Zhu Yun Xuan cried.
At the market, he broke down and cried quite helplessly.
Grandpa Zhu held him and asked if he didn’t want to go to school. He shook his head while crying, ignoring the onlookers around. Later, it was Jiang Yue Xiu who carried him back, finally calming his sobs.
However, it was this big cry that made him start to reevaluate his current life. In this lifetime, he would live well, for his family, and for himself!
After catching his breath, Zhu Yun Xuan squeezed next to Grandpa Zhu and watched him eat.
In his father’s lunchbox were three kinds of fresh vegetables, but Grandpa Zhu’s bowl only had several pieces of braised pork with some salty vegetable soup poured over it.
Both grandfather and grandmother favored heavily oily and salty vegetables and ate large portions of rice. No wonder grandfather suffered from both high blood pressure and diabetes…
Zhu Yun Xuan actually wanted to stay in town and not go back, but Jiang Yue Xiu didn’t feel comfortable leaving him with two grown men. After lingering a bit longer and packing the lunchbox, Zhu Yun Xuan followed Jiang Yue Xiu home.
In the hot summer afternoon, the sun was scorching, and there was no air conditioning or anything. Zhu Yun Xuan had nowhere better to go, so he stayed inside, trying to find something to pass the time.
But in the entire Zhu family household, aside from a large red paper used for giving red and white envelopes at weddings and funerals in the countryside, there wasn’t a single piece of paper to be found, let alone any books.
That red paper… Zhu Yun Xuan thought of his cousin, who had just come back from playing Chinese jump rope looking very pleased, then picked up a piece of red paper, wetted her lips with saliva, and pressed them to the paper, tinting her lips red in a vain display. Zhu Yun Xuan was silent.
In his memory, this cousin, though only a few days older than him, had always been more mature and steady because of a tough life. But now, this little brat seemed more like his daughter!
Still, that red paper did fade color very easily… Zhu Yun Xuan looked it over again and again. Many things here required red envelopes, for funerals, they used the reverse side, which was white, to wrap things.
Zhu Qiu Yue had no idea what Zhu Yun Xuan was thinking. She took a mirror and looked at herself from different angles, then asked, “On TV, when they press their lips to it, it stains so red and pretty. Why does mine only color the middle?”
Because they were using lipstick. Zhu Yun Xuan said nothing, and soon Jiang Yue Xiu put away the red paper: “If you want to play, don’t use this. Otherwise, Qiuyue can sew a little pouch for you.”
Zhu Qiu Yue happily went off, while Zhu Yun Xuan started watching his mother work.
Nowadays, many people would bring a few yards of fabric for his mother to make clothes, but in just over a decade, except for some elderly, hardly anyone would have clothes custom-made. His mother would then have to go work in a factory, and all nearby factories operated in three shifts…
In this lifetime, he absolutely did not want his mother, who was already getting older, to have to get up at midnight to go to work!
“Mom, why do all the clothes look the same?” Zhu Yun Xuan looked at a few finished garments, all very plain styles… If his mother could make some different styles, they’d probably sell much better.
“Clothes are all made like this, what else can you do?” Jiang Yue Xiu smiled. Fortunately, she was patient enough to say this to her son. If she were a woman with a shorter temper, she might have punched Zhu Yun Xuan on the head!
Zhu Yun Xuan felt helpless watching his mother sew two pieces of fabric together into one big loose garment that looked really ugly. The only possible benefit might be that it was cool to wear?
If only his mother could make some clothes with nicer designs… Scratching his head, Zhu Yun Xuan really knew how to dress well himself, and could wear clothes nicely, but he really had no idea how to design styles.
However, since he had been given a second chance at life, even if he didn’t remember the lottery numbers or which stocks would rise steadily, at least he knew that in a few years this area would become the country’s largest wool sweater production base. A huge wholesale market would be built nearby. When it first opened, a storefront rented for five thousand, but after more than ten years, the annual rent for a storefront… he didn’t know the exact number, but it would definitely be over one hundred thousand.
By then, if they could save up enough money to buy two storefronts, his mother wouldn’t have to work three shifts, day, evening, and night, with a chaotic schedule and only making about a thousand yuan a month!
