Love Story

I was born in a secluded village on a mountain. Day
by day, my parents plowed the yellow dry soil with
their backs towards the sky.
I have a brother who is 3 years younger than me. I
wanted to buy a handkerchief, which all girls
around me seemed to have. So, one day I stole 50 cents from my father’s drawer. Father had
discovered about the stolen money right away.
He made me and my younger brother kneel against
the wall as he held a bamboo stick in his hand.
“Who stole the money?” he asked. I was stunned,
too afraid to talk. Neither of us admitted to the fault, so he said, “Fine, if nobody wants to admit,
you two should be beaten!” He lifted up the
bamboo stick.
Suddenly, my younger brother gripped father’s
hand and said,” Dad, I was the one who did it!” The
long stick smacked my brother’s back repeatedly. Father was so angry that he kept on whipping my
brother until he lost his breath.
After that, he sat down on our stone bed and
scolded my brother, “You have learned to steal
from your own house now. What other
embarrassing things will you be possibly doing in the future? You should be beaten to death, you
shameless thief!” That night, my mother and I
hugged my brother. His body was full of wounds
from the beating but he never shed a single tear.
In the middle of the night, all of sudden, I cried out
loudly. My brother covered my mouth with his little hand and said, “Sis, now don’t cry anymore.
Everything has happened.” I still hate myself for not
having enough courage to admit what I did.
Years gone by, but the incident still seemed like it
just happened yesterday. I will never forget my
brother’s expression when he protected me. That year, my brother was 8 years old and I was 11
years old.
When my brother was in his last year of secondary
school, he was accepted in an upper secondary
school in the central. At the same time, I was
accepted into a university in the province. That night, father squatted in the yard, smoking, packet
by packet.
I could hear him ask my mother, “Both of our
children, they have good results? very good
results?” Mother wiped off her tears and sighed,”
What is the use? How can we possibly finance both of them?” At that time, my brother walked out, he
stood in front of father and said,”Dad, I don’t want
to continue my study anymore, I have read enough
books.”
Father swung his hand and slapped my brother on
his face. “Why do you have a spirit so damn weak? Even if it means I have to beg for money on the
streets, I will send you two to school until you have
both finished your study!” And then, he started to
knock on every house in the village to borrow
money.
I stuck out my hand as gently as I can to my brother’s swollen face, and told him, “A boy has to
continue his study; If not, he will not be able to
overcome this poverty we are experiencing.”
I, on the other hand, had decided not to further my
study at the university. Nobody knew that on the
next day, before dawn, my brother left the house with a few pieces of worn-out clothes and a few dry
beans. He sneaked to my side of the bed and left a
note on my pillow; “Sis, getting into a university is
not easy. I will go find a job and I will send money
to you.” I held the note while sitting on my bed,
and cried until I lost my voice. That year, my brother was 17 years old; I was 20
years old.
With the money father borrowed from the whole
village, and the money my brother earned from
carrying cement on his back at a construction site,
finally, I managed to get to the third year of my study in the university.
One day, while I was studying in my room, my
roommate came in and told me, ”There’s a villager
waiting for you outside!” Why would there be a
villager looking for me? I walked out, and I saw my
brother from afar. His whole body was covered with dirt, dust, cement and sand. I asked him, “Why did
you not tell my roommate that you are my
brother?”
He replied with a smile,” Look at my appearance.
What will they think if they would know that I am
your brother? Won’t they laugh at you?” I felt so touched, and tears filled my eyes. I swept away dirt
and dust from my brother’s body. And told him
with a lump in my throat, ” I don’t care what people
would say! You are my brother no matter what your
appearance is?”
From his pocket, he took out a butterfly hair clip. He put it on my hair and said, “I saw all the girls in
town are wearing it. So, I think you should also
have one.” I could not hold back myself anymore. I
pulled my brother into my arms and cried.
That year, my brother was 20 years old; I was 23
years old. I noticed that the broken window was repaired the
first time I brought my boyfriend home. The house
was scrubbed cleaned. After my boyfriend left, I
danced like a little girl in front of my mother, “Mom,
you didn’t have to spend so much time cleaning
the house!” But she told me with a smile, “It was your brother who went home early to clean the
house. Didn’t you see the wound on his hand? He
hurt his hand while he was replacing the window.”
I went into my brother’s bedroom. Looking at his
thin face, I felt like there are hundreds of needle
pricked in my heart. I applied some ointment on his wound and put a
bandag on it, “Does it hurt? ” I asked him. “No, it
doesn’t hurt. You know, when at the construction
site, stones keep falling on my feet. Even that could
not stop me from working.” In the middle of the
sentence, he stopped. I turned my back on him and tears rolled down my face.
That year, my brother was 23 years old; I was 26
years old.
After I got married, I lived in the city. Many times my
husband invited my parents to come and live with
us, but they didn’t want. They said, once they left the village, they wouldn’t know what to do. My
brother agreed with them. He said, “Sis, you just
take care of your parents-in-law. I will take care of
mom and dad here.”
My husband became the director of his factory. We
asked my brother to accept the offer of being the manager in the maintenance department. But my
brother rejected the offer. He insisted on working as
a repairman instead for a start. One day, my brother
was on the top of a ladder repairing a cable, when
he got electrocuted, and was sent to the hospital.
My husband and I visited him at the hospital. Looking at the white gypsum on his leg, I
grumbled, “Why did you reject the offer of being a
manager? Managers won’t do something
dangerous like that. Now look at you, You ar
suffering a serious injury. Why didn’t you just listen
to us?” With a serious expression on his face, he defended
his decision, “Think of brother-in-law. He just
became the director, and I being uneducated, and
would become a manager, what kind of rumors
would fly around?”
My husband’s eyes filled up with tears, and then I said, “But you lack in education only because of
me!” “Why do you talk about the past?” he said and
then he held my hand.
That year, he was 26 years old and I was 29 years
old.
My brother was 30 years old when he married a farmer girl from the village. During the wedding
reception, the master of ceremonies asked him,
“Who is the one person you respect and love the
most?” Without even taking a time to think, he
answered,” My sister.” He continued by telling a
story I could not even remember. “When I was in primary school, the school was in a
different village. Everyday, my sister and I would
walk for 2 hours to school and back home. One
day, I lost the other pair of my gloves. My sister
gave me one of hers. She wore only one glove and
she had to walk far. When we got home, her hands were trembling because of the cold weather that
she could not even hold her chopsticks. From that
day on, I swore that as long as I live, I would take
care of my sister and will always be good to her.”
Applause filled up the room. All guests turned their
attention to me. I found it hard to speak, “In my whole life, the one I would like to thank most is my
brother,” And in this happy occasion, in front of the
crowd, tears were rolling down my face again.
Love and care for the one you love every single days
of your life. You may think what you did is just a
small deed, but to that someone, it may mean a lot. 
May this story inspire you in many ways!