Chapter 34: The Third Treasure’s Search for His Brother
“What’s wrong?” Chen Yaoguang stared at the person in the photo on the phone, and under the confused gazes of everyone in the room, tears began to stream down his face.
The person in the picture was his second older brother. The brother he had been searching for for three years.
âBrother Lin, thatâs my second brother!â Chen Yaoguang said emotionally, his fair face stained with tears.
âYouâre the third brother?â Lin Xia sucked in a sharp breath, but in his heart, he already knew it was true. He never imagined such a coincidence was possible.
âYes, Iâm the third son of the Chen family. I finally found my brotherâŚâ Chen Yaoguang cried with joy. It was clear he was genuinely happy.
His brother looked like he was doing well, which eased a worry that had weighed on him for years. Every day, he had worried that his brother wasn’t okay, that he wasn’t eating enough, that he wasn’t warm enoughâŚ
ââFoundâ him? Didnât your family stop looking a long time ago?â Recalling the information Chen Mingjie had shown him and the trauma the little hamster had endured, Lin Xiaâs tone turned cold. He had absolutely no goodwill toward the Chen family. His harsh tone wasn’t aimed at Chen Yaoguangâthe boy was a good kidâbut the thought that he was part of that tragic story left Lin Xia unsure how to react.
If it were Chen Yaoguang’s parents standing before him now, Lin Xia doubted he could remain this calm. He would probably grab them by the shoulders and shake them, demanding to know how they could have been so cruel. The scene would likely resemble something out of a melodrama.
According to Chen Mingjieâs file, the Chen family had only searched for a month before giving up. They hadnât even called the police for the first few days, missing the most critical window for finding a missing person.
âNo⌠itâsâŚâ Itâs not like that, Chen Yaoguang wanted to argue, but the words lacked conviction even to himself. Lin Xia was right. His family had indeed given up after a short time. He was the only one who had refused to stop looking. But he was just one person against his entire family. His father had no desire to search for a son who had âgone crazy,â so he had to search on his own. In the whole family, he was the only one who persisted. His eldest brother didn’t even know at first because no one told him. His father forbade them from telling him that his second brother was missing. It wasn’t until his eldest brother came home for the New Year that he found out. After that, he never returned home again. If it weren’t for the money he sent back every year, it would be as if the family had lost another person.
Chen Yaoguang couldnât face Lin Xia’s questioning gaze. The joy of finding his brother instantly dissolved into a heart-piercing pain, as if a knife were twisting in his chest.
âItâs not your fault.â Seeing Chen Yaoguang sobbing in anguish, Lin Xiaâs heart softened. Chen Yaoguang was a good kid. He was only in elementary school when it happened; he had no power to interfere with his parents’ decisions. He was also a victim of the tragedy, forced to be a part of it and tormented by his conscience ever since.
When the little hamster went missing, Chen Yaoguang was in the middle of his middle school entrance exams. He had been staying at the school dormitory and had no idea what was happening at home. When he returned, he found his parents shrouded in silence and saw his mother’s worn-out slippers on the floor. His two younger sisters were hiding in a corner, their eyes darting about with fear and unease.
âSanbao, how did your exams go?â his father asked, the silence on his face vanishing as he put on a kindly smile.
âThey were fine, I guess. Whereâs Second Brother?â Chen Yaoguang wasnât in the mood for small talk. He gave a curt reply and looked around for his brother.
âYour second brother⌠uh, heâsâŚâ His father hemmed and hawed, unable to give a straight answer.
Chen Yaoguang immediately sensed something was wrong. He rushed to his brother’s room, but it was empty. He searched the rest of the house, but he was nowhere to be found.
âWhat happened?!â Forgetting all respect for his elders, all the manners his teachers and family had drilled into him, Chen Yaoguang screamed at his father. His mother wept silently to the side, and his two little sisters trembled in a corner, not daring to lift their heads.
âChen Yi⌠he ran away from home. Heâs missingâŚâ Sanbao rarely lost his temper, let alone yelled at anyone. He was truly furious. His father knew he couldnât hide it any longer. Faced with his sonâs anger, he felt a pang of guilt. âWe looked for him, but we couldnât find him. Look, your motherâs shoes are completely worn outâŚâ
âDid you call the police?â Chen Yaoguang clenched his jaw, trying to control his rage. And you’re trying to convince me you looked hard enough? In his condition, Second Brother couldn’t have gone far. How could you not find him?
âWhy would we call the police? We havenât committed any crime. You canât just call the police for no reason.â In his father’s mind, only criminals dealt with the police. Their family was clean; they couldn’t risk the shame and gossip that would come from involving the authorities.
âCall the police!â Chen Yaoguang screamed through his tears.
His father refused. He had already asked the village chief to organize a search party. If the villagers couldn’t find him, what good would the police be? Besides, how far could a fool run? He was probably still somewhere in the township. Heâd turn up in a few days.
