Chapter 1 Small Goal 1: Buying a Siheyuan in Kyoto
Gu Siqing walked home leisurely with her schoolbag. It had been two days since her rebirth, but she still felt like she was dreaming.
When she returned home from her boyfriend's house that day, she was in a bad mood and drank some wine. Then she woke up and found herself back in 1982, the year she was eight years old.
She has also read several novels about time travel and rebirth. Aren’t those who are qualified to be reborn in the novels all filled with hatred and resentment?
And she didn't!
While thinking, I arrived at the door of my house. Before I even entered, I saw my mother Wang Yueju holding a rolling pin, chasing my third sister Gu Sanjing angrily, "Are you short of food or water every day? You actually go to steal food to eat. Do you think you can eat your grandmother's food? I will beat you to death!"
My mother raised her rolling pin high in the air, but there was no intention of bringing it down.
The third sister turned back to argue as she ran, her big almond eyes flashing with stubbornness, "If Erbinzi can eat it, why can't I? I will eat it."
"You're still stubborn! Stop right there if you can." The old lady chased a few steps forward. The third sister rushed forward like a monkey. When she passed by the second sister Gu Erhui, she pushed her and said, "You idiot! Run out!"
Gu Sanjing hurriedly ran towards the courtyard gate, and when he got to Gu Siqing, he took her away with him.
Gu Siqing was running breathlessly with Gu Sanjing. When she reached the river at the entrance of the village, she could no longer run. She bent down, supported her knees, and panted heavily. "That's enough. Mom hasn't caught up with us. Let's take a break."
Gu Sanjing didn't blush or feel nervous at all. She was used to being wild and had a strong body like a calf.
"Okay, take a break."
Gu Siqing was pulled by Gu Sanjing to sit down by the stream, and took a few deep breaths. "If you want to run, then run. Why are you dragging me with you?"
Gu Sanjing picked up a stone and threw it into the river, splashing a bunch of water. "If you take me with you, my mother will leave some food for me."
Gu Siqing rolled her eyes and said, "I am your rice-protecting talisman!"
"By the way, what did you steal from our grandma's house again?"
Gu Sanjing chuckled twice, his eyes sparkling as he pulled out a large, bright yellow apple from his bosom and placed it under Gu Siqing's nose. "Does it smell good?"
Gu Siqing sniffed, and the sweet, lingering fragrance of apples filled her nostrils. Compared to the glossy apples of a few decades later, the apples at this time seemed infinitely more natural.
"Smells good, doesn't it?" Gu Sanjing saw her intoxicated expression and looked very pleased with himself. "Yesterday after school, when I passed by my grandma's house, I saw her taking two apples and going out. When she saw me, she immediately hid the apples behind her back. She must be going to my second uncle's house to give them to Er Binzi and the others. Humph, she hid them and didn't let me eat them, but I still wanted to eat them."
Gu Siqing felt bad.
Grandma favors boys over girls. Her mother gave birth to four girls in one go, but not a single boy. Grandma then looked down on their family and said that their noses were not noses and their eyes were not eyes.
But he wasn't like those scumbags in novels who beat or scolded the sisters. He just looked at them with displeasure. He gave all the good things to the two sons of his second uncle, and the four sisters couldn't touch them at all.
"We'll each have half." Gu Sanjing rubbed the apple against her blue cloth jacket and was about to break it in half. Gu Siqing quickly stopped him, "Let's go home and eat it together."
Apples, while not particularly valuable in a farmer's home at this time, were not something you could eat every day. Of course, when they were delicious, the whole family would share.
Gu Sanjing looked at the big apple in her hand and swallowed, "Okay, let's go home and eat together."
Gu Siqing thought for a moment and said seriously, "Don't go to Grandma's house to steal food from now on. Her things are hers, she can give them to whoever she wants, it's wrong for you to steal them. Besides, Mom is so strong-willed, how embarrassing it would be if Grandma scolded you for stealing her things?"
"I just can't help being angry!" Of course I'm also greedy.
Gu Siqing sighed in her heart and thought to herself, when her sister makes money, we can eat apples every day and throw one away...Okay, it’s better not to throw it away, otherwise you will get beaten.
"Let's go home." Gu Siqing stood up and patted the dirt off her butt. "Did Mom cook corn today?"
