Phoenix Girl in the 1990s - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Xia Qing brought her little sister Xia Wen to prepare dinner at home, Xia Wen was on burner as Xia Qing got the stove.

The four daughters of the Xia family have been able to do household chores since they were very young.

Doing laundry, cooking, feeding the ducks and chickens.

Xia He has carried on Li Xiuqin’s talents, not only can she use the sewing machine to make clothes, she can also knit sweaters!

Knitting handicrafts, no matter what kind they are, can be done after a couple of observations.

Xia Lin is somewhat tomboyish, and because Xia Zhimin often does woodworking at home, she surprisingly learned how to do it as well. Sometimes, she even helps Xia Zhimin saw wood and hammer nails.

“Third sister, do you think the second sister can still go to school? And our mom, when the doctor said there might be lingering problems, will it have an effect on her day-to-day life?”

The sudden incidents in the family one after another scared Xia Wen, the youngest sister, to the core.

Now just remembering her mother lying on the floor, her countenance turned pale

The way her mouth was foaming so much it was hard for her to even sleep at night.

Xia Qing poured the beaten egg mixture into the pot, and the egg mixture swirled in the boiling hot water.

It immediately congeals into a flocculent solid, mixing with the tomatoes to give off a refreshing fragrance.

“Have you heard of ‘Murphy’s Law’? Even if the odds are the equal, if we always keep thinking about the bad stuff, then things will turn out to be really worse, so our mindset should be positive and optimistic, that way, everything will go in the right direction.”

Although Xia Wen didn’t quite grasp what Xia Qing was saying, it didn’t stop her from developing a strong sense of admiration for her!

“Third sister, you know so much, where did you learn all that?”

Before, Xia Wen admired her big sister the most because she went to the city and attended college.

She’s seen a lot of things, and came back to tell them about all the things available in the city.

Like movie theaters where you can drink soda and eat popcorn, and ice skating rinks. Karaoke, which makes Xia Wen yearn for city life.

But in the past two days, the third sister not only saved their mother, but also knew how to help their uncle to collect his compensations, and in Xia Wen’s eyes, the third sister was already as powerful as the second sister.

” ‘There are a thousand pearls in a book and a golden house in a book.’, By reading more knowledge you will continue to build up on what you know.”

“So what kind of books do you read that are in that high school textbook of yours?”

“Of course not, I don’t always go to the local library in the village to borrow books and read them, so I write notes down when I see something.”

This was naturally an excuse made by Xia Qing herself, the original owner did often go to the library to borrow books to read.

But most of what she borrowed was for her studies, and there were a lot of high school curriculums.

With all the schoolwork, it’s not enough to handle the exams, so how can she have time to spare on leisure reading?

By the time Xia Qing finished cooking, Xia Zhimin had also made it home, with a face that didn’t show much emotion.

“Dad, are things done?”

Xia Zhimin picked up the ceramic water cup and drank a few mouthfuls of the cold water, nodding his head and said.

“It’s done, your Uncle Shuchong lent us another 3,000 yuan, so we have enough money for school.”

But he is a thoughtful person, and it is not easy for him to be in debt.

“Dad, when the compensation from Uncle’s side comes in, they’ll definitely pay back our family’s money.”

Xia Zhimin was not very sure about the compensation matter. In his eyes,

Those bosses in the city are all “Zhou the exploiter”¹, Strong dragons can’t suppress local snakes, if it’s really that easy to deal with, brother-in-law’s end won’t go back to being left out in the hospital for so many days.

“Besides, when I go over there tomorrow to check it out, that’s all we’ve got out of our family, your uncle’s side of the family has blown through their savings.”

Xia Zhimin has prepared for the worst. It would be fine if he didn’t get back the five thousand yuan in the end. At worst, he would take on more carpentry jobs.

After Li Xiuqin’s incident, Xia Zhimin has already gained a new understanding of life, which is that “It’s better to be safe and alive.”

As long as people are living, there is hope, and now that the oldest two are enrolled in college, everything will go well if they hold out for two more years.

The next morning, Xia Zhimin set off for the city.

He had to go to the village to take a ride to the county, and then take a bus from the county to the city, and by the time he got to the hospital it was already past nine o’clock.

Li Guofu has improved a lot after treatment.

The bruises on his body have scabbed over, and his eyes are now open and he’s fully conscious.

However, he still can’t physically stand up, and according to the doctors, the odds are that he’s going to be paralyzed.

Xia Zhimin sighed, and did not mention his wife’s attempt to commit suicide in front of Li Guofu.

Afraid of increasing his mental burden, while Li Guofu was relaxing quietly, he called Yang Xiangzhi and Li Guanghai outside the room to have a conversation.

“Guanghai, this matter of your father can’t just be dismissed, an injury during work is called a workplace injury, and is the responsibility of the Construction Company.”

Li Guanghai hasn’t slept a single day since his father’s accident.

He’s the one who borrowed the money and ran in the construction site, and he was already a teenager now.

“Uncle, I know that the construction site has to be responsible, but they just have ignored us, and when we went there, they even made people carry shovels and drive us away, and look, my hands are all battered and bruised by them.”

Li Guanghai spoke, showing the injured arm to Xia Zhimin, it was black and purple, and the injury was indeed serious.

“These people are really lawless, they are unkind, we can’t let it go like this, why don’t we just call the police, anyway, your father is already like this. The barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes, I don’t believe the law is beyond their control.”²

Yang Xiangzhi listened for the whole day with red eyes, and then hesitated a little when she heard that Xia Zhimin was going to call the police.

“I think those people are very aggressive, if we go to the police, will they make trouble for us.”

Now that her husband is paralyzed, if anything happens to her son, she’ll truly have lost the ability to live.

Xia Zhimin did not think that Yang Xiangzhi unexpectedly kept such thoughts, but a woman’s heart is small, he can more or less understand a little.

“Sister-in-law, if we don’t call the police, aren’t we encouraging those people? They should have been responsible for this, so we can’t just forget about it because we’re scared, then wouldn’t Big Brother’s suffering be in vain?”

“I don’t know, I just don’t want any more turmoil in our family.”

After saying that, she covered her mouth and cried, and Li Guanghai reached out and patted her shoulder in silent comfort.

Xia Zhimin sighed in his heart, looked at his nephew Li Guanghai and asked, “Guanghai, tell me what you think in your heart, whether to report this to the police or not?”

** ** **

TL/N:

1. Zhou the exploiter – Archetypal character in short story The cock crows in the middle of the night

2. Xia Zhimin explained to Li Guanghai, that they aren’t afraid of seeking justice regardless if they are considered poor.