Chapter 76
"Second sister, second sister..."
Xu Yuansheng suddenly opened her eyes. When she saw her younger sister reaching out to wake her, her pupils contracted slightly, and her face unconsciously revealed shock, anger, resentment, and fear.
Xu Huaisheng found her acting strange and asked in confusion, "Second sister, what's wrong? Are you still half asleep?" Then he added, "The announcement just came on, we'll be in Yucheng in half an hour."
She cheered up when she said that.
Once we get to Yucheng, I should be able to see my older sister, right?
Xu Yuansheng remained silent, as if all her strength had been drained away. She slumped in the narrow seat, her mind elsewhere.
Xu Huaisheng noticed that she was not in good condition. He reached out and touched her forehead, and was startled to find his hand covered in cold sweat. He thought she was sick and became a little anxious.
She picked up the enamel mug on the table to feed her water, saying that she should drink more water when she was sick.
It was cold, and the water in the enamel mug had gone cold. Xu Huaisheng said, "Second Sister, please sit down first. I'll go get some hot water."
As soon as she got up, her second sister grabbed her wrist tightly, preventing her from leaving.
"Second sister, what's wrong?" Xu Huaisheng asked, puzzled.
Xu Yuansheng stared at her intently for a while before saying, "No need to fetch water, I'll just drink cold water."
As she spoke, she picked up the enamel mug and gulped down the now-cold water inside. The icy water slid down her throat, making her shiver and instantly sobering her up.
Xu Huaisheng sat down again and, seeing that her complexion had returned to normal, finally breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that she was alright.
She said happily, "Second sister, when we get to Yucheng, we'll be able to see eldest sister, right?"
“Impossible,” Xu Yuansheng said without hesitation. “My older sister is at the military base. She doesn’t know when we arrived. After we get to Yucheng, we still need to take a bus to the base, but she said the military buses usually go back in the afternoon… If we can’t catch a bus today, we’ll stay in the city for the night and take a bus to the base tomorrow…”
Xu Huaisheng was somewhat disappointed, but it did not dampen her enthusiasm and expectations.
Since leaving Xujiatun with her second sister, it felt like she had broken free of some kind of shackles that weighed on her heart, filling her with an indescribable anticipation for the future. Although she was also a little afraid of causing trouble for her eldest sister, the thought that the three sisters could still be together made her happy.
Even though I was on the train the whole way, I didn't feel tired.
Xu Yuansheng turned his head and saw his younger sister's happy expression, which reminded him of the dream he had earlier.
That dream was so real, and so terrifying.
She dreamt that her eldest sister died in July of this year.
In the dream, they were initially unaware of this matter. However, after not receiving any letters from their eldest sister for several months, they began to feel anxious and uneasy. Finally, they couldn't help but run to Tian Qiaolian, the wife of the brigade leader, and asked her to find a way to contact the people in Beijing to help confirm their eldest sister's situation.
Tian Qiaolian called Beijing and soon received devastating news.
In July, Gu Xi went boating in the park and drowned while trying to save a child.
Xu Yuansheng could feel how real her grief was when she heard about this in her dream. She began to resent the injustice of the world. Her older sister was such a good person, yet she died saving someone.
She went to save people, so why didn't anyone save her?
Before she could recover from her grief, the Xu family arranged a marriage for her, marrying her off to a mentally challenged man in the county town.
Xu Yuansheng was naturally unwilling. Before her eldest sister left, she had told them to live well, study hard, and find an opportunity to leave the countryside and Xujiatun in the future, so that they would not be like those girls in the countryside whose lives were arranged by their parents.
Of course, she schemed to ruin the marriage and didn't marry the fool.
However, the Xu family did not give up and were unwilling to part with the generous bride price.
Xu Yuansheng knew the Xu family's character all too well; once they started, they would start again. Unfortunately, despite her best efforts to guard against it, she still couldn't prevent it.
She was locked up by the Xu family, who broke one of her legs, forced her to take medicine, and married her off to a more remote village to a lame old man because the old man was willing to pay a dowry of one thousand yuan.
The lame old man had some savings, supposedly accumulated by his ancestors. He had already married two wives, and he liked to beat them. One wife was accidentally beaten to death by him, and the other wife couldn't bear the beatings any longer and secretly ran away.
An older man wants to marry a virgin, and the dowry he offers is not low.
Upon learning this news, the Xu family was naturally very willing to marry their daughter to him.
Fearing that Xu Yuansheng would run away like the old man's second wife, the Xu family cruelly broke her legs and brought her over while she was unconscious, essentially selling her off.
When Xu Yuansheng woke up, he was furious at his predicament.
As the old man lunged at her, she couldn't hold back and grabbed a small stool from beside the bed, smashing it at him. Unexpectedly, it hit the old man's head, and he died on the spot.
The old man had an old woman at home, who was his mother. She heard the commotion inside and ran in. When she saw that her son was dead, she went crazy on the spot and rushed over to beat Xu Yuansheng.
