Chapter 3 — Ten Children?

04 A bowl of rice from grandma cannot instantly turn them into good children. What really pulled them out of the mud were the countless specific dates that followed. Elder's name is Chu Tranh. At the age of seventeen, because he secretly stole parts from a discarded car, he was escorted to the police station by the owner of the car repair shop. She rushed over but didn't say a word to help him. She led him to bow his head and apologize to the shop owner first, then used all the money she had saved to compensate. After returning home, he craned his neck and asked:

“Do you also feel that I am beyond help?”

She did not answer. The next day, she took him back to the car repair shop.

“If you like to disassemble the car, then follow the master and learn properly.”

“Stolen parts can only put you in jail for a few years.”

“And the profession you learn can help you earn a living for the rest of your life.”

Chu Tranh worked in a car repair shop for half a year before touching a wrench for the first time. Later, he became the best car mechanic in the neighborhood. Just by listening to the sound of the engine, he could guess where it broke down. Mr. Hai Tran Thuc doesn't like to study, but he likes to squat in the kitchen and watch his grandmother cook. Every time she stir-fried vegetables, with just one look, he knew whether there was too much salt or what flavor was missing in the soup. At the age of fifteen, he proactively applied to work in the back kitchen of a restaurant. The first day back, the back of his hand was covered with blisters from hot oil splashes. She asked if he still wanted to go. He winced in pain but still nodded vigorously.

“Go.”

“In the future, I want to have meat in the house every day.”

Years later, he actually became a restaurant chef and even opened his own restaurant. When he received his first month's salary, he didn't buy new clothes but took ten pounds of ribs home. That night, for the first time, we ate sweet and sour fried ribs that made our stomachs full. Mr. Chin Lam Xuyen is not like them. He was only three years older than me, the only one of the nine people who went to school with me, and was scolded by my grandmother. When the brothers went out one by one to learn the trade, he still lay on his stomach next to me doing homework. I don't know how to calculate, he broke his fingers to teach me. I didn't get a high score on the exam, but I dared to use a red pen to mark correctly on my test. Later, he completed five years of college and passed the exam to enter the community work station. On the first day of work, he wore an ill-fitting white shirt, walked three rounds in the yard and asked everyone the same question:

“Do you look like a decent person now?”

Chu Tranh was repairing his motorbike, but his head was not raised.

“The clothes are similar, but you have to see more.”

The whole yard burst into laughter. The remaining brothers also gradually found their own paths. There are truck drivers, electrician apprentices, barber shops, camera owners, logistics station contractors, and equipment repairers in shopping malls. They did not become big figures as their neighbors often said. But they all started waking up on time, working hard, using their own hands to make money. Don't steal, don't rob, don't bully people weaker than you. She never asked them to be more successful than others. She only spent many years raising nine thorny children into normal people who could stand upright in the sunlight. ## 05 Third grade year In elementary school, the teacher assigned us to write an essay. The topic is "My family". Others wrote about their parents and grandparents. I lay on the table counting for a long time, and finally drew eleven figures in my notebook. She stood in the middle. I stood next to her. Outside are nine brothers of different heights. The essay only had a few short sentences: 【There are a lot of people in my family.】 【Elder Chu Tranh picked me up after school, Second Brother Tran Thuc cooked for me, and Chin Lam Xuyen did my homework with me.】 【The other brothers were also very nice.】 【Even though the dining table was very crowded, there was always my bowl every night.】 The teacher considered that essay a sample and read it in front of the whole class. You all admire me very much.

“Trinh An, do you really have nine brothers?”

“So surely no one at home dares to bully you, right?”

I nodded proudly. At that time, I still did not understand the difference between blood relations, adoption and temporary foster care. I only know that on the back seat of Elder Chu Tranh's motorbike there is always a pink helmet for me. Every time Hai Tran Thuc makes sweet and sour stir-fried ribs, he hides the meatiest pieces at the bottom of my bowl. Mr. Chin Lam Xuyen is clearly also afraid of thunder, but every night when he hears thunder, he still runs to find me and stubbornly says:

“I'm not afraid.”

“I'm just afraid you'll be afraid.”

In my heart, they are my brothers. There is absolutely no need for any proof. But as I grew older, I began to realize that our family was really not like other families. The brothers have different last names and also have different appearances. When Elder Chu Tranh came to school to pick me up, his hands were always stained with motor oil and couldn't be washed off. Every time Ba Trieu Da returns from a truck, there are still scars on his arms from fights when he was young. Nam's hair changes color every month. When standing in front of the school gate, they are really not like the polite, well-groomed parents of other families. In the class there is a female student named To Nghien, whose achievements are always right behind me. The first time she saw Chu Tranh come to pick me up, she looked at him for a long time.

“Is he really your biological brother?”

I nodded:

“That's right, it's my brother.”

“But you two are not alike at all.”

“You can't tell whether you're a relative or not.”

To Nghien did not ask further. But from that day, the way she looked at me changed. After that, I don't know if she heard from any relative living in the old alley about that house's story. She also knew that none of us ten children were related to her. During gym class in eighth grade, I again passed her on a test. She stopped me in front of the whole class.

“Trinh An, didn't you always say you have nine brothers?”

I frowned:

“What does it have to do with you?”

She stared at me, the corners of her lips slowly curled up.

“So do you dare to tell everyone why none of your nine brothers are like you?”

The people around gradually became silent. I tightened the badminton racket in my hand. To Nghien took a step forward and finally said these words:

“Isn't it because among the ten of you, not one of you is a sibling?”

“They were all bastards that no one needed so they were picked up.”