Zhu Yun Xuan was urged by Jiang Yue Xiu to find Li Rui, so he decided to bring Zhu Qiu Yue along as well.
Zhu Cheng Gong went to the market every day to sell meat, but Feng Xian was not as free as Jiang Yue Xiu and couldn’t wake up early in the morning to make porridge. So, Zhu Cheng Gong would buy a cheap, filling ziran tuan (sticky rice balls) for breakfast after reaching the market, and he handed Zhu Qiu Yue’s breakfast responsibilities over to Jiang Yue Xiu, giving her a bag of rice.
This morning, Zhu Yun Xuan specifically told Zhu Qiu Yue to eat less porridge, as they would buy something delicious once they reached the market.
After these days, Zhu Qiu Yue had become completely convinced by Zhu Yun Xuan, and she immediately agreed. When they arrived at Li Rui’s place and saw the nanny Xiao Hui cleaning outside, with only three children inside, she immediately asked, “Yun Xuan, what are we eating for breakfast today?”
“What do you want to eat?” Zhu Yun Xuan wasn’t picky about food, he had long become immune to the town’s breakfast offerings.
“I want ziran tuan!” Zhu Qiu Yue quickly replied. Zhu Cheng Gong treated his daughter well and would tell her stories every night. When there were no stories to tell, he’d talk about his own meat-selling experiences.
“We’ll go buy ziran tuan then,” Zhu Yun Xuan said, looking at Li Rui.
Li Rui nodded and then remembered something about his nanny. “Let Xiao Hui go buy them,” he said. Xiao Hui earned six hundred yuan a month, and Zheng Xiao Qing had given her an additional thousand yuan for groceries and cooking. In addition, she had also given Li Rui some pocket money. However, the pocket money was not much, while the thousand yuan for living expenses was quite high, and she had told Li Rui to let Xiao Hui buy whatever he wanted.
Ziran tuan (sticky rice balls) are made from glutinous rice, with fillings wrapped inside cloth and tightly pinched into shape by hand. There are both sweet and savory versions. The sweet version has no toppings on the outside but is filled with two spoonfuls of sugar mixed with sesame seeds, along with a piece of fried dough stick (youtiao) that has been deep-fried until crispy. The savory version uses glutinous rice mixed with soy sauce and pork lard, with peanuts, preserved mustard, chopped scallions, and a piece of fried dough stick. Of course, there are also options like pickled vegetables available at the stall.
In those days, food was cheap, with ziran tuan costing 0.5 yuan or 1 yuan, but most people found that a 0.5 yuan one was enough to fill them up.
“I want the plain glutinous rice with pickled vegetables, peanuts, and fried dough stick inside. Qiu Yue wants a sweet one, and Rui Rui wants a savory one,” Zhu Yun Xuan had instructed Xiao Hui when she went to buy them, and the ones she brought back matched his order.
The rice balls were shaped like ovals, smaller at the ends and larger in the middle, with the fillings in the center. The sweet ones had sugar sprinkled on both ends, which made Zhu Qiu Yue very happy. Li Rui’s savory rice ball gave off the aroma of pork lard mixed with rice… In fact, it was just filled pork lard mixed rice.
“So, what are your plans for the future?” After eating, Zhu Qiu Yue went off to play with the puzzle Li Rui had brought, while Zhu Yun Xuan turned to Li Rui.
Yesterday, they hadn’t had much time to talk alone, and he hadn’t asked too many questions. However, after tossing and turning all night, Zhu Yun Xuan couldn’t help but think about it. Rebirth was such a fantastical thing, and once given the chance, everyone would probably want to change something about their past, right? He hoped for his family’s happiness, but what about Li Rui? To be honest, even if Li Rui did nothing, he could still get things that others could never achieve no matter how hard they tried. So, what would the rest of his life be like…
“How about you?” Li Rui asked in return.
“I want my parents to live a good life, but I’m still too young right now…” Zhu Yun Xuan rubbed his temples. He had changed in some ways, but it didn’t make much of a difference.
