Sweet Nostalgia of the 80s

Chapter 1862: Chapter 1862: She Abandoned Her Sister

”Story...?” Gan Tian was completely bewildered, ”You tell it... I’ll listen...”

”When they were eight, a pair of twin sisters went out to play. The older sister took her younger sister... The weather that day, the younger sister always remembered, it was clear with not a cloud in the sky! They went to the market to buy red hair ribbons. The older sister clutched five cents in her hand and told her younger sister that the type of hair ribbon to buy would be her decision alone.”

Hong Mei’s voice was slow and hoarse, and her expression seemed somewhat dazed amidst the swirling smoke.

She seemed to be lost in some kind of recollection.

”And then...”

”The older sister took a fancy to a red hair ribbon, while the younger sister was attracted to the pretty little sugar beads! Those little sugar beads were colorful and tasted sweet when you licked them lightly! The older sister bought two red hair ribbons and gave one to her sister! The younger sister didn’t like it... she wasn’t interested in hair ribbons and didn’t like them, she only wanted sugar beads, those sweet sugar beads. They were multicolored, and they were her entire childhood yearning. However, the older sister wouldn’t buy them for her, saying that once the sugar was eaten, it would be gone, while the hair ribbon could be used for several years.”

”The younger sister must have been very disappointed...” Gan Tian guessed the feelings of a child as she asked.

”That’s right. Very disappointed, unprecedentedly disappointed!” Hong Mei’s voice dropped a few tones, and the hoarseness in her voice became even more apparent.

”And then? What did the older sister do?” Gan Tian was captivated by the story, feeling that perhaps this story Hong Mei was telling was truly about them.

For some reason, this event never existed in her own memory.

”Later? The younger sister cried, made a fuss, and wanted the older sister to buy her the sugar beads. The older sister pulled the younger sister over and only found out after asking that five cents could buy two hair ribbons, but five cents could only buy five sugar beads. The candy stall owner said that if you wanted to buy sugar beads, you had to spend the full five cents, otherwise, they wouldn’t sell. Count back from today, over twenty years ago, think about it, during that period of scarcity, even if you had money, you might not be able to buy anything! Those selling things were all profiteers, gathered on this street. Unfortunately, at that time, they were too young to understand these things...”

”And then what, what did the older sister do?” Gan Tian eagerly wanted to hear the story’s conclusion, incessantly urging Hong Mei.

She was clearly immersed in her memories, unwilling to continue.

”Hurry up and tell it! I’m anxious to hear!” Gan Tian urged once again.

”The older sister didn’t want to buy it. The younger sister cried and refused to leave. The younger sister had been willful since she was young, unwilling to leave no matter how the older sister tried to persuade her. The younger sister’s tears kept rolling down. She just wanted the sugar beads, just wanted them... The younger sister thought her tantrum would make the older sister relent, but she never imagined the older sister would leave her behind and walk away. The younger sister watched wide-eyed as she returned to the hair ribbon stall, not knowing what she said to the vendor, unwilling to come back for ages. The younger sister cried and became anxious; someone came and told her, the older sister had run away... she ran very fast, very fast... she cried and chased after, indeed seeing her sister’s shadow.”

As Hong Mei spoke up to this point, the cigarette in her hand burned out. She turned her head and asked her sister, ”Can you guess what the older sister went to do?”

”Did she go to exchange for sugar beads for you?” Gan Tian said without thinking.

”Wrong! She ran away and left her sister behind. She abandoned her sister!”