Chapter 49 Burning Books
Du Laoding went straight to his second brother's mulberry field. Du Min was indeed there, but he was all alone.
When Du Min saw the person who came, he glanced at him indifferently and went back to doing his own thing.
Old Du was hurt by his gaze. "Do you now consider me your enemy?"
Du Min ignored him and, with a "snip," cut off a branch of a jujube tree.
"It's not time to prune the jujube trees yet. Where's your second brother?" Old Du took a deep breath and changed his tone to speak.
“He went to pick up his wife and children,” Du Min replied. He used scissors to pick up a greenish-gray caterpillar, and with a gentle force from two fingers, the caterpillar broke in two, its juices flowing out.
Old Ding frowned. Was his second son's wife really coming back? Could it be that Du Min had really dropped out of school? As soon as this thought crossed his mind, he dismissed it. Impossible.
"You're really putting in a lot of effort for this act, even bringing her back to help you," Old Ding mocked. "Did you two come up with this plan? Did she teach you? She's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve..."
"Alright." Du Min couldn't stand it anymore. He said with disgust, "It's rare to see a father-in-law like you with so much prejudice against his daughter-in-law and gossiping about her behind her back. I doubt you can find another one like you in the whole of Wu County."
Du Laoding's face turned red and then blue from being teased by him.
"I'm also puzzled. Even now, you still think I'd be manipulated? What did I do that led you to this misunderstanding? Was it not announcing my admission to the prefectural academy? Was it publicly disowning you? Or was it me packing my bags and dropping out of the prefectural academy? I don't even listen to my own parents, would I listen to others' instigation? You underestimate me." Having already torn off the mask of civility, Du Min had no shame whatsoever. What he had previously concealed and dared not admit, now that there was no one else present, he revealed his true nature and dared to say anything.
Old Du was panting heavily with anger. "How dare you say that? You unfilial and disobedient beast! Don't you have any shame?"
“I am unfilial and disobedient, and you are unkind and heartless. You were unkind first, so it’s hard to expect me to be filial. How many fathers would use their son’s future to blackmail him into obeying? Have you forgotten what you said? Do I have to repeat it to you?” Du Min’s eyes were filled with disappointment and hurt. He pointed to the sky and said angrily, “I, a peasant, have suffered contempt in the prefectural school. Do you know how those sons of the powerful and wealthy have coerced and threatened me? Just like you, they also used my future to blackmail me into dropping out of school, and they also blackmailed me into not studying and not taking the provincial examination.”
Du Min approached him, and Du Laoding took two steps back, his eyes flashing. Du Min pressed on, his eyes filled with malice as he questioned, "Are you my father? If you are my father, how can you say the same things as those wicked people who oppress and humiliate me? You, like them, want to break my bones and make me a groveling dog. How can I not hate you?"
Du Laoding panicked and took another step back.
Du Min stroked his beard, revealing the scars on his forehead. "To avoid bowing down to those wicked people, I risked my life, frantically banging my head against the wall like a mad dog. I lost all face and dignity. Do you understand my humiliation? My future was earned with my hard work and my life. Did you ever feel sorry for me? If you had ever cared for me, you wouldn't have used this as leverage. You blame me for being unfilial? How can I be filial to you to satisfy you? I can't give you what you want, but you are my father, and I can't do anything about it. I can only hurt myself again. There's really no hope in this life. It's better not to strive. I won't bear your expectations, and I can finally relax."
"How could I not feel sorry for you..." Old Ding Du explained dryly.
Du Min waved his hand, slumped his shoulders, and walked away dejectedly.
Old Du stood there for a while, then left with his back hunched over.
Du Min didn't go back all day. He took over Du Li's thatched hut, slept in his bed, used his pots and pans, picked dates from the tree, and boiled the eggs laid by the goose... With no one to disturb him, he peacefully pondered the poems and books he had hastily read the night before.
When Du Li returned in the evening, he was surprised that Du Min could stay there for a whole day.
"Are you going back tonight? If you're not going back, you can stay here and help me look after the chickens, ducks, and geese." Meng Qing and Wang Zhou have returned, and Du Li is moving back to live there.
Du Min: "..."
“Say something,” Du Li urged. “If you’re going back, don’t just stand there. Come and give me a hand and help me herd the chickens, ducks, and geese back.”