At present, his greatest hopes were pinned on the clothes he designed. After Zheng Xiao Qing left yesterday, he had told Jiang Yue Xiu not to make the clothes she usually made for Zheng Xiao Qing, a decision that Jiang Yue Xiu didn’t quite understand. She thought he was just a child making a fuss, even deciding to start working on them from that evening.
At that time, Zhu Yun Xuan had no other way out and had ended up sitting down on the floor and crying, saying, “Mom’s clothes aren’t pretty, that aunt definitely won’t wear them!” That had finally made Jiang Yue Xiu change her mind. She had told him that this afternoon, she planned to go with him to the town to buy fabric and make a few sets of clothes for Zheng Xiao Qing that she could actually wear out.
“I’m too young as well. I’ll probably choose to go into business when I grow up… Right now, though, I’m thinking about whether I could write novels,” Li Rui spoke up. He had once wanted to become a writer and had written quite a few things. But after suddenly being sent to the military camp, everything was left behind. He was too young now to make money, but writing novels was still within his reach.
“Are you thinking of plagiarizing those famous novels?” Their generation had all read novels. Zhu Yun Xuan remembered that when he was in grades five and six of elementary school, he became obsessed with Jin Yong and Gu Long, and later read some online literature.
However, the fact that Li Rui was planning to go into business was something Zhu Yun Xuan didn’t expect.
“Do you even remember the specific contents of those novels? You probably don’t even remember the plots, do you?” Li Rui smiled at Zhu Yun Xuan. He wasn’t a computer and couldn’t remember everything with just one glance. He had long forgotten the specific contents of the novels he had read back then, and in the end, other people’s work was just that, someone else’s.
“I remember. Didn’t you run away from home in your previous life because your composition was plagiarized? Now, our age is only good for writing compositions, right? But I can guarantee that my composition will get published!” Zhu Yun Xuan remembered that back then, the school teacher was determined to send a pile of compositions to various places to be submitted. Unfortunately, he had never had any luck. Back then, Zhu Qiu Yue had actually won once and got five yuan in publishing fees. The family had talked about it for a long time, and Zhu Qiu Yue had even kept a few copies of the magazines where her compositions were published.
Write a composition? Elementary school compositions don’t even have any publishing fees, and this is too childish! “I once wrote a martial arts story, and recently I rewrote 20,000 words. Do you want to take a look?” Li Rui still remembered when he was in middle school in his previous life, he was too introverted to interact with others, so he spent his free time writing novels. That story filled three thick notebooks, and many people in his class had read it. Every time he went home, he would slowly type it on the computer and post it online… Later, he wrote several novels, but ultimately, this first martial arts one was the one he put the most effort into.
Zhu Yun Xuan took the notebook. Li Rui’s handwriting was neat, and the story didn’t have overly fancy descriptions, but it was pleasant to read. The opening was the cliché of the protagonist avenging his father’s death, and then after losing his father, the protagonist fled to a wealthy merchant whom his father had once helped. The protagonist then accidentally discovers that the two martial arts skills he brought with him, one was a family heirloom, while the other was a mixed set of magical sect techniques…
Why was the protagonist’s father killed, and why did he have techniques from the magic sect? Could the mother, who had never appeared, be connected to the magic sect? Although the story was predictable and cliched, Zhu Yun Xuan hadn’t read a book in a long time and still finished it in one go. “The protagonist’s mother must be the saintess of the magic sect, and then the magic sect killed his father to retrieve something, right?” Generally speaking, that’s how these kinds of stories develop.
“No, the protagonist’s mother is still alive. His father once saved a woman who had escaped from the magic sect. That woman had been causing trouble between the couple, and the fiery-tempered wife, in a fit of rage, left the child and ran overseas… The father was killed because his close friend had plotted his death after arranging a duel,” Li Rui smiled. “The protagonist later became highly skilled, mastering both poison and disguise techniques. He entered the martial arts world to investigate his father’s death and became entangled in many conflicts with his father’s former friend, his mother’s disciple, the magic sect’s saintess, his father’s close friend’s daughter, and a young assassin from the martial world…”
“A harem story?” Zhu Yun Xuan became curious.
