Chapter 26: We Are All Family

Page 1/3

Yesterday, the spring rain fell relentlessly, mixed with snowflakes. It paused all morning today, but began to drift down again near noon. The raindrops were light, turning into mist upon hitting the ground, shrouding the sky and roads in a hazy white veil. The scene resembled a fairyland, but driving through it felt unsettling and unsafe.

Li Hua sat in the taxi, repeatedly urging the driver to slow down. She wasn’t worried about arriving late—safety was paramount. Fog and rain impaired visibility; if they collided with oncoming traffic, no one would survive.

Annoyed by her nagging, the driver not only ignored her pleas but pressed harder on the accelerator. The van sped forward, breaking through thick mist as it headed toward Little Crow Village.

“I can’t take it, it’s too fast, I’m going to faint,” Li Hua complained.

She never got motion sickness on big buses, but small cars made her dizzy and nauseous. Talking to the driver had helped suppress her nausea, but when he slammed on the gas and the van jolted over the county road, her stomach churned violently, as if boiling over and rushing up her throat.

“Driver, please slow down. The rain reduces visibility; safety’s more important,” Li Hua pleaded again.

At that moment, Li Tian’er, who had been silent, leaned against the driver’s seat backrest and spoke softly.

The driver finally braked, slowing the vehicle. But Li Hua could no longer hold back the sour liquid pooling in her mouth and suddenly vomited.

She aimed perfectly, the sour vomit landing squarely on the back of Chen Yunchao’s head, who sat in the front passenger seat.

When Chen Yunchao turned to look at her, she retched again, and this time the second mouthful splattered across his face.

“Damn...” Chen Yunchao swiped at his face in disgust.

Dizzy and dazed, Li Hua finally realized what she’d done to her second son. Panicked, she stood up quickly, reaching out to wipe his face and neck.

“Stop it!” Chen Yunchao barked sharply. His mother wasn’t cleaning him; she was smearing the vomit all over his head and face.

“I didn’t bring a handkerchief... Driver, do you have any tissues?” she asked.

The morning’s vegetable porridge leaves still gleamed on Chen Yunchao’s chin. Li Hua felt both embarrassed and angry as she spoke, but the driver ignored her completely.

Whether intentionally or not, the van suddenly jolted violently several times, causing Li Hua to bang her head against the roof, letting out a few sharp cries of pain.

Page 2/3

“Sit still. If anything happens, it’s not my responsibility,” the driver shouted.

Li Hua sat down, clutching the front seat backrest tightly. She still wanted to help her second son, but Chen Yunchao leaned forward, blocking her hands.

Li Tian’er took a handkerchief from her shopping bag and handed it to Chen Yunchao. He thought it was from Li Hua knocking on the seat behind him and was about to speak when Li Hua hurriedly said, “Taohua’s giving you the handkerchief. Take it.”

Chen Yunchao turned to accept the handkerchief, and Li Tian’er gave another to Li Hua.

Motion sickness was miserable; Li Hua had vomited twice and still had residue at the corners of her mouth. Seeing the sorry state of Chen Yunchao and his mother, Li Tian’er hesitated for a long moment before finally taking out two finely chosen handkerchiefs from the department store and handing them to them separately.

Li Hua wiped her mouth and looked at the white handkerchief embroidered with green flowers. After her wiping, a patch of dirt appeared on the cloth.

“Um, I’ll wash it for you when I get home,” she said, embarrassed, folding the handkerchief and stuffing it into her own pocket.

“No need. I bought these handkerchiefs as gifts for you. Oh, there’s one for your eldest brother too. Save one for Haichao; he might need it when he returns,” Li Tian’er said, pulling out two more men’s handkerchiefs with dogtooth check patterns from her bag and handing them to Li Hua.

“Well, you even bought them gifts. These must be expensive, right? And such pretty patterns,” Li Hua remarked, passing the handkerchiefs to her eldest son Chen Jiangchao, who was dozing with his head tilted against the car. Hearing his mother call, he accepted the handkerchief happily.

“I’ll keep Haichao’s for him. Taohua, you must have earned some money, huh? You bought quite a few things today—your new hairstyle and those clothes you’re wearing can’t have been cheap.”

Li Hua glanced sideways at Li Tian’er’s shopping bag with longing in her eyes.

Li Tian’er smiled but said nothing. Li Hua felt a bit awkward.

Li Tian’er didn’t mind giving away a few handkerchiefs, but gifting something to Li Hua required serious inner struggle. After much thought, she decided to grant Li Hua’s wish and gave her a wool sweater. It was her way of showing sympathy to a young widow raising three sons alone, especially with a big, foolish son in the mix.

“Really for me? And a Shanghai brand wool sweater! That brand is so expensive, most people can’t afford it. I bet your father wouldn’t even want to buy one for your mother. Look at these beads sewn on it—could they be real pearls?” Li Hua was stunned by the gift, running her hand over it. Not satisfied, she lifted it to her nose and sniffed repeatedly, her eyes shining as if she might cry.

Page 3/3

Seeing the old woman’s naive wonder, Li Tian’er could only think “poor thing.” Surely when Li Hua went to the county town’s department stores to buy New Year’s goods, she had longed for many things but could only look, knowing she might never afford or dare to buy them.

The wool sweater had originally been intended for Li Taohua’s mother. According to Taohua’s memories, she had never bought a gift for her own mother after marrying.

The only time she brought yarn home to knit a sweater for her mother, it was snatched by Li Hua, who unraveled it to knit wool pants for Chen Yunchao instead. Such a mother-in-law was indeed hateful, but the Chen family’s hardships meant only Chen Yunchao could be indulged.

Next time, Li Tian’er planned to buy better gifts for Li Taohua’s father and brothers.

Thinking this way, the pain of giving gifts lessened.

The taxi entered Little Crow Village and immediately became the target of chasing children. A group of mischievous boys with sun-tanned faces followed the van all the way to Chen’s courtyard gate.

“The fairy doctor’s back! I’ll tell my mom she can come for treatment now,” one child shouted and ran back into the village.

Chen Yunchao’s head had cleared, but his body still emitted an unpleasant smell, which he hated himself. Disregarding that his elder brother Chen Jiangchao, just discharged from the hospital, had difficulty walking, he rushed into the yard and headed straight for the wash basin to clean his face and hair.

Li Hua carried the bag holding the wool sweater on her arm and helped Chen Jiangchao out of the car into the house. After settling her eldest son, she immediately went back to the small room to change, then hurried to the large mirror in the main room, inspecting herself from every angle with a clicking sound of approval.

“This sweater is wonderful, and it fits me perfectly. Taohua really knows how to shop. Now that she’s making money treating patients, you’d better stop giving her the cold shoulder,” Li Hua said to her second son in the mirror’s reflection.

Chen Yunchao rubbed water from his hair with a towel and smiled at his mother’s words.

“Mom, when have I ever treated Taohua badly?”