Chapter: 38 Sister’s Choice

He was holding back, it was early in the morning, and it was a hot day, clearly not the right time.

Those two were still discussing something, maybe they would come back to make trouble later, what should he do?

He pushed Ye Xiaozhen away.

Ye Xiaozhen clung to his neck and wouldn’t let go.

Xie Lin’an said helplessly, “Xiaozhen, don’t be silly, it’s not appropriate on a hot day.”

Seeing him struggling, Ye Xiaozhen found it funny, she kept clinging to him and wouldn’t let go, she even jumped on him.

Worried that she would fall, Xie Lin’an subconsciously reached out to support her.

His passion had subsided, and now he was in this position, it was simply killing him.

“You’re not only stupid, but you’re also bad. You bad guy, just wait and see how I deal with you tonight.”

Ah?

We’ll talk about tonight later.

Okay, let’s chat, help him calm down.

Ye Xiaozhen hugged his neck and said sweetly, “Brother, why didn’t you go to school? Tell Xiaozhen.”

Xie Lin’an looked into her eyes, if it wasn’t for her tone that still didn’t sound like a normal person, he would have thought her illness was cured.

“Xiaozhen wants to hear?”

Ye Xiaozhen nodded.

Xie Lin’an hugged her and sat on the edge of the bed, recalling the past, he slowly told her.

“Actually, I couldn’t go to school, it’s not entirely my third uncle’s fault, it’s also related to my sister.”

“I have an older sister who is two years older than me, do you remember her, Xiaozhen?”

Ye Xiaozhen nodded.

“I started school early, I was five years old when I started first grade with her, at that time, primary school was five years. I started junior high school at ten, when we were in junior three, my father had an accident, and in the same year, my mother ran away, leaving behind two younger brothers…”

At that time, they both faced dropping out of school, his sister’s grades weren’t as good as his, so she gave him the opportunity to go to school, and she went to work at a garment factory.

He was very grateful to his sister at that time, because he was also going to drop out of school, but his sister insisted that he shouldn’t, she insisted that he go to school and said she would figure out the tuition.

So Xie Lin’an smoothly went to high school.

At that time, his sister Xie Li would come to see him whenever she was on vacation, she would bring him food, drinks, and pocket money.

“Later…” Xie Lin’an sighed and said, “In my second year of high school, I found that she kept coming to school to see me, and later I found out that it wasn’t just to see me, but also to see Zhang Jianhua.”

Ye Xiaozhen was startled, “Who is Zhang Jianhua?”

“Zhang Jianhua was our classmate in junior high school, but his family was even poorer than ours. His father was a mute, and his mother was a fool…”

Suddenly thinking of Ye Xiaozhen, he quickly explained, “It’s different from Xiaozhen, his mother can’t even speak clearly, she can’t take care of herself.”

He stared intently at Ye Xiaozhen.

Ye Xiaozhen didn’t say anything, she just looked at him like that.

The two of them looked at each other for a long time, Xie Lin’an was the first to break the gaze.

Xie Lin’an smiled, “Xiaozhen, you’ve improved.”

Ye Xiaozhen knew what he was talking about, but she just looked confused.

Seeing that he wasn’t saying anything, Ye Xiaozhen shook his arm, “Brother, hurry up, why did sister go to see Zhang Jianhua?”

Xie Lin’an couldn’t help but laugh, he pinched her face and said, “You little fool, why are you so gossipy, like the old lady at the village entrance.”

He was holding back, it was early in the morning, and it was a hot day, clearly not the right time.

Those two were still discussing something, maybe they would come back to make trouble later, what should he do?

He pushed Ye Xiaozhen away.

Ye Xiaozhen clung to his neck and wouldn’t let go.

Xie Lin’an said helplessly, “Xiaozhen, don’t be silly, it’s not appropriate on a hot day.”

Seeing him struggling, Ye Xiaozhen found it funny, she kept clinging to him and wouldn’t let go, she even jumped on him.

Worried that she would fall, Xie Lin’an subconsciously reached out to support her.

His passion had subsided, and now he was in this position, it was simply killing him.

“You’re not only stupid, but you’re also bad. You bad guy, just wait and see how I deal with you tonight.”

Ah?

We’ll talk about tonight later.

Okay, let’s chat, help him calm down.

Ye Xiaozhen hugged his neck and said sweetly, “Brother, why didn’t you go to school? Tell Xiaozhen.”

Xie Lin’an looked into her eyes, if it wasn’t for her tone that still didn’t sound like a normal person, he would have thought her illness was cured.

“Xiaozhen wants to hear?”

Ye Xiaozhen nodded.

Xie Lin’an hugged her and sat on the edge of the bed, recalling the past, he slowly told her.

“Actually, I couldn’t go to school, it’s not entirely my third uncle’s fault, it’s also related to my sister.”

“I have an older sister who is two years older than me, do you remember her, Xiaozhen?”

Ye Xiaozhen nodded.

“I started school early, I was five years old when I started first grade with her, at that time, primary school was five years. I started junior high school at ten, when we were in junior three, my father had an accident, and in the same year, my mother ran away, leaving behind two younger brothers…”

At that time, they both faced dropping out of school, his sister’s grades weren’t as good as his, so she gave him the opportunity to go to school, and she went to work at a garment factory.

