Chapter 159: Yun Chenbei Can’t Recognize People
“Isn’t that right? A thief broke in last night. Yun Dafu heard a commotion and went to check, but he was knocked unconscious!”
“Ah, that’s really unlucky. Did they catch the thief?”
“No, and there was more than one thief.”
Many people actually knew about this incident because the commotion last night was quite loud.
However, Yun Jiao’s home is a bit far from Yun Dafu’s home, so most people around here didn’t hear the news.
“If you ask me, Yun Dafu’s family is too high-profile. Didn’t they catch a net full of large yellow croakers the last time they went out to sea? When returning, if they saw other people’s boats at sea, he would show off regardless of whether he knew them.”
“When selling fish, he also bragged everywhere about how much money he made and how good their iron boat was. Many of those people aren’t even from our village, so why wouldn’t they attract thieves’ attention?”
“Hey, that’s just how he is. He used to brag to us about how excellent and wealthy his son was, especially during the time he bought the boat; his tail was stuck up in the sky.”
Theirs isn’t the only family in the village that bought an iron boat, but they were the most high-profile, wishing the whole world knew they bought an iron boat.
Crucially, he also put others down.
When he saw other people’s wooden boats, he would condescendingly point and say things like, “Your boat isn’t good, it’s not fast enough, it’s strenuous, etc.”
He simply built up an immense amount of resentment.
To be honest, most people in the village weren’t surprised at all that Yun Dafu’s family was robbed.
“Yun Dafu was beaten quite badly and went to the hospital. They stole over three thousand yuan from him.”
Hiss…
“Who did it?”
“Where did they put the money? How was it stolen?”
That was over three thousand yuan.
Even though it wasn’t their own money, they all felt a pang of regret.
“I don’t know, they didn’t catch the thief.”
Yun Jiao was listening intently when she suddenly heard her older brothers’ voices.
She looked up and saw the children who had gone to school returning.
They had bright red scarves tied around their chests and were running towards them swiftly.
“Woof woof woof…”
Instantly, the village mouth became lively.
The big dogs that had been lying by the village entrance wagged their tails and ran towards their owners.
“Jiaojiao!”
Yun Jiao stood up and ran a few steps towards them, then was scooped up and lifted by Yun Xiaowu, who rushed over.
“Did you miss me, Jiaojiao? Fifth Brother missed you so much!”
He said this and kissed her a few times on the face.
Even though they had only been apart for a single morning, Yun Xiaowu felt like it had been a long time.
Yun Jiao hugged her brother’s neck and nodded, “I missed you.”
Yun Xiaoliu: “Fifth Brother, hurry up and let me hold Jiaojiao.”
“Little Sister, did you miss me?”
Her older brothers all crowded around wanting to hug her, pushing the two puppies to the side.
“Whine whine…”
They tried to squeeze in from their feet but couldn’t.
“Little Sister, you brought those two with you too.”
“Let’s go home.”
Yun Xiaowu carried Yun Jiao, while Yun Xiaoqi and Yun Xiao Ba each carried a dog. The group cheerfully headed home.
Under the sunlight, everyone had brilliant smiles on their faces.
“Jiaojiao, look at my red scarf, isn’t it tied beautifully? The teacher even praised me.”
“Do you want to wear it? I’ll let you wear it later.”
Yun Jiao nodded, “Yes.”
“Okay, Jiaojiao, let me tell you, today…”
All the way, Yun Xiaowu chattered on about his day at school, what his Chinese teacher’s surname was, what his math teacher’s surname was…, how many people he met in class, and the books in his schoolbag.
It was the first day of school today, and they hadn’t really started studying yet. In the morning, there was a physical education class where the teacher taught them broadcast gymnastics, which was quite fun overall.
Yun Jiao listened attentively. By the time they arrived home, they ran even faster.
“Grandma Yun, Mom, we’re back. When will we eat?”
“Go call Grandpa Yun and the others back.”
Yun Jiao followed her brothers to call for them. At the doorway, she saw her Fourth Brother, who was supposed to have left to register for school.
Yun Jiao was confused, “Fourth Brother, why are you here?”
Yun Chenbei’s expression was conflicted, and his face was slightly flushed.
“I… I don’t want to go to school anymore.”
More than ten minutes later…
At the dining table, no one had picked up their chopsticks yet. The entire family’s gaze was fixed on Yun Chenbei.
Yun Chenbei, whose personality was already introverted, wanted to bury his head under the table.
“Bang…”
Yun Linhe slammed the table with his hand, “Tell me clearly, why aren’t you going to study anymore? You’re in your third year of high school, about to graduate, and you say you’re not going anymore?”
Grandma Yun patted Yun Linhe’s shoulder, “What are you doing? Why are you so loud and making such a scene? Who are you trying to scare?”
“Chenbei is a timid child; don’t scare him into crying.”
Yun Chenbei lowered his head and said in a very small voice, “I… I want to focus on learning from my master.”
He looked up, his eyes red, “My academic performance isn’t good. I like woodworking and carving, and I don’t like being with so many people.”
Due to his eccentric personality, Yun Chenbei always sat in a corner at school and disliked interacting with people.
It wasn’t that he disliked interacting with people; no one knew that Yun Chenbei had a mild case of face blindness.
Except for his family, he couldn’t distinguish other people’s faces and could only rely on their voices to tell them apart.
This made him even more reluctant to interact with others.
But others didn’t know this. They just thought he was impolite for not greeting them when he encountered acquaintances.
Classmates also ostracized him because of this.
However, he had never told his family about it.
He had seen the poverty and hardships his family had endured before, and Yun Chenbei didn’t want his family to be troubled by his affairs.
But now, he had found something he wanted to do. After hesitating for a long time, he didn’t register for school and came home instead.
Yun Chenbei clenched his fists and finally choked out, “I… I can’t recognize people.”
“I’m a weirdo. Apart from my family, I can’t distinguish the faces of people outside.”
Wang Mei and Grandma Yun were struck by lightning: “What? What do you mean by that?!”
Yun Linhe was also dazed.
Yun Chenbei wiped his tears, his voice filled with grievance, “I don’t know why, but to me, they all look the same. I can only vaguely distinguish who they are by their voices.”
After a while, Wang Mei spoke, “You, child, why didn’t you say so earlier!”
She almost cried. She had always thought her son was quiet, clumsy, and a bit dull. He rarely went out, and because he didn’t greet the villagers much, outsiders said he was impolite and had a strange personality.
She had even chided him a few times before.
She never expected… she never expected it to be like this.
Yun Chenbei lowered his head and remained silent.
Grandpa Yun sighed, “Let’s eat first. After eating, Xiaowu and the others will go to school. Second son, you take Chenbei to the hospital to see what’s going on.”
At this point, Yun Linhe could no longer blame his son.
Everyone ate, and for the first time, the dining table was so quiet. Everyone ate absentmindedly.
Yun Jiao put some food into Fourth Brother’s bowl.
“Brother, don’t worry. Jiaojiao will go to the hospital with you.”
Yun Chenbei sniffled and nodded, “Okay.”
