Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 1600 - 875: Reinforcements

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, another day is gone.

The sixth day of the Lunar New Year, 7 AM.

On the eastern horizon, the sun rises as usual, its rays piercing through the thin mist, illuminating a row of bungalows by the river dam.

The mischievous Dongdong puts on a puffed-up cotton jacket, with a work badge hanging around his neck, dressed like an adult.

Except, his face is full of resentment towards the world!

Boss Yang Fei of the rural tourism stands at the door, waving: "Dongdong, come have a bowl of lamb soup, drinking lamb soup will make you taller, stronger, and more robust!"

Upon hearing this, Dongdong is momentarily shaken, but soon his expression turns melancholy again.

No matter how strong he becomes, he remains powerless against the terrifying Jiang Ning.

Yang Fei sees this scene and thinks back to yesterday morning when he was busy in the shop. Jiang Ning suddenly showed up with Dongdong, asking if his strawberry garden was busy.

Of course, it was busy.

So, Jiang Ning handed over Dongdong to him at a daily rate of 150 yuan.

After some simple training and threats, Dongdong started working at the strawberry garden, certificate in hand.

Yang Fei walks up and pats Dongdong, advising him: "Sometimes we can’t resist life’s harshness, so we can choose to transform it into passion. What you love is your life!"

Dongdong clenches his fist, wanting to shatter the world.

Urban area.

In the Old City, the morning gradually awakens, with elderly folks beginning to patronize breakfast shops.

In front of a beef pan-fried bun shop, Guo Kunnan and Dan Kaiquan, along with a few others, sit at the outside table.

Guo Kunnan even takes a photo, posts it in the class group, and muses: "During winter break, who’s sleeping in? Those of us who rise early win at the starting line!"

Song Sheng, secretly reading early, sees the group message and replies: "Those who truly win at the starting line don’t need to wake up early."

Chen Qian, who is also studying: "I will become a finish line they can never reach."

River dam.

Xue Yuantong doesn’t win at the starting line; she is still happily asleep. To a high schooler, winter vacation is just wonderful.

Until 9:30 AM, she finally appears in Chuchu’s kitchen. Upon entering, she immediately smells the aroma of egg fried rice.

Xue Chuchu looks at Jiang Ning in astonishment; she originally wondered when to start cooking, since Tongtong was still asleep, and freshly cooked egg fried rice is the most aromatic.

Just a moment ago, Jiang Ning said it was time to start cooking, and Xue Chuchu immediately donned her apron.

As the egg fried rice is about to be served, Tongtong happens to step into the kitchen, the timing was impeccable.

It’s not the first time this has happened. Why is he always so accurate?

With a hint of doubt, Xue Chuchu holds the spatula, serves the egg fried rice, then carries the bowl with light steps, her slender waist gently swaying, graceful and yet gentle.

Jiang Ning: "Chuchu, don’t move, let Tongtong serve the rice. She does nothing all day."

Tongtong, having just woken up, is too lazy to bicker with Jiang Ning, gives a soft hum to express her discontent.

The main breakfast dish is egg fried rice, paired with soybean milk made with the soy milk machine by Chuchu. The side dish is stir-fried snow peas with sausage, not just any sausage, but homemade sausage from Uncle Zhang found at another vendor’s stall, with lots of meat.

Lastly, there’s the watermelon sauce beans, from the name it sounds like some dark cuisine, but in reality, it’s made by Aunt Gu with a variety of ingredients like onions, ginger, garlic, chili, star anise, cinnamon, fried in oil and then mixed with soybeans and watermelon to make the sauce beans. It’s incredibly flavorful and goes well with rice, Chuchu can eat two bowls of egg fried rice.

Fortunately, Tongtong and Chuchu have good genes, otherwise any other girl might double in size within half a year.

Jiang Ning thinks to himself, Geng Lu mentioned her friend gave her a basket of farm-cured salted duck eggs, planning to bring some for him to taste. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Better find a time to pick them up," Jiang Ning thinks silently.

At the dining table, Tongtong begins to inquire about business matters: "Was Boss Yang’s payment settled?"

"Yes," Jiang Ning says, "Yesterday, Dongdong only worked half a day, Boss Yang is quite generous, originally he wanted to pay for a full day, but I didn’t agree, so he settled for eighty yuan."

Eighty yuan! For high school students in 2015, it’s not a small amount, enough to afford a week of night internet sessions.

Tongtong smiles with joy, and after the excitement, she begins to reflect on hardships: "Oh, I remember my mom telling me before, she had a dream, if she could stay at home doing nothing every day and earn 100 yuan, she could live like that forever."

"Unexpectedly, now, I’ve actually fulfilled that dream." Xue Yuantong sighs with emotion.

Jiang Ning gives a thumbs up: "Surge ahead, young ones!"

Xue Yuantong: "I’ve realized recently, indeed, mastering productivity tools leads to wealth."

Chuchu sees the two chatting away, and teasingly retorts: "Have you two considered Dongdong’s feelings?"

Xue Yuantong responds excitedly, "Yes, yes, of course!"

"Yesterday, Dongdong was playing badminton at the door, Jiang Ning found him, asked him to pull the cart, commission calculated as before, one cent per trip, Dongdong was reluctant, then Jiang Ning asked, ’What do you think your value is?’ Dongdong loudly said he’s worth one yuan, then Jiang Ning sent him to the strawberry garden, to do work worth one yuan."

Jiang Ning kindly says: "This was his self-determined fair price."

Xue Chuchu inwardly muses: ’So the remaining 149 were split between you two?’

Xue Yuantong chattering away while eating, chatting with Jiang Ning, her mind full of strange thoughts. Even if Jiang Ning feigns disinterest, she chatters incessantly.

If it weren’t for Chuchu being around, Jiang Ning would surely have pinched her little cheeks.

"We start school on the twelfth of the Lunar New Year, now there’s still a week until school starts, Jiang Ning, what do you plan to do these days?" she asks, blinking her bright eyes.