Chapter 7: “Friendly Siblings”

Over the three days her mother was in the hospital, Jiang Wanwan lived a pretty good life.

Her mother’s attitude had softened. Perhaps it was the realization that her stubborn insistence on sending her daughter away had made Jiang Wanwan so desperate that she would make a deal with a gang leader rather than talk to her. This seemed to have taught her a lesson. Jiang Lan wasn’t exactly warm and friendly, but she wasn’t constantly glaring or scolding her like before.

What made it even better was that all of her mother’s friends and neighbors brought food when they came to visit. There were fruits, eggs, and even some braised pig trotters from a kind lady named Aunt Han. Since her mother had a poor appetite, Jiang Wanwan ate everything.

She spent her days eating her fill, patting her little potbelly, and then strolling around the hospital to chat with the nurses, helping her digestion. Life was quite nice.

Truthfully, her mother just had a bit of high blood pressure and didn’t have any major health issues; a few pills at home would have been fine. She insisted on staying in the hospital for three days for two reasons: first, to keep Jiang Wanwan close and away from the gang leader—and to make sure he didn’t come bothering her at home. Second, she needed time for her husband to contact her brother back in their hometown and figure out what to do about her daughter’s job.

Should they sell the job at the machinery factory and buy a new one in the county, or arrange a job swap with a teacher from the county who wanted to come to the city?

Her second uncle was very efficient. On the second afternoon of her mother’s hospital stay, he called his brother-in-law and told him to sell the city job. They could buy a new one in the county for about two hundred yuan less. He had already found a position, and as soon as the money was paid and the paperwork was done, Jiang Wanwan could start working.

So, on the third afternoon, Xu Weishan took a half-day off to handle his wife’s discharge. Their son, Xu Huipeng, had been loudly insisting that he wanted to come to the hospital to pick up his mom. Thinking that the boy hadn’t seen his mom in nearly three days, Xu Weishan brought him along.

As soon as the little chubby boy entered the ward and saw his second sister nonchalantly eating an apple with her feet propped up, he was furious.

“You big meanie! You’re eating all the good stuff without me again!”

When Jiang Wanwan saw the boy coming to grab the apple, she jumped off the stool. Like a hamster, she clutched the remaining half of the apple and devoured it furiously, leaving only the core.

Little Xu Huipeng saw this and started screaming with rage.

“Big Sister was right! You’re a selfish meanie! You secretly ate roasted chicken, and now you’re secretly eating an apple. I don’t like you anymore!”

“Well, look at you, little porker, you’re such a traitor!” Jiang Wanwan shot back, completely shameless. “I was always the one who saved the best food for you! Who was it that saved you when your big sister bullied you? And now, all because of half a roasted chicken and one apple, you turn on me? My heart is completely broken…”

To her surprise, the boy got even angrier, his face turning bright red as he shouted at his unreasonable second sister.

“It wasn’t just half a chicken! Don’t think I didn’t know you secretly ate a whole other one on Monday! I saw the chicken bones in the trash can! You’re so mean!”

Jiang Wanwan rubbed her nose, thinking, Oh, crap. She had been in such a rush after her mom fainted that she forgot to get rid of the evidence in the trash can.

But to admit her mistake so easily? That wouldn’t be Jiang Wanwan.

“I did it for your own good. Little kids who eat too much roasted chicken get tummy aches.” She lied easily while pulling a can of malted milk extract from the cabinet next to her mother’s bed.

“See? I saved the good stuff for you!”

The little chubby boy immediately fell for it.

Forgetting his anger, the boy pounced, grabbing the can of malted milk extract and hugging it to his chest.

He glanced toward the door like a thief, then opened the lid, only for his expression to sour instantly.

“You ate most of the can and left me this little bit?” The boy’s eyes widened, his face dark with accusation.

“How could you say that! This is for Mom to drink! She’s sick, you know, she needs to supplement her nutrition,”Jiang Wanwan said, trying to bluff her way out of it.

“You’re lying again! This is cocoa flavor! Mom hates chocolate and cocoa!” The boy didn’t fall for it this time. He presented his damning evidence, arguing his point.

“Ah, you got me… Fine, I’ll tell you the truth. I drank it!” Seeing her chubby brother about to get angry again, Jiang Wanwan quickly added, “But!”

“Mom forced me to drink it! She said malted milk extract would make you fat, and you’re already fat enough. She said she couldn’t give you any more.” Jiang Wanwan threw up her hands, pretending she was powerless.

“This little bit is all I could save by lying to Mom, saying I was saving it for Big Sister.”

The boy was completely heartbroken.

So that’s it! No wonder Mom hadn’t bought him any malted milk extract in so long. She thought he was too fat? He remembered the disgusted look on her face last time he cried and begged for it at the department store.

Little Xu Huipeng’s young heart was shattered.

Jiang Wanwan saw her chubby brother’s mouth turn down, tears welling up in his eyes, and she panicked.

Oh no, I went too far.

To fix her mistake, she quickly grabbed a spoon from the lunchbox on the bedside table and put it in his hand.

“Come on, don’t think about it so much. Mom’s not here, so hurry and eat! This time, let’s live a little—no water, just eat it straight from the can!”