Xu Yuansheng's leg was broken, so he couldn't escape and was beaten to death by an old woman.
Just before she died, she saw her younger sister, Xu Huaisheng, burst in. When Xu Huaisheng saw his sister being beaten to death, he lost control and grabbed a wood-chopping knife from the side, hacking at the old woman...
-
Thinking about what happened in his dream, Xu Yuansheng's fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Was that really a dream? If it was, why did it feel so real? So real that it felt as if she had experienced the pain of being beaten to death, and could even feel her life slipping away...
Xu Huaisheng talked for a while, but seeing that his second sister was ignoring him, he turned to look at her and noticed that she looked unwell. He asked worriedly, "Second sister, you look terrible. Are you really not sick?"
Xu Yuansheng's gaze fell on her face; his sister looked exactly the same as in his dream.
If she hadn't decided to go to the army to find her older sister and hadn't taken her younger sister with her, would she and her younger sister have both died that winter?
Xu Yuansheng suddenly reached out and hugged her, saying, "Huaisheng, we both need to be well."
In this life, all three sisters must live well; none of them can be missing.
"Of course." Although Xu Huaisheng didn't know what had happened to her second sister, she was very happy to hear this and reached out to hug her. "We're going to find our eldest sister. From now on, the three of us sisters will be well."
Xu Yuansheng closed his eyes, trying to suppress the negative emotions brought on by the dream.
My eldest sister is alive and well, and she is married and lives with her husband in the military base.
The eldest sister won't drown, nor will she be beaten to death, and Huaisheng certainly won't commit murder by grabbing a wood-chopping knife to save her...
**
The train finally arrived at Yucheng Station. The two sisters unloaded their luggage and followed the flow of people off the train.
Because they left in a hurry, they didn't have much luggage. Apart from the warm winter clothes they were wearing, the two cloth bundles they carried contained only some clothes. Important items such as money, tickets, and letters of introduction were kept close to their bodies and stuffed into the pockets of their clothes, which they held tightly even in their sleep.
The two sisters struggled to get off the bus.
To avoid being separated by the crowd, they held hands and gripped each other's hands tightly.
After getting off the bus, the two of them were a little lost, not knowing where to go, and subconsciously followed the crowd.
"May life, cherish life..."
Amidst the hustle and bustle, a clear and gentle voice rang out, calling the sisters' names.
Xu Huaisheng, with his sharp ears, subconsciously turned his head to look around, and then saw a tall and slender woman walking towards them against the flow of people.
Xu Huaisheng suddenly opened his eyes wide and subconsciously grabbed his second sister who was walking forward.
Xu Yuansheng was almost knocked off balance by her sister's tugging. Just as she was about to get angry, she saw her sister staring intently in one direction. She looked over as well and saw a woman pushing through the crowd ahead. She was wearing a camel-colored coat, had fair skin, and her features were so exquisite and beautiful that she seemed unreal. However, there was a shocking scar on her pretty face, and it looked very fresh, as if it had just been inflicted.
When people around her saw her, the first thing they noticed was the injury on her face. They were surprised and couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
I don't know if this injury will leave a scar.
Such a beautiful face, it would be a shame to have scars.
The two sisters watched as the beautiful woman approached them, and then she smiled happily, opened her arms, and hugged them.
"May you live, may you embrace life, you have come!"
Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng stood there dumbfounded, forgetting to react.
Who is this stunning beauty in front of me?
Is this their eldest sister?
They hadn't seen her since her eldest sister left five years ago and had no idea she had changed so much.
In their memories, the eldest sister was always dark-skinned and thin, much like many of the girls in the village who worked in the fields. She was just thinner than them because she didn't get enough to eat, and she was just average-looking.
Xu Yuansheng quickly realized what was happening, his eyes filled with hostility, and asked, "What happened to your face? Who did this to you?"
Her teeth were grinding together, showing how furious she was.
"Are you really the eldest sister?" Xu Huaisheng asked cautiously.
Gu Xi let go of them, smiled at them, her eyes curving into crescents, and said, "Yuansheng and Huaisheng have grown up, but they haven't changed much. I can recognize them at a glance."
She has a good memory; even after decades, she can still recognize her two younger sisters at a glance.
The main reason is that her two younger sisters' facial features and contours haven't changed, so she can tell them apart.
That's wonderful! They've grown up just as she had imagined!
The second sister, Xu Yuan, grew up to be a young woman. She worked with the old tailor making clothes and should be doing well, raising herself up properly.
The younger sister looks like one of the girls in the village, dark-skinned and thin, she must do a lot of work, but she is very energetic.
When they saw the smile on her face, especially her crescent-shaped eyes, the Xu Yuansheng sisters finally felt a sense of familiarity.
Life was too hard, and my older sister rarely smiled; I've almost never seen her smile.
But she would smile at them in private, and every time she smiled, her eyes would curve into crescent moons, which was the most beautiful part of her face.
