309: Chapter 107 Little Gourd’s Little Secret from the Past 309: Chapter 107 Little Gourd’s Little Secret from the Past As the saying goes, success in business, failure in love… This comparison might not be quite precise, but overall, after losing Eldest Miss Li, Wang Yunxiao found that his cultivation efficiency seemed to have taken a leap.
He didn’t know whether he originally had any talent for martial arts.
Han Bin and Old Master He had both asked him if he had practiced martial arts before, but he couldn’t remember at all.
However, after that punch that day, his Ren and Du meridians seemed to have been opened.
The complicated and obscure fist manuals and mental methods in the books suddenly became intelligible, and cultivating inner strength through meditation became completely unhindered.
The effect of his own cultivation for one Chinese hour was almost equivalent to a full day’s cultivation for his peers.
But he faintly felt that it wasn’t because he had suddenly become smarter, but rather that his body had recovered muscle memory and found a familiar rhythm.
When he first transmigrated, his memory stopped at that afternoon when he was sixteen, and everything after that was blank.
Since that day, he had remembered many things that happened later.
In his college days, and after graduating from college, he joined the army due to his exceptional talent and was assigned to a secret military unit…
The memories after that were still blank, but at least one thing was certain: the military martial arts provided in the Garrison Soldiers’ training materials had been practiced by him in his previous life, which is why he could pick them up again so efficiently.
Then there was history.
In the memories he had recalled this time, there was a change in the historical timeline.
That’s why history can’t be studied… If a person’s mind contains several historical timelines at the same time, one could easily confuse oneself.
Youtiao wanted to have a private chat with him, and Wang Yunxiao thought he wanted to talk about the salary.
The salary retrieved from the police department was directly taken by Wang Yunxiao to Principal Zhou, who approved a note and sent it to the school’s finance office.
This wasn’t due to mistrust of Youtiao, who was the Quartermaster, but rather due to concerns about carrying a large amount of money attracting unnecessary trouble.
People like Eldest Miss Li could treat money like it means nothing, spending a thousand Money on a servant girl for fun, but they, the poor, didn’t have such audacity and still had to live their lives earnestly.
Ah, thinking of Eldest Miss Li again, the rich young lady just like that slipped away, heartbreaking to the point of breathlessness.
“Big brother, do you remember the incident when Little Gourd asked us to go to the small auditorium?”
With that question, Youtiao caught Wang Yunxiao off guard.
He had no memory of the original owner’s past, which Youtiao ought to know.
Amnesia wasn’t really a big deal.
Those in the Grey Military Uniforms from the Special Service Bureau drank mutton soup every day; in the past, Wang Yunxiao thought there must be some unspeakable conspiracy, but now he could somewhat empathize.
Not having amnesia was not an option, experiencing such events every day put too much mental strain on a person, and could easily break them.
“What about Little Gourd?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to ask if it was because of that incident that you became wary of her.”
“What incident?”
Wang Yunxiao was totally confused.
Youtiao took a deep breath and, lowering his voice, said, “The neighborhood we lived in back then, it blew up just like a few days ago.
If it wasn’t for Little Gourd calling us to the small hall to play, we wouldn’t have survived.
She rarely played with us before, so her behavior that day was particularly strange, as if she had known in advance something was going to happen.”
“I was suspicious at that time, but you, big brother, wouldn’t let me ask…
after all, Little Gourd’s family was gone too.”
Wang Yunxiao thought for a long time before he finally understood what Youtiao meant.
Two years ago, during the war, the neighborhood where they had lived was bombed, and then heavy overnight rain turned it into a muddy ground.
Wang Yunxiao used his own two hands to dig them out from underground, and thereafter they depended on each other for survival, and this became the basis for his brothers’ unconditional trust in him as their leader.
But this matter couldn’t be thought through deeply, as thinking deeply would reveal many issues.
For instance—why were only they the ones to survive?
The adults, no matter what, were physically stronger than the children, so why did none of the thirteen families have an adult survivor?
The answer is: they were luckier.
At that time, there was a small hall next to the residential area, and on that day, all the kids had been called over by Little Gourd to play there.
Although the small hall was later bombed too, because it had a more spacious interior and was located on higher ground, it wasn’t flooded by the nighttime rain, which was key to their survival.
But this led to a new question—why did Little Gourd coincidentally call them over that day?
Little Gourd… no, Jiang Xiaotang was truly from a respected, scholarly family.
In that era, with its relatively conservative and traditional mindset, it seemed impossible that she would mingle with them, having come from all walks of life.
Let alone play together, even just standing together would bring about gossip and whispers if seen by neighbor’s aunts.
But that day was such a coincidence, a coincidence that made one unavoidably suspicious.
Everyone knew that Little Gourd had a secret, specifically her motives for her actions that day.
Back then, everyone was young and didn’t think too much.
If big brother said not to ask, the brothers didn’t ask more.
But as they grew older, and after going through various experiences, and learning more from classes with Nurse Liu, looking back at this event made it seem increasingly suspicious.
Today, as Youtiao brought up this matter, Wang Yunxiao thought carefully and realized there indeed was an issue.
But no matter the reason, the cause and consequences of that time should not be borne by a child of eleven or twelve.
No one wanted to blame Little Gourd, what everyone was concerned about was whether she would put too much pressure on herself because of the answer to this issue.
“What do you want me to do?”
Wang Yunxiao asked Youtiao, and Youtiao just shrugged and chuckled, “Big brother, you always have a decision, what advice could I possibly offer?
I’m bringing this up mainly to ask what you think of Little Gourd.
She is not so young anymore, and if you really don’t plan to pursue her, there are many brothers still waiting.”
“Who?”
Wang Yunxiao immediately frowned fiercely, “Are you thinking of playing both ends?”
“Pshaw!
I don’t even have a boat!
Not me!”
Youtiao quickly defended himself, “I’m just saying, look, we’re about to advance to junior year.
I’ve heard that some of the graduates are already preparing to talk about marriage.
Little Gourd is also grown up; we can’t just let her stay single forever, right?
Normally hanging out with us, her reputation is almost ruined.
What good family would want her now…”
In those times, graduating middle school and getting married was very normal for ordinary people.
It wasn’t a matter of whether or not it was safe or suitable; the average national life expectancy made it so.
If you remained single till forty in the future, you were still considered young, but at that time, you were practically ready for burial.
No, without offspring, you wouldn’t even be buried, only a lonely sleep in Chaotic Grave Mound.