The boy looked at the spoon in his hand, then at the can of malted milk extract. He sniffled, wiping away his tears and snot, and turned his grief into strength, eating with gusto!

He didn’t stop until the can was completely empty. He licked his lips, feeling a sense of deep satisfaction.

So what if I’m chubby? he thought. Grandma said being chubby is a sign of strength.

Just then, a glass of water was offered to him. Little Xu Huipeng looked up at the sister trying to win him over. He snorted and took the glass.

“Pengpeng, am I good to you?” Jiang Wanwan asked, a kind smile on her face.

“Hmm, I guess so,” the boy mumbled.

“Then who will you help the next time Big Sister and I get into a fight?”

“Oh, you’re both family, I can’t really take sides,” he said, rubbing his belly and feigning maturity.

“Is that so? Then I’ll have to tell Big Sister that her good brother stole her half-can of malted milk extract.”

When the boy heard this, his hand froze on his stomach. He looked up at his second sister’s wicked smile, and with a heavy expression, he continued, “But the palm of my hand is much thicker. Second Sister, you are the flesh of my palm.”

Jiang Wanwan nodded, satisfied, a pleased expression on her face as if a good student had finally come to his senses.

When Xu Weishan and Jiang Lan returned to the room after her discharge, they found a scene of two siblings in perfect harmony. Xu Weishan nodded with relief, his worries from his wife’s hospital stay melting away.

On the way home, Xu Weishan suddenly remembered something.

“Huiwan, one of your classmates came looking for you yesterday afternoon.”

“Was it Miao Qingqing?”

“No, I know little Miao. But I hadn’t seen this girl before. She was very pretty, with a low ponytail tied with a silk scarf. She was quite unique. She was waiting for you for a long time, but you weren’t back from the hospital, so she left a message for you to go see her at the textile factory dormitory.”

“I asked her what she wanted, but she didn’t say,” Xu Weishan recalled.

Jiang Wanwan briefly thought about the original owner’s classmates. Besides Miao Qingqing, they were all familiar strangers—nobody important.

“If she didn’t say anything, it must not be important. Don’t worry about it.”

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As soon as the family arrived home, Jiang Wanwan hadn’t even had a moment to rest when her mother started urging her to pack, saying they would take her back to their hometown early the next morning.

Jiang Wanwan thought her mother was being a little too hasty, but she didn’t argue. She obediently went to her room to pack her luggage.

As soon as she went back to her room, her mother pulled her husband aside and went into their bedroom to talk.

“Did you go to the affiliated elementary school to check? Did that gang leader really get her in?”

“Yes, he did. They’ve even transferred her file over.”

“You’ll have to take another day off tomorrow to take her to the county. Give the money to my second brother first. Once we sell her job here, we’ll get her a new one in the county.”

Xu Weishan nodded, then added, “But that job won’t be as easy to sell as a factory position.”

“Being a teacher isn’t a great job these days. Even though we haven’t had it as bad here, look at those old teachers—they still have to sweep streets and write self-criticism reports every few days.”

“We’ll take a little less money if we have to, but we need to get this done quickly,” Jiang Lan said, rubbing her forehead. “I’m just worried that Shen Sanqian won’t give up and will come back to bother her or try some kind of dirty trick.”

“He won’t. We’re sending Wanwan back to the county tomorrow. He won’t have a chance to bother her anymore,”Xu Weishan said, patting his wife on the shoulder to reassure her.

“I hope you’re right…”

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In her room, Jiang Wanwan began to pack. She found a stylish, checkered handbag and put in her clothes, her high school textbooks, and her soap, towel, and cold cream… Wait.

Why is the cold cream empty? I remember there was still half a bottle left.

In this era, cold cream was a luxury. A small bottle cost forty cents—enough to buy half a pound of pork. Even though the Xu family was financially comfortable, her mother was always very stingy with it. Jiang Huiwan and Xu Huirong would only get their own bottles after their mother had finished hers. Xu Huirong had a big face and was always clumsy, so she always finished her bottle first and would then steal Jiang Huiwan’s.

Jiang Wanwan had only been at the hospital for three nights, and the half-full bottle of cold cream was already gone. There was no doubt about it—Xu Huirong had stolen it. It was her own fault; she had forgotten to lock the door. As a result, her chubby brother saw the chicken bones, and her cold cream was stolen.

Jiang Wanwan thought about it. There might not even be osmanthus-scented cold cream for sale in the county, since even in the city, only the department store sold it. She decided she should buy two bottles to be safe before she left.

Also, since she was going back to her hometown, her relatives would definitely be enthusiastic and give her food and clothes, which she would have to accept. But she wasn’t their real niece, so she felt a little uneasy. Jiang Wanwan decided to buy the cold cream and then get half a roasted chicken to bring to her relatives as a small token of her appreciation.

She decided to go right away! Jiang Wanwan tucked her money and ration coupons into her pocket. She had meant to tell her mother, but the bedroom door was closed. She figured she would be quick—just buy what she needed and come right back. There was no need to inform her mother.

However, when Jiang Wanwan finished her shopping and took a shortcut home through the alley between the factory and the residential area, she instantly regretted it.

Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed was none other than Shen Tingjun!