Chapter 1361: Zhang Lijuan (1)

Zhang Lijuan (Part One)

My name is Zhang Lijuan.

I lied.

But where should I start with my lie...?

It was around the time I turned fourteen, looking at our family's hardships, when I told my parents I didn't want to go to school anymore.

That year, I was in the ninth grade, about to graduate.

Although many people in the village had junior high diplomas, no one in our family had one yet.

My studies weren't outstanding, and my grades weren't top-notch.

I really wanted to stay in school, but an invisible wall blocked my way, separating me from the path of education.

My younger brother was nine years younger than me, and he'd had a heart condition since birth. Without surgery, he might not live to adulthood.

He was that wall in my heart.

Many girls in the village had gone out to work, saying they wanted to earn money for their brothers' weddings or houses, but my parents never mentioned it.

Even though they didn't bring it up, how could I pretend not to know...?

Even if my brother didn't need money for a wedding, the family still needed it for his surgery.

His life was counting down... how could I live carefree at school?

That day, when Dad heard what I said, he sat in the courtyard smoking his hand-rolled cigarette, wrapped in his coat, not saying a word, while Mom stood behind him in silence.

"Dad, Mom."

Thinking they hadn't heard, I stood in the courtyard and repeated, "Dad, Mom, I'm not going to school anymore. I'll go find work. Liangwa needs money for his surgery—it's urgent."

Dad's face turned heavy in an instant. He took a deep drag on his cigarette, his eyes, having stared at the fields for a lifetime, were already clouded by dust.

Not long after, he spoke: "Juan Wa, everyone... has their own fate."

At that age, I was too young to fully understand what Dad meant.

"Juan Wa, you go ahead with your schooling," Dad said again. "Our family isn't rich or noble. Liangwa was born into our family... that's his fate."

"What...?" I stammered, feeling incredulous.

Did Dad and Mom mean... they were giving up on Liangwa?

But the doctor had said it could be treated...

"Juan Wa..." Mom wiped the corner of her eye from behind. "Your dad is right... Even if you go out to work, how much could you earn? Five or six hundred yuan a month would be a lot, but the doctor said Liangwa's surgery would cost at least over a hundred thousand yuan, and even then, it might not work. There are so many expenses ahead. He's had such a tough life..."

The more Mom spoke, the redder her eyes got, and soon she was crying quietly: "Liangwa being born into our family is his misfortune... We can't let this burden you too."

Dad sighed, stubbed out his cigarette with his fingers, and said: "Juan Wa, people say it's a waste for a girl to go to school, but I'm just a stubborn old fool. You study hard, find a decent job later. I've had enough of farming. Our Zhang family can't keep producing farmers generation after generation."

"Say... say what?!!" I held back for a long time, standing in the courtyard with a flushed face as I shouted, "If I go to school... what about Liangwa? What about Liangwa?!"

"Liangwa... has his own fate," Dad said gravely. "Juan Wa, this is something your mom and I owe him. We'll pay it back in this life, and if we can't, in the next. It has nothing to do with you."

"How... how can it have nothing to do with me?!" I stuttered, not knowing how to respond. "Liangwa is my brother!"

That day, I resented Dad and Mom bitterly.

They had decided Liangwa's fate just like that.

Liangwa was the best kid in the world. Even when he was in pain, he'd force a smile for us.

The doctor said his heart wasn't pumping enough blood, so his fingers were always dark purple. I asked him every day if it hurt, but Liangwa would just smile and ask if his fingers looked like unripe eggplants from the fields.

Everyone in the family could cry, but Liangwa never would. He just kept smiling like that.

Yet Dad and Mom were giving up on him, and I felt like my world was collapsing.

That day, Mom held me and cried, saying how could she not want Liangwa to live, but how could he live?

Borrowing fifty or eighty yuan from each neighbor—when would we ever scrape together over a hundred thousand yuan?

Dad and Mom said they owed Liangwa, but they hadn't done anything wrong.

The only mistake our family made was not having enough money for his surgery. If I went out and earned enough, wouldn't that fix everything?

As long as I could earn money... everything would be quick.

A hundred leads to a thousand, a thousand to ten thousand, and ten thousand to a hundred thousand. We were only four or five steps away from that amount.

Dad and Mom didn't say another word to me that day. Dad's mouth turned down, and in his silence, he seemed to age several years. Time had left painful marks on him, as obvious as the dust on his skin.

