She Only Cares About Cultivation

If it weren’t for the deep impression she held of him, still lingering from the wartime when he wore that dashing military uniform and combat boots, it would be difficult to associate him with the person before her.

"You..., what would you like to exchange?"

The man spoke calmly: "Anything that can be exchanged."

It seemed the pocket watch in his hand wasn’t worth much, just a bag of ordinary food items, this indifferent attitude indeed made her feel uncomfortable inside. Although she might guess the reason behind such a change, she still felt some sympathy.

In the end, she gave him one jin of refined rice, two jin of millet, two jin of cornmeal, and five jin of mixed vegetable coarse grains.

This much?

When the man, in shock, lifted his head to look at her, she copied his demeanor and replied calmly.

"This is what you deserve; hurry up and pack it up and leave, it’s late, I should also be on my way."

The man glanced at the pile of junk surrounding her, frowned slightly, seemingly wanting to ask if she needed help, but thinking about the consequences of associating with him, he silently hoisted his small cloth bag and turned away.

An Yi, in the corner where she hid, used her eyes to observe her surroundings, ensuring no one was watching before storing everything in the space. Then, she waited for a while and stealthily slipped into the darkness.

Nowadays, night falls early, she had a flashlight for illumination. When the flashlight was placed upside down on the table, her appearance was somewhat frightening; many people even dared not approach. Had she not spoken to summon them, they would have been scared to death. After the transaction, she turned off the light, immersed in pitch darkness, granting her an excellent opportunity to hide, even with the surrounding snow painting the scenery, it couldn’t stave off the darkness; in the cold winter night devoid of streetlights and stars, who would venture out in sub-zero temperatures unless necessary?

That man...

He was the soldier whom she had returned the wax pill information to years ago; seeing him now, he seemed to have suffered quite a bit.

Logically, someone like him, a war hero, should have been a leader post-war, in a favourable position. Yet, unexpectedly, she encountered him like this; she wanted to follow him and see where he lived, but he evaded her, vanished under the moonlight just like her, leaving no trace.

Considering his age, he couldn’t be more than in his early forties, yet how does he appear so much older than her?

But then she thought it through, relieved, as people of this era generally had a low standard of living. Compared to her, who drank spiritual spring water and consumed space food to maintain her health, how could they compare?

In the space, she often didn’t wear her mask, though wearing it for extended periods made her skin sensitive. But the advantage was her fair and beautiful appearance, truly stunning. As plain as An Yi appeared, Yi Shui was equally beautiful. What woman doesn’t love beauty? However, her identity had numerous unclear aspects; if anything happens in the future, she could perform a golden cicada shedding its skin.

Yet, while imagining sounds wonderful, reality feels unimpressive because Yi Shui lacked an identity. For someone with such an unclear background, how would they declare their identity and household registration? Without an identity and registration, how could she buy a house and settle down?

Therefore, protecting An Yi now equates to protecting Yi Shui.

An Yi left Dingyuan County in mid-November and returned only after the New Year in 1955, nearly two months later. Her haul included exchanges for many valuable items, a full box of jewelry, paintings, and dozens of sets of premium large and small furniture.

The space released only the materials accumulated during wartime, affecting not the resources stored after liberation.

Upon returning to Dingyuan County, the weather grew increasingly cold, the snowfall getting heavier, halting all transportation, not to mention bicycles. People’s sole travel method was Route 11, walking.

The snow reached the base of her thighs, the surrounding landscape painted in white, hard to distinguish between places; she could only rely on roadside trees and marker stones to navigate. She wore thick leather pants over waterproof clothing and trudged home arduously, resting after half-hour intervals in space, partly to prevent frostbite and also due to exhaustion...

Such thick snow opened her eyes to the novelty, she understood why even an uninhabited house needs a bed-stove: how else to melt snow?

Before heading back to the countryside, she already had the house in the county heated, the hall stoked for three days, and the east and west wing rooms each warmed for two days. Once the snow melted significantly, she began her journey home.

The typical route from the county to the countryside would take about an hour by bike, but walking and plowing through snow extended her ordeal to two full days. She rested intermittently, joining others on the same path since no alternative methods existed.

The snow continued falling, so even clearing snow was limited to only village roads; none foresaw anyone trekking back through snow in this weather!

Thus, even upon An Yi’s return to the village, no one noticed. It was already dark by then.

In such a situation, Anning couldn’t reveal herself; she couldn’t explain the journey, how she carried a large child through such snow, not realistic, better to leave the explanation till spring.

An Ran cried immediately upon seeing her after two months, her pitiful expression amused Qiuxia.

"Little Anan, you really hurt your Second Aunt and Third Aunt, weren’t we good to you? See your mom, and forget our kindness?"

Caihua cried and laughed: "Sis, she was fine with us living over there, but at night, in a new place, she seemed very unadaptable, cried uncontrollably. Once she was brought over here, she stopped crying. At night, just one change of diaper and a feeding, she slept till dawn peacefully, you taught her well, such a child even knows to care for others."

An Yi deeply missed her adorable baby, hugging An’an tightly after changing clothes and washing hands, kissing her fervently.

"Does your ugly mom smell good? Such pretty aunts to accompany you, yet you don’t appreciate them. How about it, did these two months cause trouble for you?"

"Look at what sis said, we are family, can’t speak as separate households? During the day, we taught and played with An’an; the house was warm, while others attended literacy classes; we stayed home to preview the new tasks you gave us. Despite stumbling over some details, we managed to grasp eighth-grade courses, now you can explain thoroughly, and it should be fine."

An Yi nodded, "I briefly checked your notes, great work; you know it’s treated seriously. Keep at it, now you’ve surpassed sixty percent of the population nationwide, soon onto high school or vocational school, major enterprises may scramble to hire you. As long as overall skills are impressive, securing a junior position isn’t difficult. At critical moments, education might prove more useful than registration."

Currently, their class has only about ten students, never reaching twenty, and numbers decrease yearly. According to them, the higher you go, the harder it gets academically, the family burden increases. What household doesn’t have seven or eight kids, a dozen mouths to feed?

How many backed by someone providing food, drink, and educational support like them? Thus, labeling them unfortunate might be inaccurate; rather, they succeeded against odds, life obstacles paving the way for future paths. Endure and surmount this hurdle; success will be close.