A Simple Story of True Love and True Care

A Simple Story of True Love and True Care

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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 studies
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 studies."
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 studies; If not,
he will not be
able to overcome this poverty we are experiencing."

I, on the other hand, had decided to further my
studies 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
studies 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 bandage
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.
Have a nice day everyone! May this story inspire you
in any way!