"Second brother, can't you see how uncomfortable I am? And you still make me do chores for you?" Du Min was exasperated. Everyone else in the family looked on with trepidation whenever they saw him. They were either trying to find out if he had really dropped out of school, or they were urging him to go back to the city to study. Du Li, on the other hand, seemed completely uninvolved, which really annoyed him.
Du Li stared at him intently for a moment, and he said seriously, "Are you feeling unwell? I didn't notice."
"...It's so upsetting. Do you know what Father said to me here yesterday?" Du Min was upset and wanted to confide in someone.
Du Li didn't want to listen. He took a few steps away and called to the chickens with a "cluck cluck cluck" and to the ducks with a "quack quack quack".
Du Min felt frustrated and stopped talking.
When the chickens, ducks, and geese were called back, Du Li counted them. There were eight chickens missing, but he had enough ducks. He went back into the house, scooped up a ladle of broken rice, scattered two handfuls, and then tapped the ladle to entice the chickens, ducks, and geese to follow him.
"If you're not staying here, please lock the door for me when you leave," Du Li instructed.
Du Min saw seven or eight half-grown chicks emerge from the nearby thatch, flapping their tiny claws as they chased after the flock. He sat for a while longer, then got up, locked the door, and followed the noisy procession ahead.
At this moment, a group of people were blocking the Du family's courtyard again. The villagers had been keeping an eye on Du Min's movements. After waiting for a day, Du Min not only did not return to the city, but he also brought Meng Qing, who lived in the city, back. The village chief and the others couldn't wait any longer and came to the Du family to ask Du Laoding about the situation.
"Old Ding, what's going on with Du Min? Why did your second son bring his wife back?" The village chief was full of worry. "Did Du Min really drop out of school?"
"No, he's just upset with me," Old Ding Du said confidently.
"Why is he upset with you?" Uncle Du asked, his hands behind his back.
Du Laoding didn't say anything.
"You..." Uncle Du pointed at him and scolded, "I know even if you don't say it, you're just looking for trouble. You're greedy and can't stand seeing others doing well. As soon as things go smoothly, you have to find something to cause trouble."
Du Laoding glared at him, "I think you're the one looking for trouble."
"Me, looking for trouble? Who forced their son to build a thatched hut in the mulberry field? Do you think everyone in the village is blind? Who isn't laughing at you behind your back? You fell out with your brothers when you were young, and now you're fighting with your son. Well, now you've even brought back your most promising son." Uncle Du cursed, spitting as he spoke.
Old Du was humiliated; he had never suffered such a loss before, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. He could only tell the man to leave, saying, "Go away, this is my family matter."
Uncle Du chuckled and said, "Family matters? This isn't something you can resolve behind closed doors. I'm going to take care of this."
"Old Ding, what's wrong? Are you saying we're meddling in other people's business?" the village chief asked with a dark face. "Du Min is the most promising child in our clan, and we've watched him grow up. We can't ignore his affairs."
“Uncle Ba, I didn’t mean that,” Du Laoding said in a low voice. He explained again, “Third brother is just angry with me. He can’t possibly drop out of school. If you don’t believe me, you can go to the prefectural school in the city and ask around.”
“I’m going to send someone to inquire,” the village chief said. “But I don’t think his argument with you is just a simple matter of arguing. We all know what kind of person this child is. He loves to read and even when he’s sick, he still goes to the private school for lessons. For someone like him to come back from the prefectural school with a purse in hand, he must have encountered some insurmountable obstacle.”
"Tell me, what is it all about?" Uncle Du pressed.
How could Du Laoding possibly say that if outsiders knew about his threats to Du Min, he would be criticized behind his back until his death?
“Du Ming, you speak,” Uncle Du said again.
Du Ming exclaimed "Ah!" and honestly confessed, "I don't know. I only know that my father and the third brother went to the second brother's mulberry field, and the two of them came back acting strangely."
Old Ding glared at Du Ming.
"Second son's wife, I remember your family went to the second son's mulberry field yesterday. What happened?" Uncle Du asked Meng Qing in a gentler tone.
When it was her turn to act, Meng Qing glanced at Du Laoding and said cautiously, "I don't know either. After we arrived, my father-in-law called Du Min away. The two of them talked privately, avoiding us. I don't know what they argued about, but I know they were very angry. The father and son left without saying goodbye. We waited for them for a long time, and then my father asked Du Li to go look for them. That's when we saw that the two of them had already crossed the river."
