m here for my brother. Because of my dad’s situation, he’s been ostracized and slandered by his classmates at school, and he doesn’t want to go to school anymore. He’s afraid of the teachers and classmates.” Er Ya stared at the man and continued, “I hope you can say something for Zhang Xiaohu when he’s being bullied, help him out, and let him continue his studies. You know Zhang Xiaohu, teacher. Before my dad got into trouble, he never caused any trouble for the teachers or fought with his classmates. It’s impossible for him to suddenly change his personality just because my dad went to jail. Even bad bamboo can produce good shoots. With me, his college student sister, watching over him, Xiaohu will never grow up to be a criminal leader. I buy him his schoolbag, pencils, erasers, and notebooks. He would never steal from anyone.”
The man felt a little embarrassed. It was already a favor that Sister Xiaohu hadn't directly pointed her finger at him and scolded him. He nodded and promised, "I'll be careful."
"Then I won't disturb your class any longer, teacher. Sorry for bothering you." Er Ya didn't say goodbye to Xiao Hu again. She walked straight out of the school and didn't linger outside. She went straight into an alley, leaned against a wall, and waited for her heartbeat to calm down before heading to the post office.
This was the first time she had spoken so much in front of so many people and handled a matter independently without anyone offering advice. It reminded her of ten years ago when Aunt Su had supported her at her home by both deceiving and intimidating her. Now, she could also support Xiao Hu, who was being bullied and dared not utter a sound, by both deceiving and intimidating him.
Time is a wonderful thing.
Er Ya went to the post office and bought a stack of envelopes and stamps. She borrowed a pen from someone at the post office to fill out an envelope, then gathered them together and went back to school.
She glanced inside during the break and called to Xiaohu, who was sitting in a daze, "Here, take this envelope and stamps. Remember to write to me and Dad. I've written the address on the envelope. Fill it out according to the format and send it to the post office. Seal it with flour paste."
While he was taking over, Er Ya whispered, "Hide my address well, don't let Mom find out. From now on, I'll send my letters to your school, not home."
"Okay, I know. I thought you had left."
"I have to go now. If I stay any longer, I'm afraid I'll be stopped by the poisonous spiders." She pinched Xiao Hu's cheek and said, "I'm leaving now. I'll come back to see you when you have a holiday. Study hard. It's only a year left."
Xiao Hu pouted, forcing back his tears, and said, "Then you should leave quickly. You must come back to pick me up, otherwise I... I will never talk to you again."
"Know."
She straightened up and walked out. The children who had been frightened by her earlier didn't dare to speak loudly. When Xiao Hu came in, their eyes were all fixed on the stack of envelopes in his hand. Even after he sat down, they didn't hear the usual "bad boy" or "thief" calls, and the chair legs weren't broken.
The train was tomorrow morning. Er Ya was afraid that her mother and Da Bao would stop her, so she took a bus to the county and then took another bus to the province overnight. She waited outside the train station for five hours before finally getting on the train, and she also put all the family matters out of her mind.
In the evening, Du Xiaojuan from the town overheard people discussing the school. Someone even grabbed her and said sarcastically, "Your daughter is so arrogant, daring to cause trouble at the school and even threatening people with your husband who's in jail. People are ashamed of what she's doing, but she's showing off. No wonder she's a college student who called the police to arrest her father."
She was completely confused, and when she asked again, no one would tell her. So she had to go back and ask Xiaohu. Xiaohu had just gotten home and was washing the dirt off his fingernails in a basin of water. When the poisonous spider asked him a question, he said, "My second sister came back. She saw me and then left." He wouldn't say anything more.
"You mute brat!" Du Xiaojuan was so angry that she kicked over the water basin. Xiao Hu didn't care. He took out a book from his schoolbag, but thinking about what she would find out later, he stuffed the book back into his schoolbag and put the schoolbag back in the room, not giving her a chance to tear the book.
"Where's Da Ya? Where the hell has she gone? She didn't cook lunch, and she's not cooking dinner either?" She looked at her youngest son and asked, "Where's the person who's always around you?"
Xiao Hu thought for a moment. He would still be relying on her for food for the next year, and he had promised his second sister that he would study hard. So he whispered, "My eldest sister left with my second sister."
"What? She left? Where could that idiot go?"
"She took the train and left. I don't know where she went. Maybe my second sister found her a good man and got married."
Du Xiaojuan stared at him coldly, frowning as she asked, "When did you leave?"
"They left after my first class in the afternoon," Xiaohu answered truthfully.
It was getting dark, and the furthest she had gone was to the county hospital, but she didn't have a car. She didn't know where Da Bao was, hiding in some woman's bed, so where could she go to look for him? She could only give up in frustration.
