Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
Advanced chapters available on Patreon. Also, a bonus chapter will be released, if you buy me a kofi.
During the weekend break, Sheng Chuan greeted a few classmates and got on his bicycle to go home. When he passed the security room, he asked if there was a letter from him as usual.
“I have a letter for you today. Is it a letter from a lover?” Otherwise, how could he care so much?
“The sister I went to meet when I was going down the mountain before.” Seeing the more ambiguous look in the security guard’s eyes, Sheng Chuan did not continue to explain. The more he explained, the more unclear it would become.
The letter was quite thick. Sheng Xhuan tucked it into the book and planned to read it when he got home.
“I’m back. There’s chicken soup simmering in the kitchen. Let’s go have a bowl first.” The old lady was knitting a sweater. When she saw her grandson coming back, her face was filled with a happy smile.
“I’ll drink it later.” Sheng Chuan looked up and said, “Where’s grandpa?”
“He was asked by Lao Zhang to play chess. He won’t be able to come back until dinner time. Ignore him.” The old lady got up and went into the kitchen to scoop a bowl of chicken soup for Sheng Chuan, “Drink it first to fill your stomach, and the food will be ready after a while.”
“Thank you, grandma.” Sheng Chuan took the bowl and drank a few mouthfuls, then said a few words to the old lady and went back to his room.
There was another letter inside the envelope. Sheng Chuan was stunned when he saw the handwriting on it. Wasn’t this his fu**ing handwriting?
He didn’t rush to open it and read Ye Ning’s reply first. Sheng Chuan was silent for a long time. He thought it was because they had been separated for a long time and their relationship had weakened. He didn’t expect that it was because his mother blocked the letter and she replied to it like this.
It was also a coincidence that Sheng Chuan’s mother remarried two years after the old man and the three were devolved, and gave birth to a son the next year. They had already become two families. Last time, the old man and his wife got sick one after another, and his mother came to visit every now and then. It was probably at that time that she saw the letter and stopped it.
Sheng Chuan could understand his mother’s intention, but he didn’t agree. No matter what, it had happened and he should apologize.
He took out the stationery and wrote a very sincere letter of apology. Thinking of the words in Ye Ning’s letter about carrying guns and sticks, Sheng Chuan couldn’t help but raise the corners of his lips. Her personality had changed a lot. According to her previous temperament, she would have cried while holding the letter for a few days at most. She would never send it directly to him, nor would she ridicule him so directly.
While replying to the letter, Sheng Chuan also packed a large box full of some Beicheng specialties and sent them together.
After Ye Ning sent the letter, she forgot it and went to and from work every day. In the past, she would walk around after work when she got home and after dinner. Now she felt it was necessary to take Ye Lan and Ye An out more.
“Let’s go.” Ye Ning called to Ye Lan and Ye An, “We went to the west a few days ago, and today we will go to the south.”
The western district was now farmland, which was actually not much different from their countryside. Ye Lan and Ye An’s awe towards the city people slowly faded away, after meeting different kinds of people. At least now the two of them would not think that the other person was tall and that they were a bit like a dwarf when they heard that the other person was from the city.
The South District and the West District were just the opposite. It was considered the most prosperous urban areas in Huanshan County. Many stores had been opened here one after another, and basically everyone had the basic necessities, food, housing and transportation.
“Do you know why the South District is so much more developed than the West District?” Ye Ning shook her head when she saw them and pointed to the station, “Because the station is built here. No matter what day there are people taking the train, there will be more people. If there are more people, you can make money by opening a shop and doing business on the edge. Over time, this place became more and more prosperous.”
It happened to be dinner time. Ye Lan saw that the restaurants were full of people and asked in a low voice: “How much money can these stores make in a day?”
“How can I say for sure? I guess it’s definitely around fifty.” Ye Ning thought it must be a lot more.
Ye Lan took a breath, a little suspicious, but felt that she shouldn’t be suspicious.
She had been in the city for almost a month and spent time with her eldest sister day and night. She really found that she didn’t understand her eldest sister at all. In her mind, her sister couldn’t carry her shoulders, couldn’t carry her hands, cried all the time, and couldn’t do anything. But now she found that in the city, her sister who had been in high school for three years was already different from before.
She was well-informed, and her sister knew many things that she didn’t know. At that time, her sister insisted on selling the land, but she didn’t feel bad about selling her own land. In the end, it proved that her sister was right, and she found a way to get in by herself. After joining the pharmaceutical factory, she was able to be taken on business trips by her boss only half a month after entering the factory, which showed that her sister was highly valued by her boss. Now Ye Lan felt more and more that she had underestimated her sister.
“What are you thinking about?” Ye Ning pulled Ye Lan and said, “Go and look around there.”
Ye Lan looked around. In her hometown, everyone had gone home to sleep at this time. There was almost no sound outside except the barking of dogs, but the lights here were bright, there were people wandering around everywhere, including children and women running to the stalls to buy things. It was completely different from their hometown and the West District.
“Sister, I want to eat candied haws on a stick.” Ye An pulled Ye Ning’s hand and said softly.
Ye Lan looked at Ye An. He used to be very sensible and now he knew how to ask for things. If it were before, Ye Lan would definitely have stopped her from buying it, and even said something to Ye An, but now she didn’t know how to do it. Ye Lan suddenly felt that the younger brother who wanted something was more alive than the sensible younger brother who didn’t want anything.
“Take it, what are you thinking about?” Ye Ning pushed a bunch of candied haws into Ye Lan’s hand, “Come on, let’s go over there and see, they seem to be doing magic.”
