Chapter 167: Story within a Story 2

Chapter 167: Story within a Story 2

Two years passed before they knew it. Liu Pandi and her second sister performed well at work outside Qingshui City and were recommended by the manager to go to school. The two sisters secretly applied for temporary ID cards without telling other people in the village.

Grandma wanted one of the girls to stay at home to take care of her younger brother, but Grandpa said that work was more important, and if one of them was missing, there would be less food to eat! Grandma had no choice but to give up. Liu Pandi was very lucky at this time that only girls could go to work, and only half-grown girls and young women were allowed to go.

The two sisters worked half a day and went to school half a day every day. There were also girls from the same village and other villages who went to school. Everyone went to school secretly tacitly.

No one in Liu Pandi's village has ever been to school, and their ancestors have been farming for generations. Studying is a distant dream for boys, and even more so for girls who have a hard time surviving.

But one day, Liu Pandi was able to eat her fill and sit in the classroom to listen to the teacher's lectures. She still remembers that her hands trembled violently when she touched paper for the first time.

She had never seen paper before attending Qingshui School. She touched the thin paper and looked at the symbols on it that she couldn't understand, with a confused look on her face.

After a period of schooling, she knew that the symbols on paper were called characters. She learned pinyin and how to write.

Liu Pandi and his second sister went home happily, happy that they had learned a lot of words today. As soon as they entered the house, they noticed something was wrong. Grandpa and grandma stared at them with gloomy faces, and they were uneasy. Sure enough, Dad came with a stick and hit them.

Dad beat me and scolded me, "I told you not to work hard!!!"

Grandma: "How dare you go to school!! Classrooms are only for you bitchy girls!!!"

Grandpa: "Why are the things I brought back getting less and less? You two are so lazy!"

The two sisters were beaten and scolded in the yard, with not a single spot on their bodies left untouched. Their mother stayed in the house, holding her brother in her arms, without saying a word.

The next day, the two sisters limped to the other side of the river to work. The girls from the same village were also injured and moved slowly.

There were no injuries on their faces. They did not go to school in the morning. Those with temporary ID cards found temporary jobs in the city, and those without temporary ID cards found temporary jobs outside the city.

After work, Liu Pandi and her second sister passed by the information square which was crowded with people. She pulled her second sister over to have a look. Liu Pandi only knew some simple characters, but she had learned pinyin and could spell. She also learned from other people in the information square that the country was recruiting people to study and work in Ryukyu.

Liu Pandi: "Second sister, what is Ryukyu? The sea? Is the sea bigger than our rivers?"

Second sister: "I don't know, let's go back quickly."

A few days later, Liu Pandi and her friends learned that it was their aunt from the same village who told the villagers. The villagers said that these girls did not work honestly, but went to school and became wild.

On Saturdays and Sundays when they don't have to work, the two sisters stay at home to take care of their younger brother and do endless chores.

When Liu Pandi went to collect firewood, she often heard crying sounds when she passed by the mountains near the village. After reading, she realized that it was not the wild animals in the mountains imitating human crying, but the abandoned baby girl.

The tower on the field outside the county town is not inhabited by people, but is filled with abandoned babies. It is a baby tower filled with death.

Ever since the villagers found out that Liu Pandi and her friends were going to school, they were monitored by their fellow villagers whenever they worked outside and could no longer go to school.

Time will not stop because of the joys and sorrows of the world. Time will pass, and girls will eventually grow up.

When the second sister grew up, her mother told her that she also had to go to someone else's home to live a good life.

Liu Pandi disliked going home more and more. Every time she came home from work, she was never greeted with good news.

She didn't want her second sister to go to someone else's house. She missed her eldest sister so much! She wanted to go to the city to see her eldest sister, but her parents wouldn't let her go. She ran there secretly and knocked on the small wooden door, and it opened.

An old woman came out and started cursing at her, then slammed the door shut.

Later, she overheard the neighbors talking and learned that her elder sister died after living with someone else for a year.

Liu Pandi didn't believe it, so she ran home to ask her mother, but her mother didn't say anything and just told her to collect firewood for the fire.

