Chapter 6

With her little secret exposed, the girl's face turned red and she couldn't stay any longer, fleeing in disarray.

Time waits for no one; every second counts.

With this belief, after Zhang Xuan returned from his IV drip, he didn't relax. Afraid that Ruan Xiuzhen would worry and nag, and also unwilling to waste electricity, which costs 65 cents per kilowatt-hour, he lit an oil lamp and continued to study hard.

First, he wrote an article for the city newspaper, planning to mail it when he went to the hospital the next day. After finishing the article, Zhang Xuan continued to study politics, history, and geography.

After midnight, Ruan Xiuzhen got up to use the bathroom and noticed light seeping through the crack under her precious son's door. She quietly walked over to take a look, then went to the kitchen to make a bowl of sweet rice wine eggs.

Reincarnated and understanding the hardships of life, Zhang Xuan felt a bit uncomfortable with his mother's special favor, but he couldn't explain it to her; this was her way of expressing love.

In the end, under Ruan Xiuzhen's watchful eyes, he finished the midnight snack.

Ten minutes later, Ruan Xiuzhen left.

For some reason, after eating and drinking, Zhang Xuan felt a bit chest tightness and suddenly lost his study mood.

He slumped on the desk, looking out the window, where everything was quiet.

He noticed it was still snowing, with the mischievous north wind swirling the snowflakes past his eyes, which suddenly lifted his spirits.

For him, in his previous life, after turning forty, sometimes in the half-awake, half-asleep state, the days from his childhood to his youth would vividly appear in his mind. Some things he had long forgotten would suddenly become clear and lively in a certain moment.

Such a heavy snowfall was one of his childhood memories.

Zhang Xuan liked rainy days but preferred snowy days even more. However, after watching for a long time, he felt tired. At some point, he closed his eyes and fell asleep without even saying goodnight to the lovely Zhou Huimin.

He slept until dawn, feeling very comfortable, but his neck seemed to have a crick, causing him great pain.

Zhang Xuan, with his neck tilted, walked out of the room and saw his well-dressed older sister standing at the door, looking expectantly.

"Who are you waiting for?" he teased.

"Brother, your neck is tilted!" Zhang Ping was originally embarrassed, but when she turned around and saw Zhang Xuan tilting his head to look at her, she was startled.

"..." No wonder you're not good at studying; your emotional intelligence is lower than a dog's, Zhang Xuan secretly criticized, saying, "I'm just practicing the inter-class radio calisthenics. Don't worry about it. Are you waiting for Yang Ende or Ouyang Yong?"

Although Zhang Ping was a grown girl, when faced with such a question, she, like most girls of her time, felt somewhat constrained and embarrassed.

Seeing that her older sister didn't speak, Zhang Xuan decided to change his approach and asked in a low voice, "Sister, if you had to choose between Yang Ende and Ouyang Yong, who would you choose?"

Zhang Ping hesitated and said, "Mom wants me to spend more time with Yang Ende and try it out."

Zhang Xuan asked, "Do you know why?"

Zhang Ping said, "Yes, Mom told me that Yang Ende is a hardworking person. As long as I am diligent and take care of the family, I won't have to work like a horse in the future."

Zhang Xuan asked again, "Do you have a good impression of him?"

Zhang Ping, hesitantly, said, "Mom has a good impression of him, and I don't want to make Mom sad."

Oh! What kind of answer is that? Zhang Xuan was frustrated, feeling that his older sister was too honest.

So he urged, "This marriage is yours, not Mom's. You don't have to listen to her in everything. Besides, marriage is a lifelong commitment; you should at least have your own opinion so that you won't regret it in the future. Who do you prefer? I can help you talk to Mom."

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and finally said with a conflicted look, "Brother, you know I'm not very smart and don't know how to talk. Yang Ende is also a quiet person. Every time we walk together, it feels like we're mute, and I don't really like it."

Zhang Xuan understood; his sister had her eye on Ouyang Yong. Fine, at least it was the same as the historical trajectory, which was good.

As for the rest, he just needed to focus on one thing: prevent his mother from breaking up the couple like she did in his previous life and forcing his older sister to marry Yang Ende.

As they were talking, Ouyang Yong arrived. With such heavy snow, he couldn't ride his motorcycle and had to walk. He brought a wild chicken and a piece of wild boar meat.

As soon as he entered, Ouyang Yong said, "This is what my father and his friends hunted in the mountains this morning. I brought some for you to try. We still have a lot of dried game at home. If you like it, I can bring more next time."

Then he asked quietly, "Is Aunt at home?"

Without time to think about whether his words were flattering, seeing the meat, Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up, wishing he could eat it right away.

Not wanting to be polite or insincere, he really wanted to eat the meat. In the end, without caring whether his older sister was embarrassed, he took the items and put them in the kitchen, saying:

"She must be out gathering pig feed. You two should take the opportunity to slip away quickly."

With the "big demon" not around, Ouyang Yong and Zhang Ping left happily.

Before leaving, Ouyang Yong quickly slipped a bundle of something into Zhang Xuan's pocket and whistled to him before leaving.

Watching them go, Zhang Xuan took out the item and found it was a roll of money, tied with a rubber band, all 10-yuan bills, both new and old, totaling 60 yuan.

60 yuan, quite generous, it would take five days of work to earn that much. Zhang Xuan didn't expect him to give it so easily. It seemed this person wasn't dull and knew how to win people's hearts.

He needed money, and his family needed money everywhere. Zhang Xuan didn't feel too pretentious about accepting it; he would remember the favor and repay it in the future.

He went to the backyard to wash up, his teeth chattering from the cold.

Ruan Xiuzhen still hadn't returned, so Zhang Xuan decided to start a fire and cook.

He stuffed some firewood into the stove, struck a match, and it lit with a puff, the small flame quickly filling the bottom of the iron pot.

He washed the rice and started cooking. His older sister was out eating with someone, so only two people were at home for breakfast. A little over half a liter of rice was enough. As for sweet potato rice, Zhang Xuan stubbornly refused to consider it.

He was tired of eating it and really didn't want to think about it. He didn't dream of facing the sea; just not eating sweet potato rice was like spring and flowers blooming.

Actually, there was still rice at home. After paying the agricultural tax, it was enough for the three of them until August.

But the family's debts were really too much. Looking around, almost everyone in the neighborhood was a creditor. Ruan Xiuzhen was a very proud person. To save money to pay off the debts, she ate sweet potato rice every meal and sold the leftover rice at the market.

After all, the rice they grew was very popular with people from government offices. Over time, Ruan Xiuzhen became familiar with them, and some of her regular customers even specially took care of her, so she didn't worry about sales.

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