Chapter 59 Reopening

  Fang Qing wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and sat on the bed blankly, recalling everything in her dream. She didn't know how to explain the scenes she saw in the dream. If it was a dream, why did it feel like a personal experience, but if it was not a dream, these were things that had never appeared in her memory. Could it be that they were memories that she had forgotten after her rebirth?

  Fang Qing, who couldn't sleep anymore, simply got out of bed, poured a glass of water, and stood in front of the window to look out. The moonlight outside the window shone through the gap in the curtains and sprinkled on the floor, making Fang Qing feel a little dazed. In the dream just now, there seemed to be a full moon like this. Everything was too real, which made Fang Qing suspicious. Judging from the situation in the dream, the strange man seemed to be related to the destruction of her family in the previous life.

  Thinking of the old man she met in the temple on the mountain during the day, Fang Qing felt vaguely that the old man seemed to have seen something.

  At daybreak, Fang Qing dragged her older brother with her to Tongyang Temple again. She hoped to find the visitor and clarify the mystery, thereby resolving her own deepest questions.

  To Fang Qing's disappointment, the old man was nowhere to be found, and even the monk sweeping the courtyard in front of the temple had vanished.

  This time, Fang Qing knelt devoutly before the Buddha, praying sincerely that she would soon unravel these mysteries and protect her family's health and safety.

  The four of them continued their holiday adventures in Taishan County for three days. Finally, Fang's father decided it was almost time to leave, as he had to return for an important meeting the following week. The family reluctantly returned to Jingtan County by car.

  Autumn arrived, and it was time for Fang Qing to start school again. As a sophomore in high school, Fang Qing's workload intensified. To avoid any delays, she applied for on-campus housing. The entire senior class moved to another campus for intensive training, resulting in fewer and fewer opportunities to see Wen Ning and his sister.

  After returning from Taishan County, Fang Qing asked her brother to deliver the amulet and the jade pendant to the Wen siblings. From then on, apart from meeting and saying hello at school, she didn't participate in any recreational activities. She only ate and slept in class, returning to the solitary life she had when she first entered high school.

  One day, Fang Qing received a letter from Tang Xiaoyu.

  Shortly after returning to the provincial capital, Tang Xiaoyu participated in the provincial dance competition. Her talent and intelligence helped her win first place. Her father used his connections to send her to a dance professor in the capital for further training, hoping that she would be admitted to the Capital Dance Academy the following year.

  In the letter, Tang Xiaoyu complained bitterly. She had originally planned to visit Fang Qing during the summer vacation, but her father was afraid that she would get hurt if she returned to the countryside and affect her exams in the fall, so he locked her up at home to practice every day. Fortunately, the two of them kept writing letters. Tang Xiaoyu said that the snacks Fang Qing sent her last time were delicious. Even her dance teacher praised her craftsmanship and hoped that Fang Qing would make some for her next time.

  "What a greedy cat!" Fang Qing smiled as she finished reading the letter, carefully put it away, and began writing back on a piece of paper.

  Compared to Tang Xiaoyu's meticulous detail, Fang Qing's reply was much more concise. She briefly recounted the major events that had occurred to her, and explained that she had visited Taishan and, recalling the scenery, couldn't help but pull out a piece of paper and sketch a picture of the sunrise and sea of clouds, which she

  slipped inside the letter. Finally, she stuffed the amulet and the letter into the envelope. As she applied glue, Fang Qing suddenly recalled the strange man in her dream. Although Fang Qing couldn't see his face clearly in the dream, what stuck with her was the ornate watch on his wrist.

  In that era, owning a Shanghai watch was considered a luxury, but the young man's was a high-end watch, encrusted with diamonds. Anyone who could afford such a watch must be of high status.

  But Fang Qing had no such knowledge, and no one around her could recognize such a high-end watch. Given Tang Xiaoyu's prominent family background, she knew that people in her circle would be able to identify watch brands. Fang Qing thought this might be a way to crack the secret.

  So she recalled the bizarre dream, drew the watch on the man's wrist, and enclosed it in an envelope. She hoped Tang Xiaoyu could give her an answer.

  On Friday, Fang Qing returned home from school. As soon as she walked in, she saw her mother sitting on the sofa, looking at several big red notebooks with a happy face. Unexpectedly, the bungalows that she had asked her father to buy were indeed being demolished. I heard that the demolition compensation had increased a lot this time. This news made Fang Qing completely excited.

  But the fact that the Fang family's house was being demolished had somehow been known to Wang Huizheng, the eldest sister-in-law of the Fang family.

  Wang Huizheng told his mother-in-law about this matter as soon as he got off work, "Mom! The second son is so successful now. Not only did he renovate the house and open a restaurant, but he also happened to catch up with the county's demolition. Why didn't he tell us about this kind of news? I heard that the demolition compensation this time is 10,000 or 20,000 yuan!"

  But Old Mrs. Fang was playing with her Buddhist beads and muttering to the Bodhisattva statue. She didn't hear the eldest daughter-in-law's complaints at all. It was not until Wang Huizheng squatted down and shook her anxiously that Old Mrs. Fang slowly opened her eyes.

  "They're demolishing their house, what can I do? Last time you said they were opening a restaurant, I knew they'd definitely do what I said if I just went over and asked. But what happened? We fought and we quarreled, and I ended up losing face in court, but I only got 15 yuan more than I started with. Why did I bother?"

  Old Mrs. Fang pushed her daughter-in-law's hand away and slowly stood up. "Hui Zheng, what were you thinking back then? How did you sell the house? I won't ask. Now that we've split up, let's live our own lives. If you're not satisfied, go ahead and leave me alone. I'm just looking forward to my oldest son getting married and giving me a big, fat grandson. I'll be content!"

  Watching the old lady recline in the rocking chair and close her eyes again, Wang Hui Zheng gritted his teeth in anger, silently cursing the old woman for waiting for things to come. Thinking of the good things that were about to happen to her second son's family, her eyes blazed with envy, and she turned to think about how to deal with Fang Qing's family.

  After the autumn harvest, the weather gradually cooled. Fang's mother thought the restaurant could continue to operate, so she called her eldest brother and his family back. However, the restaurant had not been open for several months, and many customers had left. Besides, her uncle and aunt were not good at making complicated dishes. Fang Qing thought about it and finally came up with a new dish - clay pot noodles.

  Fang Qing had tried clay pot noodles once in his previous life, and it was not available in the local area yet. After consulting a lot of information and combining the taste in his memory, Fang Qing finally made an exclusive secret sauce after many attempts and adjustments. When cooking noodles, add a spoonful to the bottom of the pot, which instantly enhances the base flavor of the soup pot, making people unable to stop.

  (End of this chapter)