Chapter 12

Zhiyuan took her to the bathing room to take a look. The door to the bathing room had been repaired, and she thought that was all. However, when Zhiyuan pushed the door open, she was stunned.

Why was there suddenly something resembling a showerhead inside the bathing room?

Of course, it could not be compared to the modern kind, but its principle was quite similar to that of a boiler.

A tall frame had been built against the wall to hold a water tank. A small boiler heated the water inside the tank, and the tank was connected to a water pipe—this made for a simple shower setup.

“There’s also this.” Zhiyuan said, leading her to a large wooden tub placed under the sun, coated with tung oil and currently drying. “Uncle Gu said once it dries, you can bathe in it.”

A bath… a bathtub?

Lin Qingping stood frozen on the spot.

“These things are…” She grabbed Zhiyuan and asked.

Zhiyuan looked at her with a somewhat puzzled expression. “Weren’t these the things you asked Uncle Gu to make?”

“Me?” Lin Qingping could not remember it at all.

“Yes!” Zhiyuan tilted his head. “You got drunk yesterday and asked Uncle Gu for these things. Uncle Gu didn’t sleep the entire night to make them for you.”

Lin Qingping froze once again.

Because of one drunken remark, he had stayed up the whole night to prepare everything for her…

He truly was—whether in her previous life or this one—the same kind of person.

He never said much, just quietly got things done. In her past life, it had been the bicycle; in this life, it was these things.

No one could guess what he was truly thinking, or why he treated her so well. He had never said he liked her, let alone used the word “love.” The only things he had ever said were “I’m sorry” and “my apologies.”

So, did he only feel sorry and apologetic toward her?

Then what had happened between him and Chen Xia?

After she was reborn, many things had changed.

For example, in her previous life, Chen Xia had barely caught her attention. But in this life, she kept appearing in front of her again and again.

So, was the reason Gu Juncheng had never touched her since he returned, and brought up divorce the moment he got home, somehow related to Chen Xia?

She didn’t know… and she could not figure it out.

But this line of thinking was not right. She quickly came to her senses.

She had made a promise to herself that in this lifetime, she had come back to repay kindness, to live a good life with Gu Juncheng. So then, she ought to live well.

As for whether there was love or not—  

She had returned from the age of seventy. What could she possibly still be confused about?  

Besides, even she herself did not know what love truly felt like.

In her previous life, she had lived to the age of seventy, yet had never properly loved anyone.

Before marrying Gu Juncheng, she did have some vague admiration for someone, but nothing ever came of it, not tied to any specific person.

She had spent several years as husband and wife with Gu Juncheng, but it had been more like two adversaries forced to live together.

As for the following decades, it was not that she had never encountered other men—but not a single one had genuinely liked her for who she was.

She had endured such a bitter life in her previous existence. Now that she had a chance to start over, with everything just beginning again—what was the point of overthinking?

Her heart suddenly felt at peace.

She reminded herself: just live the way she had said she would.

As for whether he could make it through that fatal incident in the future… she’d accompany him and live these few years well.

She had come to repay a debt of gratitude.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, she realized Zhiyuan had been staring at her the whole time.

“What else did I say yesterday?” she asked casually.

“You sang.” Zhiyuan replied.

Lin Qingping: …

“And you also asked Uncle Gu if he thought you were pretty.” Zhiyuan added, very honestly.

Whatever Lin Qingping asked, he answered clearly.

“Alright, that’s enough.” Lin Qingping’s face flushed red with embarrassment. Had she said anything even more outrageous?

Zhiyuan thought he had said something wrong and immediately lowered his head. “You… you were yelling really loudly. I wasn’t eavesdropping…”

Lin Qingping: “…”

Her face turned even redder!

What did he mean by yelling really loudly?

Looking at Zhiyuan’s timid expression, Lin Qingping’s heart softened once more.

“I… I’m going to gather wild vegetables…” Zhiyuan said cautiously, carrying a basket and preparing to leave.

Lin Qingping tugged on his basket.

Zhiyuan became even more frightened.

“It’s fine, Zhiyuan. I’m not angry.” Lin Qingping said calmly. “Don’t go pick wild vegetables anymore. Come home with me.”

She had made up her mind to begin teaching Zhiyuan. Zhiyuan was bright and intelligent—this lifetime, she must ensure that he received a proper education.

In this era, very few people in Gu Family Village placed importance on education. But having lived through one lifetime, no one understood better than she did how crucial it was.

What she hadn’t anticipated, however, was that Zhiyuan was indeed clever—but his cleverness far exceeded her expectations.

She had experience tutoring children. In her past life, though she had no children of her own, she had cherished her younger brother’s child—her nephew—as her own, and had once tutored him personally.

Drawing upon her past-life knowledge, she began introducing Zhiyuan to elementary-level subjects.

After completing the first day’s lessons, she assigned him homework: to write each number and each pinyin character from the day’s lesson in one full page.

After giving the assignment, she went off to attend to other matters.

A while later, she came back to find Zhiyuan playing with wooden blocks.

She checked his homework, and—well!—technically, he had written every character in one page. It was just that… each “page” only had one single character—written so large that it filled the entire sheet!

Zhiyuan seemed to know he had done something wrong. He lowered his head and said nothing.

“Zhiyuan, tell me.” Lin Qingping said, pointing to the assignment: “weren’t you doing this on purpose? Boldly slacking off in broad daylight?”

Zhiyuan lowered his head even more, then silently walked over to the corner and stood facing the wall.

Lin Qingping: “…”

It truly was a deeply ingrained habit—whenever he did something wrong, he would go stand in the corner.

“Go ahead and stand there first. When you’re done, you still have to come back and rewrite everything!” Lin Qingping had no intention of going easy on him when it came to education.

While he was standing in the corner, she did not hover over him but went about her own tasks—heading out to the fields to pick vegetables in preparation for cooking.

Actually, she quite enjoyed cooking, mainly because she loved good food. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have opened a restaurant in the first place. It was just that in the past, she had purposely acted lazy while living with the Gu Family.

After picking some peppers and leafy greens from the field, she returned home—only to discover that there were more people in the house. Her mother had arrived, bringing her younger brother with her.

When she walked in, her younger brother was drinking a glass of milk—the very same milk she had prepared for Zhiyuan before heading out, intending to let it cool so Zhiyuan could drink it later.

On the table in front of her mother and brother was a large, opened bag of biscuits. Her brother was munching on them with his milk, biscuit crumbs scattered all over the floor.

And what was her mother doing?

Criticizing Zhiyuan.

“Your father’s gone, but don’t you still have your mother? Why hasn’t she come to take you back? When is she coming to pick you up? You’re eating the Gu Family’s food, wearing the Gu Family’s clothes—has your family even given them any money? Don’t you have any other relatives? Just staying in someone else’s house like this—what kind of behavior is that?”

As soon as Lin Qingping walked through the door, she heard these words. Her expression immediately turned stern.

“What are you saying to the child?” she demanded, face dark, as she walked over and put the bag of biscuits away—leaving only a few pieces on a plate for them to eat.

Her mother clicked her tongue. “Why are you putting it away? We’re just taking advantage of your in-laws not being home to let your brother have a few. We’ll take the rest with us. Honestly—you’re too much. Such good stuff, and the last time you came home, all you brought us was a fish. There are fish everywhere in the village creek. Do you think we’re that desperate for fish?”