When I met Errol while working at the age of 18, he told me that he had a sister who was in college. For that, he wanted to make money to cover her living expenses.

I was a little envious.

At the age of 18, he bought me a 0,69-dollar ring at a street stall and I happily married him.

Years later, I realized that he did not help her as his sister, but as the only sweetheart in his heart.

——

When Errol came back, he saw me at home and his expression was a little embarrassed.

He inadvertently hid the lunch box in his hand behind his back, “You didn’t go to the store?”

I glanced at him lightly and said, “I went to the hospital in the afternoon.”

“Oh, right, you went for a checkup today.”

He entered the house and explained to himself, “I didn’t have work this afternoon, so I came back early.”

I said “hmm”.

I knew he was going to take Judy to dinner.

Judy liked to eat hot pot at the corner of the street and she always smelt when she came home.

I was too lazy to expose him, so I showed him the bill of the store this month.

Errol was startled. “Why is the income so low?”

He never cared about the business in the store, so of course he didn’t know that the business was not good recently.

I didn’t say anything, but Errol seemed a little uncomfortable. After hesitating for a long time, he said, “Judy just came to Prand City and is in urgent need of money. I think... why don’t we sell the store? It’s not making money anyway, what do you think? You stay at home and I’ll support you.”

Support me? He might not know that most of the expenses at home were paid by the income from the store.

I had put so much effort into that store and now Judy was in urgent need of money and wanted to sell it.

He was really a good brother who was filial to his parents.

I said lightly, “It’s up to you.”

Selling it was just what I wanted.

He couldn’t get the money anyway.

Errol didn’t expect me to agree so easily. He was a little surprised and stared at me for a long time without saying anything.

I ignored him and went to the kitchen. I bought ribs today and planned to nourish myself.

Seeing that I was going to cook, he rushed to the kitchen, “You take a rest, Harper. I’ll do it.”

I didn’t stop him, just let him do it, anyway, he couldn’t cook many meals.

The smell of oil smoke soon drifted out.

Errol rarely cooked and he didn’t even know how to turn on the range hood.

I pushed open the old window and the cold wind swept in, dispelling the pungent smell and making my mind clearer.

There was a knock at the door and I knew it was Beata coming to collect the rent.

“I’m old, I don’t know how to use your mobile phone apps.” Beata kept mumbling and I stuffed the money I had prepared into her hand.

But she didn’t leave and poked her head into the house.

“Errol is cooking?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s hard to find a good man like him. You are lucky. Women in our time didn’t have such a good life. We had to do farm work, housework and take care of children. It was hard.”

I sneered in my heart and said perfunctorily, “You are lucky. You can also collect rent. People nowadays don’t have such a blessing.”

The neighbors always liked to say behind my back that I was lucky and had climbed up the ladder.

In their eyes, Errol was a cultured person, while I was a migrant worker from the mountain valley. I couldn’t read a few words, lonely and helpless.

Of course, they didn’t know that I worked hard in the store to support him in studying and taking exams.

I thought his life would be better after he found a formal job, but he spent all the money he earned on another woman.

It was really ridiculous to say that these people were just a few glances and started to point fingers at other people’s lives.

When I returned to the house, Errol had already brought out the dishes.

He muttered “It’s cold”, closed the window and asked me, “Who is it?”

“The rent collector.”

“Didn’t you just pay the rent?”

I glanced at him and said nothing.

He sat down awkwardly. “Eat quickly, don’t let it get cold.”

I looked at the table and saw only one stir-fried vegetable.

I put down my spoon and asked, “Where are the spare ribs?”

He avoided my eyes and said hesitantly, “You just recovered from a serious illness, it’s not good to eat too greasy food. Be good, eat more vegetables. I put less oil on purpose.”

I lost my appetite.

He said again, “Harper, Judy has no place to live these days, I think… why don’t you let her come to our house and stay for a few days?”

I raised my eyebrows. In order to save money, my family rented a one-bedroom apartment.

Errol was afraid that I would be angry, so he quickly explained, “You know, the public security here is not good and I am worried about her staying in a hotel alone. Judy has a hard time being alone and her parents passed away early. As a brother, I should help her more.”

He probably forgot that my parents passed away a long time ago.

It was a pity that I didn’t have such a care and doting brother.

I didn’t even bother to raise my eyelids. “Then you can go get a room with her.”

Errol’s words choked in his mouth and he looked at me in disbelief. “What are you talking about? Judy is my sister, how can you say that?”

I looked up at him. “I didn’t say that you two should sleep in the same bed.”

