The Weight in the Bamboo Basket

That night, Monkey drank a lot of alcohol. He was the type who could only drink one glass and would usually avoid or skip gatherings if he could.

But tonight, he seemed to want to drown himself in alcohol, chugging down glass after glass, as if the scalding liquid could temporarily burn away the cruelty of reality and numb the heart-wrenching pain.

Lin Feng didn't try to stop him, but simply stayed by his side quietly, occasionally refilling his glass when it was empty. He understood that when some earth-shattering hardships suddenly weighed on one's shoulders, one could find no better way to breathe than a brief period of numbness.

The alcohol quickly took effect, and the Monkey's cheeks flushed an unnatural red. His eyes became glazed, his tongue thickened, and his speech became rambling and incoherent, but the core of his thoughts always revolved around his sister lying in the hospital.

"Madman... hiccup..." Monkey hiccuped, his moist eyes glowing red in the dim light of the barbecue restaurant. He looked at Lin Feng, but his gaze seemed to penetrate him, seeing into the distant past.

"You... you know what? When I... the first time I saw my sister... she... she was just a tiny little thing... lying in swaddling clothes, shivering, like a little old man... her face was all wrinkled, she wasn't pretty at all..."

He forced a smile, but it looked worse than a grimace. "At the time... at the time I was thinking... this... this little thing, it's so ugly... so ugly..."

The parents stayed at home for less than a year before embarking on another journey to work in other cities to make a living. Monkey and his younger sister were left with their elderly grandmother.

It was said that their grandmother took care of them, but in reality, she was very old, her eyesight was blurred due to severe cataracts, and she moved slowly. More often than not, it was Monkey, who was only seven or eight years old at the time, who was forced to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of his grandmother and younger sister with his tender shoulders.

"Rather than saying that Grandma took care of us... it's more accurate to say that I, a half-grown boy, was helping to take care of this old woman and the young one..." Monkey's voice was thick with nasal tone and drunkenness, yet it also revealed a deep-seated bitterness from his memories.

His gaze drifted to the greasy wall in the distance, as if he could see through time and space and see his own thin self, carrying a huge burden.

"Back then... I... I got a big bamboo basket..." He gestured with his hands, his movements exaggerated due to drunkenness, "You know, those... tightly woven big bamboo baskets that can hold a lot of things... I put her... my sister, in that bamboo basket..."

Whether I was cutting pig feed, fishing by the river, or buying soy sauce at the village store... I carried her on my back... wherever I went, I carried her...

His voice lowered, carrying the heavy weight of memories.

"She was so heavy back then... really... she was pressing down on me... I could hardly breathe... I kept thinking... when will this little thing grow up... when... she'll be able to walk on her own... and stop crushing me from being on my back..."

Those years were a burden no child should have to bear. The ropes of the bamboo basket left deep red marks on his thin shoulders, and they were also etched into his childhood memories.

Time flowed slowly, Monkey grew up, stumbling and fumbling, until he reached the third year of junior high school. His younger sister had finally reached the age where she could walk unsteadily and babble. Although she still needed someone to look after her, at least Monkey no longer had to carry her on his back all the time, and the weight on his shoulders seemed to have lightened a bit.

However, the cruelty of life lies in the fact that just when you think you see a glimmer of hope, it casts an even deeper shadow.

The Monkey's father had an accident at the construction site, falling from the scaffolding and being seriously injured and hospitalized. The mother had to drop everything and rush to the hospital to take care of her father.

The family's breadwinner collapsed instantly, and their only source of income was cut off. Monkey, still a minor, looked at his bedridden grandmother and his innocent younger sister, and for the first time, the thought of dropping out of school to work crossed his mind. This idea grew wildly in his heart like weeds; he knew it was the only way for this family to survive.

He spent countless days and nights in turmoil, tormented, and restless.

One evening, he dragged his weary steps home from school to a cold, empty house. Silently, he took out the last of the family's money—the cheapest milk powder—and made two bowls for his grandmother and sister. The white powder dissolved in the hot water, releasing a faint milky aroma.

Hearing the noise, the younger sister came out from the inner room and her eyes lit up when she saw the steaming milk on the table. She obediently climbed onto the stool, picked up the enamel bowl with cartoon patterns and a chipped edge, and began to drink it slowly and carefully.

The Monkey silently went to the stove to start a fire, preparing to cook some porridge. When he came out carrying two bowls of porridge that were almost reflective, his younger sister had already finished her milk. She placed the empty bowls neatly on the table and looked up at her.

Her small face, slightly yellowed from malnutrition, now held a seriousness and earnestness far beyond her years. She looked at her brother, her dark, grape-like eyes devoid of childlike innocence, only a heartbreaking precocity and clarity.

She looked at the Monkey, her voice childish yet clear:

"Brother," she said, "Don't drop out of school."

The Monkey froze, its hand holding the bowl of porridge hanging in mid-air.

The younger sister continued, her tone unusually calm for a child. "If one day you feel too much pressure, too tired..."

She paused, then stretched out her little finger and pointed to the empty milk bowl.

"Then put something in the milk."

Seeing the sudden shock in her brother's eyes, her small face showed no fear, only a resolute and stubborn desire to share his burden:

"I'll drink it all in one go."