Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

Xingbao stood by the threshing floor, looking at Guixiang's hands, red from the cold, and shook his head helplessly—this girl was only concerned with playing and didn't know how to take care of her hands. If she didn't treat them soon, they would definitely swell up, itch, and hurt when she warmed them by the fire at home, and might even crack. He quickly walked over and called to Guixiang, "Sister, Mom's calling you home. There's something good to eat!"

Upon hearing the words "delicious," Gui Xiang immediately stopped playing, looked up, revealing a small face also red from the cold, and snowflakes fell from her clothes with her movements. She hastily tidied her snow-dampened bangs, waved to her friends, and said, "I'm not playing anymore, I'm going home to eat!" Then, she skipped over to Xing Bao, looking up at him eagerly and asking, "Xing Bao, Xing Bao, what delicious food did Mommy make? Is it my favorite fried pork cracklings?"

Xingbao then noticed that Guixiang's shoes were also soaked, and her trouser legs were still wet with snow. He quickly reached out to help her brush the snow off her body, his tone slightly reproachful: "Sister, look at your hands and shoes, they're frozen like this. If you don't treat your hands, they'll swell up after you warm them by the fire, they'll be itchy, painful, and even cracked. How will you be able to eat with chopsticks then?"

Most of the boys in the village had experienced chapped hands from the cold, and Gui Xiang had seen it too. However, these young girls didn't do much work and couldn't understand the itching and pain. Perhaps thinking about how her own hands would turn out like that, Gui Xiang's face showed a hint of fear. She quickly stretched out her frostbitten, red hands and whispered, "Xing Bao, please help me fix them. I don't want my hands to look like that, it's too ugly."

Xingbao no longer hesitated, bent down and grabbed a handful of clean snow from the ground, took Guixiang's right hand and rubbed it vigorously—at this time, he could not pity her, only by rubbing the frostbitten area with snow could he relieve the symptoms and prevent his hand from swelling more.

"It hurts! It hurts! Xingbao, let me go! It hurts so much!" Guixiang cried out in pain as Xue rubbed her, twisting her body and trying to break free from Xingbao's grasp.

Xingbao continued rubbing his hands without stopping, gently comforting her as he did so: "Sister, bear with it a little longer. Your hands are already frostbitten. Only by rubbing them with snow to warm them up can they heal faster. Otherwise, they'll be so swollen tomorrow that you won't be able to hold anything. They'll get better soon, just bear with it a little longer."

Seeing that Xingbao wouldn't let go and that she couldn't break free no matter what she did, Guixiang burst into tears, her tears falling like a broken string of pearls. She kept slapping Xingbao's arm with her left hand, crying out, "Daddy! Daddy! Xingbao is bad! Xingbao is bullying me! He hurt me!"

Gui Xiang's heart-wrenching cries soon alerted her father and second brother, who were guarding the bamboo house. Thinking something had happened, they rushed out, only to find Xing Bao rubbing Gui Xiang's hand vigorously with snow. Xing Bao had been caught red-handed "bullying" Gui Xiang. Xing Bao felt Gui Xiang's right hand was already hot from rubbing and quickly let go, preparing to switch to her left hand. But before he could do so, Gui Xiang seized the opportunity to break free, throwing herself into her father's arms and crying even harder.

Now, Xingbao was truly the "worst person in the world" in Guixiang's eyes, his cries so loud that half the village could hear them. His father, holding the trembling, crying Guixiang, walked over to Xingbao, his face darkening. He gave Xingbao two hard slaps on the bottom, his tone stern: "You little brat, you already know how to bully your sister at such a young age? I'll teach you a lesson!"

The two slaps brought tears to Xingbao's eyes and stung his bottom, but he knew he hadn't done anything wrong. He just lowered his head, bit his lip, and silently followed his father and second brother to the kitchen. To appease Guixiang, his second brother pretended to pat Xingbao's arm a few times, muttering, "Xingbao, how could you bully your sister? Apologize to her right now."

The group walked through the bustling main room and into the kitchen. Seeing Gui Xiang's red, tear-streaked face, and then at Xing Bao's red eyes, Mother felt both heartache and helplessness. She quickly instructed her second brother, "Quick, help Gui Xiang take off her wet shoes and soak her feet in warm water, lest she get frostbite." Then, she turned to Xing Bao and scolded him, "And you, why couldn't you talk to your sister properly? You had to make her cry."

Perhaps it was because this body was too young, or perhaps it was the pent-up grievances welling up inside, but Xingbao couldn't stop his tears. He suddenly recalled his first injection in his past life: he was only six years old, just starting first grade. He kicked off his blankets at night and woke up dizzy and feverish. His grandfather, not wanting to disrupt his studies, carried him several miles to the township clinic for the injection, saying it would be faster than taking Chinese medicine. The doctor had to find several people to hold him down before giving him the injection in his buttocks. Although he didn't cry, he cursed at the doctor, saying extremely harsh things. But the middle-aged doctor wasn't annoyed at all; he even smiled and teased him. Now, those scenes remained vivid in his memory. He never imagined that his first act of "taking action" after being reborn would be to treat his sister's frostbitten hands. He wondered how many years this little girl would hold a grudge against him—children are afraid of pain and trouble; perhaps that's just their nature.

Just then, her mother brought out the prepared fried pork cracklings. Gui Xiang, with cracklings in her mouth, gradually calmed down and finally stopped crying completely. But she still remembered the pain from earlier, and to "get back at" Xing Bao, she tightly guarded the bowl of cracklings, refusing to let her mother give it to him. Xing Bao watched as the whole family surrounded Gui Xiang, comforting her. Although he felt wronged, he didn't argue. He could only silently turn around, hug his book, and go back to his older brother's room to continue reading.

During lunch, Xingbao clearly felt isolated—Guixiang ignored him the entire time and deliberately gave him a cold shoulder, obviously still angry. But Xingbao noticed that Guixiang's left hand, which she kept scratching, was starting to swell slightly. He couldn't help but think: It's good for this little girl to suffer a bit, so that the family won't spoil her into a pampered young lady. Their family isn't well-off, and they can't afford to raise a pampered young lady. It's better for her to be a hardworking, resilient girl.

In the afternoon, after finishing their lessons, the eldest and second eldest brothers went to the eldest brother's room to copy books—this was much easier than staying up all night copying books a few days ago; it was a world of difference, and they were much happier. Between copies, they chatted with the male classmate lying on the bed.

Xingbao then learned that his name was Li Guangsheng, a native of Nanjing, the fourth child in his family, and a first-year high school student. Li Guangsheng's family was in business; his second brother had joined the army and was among those left behind in Nanjing; his eldest brother's family managed the family business in Shanghai, and his third sister was also married and living in Shanghai. Although they hadn't heard from her yet, thankfully they were all in the foreign concessions and were safe for the time being; however, his parents couldn't bear to leave the family business and insisted on staying in Nanjing. Now that Nanjing had fallen, and he had no news of his parents, Li Guangsheng was constantly worried and his face was full of sorrow. His eldest brother didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only talk to him about studies and the principles in books, hoping to distract him and ease his mind a little.