He choked and after a long time he said, “If you don’t want to, just say it directly. I really don’t understand what you are thinking. You were young before, so it was okay to make trouble. Now you are so old, you should be sensible!”

He continued, “Even if Judy is not my biological sister, her parents helped me so much, how can I be ungrateful!”

Errol became more and more angry and almost jumped up from the stool.

I looked at him with amusement. When people were not reasonable, they would be furious.

He probably forgot that I stopped making trouble with him a long time ago.

When did it start?

It seemed that he left me alone on the night road because of a piece of news about Judy and I was afraid to go home alone in the dark.

It was like when he took the rent money from the family to buy a ring for Judy without permission.

We had quarreled so many times that I felt it was meaningless.

Now I could go to the hospital for a follow-up checkup by myself after a miscarriage, but it was a pity that he had to leave the spare ribs for others to eat.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to see him anymore.

Go away, ungrateful man.

Seeing that I didn’t say anything, Errol softened his tone again, “Harper, I just wronged you to stay in the store for a few days. Didn’t you often stay in the store when you were busy before?”

I nodded sensibly as he wished. “Okay.”

But he became panic again. “You are not angry, right?”

“No.” I stood up expressionlessly and continued, “I will leave tonight.”

I went to the hot pot restaurant on the corner.

It seemed that this was the first time I found out that Errol and Judy were not siblings.

I said, there was no brother in the world who looked at his sister like that.

The lady boss greeted me warmly. “You are here, do you want the same hot pot as before?”

I smiled and nodded.

In fact, I also liked to eat hot pot here.

Errol brought me here once, on my birthday.

Although he didn’t want to order more meat dishes, I was really happy that night.

The boss specially sent me longevity noodles.

It had been a long time since anyone celebrated my birthday.

When I worked with Errol, I didn’t earn much.

My money supported the family and his money supported Judy’s education, so we always lived frugally and only dared to put two more eggs in the noodles on her birthday.

I didn’t know at the time that Judy was not his biological sister, but I was a little envious of her.

If I also had such a brother who loved me, I would be able to continue my studies.

When I was 2 years old, I had been working outside for 2 years.

I had never seen anything good, Errol was good to me, so I was good to him.

With him, I always thought I had a family again.

Later I realized that his kindness to me was just a little bit of crumbs flowing out of the cracks.

His full heart had long been given to others.

Errol didn’t bring me here again because Judy was going abroad for graduate school.

Life became frugality again.

The boss brought the hot pot, which was greasy and hot.

The doctor said that I looked weak due to miscarriage and I didn’t recover well, so I needed to supplement more.

I ate one bite after another. I clearly asked for non-spicy food, but it was still a bit choking.

I ordered two more plates of mutton. From now on, I was my own family.

The next morning, I found Neil to discuss the sale of the store.

When I bought this store, I took out all the savings I had accumulated from working for several years. But it was still not enough, so I had to pawn the bracelet left to me by my mother to the gold shop.

Fortunately, I worked hard and finally managed to keep the store going after stumbling.

The sale of the store went smoothly.

The housing prices had risen a lot in recent years and I had earned more than when I bought it before.

I signed my name on the contract.

Neil took it happily, sucking on the cigarette in his mouth.

“Are you sure you want to sell the store?”

I smiled. “Neil, I am sure.”

“Harper?” A voice suddenly came from behind.

Turning around, Errol looked at me in surprise.

It was really strange that he would come to the store.

Errol walked up to me, with reproach in his eyes. “I called you several times, why didn’t you answer?”

“Oh, I was talking to Neil about selling the store.”

“Selling the store?” His voice immediately became shrill. “Have you sold the store?”

I slowly folded my contract and put it in my pocket, looking at him sideways. “Didn’t you say you wanted to sell it?”

He was speechless, staring at me for a few seconds, stammering, “Yes… I said it, but why didn’t you discuss it with me? What if you get cheated and sell it at a low price?”

I sneered, why should I discuss my own store with you?

Just when I was about to speak, Neil spoke first.

He looked at Errol coldly, his tone was unfriendly. “Errol, what you said is not reasonable, do you mean I will cheat Cassandra?”

Errol pouted and muttered, “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then tell me what you mean?” Neil raised his voice.

“This shop has been open for several years. You only came a few times when it first opened. The rest were all taken care of by Cassandra alone. Now that the shop is going to be sold, she has to discuss it with you? I know you are an educated person and look down on us uneducated people, but at least I, Neil, am an open-minded person who will not cheat on others, let alone cheat on others!”

Errol’s eyes widened and he said anxiously, “What nonsense are you talking about! Don’t slander me!”

“Heh! Which merchant in this area hasn’t seen you leading other girls around the market?”