Rebirth 90: The Long Road to Finding a Son

There is running water at home, but it is only available for two hours a day. They usually store the tap water in a water tank for daily use.

When they were thirsty, they would just use a ladle to scoop water from the jar and drink it. There was no concept of drinking warm water. The three sisters almost always drank cold water all year round.

These three sisters are typical left-behind children. Other left-behind children at least have elderly people and relatives to take care of them, but these children are left alone.

The Liu Laokou couple, as the villagers call them, went out to work when their eldest daughter was about ten years old, leaving the two younger daughters alone at home.

Thanks to the kind-hearted neighbors, when these children don’t understand or can’t do something, their neighbors will teach them.

Logically speaking, the couple should have earned much more money working outside than farming in the village, but they never brought any money back.

Occasionally, when I come back to buy clothes for the children, I only buy clothes for the eldest child. The eldest child wears them first, and then the second child wears them second, and then the third child wears them.

If the clothes were torn and there were no new ones, the eldest child would mend them. Nowadays, although the villagers were not very wealthy, few people would give their children patched clothes.

But the clothes that the Liu family girls wore were all patched. Just like now, the half-sleeves that Sun Aimin and his friends saw on Da Ni and Er Ni were so old that they looked a little small and old, and they couldn't see the original color after washing.

The pants they wore had patches on the knees, were grey in color, and looked baggy. They looked like adult clothes, probably leftovers from their mothers.

The transparent plastic sandals on his feet were dirty, and you could see traces of sticky marks from being burned.

Not to mention that the villagers felt pity for these children, even Sun Aimin and his friends felt uncomfortable looking at the two girls in the room.

The villagers were straightforward and did not care about hurting their self-esteem. In front of the two girls, they said to Sun Aimin and others, "The Liu couple are really stingy with their daughters. Look at the children, they have grown up so much, what are they wearing?

Sometimes we villagers can’t stand seeing them like this, so we give them some half-new clothes to wear, otherwise they will look even more pitiful than they do now…”

Sun Aimin echoed: "The couple usually spend money very carefully, and save all the money they earn..."

The villagers said: "They are very calculating. They will save the money for their sons to marry in the future."

When the two girls heard what the villagers said, they were so embarrassed that they stood there, not knowing where to put their hands and feet.

Zheng Xiaojuan asked the two girls: "Where are your third sister and youngest brother? Why aren't they at home?"

Dani lowered her head and timidly replied, "Sanni took little brother out to play!"

Zheng Xiaojuan asked again: "How old is Sanni this year? Can she play with her younger brother?"

Dani responded: "Sanni is six years old now and can hold her brother. She should be back for dinner soon..."

Zheng Xiaojuan said, "Can you call Sanni back? We can make sure you guys are all okay so we can explain to your parents!"

Dani and Erni didn't believe what Zheng Xiaojuan said. Their parents always left them only a little money every time they came back, and Dani didn't even have money to buy sanitary napkins when she got her period.

Or maybe she didn't even know what sanitary napkins were, let alone how to use them. She used the same kind of riding cloth that the older generation used during her period.

In the past, she added wood ash to the riding cloth, which was taught by her mother. Later, it was the neighbor aunt who found that Dani used wood ash during her period and taught her to use knife paper.

But her parents didn't leave them any money, and Dani was reluctant to even spend money on buying knives and paper, so she kept using the old method.

At the beginning of the year, Mr. and Mrs. Liu bought some piglets and chicks and asked their three daughters to raise them at home. They came back to sell them at the end of the year, but the money never reached their three daughters.

Now the land in their village is divided according to the number of people, and each person gets three mu of land. The little boy hasn't got any land yet, so it is considered that there are five people in the family, and they get one and a half mu of land.

The land was not very large. The eldest daughter was fifteen and the second daughter was twelve. Both children did not go to school. Besides taking care of the family, they worked on the land. Therefore, the youngest daughter, the third daughter, took care of the little boy more.

The three girls thought their family was poor and were very sensible. It was not until their parents brought the little boy back home during the Chinese New Year that they realized their parents were willing to spend money on their little brother.

At that time, the little boy was already eight or nine months old. The clothes the couple dressed him in were both beautiful and soft, and they had several sets of such new clothes.

They also bought milk powder for the little boy and told the sisters how to make it. When they left, they bought several cans from the county town. They also warned the three sisters not to eat it secretly.

Their parents left after the Chinese New Year, and it has been more than half a year now, and they have not come back even once. They only called the neighbors twice to ask if their son was growing up, if he had any milk powder, if he had enough clothes, etc. During the whole call, they never asked if the three sisters were doing well.

Because of their parents' partiality, Da Ni and Er Ni psychologically disliked their little brother, so they usually used work as an excuse to ignore him. It was because the youngest was young and didn't know much that they thought the little brother was quite adorable.

In addition, when the third child was making milk powder for her younger brother, she would occasionally sneak a sip, and what the younger brother drank would all go into her stomach.

When the milk powder ran out and they could not contact the parents, they began to feed the little boy rice porridge and eat adult meals with them.

Erni went out to look for Sanni and came back twenty minutes later.

Sanni's clothes were dirty and her hair was tangled like a tangle of dead grass.

The little boy was quite chubby, but also very dirty, with a black face. It seemed he hadn't washed his face in a long time.

It was a hot summer day, and the little boy was only wearing a bellyband, with his bare butt clumsily held in Sanni's arms.

When Zheng Xiaojuan saw Sanni holding the child, she was afraid that if she wasn't careful, she would fall and something might happen to the child.

They were also from the countryside, but they couldn't understand why such a family had so many children. All four children were left alone. The couple probably only spent some money on the little boy, and left the girls to fend for themselves.

But they may not be that good to little boys. If they really love boys, at least there should be an adult to take care of them, right?

Zheng Xiaojuan hurried over and took the child from Sanni's arms. Seeing that it was a stranger, Sanni subconsciously dodged for a moment, but finally handed the child over.