Chapter 5: If Life Were as When We First Met_1

He got out of the taxi.

Following his memory, he quickened his steps towards the Lin family store.

---JiaJia Condiment Wholesale.

A very ordinary name.

This was named by Tang Qing. When Lin's father was naming the store, he was there and just casually suggested this name.

Unexpectedly, it was unanimously approved by everyone.

At this moment.

There were only two people in the store.

One was an elderly female customer, and the other was Lin Jiaxue, who later only lived in his dreams.

Today, Lin Jiaxue was wearing a pure white T-shirt, tied with an apron given by a soy sauce factory, and light blue shorts, measuring things like rock sugar and dry chili as chosen by the elder lady.

The old lady bought quite a lot.

The busy Lin Jiaxue didn't pay attention to Tang Qing standing at the door.

Watching Lin Jiaxue busily weighing and calculating, Tang Qing's eyes moistened slightly. This girl who grew up with him since childhood; their past childish conversations still fresh in his mind.

"Brother Tangtang, my mom said I'm going to be your bride in the future."

"I don't want."

"I insist."

"No."

"..."

"What if I give you candy?"

"Um... well, okay."

With those few words playing on repeat, Tang Qing managed to trick quite a few candies to eat. Every time he thought of this, he couldn't help but let out a laugh. These memories were deeply ingrained in his life.

"You're here!"

As Tang Qing was reflecting.

Lin Jiaxue had just seen off the old lady.

And then she spotted Tang Qing standing at the door.

Some say.

That women are the most beautiful when they are smiling. Tang Qing agreed with this, Lin Jiaxue didn't have a stunning aura, but she was no less than those celebrities. If she learned how to wear makeup in the future, she would probably be even more beautiful.

What a pity.

In his last life, Tang Qing never got the chance to see it.

Now, the 17-year-old Lin Jiaxue was slightly naive, yet bursting with youthful vitality. In Tang Qing's eyes, it was her brand of beauty combined with the "love is blind" adage that made her the most beautiful woman in the world, bar none.

Tang Qing, who originally had a lot to say, no longer wished to say anything at this moment.

He just wanted to silently watch her.

Lin Jiaxue was a quiet girl. Even though she was younger than Tang Qing, she always took care of him like an elder sister.

In youth.

Whenever he was bullied, it was always her who sought justice for him.

Only at these times could he see her tomboy side as she was normally gentle and quiet.

They didn't talk much when they were together.

Unlike other passionate lovers who are clingy and speak sweet nothings to express their feelings, the two of them were able to understand each other's affections through looks or a simple smile.

Tang Qing couldn't help but sigh.

Perhaps only such a mild-mannered girl could make him unable to let go of her for so long.

"Mmm, I'm here."

Tang Qing replied lightly. However, his voice was slightly trembling. He didn't know why he was so emotional today, weeping like a woman, filled with sentimentality.

Perhaps it's because his heart was truly hurt this time.

"Hmm? Tangtang is here. What are you doing standing at the door? Come in."

Hearing her daughter and Tang Qing's voices, Lin's mother, who had just brought down some items from upstairs, noticed Tang Qing standing at the door.

As for her future son-in-law.

She was very satisfied.

The two families were neighbors and their parents had known each other from childhood, and they had a good relationship. They were familiar with each other's background. She was very reassured to give her daughter to Tang Qing, who they had watched grow up and who had a good character.

The plan of both parents was for the two to get married after they graduated from university.

They had been in business for so many years, and they had some savings.

By the time of graduation, with the money from Tang Qing's parents, buying a house would not be difficult.

Although two years ago, Tang Qing's grandfather's illness had almost depleted their savings, Tang Qing's parents were still earning. Together they could make enough to afford a house.

As for who should pay more, Lin's mother didn't mind. She only had one daughter, and she wasn't interested in haggling over such small amounts of money. As for loans, they didn't prefer to borrow money from banks in their beliefs.

"Okay, where's uncle?"

"Your uncle went to deliver goods. There are five houses he needs to send stuff to this morning. It will take him more than an hour to return." Lin's mother explained.

