Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

6:50 PM.

Jiang Ning left the house for Xue Yuantong's place and woke her.

Xue Yuantong slept through the day till evening, her eyes blurry with sleep. At first, she was a bit confused:

"Where am I?"

"Who am I?"

She was puzzled as if the world had changed without her noticing, but then her focus sharpened, and she remembered something important.

"I'm at home, I am Xue Yuantong, I'm very hungry right now, and I want to treat Jiang Ning to a fire pot."

Xue Yuantong figured this out and leapt out of bed. She put on a down jacket, anxious, she exclaimed:

"Quickly prepare a horse for me!"

"It's time to go."

Jiang Ning reminded, "You wanna wash your face first?"

"Hmm."

Xue Yuantong swiftly stepped into her cotton slippers and ran to the stove to pour hot water.

After washing her face, Xue Yuantong took out a small pink bottle, a gift from Jiang Ning containing skincare products.

Every time after she washed her face, Xue Yuantong applied a bit of the product, leaving her cheeks neither dry nor tight but especially comfortable.

Once she finished, Xue Yuantong ran to her mother and invited her to go eat fire pot together.

Aunt Gu didn't agree: "You and Jiang Ning go. There are still two dishes left from lunch; I'll just warm them up."

"Mom, come on, please!"

"No, you two enjoy yourselves. Jiang Ning, make sure you look after her," Aunt Gu said. This rare opportunity was perfect for Jiang Ning and Tongtong to go on their own; she didn't want to be a third wheel.

"Jiang Ning, be careful when you ride tonight; there are large trucks on the road, and they drive fast. Don't race with them; one second isn't a big deal at night."

"Okay, got it," Jiang Ning replied as he led Xue Yuantong away.

Aunt Gu continued knitting her sweater.

...

Jiang Ning, with the fully re-energized Xue Yuantong, stormed towards the urban area with great momentum.

They stopped in front of an ordinary fire pot restaurant.

"Jiang Ning, look!" Xue Yuantong pointed to the sign of the fire pot restaurant:

"This place is called Ba Zi Fire Pot, which sounds like where we live."

After a quick scan of the kitchen with his Divine Sense, Jiang Ning saw they used disposable oil, not the kind recycled over and over, so he decided:

"Let's eat here."

Jiang Ning locked his mountain bike and entered the shop first, with Xue Yuantong timidly following behind.

Pushing the door open, the blast of warm air from the air conditioning hit them; the restaurant was about one hundred square meters, lively with numerous customers inside. Coming to eat fire pot in this weather was genuinely a treat.

"Hello, two guests?" The waiter approached them.

"Yes," Jiang Ning chose a spot near the glass wall.

He had noticed that Xue Yuantong, usually commanding at home, turned timid outside, extremely cautious and reserved.

Jiang Ning picked up the menu, ordered fresh beef, tripe, shrimp paste, fish slices, duck blood, then handed the menu to Xue Yuantong.

At this point, Xue Yuantong regained her usual smart and quick demeanor, rapidly choosing a few dishes.

"Sir, would you like any drinks?"

"Two bowls of red bean wine, plus one fresh hot drink."

"Alright, the utensils and condiments are over there," the waiter pointed out.

Once the waiter left with the menu, Xue Yuantong whispered:

"Jiang Ning, I'm going to get the seasonings, do you want to come?"

"No, I'm good. Just get me the same mix as yours." He had similar taste preferences to Xue Yuantong.

"Sure thing!"

Jiang Ning's Divine Sense opened, trailing behind her to prevent her from slipping or getting bumped into.

At that moment, a large round fire pot table nearby had a group of boys, mostly around fifteen or sixteen years old, led by a middle-aged woman.

The middle-aged woman was dressed very sternly and formally.

Xue Yuantong carried back two bowls of seasoning:

"Jiang Ning, the seasoning I mixed is super tasty; I guarantee you'll never forget it."

Back when her family wasn't well-off but she craved fire pot, her mom would make fire pot at home on days off. It was troublesome but cheap. Xue Yuantong learned how to make delicious seasoning while helping her mom.

