Rebirth: WLSB Chapter 4  

TL: Hermit

Editor: Hermit

TLC: Hermit

School has started, and the amount of studying I’ll have to do is scaring me already. Thus, this chapter will most likely be the last chapter I’m translating. Don’t forget, this was a teaser project! I’m hoping for someone to please pick this project up full time, but if no one does, I may or may not translate another chapter here and there if I have free time. Hope you’ve all enjoyed these 4 chapters so far!

Chapter 4  : Retaliation

There was a loud ruckus outside, second and eldest aunt came really quickly, such loud voices, as if wishing to let everyone know of their grievances.

As the fourth child, Qin Yu Fu was the youngest of the family, and the only male. Thus ever since they were young, the parents always wanted the three older sisters to yield to the younger brother, he was the pillar of the family! Once they grew up and married into another family, their maternal home’s brother was their iron spine!

The three sisters listened to their parents at first, treating their younger brother nicely, letting him have anything good, but afterwards, as they grew older, the sisters felt that something wasn’t right. Why did they have to give way to him?

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They did all the household chores, they fed the chickens, ducks, geese and even the pigs, how could this Qin Yu Fu reap what he did not sow?

However, if they thought about it from another angle, Qin Yu Fu started helping out around the house as soon as he was sensible enough to do so. After his 3 sisters were married, he would have to do all the chores himself, there was no ‘who owed who’.

It got even noisier outside, as if there were many crying sounds mixing together outside. The foreman ran out immediately, while Shu Ning quietly and calmly tidied up the house, leaving the battlefield to Uncle. Hopefully, he would be enlightened to the true characters of his sisters.

There were a lot of neighbours standing in a circle to watch, their gazes lukewarm, pointing and gesticulating.

Eldest aunt sat on the floor crying and cursing. Since second aunt’s husband was a teacher, she at least had a little character. She asked questions loudly, kept saying that the younger brother was not filial, never coming home, now that their mother needed to undergo surgery, they could only sell the house. Qin Yu Fu didn’t say a word, his head hanging, as if really feeling that he had been wrong.

Some of the neighbours were also bewildered, was there actually such a thing? But that’s wrong, this family’s two eldest daughters were quite difficult to deal with, they weren’t good people. The youngest daughter had left for 10 years with no contact, in fact it was the youngest male who was obedient and thoughtful, very filial, how could it be that he would stay unconcerned even when he heard that his elderly mother was ill and bedridden?

Qin Yu Zhi wiped her tears, and couldn’t help but laugh secretly, Qin Yu Lan also raised the corners of her mouth in satisfaction. The pair of sisters thought to themselves that since Qin Yu Fu had been stupid and cowardly since young, it would be easy to send him away with just a few words, just nice, they could split the money half-half. And as for how to bury their elderly mother? They had really never thought about it.

It was at this moment, that the crowd parted, an old man slowly walked over with both hands behind his back, it was the village chief.

“What happened for it to be so noisy here?”

Both women didn’t speak, instead, Qin Yu Fu who had been silent all the while lifted his head: “Inviting the village chief to be the witness.”

The village chief raised his eyebrows: “Speak.”

Qin Yu Lan wanted to speak, but was stopped by Qin Yu Zhi, even if they couldn’t find the housing deed today, if the village chief stepped in and replaced the housing deed, then they could sell the house!

The foreman stood next to Qin Yu Fu, patting the honest man on the shoulder.

At this moment, Qin Yu Fu seemed as if he had been immersed in a jar of pickles, feeling incomparable pain: “Eldest sister and second sister, is mother waiting for money to undergo surgery?”

“Yes ah,” after Qin Yu Lan finished saying this, she eyed eldest sister, why wasn’t she saying anything? Suddenly, she felt some unease. Ever since they were young, eldest sister had been crafty, if anything went wrong eldest sister would use her as a scapegoat, could it be… …

The foreman fished out his phone, after pressing a series of numbers, he passed it to the village chief.

Anyone who could become the village chief was not simple. Even under the weight of the stares of the crowd, he remained unperturbed. After the call connected, the party stated that it was the Ou Hospital. The elderly village chief’s heart already had some suspicions, after asking a few questions, that old face underwent a great change in a split second, staring at the pair of sisters, shocked, they were truly too undisciplined and out of control, just where had they misplaced their humanity and morality?

With the village chief to bear witness, it would be easy to manage the situation. Once everyone knew that this elderly neighbour was dead, naturally they immediately hurled abuse and berated the pair of sisters for being scoundrels, causing them to be unable to lift their heads. The few elderly ladies who had been closer to maternal grandmother were especially harsh, cursing them repeatedly, hoping that they wouldn’t die a good death.