For dinner, she hastily cooked a bowl of noodles, without Xiaohu's. As she slurped, she said, "Little brat, weren't you so close to those two? How come you were left out? Tsk tsk, are you stupid? I was just trying to coax you with nice words. You even hit me for that silly older sister. I think you've gone mad from being so full. Go hungry for a meal to wake up. Next time Er Ya comes back, call me, or you can trick her into coming back."
"Then you have to feed me."
"Eat shit, you won't learn your lesson until you starve."
This was the first time Xiaohu had ever gone hungry, but fortunately, he ate a rich and oily meal at noon. He washed his feet, went to bed, and fell asleep. Once he was asleep, he wasn't hungry anymore.
The next day, Du Xiaojuan went to the police station and said that her eldest daughter had been kidnapped by her second daughter. The police asked her about her household registration and whether she knew where the girl had gone.
"Household registration? It seems her household registration is still in the countryside. She came back after her divorce, and her household registration isn't at my house. She should have gone to the Northeast, but I don't know the exact location. You can ask Su Yu; she's definitely involved in this." Du Xiaojuan was full of resentment. Su Yu must know about this; otherwise, how could Er Ya have been so bold?
After Du Xiaojuan left, the old policeman stopped the young man from sending a telegram. "Forget it. A lot of people are going to the city now. The city is also investigating. If they are caught, they will be sent back. That woman knew nothing when asked. She said she went to the Northeast. If she went to the Northwest or the South, who would know?"
"So we're just going to ignore it?"
"Why not? Give her a good beating when she's deported."
"That's fine too." He finally understood what the old man meant; he was going to let the runaway girl go.
As time passed, the collapsed old house became where Xiao Hu wrote and read letters. He hid the envelopes and stamps there and never took them back. So when he found that the small house where he slept had been ransacked, he didn't panic and just pretended not to know.
At first, his classmates wouldn't talk to him. But after a while, some people started to provoke him. Someone spat on his bench, and others started laughing at him. The one who led the way was that chubby boy.
That day, he saw the chubby boy sneak into the classroom, so he waited a while and followed him in. During break time, everyone was outside, so he rushed in and pinned the chubby boy, who had broken his chair leg, to the ground, beating him mercilessly. When someone pulled him up, he continued to kick him, yelling, "You little bastard, if you dare break my chair leg again, I'll beat you up again! Even if I get beaten to death, I'll take half your life. The other half will come back for me when my dad gets out of prison!" He threatened with a ferocious expression, scaring the chubby boy into tears.
After being called in for a talk with the teacher, Little Fatty's mother came to his house that evening and pressed his head down, demanding that he apologize.
“I’m not apologizing to that bastard. He cursed at me, spat on my chair, and broke the leg of my chair so I fell to the ground. I beat him up, which is too lenient.” He looked around and, seeing that Da Bao wasn’t home, arrogantly threatened, “If he messes with me again, I’ll have my older brother sell him by the legs.”
"You brat, what nonsense are you talking about? Girl, kids don't know any better. I'll beat him up right now." Du Xiaojuan smiled apologetically at the other girl, but she vented all her anger on Xiaohu, pinning him to the ground and beating him until his pants were pulled down.
The chubby boy's mother was satisfied and pointed out, "This child needs to be beaten hard, otherwise he'll be a prison kid, and then you'll have a family tradition of going to jail."
After everyone left, Du Xiaojuan pinched Xiaohu and yelled irritably, "If you cause any more trouble, you're not going to school anymore. Come back and cook and do the laundry." Da Ya was gone, and Da Bao came back either complaining of being hungry or asking for money. Everyone left behind a pile of dirty clothes, and all the work fell on her shoulders. Her cooking was either burnt or too salty; she had never eaten such terrible food in her life, and she couldn't afford to eat at restaurants every day.
She was so annoyed. No one wanted her for odd jobs. She was spending money every day, but she didn't have much money. Her two children had never earned any money. They always got money from home to eat out, socialize, play cards, and save face. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so determined to sell Er Ya's college admission notice.
"Okay." Xiao Hu tugged at his pants and got up. After today's beating, he figured the little fat boy would be quiet from now on. Just as he expected, the little fat boy must have been told off by his mother, because he didn't cause any more trouble.
His campus life settled down, but he also developed the habit of looking at the bench legs whenever he sat down.
"Mom, who is it?" Xiao Yuan pushed open the door and frowned as she looked at the man who came out of the house with his hat pulled low.
“These are relatives from my family, you don’t know them.” Du Xiaojuan turned her back to the door, covered her clothes, and went into the bedroom, saying, “Don’t bother me, cook for yourself if you’re hungry.”
Xiao Hu went out the door and looked around; the man was no longer in the alley. But half a month later, he saw the man again at home. This time, he stayed for dinner, and Poison Spider even went to a restaurant and bought two meat dishes.
