Chapter 187: Younger Brother
The siblings with different thoughts on their minds felt for the first time that the road home was especially hard to walk.
Especially Jiang Xiaoyuan, who usually walks around kicking stones or jumping about restlessly, was unusually silent and well-behaved at this moment.
His lowered head was almost buried in his chest, just to hide his eyes that grew redder the closer they got to home.
She was two months older than him, and the two of them had truly grown up inseparable, never apart no matter where they were or what they were doing.
One good at thinking up ideas and the other with astonishing physical strength, they cooperated with tacit understanding and complemented each other perfectly, never even quarreling over trivial matters, their bond better than that of twins from other families.
Jiang Xiaoyuan had never thought they would be separated.
“Young man, rest assured, I won’t leave.”
“That’s what you said yourself! Liars are puppies!”
“Mm!”
The somewhat childish dialogue nevertheless comforted both Jiang Xiaojun and the others.
Glancing at the familiar courtyard gate close at hand, he secretly mustered his courage and led the way inside.
……
With just one glance, Su Ning recognized her younger brother among the last two teenagers who entered one after another, both similarly tall and dressed much the same.
Her face had the small dimples inherited from the Xu family, somewhat like Mom after she grew up but gradually resembling Maternal Grandmother more.
Her full-blooded younger brother didn’t look like her but instead resembled Maternal Grandfather, especially those extremely rare phoenix eyes, which made her feel doubly close upon seeing him.
While liking him, she couldn’t help but secretly rejoice: Good thing, good thing her younger brother didn’t look like him, or facing a young juvenile version of Xu Zixin, she really might not be able to hold back either.
“You’re back, Xiaojun. Quick, this is Su Ning, Comrade Su. This is her brother Zhang Ze, Comrade Zhang. The two of them came specifically this time to find Little Copper Coin!”
“Hello, Comrade Su, Comrade Zhang.”
Somewhat reserved, Jiang Xiaojun greeted them. As the host family, with guests having come, they had to provide hospitality first. “Little sister, quick, go pour a cup of water for the two comrades and Uncle Hai.”
“Okay, I’ll go right now.”
Because Jiang Xiaoman had gone out to call them and there was no one inside the room, Jiang Dahai naturally couldn’t presumptuously lead people inside, so he brought out a few small stools and they all sat together in the yard waiting.
Two large thatched huts: the three brothers shared one room, and the other was naturally reserved as the bedroom for the family’s only woman, Jiang Xiaoman. There was no extra main hall available to host guests.
“Sorry, the room is small and simple…”
“It’s fine. Being here, you can still feel the sea breeze and hear the sound of the waves. It’s pretty good.”
After a simple exchange of pleasantries, once Jiang Xiaoman served hot water in a beautifully shaped seashell and handed it to the three of them, then sat down nearby, they finally turned to the main topic.
“Comrade Su, are you really sure Little Copper Coin is your blood brother?”
“Yeah, don’t get it wrong. I see you two don’t look alike at all!”
“Little brother!” “Xiaoyuan!”
“I didn’t say anything wrong.”
Meeting the gazes of Older Brother Jiang and Elder Sister, Jiang Xiaoyuan could only shut his mouth and silently lower his head.
“Young man is right. How do you prove my mom is your mom? That I’m your blood brother?”
Standing nearby, Jiang Xiaotong tightly clenched his hands, thrusting his thumb entirely into his palm.
He didn’t know how to describe his current feelings. Looking at the unbelievably beautiful person before him, his heart was full of doubts. Could someone like her, a true pearl, really be his blood sister?
“We two really don’t look alike, because I’m somewhat like Mom but more like Maternal Grandmother, while you look just like Maternal Grandfather.”
This showed the Su family’s genes were strong. They were meant to both be Su family children, not his Xu Zixin’s Xu family.
“Older Brother Jiang, you must have seen my mom back then. Take a good look at me.”
Jiang Xiaojun nodded. In his memory, little brother’s birth mother had a pale and haggard face due to injury and illness, but upon close comparison, he could still see a thirty percent resemblance between them.
“Also, this is an old photo I specially brought with me when I came. You can take a look.”
Carefully taking the small black and white photo, Jiang Xiaojun pursed his lips, and only after a long time did he difficultly nod. “It’s her.”
After Dad rescued the two, she had always been unconscious, differing from the beautiful and serene woman in this photo only in eyes open or closed.
