A Simple Story of True Love and True Care

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.Have a nice day
everyone! May this
story inspire you
in any way! I wonder how many people are able to really appreciate the people who have worked hard to make their lives happy and easy when they really suffer? Sometimes even the smallest thing really matters. I often do my best in things, because I know perfect is very hard to be achieved but Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. I Hope if those people ever read this, they will really change!