Chapter 9

Jian Li was dumbfounded—not because she didn’t want to spend the summer in the countryside.

She was just thinking about her unfinished business.

She had to get her mom to change her stall location!

“Mom, mom, can I wait a couple of days before going to Uncle’s house?”

Wang Mengmei stood up, crossing her arms. “Why? Didn’t you always nag me to take you to your grandmother’s house every year?”

Jian Li racked her brain. “I-I’m not saying I don’t want to go. I just want to go a bit later.”

In her mother’s ears, “later” simply translated to “more time to play.”

Wang Mengmei’s eyebrows shot up. “More playtime? I haven’t even talked about your grades last term. I’ve been holding back because you’re older now and care about face. I figured if you did poorly, you’d push yourself to improve. But from how you’ve been acting lately, it’s clear you haven’t given it a single thought…”

Thinking of her daughter’s recent antics—clever, yes, but a little too clever—Wang Mengmei grew concerned. A few days ago, she noticed a change in Jian Li. She had been happy at first, thinking her daughter had shed her former insecurities, which was a good thing.

But then came the salted duck egg business, and the constant talking back. It made her think of an old truth:
If a young tree isn’t pruned, it won’t grow straight.

She worried Jian Li would swing from one extreme to another.

“Don’t you go mixing with those street kids. Playing around with the wrong crowd.”

Nowadays, with society more open, it wasn’t just boys causing trouble—there were plenty of unruly girls too. Wang Mengmei had heard enough horror stories of girls picking up bad habits from the wrong friends—swearing constantly, smoking cigarettes. Just the thought of her own daughter turning out like that made her feel as if the sky was falling.

The more she thought about it, the more determined she was to send Jian Li away immediately. Her daughter’s delays only fueled her suspicions.

“If you don’t want to go to the countryside, who is it that’s keeping you here in town?”

Jian Li: …

Seeing her silence made Wang Mengmei even more wary. She made the final decision. “The day after tomorrow, you’re going to Wang Family Village for the summer. Don’t bother me anymore.”

Sending her off sooner would free up her hands to earn money. With the new school year approaching, there would be expenses for uniforms, books, miscellaneous fees—everything depended on what she could make this summer.

Since persuading her mother didn’t work, Jian Li had to console herself. Worst case, she would go to the market office tomorrow, register early, and then trick her mom into thinking it was already a done deal. No matter what, she had to secure that stall.

But before Jian Li could even make her move, two market officials with red armbands arrived the next afternoon, registration forms in hand.

“Wang Mengmei, right? I need to record your business details.”

One of them glanced around. “You’re selling pancakes now?”

Wang Mengmei nodded. “And stuffed flatbreads, plus salted duck eggs.”

The official jotted it down. “Do you want to change locations? Your current stall is now part of the fruits-and-vegetables section. We’ve designated a new area for cooked food. Would you like to move there?”

Before her mom could respond, Jian Li blurted out, “Yes, yes, yes!”

Wang Mengmei frowned. “Don’t listen to her. I like this spot just fine. Why move?”

She had deliberately chosen this location. The market had eight entrances, two on each side. Her stall was right by one exit, a prime spot compared to others.

“Officer, you don’t need to listen to her. I’m staying put.”

Jian Li grew desperate. “Why not? We’re in the wrong zone here—it’s inconvenient for them to manage.”

The market officials were only there for routine registration, not to push people into moving. But Jian Li’s insistence was so relentless it practically drowned out her mother’s words.

One of them finally spoke up. “Actually, the kid has a point. Ma’am, look around—you’re surrounded by fruit and vegetable vendors. We’re not asking you to move for no reason. It’s just that selling pancakes would be much better in the cooked food section. It’s more spacious over there.”

Her daughter’s advice could be ignored, but when the officials themselves made the case, Wang Mengmei had to think more carefully.

Seeing her mother still hesitate, Jian Li employed her ultimate weapon—persistence. “Mom~ let’s change, please! We’re not selling vegetables. What’s the point of staying here? There’s no business right now anyway. Why don’t we at least go check it out?”

Unable to resist her daughter’s nagging, and unwilling to scold her in front of everyone, Wang Mengmei found herself dragged toward the cooked food section.