Uncle Du wished he could take back his words. Why ask? It was shameful! He scolded him, exasperated, "You shameful thing! Are you senile? Who taught you to treat guests like this? No wonder your in-laws left after lunch yesterday. They're such respectable people; if it were me, I'd smash your pot! Ask around, which family would dare treat their in-laws like this? The Meng family married their daughter to our Du family, and they didn't complain, letting her stay at her parents' house to take care of her brother-in-law. And this is how you treat them?"
The village chief sighed and shook his head. He exclaimed, "Old Ding, you used to be a respectable man. How come you've become so unscrupulous now?"
Old Du was so angry he almost fainted. In his fifty-plus years of life, he had never suffered more scolding than he had today, especially in front of so many people. He dared not look at the villagers' eyes; after today, he would become the laughingstock and gossip of the entire Dujiawan village.
"Du Min is coming back. I saw him and his second brother herding chickens, ducks, and geese to the end of the village," a villager standing outside the courtyard shouted.
"When Du Min comes back later, say a few words to him to ease the tension. You're the father, why are you arguing with your son?" the village chief instructed him.
Old Du Ding refused, "Eighth Uncle, have you ever seen a father apologize to his son? Is that reasonable? Haven't you noticed? Du Min is just trying to use you to force me to bow down to him. If I bow down to him today, will I be able to discipline him in the future? Will he still take my words seriously? No matter how successful he is, I am still his father. Can he trample on my face like that?"
The village chief seemed to be deep in thought.
Seeing this, Old Ding complained sadly, "He ran away through the window last night. This morning we called him for breakfast but he didn't respond. We all thought something had happened to him, and we were so scared we tore the door apart. His mother was almost scared to death. Can you believe what he did? It's not like I didn't give him a way out. I went to find him first thing this morning without even eating breakfast, but what did he do? He wouldn't listen to anything we said, and kept yelling that he dropped out of school and wouldn't study anymore. His temper has gone astray. We can't let him continue like this. If we let him do whatever he wants, who will be able to control him in the future?"
"Why do we need to control him? What is there to control? What did he do wrong? Or what wrong will he do in the future?" Meng Qing didn't understand.
Du Laoding choked, and he snapped, "Shut up! Who gives you the right to speak here?"
"I'm just asking a question. Du Min is under the supervision of teachers at the academy, and he will be under the supervision of superiors and the law when he becomes an official." Meng Qing was practically asking what Du Min would be able to control in the future. Old Ding Du is illiterate, so what far-sighted ideas could he possibly give Du Min?
“You can’t say that. Your father-in-law is a father, and a son should listen to his father. Even if Du Min becomes prime minister in the future, he will still have to listen to his father.” The village chief sensed Meng Qing’s unspoken meaning and disagreed.
Du Laoding nodded repeatedly.
Meng Qing secretly rolled her eyes. It was like talking to a brick wall. What kind of talk was this? They couldn't even understand her, yet they expected Du Min to listen to them? They were dreaming. What kind of filial person was Du Min?
"It's so lively again." Du Min returned and cupped his hands, saying, "I know you uncles and brothers are worried about me, and I know you can't accept it, but the matter is settled, so please don't worry about it anymore. Let me reiterate, I did not disobey my father. I dropped out of school and came back to farm because I listened to my father. Although I may not become prime minister, I can be a son who listens to my father."
Du Laoding's vision went black, and he almost fainted.
"You mean your dad made you drop out of school and come back to farm? You're making this up, who would believe that?" The village chief thought it was absurd.
Du Min smiled, offered no further explanation, and walked straight through the crowd back into the house.
"Uncle Ba, thank you for your trouble. Let's leave it at that for now. Let him make a fuss for a few days. He'll go back to the city to study sooner or later." Old Du Ding wanted to get rid of everyone in the village, so he patted his chest and made a promise.
"I'll send someone into town tomorrow to inquire. If he's really lying, he'll be taught a lesson." The village chief couldn't accept that Du Min was playing tricks on his father. If he couldn't even get along with his own father, and he had such a strong desire for revenge against him, how could he possibly help the clan members if he became successful in the future?
"Let's go, let's disperse," the village chief shouted.
As soon as a large group of people left the Du family's courtyard, they saw a thick plume of smoke rising from behind the house.
"Where's the smoke coming from? Old Ding, what are you burning in your house?"
"Judging from the direction, it seems our third brother's study is on fire," Meng Qing shouted.
When Du Laoding and his mother heard this, their legs went weak with fear.