As for himself… Zhu Yun Xuan had no intention of wasting the chance to be reborn. Last life, he didn’t study seriously and wasted so much time. This life, he had to try hard and see how far he could get!
He had never been patient with homework before and often copied from others, but after enduring the hardships of his last two years in university, he believed he would never neglect homework to play games again. This time, he could actually achieve something, right?
Of course, he was only six now, and even though his family was somewhat better off, they probably didn’t have much money. With nothing at all, he naturally couldn’t do much.
The whole afternoon passed quickly. Jiang Yue Xiu went to the field in front of the house to pick vegetables for dinner preparation, and he went to his grandparents’ house, his grandfather had already finished selling meat and come back!
“Hey you rascal, how many pieces of meat did you get today?” As soon as Zhu Yun Xuan entered the door, he heard his grandmother’s question.
“Four pieces!” Grandpa Zhu replied grumpily.
“I was the one who put out four pieces, so that means no one stole any,” Wang Fonger nodded.
Zhu Yun Xuan, who had originally planned to go inside, overheard his grandmother complaining about his eldest aunt leaving his cousin in her care, and about his mother always staying at home while the weeds in the fields were piling up without being pulled. So he had no choice but to step back out.
Today, Zhu Qiu Yue spent most of her time with him, when did his grandmother take care of her? However, his grandmother had caused trouble before. The reason the family started eating separately was because she falsely accused his eldest aunt of stealing good food, saying that the aunt had hidden alcohol from her and even claimed she stole a pair of his grandfather’s pants…
Back then, he was too young to remember, and these stories were only told to him later by his mother.
Zhu Yun Xuan didn’t have a strong impression of his eldest aunt, but this always busy woman wouldn’t have gone so far as to steal his grandfather’s pants.
His grandfather came back, and not long after, his father returned as well.
Zhu Cheng Cai’s hands were covered in grease and grime, pitch black, and no matter how much detergent he used, they didn’t come clean. Of course, he probably didn’t expect them to.
“Xuan Xuan, were you good today?” Zhu Cheng Cai asked with a smile as he washed his hands, asking some simple questions. Zhu Yun Xuan obediently answered and even took the initiative to bring his father slippers to wash his feet.
For dinner, they had stir-fried eggplant, cucumber scrambled with eggs, and winter melon soup. The Zhu Yun Xuan of the past hated winter melon the most, but this time he ate it with great relish, earning another compliment from Jiang Yue Xiu.
Although Zhu Yun Xuan’s behavior was a bit odd throughout the day, Jiang Yue Xiu didn’t make a fuss. Kids are always a bit strange like that, right?
The Zhu family happily ate together. Meanwhile, in the provincial capital forty kilometers from Wende Town, Li Rui finally saw his father Li Yue after being stunned for a whole day.
When he woke up in the morning and saw the room that was both familiar and strange, he just froze.
He lived in this house until he was eleven years old. That year, after getting into a fight with his cousin and being scolded and beaten by his father, he ran away from home. It was during that time he met Zhu Yun Xuan, and that incident also caused a huge quarrel between his mother and father, after which they moved. Before he was eleven, his grandmother took care of him using the large living expenses his mother provided, but he was constantly bullied by cousins and others. After he turned eleven, his mother bought a new house and hired a nanny for him, but then he no longer had anyone to talk to.
Li Rui found some clothes to put on. Her mother was wealthy, so she never lacked pocket money, and her clothes were naturally all made from good materials. Just as she finished dressing, she heard the door open and her grandmother poked her head in, saying in a very harsh tone, “Breakfast time! Breakfast time!”
Although her tone was very harsh to Li Rui, when speaking to Li Rui’s cousin Li Jiahua, who was only a year younger, her grandmother’s voice was gentle and tender.
This kind of differential treatment was something Li Rui had been used to since childhood. After all, it was his grandparents’ dissatisfaction with his mother that caused it. But even though they were displeased, they dared not say anything to his mother directly, so naturally, it showed in how they treated him.
