Chapter 31: Only I Can Bully My Brother

“You’re not worried they’ll be two-faced, eat your candy, and laugh and joke with Jianguo right in front of you, then go behind your back to bully him?”

Lin Bingwei was speechless. “What are you thinking? These kids are only five or six years old; how could they have such complex thoughts?”

Today they had played in the mud a bit too enthusiastically, and Zhang Jianguo, who usually kept clean, was now covered in mud.

Lin Bingwei wanted to change him into a cotton jacket but rummaged through theboxes only to find one that was too small for him. It left his arms sticking out halfway.

What to do?

Lin Bingwei shouted, “Zhang Tingyuan, it seems like Jianguo doesn’t have any clothes to wear.”

“How does he not have clothes?” he asked. “Didn’t he just change?”

“All covered in mud, he’s filthy!”

Zhang Tingyuan strolled over slowly, looked at Zhang Jianguo, and said, “Didn’t Mom just change him into this this morning?”

“I think so.”

“Then he hasn’t even gotten it dirty from yesterday; check the wardrobe again.”

“There’s nothing left except this one, and it’s way too small.”

Zhang Tingyuan looked around and replied, “Then there might not be any more.”

Lin Bingwei said, “What do we do? Jianguo only has two sets of clothes!”

Zhang Tingyuan looked at her with a strange expression, “Two sets aren’t enough? This is a cotton jacket. Do you know how many sets of clothes the children from the poorest family in our village have?”

“Hmm?”

“They have seven siblings and only one decent outfit a year, whoever goes out wears it. The ones who don’t go out are left in tattered clothing, running around barefoot in winter.”

Lin Bingwei: “…”

Although it was outrageous, he was speaking the truth.

They needed to hurry because Li Yurong and the others would be back soon.

Looking down at the muddy Zhang Jianguo, Lin Bingwei didn’t know how to explain the situation.

Zhang Tingyuan seemed indifferent. “Boys are supposed to be a bit dirty. Besides, he looks much cleaner than those kids over by the door earlier.”

That was true.

In fact, during this period, muddy children were common in the countryside, but Zhang Jianguo was a bit special; he usually didn’t play in the mud because he had enough food and clothes, so he stayed relatively clean.

Whenever his grandmother took care of him, he was kept tidy, but after just half a day at her place, he had become such a mess. It bothered her a bit.

When Zhang Yuanxiu and Li Yurong returned, Lin Bingwei quickly took Zhang Jianguo to find Li Yurong. “Mom, I let Jianguo play in the mud with the village kids today, and now his clothes are so dirty. He has no clothes to change into.”

Li Yurong’s focus wasn’t on the clothes at all, but she squatted down, looking at Zhang Jianguo with delight. “Oh, my Jianguo is playing in the mud with others now?”

Zhang Jianguo nodded.

Li Yurong quickly asked, “Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, it was fun.”

Li Yurong was overjoyed. “If it was fun, then do it again tomorrow!”

Then she turned to Lin Bingwei and said, “It doesn’t matter if his clothes get dirty; boys are always like that.”

Lin Bingwei twitched her mouth. “Shouldn’t we buy him another set of clothes then?”

“It’s fine; besides, we don’t have any cloth coupons left.”

Lin Bingwei replied, “As long as we don’t buy from the supply and marketing cooperative, we won’t need cloth coupons. I can buy some fabric from the factory in the city.”

Li Yurong looked at Zhang Jianguo, thought for a moment, and said, “Maybe it’s better not to buy it now; we can talk about it next year. Kids grow so fast; it’ll be enough to keep changing them.”

They didn’t seem to mind whether the clothes were dirty or not.

Li Yurong was pleased as she looked at Zhang Jianguo, saying, “Where’s the dirt? This is much better than your uncle when he was little.”

His uncle: “…”

“Mom, could you not disparage me in front of Weiwei?”

“How am I disparaging you? I’m just stating the facts; you are not as easygoing as your brother.”

Mentioning her eldest son momentarily brought a flash of pain to Li Yurong’s face.

It had been three years since he left, and she would often bring him up unintentionally.

Zhang Tingyuan, unaware, continued, “Where was my brother easygoing? He was always bullied, and I had to help him fight back.”

Lin Bingwei: Hmm?

Li Yurong retorted, “But you also bullied him a lot, didn’t you?”

At this moment, the atmosphere became tense.

Lin Bingwei noticed the shift and quickly spoke up to ease things.

“Mom, let’s take Jianguo outside to clean him up.”

Li Yurong readily agreed, “Alright, let’s go clean him by the haystack.”

Lin Bingwei and Li Yurong took Zhang Jianguo over by the haystack to clean the mud off him. While they were cleaning, Li Yurong also began to talk about Zhang Tingyuan’s elder brother, Zhang Tingyi.

“That boy is completely different from Tingyuan’s temperament—he’s so honest. You mentioned last time that honest people get bullied; that’s true.”

Lin Bingwei was surprised. “Zhang Tingyuan used to bully his brother?”

“Well, not exactly. He actually always protected his brother. If anyone bullied his brother, he would fight back. His frustration was really about Tingyi being such a nice guy.”

Hearing this, Lin Bingwei began to understand.

“Let’s not talk about him.” Li Yurong turned her face away and secretly wiped away her tears.

“Talking about him after he’s been gone for several years still brings sadness.”

Before long, the two had cleaned Zhang Jianguo from top to bottom, and Li Yurong said, “Alright, let’s head back; your meal is surely already made.”

“Yes, it’s kept warm in the pot.”

On the second day of the New Year, Lin Bingwei did not go back to her family.

After the New Year, there were no relatives left to visit at the Zhang family.

The Zhang family hadn’t had a daughter for three generations, and Zhang Yuanxiu’s brothers had all died young, leaving them without family.

Li Yurong was the youngest daughter in her family, the late-life child of her parents. Her three older brothers had all gone to fight in the Anti-Japanese War when they were young and had perished on the battlefield.

After her mother raised her, she passed away too, and with no one left on her maternal side, they had no relatives.

Because of this, it had been difficult for Zhang Tingyuan’s family following the tragedy in his previous life.

Lin Bingwei didn’t return to her family on the second day of the New Year, but on the sixth day, she took Zhang Tingyuan to the hospital for a follow-up examination. They had just left the house when Lin Wangsheng and his family of three came to visit.

They had changed their attitude, bringing a bag of white sugar and a bag of rock candy with cheerful faces.

Before they could even speak, Bihua tugged at Li Yurong, calling her “in-laws” repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Lin Wangsheng handed a cigarette to Zhang Yuanxiu, enthusiastically chatting away.

Even Lin Yaozu had changed, pulling out some candy to sweet-talk Zhang Jianguo.

“Jianguo, big brother has candy for you! Come play with big brother.”

Bihua gave him a smack on the head. “What nonsense are you talking? This is your sister’s nephew; you’re the little uncle.”

“Oh, oh, Jianguo, come, uncle will take you to play.”

Bihua grinned, exposing a mouthful of yellowed teeth, and said, “You don’t mind, do you? Kids don’t understand, so they mixed up their family relations.”

Their family’s performance left Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife bewildered.

Li Yurong said, “Don’t call me in-laws. Who are your in-laws? Weiwei already said you aren’t her biological parents.”

Lin Wangsheng’s face darkened. “What does she know?”

Bihua hurriedly shot him a glare and then, with a smile, looked at Li Yurong and said, “Hey, this child hates us for being biased toward boys, but she’s truly our own. Young people just don’t know any better; you can’t really believe what she says, can you?”