Chapter 166 A story within a story

Chapter 166 A story within a story

Her name is Liu Pandi and she was born in a small village near the Yangtze River.

Liu Pandi was raised by her sisters. As far as she can remember, she has only seen her sisters. Her grandparents and parents were busy with farm work in the fields every day. She has never seen a smile on their faces since she was a child.

After Liu Pandi could walk, she followed her sisters to help with the work. Every time they went out to the fields, they would pass by the mountains near the village. She often heard children crying on the mountain. She asked her parents, but they said she had heard it wrong. Girls should not talk too much and ask nonsense.

In the summer, she and her sisters would collect firewood on the mountain, and the mountain was filled with stench. It was so bad that her sisters would go to another mountain to collect firewood.

When she was little, she felt hungry every day and never had enough to eat. She couldn't stand the hunger anymore, so she asked her sister, who said she was hungry too. The eldest and second sisters brought three bowls of warm water, and the three sisters drank slowly, and then they were full. Not long after, she came back from the toilet even hungrier.

Liu Pandi hates winter the most. She doesn't like snow at all. It snows in her hometown, but not every winter. Winter is too cold! It's even colder when it snows! When winter comes, she feels pain all over her body, cold and painful.

Time passed as people struggled. She was 9 years old, and her grandparents said she was a big girl. Her elder sister was getting married, but she didn't know what marriage meant. She heard from her parents that she was going to live a good life in someone else's home.

Liu Pandi was reluctant to let go of her elder sister. She no longer had her elder sister in the family. She belonged to someone else's family. She saw her elder sister crying and crying very sadly. She went to her grandparents and parents to ask if it was okay not to let her elder sister go to someone else's family.

She touched her hurt hands and feet and went to find her eldest sister, who hugged her and cried, and her second sister also cried. She thought that her eldest sister was reluctant to leave this family and them.

Two days later, the elder sister was picked up by someone. She was wearing a new red dress and sat on a donkey.

Liu Pandi saw her elder sister wearing new clothes for the first time. She could ride a donkey instead of walking. That must be what her parents said, that she was going to live a good life. She was very happy that her elder sister could live a good life.

She asked her second sister, it was great that her eldest sister was living a good life.

The second sister ignored her and pulled her to follow the crowd. They walked a long way, it was the first time she had been to such a far place.

Liu Pandi and her second sister heard the cry of a baby again while walking on the road. The cry was soft and weak, sometimes coming and sometimes not. She looked towards the source of the sound and saw a very tall and big... house?

The second sister told her that it was not a house but a tower.

The two sisters followed the crowd into the city, walked down another street, and turned a few corners to see the eldest sister sitting on the donkey and walking into the alley. The door in the alley opened, the eldest sister got off the donkey and walked in, and the door closed.

The second sister pulled her away and walked back.

Liu Pandi smiled and said, "Second sister, my eldest sister is really living a good life in the city. Can we come and visit her in the future?"

The second sister said she couldn’t come and quickly pulled Liu Pandi back.

Along the way, Liu Pandi looked around curiously. The city was so nice! It was her first time in the city. She wished she could come here every day.

After leaving the city and passing by a tower in the wild, Liu Pandi heard the crying of a baby coming from inside again.

She had grown up accustomed to hearing the cry of babies in the mountains of her village all year round. Her parents said it was the cry of night cats, and that wild things in the mountains imitated human cries and specifically lured children up the mountain and then ate them.

When they returned to the village, the aunts who were sitting under a tree and chatting pointed at the two sisters and said that their mother couldn't give birth to a boy, and what would happen to the Liu family in the future?

Liu Pandi went back and told her grandparents, who said with a stern face that she and her sister should eat less and work more so that her mother could have a younger brother.

At this time, the second sister would shrink her body, lower her head, and stand aside without saying a word. Liu Pandi looked at the second sister and didn't dare to say anything either.

She had heard from the women in the village that a big belly would lead to a child. But her mother was pregnant every year! Why didn't she have a younger brother?

Every time my mother's belly shrank after a few months, my father and grandparents looked very unhappy. My eldest sister, the second sister and she dared not say a word, so my eldest sister took them out to collect firewood and pick wild vegetables.

The eldest sister had only been away from home for one day, and she missed her elder sister so much! In the future, only she and the second sister will be at home. Will the second sister also live a good life in someone else's home?

So... she's the only child left in the family?

Life went on as usual, and suddenly one day, the head of the village asked everyone to gather under a big tree at the entrance of the village.

After gathering together, her grandparents, parents let her and her second sister go to work on the other side of the river. Even though they were teenagers working, they could get paid!

The girls in the village were sent to the other side of the river the next day.

Liu Pandi asked his second sister, "There is work to do and money to be made, so why don't the grandfathers, uncles, and fathers in the village come to work, and why don't the boys in the village come? Aren't the men more capable?"

Later, she often came to the bathing center outside Qingshui City on the other side of the river to work, and learned from the aunt who was in charge that they were not citizens of the country.

The country only accepts women from other countries to work as temporary workers, providing them with three meals a day and distributing supplies every five days. The supplies are ordinary food, clothing and daily necessities.

The country's money could not be taken out, and gold, silver and copper were even less allowed to be taken out. When they came to work, they could only take ordinary materials back.

I got off work at 18: in the afternoon, had dinner and then took a boat back across the river. There is a small state-owned ferry that picks people up in the morning and drops them off in the evening, twice a day.

Since she started working as a temporary worker in Qingshui City, she could eat three meals a day at the place where she worked. Her mother, her second sister and she all had some color on their faces. She finally knew what it felt like to be full. It turned out that people could eat their fill.

It turned out that in addition to vegetable porridge, porridge, and hard black pancakes, there was also rice, white steamed buns, meat buns, noodles, and braised pork... It was so delicious! She felt like she was dreaming!

A year later, her mother's belly got bigger again. After her mother's belly got bigger for a few months, her grandparents and father stopped letting her cross the river to work.

One day, she and her second sister came home from work and saw their grandparents and father smiling brightly, and the house was full of joy.

That was the first time she saw them laugh. It turned out they could laugh!

Liu Pandi looked at his red, wrinkled brother who was held in his grandmother's arms. His grandmother's smile made the wrinkles on her face deeper.

She tried to recall, but all she could remember was her elder sister's thin but warm embrace. What does it feel like to be embraced by grandparents, parents, etc.?

She wanted to ask her younger brother, but he had just been born.