Chapter 4: Drawing the Line
Du Li was nearly driven mad upon hearing this.
She knew that now, in the eyes of her father-in-law’s neighbors, the already fragile reputation of the factory—once barely respectable—had completely collapsed.
Forcing her younger brother-in-law to donate a kidney in secret behind closed doors was one thing; keeping it quiet was one thing. But once word got out, outsiders would be sure to break her spine with their accusations.
With this thought, Du Li shouted out,
“I never forced the third brother to sell his kidney! I did it for his own good. Tell me, is this even a family?
I’ve been beaten by the second brother’s wife like this, and not a single person came to my aid. What sin have I committed?”
Seeing Du Li try to turn the tables, Li Qi let out a cold, derisive laugh.
“Who was it just now who said that after selling the kidney, twenty thousand yuan had to be given to you? Wasn’t that you?
And the two thousand yuan bankbook left by my mother before she passed—didn’t you take it back to your maternal home to build a house?
Well then, why don’t you explain?”
That one sentence stunned the neighbors into silence.
“Oh my goodness, how could someone be so heartless? Four brothers in a family, and she just stole the bankbook.”
“No wonder the eldest brother’s family has been struggling these past two years. Those two kids haven’t had new clothes in three years. Turns out the money was all taken by the eldest.”
“He’s even the deputy director of the school’s discipline office, yet he avoids any involvement with matters at all. Truly, the educated men are full of wickedness, and the women are full of licentiousness.”
“They must have forgotten how in the old days they were called the ‘stinking ninth’.”
“The eldest looks strong and upright, but what he has done is worse than any beast.”
“Big Sister Lu worked so hard to support his schooling, her ladle even rusted from overuse. In the end, he only earned a technical college diploma, but all that education was wasted.”
Li Peng was furious beyond words.
Betrayed by his own third brother and publicly shamed by the neighbors, he had never felt such humiliation before.
At school, the young teachers all bowed and nodded to him.
Finally losing all restraint, he raised his hand to slap Li Qi.
“I’m damned if I’ll let you speak nonsense!”
But just as his palm lifted, Li Qi grabbed his wrist, twisted it with ease, and bent Li Peng’s entire arm half a turn behind his back. Li Peng let out pained cries.
“Ow, ow, ow! Let go!”
Li Qi snorted coldly.
“Big brother, don’t you have any idea of your own weight? You can’t even carry fifty pounds of rice, yet you want to fight me and Erchao? Spare me.”
With a twist, Li Peng stumbled and fell flat on his face.
Li Qi shook his wrist and sighed unexpectedly.
He had never cared much for studying as a child, preferring to train his body with Old Man Song in the village—squatting horse stance, push-ups, punching sandbags, and kicking the big poplar tree.
Old Man Song claimed to be a master of Tongbeiquan, probably just fooling people, but he did make Li Qi’s body tough as iron.
Later, he also practiced Tai Chi with Grandpa Yang.
But after the kidney was sold, just like the old lady at New Year, things only went downhill with each passing year…
Du Li, already displeased from being beaten by Tang Chunyan, now saw her third brother, who was usually bullied by the family, dare to fight back against her eldest brother. Deep inside her eyes, a faint and barely noticeable smile appeared.
She first yelled sharply at Li Qi,
“Li Third Brother, are you still a human being? How dare you hit your eldest brother?
Your eldest brother is the most accomplished person in your family, the pillar of the Li family.
Without him, who would treat your family as respectable? Just your second brother, who sells pickled vegetables?
You’d better kneel down and admit your mistake to your eldest brother right now.”
After shouting this, she turned aggressively toward Li Mantang.
“Dad, I shouldn’t have said this, and I usually hold back, but today you can’t ignore the third brother anymore. What he’s doing is beyond reason.
Over the years, as the eldest son, he has sacrificed so much for this family, dedicating himself wholeheartedly.
And you just stand there watching the third brother rebel? If you don’t intervene today, tomorrow he’ll become a beast who betrays his own brothers and father.”
For the sake of that twenty thousand yuan, Du Li’s mind was racing so fast it felt like her brain was about to burst into flames.
Li Mantang always doted on his eldest son and despised the third son, who seemed like a good-for-nothing.
If Li Mantang scolded the third son and put pressure on him, the third son would lose his father’s support and be forced to obediently donate his kidney.
Li Peng’s future, her prized white mink coat, and her younger brother Du Ming’s upscale wedding could all proceed according to her plans.
At this moment, Du Li felt like she was possessed by Zhuge Liang himself, only missing the maniacal laughter.
She truly was out of place among these uneducated, foolish rural folk!
Unfortunately, just as she finished speaking, Li Qi burst into loud laughter.
“Your rotten mouth smells like a lazy wife’s foot cloth, foul beyond words! Who dug a cesspit into your throat?
And as for your claim that the eldest sacrificed so much for the family, you might want to check your conscience, which is smaller than a soybean, and rethink your words.
All these years, the family spent every penny on the eldest’s education. Our eldest sister only studied until the fourth grade before returning home to work to save money.
In the end, we managed to send him to school, and when he married you, the family even came up with eight hundred yuan for the bride price.
What has he ever given back to the family?
He hasn’t brought a single cent home over all these years, never bought mom a pastry, never offered dad a drink, not even a fried cake for me or Li Zhe.
He’s earning 120 yuan a month now, and he’s never given the family a single penny!
When mom died, he took the two thousand yuan bankbook, and for three years, we three men never saw a dime of that money.
You call that wholeheartedly dedicating himself to the family?
What’s he dedicating to the family for? Sucking the blood dry?
Since you think the eldest should take care of the family, how about starting tomorrow, he gives the family fifty yuan a month for living expenses?”
“Dream on!”
At the very mention of taking money from her hands, Du Li completely lost it, howling like a mad dog with bloodshot eyes.
“Why should we give money to the family?
Did your Li family raise their children just to be drained by them?
Who doesn’t expect their children to live better lives?
How can you be so heartless, asking for the children’s money?
You really are damn rural folks, full of backward feudal ideas!
My mother told me farmers can’t make it, and today she made me see why.”
Hearing Du Li’s words, the onlookers all stepped back half a pace.
Their faces showed ambiguous expressions.
Aunt Wu cleared her throat and said,
“Oh my, whose pampered daughter is this, talking as if she’s a royal relative of a high provincial official?
Such arrogance, calling everyone a farmer and rural folk.
But I remember on your wedding day, when your mother came to visit us, she wasn’t any aristocrat either—just from the dirt-poor area by the river.
Your father used to farm a few acres of hillside land and later watched the gate at the town’s middle school with the help of the eldest Li.
Your grandfather was quite a figure, supposedly managing accounts and paying wages at the mine during the Japanese occupation.
Even after the Japanese were driven out for many years, your grandfather would still speak fondly of them, saying they were good people who never owed wages and even gave the workers meat at noon.
Later, he was criticized for years with a thirty-pound iron placard hanging around his neck before he finally corrected this bad habit.
What’s this, you think you’re the daughter of the Second Ghost’s house, trying to draw a line between yourself and us farmers?”