A dog could even jump a wall when it was cornered, Qin Yu Lan was so scared that she wept endlessly. Instead, it was Qin Yu Zhi who immediately had yet another plan: “Everyone, don’t be noisy, listen to me, my mother is dead, but it was true that she needed to undergo surgery before this, Qin Yu Fu not doing his filial duty before the sickbed is also the truth. Truly, us two sisters have taken care of our sickly mother till she left this world.”

Qin Yu Lan thought of the combat plan she had thought out with her sister beforehand, and her eyes lit up: “That’s right, that’s right, our elderly mother only had this one son, she didn’t even get to see him before she died, and so she was extremely grieved, saying that she would leave the house to us two sisters, and cannot let Qin Yu Fu this child that was picked up off lightly.”

Picked up!

Heavens!

For the sake of money, even throwing away their face, what relatives? They truly had no sense of shame!

The foreman snorted disdainfully: “Relatives or not has nothing to do with it, as long as he’s on the household register, he’s the elderly’s son in the eyes of the law.”

At this moment, Shu Ning came out, holding on to the household register, laughing in his heart, these two idiots, their ability to cut off their own path of retreat was the best. This was good, there was no need to take a lot of trouble to persuade Uncle to cut all ties with them.

The village chief flipped through the household register page by page, nodding his head: “The household register has Qin Yu Fu’s name.”

Since they’ve already come to this stage, how could Qin Yu Lan give up just like this, with her red face and thick neck, she argued noisily: “Could it be that the words elderly mother said just before she died are considered invalid?”

The foreman frowned, if this pair of sisters bribed a few of the nurses to act as their witness, then this case would not be resolved smoothly.

Qin Yu Fu was someone even more stupid, even after thinking so long, he couldn’t think of any ideas, his whole face going white. Especially that sentence about being picked up, nearly destroying him.

The surroundings began becoming explosive again. While people in the city wrote wills, villagers delivered them verbally or wrote on slips of paper.

“Oh?” Shu Ning laughed coldly, his gaze incomparably sharp: “I didn’t know that you were both so filial. There’s this thing that’s called a monitoring device, there are surveillance cameras set up throughout all the hospital’s doorways and corridors. Please tell everyone, how did you evade the monitoring devices to enter the ward. Could it be that you were dreaming in broad daylight?”

Once these words were spoken, everyone started smiling one by one. The pair of sisters’ faces became extremely unsightly in an instant, wishing that they could dig a hole and hide in the ground. Now, there was no way to flip the tables, their reputation was soiled, similar to a stray rat on the street, being taught a lesson by everyone, giving Shu Ning a malicious glare before making their getaway, as if to say ‘you just wait’.

After the farce was over, the funeral arrangements were set up over seven days. In that period, Qin Yu Zhi came back with a thicker skin, kneeling down to bawl loudly, as if it were real. She then pretended to faint, going into the house to rest, but actually hadn’t given up yet, looking everywhere for the housing deed. After ending up empty handed, she even went through her younger brother’s pants and coat, taking off with $20.

Shu Ning was guarded against her, after seeing that Qin Yu Zhi had gone into the house for 5 minutes, he purposely called for the tall and strong Aunt Zhang to go and take a look. Even after Qin Yu Zhi’s plot was exposed and she was caught red handed, she still did not repent, trying to turn the tables. Aunt Zhang was incomparably honest and her reputation was good. ‘pa pa pa!’ After she gave a few slaps, Qin Yu Zhi was ashamed and unable to show her face, and did not appear again.

The second child’s husband was a teacher, and had to keep his reputation clean, so Qin Yu Lan had no choice but to come, being forced to be busy both inside and outside. Even at night, she had to keep watch over the black and white photographs, seeing her elderly mother’s kindly smiling face, she felt extremely scared, feeling that looking at anything caused her to panic and feel terrified! Her face was constantly pale and wan, she was constantly frightened.

Qin Yu Lan’s heart was definitely unable to be peaceful, as long as she felt unwell, Shu Ning would be reassured. In the day, he was impolite to her, getting her to do this and that purposely in front on others, causing her to be extremely depressed, her gaze full of hate, but she had to do as instructed, really enjoyable! On the day of the burial, it was drizzling, Qin Yu Lan couldn’t use the umbrella, having no choice but to kneel, after getting hope, she fell sick, experiencing many nightmares in her sleep.

The foreman’s ability to handle affairs was very high, he had already found a reliable person to buy the house, Shu Ning participated from the beginning to end, selling the house for $5000. The houses in the village were not worth a lot of money, and it was even an old house that had been occupied for more than 10 years. Actually, there weren’t many houses in the city more than 2 stories high, a majority were single-leveled bungalows. Shu Ning made a few calculations, because in a month, Qin Yu Zhuo would come to find him.

