She Only Cares About Cultivation

Honestly, relying solely on the two of them is quite worrisome.

There is no confidence.

An Yi seemed to see through their thoughts: "I’ll send you to high school, and that’s my mission accomplished. Once you’re in high school, whatever you learn, you learn. I just hope you can get into college. You don’t need to have too much psychological burden. How many from a county get admitted each year? Everyone who goes to school wants to attend college, but how many actually do? The reason I’m saying this is to pressure you a bit. After all, as the saying goes, ’You’ll never know your potential unless you push yourself.’ You won’t have to worry about anything for the next few years, just focus on studying. Although it sounds nagging, it’s the necessary advice on your path to growth. Only by getting into college can our family truly stand firm in Liujiatun. Only then will those who look down on us feel the sting on their faces!"

"Sister, with your good foundation, aren’t you planning to take the exam?"

An Yi shook her head, "I won’t. From now on, our family’s model is that you work hard outside, and I will stay here with the child, guarding this small piece of land. In the future, if you have the ability to support An Ran, we will settle her in the city as well. I don’t want to leave Dingyuan County in this lifetime. At most, I’ll move to the county when the time is right. I won’t consider anywhere else. You are different. If you can go to a big city, you should."

However, An Yi didn’t know that the thoughts flashing through the sisters’ minds were all —

"Wherever you are, we’ll be. There’s nothing wrong with the county, why must we go to a big city?"

——

On New Year’s Eve, An Yi’s family cooked a tray full of dumplings. When the plump white dumplings floated in the boiling water, the three sisters all had smiles on their faces. What a happy moment this was. In this era, no one had other thoughts; they had no particular desires for clothes or things. The only hope was to fill their stomachs. Even if it wasn’t fine food but coarse grains, just being able to eat enough was a blessing from the heavens.

"We had dishes at noon, let’s keep it simple tonight and just have dumplings,"

Although only dumplings were mentioned, An Yi still served small plates of pickled green beans, spicy taro sprouts, sour and spicy seaweed strips, and spicy radish strips, each a small plate, and made a sauce with chili oil, light soy sauce, vinegar, and mashed garlic.

"The dumpling filling isn’t salty, and combined with these flavors, it’s just right. Come on, let’s eat to our heart’s content today. After dumplings, everyone has a bowl of noodle soup; the original soup brings out the original flavor. Delicious!"

Tonight’s dumplings had three flavors. The only difference was that An Ran’s dumplings had thin skins and were small. After adding shrimp, they turned red and were easy to distinguish, so they specially cooked her six, to wish her a smooth future.

They all ate pork with scallion and pork with sauerkraut. Everyone had a big bowl, sat around the small table by the stove, with pickles and their respective sauces, took a bite of the juicy, tender dumplings without breaking the skin—simply delicious.

"Indeed, food is never better than dumplings!"

"After dumplings, there’s nothing as comfortable as lying down!"

The sisters exchanged knowing smiles, simultaneously looking at little An Ran. She was holding her bowl, grabbing the little dumplings that were just the right temperature with her hands, and eating them with great satisfaction. Happiness was written all over her face. An Yi watched this beautiful scene and couldn’t help but sigh, isn’t this what life is all about?

Generation after generation, this is how it is passed down. The old ones are always working for the young ones—that’s the goal of life’s struggle, unlike the Qian Family, where a wife died for giving birth, yet they could disregard it and throw away the child she exchanged with her life. Who knows, in a few years, they might even have a child.

No, she can’t let them off like this.

She must find an opportunity to avenge the two children, to vent this anger for their biological mother.

The An Family had no relatives, and those who needed visiting had been visited before the New Year. During the New Year, they couldn’t shut their doors. If any children came over, they’d give a candy as a gesture, but of course, only to those who were pleasing. Those who didn’t wish any good words and just asked for candy, she wouldn’t indulge them.

Unexpectedly, this also got her into trouble. Some of the kids who didn’t get candy went home to complain, and their parents came over to settle scores with her.

"Teacher An, why did everyone else get candy, but not my child? Is it because you look down on us?"

This big aunt had run into her a few times, had also seen her in the literacy class, and was quite gossipy—not a kind person.