Chapter 46: A Quiet Farewell

The wind howled outside at night, I could hear the wooshing sound even lying in bed.

The tabby cat had grown from a kitten into a half-grown cat, its fur pattern was exactly the same as its mother’s. But since they were weaned, the big cat had never appeared again, I don’t know if it’s still alive.

Holding its furry body, I suddenly felt uneasy.

This was an emotion I had never felt before.

I tossed and turned, but I still got out of bed. As soon as I opened the door, a biting cold wind rushed at me, it seemed to penetrate my body, even my bones felt a stinging pain.

The weather had turned completely cold.

As a local child, I knew that after the cold wind, winter would officially arrive, the most difficult time of the year.

Because in winter, not only are there no wild vegetables to supplement our food, but we also have to endure the cold.

Even though there’s a kang burning in the house, we can’t stay inside all day long, not doing any work.

This year, I have been filled with hardship, but I have also been lucky.

I lost my mother, but I also gained a master. I don’t have to face my paralyzed and grumpy grandmother anymore, and I don’t have to deal with the complicated family affairs of the Zhou family. Here with my master, although I have to do a lot of things, I can eat and wear warm clothes, and I can learn knowledge that I never had access to before to enrich myself.

I… I’m really lucky.

I stood at the door, looking out blankly for a long time. The already dim sky was even more hazy. I was so cold that my whole body was shivering, and I turned back to get my cotton-padded jacket to put on.

This was the cotton-padded jacket my master gave me. Although it was a bit big for me, it was soft, unlike the old jacket my mother used to wear, the cotton inside had gone through countless autumns and winters, it was so hard that if you took it out, it could probably smash someone’s head open.

There was a pile of firewood next to the fence, and there seemed to be a dark shadow huddled beside it. But the sky was so dark today, and my vision was blurry, I couldn’t see clearly.

I walked over cautiously, but I found that the dark shadow was actually my younger brother. He was squatting there, hugging his legs, his head buried in his knees, he was tightly curled up, I don’t know how long he had been there.

“Xiao An…”

I exclaimed, and went over to hug him.

Zhou An was still conscious, he opened his tired eyes and looked at his sister, he couldn’t hold back anymore, and burst into tears.

“Sister, sister, I miss you so much… I miss Mother… Don’t abandon me!”

I couldn’t be strong either, looking at my poor little brother, he was so small, wearing such thin clothes in the cold weather. The fence wasn’t high, he could have stepped over it and knocked on the door to ask for help, but he didn’t. He chose to squat here alone.

Because I had said before that I was just staying here temporarily, and it was already a big favor to occasionally give him some food. I couldn’t bear to ask my master to take him in too.

“What happened? Why aren’t you sleeping at home?” I could only ask him first. “Did they bully you?”

Zhou An shook his head. “I dreamed of Mother, I missed you, so I came here secretly. Sister, can I sleep with you? Just for one night, I’ll go home tomorrow.”

The expectation in his eyes made me unable to refuse.

“Okay, sleep here tonight.”

The bed in my room wasn’t big. It was originally prepared for patients in the clinic, but because I came, it was given to me to sleep on.

Zhou An’s small body wasn’t big, the two siblings huddled together and could still fit.

The tabby cat was unhappy that Zhou An had taken its place, it squeezed between the siblings and lay down.

Children like to be close to animals, he reached out to stroke its fur, and the tabby cat didn’t mind.

My sister’s embrace, the warm quilt, I also ate a bowl of hot water-soaked buns before going to sleep, with sugar added, it was sweet, sweet to my heart.

It was still dark when Zhou An got up secretly.

I woke up early, and I saw him sneaking around putting on his clothes.

“Why are you getting up so early? Why don’t you sleep a little longer?”

Zhou An whispered, “Sister, it’s not even dawn yet. I’ll leave secretly now, Doctor Jiang won’t know that I slept here last night.”

He thought that his sister was afraid that Doctor Jiang would scold her if she knew he came over. As long as he left quietly, his sister wouldn’t be scolded.

I was heartbroken by his carefulness. “You don’t have to do that. I didn’t let you come over because Master didn’t allow it, it’s because… I’ve already caused her a lot of trouble.”

I didn’t think my brother was a trouble, but I always felt that maybe, even I was a trouble to Doctor Jiang.

“Xiao An, how is Zhou Shugen?”

I don’t know if that man has bothered Doctor Jiang, but he came to me a few times before, asking me to help him plead with Doctor Jiang to treat his boils.

But I ignored him, I even hoped that he would be tortured to death by the boils, it would be revenge for our mother and daughter.

I don’t know if he found another way or what, but he hasn’t come to me recently.

“His illness is worse, many of the boils on his body have rotted and pus is flowing out.” Zhou An was a little scared when he talked about it. “I secretly heard Grandma and Grandpa discussing, they said that he’s going to die anyway, so they might as well take out the things hidden in the house now and exchange them for money to take him to the hospital for treatment. They only have one son, they can’t let anything happen to him.”

Zhou An was confused, but I knew that the things hidden in the house were stolen from the landlord’s house during the land reform. Actually, many families had them, not much, after all, the commotion back then was quite big, many people participated with hatred for the landlords, and it was easy to hide a couple of things without anyone noticing.

Or they noticed, but everyone kept it a secret, because they all hid things.

His stepmother had taken her child back to her parents’ home when Zhou Shugen’s boils started to appear, but she sent the child back after a few days.

The reason why he was so sad yesterday was because he was bullied by his half-brother.

Unlike my treatment at home, he was a boy after all, so he hasn’t been abused yet. It’s just that Zhou Shugen favors the one who grew up in front of him, and Grandpa and Grandma are also afraid that Zhou Shugen will end up with no wife and have to be a bachelor, so they look up to their later grandson and always tell him to endure it.

Zhou An was heartbroken, but he had nowhere to vent. He didn’t dare to tell his sister, afraid that she would worry. Yesterday, he was so angry that he ran out of the house.

For a moment, he even thought that it would be good if he froze to death, so he could go find his mother.

But the moment I came out and hugged him, I broke through his strong facade, making him want to be selfish again, so that his sister could stay with him.

Doctor Jiang also woke up early today. When she opened the door, she saw Zhou An squatting on the ground, feeding the tabby cat eggs.

The moment he saw Doctor Jiang, he jumped up as if he had a spring in his butt, immediately shrinking his hands and feet, lowering his head and not daring to look at her, as if he had done something wrong.