Rebirth in 1986: Unforgettable Regrets
Chapter 66 A Withered Peach Blossom

Chapter 66: Chapter 66 A Withered Peach Blossom

"A good donkey doesn’t bray randomly." Tang Yue gave him a sideways glance, seemingly disdainful of his childishness, as she asked, "Did you go to the arcade again? I heard you always lose money playing games and never win."

"Nonsense, I have won before," Zhang Qiang said, though lacking confidence.

"You lose ten big times, and rarely win a small one, right?" Tang Yue pursed her lips, straining to recall Zhang Qiang’s past life incidents – she vaguely remembered he had caused trouble by getting into a fight in an internet cafe, resulting in someone’s death, and after that, he vanished.

Grandmother passed away, and because of Zhang Qiang, uncle also lost his leg; she rarely returned to the village later on and only heard about uncle’s family’s situation from others.

As for Aunt Liu Cuixong, she remarried.

"None of your business!" Zhang Qiang, unable to argue back, puffed up his cheeks and angrily retorted to Tang Yue, "Don’t block my way."

"I came across a puzzle once, which I found quite interesting. If you can solve it, I’ll let you pass." Tang Yue blocked Zhang Qiang’s way, not caring whether he agreed or not, and directly started presenting the puzzle: "A person went to buy green onions, asking how much per kilo? The seller said, one yuan per kilo, here are 100 kilos for US$ 100."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Qiang interrupted, "Tang Yue, are you crazy? One yuan per kilo for onions, who would buy that?"

"Don’t worry about whether anyone’s selling, just listen," Tang Yue frowned at him and continued: "The buyer asked again, can the white and green parts of the onions be sold separately? The seller said, yes, the white part is 70 cents and the green part is 30 cents."

"The buyer bought all the onions, weighed them, and found there were 50 kilos of each, the white onions at 70 cents amounted to US$ 35 and the green onions at 30 cents amounted to US$ 15, totalling US$ 50, and the buyer paid US$ 50 and left."

Tang Yue spoke leisurely: "Now tell me, the onions were supposed to be US$ 100, how did the buyer pay only US$ 50 and take them?"

"He’s stupid," Zhang Qiang replied without a second thought.

"Who is stupid?" Tang Yue asked again.

Without pausing to think, Zhang Qiang said, "The seller is stupid, his US$ 100 worth of goods was bought for only US$ 50."

"Then tell me, the buyer calculated correctly, why did it turn from US$ 100 to US$ 50?" Tang Yue kept inquiring.

Zhang Qiang thought a bit and murmured calculations, finding neither the buyer nor the seller had made a mistake.

Tang Yue grinned and said, "See, if you don’t study well, can’t you even account for money properly when trading? Xiao Jun, come here."

Although the newly arrived Tang Jun didn’t grasp what Tang Yue meant, he proudly answered, "Originally the onions were one yuan per kilo, the white part 70 cents and the green part 30 cents, an average of 50 cents each, effectively, the seller slashed the price by half, so naturally, the money was halved too."

These problems were not new; Tang Jun had also been utterly confused by them, including the one about buying peaches with one yuan.

Zhang Qiang’s face darkened immediately; he couldn’t admit that Tang Jun was cleverer than him, and challenged, "Give me another one."

Tang Yue posed another problem: "If a peach costs ten cents, and you can trade three peaches for one peach, and you have one yuan, how many peaches can you eat?"

This problem seemed simple.

Thinking so, Zhang Qiang started to calculate but soon felt something was amiss.

Tang Jun’s confident, assertive voice struck a heavy blow to Zhang Qiang.

Zhang Qiang didn’t believe it, so he went back to his room with his homework and started competing with Tang Jun, but Tang Jun was faster and better at every single question.

Within just an hour, Zhang Qiang’s enthusiasm was fired up by Tang Jun, and he vowed to outdo Tang Jun.

On the way back, Tang Jun said, "Sister, you aren’t thinking of teaching Zhang Qiang, are you?"

"He’s older than you, you should call him brother." Tang Yue glanced at him and said, "Everyone has their own life, if he himself doesn’t want to learn, nobody can force him."

Today is just a beginning, and while it’s a good start, whether it can continue to be good, nobody can tell.

Tang Zhengde and Zhang Hualian hurried back, walking briskly, while Tang Yue and Tang Jun strolled leisurely behind, playing and heading toward Qianjin Village.

Just as they reached the entrance of the village, Tang Jun grabbed Tang Yue and stopped her, saying, "Uncle Tang, look."

"Huh?" Tang Yue followed the direction of Tang Jun’s finger and indeed, she saw Tang Mingli being stopped by a woman while carrying winter bamboo shoots, and from a distance, Tang Mingli seemed not very happy.

"Who is that woman, could she be a future little aunt?" Tang Jun asked curiously.

Tang Yue smacked him on the shoulder and said, "Don’t worry, Uncle Tang has high standards, he won’t settle for her."

"Who is she?" Tang Jun asked while moving his shoulder, full of gossip.

"Just a rotten peach blossom." Tang Yue pursed her lips, she had previously thought that Xu Zhenzhen’s little aunt had given up, but today she realized that the woman was shameless, pretending to be affectionate for whom to see.

"What’s a rotten peach blossom?" Tang Jun looked eagerly at Tang Yue, completely not understanding the meaning of her words.

"You’ll understand when you grow up." Tang Yue said with a smile, taking big strides forward, saying, "Uncle Tang, you’ve dug up so many bamboo shoots, we can make bamboo shoot soup tonight, I love it."

"Xiao Yue." Tang Mingli looked like he saw a savior, began talking and completely ignoring Liu Li standing beside.

Liu Li tried to speak several times, but Tang Mingli paid her no mind; Tang Yue also pretended not to see Liu Li, but Tang Jun, curious, asked, "Auntie, who are you?"

"I’m your sister’s classmate, Xu Zhenzhen’s little aunt," Liu Li thought of getting through Tang Jun to speak properly with Tang Mingli.

However, upon hearing she’s Xu Zhenzhen’s little aunt, Tang Jun’s eyes immediately showed disdain and he said, "Auntie, what’s that smell on you?" Tang Jun covered his nose and dodged away.

Xu Zhenzhen bullied his sister at school, such a woman, does not match Uncle Tang.

Liu Li watched the three of them walking away, stunned, she lifted her clothes and sniffed; it was her new perfume - why did it smell bad now?

"Uncle Tang, Uncle Tang, you must never choose such a woman," Tang Jun ran up quickly, following Tang Mingli’s footsteps, urgently saying, "Xu Zhenzhen is so bad, her little aunt must be no good either, Xu Zhenzhen bullied my sister, you must not marry her little aunt."

"No way, I’m not interested in her," Tang Mingli praised looking at Tang Jun, "Xiao Jun, well done, knowing to protect your sister."

"She’s my sister, if I don’t protect her, who will?" Tang Jun smiled warmly at Tang Yue,

He thought how his sister is pretty, gentle, beautiful, smart, and really wondered why he used to find this sister so annoying.