Rebirth
"Mom, Yao Yao fell and hit her forehead, and she hasn't woken up yet. We have to take her to the hospital for a checkup."
"Go to the hospital, go to the hospital. Is the hospital a place you can go whenever you want? It's free! You're a money-loser, you do nothing all day but spend money. Do you think money grows on trees?"
"Mom, I have money. I don't need to spend your money. Just lend me your bicycle. I'll take Yao Yao to the hospital myself."
"Hmph, what makes you so capable? Where did your money come from? It's all earned by my son. My son works his life away to earn money, and you, on the other hand, just stay at home and spend it lavishly. You even want to use a bicycle? Dream on. Just stay at home and you won't die."
“That’s right, sister-in-law. I think Yao Yao is just being lazy and doesn’t want to get out of bed. What girl comes home for summer vacation like her, just eating and playing? We can’t spoil the child like that, Mom. Don’t you think so? Who is like my Da Bao? He just came back from helping Grandpa herd the cattle and he was covered in sweat.”
"Listen to this, Da Bao is only eight years old and he's already so sensible. And look at that lazy brat you gave birth to, she's so lazy. Tomorrow morning, I'll make that brat get up early and go cut a basket of pig feed for me, or else I'll teach her a lesson."
...
Wang Yao lay on the bed, covered with a thin sheet. The mosquito net above her head swayed with the wind blowing in from the window, making the cramped room a little cool.
Above the desk by the window hung a calendar, the top page of which was gently lifted by the wind, displaying a large "fifteenth" on it. However, the exact month was too far away for Wang Yao to see clearly.
Listening to the voices of the three people outside the door, Wang Yao could clearly distinguish that they were her mother, her grandmother, and her aunt.
These sounds are so familiar! How many years has it been since we last heard them? More than thirty years, I suppose.
Wang Yao lay on the bed, looking around the familiar yet unfamiliar room, with mud walls covered with old newspapers.
The ground was also dirt, so it was uneven. To keep the desk stable, a stone was placed underneath it. On the desk was an admission notice, which was the admission notice for the county's No. 1 High School.
So that summer she was admitted to the county's No. 1 High School. This year is 1995. She was sixteen years old that year, and she experienced a major change in her life.
Tears streamed down Wang Yao's face; she didn't know why she had suddenly returned to the age of sixteen.
He was in a car accident and should be in the ICU, but now he's suddenly lying here.
She raised her arm; though thin, it had no bulging veins, and her skin was smooth without a single wrinkle—this was her body at sixteen.
That's wonderful, that's wonderful. She's back, and their family will never have to experience the pain of separation and death so early again.
Her mother's voice rang out again from outside the door: "Mom, Yao Yao really can't wait any longer. Please, have mercy on me this time."
Grandma left with the words "Dream on" and strode away.
The aunt chuckled and said, "Sister-in-law, Mom has it tough too. There's only one bicycle in the family, and not everyone is entitled to ride it."
As he spoke, he slowly opened the curtain and left.
Listening to her grandmother and aunt's harsh and cutting voices, Wang Yao was once again certain that these were the family members she had, family members who were worse off than if she had never had them.
They had the same personality in their past life.
Grandma Liu Lan was an extremely mean old woman who was only interested in profit. If someone took a needle from her, she would wish they would return a pound of iron.
She had two sons. Because she didn't like the wife her eldest son married, she treated her eldest son's family as a thorn in her side. As for her younger son's family, she would grant their every request and wished she could cut off a piece of her own flesh to feed them.
My aunt Liu Ailing was a troublemaker; she loved watching people fight and brawl every day so she could have a good show. Even if no one was fighting, she would still stir things up to make them unhappy.
In this family, her proudest achievement was giving birth to the Wang family's only grandson—Wang Dabao.
Grandpa and Grandma really doted on Wang Dabao. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Wang Dabao was raised in the palm of their hands.
My grandfather and uncle also live at home.
My grandfather, Wang Sheng, was a typical farmer. He favored sons over daughters, only knew how to bury himself in work, and his greatest hobby was sitting by the big stone mill at the entrance of the village, smoking a pipe and chatting with people.
Uncle Wang Tianhua can be said to be the grandfather's most proud son, because after graduating from elementary school, he failed to pass the junior high school entrance exam and did not want to work in the fields. He made a fuss and insisted on going to the county town to study at a nursing school.
After graduating from nursing school, he became a doctor at the village clinic, which made him a cultured person. So when others mentioned his uncle to his grandfather, it always made his grandfather very proud.
Grandpa's eldest son is Wang Yao's father, Wang Tianmiao. After graduating from elementary school, he helped with the family's work. He was a man of few words, but he loved his wife and children very much.
Thinking of her father, Wang Yao froze. If she remembered correctly, her father had passed away that summer.
She sat up abruptly, but then fell back onto the bed due to dizziness, letting out a cry of "Ouch!"
Liu Xiangmei, who was trembling with anger at Liu Lan and Liu Ailing outside the door, hurried back into the house.
"Yaoyao is awake? How are you? Does your head still hurt?" Liu Xiangmei looked at Wang Yao's forehead, where gentian violet had been applied to the wound, and the area around it was already red and swollen.
Wang Yao stared at Liu Xiangmei, momentarily stunned.
