"Mom..." Wen Qing covered her aching and burning left cheek and cried out in disbelief.
Yao Shiling was startled and stared blankly at Wen Qing.
In her previous life, Wen Qing turned against Yao Shiling on the spot because of this slap. She angrily shouted at Yao Shiling, made some harsh words, and then ran out of the yard with her floral cotton dress, not returning for a long time.
But at this moment, Wen Qing remained motionless, staring intently at Yao Shiling.
But Yao Shiling moved first. As if she didn't know how to deal with it, she said in a fluster, "I haven't finished working in the fields yet. I'm going to work." With that, Yao Shiling picked up the bamboo basket in the yard, took the sickle stuck in the hole in the wall, and hurriedly left the yard.
Wen Qing stood there dumbfounded, pinching her face hard until it hurt.
She twisted it again with all her might, and the pain made her hiss.
It really hurts!
Her eyes instantly filled with tears, but then she suddenly smiled.
She lived! She was alive again! She was back to her seventeen-year-old self! My God! At the end of her previous life, she constantly regretted and prayed, regretting her foolishness for the rest of her life, praying that God would give her another chance to choose. She would choose to listen to her mother, love her two younger brothers, not desperately try to marry Ji Yanjun, and would not have any contact with anyone in the Ji family. She would live a good life.
Unexpectedly, fate really gave her this chance, and she got to start all over again.
Wen Qing suddenly covered her face and burst into tears.
She's back, she's really back. The real pain, the familiar scent of crops in the yard, the floral cotton dress in her blurred vision... it's all real, all real. She cried tears of joy.
Just then, the courtyard gate creaked open.
Wen Qing turned her head and saw two dark-skinned, thin boys, their clothes gray and worn, with patches of different colors on their knees and elbows. They were sweating profusely as they carried a large basket of grass in from outside, panting heavily.
"Liangliang, Pengpeng?" Wen Qing called out. The two boys in front of her were her two younger brothers, Wen Liang and Wen Peng. According to the timeline, Wen Liang was fourteen years old this year, and Wen Peng was ten years old. Wen Qing happily rushed forward: "Liangliang, Pengpeng."
Wen Liang and Wen Peng were so frightened that they retreated repeatedly.
Wen Qing quickly stopped. She had forgotten that in her past life, she had a terrible temper. Not only were all the boys and girls in Shuiwan Village subdued by her beatings, but she even beat Wen Liang and Wen Peng if they disobeyed her. Therefore, they were both very afraid of her, and besides fear, they also disliked her because of her terrible reputation.
"You went to cut grass for our cows." Wen Qing wiped away her tears and said to Wen Liang and Wen Peng with a smile, "You cut so much."
Wen Liang and Wen Peng looked at Wen Qing as if she were a monster.
Wen Qing continued smiling, trying to take the basket: "You two rest for a while, I'll do it."
"No need," the two younger brothers said at the same time, gripping the baskets tightly and walking in unison toward the cowshed, leaving Wen Qing standing aside. They were afraid that if Wen Qing got upset, he would throw the whole basket of grass into the ditch.
Wen Qing wanted to call out to Wen Liang and Wen Peng, but thinking about her usual behavior, she realized that... Her image in everyone's eyes couldn't be changed overnight.
So she lowered her head, looking at the floral cotton dress in her hand, then at the small winnowing basket on the locust wood table, which contained needles, thread, thimbles, and small scraps of fabric in various colors. Outside the basket were the scissors and shoe patterns she had just angrily thrown down. She really loved to dress up. In this era and in this village, you had to find a tailor to make clothes on the spot. Firstly, it was cheaper, and secondly, the fabric saved from making clothes could be used to stuff insoles, piece together pillowcases, or even make a quilt cover.
However, there were very few people in the neighborhood who actually knew how to make clothes. They all figured it out on their own, and some even sewed it by hand. Not only were the clothes they made outdated, but when worn, they also accentuated all their flaws.
When Wen Qing's second uncle was alive, he paid for Wen Qing to learn tailoring for half a year. She was smart, quick to understand, and interested in the craft. In just half a year, the clothes she made were even more beautiful and form-fitting than her master's, so all the clothes she wore were made by herself.
However, acceptance was low in that era. Her clothes were quite avant-garde, and whenever she went out, a group of people in the village would point and whisper behind her back, saying that she was vain, that she was just dressing up, and that she wasn't doing her job properly. But she didn't care about any of that and shamelessly continued to wear them.
At this moment, Wen Qing put all the tools away and returned them to his thatched hut.
Wen Peng, who was in the cowshed, secretly glanced at Wen Qing and asked, "Second Brother, what happened to Eldest Sister?"
"Ignore her, she's always like that." Wen Liang had never liked this unreasonable older sister, and he continued to pour the hay into the cowshed without even glancing at Wen Qing.
Wen Peng, a child, was extremely curious. He had just seen Wen Qing cry, but Wen Qing never cried. She had never lost a fight or an argument, so she never cried. Wen Peng craned his neck to look into the thatched hut.
Just then, Wen Qing suddenly came out of the house.
Wen Peng was startled and quickly shrank back, turning his head away as if he were busy.
Wen Qing wiped away her tears again, looked up at the sky, and saw it was already noon. Her family hadn't eaten yet and must be hungry. She went into the kitchen.
