Chapter 14: A Woman Arrived
Page 1 of 3
Li Qi was so furious his nose nearly twisted out of shape.
“I swear, looking at you is like looking at a bicycle. You’re standing there with that big donkey face, braying your head off. You look like hell, yet you’ve got dreams fit for an emperor.
“It only takes you twenty minutes to walk to school. And now I’m supposed to buy you a bicycle too? What great contribution have you made in a day?
“Should I buy you a North Korean wife to wait on you hand and foot?
“Your father rides that busted old bike every day. The chain comes off whenever he goes uphill, and the handlebars shake like he’s having a seizure on the way down. A journey that should take an hour means he rides for twenty minutes, pushes the bike for another twenty, then carries it and runs for the last twenty.
“If you had even the slightest bit of sense, you wouldn’t think this bicycle was for you.”
Li Zhe was stunned by the tirade. He stared at the new bicycle, his eyes full of reluctance.
“Several boys in my class have bicycles. I’m the only one who doesn’t.”
“Several boys in your class also rank among the top three whenever there’s an exam. How come you never manage that? Is it because you don’t want to?
“Don’t stand there with nothing to say but hot air. If you don’t like what you’re hearing, get lost.”
Enraged, Li Zhe stomped into the little room and slammed the door behind him.
His heart had gone completely cold with disappointment.
His father’s old bicycle was still usable, while his Third Brother was nothing but an unemployed layabout and had no business riding a bicycle at all. This new bicycle clearly ought to have been his.
He was the family’s hope for the future.
The boys in his class who owned bicycles could take their female classmates out for rides after school. What was wrong with him? Why shouldn’t he have a bicycle?
How badly he wanted to take his goddess, Deng Fengyan, out for a ride on his own bicycle.
Why couldn’t they understand him?
Since his father and Third Brother treated him this way, trampling on his pride and ignoring his desires, then once he got into college and became a high-ranking official, he would treat them just as his eldest brother, Li Peng, did and ignore them completely.
At that moment, he empathized with Li Peng. His eldest brother must have stopped coming home because he, too, felt that everyone in this family was selfish and coldhearted.
When would he finally be able to establish a household of his own and stop returning to this nauseating home?
Li Qi could not be bothered with him. He parked the bicycle, went inside, and tossed the key to Old Li.
“Tomorrow you ride the new one. I’ll make do with the old bike.”
Li Mantang sucked in a sharp breath.
“Where did you get the money? Don’t tell me some widow has taken a fancy to you.”
Page 1 of 3
Page 2 of 3
Li Li chimed in from the side.
“Maybe some family’s daughter has gone blind and fallen for him. Could it be the second daughter of the Jin family? Third Brother, that won’t do. That girl’s not right in the head. When it rains, she doesn’t even know to run home. Don’t get mixed up with her.”
Li Qi’s teeth hurt just listening to her.
“Is that any way for a human being to talk?
“Please, the two of you, act like decent people. Other than selling myself, is there really nothing else I can do to earn money?”
Li Li shook her head.
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t think you could make any money even by selling yourself. Go take a piss and look at your reflection. What decent girl would have a screw loose enough to fall for you?”
Li Qi felt that his elder sister was becoming less and less worthy of sympathy. She was using what little talent she had entirely against him, and her tongue was vicious.
Yet whenever she returned home and saw Gao Jianye, she became as timid as a kitten and did not dare utter a loud word.
Weary to the bone, Li Qi said, “I went to Big Brother’s workplace to get the passbook Mom left behind before she died. Guess what? Big Brother had 1,740 yuan in his hands!
“That donkey-fucking bastard watched the three of us go hungry while secretly hoarding that much money. I threatened to make a scene at the education bureau if he didn’t hand it over, and he gave me the passbook.
“Dad, Sis, let me make this clear now: I’m not giving this money back to him. He’ll definitely come home asking for it later, so don’t either of you take his side. It won’t do any good.”
Li Li had heard the neighbors talking about what happened the day before. Her expression darkened.
“My Gao gives half his wages to his mother every month. He says the family worked hard to raise him, so he has to support the household and help provide for his younger brothers and sisters.
“Our youngest brother studied for so many years, yet he isn’t even as useful as a miner. Doesn’t know the first thing about being a decent human being.
“I heard he gave all of Mom’s money to his wife’s family. Did studying make him stupid?”
Old Li Mantang sighed as well.
Only he knew how hard the past three years had been, raising two half-grown boys alone. Yet his eldest son had so much money in his hands and simply watched him struggle through those bitter days.
What was worse, the man kept insisting that the family had always lived off him.
That ungrateful bastard. What good was such a miserable excuse for an eldest son?
Even raising a puppy would have given them a watchdog. To raise him, put him through school, and help him get married, the family had endured years of wretched living.
It was only after the policies changed and his wife began selling prepared food that their circumstances finally improved.
Sadly, she had left them just like that...
Page 2 of 3
Page 3 of 3
As Old Li lamented, a small sedan pulled up on the road outside. Li Peng hurried out of the back seat and jogged around to the passenger side, opening the door and bending forward to usher out a woman.
She looked to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Her hair was styled in the latest fashion, and her makeup was exquisite. She wore a women’s wool coat, tall leather boots, and a pair of wool gloves.
After getting out, she looked at the drab gray houses, the snow piled along the narrow path, and the frozen heaps of stray dog droppings scattered by the roadside.
A look of undisguised disgust appeared on her face.
“Is this where people live?”
Li Peng nervously rubbed his hands together and smiled ingratiatingly.
“That’s the countryside for you. There’s no sense of hygiene at all. I’m sorry.”
“Lead the way. If it weren’t for Tianyi, I couldn’t stay in a dump like this for even a minute.
“Your Third Brother is completely insane. Our family is offering him money and a job, giving him a chance to leave this place. It’s a blessing he could pray for over several lifetimes. How dare he refuse us?”
“Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right. The boy has been thick-headed and stubborn since he was little. There’s something wrong with his brain. I’ll give him a proper talking-to and make sure he listens.
“Please, this way.”
Li Peng pulled open the crooked wooden door of his home. The woman’s brows drew tightly together.
They called this a door?
Several scraps of wood had been nailed into a single panel. Half the hinges were broken, and the whole thing looked ready to collapse.
She truly could not understand how people could be so lazy, leaving the entrance to their own home in such a disgraceful state without bothering to repair it.
Seeing the woman’s displeased expression, Li Peng cursed his father and two younger brothers inwardly. The three of them were humiliating him beyond words.
Sometimes he genuinely felt that Heaven was unfair. Why should someone as outstanding as him have to bear the burden of such an undignified family?
For now, however, he could only endure it. He still needed his Third Brother to exchange for twenty thousand yuan and secure the goodwill of his paternal uncle’s family.
Once this matter was settled, he would never come back to this home again.
Li Peng opened the inner door and lifted the greasy, discolored curtain hanging over it. The woman completely lost her composure.
She could not imagine what it would be like if that filth-encrusted curtain brushed against her head or clothing.
“I’m not going in. Call your father and your Third Brother out. I want to ask them exactly what they think they’re doing.”
“All right, all right. I’ll go right now. Please wait here.”
Li Peng could feel the woman’s contempt. Embarrassed and furious, his face flushed as he entered the house. Then, in the tone of a teacher scolding his students, he shouted:
“Dad! Third Brother! Get up, both of you! Uncle Manjiang’s eldest daughter is here. She wants you to come outside and answer some questions.”
Page 3 of 3