Xu Huaisheng burst into tears and threw himself into Gu Xi's arms, crying, "Big sister, I missed you so much!"
Xu Yuansheng's eyes also reddened. She held back her tears, but her eyes remained fixed on Gu Xi as she angrily asked, "Big sister, who exactly injured your face?"
Gu Xi, holding her younger sister in her arms, said nonchalantly, "There were child traffickers snatching children at the station earlier. I tried to stop them, and when the traffickers pushed me to the ground, I was accidentally injured..."
Xu Yuansheng was both anxious and angry, unable to contain his temper, "You, you really are..."
She wanted to say that human traffickers are so dangerous, and that she should stay far away from them, prioritizing her own safety and not getting involved. But considering her personality, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
If she had simply stood by and watched, she wouldn't have drowned while trying to save someone, just like in the dream.
Seeing Xu Yuansheng angry because of her injury, the decades-long estrangement seemed to disappear suddenly, and Gu Xi regained her sense of familiarity.
She had one arm around her younger sister and the other around her second sister, her voice tinged with laughter.
"I'm so glad you could come!"
Xu Yuansheng quietly buried his face in her chest, and when no one was looking, he wiped away the tears in his eyes and asked again, "Have you treated the injury on your face? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
"No need," Gu Xi said nonchalantly. "The medical staff at the station have already applied medicine for me. It's cold now, so it should scab over quickly. Don't worry."
Seeing that the platform was empty, Gu Xi let go of her two younger sisters, picked up their bags, and said, "Come on, I'll take you to the guesthouse to put your things away, and then we'll go eat." Then she asked with concern, "You bought hard-seat tickets this time, right?"
Actually, there's no need to ask; to save money, they definitely bought hard-seat tickets.
As for sleeper berths, they need a certificate from their work unit to buy tickets, so they probably traveled by train for the past three days.
Xu Yuansheng said, "Big sister, it's alright. My younger sister and I are both very strong. We don't feel tired even after sitting for a few days."
Even though it's a bit tiring, it's nothing, after all, we're young.
"Yes, don't worry, big sister," Xu Huaisheng echoed, looking to be in fairly good spirits.
When Gu Xi left the station with her two younger sisters, the station staff greeted her warmly and even asked where they were going and if they needed a ride.
Gu Xi said, "No need to trouble yourself, we'll just go to the nearby guesthouse."
Someone advised, "Comrade Gu, remember to go to the hospital to get your face injured sometime and get some scar-reducing medicine."
Gu Xi: "...Okay."
After leaving the station, Gu Xi led them to the guesthouse.
Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng followed closely beside her. The farthest place the two sisters had ever been in their lives was the county town. This was their first time traveling so far, and their first time in an unfamiliar place. They didn't really feel safe.
Now that they were with their older sister, the two of them finally felt at ease and had the leisure to look around.
Xu Yuansheng looked at her for a while, then turned his gaze back to Gu Xi and reached for his luggage: "Big sister, let me take it."
Upon hearing this, Xu Huaisheng also reached for his luggage.
"It's alright, your things aren't heavy, I can carry them," Gu Xi said. "You've forgotten, I'm very strong."
The two sisters couldn't help but stare at her.
Although my older sister has grown taller and gained some weight since five years ago, she still looks slender. Especially now that her face is so beautiful, she gives off the impression of a delicate beauty. I really can't trust her to carry things, for fear of tiring her out.
But when they saw the injuries on her face, they felt sad again.
"Big sister, you look so beautiful now," Xu Huaisheng said. "If only you didn't have this scar on your face! Big sister, why don't we go to the hospital first?"
Xu Yuansheng nodded, thinking it was better to go to the hospital.
"No need, I have medicine here. The medical staff who treated my wounds gave me some medicine and told me to apply it myself when I got home. I don't need to go to the hospital." Seeing that they were really worried, she added, "Otherwise, I can go to the hospital when I get back to the military base tomorrow. There's a military hospital there with excellent doctors. My sister-in-law is a military doctor."
As they were talking, they arrived at the guesthouse.
Gu Xi led them inside.
Upon entering, they saw Sister Zhong cleaning. When she saw Gu Xi's face, she was shocked: "Comrade Gu, what happened to your face? How did you get injured like this? Quick, quick, go to the hospital right away, you can't be disfigured."
It would be such a pity if such a beautiful woman were disfigured.
Gu Xi quickly said, "Sister Zhong, it's okay, the medicine has already been applied, it's nothing."
"How can you say it's nothing?" Sister Zhong was really worried about her. "You child, with such a pretty and fair face, how can you not be careful? We can't let it leave a scar, it won't look good."
Such a beautiful face should be kept flawless.
Sister Zhong's words were agreed upon by the Xu sisters.
They knew their eldest sister's personality; she'd always been like this since she was little. Whenever she got sick or injured, she'd treat it the same old way, regardless of whether it would leave scars. They never expected that she wouldn't even care if her face was injured.
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