Chapter 003: The Bear Child is meant to be abused

During the Tang Dynasty, Tang Shirong angrily exclaimed, "What are you doing!"

The chubby boy, with an unapologetic look, replied, "Grandma said you are no longer part of our family. I have to hit you every time I see you!"

This was Tang Shirong's younger brother, Tang Shiyin, who was so fat that it was unbearable to look at him. His face, with a large top and a small bottom, could easily be a modern-day meme.

Although he was a year younger than Tang Shirong, he was the little tyrant of the family, constantly bullying the two sisters. He would kick and hit them every day, not treating them like human beings. Tang Shirong still had a piece of blood on her hair from when he tore it.

Tang Shirong endured and lowered her head to pick wild vegetables from the ground.

Tang Shiyin, with his bulging belly, said, "Weren't you tough before? You even complained to grandma about me! You even ate one more egg than me this morning! Why are you eating wild vegetables now? Ha ha ha, life must be tough with your unlucky mother!"

He kept on chattering, but Tang Shirong ignored him and continued picking wild vegetables.

Tang Shiyin got bored, cursed, and suddenly unzipped his pants to urinate on the vegetables.

Tang Shirong quickly stepped back, her face turning pale with anger. "Tang Shiyin! Don't you feel ashamed for doing such a thing!"

Tang Shiyin zipped up his pants, puffed out his chest, and proudly said, "I want you to eat my urine! Haha!" He made a grimace and kicked the wet mud on the ground. "Take that! Take that!"

This was too despicable! Even a four or five-year-old child could be mischievous, but Tang Shiyin was thirteen! At this age, some families were already arranging marriages!

Tang Shiyue was disgusted and looked around. She had wanted to find a stone to throw at him, but she spotted a rotting grass rope soaked in dew.

If she remembered correctly, Tang Shiyin was afraid of snakes, which the locals called "long worms."

Tang Shiyue's spirits lifted, and she took the rope in her hand, carefully considering the angle and her arm strength. Tang Shiyin was kicking around on the ground when he suddenly felt something wet and slippery on his neck. Someone exclaimed, "Snake! A big snake!"

Tang Shiyin was instantly terrified, let out a scream, and jumped up.

He didn't dare to reach behind him and was in a panic, jumping and shouting. He accidentally stepped on his own urine, slipped, and fell into the mud, his entire fat face landing in the urine.

Tang Shiyue burst into laughter.

Tang Shirong suddenly raised her head and looked at her with wide eyes.

The handsome young man's angry expression disappeared from his face, replaced by a mix of disbelief and joy. He walked over quickly, looked up at her, and murmured, "Yueyue? Yueyue?"

His lips trembled, but he didn't dare to ask.

Seeing his expression, Tang Shiyue felt a pang in her heart and said with a smile, "Brother."

His eyes lit up. The usually composed young man showed a rare impatience and spoke in a rush before running back.

Tang Shiyin finally got up, spat out the mud in his mouth, and grabbed the grass rope from his neck. "How dare you bully me! I'll tell grandma!" He ran into the house in anger.

Tang Shirong had already rushed into the courtyard, threw the basket, and grabbed her hands. "Yueyue, are you really better? Do you... do you remember me? Do you recognize who I am?"

"I remember. You are my brother," Tang Shiyue said with just the right amount of innocence befitting a twelve-year-old girl. "Yueyue remembers her brother."

Tang Shirong was overjoyed. He wiped away a tear, feeling embarrassed, and smiled, "I'm just so happy! I'm really happy! Yueyue, how did you suddenly get better?"

Tang Shiyue made up a serious story, "Last night, I felt a bit clear-headed, as if I had just woken up from a very long dream... After sleeping all night, I felt refreshed, and I remembered everything."

Tang Shirong was ecstatic. The two siblings talked for a long time before Mrs. Wang came out, leaning on the door. "What's going on?"

"Mother!" Tang Shirong exclaimed happily. "Yueyue is better! Yueyue is not silly anymore!"

Mrs. Wang was surprised and turned to look at her. Tang Shiyue smiled and said, "Mother."

Seeing Mrs. Wang's momentary mix of surprise and joy, Tang Shiyue felt a bit guilty and wondered if she should cry and hug her.

As she was about to build up her emotions, Mrs. Wang exclaimed, "That's great! Yueyue is not silly anymore, and she's not dead. Rong, go tell your grandmother. She might ask us to come back home!"

Tang Shiyue's smile faded.

Tang Shirong was also stunned.

Then he said quietly, "Mother, ever since father passed away, grandmother has been trying to drive us away every few days. She won't have a change of heart. This time, it's for Fourth Uncle's marriage. You know how much she cares for Fourth Uncle. If anything goes wrong, she won't tolerate it... She won't let us come back."

He almost pleaded, "Mother, can't we live as a family? Yueyue is better, and I will be obedient. In the Tang family, grandmother scolds you every day, takes it out on Yueyue and Yaoyao, and even secretly sold Yueyue as a servant to another family... What's good about that kind of life? We can live on our own, even if it's a bit hard and tiring..."

"What are you saying!" Mrs. Wang suddenly got angry. "I say a few words, and you hold a grudge? I'm doing this for you! You want to go to school, take the imperial examination, everything requires money. If you don't go back home, where can I find so much money for you?"

"Mother," Tang Shirong hung his head despondently, "I will work hard to copy books and earn money. I will strive to progress, to support you and my sister. You don't have to think about going back home. Grandmother won't agree."

"How do you know she won't agree if you don't ask?" Wang Shi glared, pointing at him. "Listen to your mother, go and ask! You are the most outstanding in your studies at home. Your grandmother might scold you a bit, but you can endure it and it will pass..."

Tang Shirong finally couldn't bear it.

She said lightly, "Mother, perhaps grandmother will ask elder brother to go back, but she will trample on his face. Elder brother is a scholar, why do you want to let him suffer such humiliation?"

They were both startled, probably not expecting her to speak.

Since Tang Shirong had spoken, she had no intention of hiding anymore. After all, she had been pretending to be foolish for several years and wasn't afraid of breaking the act.

She continued, "Moreover, even if elder brother goes back, grandmother will never let us go back. Whether I live or die, whether I am foolish or not, it doesn't matter to grandmother. If she cared even a little bit about me, she wouldn't have sold me cheaply to someone else to be humiliated!"

Wang Shi was speechless.

Tang Shirong added, "And if you want elder brother to go back and secretly help us, I advise you not to think about it. Is grandmother not a shrewd person? She has never been separated from the key, and she cooks every day, needing rice and flour. Will she let elder brother help us? Do you believe she will watch him like a hawk? And elder brother is just one person. No matter how frugal he is, he can't save enough for all of us. Do you want him to starve to death?"

After saying all this without any hesitation, the courtyard fell silent.

Wang Shi was stiff for a while, then covered her face and started sobbing, "How can we live like this..."

Before she finished speaking, someone pushed open the courtyard door with a crash and barged in, interrupting Wang Shi's words.

It was He Shi, dragging Tang Yinyin with an imposing manner, and she burst out, "Rong'er! Did you trip Yinyin? As the older brother, you are a year older, how can you bully your younger brother?"