Chapter 217: Luo Xiaohu

Chapter 217: Chapter 217: Luo Xiaohu

"How could this be?"

’How could everything be so completely different from my past life? This time around, my mother-in-law wasn’t disfigured because Nuannuan pulled her away at the critical moment.’

So, he wasn’t even surprised when he saw with his own eyes that Nuannuan’s uncle ended up not taking the bus. Instead, he took Nuannuan to her grandparents’ house by bicycle, and in the process, they accidentally saved an entire busload of people.

He had a vague inkling of the truth but couldn’t bring himself to face it. He didn’t even dare to appear before Gu Nuan Nuan. It wasn’t until he had been back at Jingcheng University for some time, wandering in a daze, that Luo Hongyi’s mind finally started working properly again.

The moment his mind cleared, Luo Hongyi guessed that the letter had likely given him away. Gu Nuan Nuan probably knew that he had been reborn, too.

A strange expression flickered across his face. ’I can’t believe I’m not the only one who came back. How did Nuannuan have the same incredible experience?’

He slowly replayed everything he had witnessed and carefully investigated, mulling it all over. He then recalled something from his past life he’d nearly forgotten: how he could never find a few of Nuannuan’s everyday trinkets and her favorite book. His brow furrowed. The more he thought about it, the more he suspected that Nuannuan had a little secret of her own, even in their past life. ’Maybe the reason we were both reborn is because...’ The more he considered it, the more certain he was that his guess was correct.

"Nuannuan, I don’t care what secrets you have. In any case, you’re still mine in this life. You can only be mine—"

He murmured under his breath, his heart overflowing with tenderness and an absolute resolve to have her. He didn’t care if Nuannuan was hiding a secret from him; if she didn’t want to tell him, he could simply pretend not to know. At that moment, Luo Hongyi had completely cast aside the notion he once had in his past life of "generously" letting Gu Nuan Nuan go.

He couldn’t let go. He could never bear to lose her.

The mere thought of letting Nuannuan go was so painful it felt like his heart was being gouged out, leaving him unable to breathe. He didn’t linger. Carefully folding the letter, he strode back to his dormitory. He immediately took out a pen and paper and wrote another letter in one go. After finishing, he read it over carefully to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, then sealed it in an envelope with a smear of glue.

’Hopefully, this letter will be enough to change Xiao Hu’s fate in this life. I can’t let him fall through the cracks again just because I’m away at university and there’s no one to keep an eye on him. Last time, with nothing to do, he ended up in town, fell in with the wrong crowd, and got into a vicious fight. He died an untimely death at such a young age... he never even got to use the job placement I went through so much trouble to get for him.’

「Half a month later.」

Far away in a small village in Tingyang Guangming County, Luo Xiaohu collected a letter from the village committee. He found a secluded spot to read it, then pinched the five-yuan bill tucked inside, his face a mask of resignation. "Boss, you want me to go to Liuyun Town, and you came up with such a humiliating way for me to sneak in and ’help’ at their shop... WAH! This is what I get for hitching my wagon to the wrong star! It’s a tragic fate! WAH!

’Ah, whatever. I’m all alone now anyway, with no one to answer to but the boss. Now that he’s off to university in Beijing, I wasn’t planning on staying in this dump much longer myself. Hmph, what’s so great about a place where you can’t even get a decent meal? Liuyun Town it is, then. At least little sister-in-law’s family runs a meat bun shop. If I stay there, I’ll definitely get to eat meat buns all the time.’

At the thought of meat buns, Luo Xiaohu practically started drooling. ’Meat buns... How long has it been since I’ve had any meat? Ever since the boss left for Beijing... It’s not that I don’t have the money for a single bun, but I just can’t bring myself to spend what little I have on such a luxury.’

’Especially Zhang’s Buns. I’ve smelled them before. There’s a branch in the town over here, and it’s always packed with customers. Just from the smell, I feel like if I could eat meat buns for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I wouldn’t get tired of them even after a whole year...’

’I heard little sister-in-law was the one who came up with the recipe for Zhang’s Buns. She’s really something else, so capable at only ten years old.’ At this point, Luo Xiaohu’s mind was completely filled with thoughts of delicious meat buns. He didn’t spare a thought for why his boss would fall for a ten-year-old girl from a county several provinces away, or why the boss had ordered him to protect her as his "little sister-in-law" and not let anyone bully her, and even to write him regular letters about her daily life.

’So what if it’s humiliating?’ Luo Xiaohu thought. ’People will take a bullet for their brothers. What’s the big deal about me losing a little face and acting pitiful?’ Having successfully convinced himself, Luo Xiaohu cast off his psychological burden and puffed out his chest.

A few days later, a small beggar in a tattered, drafty cotton-padded jacket appeared silently at the entrance of Zhang’s Bun Shop in Liuyun Town. The little beggar didn’t actively ask for alms. He just curled up quietly in a corner by the entrance, occasionally staring with longing eyes at the steaming, fragrant meat buns in the steamer, then licking his lips and rubbing his stomach. Passersby who took pity on him would sometimes drop a coin or two into the broken bowl in front of him.

"Minzhen, look at that poor child. So young and all alone... His parents are probably gone. Sigh, I’m going to give him a couple of meat buns." It was nearly noon, and the crowd of customers had thinned out. With a moment of leisure, Wen Xiu noticed the little beggar at the door, and her heart went out to him. ’He looks to be about the same age as my grandsons, doesn’t he? Poor thing, a child with no parents.’

"Mom, why don’t I go in a little while? I’ll get him a bowl of water, too. The buns are filling, but they’ll be hard to get down dry. Look, his lips are all chapped. He must be thirsty," Zhang Minzhen said after poking her head out for a look.

"All right, you go ahead," Wen Xiu nodded.

Zhang Minzhen quickly filled a bowl with water and grabbed two meat buns. After a moment’s thought, she added two hard-boiled eggs as well. She went outside and crouched in front of the little beggar. Seeing him shrink back timidly, she couldn’t help but smile. "What are you afraid of? It’s broad daylight. It’s not like anyone is going to snatch you up and eat you. You’re thirsty, aren’t you? Here, have some water first."

She handed him the bowl. Watching him cup it with his filthy hands to drink, she sighed. "You’d better come inside with me. Your hands are so dirty. What if you get sick from grabbing food with them before you wash up?"

Luo Xiaohu froze mid-sip, and his eyes suddenly welled up. He frantically blinked, using the bowl to hide his face as he tried to keep the tears from falling. As far as he could remember, no one had shown concern for such a small thing—like whether he washed his hands before eating—since his mother, who had died when he was very young. Not even the boss. The boss was good to him, very good, but that was different from this kind of meticulous care that paid attention to the smallest details...