Chapter 143: 145: Practice

Tang Zhijun didn’t feel uncomfortable either, just his shoulder was slightly numb but not painful.

When asked whether he had ever suffered from the cold, he touched his forehead and said, “How could I have not experienced it? Back then, during the communal dining period, we all endured it like this. At that time, your father and I were young, but we had to haul coal for the production team. In the big winter, we couldn’t even wear cotton-padded clothes. We had to pull the handcart like that, crying and pulling all the way. I guess that’s when I got the cold.”

So, his shoulder always feels uncomfortable during wintertime.

He didn’t care much about it. Only when Tang Yuxin mentioned it today did he realize that this kind of discomfort is called coldness. Of course, he didn’t know his shoulder had been pricked like a hedgehog, after all, he couldn’t see it.

It was unclear whether he genuinely didn’t care, or if he was just too considerate towards Tang Yuxin. Anyway, for Tang Yuxin, he, as an uncle, would charge up a mountain of knives or descend into a pot of boiling oil.

Tang Zhijun always remembered that, in truth, his life was saved by Tang Yuxin.

And no one knew that his life was genuinely saved because Tang Yuxin altered his fate.

At this time in his previous life, he had already become a solitary grave, a skeleton, a cup of yellow earth.

Tang Yuxin put away her silver needles, then disinfected the needles in the alcohol box. Tang Zhijun stood up and twisted his arm, moving his shoulder slightly.

“Wow, it’s much more relaxed now.”

He knew his own body. It felt much lighter indeed. It seemed his niece, Xiaoyu, was becoming a capable little doctor.

“Our Xinxin is really impressive,” Tang Zhijun ruffled Tang Yuxin’s hair. After the Lunar New Year, they were going to sell vegetables. There was a large pile of tomatoes stored in the field, which could be kept fresh throughout the winter. However, the cucumbers couldn’t be stored, so aside from what they ate themselves, the rest was given to the villagers.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The villagers now knew that the Tang brothers had once again successfully grown vegetables. They might be able to earn several tens of thousands of yuan. That would make them proper ten-thousand-yuan households.

What luck did Zhang Xiangcao have? After divorcing and taking in a child, she ended up finding a ten-thousand-yuan household. Some were envious, some were sour in their hearts, and of course, there were those who regretted not acting in advance, allowing Zhang Xiangcao to take such a big advantage.

The Tang brothers have been living better and better in recent years. Looking back, the two brothers, who were without a father and mother, ended up marrying such a wife for the eldest. This wife neither wanted children nor a man, she just left when she wanted to.

Since that woman left, the Tang family’s life has been getting better by the day.

So, people in the village always said that Sang Zhilan was indeed a curse. Since she came to the Tang family, the family had been scraping by, continually living in a tight situation. However, ever since she left, the Tang family’s life had been much better.

The villagers were all very superstitious about the concept of ghosts and gods. Now in the villagers’ minds, Sang Zhilan had become a plague god. It’s a good thing she left, or else, wouldn’t their own families be doomed if they got involved with her?

Upon hearing this, Tang Yuxin just smiled and kept her opinions to herself.

“Yuxin, aren’t you mad when they talk about your mom like that?” Zhang Yindi wiped her nose and snuffled as she asked Tang Yuxin.

“Why should I be angry?” Tang Yuxin didn’t feel any reason to be annoyed.

“But she’s your mom,” Zhang Yindi quickened her pace and stood in front of Tang Yuxin, narrowing her small black face, “I know you must want to cry. I cry when my mom doesn’t feed me, but your mom has never fed you.”

Tang Yuxin stretched out her finger and poked Zhang Yindi’s dark face. She still couldn’t imagine how Zhang Yindi would grow up to become Zhang Xiaomei. Now, however, she was just a simple and innocent child.

She was Zhang Yindi, not Zhang Xiaomei.

“I don’t remember, so I don’t feel anything and don’t want to cry.”

She bent her pink lips, smiling like a budding flower. The wind blew but saw no morning dew. She was long past the age of needing a mom or looking for one.

All her expectations for her mother had vanished because of her previous life. All that was left was a name she couldn’t forget and a blurry shadow.

The name was Sang Zhilan.

The shadow looked like Sang Zhilan.

Indeed, she started to forget. If possible, she didn’t want to remember her in this lifetime.

“Let’s go,” she retracted her hand back into her sleeve and clenched her fingers. Calluses had slightly formed on her fingers. Which child in the rural areas didn’t live like this? They all weren’t an only child. They cooked and took care of their younger siblings, and as they got older, they even worked the fields.

Only Tang Yuxin was treated like a treasure at home. She had new clothes every year, eggs to eat every day, and no siblings to share love with.

When the villagers saw Tang Yuxin, they would sourly say that she was unlucky. If she had stayed with her biological mother, she would have gone to the city. She would have been eating the emperor’s grain, wearing good clothes, and studying in a good school. However, no one knew that in her previous life, because Tang Yuxin was with her biological mother, she did not live like many children in the village, just like Zhang Yindi now.

Just as she arrived home, a little one had already run over and hugged her leg.

“Sister…”

With a tender and childish voice, the rosy cheeked Sisi, recently nourished by sheep’s milk, looked more healthy.

Tang Yuxin knelt down and rubbed Sisi’s little face. She couldn’t tell before that this child was as skinny as a little monkey, with a thin face that only left her eyes visible. Now, her face had become chubby, and her little arms and legs had also gained more weight. She used to be unable to walk, but now she could run and jump around.

“Xinxin is back, come and eat.”

Zhang Xiangcao came out from the kitchen, smiling. She, like Sisi, had put on weight from her initial state of being thin and bony. Her once-dry and yellow hair had gradually turned black and shiny.

It was as if she had gained blood and flesh, and her hair had grown. Her hair was beautiful and smooth. Although she didn’t deliberately dye or perm her hair, she was still naturally beautiful.

At this moment, she was smiling, very softly.