Du's mother was nearby, so she rushed into the house first. What she saw was a huge fire that was half a person high. Du Min stood by the fire like a demon, tearing up books and throwing them into the fire.
"What are you doing?" Du's mother shouted hoarsely, "Stop! Stop it right now! You wretched child! Are you insane?"
Du's mother rushed forward to save the books, but Du Min quickly threw the last stack of papers into the fire. He watched with satisfaction as the papers twisted and deformed, eventually burning to black ash.
The others rushed in and saw Du Min laughing at the fire.
Du's mother cried. She knelt on the ground, clutching the book box, and wailed, "The old man! He burned all the books, burned them all..."
Du Min turned to look at the terrified faces and asked seriously, "Do you still think I'm joking?"
With a thud, Old Du collapsed to the ground, having fainted from anger.
*
Night falls.
Everyone in the village had left, but the Du family was still sitting in the courtyard waiting for Old Ding Du to wake up.
Du's mother wept mournfully in the west wing. Her sobbing was plaintive and eerie, and the sound of her crying echoed in the dark courtyard, which was quite frightening. Even Wang Zhou was too frightened to cry.
"How about I take you to sleep in the thatched hut?" Du Li asked.
Meng Qing waved her hand, "If we go to an unfamiliar place, Wang Zhou will still cry. It's better to stay at home."
Qiaomei came over and took Wangzhou's little hand, but Wangzhou wouldn't let her touch it. He cried out in displeasure and started whimpering again.
"Qiaomei, come here!" Li Hongguo snapped.
“Wangzhou isn’t used to sleeping in a different place yet. He feels uneasy and scared, which is why he’s throwing a tantrum. He’s young and doesn’t understand yet, Qiaomei, don’t be angry with your brother,” Meng Qing explained gently.
“I’m not angry. I know that when I went to my uncle’s house, I wanted to go home as soon as it got dark, and I also wanted to cry.” Qiaomei didn’t leave; she stood next to Meng Qing and teased Wang Zhou.
"Qiao Mei!" Li Hongguo warned again.
Du Min clicked his tongue impatiently, "Two kids playing, adults shouldn't interfere."
"Third brother, I'm taking care of my child. I don't want her to grow up to be someone everyone hates." Li Hongguo had been suppressing her anger, but now it suddenly ignited. "If you're so bored, why don't you go inside and take care of Dad? You've made him faint from anger. And you still have the leisure to meddle in other people's business? Don't you feel guilty? Have you lost your conscience? You still have the nerve to come back? If it were me, I'd rather jump into the river and die. The family scrimped and saved to send you to school, and you just drop out like that? Do you even care about us?"
Du Min sneered.
“So many people beg and plead to get into the prefectural school, and you got in but didn’t cherish it. You got angry and just left without a second thought, and even burned all your books. What are you thinking? Do you really think you’re a golden phoenix, that everyone will fawn over you wherever you go? That you can pass the exam and become an official without any famous teachers?” Li Hongguo berated relentlessly. “You’ve ruined a perfectly good path. Just keep being arrogant, you’ll regret it later.”
"What are you angry about? Now that I'm not studying anymore, the family can finally free up the time and money to support your son's education. You should be thanking me. Or do you think your son is not as good as me, and you're worried that he'll never pass the provincial examination and make it to Chang'an no matter how hard he tries?" Du Min mocked coldly.
"Third brother, shut up! You've gone too far, arguing with your sister-in-law too. Is this how a younger brother talks to his sister-in-law?" Du Ming scolded.
Du Min felt like vomiting. "You're just like your father. When you can't win an argument, you use your seniority to intimidate people."
"Don't force me to slap you," Du Ming said angrily.
Du Min shut up. His status had plummeted, and being beaten might really become a regular occurrence.
Du Ming snorted smugly, finally feeling the authority of his elder brother in front of Du Min.
Meng Qing watched the spectacle with great interest, finding it even more captivating than watching a variety show.
"Old man, you're finally awake!" Du's mother called out from inside the house.
The eldest son and his wife went in first, followed by Du Li, and Du Min was the last to arrive, ready to escape at any moment.
"Father, how are you?" Du Ming asked as he stepped forward.
Old Du sat up silently. "Where's the third brother?"
"What is it?" Du Min stepped forward, past Du Li, and looked him over in the dim firelight. He said with a grin, "You look much better after your nap."
Old Ding nearly fainted from anger again. He pointed a trembling finger at him and cursed, "You wretched child! You wretched child!"