“No, he always loved the daughter of the wealthy merchant who helped him. The ending is that he retreats and becomes a businessman. I know, a story like this will definitely have no market in twenty years, but it should still be acceptable now, right?” Li Rui said, not too sure. He knew that most writers emerged after 2000, and maybe now, he should write for magazines? But whatever, it was just a hobby. Still, after the rise of online literature, he could try writing stories about time travelers who change history or fantasy stories where someone travels to another world and becomes a god… though he wasn’t sure if he’d have time for that.
“I went to Xinhua Bookstore the other day, and they basically didn’t have books like that… Actually, you could try writing fairy tales. Pi Pi Lu and Lu Xi Xi were my two favorite characters when I was little.” Zhu Yun Xuan didn’t know if martial arts novels could be published now, but when he looked around the rental bookstores in town a few days ago, most of the books were still by Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Qiong Yao.
“Let’s just write it and see. After all, it’s just a hobby. Even if it can’t be published, it doesn’t matter. I’ll write it early, and ten years later, I could post it online and maybe become a big name,” Li Rui laughed. He wasn’t planning to make writing a full-time job, but now he didn’t need to go back to elementary school. Since that was the case, he could spend the most free time of his life writing novels. No matter what Zhu Yun Xuan decided, Li Rui knew he would eventually have to return to Shanghai or Beijing. By then, he would definitely have no time to write novels.
“You’ll definitely make it,” Zhu Yun Xuan smiled and found some paper and a pen from Li Rui to start sketching the designs for clothes. Halfway through, he suddenly looked up and said in one breath, “I’ve decided! I’m going to be number one in my class, participate in every competition, and make my parents proud of me for once! By the way, do you want to learn calligraphy and painting? Should I go with you? Damn it, I didn’t have any special talents in my past life!”
In his past life, Zhu Yun Xuan had loved photography and joined a photography club after college, but unfortunately, he had given it up later to earn money.
“Sure.” Li Rui agreed. In his previous life, his mother had wanted him to learn the piano, but because of his grandparents, Li Jia Huan and Li Jia Jie were the ones who learned piano, while he only learned calligraphy, which had the cheapest tuition.
Zhu Yun Xuan wanted to be number one in everything, but he estimated that he wouldn’t be able to be first in calligraphy. For other things, they would have to compete with each other. If he wanted to change his fate, he couldn’t be too low-key.
Time passed quickly. After Zhu Qiu Yue finished assembling a Little Red Riding Hood puzzle, Jiang Yue Xiu came to pick up Zhu Yun Xuan.
Watching Zhu Yun Xuan leave and seeing Xiao Hui already busy in the kitchen, Li Rui had nothing to do, so he went into his room and continued writing word by word. Meanwhile, Zhu Yun Xuan followed his mother to the fabric shop in the town. He was momentarily speechless at the various brightly colored floral fabrics.
After a long time of deliberation, he finally chose several elegant patterned fabrics. Wendé Town was located in the south of the Yangtze River, where every household raised silkworms. Zhu Yun Xuan’s cotton clothes and quilts were filled with silkworm silk. The locals also grew cotton, and the fabrics here were of good quality and inexpensive. If the style was updated a bit, even if Zheng Xiao Qing wouldn’t wear them, she would likely discover the business potential inside… If Zheng Xiao Qing didn’t notice, he would have to go according to the original plan and ask his mother to check with the nearby factories. Unfortunately, the factories around here were small-scale, and if they were dishonest, they might end up with nothing.
Finally, after Jiang Yue Xiu had made several outfits for the dolls as practice, she finally decided to start making the custom clothes for Zheng Xiao Qing. September 1st arrived, and it was time for school to begin.