Rebirth Counterattack with Space
Chapter 101: Meeting

Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Meeting

Actually, even if my uncle said nothing or even displayed a stern face toward her, Lu Yun would only feel gratitude towards her aunt’s family, rather than any resentment.

Hardships are the best elixir for growth.

She had tasted all of life’s bitterness at a very young age; if she still couldn’t distinguish good from evil, understand what’s right and wrong, then she would truly be a fool. She wasn’t foolish—in fact, she was quite intelligent.

As the saying goes, heaven’s misdeeds may be forgivable, but one’s own misdeeds are mortal. She herself had caused the death of the mother who loved her most and left her father to live a life of lonely hardship. It was no wonder the people close to them didn’t take a liking to her.

Moreover, in her previous life, she wasn’t exactly a likable character. When she first arrived in Haicheng as a child, she was like a startled bird, easily frightened by anyone coming too close or speaking too loudly.

Throughout elementary and middle school, she didn’t make a single close friend. Fortunately, she was smart from a young age and did well in her studies. Even though she was somewhat reclusive, she was quite favored by the teachers.

It wasn’t until high school and university that she began to be a bit more sociable—just a bit. She was able to speak normally with others, wasn’t constantly startled, and didn’t respond to only half a sentence when others spoke ten.

But she still had no close friends.

Accustomed to being alone and coupled with the experiences of her childhood, she was extremely self-conscious and extraordinarily cautious with others deep down inside.

Both her cousins married late, and by the time they did, she had already amassed a fortune. Upon learning of their weddings, the gifts she offered were the same: a villa in the city area and five million in cash.

Of course, she never skimped on filial piety to her aunt and uncle, offering them a villa in the same community, an additional thirty million in cash, and twenty percent of the company shares in her will.

In this lifetime, she hoped her aunt wouldn’t greet her with a cold face anymore. In this lifetime, she was willing to strive to be the intimate cotton-padded jacket her aunt desired...

Because she hadn’t slept soundly in the unfamiliar environment the night before and had woken up early, Lu Yun ended up dozing off in her mother’s arms on the swaying train.

In the afternoon, Lu Yun was groggily woken up to eat a serving of rice with steamed pork and eggplant and also drank almost half a container of seaweed egg drop soup. After eating her fill and watching the scenery for a while, she started yawning continuously, so she curled up in her mother’s arms again and fell asleep.

When the train reached Haicheng Station and she was awakened to disembark, she noticed that the sky outside the platform had already turned pitch black.

Stepping off the platform, she immediately spotted her aunt and uncle looking around. Her aunt occasionally glanced at her wristwatch.

The familiar faces and figures caused Lu Yun’s eyes to sting involuntarily, but she had to lower her head to resist the impulse to tug at her mother and point them out.

At this point in her life, she hadn’t yet met her aunt and uncle.

Thankfully, her mother also quickly spotted her aunt.

After so many years apart, the two sisters couldn’t help but hug each other and cry as soon as they met, leaving the uncles and fathers, including Shitou, exchanging awkward smiles on the side. In the end, it was her uncle who extended his hand first, taking the initiative to introduce himself.

After Auntie and Mom had finished crying, the three adults and one child on this end had already started chatting warmly.

Mom introduced Dad, Shitou, and herself to Auntie and Uncle again, formally and earnestly. Auntie smiled, rubbed her little head in praise, and then led them directly to the small courtyard she had helped rent for them.

It wasn’t that Auntie and Uncle were unwilling to take them back to their own home, but the place where Auntie’s family of four lived was just a small single room of no more than twenty square meters. Even if they brought four more people over, it wouldn’t just be an issue of staying; there wouldn’t even be enough room to stand.

When everyone came out of the train station, they originally wanted to take the bus. However, upon seeing it, they found it was just too crowded. Inside the long bus, people were packed against each other, so squeezed in that there was almost no space left, and there was still a crowd of people at the bus stop desperately trying to get on.

The sight made everyone’s scalp tingle. Under these circumstances, they hadn’t even the option to back out if they wanted. After asking the station staff, they learned that waiting for the next bus would take at least forty to fifty minutes, or even over an hour. Moreover, with the arrival of a new train, the situation with the buses wouldn’t lessen by the slightest.

The group looked at their luggage, large and small, the women among them, and the child in tow. Ultimately, they unanimously decided to give up on squeezing onto the bus and figured walking might even be more trouble-free.

The streetlights were sparse along the way, but fortunately, there was no lack of pedestrians, mostly like them, unwilling to squeeze onto the bus with their belongings. After more than an hour of walking, the group finally arrived at their destination.

Everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.

But the small courtyard in front of them greatly disappointed Lu Yun.

This was not the kind of small courtyard with several rooms that Lu Yun had imagined.

Calling it an independent courtyard was really just two rooms. It was obviously partitioned off from a larger courtyard next door, making it look very narrow and small. In one corner of the yard, there was a makeshift kitchen simply set up with tarpaulin, neatly stacked with a small pile of coal briquettes and a slim, tall little stove.

The rent for such a place was seven yuan a month, including electricity. Apparently, this was already a discounted price because of a referral from someone they knew.

The coal and the stove, of course, would not be complimentary from the landlord. In fact, the coal was moved over by Uncle, and the small stove was something Auntie and Uncle considered that Lu Yun’s family wouldn’t possibly bring with them, so they had gone to the market to buy it in advance especially for them.

Turning on the electric light, they found that the inside and outside of the rooms had already been cleaned up beforehand by Xia Na and Gu Tianming, who had even managed to set up three makeshift beds using long benches and special bed boards. Besides the beds, the room with just enough space for one bed also contained a small round table and four stools.

These items were also gathered by the two through their own efforts and were not provided by the landlord.

After helping to move all the luggage inside and noting that it was getting late, Xia Na and Gu Tianming were anxious to get back to their two children at home, so they hurried off.

Before leaving, Xia Na pulled Xia Yuan aside, gave her an envelope, and said reluctantly, "This is the remaining money from the rent. Yuanyuan, I’ll come over to see you again tomorrow morning. It was too rushed, and I couldn’t find a better house in such a short time; we only managed to get these things, so you’ll have to make do for now."

"This is really good already. Thank you, sister, brother-in-law."

Xia Yuan naturally accepted the envelope without any refusal. Some things have to be settled clearly even between sisters. It has nothing to do with anything else, since it had been agreed upon when she sent the money by mail that it was for her sister to help with the arrangements. Now that her sister was returning the leftover money, it was only right, and naturally, Xia Yuan wouldn’t refuse or say anything about keeping the remaining money for herself.