Novel Full Chapter 698: Meaning
Chapter 698: Chapter 698: Meaning
The flour and bran are lightweight, with a bag weighing fifty to sixty pounds, but it’s more than enough to fill half a bag.
Gu Peng was unloading the cart by himself again.
Even in the dead of winter, wearing only a single layer, he was sweating profusely.
Before she saw him, Lin Chuxia had also seen poor people. She herself came from poverty, climbing up step by step.
But now that she’s climbed to where she is, what does it matter that everyone in the village envies her?
When Gu Peng got tired and squatted down to rest, she suddenly asked him this question.
His days looked even tougher and poorer, and he worked even harder. What was the point?
Gu Peng didn’t answer her question but instead told her a story.
The protagonist of the story was a labor reform convict sentenced to 7 years for making a mistake.
He was sent to the Northwest to reclaim land and farm, where the days were unimaginably hard, yet no one gave up, all for the sake of living.
After being released, because of his criminal record, no unit was willing to hire him.
To have something to eat, he scurried around like a rat crossing the street.
Yet he still didn’t give up.
If everyone has to find the meaning of living, then what is the meaning of living so humbly for this labor reform convict?
“Yes, what is the point?” Lin Chuxia couldn’t help but ask out loud.
Gu Peng stood up, patted the dust off his pants, and only said one sentence, “What’s the point in needing a reason? Being yourself is the biggest meaning.”
This statement seemed to answer the question, yet also not, but it awakened her like a dream.
Over the past 20-plus years, she had lived for her parents, for her siblings, for her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, for her husband, and to have children, but she never lived a day for herself.
Later, she hired Gu Peng to work in her store and gave him the highest salary.
The return Gu Peng gave her was encouraging her to do what she wanted, helping her expand her territory, and gradually growing the company.
Finding an opportunity, when Li Guangyuan got entangled with a mistress, Gu Peng brought in reporters to expose them, wanting to help her regain control of the company.
In the life of her previous incarnation, Gu Peng was her business partner, her confidant, and also her life mentor.
All her achievements, and her stable later life, were inseparable from Gu Peng.
At the time of her rebirth, she had also thought of Gu Peng.
But calculating the time, he was still being reformed in the Northwest then.
It was 1989.
In her previous life, she met Gu Peng in 1990, she remembered Gu Peng had said that he had been out for more than a year then.
Gu Peng should be getting out of prison soon.
………
“Are you going to the Northwest?”
When Qin Yang heard Lin Chuxia say she was going to the Northwest, he was taken aback.
“What are you going to the Northwest for? Is it something work-related?”
When he was in the Northwest, Lin Chuxia had visited him there a few times, so she knew a few people.
But he had been transferred to Yan City for more than two years, and his wife hadn’t mentioned anything about the Northwest.
Lin Chuxia didn’t know how to tell him, so she just nodded, “I should be back in about three or four days.”
She didn’t know the exact time Gu Peng was released, but it should be this year.
She wanted to go check, to confirm the time.
Even though, in this life, she was still a stranger to Gu Peng, Lin Chuxia didn’t intend to ignore him.
Just like Wang Tianxue, she believed that they would walk together again and become confidants and partners.
Qin Yang looked at her for a moment, then asked, “What about Qi Qi?”
Qi Qi was still breastfeeding, although the little one was no longer picky with food and could also drink formula.
If separated from her mother for several days, she might not adapt well.
Lin Chuxia had thought it through, “Recently, my milk supply hasn’t been good. I thought I might as well take this opportunity to wean Qi Qi. The nutritional value of breast milk drops six months after childbirth. The formula milk that Mom bought is pretty good, and besides, after this Spring Festival, I’ll have more work to do. Sooner or later, I must wean her.”
Having said this much, Qin Yang knew she had already made up her mind.
He just said, “You don’t need to rush too much on the journey, I and Mom are at home, so you can rest assured about the baby.”
……
Apart from the baby, there wasn’t much to set in order at home.
On the eighth day of the lunar month, after saying goodbye to Zhuang Jingshu, Lin Chuxia set off on a train to the Northwest.
Qin Yang and Zhuang Yang went together to see Lin Chuxia off on the train.
As the train departed, Zhuang Yang watched his brother-in-law’s solemn expression and asked, “What exactly is she going to the Northwest for? I haven’t heard of Xiyang having any business out there?”
Except for a few peach trees in Daqing Mountain Village.
Even for the peach saplings, it shouldn’t require Lin Chuxia herself to go, right?
After asking, he waited for a while but got no reply, and when he looked again, his brother-in-law’s face seemed even more austere.
A bold guess made him exclaim, “No way… don’t tell me you don’t even know what she’s doing in the Northwest?”
After looking for two more seconds, Zhuang Yang felt he was right.
He really was a clever one; just looking at his brother-in-law’s poker face, he could guess so much.
“I say, brother-in-law, what’s going on with you? If you’re really not at ease, just go with her. After all, you’re on holiday now, Qi Qi has the chairman to take care of her, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“But speaking of which, my sister is a straightforward person. Although I haven’t been with her as much as you, I know her temperament. She’s not someone who would act recklessly. She’s most likely going to the Northwest for some new business venture she wants to develop. You know, my sister loves to explore new things. She’s probably gone to investigate some new project, and since she was worried it wouldn’t pan out, she didn’t tell us in advance. If you don’t believe it, wait and see. Before long, she’s bound to tell us some good news.”
Qin Yang pursed his lips. The train was already out of sight, only then did he turn around and head back, “Let’s go back.”
Zhuang Yang touched his nose, feeling like his comforting words had been spoken to a deaf man.
Wait, why was he even comforting him?
Chuxia wasn’t going to do anything shady, so why did he, as her brother, start feeling guilty first?
Zhuang Yang shook his head to get rid of these jumbled thoughts.
………
Lin Chuxia had always been someone who acted decisively.
In her previous life, she had listened to Gu Peng’s account of life in the Northwest prison and knew where he served his sentence.
Before her journey, she had already learned about the general circumstances over there.
When the train arrived, she rested locally for a night, and early the next morning, took a bus to the area.
It was a remote location. She transferred buses twice and finally hired a tractor to get to the place.
Generally, to visit a prison, one needs to be a close relative of the inmate and carry proof of relationship as well as one’s own identification to visit within the stipulated time.
Lin Chuxia and Gu Peng clearly had no familial relationship.
As far as Lin Chuxia knew, Gu Peng was originally an orphan, with his parents having died early. He lived with his grandmother as a child.
Later, after both his grandparents died, he lived with his uncle’s family for a few years.
During those years, his aunt and her children bullied him quite a bit.
After he got into trouble, his uncle’s family simply severed all ties with him.