Chapter 174: Why Was He Reborn Too?

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Why Was He Reborn Too?

"Did you see the letters?" Uncle Tao peeked his head in with a smile.

"I saw them." Gu Nuan Nuan didn’t dare to think any further. She stuffed both letters into the floral cloth bag she carried with her, then schooled her features, closed the drawer, and walked out, feigning nonchalance. When she saw Zhang Minzhen, she barely managed to crack a smile. "Mom, I have Uncle’s letter. I’ll give it to him when we get back."

"Then you’d better keep it safe. Don’t lose it." Zhang Minzhen didn’t notice anything amiss with Gu Nuan Nuan. She was holding another oil-paper package in her hand. "Let’s go. We’ll browse the market first, then swing by your Aunt Xiuling’s house to pick up your floral fabric."

"Oh."

Gu Nuan Nuan followed her mother absentmindedly. First, they went to her mother’s good friend’s house to get the floral fabric. Then she listened to the two women chat for a good while. They talked about how the supply and marketing cooperative had suddenly gotten a new director, replacing her paternal aunt’s father-in-law. As a result, a whole group of people—including her aunt’s father-in-law and the cooperative’s original accountant—either took early retirement or resigned. Several others, who had been enjoying success by clinging to her aunt’s father-in-law, were also placed on unpaid leave...

Gu Nuan Nuan listened passively, unable to spare a single thought for any of it.

She remained in a similar state for the rest of the day, forcing herself to interact with her mother, barely managing to keep her from noticing something was wrong. Fortunately, Zhang Minzhen was still buzzing with excitement from the news she’d heard from her good friend. She was also busy asking about suitable storefronts for rent, so she never noticed a thing.

All day, Gu Nuan Nuan was in a stupor, her thoughts sluggish. The image of that strong, forceful handwriting kept flashing before her eyes... ’At this time, Luo Hongyi should still be a student at Jingcheng University.’

’She remembered him mentioning once how poor he’d been during his university years. His family could give him very little money, and sometimes he didn’t even dare to eat his fill, afraid that he wouldn’t know where his next meal was coming from. That was, until he started to figure out ways to earn money...’

’But why would he suddenly write to my uncle? In my past life, I never heard that he even knew my uncle... If they don’t know each other, why on earth would he suddenly send a letter to a complete stranger?’

On the way back, Gu Nuan Nuan sat on the rear rack of Zhang Minzhen’s bicycle. After Cao Cao confirmed it couldn’t see the contents of the letter, she continued to battle with herself for hours. Finally, once they had ridden out of town and there was no one else around, she gave in. Enduring a sharp pang of guilt, she quietly tore open the letter—

"Early July brings great misfortune. Avoid travel by vehicle. You must remember this!"

As the simple line of text on the unfolded paper came into view, a clap of thunder seemed to detonate inside Gu Nuan Nuan’s mind. CRACK! She frantically tossed the letter and envelope into Cao Cao’s space, her entire body starting to tremble uncontrollably.

"Master, what’s wrong?" Cao Cao’s worried voice snapped Gu Nuan Nuan out of her daze. Her consciousness entered the space, and she stared at Cao Cao in a panic. "Why? Why was he reborn too?"

"He?"

"Luo Hongyi. He was reborn, too. How can this be?" Even as just a consciousness, Gu Nuan Nuan’s teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.

Cao Cao was every bit as shocked as Gu Nuan Nuan. If it could make facial expressions, its head would be spinning with dizzy swirls. After a long moment, it spoke hesitantly. "...How is that possible? Master, are you sure about this? I haven’t sensed the presence of any of my kin in this world... Could a minuscule crack have appeared in spacetime that he just happened to stumble upon? But that’s a one-in-a-hundred-million-year event! Even a Great Power couldn’t do that. Unless... unless..."

"Unless what?" Gu Nuan Nuan finally managed to stop her trembling and asked, puzzled.