The village elders always said that bad luck strikes where it's weakest, and misfortune finds those already suffering.

I went to the inner room and found Liangwa lying there asleep. I didn't know if he was pretending or really sleeping, but I went over and hugged his round head.

"Sis...?" Liangwa opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Liangwa, are you feeling any discomfort?"

"No, sis, I think my illness is almost better." Liangwa grinned at me. "Maybe next year I can go to school."

My eyes were like a dam that had burst; tears I'd held back for so long suddenly spilled out, soaking the pillow and his face.

"Sis! Don't cry!" Liangwa reached out his dark hand to wipe my tears. "Look! Sis! The eggplant is wiping your tears!"

I cried and cried, then suddenly burst out laughing with a "puchi," and reached out to tap him: "You little rascal!"

"Hehe!"

"Liangwa, sis might not be capable, but sis wants you to live."

"I'm alive, sis!" Liangwa grinned at me. "My illness is almost better!"

I didn't know how to make Liangwa live, but I knew I still had time.

"You wait for sis," I said. "Sis will study for one more year, graduate from junior high, and then find a job. By then, sis will have a diploma and can earn big money to treat your illness."

"Earn big money?" Liangwa blinked at me. "People who graduate from junior high can go to the city and earn money like on TV, right?"

"Yes." I nodded. "Then sis won't have to work at the village grain and oil factory. Sis will go to the city to earn money."

"Yay!"

Liangwa tried to clap, but his hands only lightly touched. I knew his hands hurt, but he acted like he didn't feel it and kept shouting: "My sis is going to earn big money!"

"Liangwa, when sis earns money, I'll buy a big house in the city and bring you and Dad and Mom there," I said through my tears. "Then I'll find you a wife and buy you green chili sandwiches every day."

"I don't want a wife! I don't want green chili sandwiches!" Liangwa laughed and said to me, "I want a brother-in-law! I want you to find a brother-in-law!"

"Okay, sis will find you a brother-in-law first, then get you a wife."

After I said that, I looked up and saw Mom wiping her tears outside the window.

If Liangwa hadn't been sick... how happy our family life would have been.

At that time, I never knew how difficult life's journey could be.

They say where there's a will, there's a way, but many things in the world can't be achieved just through effort and perseverance.

This world builds countless invisible walls, separating you from others.

You can see their lives and their joys, but your steps can never cross over.

Also that year, Dad and Mom listened to the village secretary's fortune-telling and said that the name "Lijuan" clashed with my birth chart and brought bad luck, so they wanted to change it at the police station.

But changing the name involved complicated procedures, and Dad and Mom couldn't read much, so they couldn't get it done. Instead, they decided to give me a nickname.

They said we wouldn't call me Juan Wa at home anymore, because saying it too much might jinx the family. Changing the name would bring good luck, and since I was graduating that year, they chose "Tian Tian" to make the home better.

But thinking about it... that's probably when my life started to completely fall apart.

(First, I wish everyone a happy new year, good luck in the Year of the Snake, and all your wishes come true. Once you've all received my blessings, I need to apologize. I previously mentioned writing side stories for ten characters, each around 20,000 words, and releasing one per character as I finish. However, for Tian Tian's side story, I've written over 23,000 words and still feel it's not close to the end—it's already ten chapters without a conclusion, possibly making it one of the longest. I considered cutting it down to fit within 20,000 words for a simplified story, but after thinking it over, I decided to write more to wrap it up properly. After all, once it's finished, no one will complain about padding the word count. So, I'll release these ten chapters before the new year as the first half of Tian Tian's side story, and the second half will come out randomly during the holiday. I hope you'll understand. In any case, thank you all for your ongoing support. Let's have a great new year, and I'll see you in the next one.)

Important:

(Oh, and one more thing to clarify to avoid misunderstandings. While creating the AI for the Qi Qiao Chen trio, the official team also made a chatbot for Tian Tian, which was a single-player script-based game containing her full story line. It was taken down temporarily due to technical issues. The story outline I provided back then was used as the basis, and some friends who played that single-player game adapted and compiled Tian Tian's story into a fan work called the 'Ten-Day Biography.' It follows the same general direction and uses the exact same character names as mine. There was no plagiarism involved— the story line was always mine, and I'm grateful to the readers who turned it into a book. If anyone played that script about half a year ago, feel free to confirm.)