Life is truly marvelous, and she felt a dreamlike sense of wonder, as if wandering in a fairyland.
Things really had changed.
Having been reborn, everything would be different.
She wanted to serve Shen Mo some vegetables, to show some enthusiasm, but she held back for fear that her parents might think she harbored ulterior motives towards the young man.
Fortunately, Hua’s mother was a warm and hospitable woman, always making sure the atmosphere was never cold.
“Is Hua Jie behaving herself at school? She used to daydream during her classes in middle school. Do you see any improvement now?” Hua’s mother asked earnestly, treating Shen Mo like a little teacher for Hua Jie.
“It’s okay, she daydreams occasionally, but she’s quite serious most of the time. Her notes are well-kept, and she spends all her free time either drawing, memorizing texts, memorizing words, or solving practice problems. In our class, she’s definitely the most diligent,” Shen Mo replied.
Hua Jie smiled proudly—of course, she had to, having become a diligent adult.
“She’s progressed,” Hua’s mother said, touching her daughter’s short hair, her face brimming with satisfaction.
Shen Mo’s gaze lingered on Hua’s mother’s face as he ate the deliciously crispy on the outside, tender on the inside potato balls, feeling a bit envious.
If his mother were still alive, she would probably look at him tenderly like this, talk to him, nag at him, and hug and touch him often.
“How is it? Do you like the food Auntie made?” After discussing her daughter’s performance at school, Hua’s mother effortlessly brought the conversation back to the dinner table.
“Delicious,” Shen Mo answered truthfully.
Sweet and sour pork, fried twisted dough sticks, potato balls, vinegar shredded potatoes, stir-fried cauliflower, and a pot of crucian carp soup.
For Shen Mo, who came from a very well-off family, this was no lavish feast.
But if judged by taste, it was certainly a banquet fit for a gourmet.
Hua’s mother’s culinary skills were excellent; she cooked each dish with great care, unlike the average cooking of the household help at his home, who just treated it as a job.
He and his father were not fussy eaters, usually indifferent to what was cooked, rarely making special requests.
Having seldom dined out, Shen Mo was tasting such delicious home-cooked meals for the first time.
And the atmosphere in this family… It was wonderful. His family might have been like this when he was younger, but… he had forgotten.
Besides talking to Shen Mo, Mr. and Hua’s mother also chatted continuously about mundane household matters, such as pork prices rising or onions on sale—topics Shen Mo had never heard before.
The topics themselves might have been rather mundane, but… he found them peculiarly fascinating.
These discussions exuded a rich, natural warmth.
Although their house wasn’t spacious—combining the living and dining areas still made it somewhat cramped—the bustling atmosphere made Shen Mo feel comfortable.
Perhaps because the house was small, people were physically closer to each other.
After jumping off his lap, the dog continued to wag its tail around him, clearly showing its affection.
And Hua Jie—she was such a straightforward and cheerful girl. She was carefree and uninhibited, not at all constrained or inferior because of her family’s poverty, which Shen Mo found refreshing, sincere, and somewhat adorable.
Of course, it might also have been because he had just enjoyed a particularly delicious meal, leaving him in a pleasant mood, which made him see her in an even more favorable light.
After the meal, Hua Jie stood up to help her mother clean up the dishes, while Shen Mo sat drinking the boiled water Hua Jie had poured for him, without any intention of helping.
Hua’s father glanced sideways, knowing from the boy’s demeanor that he came from a well-off family and was accustomed to being served, a habit ingrained in his bones.
Full from the meal, Shen Mo felt slightly tipsy and sleepy, though it was clear there was no opportunity for a nap here.
Thinking of having to ride his bike nearly across half of Jinsong City to get home made him feel lazy.
He had eaten a lot, having cleared several dishes, and he felt he had played a significant role in that.
As he was about to take his last sip of water and leave, he heard Hua’s father say:
“Hua Jie, stay home and do your homework properly. Your mother and I are going up the mountain to pick hazelnuts and will be back before dinner.”
With that, Hua’s father got up to put on his jacket.
The gear for picking wild fruits had been prepared in advance. When Hua Jie brought Shen Mo in, Hua’s father was already packing pruning shears into the motorcycle’s side bags.
Hua’s mother moved quickly to put away the dishes and wiped her hands, also getting ready to leave.
Realizing it was time to go, Shen Mo put down his cup and was about to rise.
But Hua Jie beat him to it, with a soft exclamation that drew everyone’s attention to her.
Shen Mo missed another perfect opportunity to leave.
“I want to go too! I want to go pick hazelnuts!” Hua Jie’s face lit up with excitement, as if she was eager to jump into her father’s arms, “I can also go up the mountain to paint plein air! I’ve finished all my homework and have been super serious about studying lately, Dad. I wake up early every day to memorize words, and stay up late to do practice problems. Please take me with you, I want to go too!”
She blurted out all this in one breath, her eyes brimming with tears, as if ready to burst into loud sobs should her father dare to refuse.
After dinner, a dizzy Shen Mo was almost about to agree, luckily realizing just in time that he wasn’t her dad, just a guest who came over for a meal.
…
Just…
Quite sudden.
Shen Mo must have really overeaten; his blood all rushed to his stomach, leaving his brain so deprived of blood it practically stopped functioning.
