She was only offering a casual word of comfort, but Liu Xiaomei said proudly, "You bet! Juhua, you don't know this, but my Second Brother is incredibly skilled—the wickerware he weaves is so delicate. My Third Brother is a master at catching fish and shrimp; we rely on him for all our meat dishes. My Fourth Brother is smart, too. He hardly studies, but his teacher still praises him for learning well, saying that if he just applied himself a bit more, he could be as brilliant as Yangzi. For any chore at home, as long as Dad lays out the plan, we get it done in a flash. If my eldest brother wasn't being controlled by that woman, wouldn't our family be so much more lively? When I was little, my brothers absolutely doted on me. My name wasn't even given to me by my dad. Since my brothers were always calling me 'little sister, little sister,' everyone else just started calling me Liu Xiaomei. It stuck, so we never bothered to change it."
Her eyes grew red as she spoke.
