Proofread by Peter Gong

Walking into the woodshed, Jin Dabao looks up and down. It is no more than a shabby room with piles of hay and firewood, which make the room too crowded to stand. Looking up, he finds that half of the roof has collapsed, which remains unfixed. The sky is right above his head in the woodshed. What’s more, he does not know whether the other half of the room is fine or it will collapse suddenly someday. All in all, a room like that is no place for human being.

Jin Dabao retreats from the woodshed with extreme dissatisfaction. He complains, “You call this room a woodshed? No better than the pigsty and sheepfold! I am going to live in the meat-shop!” “What? Living in the meat-shop and enjoy a happy life there all by yourself? No way!” Jin Weiwei thinks. She will never agree with his suggestion, because she wants him under her eyes.

“No room for discussion. Meat-shop is not your home. Others will think I abuse my father if you live in the meat-shop.” Hearing this, Jin Dabao hops madly and shouts, “It is the woodshed that is the evidence you abuse your father! The whole room is no bigger than a bed! Also, the wall has been broken so that the wind blows everywhere in the room. Plus, half of the roof has collapsed! How can I live there?!”

Jin Weiwei gives a brittle laugh, “You cannot live there? Why? Don’t you remember you forced me to stay there when I was a little girl?” When Jin Wiwei was a little girl, plain-looking and dumb-minded, she always failed to please Jin Dabao; therefore, he didn’t like her for Jin Weiwei, a girl, was regarded as a money-losing item, who would marry a man and live in other family someday. Jin Weiwei was always beaten up by Jin Dabao for some trivial mistakes and he locked her into the woodshed with no food to eat. If weather was fine, she could bear hunger because she had a shelter at least; if the weather was not, even a shelter was a luxury for her. She had to experience the intolerable sufferings in the woodshed.

“That’s because you are so naughty, so I ...I ... I have to give you a little punishment.” Jin Dabao even finds excuses for that. Naughty? A little punishment? “What do you mean by ‘naughty’? Do you mean that I was “naughty”, just because I, a pre-teen girl, was too slow in washing all the clothes of the whole family so that I was late for preparing the meal? Do you mean that I was “naughty” just because I didn’t catch the sheep when I killed it, so that the blood of the sheep split all over the yard? Do you mean that I deserved the severe punishment whenever I failed to satisfy you?”

“Em...That’s the past. Why do you recall that?” murmurs Jin Dabao, knowing that he did the wrong thing. “Why do I recall that? Hum!” says Jin Weiwei, frowning. “Surely, you have already forgotten that old things. You felt good every time you vented your bad temper on me, but these things have already been carved deeply into my mind. I will never forget them.”

“I still remember when I was nine years old, you whipped me with a branch, and threw me into the woodshed. Can you imagine how painful my wound was when the heavy rain dropped onto my broken skin? I cried and pleaded you to let me out. But you turned blind eyes and deaf ears to me. If Aunt Li had not come to the house to borrow the vinegar by accident, I am afraid I would have already died in the woodshed!”

Hearing the complaints of Jin Weiwei, Jin Dabao has nothing to say. After a little while, Jin Dabao thinks that Jin Weiwei’s hatred of him will never be removed if he refuses to stay in the woodshed firmly. Therefore, he decides to live in the woodshed, in order to eliminate Weiwei’s hostility to him so that he can take away Jin’s meat-shop someday. So he has to compromise and lives in this shabby woodshed.

“Weiwei, don’t be so angry with me! It is my fault to abuse you...” says Jin Dabao, pretending to cry without a drop of tear. “Since you want to live in the woodshed, I accept. Do you feel a little bit comfortable?” “All right...” Seeing that Jin Dabao has already accepted her suggestion, she says no more. Finding a quilt for him, she ignores him and goes to her room to sleep.

Hearing the whole conversation between Jin Weiwei and Jin Dabao, Little Rich goes into the room along with Jin Weiwei. “You are a lucky girl.” Says Little Rich, sitting near Jin Weiwei. Suddenly, he raises his hand and touches her hair softly. “Well...Now you know that my life was ‘cheap’...” sighs Jin Weiwei, with her head tilting a little bit and her eyes reddening with tears. Hearing that, Little Rich, frowns a little, holds her hands tightly and says in a soft voice, “Don’t worry. I will always be there with you and never make you feel sad.” “Oh, sweet words.” Says Jin Weiwei with a pout. “I promise!” Little Rich swears with three fingers pointing to heaven. “You said it yourself! From now on, I am allowed to bully others, but no one is allowed to bully me!” smiles Jin Weiwei, rubbing her red eyes. Little Rich also smiles with her.

At the dawn of the next day, Jin Weiwei wakes up Jin Dabao, and she shouts at him, “Get up! Work in the meat-shop with me!” Sleeping on the ground the whole night in the woodshed makes his body sore and ache. Jin Weiwei says impatiently, “You still sleep? Don’t you want to work?” Leaning at the door of the woodshed, Jin Weiwei sighs slowly, “Aha, I think you’d better call it off. You are too old to work in the meat-shop. Or you do some odd jobs at home?” Painfully, Jin Dabao gets up immediately and says, “Of course I will go to the meat-shop with you!”

Jin Weiwei always knows that he still has some plans to occupy Jin’s meat-shop. It’s impossible for him not to go to the meat-shop. “If you want to work in the meat-shop. You hurry up! We will go after breakfast and we won’t wait for you.” After that, Jin Weiwei turns around and leaves. Jin Dabao pats his face with his hands in order to refresh his sleepy mind. Then, he rushes to the well and fetch water to wash his face. The cold well water revives him immediately. But when he comes to the kitchen, he finds that no food is left for him, even the dishes are washed clean and tidy. “Where’s my breakfast?” Jin Dabao asks, touching his hungry belly. “You are so late. We eat up all the food.” Jin Weiwei has a big burp on purpose. She turns to Tao Xiaoqing and says, “Xiaoqing, go and fetch a steamed coarse-grained corn bread for him near the jar over here.” “OK!” replies Tao Xiaoqing. Soon, he brings a stone-like corn bread and presses it into his hands.