BSS - Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Perhaps it shouldn't be called "that incident," but rather "that fact."
His sister's job situation remained at a stalemate. A semester passed, and under his mother's persuasion, she finally, reluctantly, came home to stay for a few days. At first, everyone was cooperative. His father suppressed his temper, trying his best to restore the family's former peace and quiet.
Until one evening, a friend of his father's came to visit, bringing his wife and child. At the dinner table, warmed by wine and conversation, they had exhausted every other topic. The friend then put on the face of an elder concerned for a junior and asked his father, and also his sister, "Weiwei is about to graduate, right? Where is such a brilliant student planning to grace with her presence for work?"
No one answered his question directly. His father just said vaguely that the family didn't know what she was considering, that kids grow up and you can't control them anymore. His mother, perhaps intending to use the guest to persuade his sister, started making veiled, sarcastic jokes with the friend's wife.
As she got more worked up, a few passive-aggressive remarks slipped out:
"What brilliant student? I think all that reading has made her brain stupid."
"Don't say that. Young people are all like this now, they love running off to the big cities."
"Love running off to the big cities… Other people graduate and come back to help build up their hometown. But her? She's great at dragging society down."
It was happening again. Xu Cheng glanced worriedly at his sister's face.
She had already put down her chopsticks. She had only eaten a few bites of the rice in her bowl. Xu Cheng watched her cautiously. The emotion in her eyes was murky and unclear, but her brow was etched with exhaustion. She listened to those harsh words for a long while before her brow furrowed slightly. Without a word, she stood up and left.
"Sister…" Xu Cheng tried to call out to her, but his voice was drowned out by his mother's scolding: "Weiwei, where are you going? You child, we still have guests. How can you be so rude?"
The guest's wife quickly urged her not to be angry. His mother muttered a few more complaints about his sister, his father remained silent, and the guest quickly proposed a toast. Only then did the atmosphere at the table liven up again.
When the meal was almost over, his father and that uncle wanted to smoke. Xu Cheng quickly said he was full, left the table, and went to secretly check on his sister.
He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Xu Cheng knew his sister hadn't locked it, so he turned the handle and went straight in.
As soon as he opened the door, Xu Cheng saw his sister sitting on the windowsill, staring into space. Her phone was set aside; it looked like she had just finished a call.
Hearing the door open, she glanced over. Seeing it was him, she turned her head back without any reaction.
Xu Cheng called her softly, "Sister."
She kept her lips pressed tightly together. After a long moment, she finally said, "What is it?"
Her tone was a bit impatient, but Xu Cheng actually smiled. His sister was always cool and distant with outsiders; only with family would she show a bit of emotion. Even if it was a bad mood, it was because she considered him family.
So Xu Cheng sat down beside her and tried to persuade her in a low voice, "Sister, if you want to go work somewhere else, then just go. Don't worry about what Dad and the others say. I'm here for the family. Don't blame Mom and Dad, they're just doing it for your own good. They love you, and I love you very much too. We're a happy family, let's not throw tantrums anymore, okay?"
While Xu Cheng was speaking, his sister kept her head down. Only after he finished did she look up, really look at him, then shake her head. After a long pause, she said, "You don't understand."
He didn't understand? Xu Cheng was somewhat angered by his sister's nonchalant words. He had thought his sister saw him as family, as an adult, as someone on her side. He had thought about it seriously for days before deciding to support her in secret, hiding it from their parents. But she just told him he didn't understand.
"What don't I understand? Then tell me. Tell me, and we can find a solution together. Let's not fight anymore…" Xu Cheng gripped his sister's shoulders, only to feel how much thinner she had become. "Sister… say something!"
"Stop shouting, you're giving me a headache. Can you just let me be quiet?" His sister frowned, shrugging off his hands.
When his sister got stern, Xu Cheng couldn't press her any further. He fell silent, staying with her quietly for a while. The two of them sat in silence for a long time. His sister seemed to be in a terrible mood, staring blankly at a point in the air. Xu Cheng watched her secretly and gradually realized that her behavior was particularly off. "Sister… what's wrong with you?"
His sister came back to her senses but still just shook her head, unmoved.
Fine. Since his sister was refusing to communicate, Xu Cheng felt he had done enough. He stood up, closed the door, and went out.
After the guests left, the atmosphere in the house grew cold again. His father had drunk too much and was snoring on the sofa. His mother was clearing the dishes. Xu Cheng couldn't bear to watch, so he went over to help.
His mother asked in a low voice, "What's your sister doing?"
Xu Cheng told her the truth, "She's just staring into space, not doing anything."
His mother nodded thoughtfully, moved the pots and pans to the kitchen sink, and instructed Xu Cheng, "Tell your sister to come wash these later."
Whether his sister ended up washing the dishes or not, Xu Cheng had already forgotten. Because another event that happened that night occupied most of his memory of that day. From that day forward, their family slid completely into an irretrievable abyss. All the beautiful peace of the past was like a bullet shot into the past, never to return.
Two unfamiliar middle-aged people showed up at their door, claiming to be the family of his sister's girlfriend. Their first sentence was: "Your daughter and my daughter are in a lesbian relationship. Is your family going to do anything about it?"
His father had a short temper. The moment he heard that, he wanted to argue with them. "You must have the wrong house!"
