When my mom was pregnant, she made a special trip out of town and came back saying this baby was a boy. She bought a lucky charm.
After Jake was born, he always carried the lucky charm with him, but he often dropped it while playing.
Once I saw it and picked it up. My mom saw me and started beating me while cursing, saying I was unlucky and shouldn’t touch Jake’s lucky charm, it was inauspicious.
In the end, she made me kowtow to Jake to remove the bad luck from the charm.
Jake sat on the chair smugly, holding a needle in his hand, saying I had to kowtow a hundred times! Otherwise, he would prick my fingers with the needle!
kowtowed until my head was bleeding profusely. My mom then said I looked ugly with a broken face and might scare Jake, so she locked me outside for several days.
Sol remembered this lucky charm very clearly. It belonged to Jake Summers.
13
Aldaybreak Lachlan carried the dead black d
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13
At daybreak, Lachlan carried the dead black dog to find Jake Summers.
I told Lachlan to follow Jake when he went to school, not to do anything, just follow him to and from school.
Lachlan did as I said, and after a few days, Jake indeed didn’t dare to go to school anymore.
Two days later, Lachlan wanted to find a place to bury the black dog.
I said there was a good place to bury the black dog, and we could also see Jake get beaten.
Lachlan clapped his hands in agreement, saying we should go quickly, and he wanted to throw a few punches too, to avenge the black dog.
Lachlan and I carried the nearly rotten black dog to a wild field, found a clean spot, dug a hole, and buried the black dog.
Just as we were leaving the field, we heard Jake shout, “Girls are born to be beaten! I’m doing you a favor by beating her, you should thank
me!”
As we got closer, we saw Jake standing with three or four kids his age, while those kids were protecting a little girl about five or six years old.
“Jake Summers! Your thinking is messed up! If you want to hit girls, why don’t you go home and hit your mom? Why are you out here hitting my sister? In your family, girls might be for beating, but in our family, they’re for cherishing!” The oldest boy stood face to face with Jake.
Jake threw a punch, “Don’t you dare talk about my mom! I even poisoned the Walker family’s black dog for barking at my mom twice. What are you? Say another word, and I’ll come beat your sister every day!”
The boy opposite Jake got a scratch on his face and saw blood. He immediately started fighting with Jake.
“Brothers, let’s beat him to death! Beat him hard! See if he dares to hit my sister again!”
In my past life, at this time, I was repenting at Lachlan’s grave. I only knew that on this day, my brother was beaten half to death. I thought those people had deliberately beaten my brother, not realizing it was because my brother had hit someone else’s sister first.
Lachlan was itching to ga and throw a few punches, but I said, “If he dies, it’ll all be blamed on you. We won’t be able to explain ourselves then.”
Only then did Lachlan calm down. He clenched his fists and punched the air a few times before pulling me away.
When we got home, Mrs. Walker had made chicken soup for me and wanted me to drink more.
Looking at the steaming chicken soup, I suddenly burst into tears: “Is this the meritorious rooster?”
Mrs. Walker laughed, “This is a hen I just bought from the market today to nourish your body.”
Lachlan kept laughing, laughing so hard his stomach hurt. He rolled on the ground, repeatedly saying I was crying like a fountain because the rooster had died.
14
For the past couple of days, Mr. and Mrs. Walker had been busy coming and going, and Lachlan was often running out too.
I heard that my brother had been sent to a big hospital in the city.
My mom should have been at the hospital taking care of my brother, but she came to the Walker’s house.
My mom was stopped at the gate of the Walker’s compound.
Lachlan and I, along with Mr. Walker, stood at the gate, watching my mom cry and snot, listening to her curse me with the same old words over and over.
1
‘Brynn Summers, you heartless thing! How could you not help? That’s your own brother! You white–eyed wolf! I wasted raising you for all these years!”
Mr. Walker said, “We’re not heartless people. I still have two hundred dollars on hand, you can take it!”