“Big brother, I want to see…”
Trembling, he took the photo, Jiang Xiaotong gazing greedily at the woman in it with full eyes.
This was Mom’s appearance, no longer the cold stone tablet or the little yellow dirt mound.
It was the first time he saw her, finally letting him know Mom’s concrete face.
“Can I talk to you alone?”
Since her identity was confirmed, Jiang Xiaojun had no more doubts. Hearing little brother’s words now made him feel bad inside, but he also knew the two of them probably had a lot to say.
So he stood up first. “If Comrade Su and Comrade Zhang don’t mind, stay home today and eat whatever we have? We’ll go prepare dinner.”
“It’s getting late. I also need to watch that group of people and urge them to hurry home before the tide rises!”
Jiang Dahai followed right after, smiling at the two before leaving the yard.
“Then, Ning Ning, I’ll escort Brigade Leader over and by the way try tide pooling to see if we can add a dish.”
“Good.”
In a short while, only the brother and sister were left in the courtyard.
Glancing at Jiang Xiaotong who was still carefully holding the photo, Su Ning’s smiling eyes flickered with specks of tears, “Little Copper Coin, can you take me to see Mom?”
“Mm.”
……
Su Jinglei was from out of town and could not be buried in the village graveyard, so Jiang Fumin specially chose this scenic spot.
Facing the sea with low hills behind, a tall pointed red lighthouse could be vaguely seen in the distance.
The sea breeze lifted the stray hairs by her ears and brushed the tears rolling down her cheeks toward her temples.
After kowtowing, the two sat side by side in front of the stone tablet. Su Ning raised her hand and gently stroked the blank tablet surface.
“Mom’s name is Su Jinglei, the ‘jing’ from quiet, the ‘lei’ from flower bud, the only pearl in the palm of Maternal Grandfather and Maternal Grandmother.”
Her tone was gentle as she slowly recounted everything about Mom.
She did not hide the truth because of Jiang Xiaotong’s age, from her encounter and relationship with Xu Zixin to Su Ting’s futile obstruction and the harsh conditions he reluctantly agreed to.
And then all that followed, how she discovered Xu Zixin’s conspiracy, how she got the news and came looking—all of it she told him.
At thirteen years old, he was neither too young nor too old. As her younger brother, Su Ning believed he had his own judgment and the right to know all the truth.
“So, I should have the surname Su, right?”
“Yes.”
After hearing everything, Jiang Xiaotong wondered if things would have been different if Mom had not died back then but had taken him home instead.
These years he had indeed lived in poverty, but his inner world was rich and fulfilling because his brothers and sisters had given him the most precious thing.
But his own biological sister had lost Mom and Maternal Grandfather, living under the eyes of a wolf-hearted scumbag father, nearly losing her life, and even now her life was still under threat.
They had only just met, but thinking about this made Jiang Xiaotong feel a stifling pain in his chest.
She was the one who shared the same blood as him, his biological sister connected by blood and sinew…
“Sis…”
“Sounds so nice, call me again.”
“Sis, Sister.”
Unable to hold back any longer, he tightly hugged her into his arms, letting his hot tears gush out, “Sorry, Sister came too late, sorry, Sister only just learned of your existence…”
Jiang Xiaotong hugged her back tightly, burying himself in her arms, sobbing just as uncontrollably, “Sis, it’s not your fault, it’s all that scumbag Xu Zixin!”
“Yes, all that scum’s fault!”
Letting go, Su Ning carefully wiped the tears from his face, took his hand, and knelt again before the stone tablet: Mom, did you see? I found Younger Brother.
And that scum Xu Zixin, all the suffering he caused to Younger Brother and Mom, she would repay tenfold, a hundredfold.
……
After this conversation, the now much closer brother and sister collected their emotions, bid farewell to Mother, and slowly walked back toward the Jiang home.
Holding her soft warm hand, Jiang Xiaotong tilted his head and stealthily glanced at her profile, somewhat hesitant.
“What’s wrong? We’re blood siblings, you can say anything directly, okay?”
“Sis, I…”
The Jiang family would still have three blood siblings without him, but Sister now had only him as her sole remaining family.
The words on the tip of his tongue became even harder to say.
“Do you want to stay here and keep living with the Jiang family?”
“I…”
Both sides were the dearest people to him, and Jiang Xiaotong really didn’t know what to do.
Gently stroking the top of his head, Su Ning sighed silently in her heart, “There’s nothing to be conflicted about.”
