Reborn in 1985, starting from the mountains of Northwest China

"Go to sleep if you're tired."

Chen Feng gently tapped Xiao Shan on the back of the head.

Xiaoshan obediently hummed in agreement, rubbed his eyes, and walked into the house. He stopped at the door, looked back at the wooden bucket, seemingly a little worried, but was quickly overcome by sleepiness and crawled into the house.

The courtyard fell silent instantly, with only the rustling of the wind through the treetops and the occasional soft sound of water from the wooden tub.

Chen Feng did not go into the house immediately.

He picked up the wooden bucket, walked to the chicken coop in the corner of the yard, poured half of the water into the vegetable garden ditch, leaving only a shallow layer of water, just enough for the fish to swim in, and then pulled a handful of dry straw from the corner of the wall to cover it.

"Just stay put," he muttered under his breath.

Back inside, the oil lamp had been dimmed.

Lin Xiuzheng stuffed the half-finished shoe soles into a basket and got up to tidy the bed.

The two little ones were already fast asleep. Xiaoshan was a restless sleeper, with one leg already straddling Xiaoyue. Xiaoyue was squeezed into a ball, but she didn't wake up, only wrinkling her little nose.

Chen Feng walked over, gently moved Xiao Shan's legs apart, and tucked the blanket around Xiao Yue.

"Are you tired today?" Lin Xiu asked in a low voice, taking off her coat and draping it over the rack.

"Not tired."

Chen Feng shook his head, took off his shoes, got into bed, and lay down on the outer side. "Seeing them happy makes me feel at ease."

Lin Xiu blew out the lamp and crawled into bed.

In the darkness, their breathing mingled together, rising and falling, yet it was a comforting sound.

After a long while, Chen Feng thought Lin Xiu had fallen asleep and was about to turn over when he heard a very soft voice beside him.

"When I go to the market... I want to buy my mother a new pair of shoes."

Lin Xiu's father died a long time ago.

Lin Xiu's mother and her three older brothers were the ones who raised her single-handedly.

However, her family home was quite far away, so Lin Xiu rarely went back.

Chen Feng understood the hardships his wife had endured.

"it is good."

Chen Feng agreed after hearing this.

He reached out and, in the darkness, groped for Lin Xiu's hand, which was resting beside the pillow.

His hands were somewhat rough, with tiny needle marks left from sewing shoe soles on his fingertips.

"Buy a pair of warm clothes, and also buy two feet of floral fabric to make a new dress for our mother."

Lin Xiu's fingers twitched slightly, and she gripped his palm in return, without saying anything more.

Moonlight streamed through the window paper, casting a bright patch of light on the ground.

Chen Feng closed his eyes, listening to the steady, long breathing beside him, and felt a sense of peace he had never felt before.

In this lifetime, I've finally lived the right life.

The next morning, Chen Feng was woken up by a blanket that was thrown at him. The corner of the blanket was draped softly over his nose and carried a faint smell of buckwheat.

He opened his eyes and saw Xiaoshan standing by the kang (a heated brick bed), his hands still frozen in mid-air, in the same position as when he threw it.

Seeing that he was awake, Xiaoshan's dark, grape-like eyes darted around twice, and then he quickly put his hands behind his back.

It's obviously two kids playing around.

Chen Feng looked at him without saying a word, pulled the blanket off his face, folded it twice, and placed it on the headboard.

Where is your mother?

"Mother is in the kitchen," Xiaoshan's voice trailed off.

"Mom said we're cleaning the house today, so let's take out the things we don't need first."

He paused, then said in a voice so low it was barely audible, "I'll just hold it up for my sister to see."

Chen Feng glanced at him.

"It was an accident, Dad."

Xiaoshan quickly added, then lowered his head, revealing only a tuft of hair sticking up from sleep at the crown of his head, pointing towards the roof.

Chen Feng glanced at Xiao Yue standing to the side and couldn't help but sigh.

Daughters are so much better!

Chen Feng ignored the two of them.

He threw off the covers and got out of bed, shuffling along in his worn-out cloth shoes to the doorway, glancing towards the kitchen.

Lin Xiu was squatting in front of the stove adding firewood, her back to him. Her shoulder blades twitched under her thin old shirt, like two butterflies with their wings folded.

The water in the pot was boiling, bubbling and steaming, shrouding half of her face in a misty fog, obscuring her expression.

He didn't say anything, turned around and walked back to the bedside, squatted down, and pulled the two gray socks with exposed toes off his son's feet.

Xiaoshan didn't dodge. He held onto his father's shoulder, stood on one foot, and raised the other high, swaying back and forth like a sparrow perched on a power line.

"Dad, change that one too." He looked down at his bare right foot. "It got hurt last night, from my big toe."

Chen Feng pulled off his other sock as well, and rummaged through the cabinet to find a pair of dark gray ones. The knee had been patched with a patch of the same color, the stitches were even and dense, and you couldn't tell it had been patched unless you looked closely.

He put the socks on his son's feet, stretched them out, and then pulled his trouser legs down to cover his ankles.

"Did Mother patch it?" Xiaoshan looked down at the patch and gently touched it with his index finger.

"Um."

Xiaoshan stretched out his feet, turned them over and over to examine them for a while, his toes flexing and extending inside the socks: "Mom's mending is so good!"

He jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), his bare feet stepping onto the cold mud floor. The soles of his feet twitched from the shock, and he quickly shoved his feet into the cloth shoes placed beside the bed, his big toe sticking out halfway and making a small bulge on the shoe.

"Dad, what should I do with my bow when we clean the house today?"

The bow that Xiaoshan mentioned was the one Chen Feng gave to Lin Xiu when he left home that year, as a birthday gift for Xiaoshan.

Chen Feng was putting on his coat, putting on the gray cloth jacket with a worn collar, and his fingers paused for a moment as he buttoned it.

"Hanging."

"Where should I hang it?"

"Hang it above your bed."

"The cabinet next to the bed needs to be moved."

"Then move the cabinet."

Xiao Shan's eyes lit up instantly, like a piece of firewood had just been added to a stove and was now blazing.

"Should I move it myself?"

Chen Feng glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Xiaoshan thought for a moment, then obediently lowered his head: "I can't move it."

Chen Feng understood that Xiao Shan didn't really want to move the cabinet himself.

He has been absent from his child's life for too long, and the child feels insecure.

"Then I'll help you," Chen Feng replied.

Xiaoshan was satisfied, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, then he pursed them down hard, forming a curved arc.

He turned and ran outside, but stopped abruptly at the threshold, turned back, and spoke in a crisp voice:

"Father, I'll go get the bow!"

Chen Feng didn't stop him.

He stood by the bed and slowly buttoned up his coat, one button at a time, from the collar to the hem.

Footsteps echoed in the courtyard, thump-thump-thump, as he ran from the threshold to the door and back again, hurried and cheerful, like a creek rising in spring.

"Father! Father!"

Xiaoshan ran in, carrying the bow in his arms.

He held it tightly, gripping both ends of the bow arm with both hands, protecting the curved piece of wood against his chest, as if protecting some precious treasure that was afraid of falling.

Xiaoshan was still panting, his eyes sparkling.

"Dad, look!"