“Call me Uncle, we’re all relatives,” Du Xiaojuan said with a smile.
"Where's my older brother? When is he coming back?" Xiao Hu interrupted. He didn't like this guy because he seemed sinister.
When her eldest son was mentioned, Du Xiaojuan became dejected. She glanced at the man, mumbled something, and went into the kitchen. Xiao Hu looked around and then prepared to go into the bedroom as well.
“I’ve heard of you, when you were little,” the man said.
"Oh, I haven't heard of you," Xiao Hu replied, turning to walk towards the kitchen, and continued, "Has my older brother been back these past few days?"
"No, I don't know when he'll be back." Du Xiaojuan looked at her youngest son. The younger one was shrewd, while the older one was reckless. She wasn't a widow; bringing a man back to live with her would be considered morally questionable. She was even more afraid that her eldest son would be instigated by others and come back shouting for violence. She asked, "Is your second sister still in contact with you? Is your eldest sister also being cared for?"
Even the correspondence couldn't be kept from her. Xiao Hu, fiddling with the cutting board, said half-truthfully, "I'm in contact with my second sister. I haven't asked my eldest sister, but she doesn't contact me, and I don't associate with her either."
Du Xiaojuan scoffed. Who are you trying to fool? At the same time, she made up her mind: since you're not on my side, I won't care about you anymore. She glanced at the youngest son. She had never hit or scolded him in all his years of raising him, feeding and caring for him well, but she had raised a heartless ingrate who wouldn't even acknowledge his mother, listening to Da Ya and Er Ya.
The next day, she went to the police station to see her man, and after leaving the police station, she took another man's arm. That afternoon, Xiaohu came home from school and waited for his mother until night but she never came back.
He waited another day, completely bewildered, but still no one returned. He didn't know where Da Bao had gone either. With no other option, he went to the police station to report that his mother and brother were missing.
The police searched for three days and found Da Bao helping the widow in the fields in Dawa Village. As for Du Xiao Juan, they couldn't find her, whether she was dead or alive. The last place they saw her was at the police station. When they asked Er Bao's father, he said that the woman had come to get a divorce that day.
"Your mother must have run away with someone, no, she remarried. As for where she married, we'll have to wait until she's figured things out before we can contact you again," the policeman said dejectedly. What's going on with this family? More than half a year ago, they reported that their second daughter was missing. Then the husband and second son went to jail. Then the wife reported that her eldest daughter was missing. Now the youngest son is reporting that he's looking for his mother and brother.
Is the house infested with thorns and uninhabitable? Oh, and the house next door is the same—empty, locked up, and hardly anyone is seen there throughout the year.
This is weird.
Da Bao was initially worried that his mother might have stumbled and fallen into the river and drowned. When he found out that she had run off with another man, he was furious. He went home and searched every room in the house, but he didn't find a single penny. The most valuable things he found were the bicycle she had ridden away and the house.
Xiao Hu silently watched him go crazy, afraid of being beaten, and dared not make a sound. He went inside, took the key, and quietly slipped out to write a letter to his sister. What should he do now? Da Bao is also broke and hasn't been home for ten days or half a month. How is he supposed to survive?
Unable to survive, Da Bao emptied his pockets to appease a widow in the countryside, leaving not a single grain of rice. Xiao Hu then decided to mooch meals at the police station every day.
"Auntie, something's happened to my family. My mom ran away with someone." Er Ya came to Su Yu excitedly. "I asked the teacher. My dad is in jail, and my mom is nowhere to be found. So Da Bao, Da Ya, and I are her guardians. I have a reason to bring her here. Can you come with me to the countryside and help me buy an abandoned house? I'm afraid I'll get ripped off if I go alone."
"Okay." Su Yu sorted out all the papers she had written and put them in the box. She asked Xiao Yuan to call Ping An, and he would come over together if he had time.
The four of them took a donkey cart to the countryside, asked the driver for information, and finally chose a village on the outskirts of the city. They bought an old house from the village head, asking for nothing in return except for the village chief's help. He would then arrange the land under Daya and Xiaohu's names.
Er Ya took the household registration acceptance certificate back to school and was about to ask for leave when she received a telegram from the Pingqiu Town Police Station, urging her to return immediately to resolve Xiao Hu's custody issue. Da Bao didn't care about Xiao Hu either; he wanted to move to the village to live with a widow. According to him, he still needed to work hard to earn a living, so how could he afford to support a seven- or eight-year-old child?
Things went surprisingly smoothly. Er Ya took Xiao Hu back to Northeast China in Uncle Ning's truck. Her mother had finally done something that made her happy in her life.
As the town grew increasingly blurry, she hugged her overjoyed little brother and said, "I'm taking you away, and I'm never coming back. Everything here has nothing to do with me anymore."
"Then I won't come back."
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