She smelled the aroma of cooking corn just now at the doorstep.
"Yeah." Gu Sanjing lazily stood up and heard Gu Siqing ask, "Why didn't I see you after school today? Did you skip class?"
Gu Sanjing was startled, staring and waving her hands, "Don't talk nonsense, our last class is self-study, I just left a little early."
This girl likes to tell tales. If her parents knew she skipped classes, she would definitely be hit by my rolling pin.
Gu Siqing glanced at her sideways, "Isn't it skipping class if I come a little early?"
Having been sisters for seven or eight years, Gu Sanjing naturally understood what this little girl meant. She snorted and said, "I'll carry your schoolbag for a week."
Gu Siqing pursed her lips and smiled smugly. In Gu Sanjing's eyes, she deserved a beating as much as she could. In revenge, she pulled her pigtail and ran away. Gu Siqing felt a little pain from the pulling, so she turned around and chased after her.
"Gu Sanjing, stop right there!"
"Only a fool would stop!"
The two sisters chased each other back home. Dad Gu Jianguo was repairing the legs of a stool. The eldest sister Gu Yimin came out of the kitchen with a steamed bun basket containing corn and steamed buns. Gu Siqing ran over and reached for the corn, but was hit by Gu Yimin, "Go wash your hands."
Gu Siqing went to the kitchen with a smile, scooped a ladle of water into the basin, and squatted down to wash her hands. Gu Sanjing squatted beside her and whispered, "You can't tell my parents that I left early."
Gu Siqing snorted and said nothing, which made Gu Sanjing so angry that she wanted to pull her pigtails again. Before she could do anything, she heard her mother's voice, "What are you dawdling for? Eat!"
Mom was in a bad mood today, so the two sisters sat down at the dinner table obediently. During the meal, Gu Siqing was given a threatening glare by Gu Sanjing.
Dad fixed the bench, washed his hands, and sat down. Then he looked at Gu Sanjing and said, "Write a self-criticism after dinner. It must be at least a thousand words."
Gu Sanjing's face instantly turned bitter, and she wailed inwardly, "A thousand words! She's still an elementary school student, okay?"
Everyone ignored her bitter face and began to eat. Gu Siqing picked up a golden corn and bit into it. Each kernel tasted fragrant and lightly sweet. Corn from decades later didn't taste this good.
Crunch, she took another bite.
Seeing that she was enjoying her meal and had no intention of reporting it, Gu Sanjing breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think the corn cobs in the west are ripe. Why don't we start picking them tomorrow?" Wang Yueju turned and said to Gu Jianguo.
"Okay, we'll break it off tomorrow." Gu Jianguo slurped up some cornmeal. "There's a lot of dew this morning, so I can go alone. You guys go after breakfast."
This does not include Gu Siqing and Gu Sanjing, who need to go to school. Wang Yueju, Gu Yimin, and Gu Erhui all had no objections. They had been doing this for years.
After dinner, Yimin and Erhui washed the dishes, while Sanjing and Siqing went to do their homework. Oh, Gu Sanjing also had to write a 1,000-word self-criticism!
Gu Jianguo sat on a small stool chopping grass for the pigs, while Wang Yueju fed them. Their family raised two very valuable pigs, their only extra income besides the crops from the fields.
"Mom is just like that, don't take it to heart." Gu Jianguo turned his head to look at his wife with some guilt in his eyes.
Wang Yueju snorted, "If I take this little thing to heart, I'll be so angry that I'll die."
Because she couldn't give birth to a son, she'd endured countless wrath from her mother-in-law over the years. Just like today, when Sanjing stole an apple from her, wasn't it normal for a nine-year-old to be a little greedy? A few words of scolding would be enough.
She came over and said something very unpleasant. Her words implied that if San Jing didn't teach her a lesson, things would not go smoothly.
Gu Jianguo chuckled, "Comrade Wang Yueju is very reasonable."
Wang Yueju glared at him, what a smooth talker!
When Wang Yueju was young, she was the most popular girl in the village. Even now, in her thirties, she still had a charming demeanor. Her glare was like a hook in Gu Jianguo's eyes.
In the room, Gu Siqing finished her homework and wrote another line in a small notebook. Small goal one: buy a courtyard house in Kyoto!
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