Chapter 363 - 318: School Begins
Chapter 363: Chapter 318: School Begins
Almost two months after Xiao Man started school in Beijing, she returned to the Tang family home on a Saturday afternoon. Her grandparents told her that Tang Qingyun had called the previous night to say that Mo Jiabao’s missing son, Mo Dazhi, had been found!
Just as Xiao Man had guessed, the boy had indeed been captured by a gang and trained to be a pickpocket. However, he was very clever. On his first time being sent out to steal, he intentionally got himself caught by plainclothes anti-pickpocketing police. Upon questioning, they discovered his situation matched the description of a child their superiors had issued an urgent search for. A report was filed, and the Wancheng authorities immediately sent people to escort Grandpa Mo and Mo Jiabao over. Father and son were reunited, and they had now returned to Gongdao Village.
Furthermore, Mo Jiabao had transferred his family’s household registration from H Province back to his parents’ home in G Province. After the autumn harvest, the village would allocate some farmland to his family.
Xiao Man was very happy too. As long as the boy was found and the family was reunited, everything else was secondary.
’Grandpa Mo’s herbs should be partially harvested by now. The small hillside plantation has about forty to fifty *mu* dedicated to annual herbs, twenty *mu* for herbs that mature in two, three, or five years, and another twenty to thirty *mu* for those that take even longer, not to mention the original mixed woods and fruit trees. The older the herbs, the more valuable they are, but they require meticulous care. Grandpa definitely can’t handle it all by himself. Mo Chengfu wants to become a doctor and will have to attend medical school for advanced studies, so he won’t be able to help for long. Having Mo Jiabao there to look after the plantation with Grandpa is the best possible outcome.’
After two months, Xiao Man was already very familiar with the Medical College. She had originally planned to take the easy route and specialize only in traditional Chinese medicine, but Grandpa Tang had advised her otherwise. "Since you’re committed to this path, why not master both Chinese and Western medicine? Learning is a lifelong journey, and you’re still so young. You might as well spend a few more years on campus. If you want, you can even study abroad later to broaden your horizons." Xiao Man took her grandfather’s advice and decided to study both. Now at the Qi Refining Middle Stage, she was full of energy and had a strong aptitude for learning. She could easily manage the workload.
University students had to live on campus. ’It seems the Medical College hasn’t enrolled many students these days,’ Xiao Man guessed. In her dormitory building, each room had eight beds, but most weren’t fully occupied. Her own room only housed six people, leaving the two empty beds for everyone to pile their suitcases, travel bags, and other belongings on.
The campus was vast. Perhaps due to the abundance of trees and plants, it felt secluded and tranquil. People bustled about between classes, but at all other times, the pathways were practically deserted. It was the same every time Xiao Man extended her Divine Sense to scan the area.
This was actually great, though. The peace and quiet were conducive to both studying and Cultivation. The campus was full of trees, with many that were over a hundred years old. There were man-made rockeries and pavilions, and a flowing water source had been diverted to create a wide, deep lake. This design made it a place where Spiritual Energy could gather and linger. Although the amount of Spiritual Energy was minuscule, any amount was a good thing.
Xiao Man hadn’t made any friends at school yet. It wasn’t because of her age; there were two other seventeen-year-old freshmen in her class, so the gap wasn’t huge. Plus, she’d had a growth spurt this year and was already 1.62 meters tall—taller than several of the other girls in her class. She simply wasn’t one to initiate conversations, and her deskmate was a reticent boy, so there was even less to talk about. Her five roommates, aged between twenty-three and thirty-two, all coddled her like a child. ’I can’t just tell them that I’m not really a kid and they should treat me as an equal, can I?’
Xiao Man wasn’t too bothered by it; she preferred to let fate run its course. It wasn’t as if she had nothing better to do and desperately needed company. She might not have friends at school, but plenty of people wanted to hang out with her when she went home on weekends. Gu Shaozhen, Gu Shaoqin, Zheng Shaojin, Pang Xiaoji, and Cheng Yamei were all welcome company. As for people like Gu Shaoling, Tian Sisi, and Jun Ran, she didn’t care to interact with them.
