Chapter 22: The Fury of Diao Xiaojiao

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Li Li turned around and looked at Li Qi, setting down the liquor bottle.

“I don’t understand it. How can you men all love drinking this stuff? Apart from the burn, it doesn’t taste like anything. Little brother, I’m sorry about what happened today. I made you go to all that trouble for nothing.”

Li Qi took the bottle from her, placed it on the cabinet, and sat down beside her.

“Why are you saying that? Aren’t I your own little brother? For your sake, I’d climb mountains of blades and plunge into boiling oil. I’d go mad for you, lose my mind for you, and bang my head against a wall for you.”

“What a clown.”

Li Li tapped him on the forehead with one finger, her eyes full of affection.

“I didn’t dote on you for nothing when you were little. How many times did you wet yourself on me? And after you finished doing your business, you’d come looking for me to wipe your backside…”

“All right, all right, enough of that nonsense. A young woman shouldn’t keep boasting about her old exploits. Tell me something useful. Why have you suddenly decided to get divorced again?”

A look of relief crossed Li Li’s face.

“I used to worship Old Gao. He was my whole sky. He had a strong build, and he was incredibly strong. He could lift a hundred pounds of rice as easily as if he were playing with it. His voice was always full and forceful, and he could make decisions about anything. He was the backbone of the family.

“And at night, he was good too…”

At that, Li Li’s face reddened. She should not have been saying such things to her younger brother.

Yet these past two days, she could not explain why, but she kept feeling that her little brother had changed completely.

From his eyes to his bearing, there was some subtle, indefinable transformation in him. It gave her the strange impression that her younger brother had somehow become an elder in her place.

After their mother died, their father had never been able to shoulder responsibility. For the past two years, Li Li had felt that she had no one to rely on. But now, looking at her brother, she felt as though she had found her pillar of support again.

So she continued.

“Before today, Old Gao had been the perfect man in my eyes. He had no faults. He was the one I depended on. I didn’t know how I would survive without him.

“But just now, at that little slut’s house, Old Gao panicked. He knelt on the brick bed, clasped his hands, and begged for mercy. Later, he even knelt before me in nothing but his underwear.

“Suddenly, I realized that there was nothing so remarkable about this man after all.

“Then I started thinking about all the times he bullied me, and all the times his mother cursed me while he just stood by without saying a word.

“That wicked old woman treated Junmei terribly. Even when she bought a fried dough twist, she would hide away and eat it in secret so that Junmei and I wouldn’t find out.

“Whenever she bought sweets, the children from both of Old Gao’s brothers’ families got some. Junmei was the only one left out.

“What did Junmei understand? He would stare at the sweets, drooling, and ask me for some.

“But I never had any money…

“I just endured it all. And every day she cursed me for giving birth to a worthless girl and cutting off her son’s bloodline.

“Then, all at once, I felt that enduring all this for such a man simply wasn’t worth it.”

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Li Qi nodded. He understood how Li Li felt. For all these years, she had worshiped Old Gao and unconsciously minimized all his faults.

Then, all at once, her faith had collapsed.

“Actually, Old Gao is just an ordinary man. It was your love that gilded him and made him seem extraordinary. Now that you’ve finally seen clearly, there’s no longer any light in your eyes when you look at him.”

The heavy weight in Li Qi’s heart finally lifted.

The best possible outcome was for his elder sister to break free. Otherwise, after all this commotion, Old Gao would behave himself for half a year at most. He would still be unable to control the thing between his legs and would go out looking for trouble again.

Li Qi took out the agreement Gao Jianye had signed.

“This is the agreement Old Gao signed. Tomorrow, the two of you will go through with the divorce. After that, he’ll give you one-third of his monthly wages as child support for Junmei.”

Li Li glanced at the paper and shook her head.

“His mother won’t agree to give me any money. All these years, whenever Old Gao got paid, he handed half of it to his mother, and spent nearly all the rest drinking and playing mahjong.

“He couldn’t give me even ten yuan in an entire year. Sometimes, when Junmei needed a pen or a notebook, I had to ask him several times before he would scowl and toss me a single yuan. He nearly threw it in my face.

“To tell you the truth, I really don’t know how I’m going to live from now on. I don’t even know whether Dad will agree to let Junmei and me come back and stay here.”

As she spoke, tears began to stream down Li Li’s face again.