The other party blocked the door, relentless. "My daughter knows her mistake and is getting married. Tell your daughter to stop pestering her."
What they said next left the three of them utterly stunned. The name they mentioned was someone all three of them knew—it was his sister's best friend, who had been visiting their home frequently since high school.
The other party presented chat logs, letters they had exchanged, gifts they had given each other, and even hotel records and plane tickets from trips. Then, facing a trembling-with-rage father, they dropped one last line: "We've already taken care of our daughter! We suggest you take care of yours too!"
The door was slammed shut with a bang. His mother collapsed onto the sofa. "How could something so shameful happen? I'm really going to jump in the river… Nothing like this has ever happened around here…"
His father gritted his teeth and stomped heavily to his sister's room, yanking the door open. Xu Cheng was blocked by his back and could only hear their conversation.
"Xu Wei, from the time you were little until now, has this family ever wronged you?"
His sister said, "No."
"Have I or have I not taught you about propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame? About what is permissible and what is not?"
His sister remained silent.
With her silence, his father's tone grew heavy. "How could our family produce a pervert like you?"
His sister's reaction was exceptionally fierce. "I'm not a pervert!"
"Then say it yourself! Are you a lesbian or not?"
Xu Cheng thought his sister wouldn't admit it, but she did. She admitted it in a tone so calm, it was the same calm tone she used when she tutored him during his third year of high school. "I am."
Xu Cheng could feel his father instantly fly into a rage. "You are a pervert!"
He lunged forward to hit her, but Xu Cheng wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. He had grown into an adult by then and could barely restrain his taller, stronger father. "Sister! Run!"
"You dare!"
His sister stood up and walked past them. His father roared and struggled, trying to grab her, shouting his wife's name, "Don't let her leave! Lock her up!"
Xu Cheng felt like he wasn't a man. He couldn't hold back his furious father, couldn't stop them from locking his sister in her room, and certainly couldn't persuade his parents, who stubbornly believed homosexuality was a disease. His mother felt ashamed, felt that her daughter, who had been obedient her whole life, had suddenly been possessed by an evil spirit. Every morning, she would go out early to pick pomegranate branches wet with dew and go to the old temple to ask for exorcism charms for her daughter, soaking them in water for her to wash her face with.
His father pulled some strings, even finding an acquaintance who worked at a mental hospital to prescribe medicine for his sister.
But that person was just an orderly, not a doctor. In the end, Xu Cheng didn't know what kind of medicine his father brought back for his sister to take. They wouldn't let him see. Xu Cheng could only stand at the door, listening to his father's words, a mix of threats and inducements: "Xu Wei, if you insist on being this way, then you might as well have no feelings at all. Our family cannot tolerate the existence of someone like you."
His sister asked softly, "What kind of person am I?"
His father's tone softened. "You've always been a good child, you've never given us any trouble… We have an illness, so we treat the illness. Once it's cured, everything will be fine. Come on."
And then, after who knows how long she took the medicine, his sister was sent to the hospital by his father. There was a large pool of blood on her bedroom floor.
His sister's surgery lasted all night. His mother sat outside, keeping watch, aging years in a single night.
His father had made it so his sister could never have children, yet his mother could only cry, unable to protect her either. Overnight, Xu Cheng felt that everyone in his family was detestable.
But his own cowardice made him hesitate before his sister's hospital room. He only dared to watch her secretly through the window, looking at her pale face in her deep sleep, her tightly furrowed brow, the downturned corners of her lips. And then, tears blurred his vision.
Contrary to his reaction, from beginning to end, Xu Cheng never saw his sister cry. After she was discharged from the hospital, she even went to see her soon-to-be-married ex-girlfriend. Xu Cheng followed her secretly, watching as she spoke to the other person with a blank expression. When that person reached out to take her hand, she shook it off.
Then, his sister didn't come home. After meeting her ex-girlfriend, she walked a long way before raising a hand to clutch the left side of her lower abdomen. Xu Cheng knew that was where the surgical incision was.
Shortly after, his father formally informed his sister that he was sorry, but he also couldn't forgive her. He would no longer be responsible for her.
"Go wherever you want. I'll just act as if our family never had a daughter like you."
His sister looked at them expressionlessly, packed her things, and walked out the door.
No one in the family spoke. The silent atmosphere was suffocating. Before she left, his mother cried and grabbed his sister's hand. Xu Cheng thought his sister would cry too, but she didn't.
A long time passed. Xu Cheng thought for a long time before he realized that he had never understood his sister at all.
He didn't know what she was pursuing, what she liked, or what she thought about. From childhood, his sister was just a person in a glass case—smart, beautiful, never causing trouble. She was their family's obedient daughter and his older sister. Everyone enjoyed the peace, face, and sense of accomplishment that her perfection brought, placing her in the role of "sister." But no one cared what she was thinking.
Some time after his sister left, his mother's health weakened day by day. At that time, Xu Cheng was graduating from his fourth year of university, busy looking for a job and interacting with all sorts of people. The many voices from society made him begin to doubt his sister's actions. Why did she have to be so stubborn? Why did she have to go against the family? Why did she have to be a lesbian?
Looking at his mother on her sickbed, he would sometimes even think, if it weren't for his sister… the family wouldn't be like this…
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