It's been so many years since I last saw my mother—a full thirty-four years. Her appearance in my memory is starting to fade.
Unlike now, even when she's angry and frowning, she's still standing right in front of me, gently caring for me.
Looking at her daughter's blank expression, Liu Xiangmei's heart skipped a beat. Could her daughter have really become mentally impaired after the accident?
She quickly sat down on the edge of the bed and took Wang Yao's hand in hers. "Yao Yao, do you still recognize Mommy?"
Wang Yao's eyes welled up with tears. She squeezed Liu Xiangmei's hand back and nodded, "I know her. Don't worry, Mom, I'm fine!"
Liu Xiangmei breathed a sigh of relief. At least she hadn't gone mad, at least she was alright.
"Mom, my dad..."
Wang Yao dared not and could not bear to ask that question. Her father's death in her previous life was the turning point in their fates.
The better their father treated them when he was alive, the more pain they felt after his death.
When Liu Xiangmei heard Wang Yao mention her father, tears welled up in her eyes without warning. Her already swollen eyes were now completely red.
Seeing her mother's reaction, Wang Yao realized it was too late.
Wang Yao's tears fell silently, each drop disappearing into the pillow and leaving a damp stain.
Liu Xiangmei bent down to wipe away Wang Yao's tears, sniffed, and said, "Don't cry. Your dad is gone, but you still have your mom. Your mom is here!"
Seeing Liu Xiangmei trying to hold back her tears and comforting herself, Wang Yao finally couldn't hold back anymore and burst into tears.
She grabbed Liu Xiangmei's clothes, her mouth open, her eyes closed, but tears still kept welling up in her eyes.
Seeing that her face was red from crying, Liu Xiangmei was afraid that she would suffocate. She comforted her while shedding her own tears, "Good Yaoyao, don't cry. Don't cry like this. If you miss your father, let's go to the cemetery to see him in a little while, okay? Mommy will go with you."
Liu Xiangmei thought Wang Yao missed her father, but only Wang Yao herself knew that she was filled with regret. She was so close, so very close. If she had been reborn sooner, she could have saved her father, and the three of them could have started over.
But she didn't make it in time; she lost her father once again.
"Waaaaah, Mommy, it's all my fault, it's all my fault, waaaaah~"
When Liu Xiangmei heard Wang Yao say that, she quickly denied it: "How can this be your fault? It has nothing to do with you. It's all fate. Don't think like that. Even if you hadn't gotten into high school, your dad wouldn't have missed this opportunity to make money."
Wang Yao shook her head. She couldn't tell her mother about her experience. Her mother definitely wouldn't believe her and would worry that she was possessed. So she couldn't tell her mother why she said it was her fault. She could only keep crying.
Liu Xiangmei wiped away Wang Yao's tears, which she couldn't stop crying, and said in a choked voice, "Be good, don't cry anymore, you'll ruin your eyes. Stop crying, your dad is gone, but your mom is still here. Don't make your mom feel bad!"
And so, Wang Yao cried, while Liu Xiangmei cried and tried to comfort her.
After a while, it seemed that Wang Yao's tears had finally dried up, and her emotions gradually calmed down.
Looking at Wang Yao's swollen eyes and red, swollen wounds, Liu Xiangmei felt heartbroken. "Mom will take you to the hospital to get checked out. If we don't know you've hit your head, it will delay treatment."
Wang Yao sat up in bed and waved her hand, saying, "No need, it's just a small wound, it'll be fine in a couple of days."
Seeing that Liu Xiangmei wanted to persuade her again, Wang Yao quickly changed her mind, "Mom, I'm hungry."
Liu Xiangmei quickly stood up, "Then Mom will make you your favorite egg pancake."
Wang Yao had forgotten what Liu Xiangmei's egg pancakes tasted like, but she remembered that when she was a child, Liu Xiangmei would always make them for her when she was sick, so she nodded in agreement.
Liu Xiangmei went to the kitchen, and Wang Yao also got off the bed and walked to the desk. Looking at the admission notice on the desk, the sunlight shone on it, making the red appear even redder, a dazzling red.
It was because of this notice that her father went down into the coal mine with others to earn her tuition fees.
Not long after, my father suddenly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away.
After her father died, her already harsh grandmother treated her and her mother even worse.
Grandma believed that she was a daughter and not a descendant of her father, and that her mother was the culprit who caused her father to have no descendants. Therefore, she wished that she and her mother would die immediately and go to the underworld to accompany her father.
After school started, her grandmother told her that she would take her to register. Although she was surprised, she obediently followed along.
As a result, her grandmother sold her to a mentally challenged man in the mountains.
They live in a mountainous area, with one mountain after another, seemingly endless, and they can never get out.
The mentally challenged girl's parents kidnapped her, took her home, locked her up, and tortured her.
Thinking back to those days, even after decades, she still felt despair, which made her shiver.
Several months later, she finally seized an opportunity to escape. She walked for several days before quietly returning home, but she couldn't find her mother.
I heard from people in the village that her mother went crazy after she disappeared. She went out to look for her daughter every day, and one day in late autumn, she fell off a cliff.
So when she came back, she only saw a small grave. Her beautiful mother, who would kiss her when she was well-behaved and couldn't bear to hit her even when she was naughty, had left her forever, just like her father.
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