Chapter 208: Chapter 196: Enough

The next day, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Tang Yaxuan forced herself up from the stool. She hadn’t dared to lie down on the bed all night and her stomach was completely empty. Though on the verge of collapse, she stumbled a few steps to urge Liu Fengying to get up quickly and take her to school. She didn’t want to stay in this house for another minute.

Liu Fengying’s heart ached for Xuanxuan. "How about we make some breakfast first?" she asked. Tang Yaxuan immediately started to dry-heave. She swore to herself: ’I will never touch the bowls and chopsticks in this house again!’

Seeing her eldest daughter in this state, Liu Fengying felt both guilty and sad, but also completely helpless. ’There’s nothing I can do. It’s all because we’re so poor. I want my children to have good lives, too!’

Tang Yaxuan was truly a pitiful sight. Her forehead, nose, and upper lip were still red and swollen, and topped off with a pair of black eyes, she looked just like a clown from a foreign circus.

Having grown up in the city, she had no idea that villages had their own clinics. Liu Fengying really should have taken her to the village clinic to get some anti-inflammatory ointment for her face, but she couldn’t bear to spend the one or two yuan. She figured the wounds weren’t deep and would heal in a few days with a bit of cigarette ash applied to them.

In a way, Tang Yaxuan was surprisingly adaptable. Back in the city with the Tang family, even a tiny scrape on her hand from sharpening a pencil would have been treated as a major crisis demanding a trip to the hospital. But out here in the countryside, terrified by the dilapidated surroundings, she couldn’t believe a godforsaken place like this would have any decent medicine. ’What if they just end up scarring my face?’ So she refused to let Liu Fengying even apply the cigarette ash. She did want to go to the hospital, but when Liu Fengying awkwardly explained they had no car, Tang Yaxuan dropped it. ’I can’t expect a car to be on call whenever I need it, like back at the Tang family home, can I?’

What Tang Yaxuan regretted most was handing the money Tang Qingyun had given her to Liu Fengying for safekeeping. Liu Fengying was a bottomless pit; money went in but never came out. Even after enrolling in the commune’s middle school and paying the tuition, Liu Fengying didn’t give the remaining money to Tang Yaxuan, only giving her a little bit of pocket money for emergencies. Otherwise, Tang Yaxuan would have long since taken a bus back to Wancheng. Even if her mom and dad couldn’t take her in, she’d have money. She could have stayed in a guesthouse instead of enduring this suffering.

As the saying goes, you live and you learn. After this ordeal, Tang Yaxuan kept a tight grip on her money. She would never again carelessly entrust her valuables to anyone else. This was a considerable blow to Liu Fengying, who felt it as a great loss. Getting money out of Tang Yaxuan’s hands would not be so easy anymore.

And so, Tang Yaxuan settled in at the commune’s middle school. The conditions were harsh and the environment was primitive. Thirty to forty students shared a large dormitory, sleeping in bunk beds. They had to earn their three meals a day by teaming up with classmates for shifts in the dining hall—stuffing firewood into the massive stove and carrying meal boxes. Though it was exhausting and unpleasant, it was still better than living at the Mo Family Courtyard. Here, she didn’t have to see Mo Xiaofeng’s dead-fish eyes, listen to Mo Xiaoqiang’s wails, or live in constant fear of being secretly targeted by Mo Xiao Zhi, Mo Xiaoneng, and Mo Xiaohua.

She did find some consolation at school. Back at the Tang family’s home, she’d always had a tutor for extra lessons, which gave her a solid academic foundation. She had even started on the coursework for the next grade level. Later, Tang Haocheng had also helped her study. As a result, she had already learned all the material for her current second-year classes. She naturally became a top student, earning praise from her teachers and envy from her classmates, who fawned over and admired her. This brightened her mood considerably.

A week after the semester began, the wounds on Tang Yaxuan’s face finally started to scab over. She couldn’t wait to write a letter to her mother, Wu Xiaowen. She cried as she wrote, her tears soaking the pages, her only hope that her mother would quickly send her money. ’I want to go back to Mom and Dad!’

Meanwhile, after returning to the county middle school and meeting with Teacher Yu, Mo Xiaoman and her friends began their own intense and orderly school life. In her spare time, Xiao Man often went to the school office to read the newspapers on the display rack. Whenever a teacher saw her, they would smile and remark, "This student is quite impressive, caring about national affairs on top of her studies."

Xiao Man was indeed concerned about national affairs, but she was even more concerned about the situation on the border.

Recently, Zheng Shaolian’s monthly letters had unexpectedly stopped. Xiao Man tried calling his battalion headquarters from the post office, but the line wouldn’t connect; all she got was a constant busy signal. Xiao Man was secretly alarmed. ’Don’t tell me his unit went to the front lines too? That’s impossible, isn’t it? In my past life, he was approved for a transfer out of the Wancheng military sub-district in his second year of service. He went to work at an office in the provincial city, and as soon as his three years were up, he scurried back to Beijing. In this life, I found him early, which means I artificially altered the trajectory of his fate. He’s been in Wancheng this whole time. If he ended up on a battlefield because of that... what if he dies a ’glorious’ death? Then it would be my fault!’

Xiao Man didn’t know what to do. She could only pray silently in her heart, ’Zheng Xiaolian, you’ll have to hope for the best. That Amulet made of peach wood and jade gourd can help you dodge a few bullets at most. Against artillery shells, grenades, landmines, and things like that... it’s really no help...’

In reality, Xiao Man was worrying for nothing. Zheng Shaolian had only been transferred to a military supply transport unit; he hadn’t gone to the battlefield. However, his transport mission required secrecy, and the decision to move out had been made at the last minute, so he hadn’t been able to get a message to Xiao Man.

One night, as Xiao Man was thinking about Gu Shaojun and Zheng Shaolian, a scene was unfolding on a smoke-filled border battlefield. On a hidden slope, concealed by a pine tree, Gu Shaojun was leaning against a rock, gasping for breath. Not far away, Wei Zhenqing stood guard, glancing at him worriedly from time to time. They had just undertaken an incredibly perilous crossing of a deep ravine. Giving up on this route would have cost them several hours, and on the battlefield, a delay of mere seconds could lead to the deaths of thousands. To save time was to save lives. In order to gain those few hours, Gu Shaojun had made the call: the squad would risk it all and force their way across the treacherous chasm. During the crossing, Gu Shaojun went back and forth over a dozen times, helping his squadmates make it over the ravine. No one knew where he found the Divine Power to keep going until the very end!

Once Gu Shaojun caught his breath, he looked over at Wei Zhenqing. The two exchanged hand signals, preparing to press deeper under the cover of night.

He tightened his belt, his hand instinctively brushing against the front of his uniform. The Jade Token was still there, pressed securely against his chest. Earlier, a rockslide had set off a minefield, putting three of his comrades in mortal danger. He had rolled and crawled toward them, and the Jade Token had begun to vibrate violently as a searing heat spread across his chest. The explosion had happened right before his eyes, yet the comrades who had been within a five-step radius were, aside from being buried in dirt and rock and suffering some minor scrapes, miraculously unharmed!

He had used one of its charges to save three of his most skilled and outstanding comrades!

Life is priceless, and saving his comrades meant ensuring the mission could be completed more quickly and smoothly!

An image of a charmingly innocent, adorable girl flashed through his mind, and a faint warmth spread through his heart... Gu Shaojun closed his eyes. ’Can’t think about it too much. This is enough!’

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