Chapter 2

After the guests left that evening, the family sat down to eat together. The room was primed to explode.

My parents, Grandma, and my older aunt took turns tearing into my youngest aunt.

It all amounted to the same thing: she had been a disgrace to her parents and the family, and deserved to be beaten to death. She ought to be profoundly grateful to Grandma for still being willing to take her back.

I never quite believed everything the grown-ups said. My little brother did.

He was only three, but he copied them, pointing at our aunt and shouting, “Bad woman! Bad daughter!”

I shushed him and told him not to say that.

Then Mom told me to carry him away to play while they continued putting my aunt on trial.

When people in the countryside turned vicious, they didn’t hold anything back. They said the foulest things they could think of, pouring abuse over her like buckets of sewage.

That was when I learned a saying from my older aunt: “A parent can never be in the wrong.”

She followed it with, “No matter how much you hate Mom and Dad, you shouldn’t have cut them off. Without them, you wouldn’t exist. Where’s your conscience? Did a dog eat it?”

She spoke with absolute authority. My youngest aunt didn’t argue.

Only after two hours, once everyone had finished shouting and venting their anger, did my silent aunt take a stack of cash from her bag and place it on the table.

“These are the bits and pieces I’ve saved over the years. Ten or twenty thousand yuan, roughly. Some is for the funeral, and some is for Mom’s living expenses. You say I’ve sinned, don’t you? Then let this be my penance.”

Grandma’s eyes lit up. She held the notes under the light and inspected them for ages before her hard expression slowly softened.

Then she probed further. “Only nineteen thousand? No more? You’ve been working away all these years. You must have more than that. Don’t go hiding it from us.”

My aunt lit a cigarette. After a moment’s silence, she turned her head and gave a short laugh.

“Sure. I’ve also got twenty or thirty thousand in loans to pay off, and I haven’t paid my rent yet. If my dear sister and brother have money to spare, they can lend me some. I’ll pay it all off right away.”

“I’ll keep in touch more often from now on. I’ll make sure you know how grateful I am for all that sibling love.”

My parents and older aunt went white and hurried to change the subject.

“We’re struggling too, you know. How could we possibly help? Honestly, Mom, ten or twenty thousand is plenty. Stop pushing her.”

My youngest aunt slowly blew a smoke ring, gave them a cold look, and turned toward the stairs.

“I’ve bought a train ticket back to Guangdong for tomorrow. I haven’t got time to stay and keep you company, or disgrace you any further. No need to see me off.”

Grandma suddenly remembered something and hurried after her.

“Xuemei, before you go, write down my Agricultural Bank account number and my medical insurance card number. You needn’t send much every month. Two or three thousand will do. I—”

Bang!

My aunt shut the door.

The noisy living room fell silent at once.

Ten thousand yuan was a lot of money in those days. My parents and older aunt rubbed the notes between their fingers, examining them one by one and muttering.

“Look how she dresses. She’s just some factory girl. How’d she save this much? You don’t think she’s been doing that sort of thing out there, do you?”

Then they all snatched their hands back, as though the money were dirty.

Once she left, though, they had no qualms about dividing it among themselves and stuffing their pockets full.

Pretty funny, really.