Chapter 78: Chapter 69: Debt
The first man to speak, however, seemed to see right into Xiao Man’s heart. He didn’t let the gentle-voiced man interject, instead speaking in a scolding tone. "Little girl, your grandpa should have told you that when adults are talking, children should be quiet and not interrupt! Right, old sir?"
"Ah? Ah! That’s right, that’s right," Grandpa hurriedly replied.
"Then can you tell us why the two of you, one old and one young, are traveling by night? Are you in a hurry for something?"
The man’s voice was actually quite pleasant, rich and melodious, but his attitude made Xiao Man instinctively dislike him. ’What’s so great about him?’ she thought. ’The Spirit Lord’s voice is much nicer than his!’
Somewhere in the space, a certain Spirit Lord: ...
Good thing it was just a wisp of his Primordial Spirit, or he would have sneezed.
Although the young hothead was impulsive and immature, he wasn’t stupid. He immediately picked up on the other man’s line of questioning and began to interrogate them. "Old sir, this road leads straight to Wancheng. You’ve come from the city, haven’t you? What’s the emergency? Do you have any proof?"
Grandpa quickly said, "Well, it’s like this. A cousin of mine is sick, so we went to see him. We came this morning and have to hurry back home tonight. The production team needs the ox-cart to transport rice tomorrow..."
"So you didn’t come from Wancheng?"
"Huh? You just said... Ah, that’s right, we were visiting relatives!" Grandpa suddenly pretended to be hard of hearing.
"Then where do your relatives live?"
"Just in the village up ahead."
"Which village up ahead?"
"Pula Village." Luckily, Grandpa was somewhat familiar with the area.
"There is a Pula Village up ahead. It’s a whole team, with several smaller production squads..."
"That’s enough, Xiao Feng," said the man with the gentle voice. "It’s perfectly normal for relatives to visit each other for emergencies. This old brother, may I ask your surname?"
Grandpa replied, "You’re too kind. My surname is Mo."
"Mo?" The rich voice interjected again. "Old sir, where is your home?"
"Er, I live in... Liutang Team, Polin Commune, Fengling County!"
Xiao Man was speechless. ’Grandpa, it’s a miracle you’ve been doing this for over a decade without getting into trouble! You’re worried about getting caught for secretly selling herbs, so you dare to give a fake address, but you refuse to give a fake name!’
The rich voice sounded thoughtful. "Fengling County... has Mos as well?"
"In our region, Mo is a major surname. You can find them in every county!" the gentle voice said with a laugh. "Little Tang, this grandfather and granddaughter still have a long way to go. Let’s not hold them up. Let them be on their way."
The man called Little Tang stopped his questioning and reached out to support the gentle-voiced man. "Old Secretary, how are you feeling? Is your stomach pain any better? Why don’t we sit by the roadside for a bit? Xiao Chen and the others should be back soon... It’s all my fault. I insisted on dragging you on this trip, and we rushed so much. I’ve worn you out!"
The Old Secretary replied, "What’s a little night travel? Back when I was young, this was a daily occurrence! I’ve run up and down every road on both banks of the Qing River in Qinghe Commune, Fengling County, no less than a few hundred times. I’m familiar with the surroundings and the people. Whenever there’s heavy rain in the brother province upstream, our Qing River suffers. The situation isn’t too serious this time. I wanted to come with you to take a look and give you the lay of the land, so you’d have a better grasp of things... Ah, Little Tang, the revolution needs good comrades like you, full of energy and decisive action, to get things done for the people. I feel at ease with you taking over!"
"It’s all thanks to your guidance, Old Secretary!"
"Hehehe!"
The two men turned and walked back. The young hothead waved at Grandpa and Xiao Man. "Get on your way!"
The gentle-voiced man called out after them, "Take care, Brother Mo! If you’re not in a rush, go slowly and be safe! And little girl, there will be cars out at night, so let’s not sing and dance on the road, okay? Sit tight in the cart, and you can sing all you want when you get home, how about it?"
Xiao Man replied, "Okay, thank you!"
Grandpa also said, "Then we’ll be going. You all take your time!"
The grandfather and granddaughter climbed onto the ox-cart. After they had gone a dozen or so paces, Grandpa finally let out a sigh of relief. "Whew, good thing we didn’t run into them last night!"
"Yeah, lucky for us!" Xiao Man replied distractedly.
Grandpa thought Xiao Man was tired and told her to lie down in the cart and get some sleep. After running into those people, the dead of night didn’t feel quite so cold and desolate.
Xiao Man lay down, but she didn’t sleep. Her mind was racing.
’If I’m not mistaken, that Little Tang just now was him—my so-called biological father!’
Xiao Man had clearly overheard the conversation between Wu Xiaowen and Tang Yaxuan at the post office: Wu Xiaowen was about to be transferred to the provincial city, and she and her daughter would go first, while Tang Qingyun would remain in Wancheng for another year or two.
’That means, in my past life, Tang Qingyun was in Wancheng for those one or two years, but he never once had the slightest inclination to go look for the biological child he had lost!’
’It wasn’t just Wu Xiaowen who despised her for being ugly; in truth, Tang Qingyun didn’t want her either!’
’How cruel fate was! It wasn’t enough to treat her like that. It had to strike another vicious blow against her calloused heart, letting her learn this truth so she could be wounded all over again, bleeding and raw!’
’And that Tang Yaxuan, nestled affectionately in Wu Xiaowen’s arms... her every plea was like a hammer, striking Xiao Man’s skull again and again!’
’In my previous life, Xiao Man didn’t learn the truth of her birth until she was twenty-five. But Tang Yaxuan already knows they were switched. Tang Yaxuan can use every trick in the book to leverage their mother-daughter bond for affection and do everything in her power to stop Xiao Man from returning to her biological parents. Yet Xiao Man doesn’t even have the slightest chance to show her face and fight back!’
’It’s unfair. So incredibly unfair!’
Xiao Man had never thought about it so much before, but after today and tonight, she suddenly felt a sense of imbalance—
’Tang Yaxuan, is there also an unknown debt between us?’
In a daze, Xiao Man felt herself enter the space. She jolted and quickly sat up. Before her stood the dark-faced Spirit Lord, his arms crossed. "If you have time to be emotional, you’d be better off training!"
Xiao Man asked quickly, "This isn’t my physical body, is it? If I suddenly disappeared, Grandpa would be terrified!"
The Spirit Lord looked at her with contempt. "You can also train with your consciousness. Don’t be lazy! Can’t you think in the right direction for once? Didn’t I implant several Jade Tokens into your mind? They contain medical texts, more than enough for you to learn and use. There’s no need to cling to the insignificant Sun Family!"
Xiao Man lowered her eyes. "I can’t just inexplicably know medicine, can I?"
"Aren’t there medical schools?"
"What if I’m too brilliant? The teachers at medical school wouldn’t be able to produce someone like me. But with Elder Sun’s reputation as an Imperial Physician to act as a cover..."
"Suit yourself. But I must warn you: while I have never seen any truly great masters on this continent of yours, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist! Moreover, there are many strange and extraordinary people here. If you’re too ostentatious and unrestrained, and someone discovers you and comes after you, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself!"
"I understand. Thank you for the advice, Spirit Lord!"
"While your body is in the outside world, you can send your consciousness in here to train. Becoming powerful is your safest bet. At dawn the day after tomorrow, a vortex will appear again at the third layer of the Spiritual Spring. Be ready to come in and take a drink! My time here is short. I can only guard you two more times."
"Okay, thank you!"