“Alright, officers, I’ll take a look. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

The officials nodded. “Fine, but please don’t take too long.”

The cooked food section was on the other side of the market. Since she always came in and out through the same entrance, Wang Mengmei had never really seen it before.

Following the directions, she soon arrived—and was pleasantly surprised.

Though not yet fully developed, it was already bustling. The stalls facing the street were all open. Two braised meat shops were locked in competition, each with lines of customers. Even the inner stalls were decent. Some vendors were still setting up, clearly having just moved in.

The more she looked, the more she liked it. Though the traffic flow wasn’t as convenient as her current spot, this section was still near an entrance. Most importantly, it was already attracting a crowd. Directly opposite was a wide road, lined with shops, many selling food. A stall here was practically no different from a proper storefront.

Jian Li carefully watched her mom until she saw Wang Mengmei asking around for an available stall before finally feeling relieved.

Sure enough, Wang Mengmei found the person in charge of the registration.

“I’ll switch.”

She wasn’t foolish. After seeing the bustling scene at the other stall, she realized that the dozens of veggie-stuffed pancakes she sold at noon were nothing compared to what others made. The vendor selling braised food made much more than she did.

Having achieved her goal, Jian Li couldn’t help but jump for joy.

“Great!”

With a stall over there, her mom’s regret from the past life would finally be reduced by one.

Wang Mengmei shot a glare at her daughter, feeling like if she kept enduring, she might just break her own limit and smack the kid.

“Tomorrow, you take the bus to your grandma’s house.”

Hurry up and leave before she couldn’t hold it in anymore!

—-

The next morning, Jian Li was woken up early. Her mom gave her two packs of fruit candies, a packet of cereal, and stuffed her books into her backpack.

“Don’t forget your stuff on the bus. When you get to Wangjia Village, remember to get off. I called your Uncle, he’ll pick you up at the intersection… Did you hear me?”

Jian Li yawned, “I heard, I heard… Mom, are my clothes fixed?”

Since she was going to the countryside, she didn’t want to wear long sleeves and pants.

Wang Mengmei replied, “It’s fixed, it’s fixed. You’re such a hassle. You were the one who said you wouldn’t wear shorts, and now you want them short. Here, your pants are shortened to six or seven points, and your old skirt, I let out the waist.”

Today, Jian Feng couldn’t get time off, so Wang Mengmei took her daughter to the national highway and flagged down a bus.

“Two yuan to Wangjia Village.”

Jian Li took out two yuan from her pocket, and the conductor handed her a ticket.

Wangjia Village wasn’t far from the city, about thirty to forty kilometers. In ten years, it would be a matter of stepping on the gas, just about a half-hour drive on the highway.

But now, there was no highway, and the unpaved road was bumpy from being compressed by heavy vehicles. The bus was filled with all sorts of people. Add to that the hot weather, and everyone smelled of sweat. Jian Li almost vomited on the crowded bus.

After enduring for two hours, the bus finally reached the village entrance.

From far away, Jian Li saw her uncle squatting under the tree shade waiting for her. When she got off the bus, she took a deep breath to shake off the nausea.

“Uncle!”

Jian Li laughed and jumped onto her uncle’s back, nearly knocking him over.

Wang Dajiu, who had noticed that his niece had gained weight over the past six months, was startled when he saw her. But the shock quickly turned into nearly tripping over.

“Hey, my dear, get down quickly. Your uncle’s old back can’t handle this.”

Jian Li laughed and hopped off. “Uncle, you’re still so young.”

Wang Dajiu replied, “Still young? I’m getting old.”

After handling farm work for more than ten years, who wouldn’t age?

In her heart, Jian Li thought, after what happened in the last life, if Wang Dajiu was not young now, what would he be called?

Her uncle kindly hung the things Jian Li brought on the handlebar of the bike, then tied the luggage to the front beam and gestured for Jian Li to sit in the back.

“Let’s go. Your aunt just went to cut some meat this morning. We’ll have braised pork for lunch.”

Jian Li held onto the back seat and jumped up.

