What a Great Big Brother!

"Brother Liang's calling us! Quick, maybe he's handing out candy again!"

A group of children came running out again, quite a few still holding their rice bowls.

They all gazed at Liang Xin with their necks craned in anticipation.

"Brother Liang, are you giving us tomorrow's candy early?"

Damn, kid, you're something else!

Why do you make it sound like I owe you?

All of a sudden, I don't want to give you candy tomorrow!

Liang Xin suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

A saying came to mind: a great kindness could breed enmity!

He'd only been handing out candy for a few days, yet one of the little ones was already saying something like that.

As if him handing out candy was the natural order of things, something only right and proper!

Do I owe you?

So if I stop handing out candy someday, are you all going to hate me?

It looked like a small matter, but it was actually a very serious issue.

And so the cheerful expression gradually faded from Liang Xin's face.

The children weren't the only ones who had come running out when Liang Xin handed out candy.

Plenty of adults had come out to see what was going on too.

As soon as the boy said those words, Liang Xin wasn't the only one whose expression changed.

Many of the adults' expressions changed as well.

They had clearly realized the problem with it too.

There were some who didn't catch on, but when they saw the others' expressions, they too realized that something seemed to be wrong.

Then, after giving it some thought, they understood the reasoning behind it.

Only the children were still looking at Liang Xin with expectant eyes.

They just wondered why Brother Liang had stopped talking, and why the smile had disappeared from his face.

"Xiao Liang, sorry about that. He's young and doesn't know any better. Don't hold it against him."

A man Liang Xin didn't know very well walked over.

Hearing what he said, Liang Xin felt a wave of distaste.

Is this also that 'he's young and doesn't know any better' from later generations?

Is he saying that I'm an adult, so why should I hold it against a child?

It was as if being young meant anything could be forgiven.

"Hehe, it's fine."

Liang Xin answered with a smile. Though he was smiling, it looked a little different from his usual smile.

There was an added layer of perfunctoriness, pretense, and indifference.

The man gave him an apologetic smile, then grabbed the boy who had spoken, tucked him under his arm, and went back inside.

At once, the sound of a shoe sole smacking against flesh came from the house, along with the child's cries and howls that shook heaven and earth.

Liang Xin was stunned.

Then his perfunctory, feigned smile changed into one of satisfaction.

Big brother, I misjudged you!

That's more like it!

That's what the values of people in this era should be like!

These people are still worth giving to!

"Big brother, he's still young. That's about enough!"

He was even considering whether to take the initiative and ask this good big brother if he needed eggs, or wanted to buy some meat!

He liked a good big brother like that!

Liang Xin called out toward the house, then smiled at the children in front of him and said:

"Kids, I'm bored and want to find something to read."

"Whichever of you has books, lend them to me for a few days. One piece of candy for each book!"

Liang Xin had been living quite comfortably these past few days.

He didn't have to work, and he had a lot of free time each day.

At first, everything he saw had been novel, and he'd had his fill of sights.

But after seeing enough, it was just like that, and he began to get bored.

So he started thinking about what he could do to pass the time.

Before his rebirth, a single phone would have been enough to pass the time however he wanted.

But that was clearly out of the question now.

So he figured the only suitable way to pass the time might be reading.

That was great: not only could he pass the time, he could also put on an act of being studious and cultured in front of others.

Especially since he was starting the medium-distance route today.

He would have to lie on the ox cart for nearly half a day each trip. He couldn't sleep at night and then sleep all day too, could he?

He wasn't that short on sleep.

He could force himself to sleep, but too much sleep left a person listless.

"Brother Liang, I have books! I'll go get them for you!"

"Me too! Me too! And I have more!"

The children all hurriedly ran home.

They were afraid that if they were slow, someone else would beat them to it, and Liang Xin wouldn't exchange candy for theirs.

Soon, the children came back one after another.

"Picture books?"

Liang Xin picked up a palm-sized picture book, a look of disdain on his face.

Then he gave the child a piece of candy and accepted the book...

In the blink of an eye, he had exchanged candy for seven or eight books.

The child who brought the most got four pieces of candy and was grinning from ear to ear.

Then more children came running over.

"I already have this one."

"You even dared bring your textbook over? Aren't you afraid your dad will beat you to death? Oh, it's last year's textbook. All right, I'll take it too."

Liang Xin was quite curious about how the textbooks of this era differed from the ones he'd had as a child. He could use them to play spot the differences.

He was getting them for entertainment anyway; he wasn't counting on learning anything from them.

What did it matter what kind of book it was?

More than a dozen children had come, each bringing all kinds of books.

Some brought only one or two, while others brought three to five.

After setting aside the duplicates, Liang Xin accepted forty or fifty books, a very tall stack!

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was collecting scrap!

The agreement was one piece of candy to borrow one book.

Each person had brought a different number, so naturally they received different amounts of candy.

Liang Xin, meanwhile, did his best to make sure every child got some candy, at least one piece!