"Second brother, what is eldest sister doing in the kitchen?" Wen Peng asked again.
Wen Liang glanced back furtively and snorted, "A starving ghost reincarnated." Then he looked away and said, "Pengpeng, I'm going to the fields to find Mom, do you want to come?"
Wen Liang threw the basket on the ground, grabbed a handful of grass, put it in the cattle trough, let the cattle eat by themselves, clapped his hands, and walked out of the yard.
"Second brother, wait for me, I'll go with you." Wen Peng ran after Wen Liang; he didn't want to stay and keep the spendthrift girl company.
Wen Qing peeked out and saw her two younger brothers scurrying away as if they were afraid of being eaten. She couldn't quite describe the feeling in her heart. Then she thought about her fiery temper in her previous life, how she would fight at the slightest disagreement and was rude to everyone. It was only natural that her two younger brothers disliked her. It was all her fault.
However, no rush, no rush. Now that she has been reborn, she will live this life to the fullest.
With that in mind, Wen Qing began preparing to cook.
In the 1980s, no household was well-off, especially in rural areas. Land was scarce, yields were low, and the population was large, with annual grain taxes to be paid. However, compared to the 1960s when people often went hungry, things were much better. But after Wen Qing's father passed away, followed by her second uncle, her family's life deteriorated, and they became almost the poorest family in Shuiwan Village.
Right now, the rice bin is empty, and the flour bin contains only some coarse flour, not enough for two meals of noodles. There are plenty of vegetables, but they're all just a single type of wild greens. On the cutting board, the oil bowl only has some cracklings and half a bowl of fermented soybean paste left…
Wen Qing immediately felt a strong sense of guilt.
She never imagined her family was so poor.
Then think about her cotton floral dress. The fabric alone cost ten yuan, and the buttons, sewing machine usage fee, and thread added up to another yuan. The money was left to her by her second uncle. She bought it specially so that she could appear beautiful in front of Ji Yanjun and so that Ji Yanjun would take a second look at her. She was waiting to wear it the next time she saw Ji Yanjun.
At this moment, she wanted to slap herself. What was she thinking in her past life? Was she stupid?
Eleven yuan is enough to buy ten jin of pork.
Eleven yuan is enough to buy more than ten kilograms of soybean oil, eighty or ninety kilograms of rice, and nearly a hundred kilograms of flour, enough for her family of four to live comfortably for a month. Yet she insisted on buying such fine fabric and went to the county town to borrow someone else's sewing machine to make clothes... She must have lost her mind.
After silently cursing himself a hundred times in his heart, Wen Qing rolled up his sleeves and began washing the vegetables.
With plenty of vegetables but little flour and almost no oil at home, she thought for a moment, washed the vegetables, rinsed them again, squeezed out the juice, wrung them dry, put them in a basin, sprinkled a little salt, added a little coarse flour, mixed them with wild vegetables, and with Wen Qing’s skillful hands, she shaped the sticky dough into the shape of a steamed bun, and then steamed it in a pot.
There's no rice at home, so we can't cook porridge.
She had only two kinds of noodles and wild vegetables, so she made half a pot of wild vegetable noodle soup.
When Yao Shiling, Wen Liang, and Wen Peng returned from the fields, they could see smoke billowing from their own chimney from afar.
Yao Shiling was immediately shocked.
"Is it on fire?" Wen Liang was also dumbfounded and asked.
Wen Peng shouted, "Mom! My older sister burned down our kitchen!"
Neighbors who were chatting by the roadside heard Peng shout and looked toward the Wen family's fenced yard. In addition to smoke coming from the chimney, thin smoke was also drifting out of the kitchen door. Sure enough, Wen Qing had burned down the kitchen!
"Wen Qing really burned down the kitchen?"
"My goodness, Wen Qing is capable of doing this! Only Wen Qing would do something like this!"
Everyone was stunned by the sight before them.
"What are you standing there for! Hurry, hurry, go get some water and put out the fire quickly, don't let it burn people or spread to other people's houses."
"Who has offended Wen Qing again? Hurry up and fetch some water."
"Come to my house. My house is close to Wen Qing's house, so it's convenient to get water."
"Yes, let's go to her house, quickly, otherwise the fire will get out of control!"
"..."
Everyone panicked.
Wen Liang and Wen Peng took off running into their own yard.
Yao Shiling's face turned pale. Could it be that because she slapped Wen Qing, the girl lost her mind and did such a harmful thing, and then ran away?
Yao Shiling quickly dropped her bamboo basket and sickle and ran desperately into the yard with Wen Liang and Wen Peng.
Meanwhile, neighbors rushed over with basins and buckets of water, hoping to put out the fire in one go.
"Big Sister!" Wen Peng shouted, rushing to the kitchen door first. He was also the first to stand there in shock, staring blankly into the kitchen, calling out, "Big Sister?" as if he didn't recognize Wen Qing.
Then Wen Liang arrived and was stunned.
Yao Shiling was stunned.
The neighbors also stayed put.
Their blank stares all turned to the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, Wen Qing was lifting the pot lid and picking wild vegetable buns into a basket when she noticed a group of people suddenly gathered at the door. She looked at them curiously, her gaze finally settling on Yao Shiling. She whispered, "Mom, you're back..."
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