Chapter 8 - 4: Sending a Letter

Chapter 8: Chapter 4: Sending a Letter

After watching the children leave, Lin Zhao returned to the house. It was a mess, but she wasn’t in the mood to tidy up. After all, the bump on her head hadn’t gone down, and it would throb with pain from time to time—a real nuisance.

’I’ll wait until tomorrow... I’ll deal with it then.’

Having convinced herself, Lin Zhao lay down and closed her eyes.

When she woke up again, the sky had darkened, and she could hear Er Zai’s voice from outside.

"Brother, why isn’t Mom awake yet? Did she faint?"

Da Zai had already peeked in on Lin Zhao and knew his mother was still breathing. Hearing Er Zai, he snapped, "Er Zai, you’re too loud! What if you wake Mom up? Grandma said people with head injuries need lots of rest, so be quiet."

Er Zai, who always listened to his older brother, immediately fell silent.

After the sun went down, the house grew quite dark, but it wasn’t time to light the lamp just yet.

Lin Zhao got out of bed and opened the door. Da Zai immediately approached, but he didn’t dare get too close, afraid his mother might revert to her old, aloof self.

He stood his ground and asked, "Mom, does your head still hurt?"

Lin Zhao walked over to Da Zai, patted the top of his head, and said with a smile, "I feel much better after getting some sleep."

Seeing that his mother hadn’t changed, Da Zai broke into a smile. "Grandma had me bring you some food. Do you want to eat now, Mom?"

After her nap, Lin Zhao was indeed a little hungry. "Yes, please."

Er Zai hurried to bring the food over.

His chance to be helpful snatched away by his younger brother, Da Zai felt a bit glum. But when he saw his mother smile at him, the corners of his own mouth curved up slightly.

Lin Zhao took the meal from Er Zai. It was cornmeal mush with stewed napa cabbage. The only bit of meat was the fried egg placed on top.

She didn’t need the children to tell her; she knew the fried egg was from Mother Gu to help her regain her strength.

"Thank you, Da Zai and Er Zai."

"You’re welcome." Da Zai blushed shyly and brought a stool over for Lin Zhao so she could sit down to eat.

It was the height of summer, and the countryside was swarming with mosquitoes. They were vicious, too; a single bite would leave a large, incredibly itchy welt.

Lin Zhao’s legs were already covered in red bite marks.

’Building a new house and buying mosquito nets are absolutely necessary.’

"Da Zai, Er Zai, I’m planning to build our family a new house. What do you two think?"

Da Zai’s eyes widened.

’Build a house!?’

"Can we build a brick-and-tile house?" Er Zai asked excitedly, his voice rising.

Da Zai gestured for his brother to lower his voice so he wouldn’t wake their younger siblings. The Third and Fourth Child had played themselves out that afternoon and had been put to bed early by their older brothers.

Er Zai covered his mouth and looked at Lin Zhao with pleading eyes. Though his voice dropped to a whisper, it still quivered with excitement. "Mom, I’d love a brick-and-tile house."

’You know, it’s actually pretty cute when a little kid talks like that.’

"...We can." Lin Zhao thought of all the zeros on the bankbook their father had sent home and nodded decisively. "Brick-and-tile houses are cleaner, so that’s what we’ll build. We can also install mosquito nets for you, so you won’t be woken up by bites at night. Getting the bricks and tiles might be a bit complicated... but that’s okay. I’ll write to your father tonight and have him figure something out."

Gu Chenghuai, far away in his army barracks: ’Thanks for finally remembering I exist.’

Noticing Da Zai hadn’t said a word, Lin Zhao softened her tone. "Why are you so quiet, Da Zai? The house we’re building is our home. Every member of the family gets to have a say."

"Mom... do we have the money for that?" Da Zai asked hesitantly.

Lin Zhao’s heart ached. Sometimes Da Zai was so mature he didn’t seem like a child at all. ’When a child is forced to grow up too fast,’ she thought, ’it’s always because the parents have been negligent.’

She smiled at Da Zai and said softly, "We do. We have enough money to build a house and make sure you four little treasures can eat meat."

Da Zai’s face broke into a pure, bright smile, his eyes shining.

Lin Zhao ate heartily, not at all minding Mother Gu’s terrible cooking.

’Even though I look fair-skinned and delicate now, not at all like a girl from the countryside, it’s not like I didn’t suffer hardships when I was a child...’

’My parents and brothers were all good to me, but our entire family survived by farming. It was hard enough just to get a full meal; we were lucky if we had cornmeal mush to fill our bellies.’

’The only reason I was able to go to school was because my uncle, a factory worker in the city, paid for it.’

’Thinking about how she’d been acting as if possessed for the past few years, inexplicably cutting off contact with her uncle, Lin Zhao felt like a complete ingrate.’

"Mom, can I still share a room with Er Zai?" Da Zai made his request.

Er Zai nodded vigorously. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! I want to room with my big brother!"

Lin Zhao smiled and asked, "Then what about the Third Child and the Fourth Child?"

"Then all four of us should just stay in one room," Da Zai said without a second thought. It hadn’t even occurred to him to entrust his younger siblings to his mother’s care.

"Mhm," Er Zai agreed. He had no objections; he always went along with whatever his older brother said.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lin Zhao told the children to get to bed, and they all returned to their respective rooms.

Before returning to his room, Da Zai couldn’t resist one last glance at Lin Zhao, silently praying in his heart, ’I hope Mom is still the same tomorrow.’

Lin Zhao was unaware of Da Zai’s private wish. Back in her room, she didn’t go to sleep right away. Instead, she sat at the table and began writing a letter to the children’s father.