Chapter 18: Second Brother Got Beaten Up

  After the Chen family finished cleaning up, they each started their own activities. Xi Mei took advantage of no one noticing her and quietly hid in her family's woodshed with the eggs, which was where they used to feed the pigs. Although her family was poor, at least their space was large.

  Look around like a thief, you say this girl really portrays the appearance of a thief. Roll the egg in the well-adjusted lime powder for a few times, so that the surface of the egg is evenly coated with a layer of gray powder. Take it out and roll it in the wood chip pile for a few more times, finally press it firmly by hand, and put it into the prepared salt jar.

  Put the four eggs in order, seal them up and it's done. The book also says so. The temperature requirement is between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius. Although it's summer now, unlike in previous years when summer arrived, the temperature would quickly reach 40 degrees, which doesn't exist here. Put it under your own bed to ensure that no one knows about it.

  After finishing all that, Xi Mei happily went to find her mother. As soon as she entered the door, she found that the atmosphere in the room was different. Her mother sat there with a black face and didn't make a sound. Her second brother looked at this and that pitifully.

  Before she could ask her mother what was going on, Zhao Shi scolded Ruihao, "Tell me, where did the eggs and salt jar go? Did you take them? You're still young and not learning to be good. If you don't speak up, I'll beat it out of you."

  Xī jiě's heart skipped a beat, oh no, the east window incident has been exposed, and she hasn't even confessed to her second brother yet. Now she's done for. Just as she was hesitating about whether to admit her mistake, she heard her second brother say: "Mom, I'm wrong, I shouldn't have used the salt jar to catch frogs, and I shouldn't have stolen those eggs either. Mom, I know I'm wrong, so go ahead and hit me."

  "Alright, since you know you were wrong, don't blame me, Rui Xuan. Go get the small stick from behind the door. I told you and your siblings before that no matter what, you can't do anything dishonest like stealing. Since you've admitted it, don't blame me either." Zhao scolded him.

  "Sister, Second Brother didn't mean it this time. He knows he was wrong too, so please forgive him." Rui Xuan slowly got up to plead for Rui Hao.

  "Alright, you won't go get it, I'll go. This time I'm not going to let him off easy, next time he'll dare to run to someone else's house and steal, who knows, in the future because of this he might even get himself killed. Rather than letting others beat him up, I'd rather teach him a good lesson today."

  After finishing, she bypassed a few people and prepared to take action herself. Xi Mei saw this and couldn't understand it anymore - one person does something and another takes the blame, she can't let her second brother bear the black pot for her. Just as she was about to find her mother to explain, she saw her second brother grab her own hem.

  "Don't go, I know you took the eggs. Mom is in a bad mood now, if you go up, aren't you asking for a beating? Be good, Second Brother has thick skin, let him come instead. You listen and stand aside, mom's beating won't hurt after a while, if you still want to eat eggs, wait until Second Brother recovers and he'll go find bird eggs for you."

  After hearing that, Xi Mei burst into tears. What kind of good luck did she have to have such a great family? Soon, Zhao came over with a stick and pressed Ruihao onto his knee for a good beating.

  While beating, he cried, "I let you steal things, I let you be greedy. Let me see if you dare again." Listening to the sound of the stick hitting his body, Ruihao bit his teeth and didn't make a sound.

  Unexpectedly, after just a dozen or so hits, Xi Mei rushed up and hugged her mother's leg, crying: "Mother, stop hitting, Second Brother knows he was wrong. If you must blame someone, blame that Zhang fellow, it's him who corrupted Second Brother. Next time he comes, watch me use the broom to chase him out! Mother, calm down, don't hit anymore. Who would Second Brother be most heartbroken about if he got hurt? It's still you!"

  Until then, Xi Mei finally reacted and burst into tears. "Mother, mother don't hit second brother, it was me who told second brother to steal the salt jar to raise quails, if you want to hit someone, hit me instead." She cried and took off her little pants outside, lying on her mother's leg.

  "Waaah, Mother, hit me instead, don't hit Second Brother anymore. Mother." She cried until she was almost out of breath. Zhao Shi felt both heartache for her son and daughter and regret for having used excessive force.

  She hugged her two children and cried, when Chen Tianfa entered the house, he saw a room full of people crying, which scared him, "What's wrong, what's wrong, why are you all crying? What happened?"

  Seeing Chen Tianfa coming in, Xi Mei cried even harder. Rui Xuan hugged Xi Mei to comfort her, "Don't cry anymore, don't cry anymore, okay? Look, your mother regrets it now, so you shouldn't cry anymore."

  "Hey, what's the big deal? It's my own home, taking something is not considered stealing. Alright, stop crying everyone. If we want to eat eggs, we'll eat them. At worst, we won't sell any, that's all. Look at us, a whole family crying, what a sight."

  "After finishing speaking, he glanced at the second child's buttocks and said, 'Good kid, really sturdy. Your mother beat you so many times but didn't break you, just made a few red marks. Next time remember not to do this again.'"

  "Got it, Dad. I won't dare to do it again." He got up and rubbed Xi Mei's little nose, "Don't cry, little sister. Look at me, I'm fine, aren't I? Even if Mom beats me a few dozen more times, I'll be okay. Quickly wipe your tears away, you're about to become a little crying cat."

  After finishing speaking, I found that Xi Mei not only didn't stop, but cried even harder, causing everyone in the house to coax her and also coax Zhao Shi.

  After several days had passed, Xi Mei saw that her second brother still looked embarrassed and thought it was because of her that he got beaten. (It's clearly because of you.)

  It's hard to say anything good about him, today giving this and tomorrow giving that, still entangling him. Chen Tianfa has said to Zhao Shi more than once that his status has directly declined now.

  The unbearable days finally passed, and Xijie woke up early to fetch her precious jar. She was determined to succeed, or else her brother would have been beaten for nothing. Fortunately, the few maidservants got up early to help Zhao Shi cook, otherwise they would have thought she had gone mad with her absent-minded appearance.

  Opened the can and saw four treasure eggs, carefully cracked the outer layer of shell, after cleaning up, broke the eggshell, heartbeat accelerated. After uncovering a small piece of skin, I saw the familiar pine nuts inside, couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, followed by waves of wild joy.

  Her brother can go to school now, her family can build a house now, her sister can have new clothes now... Her mood is really hard to describe now. She's preparing to take the eggs and report the good news to her mother, but then she thinks, I'm only four years old, how could my mother possibly believe it was me who did this?

  Maybe she'll even hold her and go to the temple to burn incense, see if she's been possessed by evil spirits. Oh dear, what to do, what to do? Can you imagine the feeling of having silver in front of your eyes but can't catch it? That's how Xi Mei is now.

  Never mind the reason and all that, she'll think about it tomorrow. Today what she wants to do is to treat her second brother well and let him be the first one to taste the flavor of the pickled egg.

  Made up my mind, and hopped out the door to find her second brother. Kids, please recommend!