Chapter 4

Eldest Brother gripped my hand.

“Minmin is my sister,” he declared. “As long as I have food, she won’t go hungry. We will never send her back.”

My eyes instantly filled with tears.

My birth mother rolled her eyes. “You’re just a brat. You don’t get to decide.”

Eldest Brother’s face reddened with fury.

Then Granny Wang from next door sighed.

“Ah Cui, enough. Minmin came from your own body. Can’t you wish her even a little happiness?”

The other women murmured in agreement.

My birth mother’s face darkened.

“Of course I wish her well. I hope she becomes rich and important someday. She just wasn’t born with that kind of luck.”

At lunch, I ate a lump of rice no bigger than an egg.

If I ate less, perhaps I would be less of a burden to Mom and Dad.

But Eldest Brother filled another bowl for me and tipped the last spoonful of steamed egg on top.

“Eat.”

He added a spoonful of rice to the little mute’s bowl too.

“You eat more as well.”

The boy worked his mouth for a long time before forcing out, “Thank you.”

So he was not truly mute.

His voice merely sounded strange. Perhaps he was sick.

That evening, my eldest sister came to see me.

She looked at my clothes. “Did Auntie Liu buy you those?”

I nodded. “Mom bought them for me.”

She frowned and leaned close to whisper.

“Mom said that if Auntie Liu stops wanting you, she’ll send you to Li Family Village as a child bride. I’m only telling you in secret because you’re my sister.”

Mom did not return from the hospital that night. Once again, the elderly neighbor came to sleep beside us.

I dreamed my birth parents took me back, locked me in an iron cage, and whipped me.

I woke in terror to frantic pounding at the door and the village Party secretary calling from outside.

Had something happened to Dad?

Eldest Brother woke too and hurried to open the door.

It was the little mute’s parents.

They wore clothes and shoes that looked terribly expensive, and both were wild with worry.

The moment she saw her drowsy son, the middle-aged woman rushed forward, gathered him into her arms, and sobbed.

After a great effort, he managed one word.

“Mom.”

She cried even harder.

He explained with gestures and broken sounds. Bit by bit, his parents understood what had happened.

The woman held him and wept. Then she took my hands and thanked me over and over.

“Minmin, what do you want? Auntie will buy it for you!”

“I only want Dad to be safe,” I whispered.

The village Party secretary sighed and told them about my parents.

“They’re good people. Minmin is adopted, but they took her in all the same. It’s a shame that good people have to suffer.”

The middle-aged man, who had hardly spoken, finally said, “Good people deserve good things.”

He patted my head.

“Your father will be all right.”