Li Qi hurriedly patted her back.

“It’s all right, Sis. Don’t worry about any of that. Dad will definitely let you come home. You’re so capable, and everything you cook tastes wonderful. What have you got to be afraid of?

“Put your mind completely at ease. Once the divorce is settled, I’ll find you a way to make money. I guarantee that you and Junmei will build a good life together.

“As for the child support, don’t worry. We have the photographs. If Old Gao dares refuse to pay, I have plenty of ways to deal with him.”

Li Li had cried herself out. Seeing that it was getting late, and that their father would soon be home from work while Li Zhe and Gao Junmei would soon be out of school, she wiped away her tears.

“I’m done crying. At least we still have money to spend for the moment, so there’s no point worrying yet. What would you like for dinner? I’ll make it.”

Li Qi nodded repeatedly. As long as his elder sister had this attitude, everything would work out.

“Let’s make steamed buns stuffed with pork and scallions. I haven’t had them in ages.”

“All right. I’ll make radish soup too, and fry some peanuts for Dad to go with his drinks.”

Li Li briskly went into the kitchen and began preparing the meal. Li Qi leaned back and stretched out on the brick bed, thinking about his sister’s future.

There were actually plenty of options. Once he bought a stall at Taihe Market, he could have Li Li start by selling fruit.

Or she could sell steamed buns along the road outside the mining district.

Li Li’s steamed buns were truly exceptional. Everyone who tasted them praised them. Her filling was seasoned perfectly—not too salty, not too bland—and Li Qi could easily eat seven or eight in one sitting.

In later years, a stall selling egg pancakes outside a factory could bring in more than a thousand yuan in sales over the course of a single morning.

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It would take hard work, of course, and she would have to rise early.

But his elder sister was hardworking and resilient. There was no way she would fail to make money.

While Li Qi was lost in thought, planning a way for his sister to build a future, Gao Jianye had already returned home.

His mother’s surname was Diao, though the neighbors all called her Diao the Three-Inch Feet. She had a sharp, simian face, high cheekbones, and slanting eyes.

The moment she saw her son, she knew something was wrong. Normally, he held his head high and looked down on everyone as though he could see them only from beneath his chin. Now, however, his head hung low and he looked utterly dejected.

“Eldest, what happened? Did someone bully you? Tell your mother. I’ll go deal with them myself!”

“I went to Mo Chunfeng’s house today. I don’t know how it happened, but Li Li and her brother stormed in with the mine’s supervisors, beat Mo Chunfeng, and forced me to divorce her.”

“What? The supervisors found out? What are you going to do? Could you lose your job?”

Old Gao, his father, came out of the room as well and asked anxiously, “It didn’t go that far, did it?”

“But Li the Third said I have to divorce his sister.”

“Then divorce her! That barren slut! The fact that we haven’t cast her aside already is proof of our generosity. She actually had the nerve to make trouble for you. Is she determined to keep you from ever having a son?

“Don’t be afraid, son. You’ve got such a good job and earn so much every month. With all the good girls around, we can choose whichever one we want for our family.”

Diao the Three-Inch Feet spoke with complete indifference, but Gao Jianye’s next words nearly made her nose twist with rage.

“They took photographs of me with Mo Chunfeng.

“Then they said that from now on, I have to hand over one-third of my monthly wages as child support. They even forced me to draw up a written agreement, sign it, and leave my fingerprint.”

“They can dream! I’ll curse that whole Li family to—”

Diao the Three-Inch Feet had never suffered such humiliation in her life. Burning with rage, she launched into a vicious tirade, cursing the entire Li family from the first generation to the last.

Even after she finished, she was still not satisfied.

“That family must have lost their minds. A barren old hen and a worthless girl, and they still think they can take more than thirty yuan from you every month.

“Is Li Li made of gold? She’s nothing but a piece of trash, a worthless burden no one would pick up even if she were thrown by the roadside, and she still dares demand child support from us.

“I’d be doing her a favor by giving her five yuan a year.

“This absolutely cannot stand. Old Gao, call your elder brother and your younger brother’s men. Bring whatever weapons you can find and go down the mountain to the Li family’s house.

“Today, they will hand over those photographs and the agreement my son signed.

“Otherwise, I’ll set their house on fire and leave every member of the Li family lying dead in the street!”