I attended the only elementary school in the village.

On my first day of school, my mother kept muttering, "Going to school will delay your work. There's so much to do at home."

As she stuffed pancakes into my bag, she loudly reminded me, "Come back home right after school to work, do you hear me? No one is there to harvest the rice at home."

My mother and grandmother mostly took care of my younger brother at home. My father worked in the town and only came back once every two weeks, so only my grandfather harvested the rice at home.

My grandfather really didn't want me to go to school.

He had tried to stop me before, but after learning that preventing me from going to school was illegal, he never brought it up again.

I actually didn't want to harvest rice because the leaves were sharp and left many scars on my arms and legs.

I just wanted to work at home.

So, every day after school, I would find ways to stay at school for a while, only returning home when the sun dyed the sky red.

By that time, my grandfather would have finished tidying up in the fields and was ready to go home, and I just needed to help him carry some tools and follow behind him.

The setting sun cast our shadows long. Not far away, my two-year-old brother was playing outside the door, evading work, making me unusually happy.

But this lazy method didn't last long because my mother caught on.

As usual, I helped my grandfather carry tools home. Besides my brother playing outside the gate, there was also my mother holding a long bamboo stick.

I froze in fear, feeling guilty and afraid to take another step forward.

Whenever I made a mistake before, my mother would use that bamboo stick to discipline me and make me remember.

I dared not move, but my mother seemed to see through my thoughts.

She pointed the bamboo stick at the ground, warning me loudly, "Yang Xing, you better kneel down here by yourself. If I have to come over and catch you myself, I'll break your legs!"

Scared, I quickly ran over, dropped the sickle, and knelt on the ground.