Chapter 159: Yun Chenbei Can’t Recognize People

"No kidding. They got robbed last night. Yun Dafu heard a noise, went to check, and got beaten over the head."

"Ah, that’s terrible luck. Did they catch the thief?"

"Nope. And there was more than one of them."

Actually, many people knew about this, as there had been quite a commotion the previous night.

But Yun Jiao’s house was quite a distance from Yun Dafu’s, so most people in her part of the village hadn’t heard anything.

"If you ask me, Yun Dafu’s family is just too flashy. Didn’t he catch a whole net of large yellow croakers last time he went out to sea? On his way back, whenever he saw another boat, he’d go over and show off, regardless of whether he knew them or not."

"When he was selling the fish, he was pulling people aside left and right, telling them how much money he’d made and how amazing his family’s metal boat was. A lot of those people weren’t even from our village. Is it any wonder he’d get targeted by thieves?"

"Heh, that’s just what he’s like. He used to always brag to us about how successful his son was and how much money he made. Especially around the time they bought the boat—his nose was stuck so high in the air."

They weren’t the only family in the village to buy a metal boat, you know. But they were by far the most ostentatious about it, acting as if they wished the entire world knew.

The worst part was, he would put others down to build himself up.

Whenever he saw someone else’s wooden boat, he’d look down his nose and start pointing, saying things like, "That boat of yours is no good. It’s slow and takes too much work."

He was practically begging for people to hate him.

Honestly, most of the villagers weren’t the least bit surprised that Yun Dafu’s family got robbed.

"That Yun Dafu got beaten pretty badly. He had to go to the hospital. They stole over three thousand from him."

HISS...

"Who did it?"

"Where did they even keep the money? How could it get stolen just like that?"

That was over three thousand!

Even though it wasn’t their own money, they all felt a pang of loss.

"No idea. The thieves weren’t caught."

Yun Jiao was listening intently when she suddenly heard her brothers’ voices.

She looked up and saw the school children returning.

They all wore bright red scarves tied around their necks and were running quickly toward them.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF..."

In an instant, the village entrance burst into activity.

The big dogs that had been lounging at the entrance all started wagging their tails and running toward their owners.

"Jiaojiao!"

Yun Jiao stood up and trotted a few steps in their direction before the sprinting Yun Xiaowu scooped her up into his arms and lifted her high.

"Jiaojiao, did you miss me? Your Fifth Brother missed you to death!"

He said, planting a few kisses on her cheek.

They had only been apart for a morning, but to Yun Xiaowu, it felt like an eternity.

Yun Jiao hugged her brother’s neck and nodded. "I missed you."

Yun Xiao Liu said, "Fifth Brother, hurry and let me hold Jiaojiao."

"Little sister, did you miss me?"

Her brothers all crowded around, wanting to hold her, pushing the two little puppies to the side.

"WHINE..."

They tried to squeeze their way in through the forest of legs but failed completely.

"Little sister, you brought both of them with you."

"Let’s go home."

Yun Xiaowu carried Yun Jiao, while Yun Xiaoqi and Yun Xiao Ba each carried a puppy. The boisterous group headed for home.

Under the sunlight, every face was lit with a brilliant smile.

"Jiaojiao, look at my red scarf! It’s tied nicely, isn’t it? Even the teacher praised me."

"Do you want to wear it? I’ll let you try it on when we get back."

Yun Jiao nodded. "I do."

"Deal! Jiaojiao, let me tell you, today..."

All the way home, Yun Xiaowu chattered nonstop about his day at school—what his language arts and math teachers’ names were, how many new friends he made in class, and all about the books in his schoolbag.

It was the first day of school, so they hadn’t started any serious lessons. They even had a PE class in the morning where the teacher taught them synchronized calisthenics. All in all, it was a lot of fun.

Yun Jiao listened intently. As they neared their house, the boys ran even faster.

"Grandma, Mom, we’re back! When’s lunch?"

"Go call your grandpa and the others back."

Yun Jiao followed her brothers to call everyone, but at the doorway, she saw her fourth brother, who was supposed to have left to register for school.

Yun Jiao was confused. "Fourth Brother, why are you here?"

Yun Chenbei’s expression was conflicted, and his face was slightly flushed.

"I... I don’t want to go to school anymore."

「A dozen or so minutes later...」

At the dinner table, no one had touched their chopsticks. The entire family’s gaze was fixed on Yun Chenbei.

Yun Chenbei, who was already socially anxious by nature, lowered his head so far it nearly touched the table.

"BANG..."

Yun Linhe slammed his hand on the table. "You explain yourself to me! Why have you decided not to go to school? You were doing just fine, so why quit?!"

Granny Yun slapped Yun Linhe on the shoulder. "What do you think you’re doing? Why are you shouting and making such a racket? Who are you trying to scare?"

’Chenbei is already a timid boy. Don’t go scaring him into tears.’

Yun Chenbei kept his head down and said in a small voice, "I... I want to focus on learning from my master."

He looked up, his eyes red. "My grades aren’t good. I like woodworking, I like carving. I don’t like being around so many people."

Because of his "odd" personality, Yun Chenbei always sat in the corner at school and didn’t like to interact with people.

In truth, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to interact with others. What no one knew was that Yun Chenbei was a bit face-blind.

Aside from his family, he couldn’t tell other people’s faces apart. He could only recognize them by their voices.

This made him even more reluctant to interact with people.

But other people didn’t know this. They just thought he was rude for not greeting acquaintances when he ran into them.

His classmates ostracized him for it, too.

He had just never told his family.

He had seen the poverty and hardship his family had endured, and Yun Chenbei didn’t want to add to their troubles with his own problems.

But now, he had found something he wanted to do. After a long period of hesitation and internal conflict, he hadn’t gone to register for school. Instead, he had come home.

Yun Chenbei clenched his fists and finally choked out, "I... I can’t recognize people."

"I’m a freak. Besides my family, I can’t tell the faces of anyone else apart."

To Wang Mei and Granny Yun, his words were like a bolt from the blue. "What? What do you mean by that?!"

Yun Linhe was completely stunned.

Yun Chenbei wiped his tears, his voice thick with hurt. "I don’t know why, either. Everyone looks the same to me. I can only barely tell people apart by their voices."

It was a long moment before Wang Mei spoke. "You... you silly child, why didn’t you tell us sooner!"

She felt tears welling up. All this time, she had just thought her son was sullen, clumsy, and a bit slow. He never left the house if he could help it, and because he rarely greeted the other villagers, people said he was rude and strange.

She had even scolded him for it a few times before.

She never imagined... She never imagined this was the reason.

Yun Chenbei kept his head down and said nothing.

Grandpa Yun sighed. "Let’s eat first. After lunch, Xiaowu and the others will go to school. You, take Chenbei to the hospital and get this checked out."

Things having come to this, Yun Linhe couldn’t bring himself to blame his son anymore.

They ate their meal. For the first time, the dinner table was silent, and everyone picked at their food distractedly.

Yun Jiao placed some vegetables into her fourth brother’s bowl.

"Don’t worry, Brother. Jiaojiao will go to the hospital with you."

Yun Chenbei sniffled and nodded. "Okay."