Time Travel: My Comfortable Life After Going to the Countryside

"Brother Liu, you won't dislike me, will you?" He Xiaoqin asked cautiously, clinging to Liu Xiangyang.

"How could I possibly dislike you? I feel so sorry for you." Liu Xiangyang hugged her tightly.

He Xiaoqin was originally an orphan. Her parents passed away when she was very young, and she lived with her grandmother. Later, she was abducted by her current parents, but her adoptive parents are not good people; they are human traffickers.

But karma is a wheel, and because they had done too many bad things, they were unable to have offspring.

They adopted He Xiaoqin so that she could carry on her adoptive father's family line.

Until last year, those two beasts got drunk and argued, spilling the beans, which He Xiaoqin overheard.

He Xiaoqin endured until she graduated from high school, then stole more than 100 yuan of their savings and went to sign up to become an educated youth. She came to Dongsheng Village and met Liu Xiangyang.

"Do you hate them?"

"I don't know. I was abducted by them when I was just over two years old. In my memory, they have always been my parents. I don't know." After He Xiaoqin finished speaking, her face was covered with tears. Liu Xiangyang gently wiped away her tears and said softly.

"Xiaoqin, I will do everything in my power to help you find your grandmother. If you want to take revenge on them, I will also do everything in my power to help you take revenge on those two people."

"From now on, I will be your support and will never let you suffer any more grievances. As long as you are willing, I will always protect you."

"Brother Liu, AI me." He Xiaoqin took the initiative to kiss him.

Outside, the wind howled, and the firewood in the stove crackled and popped as it burned.

Forty minutes later, the wind outside stopped, and the firewood was burned to white ash, and it stopped making noise.

Liu Xiangyang discovered He Xiaoqin's formidable strength; since she was a virgin, she had been able to withstand him twice, and judging from her appearance, she could do it again.

Liu Xiangyang felt challenged, and the wind outside picked up again, even more fiercely than before.

This time, He Xiaoqin was defeated and begged for mercy in a hoarse voice: "Brother Liu, I surrender, I surrender." Her voice trembled at the end.

Liu Xiangyang discovered that He Xiaoqin had another peculiar trait; as the old saying goes, women are made.

This really excited him; he thought he'd met the real deal.

Several minutes later, He Xiaoqin woke up covered in sweat, looking as if she had been pulled out of the water.

Looking at her own masterpiece, she said shyly, "Brother Liu, what should we do now?"

"It's alright, the mat will be dried soon, I'll just take a shower when I get back."

"Will we make it in time? What time is it? We don't want to miss eating dumplings and setting off firecrackers," He Xiaoqin asked anxiously.

Liu Xiangyang checked his watch. "We'll make it. It's only 11:30. There's still half an hour before the firecrackers start. You boil some water first, and we'll wash up and then go together."

He Xiaoqin went to boil water. He wrung out the handkerchief, looked at the plum blossom pattern on it, and put it into his space with a smile. There were six other handkerchiefs with plum blossom patterns hanging inside.

Just then, he suddenly felt that he was a little different. He carefully examined himself but found nothing different. He shook his head and ignored it.

After He Xiaoqin boiled water, the two washed themselves briefly, and then Liu Xiangyang carried He Xiaoqin home.

Upon reaching the courtyard gate, He Xiaoqin struggled to get down. The two entered the house and found the women still fast asleep. They woke them up one by one. Liu Xiangyang went to prepare firecrackers, while the women boiled water to cook dumplings.

Liu Xiangyang took the firecrackers and came outside the courtyard. He was startled to see several children carrying homemade lanterns guarding the gate.

A few children grinned as they looked at the firecrackers in his hand. "Brother Liu, we came here to collect your firecrackers. Your firecrackers have been set off for the longest time in the village."

Seeing their faces red from the cold, Liu Xiangyang told them to wait, took out a string of small firecrackers, divided them into three portions, and handed them to them.

"It's so cold, why did your parents let you come out? You should go back now, don't catch a cold. If there's no sound, come back early tomorrow morning to pick them up."

"Thank you, Brother Liu." The three little boys happily took the firecrackers and ran back home. At least they had toys for the next few days.

Liu Xiangyang lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and handed the cigarette butt to the fuse.

The sound of firecrackers suddenly rang out, spreading throughout the entire village, and firecrackers also went off in other houses.

Liu Xiangyang took a deep breath, the pleasant smell of gunpowder filling his mind—this was the essence of everyday life.

He turned and went back inside. The dumplings were already cooked. When Xue Bingbing saw him come in, her face still had a slight flush from being drunk, but her eyes were much clearer.

As she ladled dumplings into the bowl, she smiled and said, "Xiangyang, when we were making dumplings this afternoon, we secretly put a hard candy in one of them. There's an old saying that whoever finds this 'sugar dumpling' will have a sweet and smooth year ahead."

"Sweet dumplings! I want to eat them! I hope I can go back to the city next year!" Jiang Xiaowen wished.

Zuo Qingqing: "I hope Brother Xiangyang can take me hunting in the mountains again next year."

Roland leaned against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), her face still flushed with drunkenness, and looked at Liu Xiangyang with seductive eyes: "I just hope all my wishes can come true."

Liu Xiangyang nodded to Roland.

He Xiaoqin moved closer, her steps still a little unsteady, her cheeks flushed more than the others. "I hope we can still spend the New Year together next year."

"That's a good wish! Then it's settled, we'll spend the New Year together again next year!" Xue Bingbing exclaimed.

Liu Xiangyang looked at them and took the full bowl of dumplings Xue Bingbing handed him: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's eat! Let's see who's lucky!"

Everyone picked up their chopsticks and ate the steaming dumplings, feeling warm and cozy inside. Each person ate carefully, with a mix of anticipation and nervousness before biting into each dumpling.

"Ouch! That's a hard piece of something!" Jiang Xiaowen suddenly cried out, spitting out a small piece of something from her mouth. Under the oil lamp, it was indeed the crystal-clear fruit hard candy.

She paused for a moment, then burst into laughter, "It's mine! It's mine! I'll be able to find a good boyfriend next year!"

"Congratulations!" everyone cheered.

At this moment, He Xiaoqin, who had been quietly eating dumplings, suddenly let out a soft "ah" and used her chopsticks to pick something out of her bowl—another identical fruit hard candy.

"Why are there two candies?" Zuo Qingqing blinked.

Xue Bingbing and Luo Lan exchanged a glance, and Xue Bingbing smiled, "Luo Lan and I each put one in. I thought there were quite a few of us, and one candy wouldn't be enough to share the good fortune, so I secretly put in an extra one. I didn't expect that you two would get to eat them all."

"Xiaowen, it seems you'll be going back to the city next year," Zuo Qingqing teased her.

"Hehe, you never know." Jiang Xiaowen looked happy.

"It seems that God has arranged for us to spend the New Year together again next year, right, Xiaoqin?" Roland said, carefully looking He Xiaoqin over.