Liu Pandi went to ask her second sister, but she remained silent. She leaned over to her second sister's ear and whispered, "Let's sign up to go to Ryukyu. It's far away from here, and we can work to support ourselves."

. . . . . .

Liu Pandi followed the crowd again and headed for the city. He once again passed the smelly Baby Tower and walked to the entrance of the alley in the city, where he watched his second sister get off the donkey and walk into the small wooden door.

. . . . . .

Lin Zisu stood up, stretched her body, moved her wrists and finger joints. She once again missed her laptop and her keyboard. Although typing on the keyboard made her shoulders and hands sore, it was much better than writing by hand.

Lin Zisu opened the door of the RV and walked down, climbed onto the roof of the RV, looked at the green leaves in the distance, and relaxed her eyes.

"What's that look of yours? Do you want to fly?" Lin Xianwen came out of the room yawning and saw his sister standing on the roof of the car.

"Oh my... you scared me!" Lin Zisu retracted her half-stretched arm and turned her head to see a face that seemed to have had all its yang energy sucked out.

Writing is really exhausting!

Lin Xianwen stood under the eaves and did a set of warm-up exercises to stretch his body after sitting for a long time. "I'm so hungry! Why haven't Dad and Mom come back yet? What time is it?"

Lin Zisu: "17:23, should be back soon!"

Lin Xianwen: "Let's go cook the rice first!"

"Okay. I hope they come back with a lot of gains!" Lin Zisu got down the ladder quickly.

The two siblings went into the kitchen, Lin Zisu lit the fire, Lin Xianwen washed the rice, and cooked delicious firewood rice.

"Wait a minute, I want to eat the rice crust. Soak the rice crust in the soup for a few seconds, it will be crispy and delicious." Lin Zisu said as her mouth began to water.

Lin Xianwen: "Don't just think about food! Have you finished writing the article for next week?"

"I've finished writing... What a hateful Monday. Tomorrow I have to study literature in the morning and martial arts in the afternoon." Lin Zisu said as the light in her eyes was visibly gone.

Lin Xianwen: "Hey, my body still hurts!"

Lin Zisu: "Who isn't?"

While the two siblings were chatting, there was a knock on the door.

"Ah, Mom and Dad are back." Lin Zisu quickly stood up and rushed towards the gate of the courtyard.

Lin Zisu opened the door, and a big black shadow rushed in. "Big Black! Look at your grass seed..."

"Guess what we picked today?" Shen Xianglan walked into the yard with a smile and put down the basket on her back.

“Hahahaha... You two should go play together. You sit at home writing every day. You've lost all the youthful vigor. Finish this book and take a break for a while.” Lin Youcai said as he took the leaves out of the basket, revealing the harvest inside.

"Wow~ There are so many mushrooms. I guess eating them won't make me feel like I'm watching a sci-fi movie!" Lin Zisu opened her eyes wide as she looked at the basket full of mushrooms.

Lin Xianwen pulled away the leaves covering his mother's backpack, and saw white and green tea bubbles. "Tea bubbles! So many!!!"

"Tea? I haven't had it in years! I'll go get a basin." Lin Zisu said as she walked towards the kitchen.

Lin Xianwen: "We can eat mushrooms tonight! But, do you know these mushrooms?"

Lin Youcai picked up the basket and walked towards the kitchen. "Don't worry! I know all the mushrooms in the basket."

Lin Zisu came out with a basin and asked, "How was the harvest of grandpa and grandma?"

Lin Youcai: "Everyone went back with a full basket. It was the locals who took us hunting in the wild."

Shen Xianglan smiled and said, "He is your father's student. He goes to the village to teach in the afternoon. He has become familiar with the villagers after a while."

Lin Zisu: "Ah! I want to go too!!"

"It's a nice thought, but you can't finish it in words. You can't finish it at all." Lin Xianwen patted his sister's shoulder.

Lin Youcai: "Even if there's food, it can't stop you from talking. Shiso, come over here and have some tea!"