The fire pot restaurant offered a wider variety of ingredients, allowing her to demonstrate her skills.

The fire pot base was brought over, and the waiter turned on the heat.

Xue Yuantong's stomach grumbled with hunger; she had paid a hefty price in preparation for this meal.

Seeing this, Jiang Ning channeled a strand of Spiritual Power into the flame beneath the pot, making the flame hotter and heating more evenly.

Soon, the drinks and snacks were served.

Before entering the restaurant, Jiang Ning had checked and found that the red bean wine was good, made from glutinous rice, red bean paste, osmanthus honey, and small dumplings.

Xue Yuantong tasted it with a spoon: "Delicious, try it, Jiang Ning!"

She also had a piece of crispy fried meat topped with special spices that just melted in her mouth.

"Wow." Xue Yuantong felt that the wait was worthwhile; her long hunger was justified as she ate to her satisfaction.

As she continued eating, the dishes arrived and were placed on the rack.

The base of the pot was boiling, and Xue Yuantong couldn't wait to add the ingredients.

As the waiter came over with shrimp paste to add to the pot, Jiang Ning said:

"No need, we'll do it ourselves."

"Of course," the waiter agreed.

It was quite helpful to have someone add the shrimp paste, but Jiang Ning could manage on his own, eating and adding at his leisure for a better experience.

Xue Yuantong ate voraciously, while Jiang Ning appeared more composed, keeping a normal pace as he enjoyed the fire pot and appreciated her eating style.

What caught Jiang Ning's attention was the group of students at the nearby round table.

There was a shelf in the hallway with a large cake on it, and gazes occasionally cast in this direction.

Jiang Ning overheard their conversation and understood that the other party, just like Xue Yuantong, was also a first-year high school student. Today, after the final comprehensive exam, a student had his birthday and invited a bunch of classmates to eat hot pot.

It was supposed to be a happy birthday gathering, but the student's mother followed along. She was the very serious and stern-looking middle-aged woman.

"You must study hard. You can invite your classmates to eat hot pot today because your parents are shouldering the burden for you."

"Only if you study well, find a good job, and get ahead, can you come here to eat hot pot often."

"Remember what I said," the middle-aged woman tirelessly lectured her son.

As a result, the classmates at the table all wore expressions of inexplicable embarrassment, the atmosphere extremely tense. They ate their meal rigidly, in silence, without any communication between them, except for the mother instructing her son.

The son himself looked disgruntled. Today, he had gathered his courage to invite his classmates for a meal on his birthday, but things took a turn for the worse when his mother showed up.

His mother's nagging agitated and frustrated him; he wished she would stop, but he didn't dare to say so.

He glanced enviously at the brother and sister at another table along the wall.

That was freedom.

Unfortunately, he was an only child and could not experience it.

Xue Yuantong paid no attention to what was going on around her, focusing on eating meat.

She used her chopsticks to fish in the pot like a conquering army, and since she usually shared dishes with Jiang Ning at the same table, naturally, there was no need for serving chopsticks when eating hot pot.

"Jiang Ning, I can't find the beef I just dropped in, it was definitely in the pot, could it have disappeared?" Xue Yuantong looked wronged, hoping Jiang Ning would help her find the beef.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning probed into the pot with Divine Sense and within a millisecond, he located the culprit beef. He picked it up and placed it into Xue Yuantong's bowl.

Xue Yuantong was shocked because she had searched twice and found nothing:

"Jiang Ning, you're amazing!"

Jiang Ning proudly said, "Ha, don't you know who I am?"

Xue Yuantong rewarded him with a piece of bamboo shoot, "For you!"

Continuing to eat meat, she spoke with her mouth full:

"Jiang Ning, how will you spend the New Year, are you going home?"

"I suppose so," Jiang Ning said. During the New Year, his parents should be back.

"Hmm, then we can't be together, I'm staying home for the New Year. My grandparents will come to my house." As before, Xue Yuantong would celebrate the New Year in this manner, bringing the grandparents from the village to her home for a warm New Year reunion.

