Chapter 2

Jian Li is sick.

It’s not a very serious illness; it originally was just a common benign cyst. It never caused any issues until Jian Li died suddenly in 1996 in her past life.

However, this year, after the spring season began, Wang Mengmei, her mother, thought Jian Li was too thin and suspected the cyst might be problematic, so she took her to the hospital for an examination.

It’s unclear whether it was due to a connection with someone at the hospital or the doctor not listening properly, but the doctor impatiently handed her mother a prescription. After taking the medicine for two months, Jian Li began to gain weight.

At first, it was just an increase in appetite, but then there was unnatural swelling.

When Wang Mengmei took her back to the doctor for a follow-up, the new doctor said the medicine wasn’t suitable.

It was a hormone-based medication, and the dosage was high.

Even though the doctor quickly adjusted the prescription, Jian Li still found it hard to lose weight.

Throughout her adolescence, Jian Li endured the ridicule of others for her obesity.

She had once been slender and pretty, but in an instant, she became a 180-pound person.

Jian Li’s mental state also worsened.

Her grades dropped from average to near the bottom…

Jian Li didn’t know what to say.

Before she died in her previous life, she had been working herself to exhaustion at an internet company, and before she died, she thought that if she could be reborn, she would never overwork herself again or try to lose weight.

But now, she realized that in this new life, she still had a long way to go before she could truly relax.

However…

Jian Li couldn’t help but smile at her reflection in the mirror.

Her chubby face revealed two small dimples. Since gaining weight, she first gained it in her stomach, then in her legs, arms, and finally her face. Her once delicate and pretty features still showed faint traces of her past self.

Jian Li laughed at herself. Despite her weight gain, she could still manage to look somewhat cute.

Now, in the second year of middle school, she had already grown to 165 cm, with a balanced figure that looked slimmer compared to others of similar weight.

Jian Li stared at herself in the mirror, and as she smiled, a tear fell.

It’s okay.

Everything is still possible.

While examining everything in her small room, Jian Li heard voices outside the window.

Her house was on the ground floor, with a small yard of about five or six square meters. It was called a yard, but in reality, it was just a small open space surrounded by a simple fence with some miscellaneous items piled up.

Jian Li’s family didn’t have much in the yard. Wang Mengmei was an obsessive organizer who couldn’t stand any mess, so the yard was mostly used for parking bikes with no other function.

Now, the empty yard allowed Jian Li to hear the conversation outside clearly.

“Feng ge, shall we eat together tonight?”

“No, no, the child’s still at home.”

“Then come to my place. I’ll have my wife fry some peanuts, and we’ll have a drink.”

“Then…”

Hearing her father’s hesitation, Jian Li quickly leaned her head out of the window and loudly called, “Dad!”

Hearing his daughter’s voice, Jian Feng immediately cut off his conversation and politely declined the invitation.

“Let’s do it another day.”

The person outside, realizing he couldn’t persuade him, said reluctantly, “I’ll come find you later.”

Jian Feng hurried into the house, put down the food box, wiped the sweat off his brow, and with a loving smile, said, “The steamed noodles are almost done. If you think they’re too soft, I’ll stir-fry them in the pot.”

Jian Li tasted the noodles and said, “It’s okay.”

It wasn’t as good as her mom’s cooking, but it was still edible.

Jian Feng then took out two bowls, poured the corn soup that Wang Mengmei had made before leaving, and saved some for her. The rest of the soup was for the two of them to drink with the noodles.

As they ate, Jian Feng put the crispy pork belly into Jian Li’s bowl. The cafeteria food had been getting worse, and the steamed noodles had been poorly made. The noodles stuck together, and Jian Feng had even sniffed the noodles before buying them, afraid they wouldn’t be fresh.

Jian Li, eating her food, suddenly asked, “Was that Uncle Xiao Peng who came to find you just now?”

Jian Feng replied, “Yes.”

Jian Li became a little more aggressive in her eating.

Zhao Xiaopeng, the man who had bought a second-hand car from her father in her past life.

“What did he want?”

Jian Feng was surprised by his daughter’s sudden curiosity but answered honestly, “I don’t know. Probably asking about next month’s schedule.”

Jian Feng was a small leader in the factory, managing a team. Zhao Xiaopeng was his childhood friend, and he happened to work under him, so he often asked about the schedule.

Jian Li asked, “Wasn’t he asking you for money?”

It was too coincidental. Today was payday, and Zhao Xiaopeng just happened to come looking for her dad to drink.

Usually, her dad’s friends would come over to eat at their house, or they’d meet outside, but her dad would always end up paying.

Her mother had argued with her dad about this countless times, but he never changed his habits.

Jian Feng, noticing his daughter’s tone, realized something was off, and he laughed.

He picked up two more pieces of meat with his chopsticks and put them in her bowl. “Maybe not.”

Even if he was asking, he didn’t think it was necessary to tell Jian Li too much. It was an adult matter, and there was no need for children to be involved.

Jian Li muttered, “He’s definitely here to borrow money.”