Hua Jie wanted to go up the mountain with her parents to pick hazelnuts, but her father refused, citing the need to use the motorcycle’s basket to carry the hazelnuts.
Then, Hua Jie concocted various tricks to plead her case, and proposed bringing along her good classmate Shen Mo, suggesting that Shen Mo bike her up the mountain as a solution, successfully achieving her goal of going to play on the mountain.
“…” Shen Mo was unlocking his bicycle, still in a bewildered state.
What happened?
As Hua’s father pushed the motorcycle out of the yard, he glanced at Shen Mo, then at his own daughter who was nearly jumping for joy.
Although these two kids had just moved from middle school to high school, they probably hadn’t started to awaken to romantic feelings yet.
But his daughter had already grown to over 1.6 meters and was beginning to look like a young woman. And this boy was probably over 1.8 meters, even taller than him, a grown man…
Visually, he seemed like an adult.
Hua’s father felt somewhat displeased, thinking it inappropriate to have his daughter play with a strange boy.
But considering they were desk mates, spent 5 days a week together at school, and attended the same extracurricular classes at the youth center, it was impossible for a father to prevent his daughter from interacting with the opposite sex.
After all, it was already the year 2000, not the old society.
If he were too authoritarian in his interference, it might backfire, causing two originally innocent classmates to develop unusual feelings for each other.
Standing with the motorcycle in the alley, Hua’s father felt a bitter sense of his daughter maturing, experiencing for the first time the worries of having a daughter.
Hua Jie was the last one out the door, with a drawing board on her back, an art supply bag slung over her elbow, and a dog cradled in her arms.
“…” Hua’s father: This definitely doesn’t look like someone just going to pick hazelnuts.
“…” Shen Mo: Bringing the dog too?
“Give me the dog,” Hua’s mother said as she reached for Huan Huan and got onto Hua’s father’s motorcycle.
Hua Jie settled into the back seat of Shen Mo’s bicycle. As they set off, one vehicle powered by gasoline, the other by vigorous pedaling, Shen Mo kept his eyes on the back of Hua’s father’s motorcycle, straining to keep up. He thought to himself, “If only I wasn’t under 18, and dad would let me ride my own motorcycle out… Hmph!”
The road into the mountain was bumpy, but fortunately, their home was already up in the hills, and the hazelnut picking spot was just further into a forest without any houses, so there was no need to climb any further.
It had been a lifetime since Hua Jie last went into the mountains to play with her parents.
As a child, she often went with her parents to pick mushrooms, sorghum fruit, hazelnuts, and more, as the northern forests were rich with resources like wild pheasants and fish.
Her father had been a wild boy from a young age, capable of anything in the mountains or rivers.
During his school days, he even helped the school raise pigs and grow potatoes. Once, while guarding the pigs at night, annoyed by their grunting which kept him awake, he hit a pig so hard that it stopped making noise, only to find it dead by morning. He was reportedly dragged back home by his grandfather after running away for two days and got a severe spanking before being taken to apologize at school.
Despite often getting beaten, his skills in fetching bird nests, catching crickets, fishing, and chasing wild pheasants were unmatched.
Even after becoming a father, his playful skills did not wane; he continued taking his wife and daughter up the mountains and rivers, bird catching, and dog raising.
Hua Jie remembered how, while other children could hardly dream of owning a dog, her father had already helped her raise guinea pigs, cats, a large wolfhound, a small Pekingese, sparrows, larks, rabbits, and many other small animals.
Oh, how nostalgic it was, making Hua Jie hum a song involuntarily.
Under the jolts of Shen Mo’s bicycle, her singing wavered drastically off-key, yet she couldn’t stop.
“What on earth are you singing?” he protested.
“You wouldn’t understand, it’s my own creation!” A futuristic song, absolutely novel.
“Sounds like wailing ghosts and howling wolves,” he retorted bluntly.
“Well, that’s true. I’m good at painting, but not so much at singing,” she accepted his candid criticism without offense, showing great openness.
She glanced at the back of his head, where the wind lifted his short hair, revealing nicely shaped ears and fuzzy sideburns.
This guy’s hair is so thick, I wonder if he’ll experience male pattern baldness in middle age.
Hopefully, time will be kind to such a fine face.
“You actually sing quite beautifully,” she suddenly said.
“Of course… how did you know?” Shen Mo turned to look at her, puzzled since he didn’t remember singing in class.
“I know everything.” About him, she knew a lot.
“How do the rumors about me get spread?” He thought she had heard it from others.
“There’s a lot. Like how you’re fiercely good in a fight, the type who could take down ten people.” She chuckled, then added,
“They also say you have incredible strength, that you can cycle up steep slopes with 80 pounds of meat, and after resting for an hour, you could ride back into the mountain with a heavy load.”
She weighs 80 pounds.
“Tsk…” He caught on to her joke and scoffed lightly, but a smile also appeared on his face against the wind.
He had never been involved in this type of family outing before. Although he seemed casual, as if he was just too polite to refuse, he was actually thrilled inside.
During middle school, he mostly hung out with classmates at game arcades or basketball courts, or stayed home reading all kinds of books, from one bookshelf to another.
He had occasionally ventured into the mountains and rivers, but it was usually just a stroll in a nearby wild area without any specific activities like fishing or purposefully catching crickets or birds, let alone picking wild hazelnuts or fruits.
That group of kids, they couldn’t even figure out where the fruits or fish were.