In Xue Yuantong's heart, the New Year was a very solemn occasion, celebrated only with the closest family members.

In the half-year she had been with Jiang Ning almost every day, they had endless things to talk about. She wanted Jiang Ning to spend the New Year with her.

But Jiang Ning had his own parents.

Jiang Ning passed her a tissue, "Wipe your forehead, you're sweating."

"I have no hands left," Xue Yuantong's right hand was occupied with picking up food; her left held a cup.

Jiang Ning had no choice but to wipe it for her.

After a while, Xue Yuantong felt the dishes were getting less appetizing. She suddenly looked up at Jiang Ning, her eyes reflecting him, her expression very serious:

"Jiang Ning, can we set off fireworks together on New Year's Eve?"

"Sure," he said.

"Huh? Aren't you supposed to go back to your hometown?" Xue Yuantong asked, stunned.

"Can't I come back?"

Jiang Ning possessed a Spirit Boat, with which he could travel tens of thousands of miles a day, anywhere in the world.

"Oh, right."

The dishes suddenly tasted better to Xue Yuantong.

...

As the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month approached, the festive atmosphere started to build.

In the row of bungalows where Jiang Ning lived, a large family had arrived, coming back from working in the coastal cities to celebrate the New Year.

They were among the early returnees. Like when Jiang Ning used to live in the village, many migrant workers would not come back until the 26th or 27th of the twelfth lunar month.

The family, with a son and daughter just of age, stood out. While their peers were still in college, they had already stepped into society to work.

The family dressed quite stylishly, their coats branded. Listening to their conversation, a single coat could cost seven or eight hundred, and their way of speaking revealed a sense of sophistication.

Only Jiang Ning occasionally caught a glimpse of the weathered look on their faces.

If they could make a living in Yuzhou, who would choose to leave their hometown behind?

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month at eight in the morning, sunlight streamed through the windows into the room.

Jiang Ning got up, activated Spiritual Power, and took a twenty-second hot shower.

Heading to the door, several people were sitting outside the row of bungalows enjoying the sun, among them a couple of unfamiliar faces who had arrived late at night.

Jiang Ning knew they were the migrant workers who had returned.

A man around forty, clad in a leather jacket, squatted on a large stone. Noticing Jiang Ning, he asked several people nearby:

"Whose kid is this? Looks unfamiliar."

The old man, eating from a bowl and drinking soup, replied, "Xiao Gu has rented out her place; that's the young fellow."

"The youngster's not short, just a bit thin," the leather jacket man flicked his cigarette. When he spoke, his eyes kept darting around, giving off the impression of being quite cunning.

The old man gave the man a look. He was an old resident here and knew the leather jacket's background. This grandson had a gambling problem and would take his losses out on his wife at home. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore and left with the kids.

Leather Jacket had set his sights on the Xiao Gu family, a vulnerable household of orphans and widows in these difficult times.

But Xiao Gu was tenacious. She'd driven him out the door. There was a time when he tried to chat up Xiao Tongtong and said inappropriate things, almost leading Xiao Gu to attack him with a cleaver.

After that, he calmed down and went away to work. Now, it seemed, he still harbored ill intentions.

The old man sneered, "This youngster is pretty formidable, not just for show. He's got some real strength. The stone you're squatting on? That young fellow helped me move it here from the field."

"He just picked it up with one hand, like lifting a brick, and carried it over!" The old man marveled. He hadn't seen anyone with such strength before.

"It must weigh at least two hundred pounds, right?" the leather jacket man questioned, surprised.

The old man replied casually, "Probably more than that."

Leather Jacket couldn't help feeling wary. The old man was generally upfront, with no reason to jest.

So, the mischief he intended was nipped in the bud.

The young fellow was heading to Xiao Gu's for a meal, appearing to have a good relationship with them. If he actually stirred up trouble and they came out against him, he wouldn't be a match for them.

That would be embarrassing!