He was very grateful to his sister at that time, because he was also going to drop out of school, but his sister insisted that he shouldn’t, she insisted that he go to school and said she would figure out the tuition.

So Xie Lin’an smoothly went to high school.

At that time, his sister Xie Li would come to see him whenever she was on vacation, she would bring him food, drinks, and pocket money.

“Later…” Xie Lin’an sighed and said, “In my second year of high school, I found that she kept coming to school to see me, and later I found out that it wasn’t just to see me, but also to see Zhang Jianhua.”

Ye Xiaozhen was startled, “Who is Zhang Jianhua?”

“Zhang Jianhua was our classmate in junior high school, but his family was even poorer than ours. His father was a mute, and his mother was a fool…”

Suddenly thinking of Ye Xiaozhen, he quickly explained, “It’s different from Xiaozhen, his mother can’t even speak clearly, she can’t take care of herself.”

He stared intently at Ye Xiaozhen.

Ye Xiaozhen didn’t say anything, she just looked at him like that.

The two of them looked at each other for a long time, Xie Lin’an was the first to break the gaze.

Xie Lin’an smiled, “Xiaozhen, you’ve improved.”

Ye Xiaozhen knew what he was talking about, but she just looked confused.

Seeing that he wasn’t saying anything, Ye Xiaozhen shook his arm, “Brother, hurry up, why did sister go to see Zhang Jianhua?”

Xie Lin’an couldn’t help but laugh, he pinched her face and said, “You little fool, why are you so gossipy, like the old lady at the village entrance.”

He had to continue the story he had started earlier.

“In my second year of high school, my sister… my sister got pregnant, with Zhang Jianhua’s child. At that time, the legal age for marriage was eighteen for women and twenty for men. My sister was only seventeen, and Zhang Jianhua was only nineteen, they couldn’t get married, and the garment factory fired her.

My grandpa knew about it and told her to have an abortion. She agreed readily at first, but Zhang Jianhua must have said something to her, and she changed her mind. Not only did she not want to have an abortion, but she also ran away to Zhang Jianhua’s hometown.

I’ve been to Zhang Jianhua’s hometown, it’s in the mountains, it takes several hours to climb the mountain to get there. She didn’t want to leave, and no one could bring her back from the mountains. Later…”

Xie Lin’an chuckled and said, “She gave all her money to Zhang Jianhua, she supported him through high school and college, and made me drop out. It was then that I found out that my sister had supported Zhang Jianhua for three years of high school.”

Ye Xiaozhen didn’t know what to say after hearing this.

It’s hard to judge.

Can you say his sister Xie Li was wrong for not supporting her brother?

No.

Look at Xie Lin’an’s father, he supported his brother, did he get any thanks? Thanks for what?

With a living example in front of them, it’s not wrong for her to choose to avoid the risk of supporting her brother.

But what about supporting her husband?

That’s also hard to say.

Ye Xiaozhen vaguely remembered Ye Zhengguo and Sun Qing talking about this, they said that Xie Li’s child had grown up, and her husband had graduated from college, but they never got married.

Thinking about this, Ye Xiaozhen asked Xie Lin’an, “Brother, will our sister and brother-in-law come to our wedding?”

Xie Lin’an was lost in thought.

Actually… he hadn’t seen his sister in years.

“I’ll ask someone to send her a message and see if she’ll come.”

As they were talking, they heard Xie Zhili and his wife talking to Grandpa outside.

Xie Lin’an walked to the window and saw them at the gate.

Their voices were very low, he couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Grandpa kept shaking his head, and after a while, they left angrily.

Xie Lin’an came back from the window and continued, “After my sister couldn’t support me in school anymore, I went to my third uncle to borrow money. I only had one year left, I was only one year away from graduating high school. I only needed one year’s worth of money, and then I would be done after I got into college. College was free, and they even gave us living expenses, but he just wouldn’t.”

Xie Lin’an’s face didn’t show much hatred when he said these words, it was more of helplessness.

“My family was in a very bad situation at that time, my grandpa was so old, and he still had to take care of my two younger brothers, my two younger brothers grew up drinking the rice soup he fed them.”

He chuckled and said, “Borrowing money is a matter of mutual consent. My family was in such a situation at that time, we had already borrowed a lot of debts. To support the two younger ones, we borrowed grain and money. This was for survival, people saw that we were pitiful and would lend us some.”

“But studying isn’t a necessity, many people dropped out of school because they didn’t have money. Even my own uncle wouldn’t lend me money, outsiders were even less likely, they all advised me to go out and work to earn money early to reduce the burden on Grandpa.”

“At that time, I had no choice, I couldn’t pay the tuition, and they wouldn’t let me go to school. My family was poor, so I could only go out and work. If it wasn’t for my teacher who felt sorry for me and kept my student status, allowing me to take the graduation exam when I graduated, I wouldn’t even have a high school diploma…”

He didn’t care whether Ye Xiaozhen understood or not, Xie Lin’an kept talking, and he didn’t stop for a long time.

After he finished speaking, he sat silently at the head of the bed, he sat there blankly for a long time before getting up and leaving.

He had never told anyone these heartfelt words.

Those were the hardest years of his first twenty years.

He had gone through the most difficult times, and he had never told anyone.

Now he was telling Ye Xiaozhen, he didn’t know if she understood.