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墨書 Inktalez
In the hazy memories, Uncle was a very stubborn and headstrong person.
He raised the Snow Siblings all by himself, taking on responsibilities that someone his age, only seventeen, should not have had to bear.
Few relatives were willing to help him. For the sake of his niece and nephew, this usually obstinate and rebellious young man lowered his head for the first time in front of others and pleaded with other relatives for assistance.
Naturally, the help he received was limited.
He almost begged for every bit of support he could gather, but in the end, it was still not enough.
He had no choice but to sell off all the land passed down from his parents, leaving his hometown behind and taking a desperate gamble by heading to a distant city in search of a chance to survive.
He had heard that there was a place in the city called an orphanage, which specialized in taking care of children without parents.
If he truly could not provide for his niece and nephew, he planned to entrust them to the orphanage; it would be his last resort.
The two children were six and four years old, both at an age full of energy and mischief.
However, they were at least somewhat sensible and did not cause him too much worry, though they still brought him plenty of trouble.
The young man's first year was spent wandering the streets.
He could not afford housing and had to make makeshift shelters in abandoned houses or construction sites, living in dirty and harsh conditions.
Fortunately, both children were from the countryside and were quite healthy. Despite their poor living conditions, under the young man's care, neither child fell seriously ill.
Eventually, he found a relatively stable job—he joined a construction team at a worksite.
The Foreman was a kind-hearted person who offered him a lot of help.
Although the work at the construction site was tough, the pay was decent, even high at times, and gradually, the lives of the three improved.
Later, at the suggestion of the Foreman, he enrolled Xue in a local school.
The Foreman told him that knowledge could change everything; as long as one of the two children could get into college, their future lives would no longer be so difficult.
The young man was moved.
Xue's younger brother was too young to start school, so the first to attend was the seven-year-old girl.
Her younger brother stayed at home, playing and waiting for his sister to finish school.
As time went on, the young man met more and more people and spent more time with the Foreman. With the Foreman's help, his connections began to grow, and eventually, he was able to take on contracts himself and became a Foreman.
Their lives continued to improve, and they finally moved from their dilapidated shack into a clean rental apartment.
Later, that young man, who was barely twenty-seven but looked as worn as a man in his forties, even smiled with new ambitions.
He wanted to buy a house of his own in this city.
He had built others' apartments for ten years, yet owning a bedroom of his own still felt like an unattainable dream.
The expenses for his two children's schooling and living costs were significant.
But his life was finally getting on track; their family's meals had shifted from cheap vegetables to becoming increasingly abundant.
What used to be a luxury—meat—once eaten only once every month or two gradually became a regular part of their diet, no longer a rarity.
At that time, the girl was already in her third year at the best high school in the city, excelling academically. The dream of her uncle raising a college student was just one step away.
Then, Uncle died.
A sudden car accident took away the man who had devoted over ten years of his life to his elder brother's children, sacrificing the most precious decade of his youth for his niece and nephew.
His career had just begun to take off, and the dream of buying a home of his own had only just begun to show a glimmer of hope when he left this world with endless regrets.
It was the most painful time in the girl’s life. She and her younger brother clung to their uncle's lifeless body in the hospital, crying heart-wrenchingly, their world nearly plunged into endless darkness.
Many times, the girl wondered if it weren't for her brother needing her protection, would she have despairingly chosen to end her own life in that moment of hopelessness?
But she still had her brother to care for—though he was already in his second year of high school and excelled both physically and academically.
Uncle left behind little inheritance; that small amount of money was all that this man had saved through years of hard work and frugality.
Sixty thousand yuan might be just the price of a meal for some, but at that time, it became the only support for the siblings.
The girl chose to drop out of school.
Although her grades were excellent, they still fell short compared to her brother, who ranked first in their grade.
As an older sister, she could not bear to let her brother drop out because of her own reasons.
She forced her crying brother to go back to class while she found a job as a waitress at a nearby restaurant.
The pay was low, but by living frugally, the siblings could even save a little each month.
As for the sixty thousand yuan left by their uncle, it was something they absolutely refused to touch because it was meant for their brother's college education.
While she worked at the restaurant, she also set up a stall at the night market to sell some goods. Although she didn't have to fear being chased away by city management, life remained tight and difficult.
Her younger brother participated in the National Olympiad Mathematics Competition during his senior year of high school and won the First Prize. He was granted admission to one of the country's most prestigious universities, with his tuition waived.
This was a surprising piece of news for the siblings.
They cried as they embraced each other; after their uncle's passing, these two unfortunate children finally saw a glimmer of hope in life.
Then, during the College Entrance Examination Physical Examination, her brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
It was a terrifying disease that humanity had been unable to combat throughout history, with fewer than twenty known cases worldwide.
When the doctor appeared with the results of the re-examination, the girl felt an overwhelming darkness enveloping her.
What followed was an endless cycle of treatment, recovery, more treatment, and further recovery.
Although their meager savings were barely enough to cover the costs of treatment thanks to health insurance policies, her brother's condition gradually deteriorated.
The relentless medication ravaged his body. Once passionate about basketball, he eventually lay on the bed with atrophied muscles, unable to move far at all.
One day, the boy on the hospital bed gently grasped her hand and smiled weakly.
"Sister, go sign up for the college entrance examination."
At that time, there was just over a month left until the exam, and the girl had been working in a restaurant for quite some time, having left school several years ago.
Looking into her brother's frail but hopeful eyes, she remained silent for a long while before nodding.
She stopped going out to sell goods and gathered all the books from home, using every spare moment to review the knowledge she had abandoned for over two years.
While walking, resting, cooking, and even working at her job, she silently memorized formulas and key points, squeezing every available moment to study.
During that time, the doctor issued her a final ultimatum, and in consideration of the meager savings left for her and her brother, he stopped all medication for him.
Because further treatment would yield no results.
When she received the notification of her brother's predicted death, the girl's heart was already reduced to ashes.
She did not cry out in anger or plead irrationally with the doctor to continue treatment; instead, she silently left with the test results in hand.
More than two months later, after the college entrance examination had long concluded, many people gradually received their Admission Notices.
Having returned from a summer job in another city, she finally went to school to collect her own Admission Notice and returned home.
She burned a copy of the notice in front of the urns of her brother, uncle, and father, allowing these three most important people in her life to witness her efforts, so they would no longer worry.
Then, she knelt before their memorial tablets.
It was not until the sun rose again that she composed herself, closed the door of her home, and boarded the train heading to Wocheng.
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