Her uncle’s house was far from the village entrance, and they met many people along the way. Since it was noon, most people were eating under the shade of trees, so Jian Li received many greetings on the way.

“Xiao Li, why hasn’t your mom come back?”

“Wow, you look much stronger than last time I saw you.”

“Want to come in for a meal?”

—-

Jian Li didn’t recognize anyone, but it didn’t stop her from responding to each one.

“My mom’s busy with work.”

“It’s because my mom feeds me well.”

“No thanks, aunt. My uncle already made lunch for me.”

—-

Wang Yuedong listened to his niece chat away, realizing what his sister had said on the phone was true. Jian Li was different now.

She used to be like a little kid, but now she seemed like a little adult.

They soon arrived at her uncle’s home, and before Jian Li even entered the door, she smelled a delicious fragrance.

After sitting in the bus for so long, she was starving.

Her aunt, Sun Cuifang, was standing by the kitchen door, fanning herself with a fan. When she saw Jian Li, she smiled and said, “I thought you’d be here a bit longer. Alright, now that you’re here, let’s make noodles.”

Jian Li’s aunt and uncle had one son and one daughter. They were said to be twins, but actually, they were born more than a year apart. Back when the one-child policy was implemented, it wasn’t enforced strictly, so after their first daughter, Wang Yunyun, was born, they didn’t register her, and only when their son Wang Shuai was born did they register both of them as twins.

When Jian Li entered the house, her cousin, Wang Yunyun, was reading in the room, but her younger cousin, Wang Shuai, was nowhere to be seen.

Wang Yunyun was very happy to see Jian Li, “You’re here! I’ve missed you so much! I was going to have mom call you if you didn’t come soon.”

Jian Li hugged her cousin. “I missed you too, sis.”

The two chatted happily when they suddenly heard coughing from the room.

Wang Yunyun pouted and quietly asked Jian Li, “Why aren’t you going inside?”

Jian Li replied, “I just didn’t get the chance yet.”

She stretched her neck and called, “Grandma! I’m back! I brought the cereal and candies Mom gave you. My uncle put them on the table in the living room!”

Wang Yunyun: …

Jian Li shrugged.

Her grandmother could be summed up in one sentence:

She favored sons over daughters.

With two daughters, she was always thinking about how to get something from her daughters for her son. Her favorite hobby was to belittle others and compare.

Whenever her mom returned, her grandmother would say, “Your sister bought me a scarf the other day, claiming it was cashmere or something. Ugh, what do I need with cashmere as an old woman? I didn’t even know goats had cashmere…”

When her mom left, she would say to her aunt, “Your younger sister brought me some black sesame paste. Oh, I can’t drink that much! Actually, this stuff isn’t as good as oatmeal…”

In short, she always made her two daughters compete with each other.

If Wang Mengmei was there, she would probably go straight to the inner room to see her mother, but since it was Jian Li, she had no pressure and just shouted.

Hearing Jian Li, the coughing in the inner room stopped. Before long, the old lady came out with her cane.

“Xiao Li, you’re back?”

Jian Li greeted her with a reply.

“Why isn’t your mom back this time?”

Jian Li replied, “Mom’s busy, she just got a stall in the city and can’t make it back.”

The old lady’s face darkened. She had been waiting for Wang Mengmei to come back to give her a bath and do her nails. She couldn’t get her daughter-in-law to do that, so she had to wait for her daughter.

The old lady sat at the door and soon began talking to herself.

“Sigh, I’m old, it’s expected that no one cares for me anymore.”

Jian Li: … Here it comes, her grandmother’s catchphrase.

The old lady’s other major hobby was self-pity. Probably because her grandfather passed away early, these years, the old lady had learned to manipulate her children with just a few tricks.

Jian Li had heard this kind of talk countless times in her previous life and was now immune to it.

She didn’t respond and, just as she heard her aunt call for dinner, she pulled Wang Yunyun to the kitchen to serve the food.

The old lady was angry but had no way to take it out on this girl.

She said her own daughter was always in the right, but this girl had never taken care of her. Now, whenever Wang Mengmei mentioned it, she still felt aggrieved.

She kept saying how biased she was.