"I don’t know... *sob*... Master, I haven’t reached full maturity yet, so I can’t completely unlock my inherited memories. I just have a vague feeling... that anyone who can be reborn without the help of my kind, or without a heaven-defying Magic Treasure, is no ordinary person. They must have some kind of immense background, an extraordinary origin..." Cao Cao frowned, trying its best to sift through its inherited memories but finding nothing relevant. Finally, it sighed in dejection. "I’m sorry, Master. That’s all I know. I don’t know anything more right now. I can’t help you..."

"..." Gu Nuan Nuan stroked Cao Cao’s leaves and shook her head, crestfallen. "It’s not your fault. You’ve already told me more than enough."

Her consciousness retreated from Cao Cao’s space. She closed her eyes, her mind screaming a single question over and over again. ’What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?’

’Luo Hongyi was reborn, too. Right now, he should still be on campus at Jingcheng University. He won’t be able to come here for a while, since he’s short on cash. But knowing him, if he dared to write a letter like that, he’ll definitely figure out a way to get enough money to come running here soon...’

Gu Nuan Nuan couldn’t help but shudder again. ’With Luo Hongyi’s abilities, I’m sure that once he gets here and discovers how completely different my life is from my past one, he’ll quickly deduce from all the changes that I was reborn, too...’

’What if he’s the same as he was in our last life? What if, no matter how much I resist, he refuses to let me go and traps me in the palm of his hand all over again?’

Her eyes turned red. ’I really thought I could avoid him in this life, that I would never, ever get entangled with him again. I had even resolved to never set foot in Beijing again, just to make sure we would never meet. But... but—’

She bit down hard, and tears she could no longer hold back began to stream down her face. Her heart was filled with a sense of injustice. ’Why? Even after being reborn, why can’t I escape his shadow?’

By the time they returned to Lihua Village, Gu Nuan Nuan had regained her composure on the surface. She found her uncle and silently handed him the other letter from her cloth bag.

"Why are your eyes so red?" Zhang Wei Qiang glanced at Gu Nuan Nuan’s face. He took the letter she offered and patted her on the head, confused. "Did you see something you wanted that your mother wouldn’t buy for you?"

"No, that’s not it. The wind was just really strong on the way back, and something flew into my eye. I had to rub it for a long time before it felt a bit better." Gu Nuan Nuan forced down her sorrow and repeated the excuse.

"It’s true, the wind was unusually strong today. I nearly got something in my own eyes while I was cycling back. I thought Nuannuan would be fine behind me, since I was blocking the wind, but I guess not... She didn’t say a word the whole way, so I had no idea." Zhang Minzhen said as she walked over, having quickly washed her hands and face. She let out a sigh.

"Oh, so that’s what happened. How did your search for a storefront go today?" It dawned on Zhang Wei Qiang. Seeing Gu Nuan Nuan run off, his suspicions were allayed. He looked down and began to open the letter, casually asking Zhang Minzhen the question.

"We looked at a few, and they were all pretty decent. I’ll give you the details tonight, and we can all decide which one is best. Brother, I did hear a bit of news today..." Zhang Minzhen glossed over the topic of the storefront and proceeded to excitedly recount what she’d heard about Liu Donghai. Then, a mix of excitement and indignation in her voice, she asked, "Brother, why do you think they just got to retire or resign?"

After listening, Zhang Wei Qiang’s brows furrowed deeply. He mulled it over for a long moment before saying, "There’s probably a lot more to this than what it seems... From now on, don’t you mention any of this to anyone. Do you understand?"

He watched her intently until she nodded, only then letting out a sigh of relief.

’A moment’s thought told him that the forces at play here were likely beyond his current ability to handle. He had a large family to look after; he couldn’t selfishly endanger them all because of a moment’s impulse. No matter how unwilling he was, he had to set this matter aside for now. He would have to wait patiently for an opportunity to deal with the hidden figures pulling the strings...’