Du's mother cried again, "What sins have I committed? You might as well kill me; I'd rather be dead."
Du Min let them curse and remained silent.
"You'll come to the city with me tomorrow. We'll go to the prefectural school to find your teacher. You'll kneel before him, even if you die kneeling before him, you must stay at the prefectural school," Du Laoding instructed. "Don't sleep tonight either. Think carefully about how to persuade him."
Du Min neither refuted nor agreed.
Seeing his attitude, Du Laoding felt a little better and waved his hand, saying, "Get out, all of you, don't get in my way."
Du Li went out first, and called to Meng Qing, "Come on, let's go back to the room and sleep."
Wang Zhou was already asleep. Meng Qing put him on the bed, and he woke up with a start. She quickly lay down next to him and said, "Mother's here. Go back to sleep."
Du Li held her breath and dared not utter a sound.
After a few breaths, Wang Zhou noticed nothing was wrong and closed his eyes again.
Meng Qing patted Wang Zhou gently for a while, and once he was sound asleep, she got up and said, "Go boil two basins of hot water."
"good."
Meng Qing also went outside; the moonlight was beautiful tonight.
Du Min swaggered out of the house. He stopped when he saw Meng Qing. "Second sister-in-law, aren't you asleep yet?"
"Your second brother is boiling water."
Du Min limped to the kitchen and said, "Second Brother, add a few more ladles of water and give me a basin of hot water."
Inside the west wing, Du Laoding listened to Du Min's nonchalant voice and clutched his chest in anger, "What a wretched child! He has ruined my reputation for a lifetime."
"Reputation? What reputation do you still want? Isn't this all your fault? Why did he do this?" Du's mother pounced on him and hit him. "You old bastard, you're just a menace to people! You've ruined my perfectly good child! I want to bite you to death!"
Old Du was taken aback. He closed his eyes and murmured, "So this is what you wanted to achieve."
Ignoring his nonsense, Du's mother smoothed her hair, staggered out the door, and said in a hoarse voice, "Amin, let's talk."
“Okay.” Du Min took the lead and walked out.
Du's mother followed him out. Looking at his back, she couldn't understand why his personality had changed so drastically.
Du Min stopped under a tree, turned around, and said, "Mother, I'm the one who has wronged you the most. You love me the most, but I've made you shed tears for me."
Du's mother felt a pang of sorrow, covered her face and wept bitterly, "My son, why did you do this? What you did hurts me more than tearing my heart out."
“I don’t want to either, but this is beyond my control. If you want to know anything, go ask my father.” Du Min spoke vaguely, then comforted him, “Don’t be discouraged. If I want to take the imperial examination again someday, I can study on my own. I can stay by your side, be filial to you, and help with chores. If I’m lucky enough to pass the imperial examination, I can wait ten or eight years if necessary. I can afford to wait.”
But Du's mother couldn't wait. She was already nearly fifty, and in another ten years she would be so old that she would lose all her teeth. Even if Du Min passed the imperial examination, what good would she be able to enjoy? She wouldn't be able to eat or drink, and she wouldn't even be able to leave Dujiawan.
"Don't say that. You're going to the city with your father tomorrow. No matter what, you have to stay at the prefectural school. Your studies are the most important thing. Nothing else matters. Don't listen to what that old devil of a father says. He definitely won't interfere in your affairs anymore," said Madam Du.
Du Min didn't think so, but he didn't refute it outwardly.
"Go back to your room and get some sleep." Du's mother wiped away her tears, turned to leave, but stopped after a couple of steps and asked, "Amin, tell your mother the truth, did you really drop out of school?"
“I burned all the books, isn’t that proof enough?” Du Min laughed.
"How can you still laugh!" Du's mother scolded sharply, but her anger vanished in an instant. The next moment, she seemed to have become a different person, lovingly advising, "Go back to your room and sleep."
Du Min's smile faded. He stared intently as the figure gradually blurred. Knowing the answer, he still couldn't help but ask, "Mother, if I stop studying, will you still love me as much as before?"
Du's mother didn't want to respond at all; she pretended not to hear.
Du Min shook his head and chuckled. He muttered to himself, "It's just asking a pointless question. I'm just like you. I can just ask myself." He also kicked away those who were useless to him.
After Du's mother returned to her room, Meng Qing went out to take a look, wondering how Du Min would resolve the situation tomorrow.
"The water's hot, come back and wash up," Du Li called to her.
"I'm here." Meng Qing went back into the house.
