On a train from Dasha City to Xinghui City in 2018, Xia Minmin was making a phone call while looking out the window at the scenery.
"Mom, I accidentally broke my bracelet when I came down from the top bunk. There are two cracks in it."
Are you alright?
"I'm fine, it's just that the bracelet has a crack. I don't know if I can find someone to re-cure it."
"As long as no one is hurt, consider the bracelet a loss to avert further disaster."
"This was a birthday gift from you. I've had it for over ten years and I've grown attached to it."
"Have fun while you're traveling, and be careful."
"knew."
Xia Minmin hung up the phone and stared at the bracelet in deep thought. The bracelet was a gift from Xia's mother on Xia Minmin's twelfth birthday, and it had accompanied her through junior high, high school and university all these years.
After having a quick dinner and washing up on the train, Xia Minmin climbed up to her upper bunk to go to sleep.
As the train clattered along... Xia Minmin fell asleep.
"Xia Minmin, look what you've done!! Mom went through so much trouble to fill the water tank, and you threw coal balls in. Are you asking for a beating?"
Xia Minmin thought to herself, "Is this my mother when she was young?" Li Chunmei was quite slender when she was young. Looking at the scenery outside the window, she realized that this was the first rented house the Xia family had rented in Ankang Town. The cement factory's warehouse was just across a small road from the window.
Li Chunmei pinned Xia Minmin down on her lap, pulled down her pants, and started beating her…
"Tell me, do you still dare to throw coal briquettes into the water tank? Do you know how hard it is for me to clean the tank in the dead of winter? And I still have to take care of you, my little crybaby."
The pain made Xia Minmin immediately admit defeat: "Mom, I was wrong, I'll never do it again."
Li Chunmei pointed to the corner of the wall and said, "Go face the wall!"
Xia Minmin walked to the corner and recalled everything that had just happened. She then realized that it wasn't a dream, but that she had returned to her childhood.
She thought she was really doomed! When she used to read rebirth novels, she would always see people talking about winning the lottery. She even looked up relevant information and found that lottery shops didn't appear until at least after 2000.
She had even made a special note of several winning numbers, but after carefully recalling them just now, she realized that she had long forgotten those numbers over time.
Xia Minmin didn't have a deep impression of many things from her childhood in her previous life, but she remembered the incident of throwing coal briquettes vividly, perhaps because of that unforgettable beating.
Xia Minmin thought to herself, "It must be so difficult for an adult in their twenties to play a little child."
Li Chunmei muttered as she cleaned the vat, "You can't even be quiet for a moment while I'm just bringing your dad lunch. No boy is as naughty as you."
As Xia Minmin listened to Li Dongmei's ramblings, she looked around to see if there was a calendar. When she looked up, she saw an old-fashioned wall calendar.
Old-fashioned calendars have lunar dates and can also indicate auspicious and inauspicious times. Until 2018, Li Chunmei still bought old-fashioned calendars every year. She would set off firecrackers on New Year's Eve at auspicious times to pray for peace in the coming year.
January 12, 1994, was also the first day of the twelfth lunar month. Xia Minmin had just turned two years old, and the family of three had moved to their current location in Ankang Town a year earlier.
After cleaning the water tank and refilling it, Li Chunmei said to Xia Minmin, "Xia Xiaomin, come here, Mom will change your clothes. Look, your clothes are covered in black coal stains. Luckily, you're wearing an apron, otherwise you wouldn't have any clothes to wear."
Li Chunmei quickly changed Xia Minmin's smock, tossed it into the bucket, took off Xia Minmin's shoes, and told her to stay on the bed and tidy up her toys.
Xia Minmin looked around. The room was really small, less than ten square meters. It served as the bedroom, living room, and kitchen. On the table under the window were cut-out red paper. With the New Year approaching, Xia Jianguo needed to prepare the red paper for writing couplets in advance.
The rest of the house is filled with goods, all daily necessities and small commodities. Xia Jianguo usually sets up a stall in the town center, and he will also ride his bicycle to the nearby villages to go to the market when there are big markets. It is hard work, but he makes a lot of money.
"Mom, when is Dad coming home?" Xia Minmin also wanted to see Xia Jianguo when he was young. The photos from the early 1990s were quite luxurious for Xia Minmin's family.
“Your dad won’t be home for a while. Let’s review Tang poems together,” Li Chunmei said, taking out three hundred Tang poems to teach Xia Minmin.
The Tang poems selected by Li Chunmei are all simple and easy to understand, and most of them are similar to "Quiet Night Thoughts" and "Sympathy for the Peasants," which are suitable for children to memorize.
I taught Xia Minmin ten Tang poems in a row, and she could recite them after just one lesson. Ten Tang poems would be difficult for Xia Minmin, who is still a preschooler, but they are no problem for her as an adult.
Li Chunmei looked at Xia Minmin with a look of surprise and said, "Xia Xiaomin, when did you become so perceptive? How come Mom didn't know?" Then she cupped Xia Xiaomin's little face and kissed her again and again.
The sound of keys clicking meant Xia Jianguo had come home. Li Chunmei got up and walked towards Xia Jianguo, and the two of them unloaded the goods from the back of Xia Jianguo's bicycle.
Li Chunmei poured hot water into the basin, handed a towel to Xia Jianguo, and asked, "How's business today?"
Xia Jianguo took the towel and started washing his face and hands. After being outside in the cold all day, washing his face was very refreshing. "It's not bad. It's almost Chinese New Year, and there are a lot more people buying things. You can come with us tomorrow too, we're a bit too busy."
“I know, Jianguo, do you know? Our daughter has such a good memory. She memorized all ten Tang poems I taught her,” Li Chunmei said happily to Xia Jianguo.
"Come on, Xia Xiaomin, show your dad!"
Looking at her father in his youth, Xia Minmin recited the ten Tang poems that Li Chunmei had taught her. Xia Minmin recited them smoothly without the slightest hesitation.
Xia Jianguo picked up Xia Minmin and played the game of lifting her high in the air that they used to play when they were little. "Xia Xiaomin, how are you so amazing! You are truly my little darling."
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