“You finished helping my eldest son, now you help my second son? I told you to come, I even said I’d pay you monthly, but you still helped my eldest sister with Pingping. So, am I the only unlucky one in the family?”

The old lady refused to admit her bias.

It was one thing to take care of her biological grandson, but she shouldn’t have been the one to take care of her granddaughters, let alone a granddaughter. How could she not raise her?

She just thought her second daughter was too delicate because she had lived in the city for too long.

As for taking care of her eldest daughter’s kids, it couldn’t be helped. After all, her eldest daughter lived closer, while the second one lived far away. The eldest daughter’s life was getting better and better, and her son-in-law, who was once ordinary, had now become successful by building houses. Meanwhile, Wang Mengmei, the second daughter, was stuck with a fixed salary in the city and only had one daughter.

Just thinking about it made the old lady anxious. What hope did her second daughter have for the rest of her life?

The old lady sighed and waited for someone to serve the meal.

Jian Li’s aunt served her a big bowl of handmade noodles, made with a noodle press. The noodles were irregular but had a great texture and taste.

Topped with a few large pieces of braised pork, covered in rich sauce, the noodles smelled so good Jian Li couldn’t resist. The braised pork was especially delicious, probably because it was made from pork raised in the countryside—it tasted different.

The meat was so tender, it could be separated with chopsticks, the skin was crispy and the meat soft, not greasy, and the lean part wasn’t dry or tough. Jian Li quickly finished a big bowl.

Her aunt kept urging her to have more: “There’s more in the pot. If you’re still hungry, I’ll serve you more.”

Jian Li, still wanting more, resisted and didn’t ask for seconds.

She was supposed to be on a diet, so she had to stick to it.

After finishing her bowl, her cousin Wang Shuai came home covered in dirt.

“Mom, mom, I’m starving! Hurry up and serve me some food!”

Her aunt scolded, “Can’t you see your sister’s back? Say hello first!”

Wang Shuai grinned. “I saw her earlier in the village.”

He circled Jian Li a few times, surprised but mocking: “Sis, what happened? You’ve turned into a big bomb now?”

Jian Li: … Her fists were clenched.

Wang Shuai kept laughing, and Wang Dajiu shouted angrily, “You brat, what are you saying? Looking for a beating?”

He immediately went to grab a stick.

Wang Shuai, scared, froze, looking helplessly at his mother and grandmother for help.

His aunt, knowing her son had messed up by calling Jian Li a “bomb,” tried to stop it, but she couldn’t.

Wang Dajiu was determined, and he grabbed the scrawny Wang Shuai, giving him a few hard whacks.

The yard erupted with loud cries.

Jian Li: … This familiar scene.

Every summer when Jian Li came back, Wang Shuai was almost guaranteed to get a beating every few days.

Wang Dajiu’s educational philosophy was simple: if the child didn’t listen, it meant he hadn’t beaten him enough.

As long as he beat him more, it would be considered successful education.

He beat Wang Shuai hard, and from a young age, Wang Shuai had been scared of him like a mouse seeing a cat.

On the other hand, Wang Dajiu’s wife was kind-hearted but overly protective of her children.

As soon as Wang Dajiu finished beating Wang Shuai, his wife would start a quarrel with him.

One would beat, the other would protect, and in between, there was a grandmother who protected even more.

Wang Shuai grew up in such an extreme educational environment, which later laid the foundation for him to go down the wrong path.

Jian Li furrowed her brow as she watched her uncle beat the child.

It wasn’t that she thought hitting was wrong, but she believed that at the very least, her uncle should explain to Wang Shuai what he did wrong before hitting him.

Beating like this, it’s no wonder Wang Shuai won’t learn a lesson.

While the beating was in full swing, Jian Li’s grandmother hurriedly dropped her cane and rushed over to stop it.

“Wang Yuedong, are you trying to make me die of anger? Wang Shuai said something wrong, you just needed to say a few words! He’s your own son, not your enemy! How can you beat him like this?”

Wang Shuai cried, his nose running and tears streaming down, shouting “Grandma, save me!”

The old lady felt even more heartbroken: “Stop hitting him! You’re showing off your power when it’s mealtime!”