Buying a house required the foreman’s help, Qin Yu Fu was unwilling, wanting to leave the money for Shu Ning, especially since this money was brought back by Third Sister during that time, he couldn’t take it. The foreman tried to persuade Qin Yu Fu, even doing so for 2 days didn’t work, in the end it was Shu Ning who took the deed and visited the construction site. Once the foreman saw this, he knew it was genuine, and attached more importance to this child.

Shu Ning had a brilliant smile on his face: “Uncle, do you want to go out with us to eat lunch?”

The foreman could tell with one glance that these two definitely had things to say to one another, so he waved a hand, taking his safety helmet, he went off.

There were countless small restaurants outside the construction site, Shu Ning ordered a plate of spare ribs, a plate of sweet and sour pork, and egg drop soup. These were all dishes that Uncle liked but were reluctant to eat.

Uncle put on a forced smile: “If the house has been bought, let it be, actually, I can just keep staying at the construction site, there’s no need for a house. But you, on the other hand, you didn’t think about your school fees. Forget it, after we finish eating, let’s go get a bankbook for you, in the future, I’ll pay your school fees.”

Shu Ning looked at him being cheerless, could it be that he still hadn’t gotten over it? With a bit of worry: “There’s no doubt that you’re my biological uncle, they said all that because they wanted to get the house. Uncle, they caused maternal grandmother’s death and humiliated us… … do you still have affection for them?”

Qin Yu Fu was silent, the slice of sweet and sour pork he had picked up was put back down.

Shu Ning sighed, as expected, thus he gave a dose of harsh reality: “Have you gotten back any of the wages you’ve sent to eldest aunt over all these years?”

What’s gone can never come back, it’s gone forever.

Qin Yu Fu’s complexion became gloomy as his whole body jolted, the corners of his eyes becoming moist: “They… … In the past, they weren’t like this, I still remember when we were small, when it rained, the umbrellas at home were all taken, eldest sister would go to school to fetch me, using a large piece of plastic to cover my body, yet she herself was wet from head to toe. Second sister liked to tease me and make me laugh, once I laughed she would be happy, third sister… …” Babbling on non-stop, these were all the most beautiful memories, but it was a pity that things remained the same but people changed, there was no going back to those happy days.

Shu Ning did not speak, listening silently. By the time Qin Yu Fu finished saying all these, the dishes had all become cold. Such a big man even shed tears, but seeing that the air around him had become lighter, he had most likely accepted the situation.

After this, the two went to the bank to make two bankbooks, Shu Ning who was only 13 had no identity card, making it inconvenient to handle the matter. Before, the matter of buying the house had been done by proxy while using Uncle’s identity card.

“Xiao Ning, Uncle lives with more than 10 workmates, it’s not good to keep precious items here, why don’t you keep the housing deed in the school?”

“Alright,” the house that Shu Ning had bought was naturally not for people to stay in, but was for immediate relocation, it could earn a lot: “Uncle, keep our assets a secret, do not mention whatever happened today to anyone, if eldest and second aunt want your wages and come to the construction site to make trouble, just say that you borrowed a lot of money to make the funeral arrangements, let they pay back the money.”

Qin Yu Fu laughed at this, knocking on Shu Ning’s little head: “You’re smart.”

After separating, Shu Ning went to the Trading Hall to open an account and look at stocks, keeping only a few tens out of the thousand he had, he deposited everything into the account.

After returning back to the school, Shu Ning found that everyone, including the teachers, were looking at him with pity in their gazes, after asking, then did he know that this was the class monitor’s masterpiece of an effort at publicizing his situation.

Not bad, not bad, truly a close friend! With this, all the villages in the area would know of their wicked conduct.

In an instant, a month passed like this, today, there was an unusually fashionable car parked outside the school.

Hermit’s Notes:

以牙還牙 – Chapter title. Direct translation is ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. But it was too long so I shortened it to ‘Retaliation’.

鐵腰杆 – translated as iron spine, but essentially the person the sisters will rely on when they marry into another family

素質 – not sure how to translate so I used ‘character’. Similar words I thought of include: “class, quality”.

猶如浸泡在酸菜缸裡似的 – as if he had been immersed in a jar of pickles; I translated it as I saw it, because searching around didn’t yield any results for recent slang etc. I’m thinking this refers to sour feeling, because pickles are sour.

狗急還能跳牆呢 – A dog could even jump a wall when it was cornered (literal translation)

骨頭 – spare ribs (short form for spare rib dishes)

鍋包肉 – (this dish is slightly different, using pork slices instead of small chunks)

這些年郵寄給大姨的工資拿回來了嗎 – direct translation is to take the money back, but that doesn’t quite fit the situation.