Ye Ning pulled them over, and someone was spraying fire here, and there was a big stone in the chest. People around him cheered, and Ye Ning’s little hands turned red. Ye Ning knew it was fake but watched it with gusto. These tricks would slowly disappear in the future, and in the end they could only be seen in some TV series. She could only see it here. In fact, Chinese folk tricks were also very beautiful.
Just when they thought about it, they heard the fire-breathing elder brother say that he had qigong, which could help pull out toxins and bad habits from the body. Then an old man actually came up and took off his shirt. The elder brother sprayed a sip of wine on his back and took out a cupping pot. He pulled out the poison from him, and after a while, a lot of black blood drops appear. The fire-breathing brother said that this is the toxin, and it will be cured. Then he gave ten pills of medicine and asked the old man to go home to take it. When he saw someone pulling out black blood, The guys were convinced of the blood beads, and a few more men went up to buy medicine. Slowly, more and more people bought medicine.
“Sister, do we want to buy some?” Ye Lan couldn’t help but feel excited after hearing what Brother Spitfire talking so well.
Ye Ning patted her head. It was no wonder that these magic tricks were eliminated as people were taken advantage of by too many swindlers. Traditional Chinese medicine was indeed good, but it must be given the right medicine. How could it detoxify, cure rheumatism, heal the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys, or even cure gynaecological diseases? Was it an elixir? It was impossible to think about how one dose of medicine could cure so many diseases.
After eating the candied haws on a stick and watching some magic tricks, the siblings went home slowly.
“Let’s get ready to go back to our hometown in a few days.” Ye Ning suddenly said.
The two siblings fell silent. None of them wanted to believe the fact that Ye Qingshan was dead. They felt that as long as he was not buried, they could continue to believe that Ye Qingshan was working in other places. Once the tomb was erected, the fact that their father had passed away would be confirmed.
“Can…can we erect the tomb later?” Ye Lan asked with red eyes.
“Do you want dad to become a lonely ghost?”
Ye Ning felt uncomfortable, and took a breath, holding Ye An, who also had red eyes, “We must have a banquet, what do other families in the village do?” She never cared about family affairs and had no similar memories, so Ye Ning asked Ye Lan.
Ye Lan opened her mouth and burst into tears, “In our hometown, white events are bigger than happy events. Usually there are eight dishes, four cold and four hot. The dishes depend on the situation at home. Usually it’s a plate of boiled peanuts and cold preserved eggs, shredded kelp and cucumber, the four hot dishes are usually two vegetarian dishes, tofu, and one meat dish. Conditions have improved in recent years, and many people have added chicken and duck. How about we… go back and ask my uncle and the others? The vegetables are simple, and most of them are grown at home. It’s not surprising. Whose family didn’t have difficulties in the past few years?”
It was not easy to get these eight dishes together.
“Then let’s buy kelp, preserved eggs and meat first. Other homes have them. We can just buy them in the village. We can also buy chickens and ducks in our hometown.” Ye Ning thought for a while, they didn’t have much left at home. Young children should not do well to attract people’s attention, but they should not be too shabby and not be good enough.
“Okay, I have to pull some white cloth, what should I give in return?” Ye Lan nodded.
Return gift? Ye Ning was stunned for a moment, as if going to drink liquor was a gift in return, “What do you usually give in return?”
“It also depends on the conditions of the family. Some people give back a piece of soap, and some people give back a towel. By the way, there are also things to put on the table. The cigarettes will be divided when the time comes, and each person who helps carry the coffin will also receive two packs of cigarettes. In addition, they will also be given red envelopes. I don’t know how much it will be.” Ye Lan told everything she knew.
“By the way, I have to go and see if the coffin is ready.” Ye Ning slapped her head. She originally planned to take five days off, but now it seemed that it was not possible.
It was not good to ask for leave just after starting work. Of course Ye Ning knew this, but she was indeed in a special situation. Taking such a long leave without a legitimate reason would definitely not work. Ye Ning took the leave request to Director Yang and confessed her life experience.
“I am the eldest daughter in the family, and my younger brother is still young. I have to take care of all these things, so it takes a long time. I’m sorry, director, that I have to take such a long leave after only one month of work.” She was Director Yang’s assistant. Taking leave would give Director Yang more work.
Director Yang really didn’t know that Ye Ning’s life experience was so pitiful. Her mother returned to the city and her father went out to work to earn tuition for their siblings. He died in an accident. Looking at Ye Ning again, she felt that this child was constantly striving for self-improvement.
“So your brother and sister are all in the city now?” Director Yang asked.
“Yes, I rented a house on Houxi Road. My sister is going to high school soon, and my brother will be a sophomore in the second half of the year. My high school teacher helped contact the second elementary school.” Ye Ning pursed her lips, “What about this fake thing?”
“Go back, don’t say a few days, just come back after your family affairs are settled.” Director Yang really liked Ye Ning, who was diligent and motivated, and was her most satisfying assistant in the past few years.
“Thank you, Director Yang.” Ye Ning said sincerely. Not all leaders were so reasonable.
The next day, Ye Ning and her brother and sister went to buy things they would need for the day. They didn’t buy things like return gifts. They would go back and ask their uncle before they came back to buy things.
After being away for nearly a month, the three siblings returned to their hometown again. This time they returned with heavy hearts.
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
Please support me on Ko-fi if possible or become a patron on Patreon.
Discord Server Link: https://discord.gg/bUtjSUQpNq
I’ll be able to post more chapters if you support me
Previous • Table of Contents • Next