I always had a way to more than exhaust my energy In the fields and wheat fields. At the end of the day, when the sun set, I would reluctantly held Dongyu’s hand and make our way home.
Dongyu and I each had a bicycle.
Dongyu’s bicycle was a Giant given to him by our father on his eleventh birthday. At that time, one of them would cost a few hundred yuan. Ordinary families would shrink back at a price tag like this.
As for my bicycle, it was the one that Dongyu used to ride when he was younger. On both sides of the rear wheel, there were small wheels for balance. When I started using it, my father removed the two small wheels. After cleaning it out, it looked like new.
“Look, each of you gets a bicycle! Xiachun, haven’t you been asking for a bicycle? Here! We’ll give Dongyu’s bicycle to you, would you like that?”
“Yes!”
I didn’t feel aggrieved at all. Instead, I treated Dongyu’s bicycle like a treasure!
During the summer vacation, he and I would take our bicycles and ride under the blazing sun.
The other kids were envious of us.
At the time, when we were riding our bicycles, a group of children chased after us in envy. They looked at us with curiosity. I was smug as anything!
Everyone liked the feeling of being envied and looked up to.
Especially as Dongyu’s younger sister, it only gave me an even greater sense of satisfaction.
When we were warm from the ride, we would park the bicycles back at home and then walk hand in hand to a small supermarket in town to buy a popsicle.
We didn’t have much daily pocket money then. Two yuan was just enough to buy us a popsicle each.
However, I was a greedy little cat. When I came across something I liked to eat, I’d gobble it down rather fast. In no time, I’d have licked the popsicle clean.
At this point, Dongyu would normally have only taken one bite from his popsicle.
Every time this happened, I would put on an aggrieved expression and stare at him. I would eye the popsicle in his hand wistfully.
“Why did you gobble it so quickly?”
“Because… it’ll melt otherwise!”
Dongyu would always be amused by my various excuses. Thus, we’d both share his popsicle. One bite after another, we’d polish it off.
The days of our youth were unforgettable.
At the time, I never thought that the carefree life we led would start to change after Dongyu got into junior high.
*****
Dongyu and I both went to the school in our hometown.
Previously, planned parenthood was prevalent and my birth was outside of the system.
After my parents had Dongyu, I shouldn’t have been born.
My existence was entirely due to an accident.
When Dongyu was two years old, perhaps because our parents couldn’t help themselves, they had me by accident. According to the law that existed, they should have aborted me. However, Mom couldn’t bear it. After all, I was her own flesh and blood. Hence, following much discussion with her family, she went back to her hometown and secretly gave birth to me.
During the time she was pregnant with me, my mother, with her big belly, had to go into hiding. After giving birth to me, she hid me at my grandmother’s house.
In order to escape the Planning Commission, I was only added to our family record much later on and then allowed to go to school.
Even so, the family had to pay a considerable price.
Eventually, Dongyu graduated from primary school.
The year he took the middle school examination, Dongyu lived up to expectations and got into a key junior high school in the city.
The whole family was overjoyed. Getting into a key school in the key city meant moving into the city. Coincidentally, the limelight had passed, so I followed Dongyu back to the city.