Although Hao Hao couldn’t come home every Saturday, he would rush over to see Xiao Man whenever he had free time. The brother and sister managed to meet up at least twice a month for a meal and a chat. Sometimes, they could even go home together, which made their grandparents ecstatic. The house would become as lively and joyous as if it were a festival.
And whenever this happened, Dad Tang, far away in Liaozhou, was equally overjoyed. When Grandma Tang was focused on her grandchildren, she would forget all about him, allowing him a temporary reprieve from the intense pressure to marry and a chance to relax.
God only knew how desperately he wanted Xiao Man back in Beijing for school. Only when Xiao Man’s classes were in session would Grandma Tang contentedly stay at home in Beijing, waiting for her granddaughter to return each weekend. Otherwise, she was a whirlwind of activity, dedicating all her time to finding potential wives for him. She would tirelessly shuttle between Liaozhou and Beijing just to bring young women for him to meet and "cultivate feelings" with. Having lived for over forty years, Tang Qingshan was only now truly understanding how terrifying his mother’s persistence could be.
He truly couldn’t take it anymore. He was tempted to just get it over with—to close his eyes and pick one at random. After all, his mother had carefully selected each of them. They were all from families of similar social standing, had excellent qualifications, and were, without a doubt, completely willing.
But he couldn’t bring himself to settle. Marriage was no trivial matter; once he made a choice, he had to be responsible for it. How could he be casual about the person he would have to live with? These women were all young and beautiful, seeming gentle and elegant. But who was to say one of them wouldn’t turn out to be another Wu Xiaowen? ’If I’m not careful, Manman would suffer, and I couldn’t bear that myself!’
Just as he was on the verge of being driven mad, a young woman he felt good about finally showed up. He found her pleasing to the eye, and his mother, likely exhausted herself, readily nodded in agreement.
And so, that Miss Ai—the one with her hair in a bun, fair-skinned and slightly plump, who wore round glasses and tried to project an air of profound sophistication and intellectual elegance but actually just looked pure and naive—became Tang Qingshan’s girlfriend!
Miss Ai’s full name was Ai Wenli. She looked twenty-five or twenty-six at most, but she forthrightly declared she was thirty-one. When she saw both Grandma Tang and Tang Qingshan staring wide-eyed, she nodded and added, "By the traditional count! The traditional count!"
Miss Ai was not, in fact, a candidate Grandma Tang had brought for a blind date. That young woman had already been escorted back to Beijing by Xiao Zhang because Tang Qingshan, once again, was not interested. Furious, Grandma Tang refused to leave, insisting on staying to nag him relentlessly. But Tang Qingshan still had to go to work. Whenever he left the house, his mother refused to stay cooped up inside and would go out for walks. One day, she was caught in a sudden downpour and was knocked to the ground by people rushing for cover. Miss Ai happened to be passing by and helped her up. Seeing that Grandma Tang had no umbrella, she kindly sheltered her with her own and walked her home. Tang Qingshan returned just as they arrived, and the mother and son invited Miss Ai in for a rest. Miss Ai initially demurred, but when she heard they were from Beijing, she grew excited, explaining that she was from Beijing too and was just in Liaozhou visiting relatives.
After a cup of tea, it was nearly time for dinner, and Grandma Tang invited her to stay. Miss Ai accepted readily, rolled up her sleeves, and went into the kitchen to help. She looked so gentle and refined, but when she picked up a cleaver to gut a fish and chop ribs, she didn’t even bat an eye. Grandma Tang and Tang Qingshan watched from the side, their jaws agape. ’Such swift, decisive work! She doesn’t act like a delicate girl at all!’
’Our Manman knows how to cook, too, but she’s never this fierce with her chopping!’ he thought.
(Tang Manman: That’s only because you haven’t had the chance to see it.)