A moment later, Du Li came out to pour water and bumped into Du Min going into the kitchen to fetch water. He glanced at him a few more times, wondering what other trouble he was going to cause.
The night grew quiet.
Old Du didn't sleep all night. When the rooster crowed, he couldn't wait to get up and go to the back room to call someone: "Du Min, pack your things. I'll go find someone to borrow a boat. We'll go into the city at daybreak."
Nobody paid any attention.
Old Ding's heart skipped a beat. He went inside to feel the bed, but it was empty. That bastard Du Min had run away again.
"Big brother, wake up, don't sleep, your third brother has run away again."
"Second brother, did your third brother go to your mulberry field to spend the night again?"
Wang Zhou was woken up by the noise and burst into tears.
Du Li impatiently went to open the door. "How should I know? He was still in the house when I went to sleep last night. If you want to know, just go and take a look in the mulberry field. I still have children in the house. Look how scared you've made him."
Old Du had no patience to listen to what he had to say, so he ordered, "Go to Sangtian and find him."
"I'm not going. It's not even dawn yet. What if a snake bites me in the grass?" Du Li tried to close the door. "Besides, he doesn't listen to me. I can't just tie him up and drag him back after I find him, can I?"
"Fine, fine, your life is precious, I'll go find it and let the snake bite me to death," Old Ding shouted angrily.
"Dad, I'll go with you." Du Ming walked out, rubbing his hair.
"You're so filial." Old Ding Du was very pleased. He went to the granary to get a rope. "Come on, I'll tie him up and bring him back."
But Du Min was nowhere to be found in the thatched hut. Du Laoding and Du Ming searched the entire mulberry field but couldn't find him.
"Where did he go?" Old Du panicked again.
"Could it be hiding in someone's haystack in the village?" Du Ming guessed.
Old Du had a gut feeling that it was unlikely, but he was desperate and decided to try anything. He rushed back to the village and searched through every haystack from one end of the village to the other.
Now everyone in the village knew that Du Min was missing. Everyone helped search, but they couldn't find him even when the sun was high in the sky. The whole village gathered at the village entrance to talk about it.
"I think Eighth Master sent people into the city to inquire. We'll have an answer by tonight at the latest."
“Brother Min, please don’t actually drop out of school. My sister’s aunt knows that Brother Min got into the prefectural school despite being a commoner. She’s praising him for his abilities. Everyone says that a high-ranking official is going to come out of our Dujiawan. Please don’t let anything happen to him.”
“My husband went back and said it was because of Uncle Ding. I don’t know what he said to Brother Min, but Brother Min came back in a fit of anger.”
"Uncle Ding is no good. You can tell by how he ruined his second son. He sold his second son's marriage for money, sent his second daughter-in-law back to her parents' home to take care of her brother-in-law, and finally kicked his second son to live in the mulberry fields."
When Du Laoding heard this while passing by, he felt dizzy again. His good reputation, which he had maintained for decades, was now completely ruined.
“I didn’t kick my second son out; he wanted to move to Sangtian to raise chickens and ducks himself,” he explained loudly.
The people present fell silent and stared at him.
"Old Ding, have you found Du Min?" the village chief asked.
"No," Old Ding said expressionlessly. "I'm not looking anymore. I don't believe he won't come back."
Fearing he might faint again, the village chief didn't say anything. He pointed to a few strong men and told them to look around.
*
"What are you doing here? Didn't Dad and my older brother come here looking for you?" Du Li stared at the person in the thatched hut as if he had seen a ghost. He had herded the chickens, ducks and geese to forage for food, intending to cook a meal for Meng Qing to come here for lunch. When he opened the door, he found someone lying on the bed.
“I wasn’t here when they came,” Du Min said without looking up. “I’m not going back for the next few days. You’ll have to cover for me.”
"Don't get me killed." Du Li gritted her teeth.
"No, you won't let your family find out. You're a reliable person," Du Min said reassuringly.
If someone else had said this, Du Li would have appreciated it, but if Du Min had said it, he would have just found it sarcastic and unpleasant.
"Tell me the truth, did you really drop out of school?" Du Li asked, seizing the opportunity.
Du Min laughed, "You really are naive. I almost lost my life just to stay at the prefectural school, how could I possibly drop out? Second brother, how have you been these past two days? Father and Mother have finally suffered a setback."
After a few moments of silence, Du Li chose to answer truthfully: "Great."
Especially when you're fighting like dogs. He added to himself.
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