"Hello, Mom, how's Xiao Shuang's preparation for the college entrance exam going?"
"What, she argued with Dad? She wants to study foreign languages? What age are we living in? You should talk him around. With reform and opening up now, they're bound to come in handy!" At the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, Lian Youming held Yan Lingyun's hand with one hand and the telephone with the other.
But after only a few words, Lian Shuang's voice came from the other end, choked with tears.
"Brother!"
Lian Youming had not heard his little sister cry in ages. His heart nearly broke, and he hurried to soothe her. "Don't cry! Don't worry. Just focus on your exam. Your brother will stand up for you."
Lian Lei chimed in from beside her. "Brother, hurry back. Without you here taking the brunt of things, I can barely hold out."
The eldest brother was like a father. Lian Youming had raised both younger siblings himself.
In those earlier years, there had barely been a handful of adults in the whole neighborhood. He had taken Second Brother fishing in the river and hunting birds in the mountains, taught him to read and write, and struggled to keep him fed and alive. By the time the third child was born, things had become fairly stable.
As for their father, he was a rough, uneducated man. Although he understood reason, he had a soldier's temperament and was painfully heavy-handed when raising his children, readily taking his belt to them. Naturally, Lian Shuang and Lian Lei were closest to their eldest brother.
Yan Lingyun hurried to offer comfort too.
Only after a good deal of soothing did Lian Shuang stop crying.
Once things had more or less settled, Zhao Lanxiang turned her attention back to her dear grandson and