âIf you donât call the police, Iâll kill myself right here!â Chen Yaoguangâs face was a mask of determination, his gaze desolate and strangely unfamiliar. For the first time, he hated how small he was, how powerless. Why was he just a child, able to do so little?
Under the threat of his sonâs life and the wailing of the three women in the house, his father reluctantly called the police. The local station sent people to help, but the search yielded nothing. A month later, his father decided to call off the search.
Chen Yaoguang fought against it, but it was useless. Life, for the rest of them, had to go on. It seemed that losing one person made no difference to his family. But in his heart, there would always be a missing person, one who made him cry into his pillow in the dead of night.
âŚ
Chen Yaoguangâs second brother, Chen Yi, had always been his role model. When bragging to his friends, other kids would talk about what they bought or what they ate. But Chen Yaoguang would only ever talk about how smart his second brother was, how no problem was too difficult for him, and how a teacher had even come to their home personally to ask to take him on as a student.
Whenever he spoke of Chen Yi, Chen Yaoguangâs face would light up with pride, as if his brother were the sun itself.
Chen Yi had raised him, and they were incredibly close. Before his younger sisters were born, he had been the center of the family’s world, and he had accepted their love as his due. It was only as he grew older that he slowly began to understand.
His parents played favorites. His father constantly scolded his two older brothers. They were burdened with endless choresâhousework, farming, fetching waterâall after a long day at school. He, on the other hand, had to do nothing. Even when he tried to help, his parents would stop him, saying he was too young. But he knew it wasnât because of his age. Other kids his age already had plenty of responsibilities. It was because he was the youngest son.
There was a local custom: the youngest son was expected to care for the parents in their old age. The other sons were absolved of this duty, only needing to bring occasional gifts. In their village, there was a man who ran a small clinic; when his own mother, who had high blood pressure, came to get medicine, she still had to pay. It cost a hundred yuan for an injection, and it was the youngest son who paid the bill. No one called him unfilial; in their community, this was considered normal and reasonable.
As the youngest son, Chen Yaoguang was treated like a prince. But it didn’t make him happy. Instead, he was filled with guilt. If it weren’t for him, his brilliant second brother would have been the one his parents adored. Instead, no matter how hard Chen Yi worked or how much he achieved, he never earned their favor. Chen Yaoguang believed that his own existence had robbed his brother of what was rightfully his.
His eldest brother was named Chen Zhong (Loyalty), his second brother was Chen Yi (Righteousness). His father had casually picked their names while watching the TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But his name, Chen Yaoguang (Shining Light), had been specially chosen after consulting a fortune teller, carrying with it the hope that he would bring glory to the family.
But what had his brothers done wrong? Why did they have to pay the price for an unreasonable custom and their parents’ favoritism? They all shared the same blood, yet the affection between them was as thin as water.
âŚ
After his family gave up the search, Chen Yaoguang set out on his own path to find his brother. The money his family had gotten from selling his brotherâs high college entrance exam scores was reported stolen in a burglary. His father was so angry he was bedridden for days.
In truth, the money hadn’t been stolen. Chen Yaoguang had taken it. He had messed up the house to make it look like a break-in, and no one suspected him.
He took the money to the family in town who had bought Chen Yi’s scores and offered to buy them back. The family agreed immediately and refused to take the money. They had heard what happened to Chen Yi and were wracked with guilt. They had made a terrible mistake, one that not only cost them their own sonâs trust but also ruined the future of a bright young man.
When their sonâwho dreamed of being a musicianâfound out they wanted him to take someone else’s place, he had left home in disgust and cut off all contact.
Chen Yaoguang left with the money. It was compensation for his brother, though he knew it could never be enough.
After starting middle school in town, he spent all his spare time searching. Because his grades were excellent, his teachers let him be. He bought a map of Wensha County, marking off each area he searched with a circle. By the time he finished middle school three years later, the map was covered in a dense web of circles, but he still hadn’t found his brother.
If he wasn’t in the county, it meant he had gone further. So, when it came time for high school, Chen Yaoguang didn’t apply to the best school in the county, Wengao, which his brother had also attended. Instead, he went to a high school in the city. He chose to be a day student, living with his aunt, all so he could continue his search. He looked for a part-time job to earn money for travel expenses. The cost of living in the city was high, and without money, he couldn’t do anything.
Whenever he felt hopeless, Chen Yaoguang would cry and think, âIf thereâs a next life, let me be your older brother⌠And let’s not find parents like that againâŚâ
He had completely lost all faith in his parents. That faith had shattered the day his mother discovered he was still looking for Chen Yi and confessed the secret she had kept hidden in her heart.
âDo you know why the door was unlocked that day? It was me. I left it unlocked on purpose.â
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