Chapter 9: The Young Master's Illness

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Fortunately, still in the old house.
He slept at the edge of the kang bed, while his niece, Gao Junmei, slept at the head of the kang.
His father was on the southern kang; his eldest sister was already up, boiling water and cooking noodles in the kitchen.
He didn’t put his clothes back on—everything that happened yesterday wasn’t just a dream.
He was truly terrified, afraid that upon opening his eyes he would find himself back in the hospital ward, waiting to die, abandoned like trash by all his relatives.
He rolled out of bed and helped his eldest sister prepare the meal, skillfully cutting a green radish to make a cold dish.
Li Li’s eyes reddened.
“The third brother can cook now; if only Mom were still here, you wouldn’t have to do this…”
“Enough, enough. Why can’t I do these things?
I have hands and feet; can’t I cook for myself? Must I always wait for someone else to serve me?”
At this moment, Gao Junmei was already up, tidily folding the quilt and sweeping the kang.
But the small room’s door remained closed until the meal was served. Only then did Li Zhe leisurely push the door open and sit at the table.
Just as he was about to pick up his chopsticks, Li Qi slammed the table.
“Who the hell do you think you are, some big shot heir coming to experience life at our house?
Who in this family owes you anything?
You don’t lift a finger all day, just waiting to eat what’s been prepared.
Who gave you the right?
Last night, your eldest sister cried so much, and you didn’t even fart—couldn’t you at least call out to her?
You don’t have the fate of a young master, but you sure act like one with all your sickly airs.
From now on, you get up every morning to poke the stove and make the fire. No work, no food.”
Li Zhe shrank back, nearly bursting into tears, feeling wronged.
“What are you doing?
I’m studying, aren’t I? Mom said before, as long as I study well, I don’t have to do anything else. Mom’s only been gone a few years, why do you scare me like this…”
Li Qi pulled a stove poker off the ground and pressed it against Li Zhe’s chest.
“I could kill you with this poker right now. Go downstairs and tell Mom if you want.”
Li Zhe shrank back, trembling.
“Dad, can’t you control third brother?”
Old man Li Mantang glanced at Li Zhe and sighed.
“Last night your eldest sister came in crying. Why didn’t you come out to see what was wrong?”
“What could I do? I’m just a kid.
Besides, I was tired from studying and had to sleep. You were arguing so late, disturbing my rest. What if I’m too tired for class today?”

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Li Zhe spoke with righteous indignation.
He was in such pain inside—how could his family be so unreasonable? His most important task now was studying. If he got into university and did better than his older brother, wouldn’t the family benefit?
A bunch of uneducated bumpkins!
His father, eldest sister, and third brother combined couldn’t even produce a single vocational school diploma.
This kind of family made him feel suffocated.
Eldest sister Li Li also tried to reason.
“Li Qi, what are you doing? Put down the stove poker. He’s your younger brother!
He’s just a kid; don’t scare him like that!”
But Li Qi ignored her and snarled at Li Zhe,
“Starting tomorrow, you get up every morning to poke the stove and boil water. Work and you get to eat; don’t work and starve on your way to school. I mean it.”
He threw down the poker and sat on the kang to eat. Li Zhe trembled with anger and looked pleadingly at his sister and father.
But eldest sister couldn’t stay home all the time, and her efforts were limited.
Old man Li Mantang bowed his head and ate seriously, paying him no mind.
Though the third brother seemed changed, Li Zhe thought this change was good.
His heart ached even more. He hated this family—hated these ignorant, backward relatives.
Why couldn’t they understand that studying was the only way out? Did they want him to end up like second brother, selling pickled vegetables, or like third brother, graduating only from middle school and wandering the streets as a drifter? Was that what satisfied them?
Li Qi knew what Li Zhe was thinking but ignored it.
This poor student still clung to the idea of passing high school exams as his shell, hiding inside it playing the spoiled son.
Among forty classmates, he couldn’t even break into the top twenty.
Among four classes in the year, he ranked well outside the top one hundred.
With grades like that, he couldn’t get into high school, let alone technical school. The family even gave him a chance to repeat a year once—this time Li Qi wouldn’t indulge his bad habits.
If he kept acting like a spoiled brat, he’d be sent straight to a small coal mine to dig.
Taihe City was famous nationwide as a coal and iron hub. In those days, small coal pits and iron mines covered the hillsides like graves. They could throw him in anywhere.
Li Qi ate his fill, assured his sister would settle at home, and within a week, Gao Jianye would surely come to take her away.
Then he left to catch the bus, heading to the school where his older brother worked.
He himself had graduated from there. Instead of entering through the main gate, he jumped over the tall wall outside the school’s restroom.
Schools back then had dry toilets—boys’ on one side, girls’ on the other. Li Qi leapt to the boys’ side and walked out.
He made his way to the teachers’ office building and pushed open Li Peng’s office door.
Li Peng was the deputy director of the political education department, sharing an office with the director. The director was giving a politics class at the moment, and Li Peng was flipping through files, planning how to make Li Qi comply.
Looking up and seeing Li Qi standing at the doorway, he felt a flicker of joy.
The boy had come to terms and agreed to donate his kidney.

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Li Qi had always been indecisive, failing at his studies, lacking courage to face the world, unable to stand firm.
Even with women, he had no tricks—rumor had it he was stuck as a sycophant to some promiscuous village woman.
Clearly, last night Dad had talked some sense into him, and he had come to admit his mistakes.
Thinking about heading south soon, with a bright future and chances to flirt with the young teachers, Li Peng’s heart warmed, and he smiled as he said,
“Third brother, you’re here?
You’ve come around?
I’ll take you to pick up your sister-in-law, and we’ll go to Uncle Manjiang’s together…”
“Big brother, I’m here on behalf of Dad and little brother to demand the two thousand yuan Mom left behind.”
“What?”
Li Peng was stunned, then slowly realized that third brother wasn’t here to make peace—he was here to demand money!
He was furious.
How dare this brat? He was the eldest brother, after all.
Immediately, he put on a stern authoritative face.
“Nonsense! What two thousand yuan?
Who told you there’s two thousand? Who saw it?
Even if there is money, it’s left to me, the most successful son in the family. What right do you have to ask for it?”
Li Qi expected the eldest brother wouldn’t give in easily.
So he stood at the door, cleared his throat, and raised his voice.
“Mom passed away, so her money should legally be handed to Dad for distribution.
That’s the law.
If you took it without permission, that’s theft.
I’ll go to the police right now and report you.
Don’t think I have no proof—you had to sign when you withdrew the money. The bank keeps that record; it can be retrieved.”
His voice was loud and clear; teachers in nearby offices who weren’t teaching at the moment peeked out.
Li Peng was so angry he lunged forward to grab Li Qi by the collar.
“Third brother, you little bastard, what are you trying to do?
Is this a place for your shouting?
This is my workplace!
Do you want me to call security to throw you out?”