His mother was perfect in every way—
Good family background, beautiful, and wealthy. Yet she was six years older than his father and unusually strong-willed. Also, she had previously been married once and had a child.
To his grandparents, the whole family had scrimped and saved to support his father through university. In their eyes, his father was the perfect one. How could such a perfect man marry a wife like that? Therefore, they ignored the reality that everyone worked in the factory under his mother’s name and lived off the large living expenses she gave. When his mother wasn’t around, they bullied and deceived him often.
What would a six-year-old feel? At that time, he thought he was a child his mother didn’t want, because she was so busy and they could meet only rarely. No matter how much he cried and screamed, when it was time to leave, his mother would leave without hesitation. And his father? To him, his parents and two older brothers had gone through a lot, even delaying marriage just to send him to university. He naturally felt guilty toward them, so he often treated his brothers’ children better than his own.
Now, was he really reborn? Because of that car accident? What about Zhu Yun Xuan?
Li Rui silently followed her grandmother into the living room, where the central eight-immortal table was already set with porridge and several small dishes.
After marriage, Li Rui’s mother arranged three apartments in the provincial capital, one each for her two older brothers, and the last one for their own family. The three apartments were two, three, and four stories respectively. Li Rui and her father lived in the two-story one.
However, although that floor was their home, since her parents were often away, the regular occupants were only her grandparents and the three of them. Also, her cousins, who were under the care of the grandparents, often stayed there too.
So even though it was her toys and her home, it felt like everything belonged to others!
Porridge, fried eggs, fried dough sticks, salted duck eggs, and century eggs.
Several fried eggs were laid out, and the worst-looking slightly burnt one was placed right in front of her.
In his previous life, it wasn’t until he was eleven that he slowly realized that he was not living under the mercy of others. On the contrary, both his eldest and second uncles had dropped out of school early, and if it weren’t for his mother, they would probably still be farming in the countryside…
His grandparents hadn’t mistreated him, but they clearly ignored him. His uncles, due to their complicated feelings toward his parents, were also distant from him. His parents, on the other hand, were rarely around… Li Rui still remembered how, every year during the New Year, when his mother took him to his maternal grandparents’ house, compared to the timid and shy him, his half-brother from his mother’s side seemed like a prince. Under the brother’s treatment, he felt more and more out of place in that house. Of course, one was a young master who could walk arrogantly in Beijing, while the other was an ordinary child constantly ignored by his family. How could they be compared?
Moreover, his grandparents weren’t fond of his mother as a daughter-in-law, and naturally, his maternal grandparents also had their grievances with his father.
His father, just like him when he grew up, was talented and handsome, but lacked the air of a person who could hold power… It was said that after his mother’s first marriage failed, she chose his father with the intention of having a “kept man.”
Of course, this “kept man” had the talent to get into one of the top universities in the country, but so what? Wasn’t it common for university graduates to work for people who had only completed elementary school? In his memory, his father had tried to start several businesses, but each time ended in failure.
After breakfast, his grandfather took his cousin to swim, and his grandmother went out with his younger cousin to buy groceries. When the front door was closed, Li Rui was left alone at home.
In the vague memories of his childhood, he often found himself alone at home. Back then, he would be scared and would cry out, but now, with a mature soul in a small body, he had grown used to being alone!
August 2, 1993.
Li Rui looked at the calendar and couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotions.
He started living alone at eleven. Back then, his parents would give him money on time but rarely interfered in his life. For a long period of time, he immersed himself in novels.
He clearly knew which parts were fantasy, which parts were impossible to achieve, yet he still couldn’t stop reading. And after reading, sometimes he couldn’t help but think, what would he do if he were reborn?
What would he do if he was reborn? He didn’t want anything. He only hoped he could escape from this family.
1993… He knew what would happen in the future. As long as he wanted, he could have the best platform that would allow him to spread his wings. If he could become strong, would that mean no one could force him anymore?
Perhaps, in that case, he could study whatever he wanted, without fearing his relatives’ interference. He could also be with Zhu Yun Xuan…
But, could he? Tightening his fist, Li Rui suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to see Zhu Yun Xuan. He really, really wanted to see him.