Her dad was a pushover. If Zhao Xiaopeng hadn’t taken advantage of her father’s good nature in her past life, he wouldn’t have ended up swindling them so badly.

Jian Li thought about this and became frustrated, biting the meat in her mouth with a loud crunch.

Jian Feng laughed at her reaction. “Don’t be mad. I don’t have two bucks in my pocket now. He can’t borrow anything.”

That’s because Zhao Xiaopeng came too late. Jian Feng had already lent the money to Liu Xiangdong.

Even if Zhao Xiaopeng wanted to borrow, there was no chance. Moreover, during their earlier argument, his wife took all the money, leaving him with just a little over one yuan.

With that thought, Jian Feng’s briefly lifted spirits sank again.

How could he not know that his biggest flaw was being soft-hearted?

He, Wang Liming, Zhao Xiaopeng, Xu Jianguo, Liu Xiangdong—five childhood friends who grew up together.

They had shared a bond since they were young and, even after getting married, they hadn’t grown distant. They still gathered to drink together every now and then.

Wang Liming was the first to be laid off. Unable to find work, he went south to work. He now only had a daughter, who was just over four years old.

Liu Xiangdong was the second to be laid off, but he still had his elderly mother and twin sons at home, and his wife didn’t work. He was tied down by his family, so he found a job at a small private factory in the city.

He and Zhao Xiaopeng and Xu Jianguo were doing okay, not laid off yet, but struggling on the poverty line since their factory only paid half their salaries now.

As a small group leader, he could still earn a bit more, about two hundred yuan a month, while Zhao Xiaopeng only made about 130 or 140 yuan.

Among them, all the wives were unemployed. The whole family was relying on this meager salary to get by. It was tough.

Of them, Liu Xiangdong had it the hardest.

He had an ill mother to care for and twin children. The entire family’s expenses fell on him. After being laid off, he had no skills, and even at the private factory, he could only do odd jobs. His salary was barely enough to support his wife and kids, let alone his elderly mother.

“Your Uncle Dongzi’s mom was good to me. I can’t just watch her get to the point where she can’t even afford medicine. You don’t know, when your dad and I were young and hungry, I used to go from one family to the next in the factory. Your grandma Liu would give me half a steamed bun, and I ate what I could scrape out from Uncle Dongzi’s mouth…”

Perhaps it was his daughter’s question that made Jian Feng finally find someone to confide in. Jian Feng talked again about how these people in the factory had helped him.

Jian Li silently ate her meal, not interrupting him.

—-

In her previous life, she thought her dad had fallen because of “friendship,” but now, she could understand him.

Her father had grown up in the cotton mill’s worker dormitory. Her grandfather had come from the northeast along with the state-owned factory. Her father was one of the factory’s children.

Unfortunately, her grandfather passed away early, and her grandmother, who was in her thirties at the time, didn’t want to be a widow with young children, so she remarried.

Her father followed his mother to his stepfather’s house, where his mother had three more children: two sons and a daughter. There was also a son from her stepfather’s previous marriage. So, her father became an outsider, doing all the chores and getting the worst food and clothes.

After the difficult period passed, the stepfather’s family prospered thanks to a relative who had gone overseas.

They arranged for their own children to go to college or vocational school, and when they were done, they sent Jian Feng back to the dormitory.

The reason was that his biological father had died and left a job vacancy, so Jian Feng went back to take over.

At the time, Jian Feng was only around thirteen or fourteen, had barely attended school, and was too young to take over the job. But the stepfather’s family was well-off now, and nobody cared how Jian Feng, a teenager, would manage.

Jian Feng returned to the dormitory, but his mother didn’t take advantage of his father’s property. She gave him a small room of about thirty square meters.

For the next several years, Jian Feng lived off the help of these childhood friends’ families.

Whenever any family made meat, they would invite him to eat.

Liu Xiangdong’s mother would always remember to make Jian Feng a pair of pants from leftover fabric.

Zhao Xiaopeng would invite him out to catch birds or frogs.

Wang Liming taught him how to fish, and Xu Jianguo gave him tickets…

Jian Feng was a grateful person, and all the help he received, he kept in mind.

He wasn’t stupid, but the cotton mill had given him so much warmth that, in the face of the changing times, he forgot one thing.

People change.

Jian Li listened to her dad and then repeated that phrase to him.

Jian Feng laughed heartily. “How old are you, and you already know people change? Alright, alright, people do change, but I believe some things will never change.”

Jian Li sipped her cornmeal, muttering, “You’ll get fooled one day.”

People teach people, but it never works.

Life teaches people, and one lesson is enough.

Jian Li wasn’t expecting to wake her dad up with just a few words. She thought it would be better to let something happen and teach him a lesson.

Just then, a sudden shout came from outside.

“Feng Ge! Feng Ge!”

Jian Feng quickly responded, “Jianguo, what’s going on?”

He opened the door to see Xu Jianguo, a few steps away, sticking his head out and shouting.

Xu Jianguo had a look of panic on his face.

“Feng Ge! Hurry up! Dongzi’s mom is gone!”