At this moment, several more customers came in.

Tang Qing quickly went up to greet them.

A few minutes later.

After these customers asked for the price, none of them made a purchase, which made him feel a bit annoyed. They dared to waste so much of my future wife's time and didn't even give her face.

He also knew that this somewhat unreasonable resentment originated from years of longing and love.

He just couldn't control it.

"Here you go."

Seeing the beads of sweat on Tang Qing's forehead, Lin Jiaxue took the cartoon-patterned glass cup from the table, unscrewed the lid, and handed it to him.

Tang Qing didn't hold back.

He took the cup and drank a large gulp.

This cup was a gift from him to her on her birthday last month. A cup for a lifetime, before the word "cuptastrophe" became popular, giving a cup was a good choice.

But this was the last birthday present he gave to Lin Jiaxue.

She cherished it ever since.

Wherever she moved, she took it with her.

She never used it, but occasionally stared at it in a daze.

"You drink too." Tang Qing passed the cup to Lin Jiaxue.

Lin Jiaxue took the cup.

She didn't care whether Tang Qing had drank from it or not, she simply took two small sips straight away.

Growing up together, they were always very relaxed about these things since they were considered a couple.

The next hour or so was quite busy. Customers kept pouring in. After all, the location was right there and many were loyal, familiar customers. Business was exceptionally good.

Precisely at noon, customers lessened.

Tang Qing, who was rushing to and from his tasks, would occasionally steal a glance in Lin Jiaxue's direction.

A faint sense of happiness began to well up within him.

It was enough that she was there!

......

"Tangtang is here."

A rough yet familiar voice rang out behind him. Tang Qing instantly recognized it as his future father-in-law. He swiftly turned around and saw Lin's father, wearing a straw hat, parking his tricycle at the entrance.

The tricycle was not electric or petrol-fueled.

It was purely human-powered.

"Uncle." Tang Qing quickly replied.

"Do your teachers assign a lot of homework?" Lin's father took off his straw hat and used it as a fan, asking Tang Qing as they walked.

"Quite a bit, I plan to start on it tomorrow." Tang Qing told a small lie.

Having just been reborn and dealing with the System Task, his plate was far too full to be concerned about homework. Even if he wanted to write, he couldn't, not to mention he didn't want to write.

He and Lin Jiaxue were not in the same high school.

He was in Eighth High while Lin Jiaxue was in Second High.

Second High was the best high school in Qingyan City, while Eighth High could only be considered average. The reason was simple: grades. In his past life, Tang Qing's grades were decent, but there was still a difference between him and the academic overachiever Lin Jiaxue.

The two high schools were even quite distant from each other.

One was in the east part of the city, while the other was in the west.

But both were close to their respective homes, within no more than a fifteen-minute walk. That's why they didn't choose to stay at the school even though they were in their senior year of high school. However, they only got to see each other on weekends.

Lin Jiaxue was an excellent student.

She belonged to the elite academic circle.

With her scores, getting into Tsinghua University or Peking University after the National College Entrance Examination would not be difficult.

But she only applied to a university in their province, the one Tang Qing was in. No matter how the teachers tried to persuade her, Lin Jiaxue insisted on not wanting to go too far from home.

Since they had known each other for many years.

How could Tang Qing possibly not know what the reason was? How could he not love such a girl?

The lunch was eaten at the shop.

However, they could only cook rice in the shop and not stir-fry vegetables. The vegetable dishes were prepared in the morning at home and brought to the shop. When it was time to cook the rice, they would steam the vegetables in the rice cooker to lightly reheat them.

On hot days, they would eat it without reheating.

"Tangtang, eat slowly." Lin's mother kindly advised Tang Qing.

Tasting this long-lost homemade flavor,

Tang Qing simply couldn't stop eating.

With the first bite, he knew that today's dish was stir-fried by Lin Jiaxue. Since there weren't many dishes today, Tang Qing started to eat lots of rice, while Jiaxue, as always, chewed slowly, watching Tang Qing eat with a smile.

"It's really delicious." Tang Qing said with his mouth full.

"Why are you so hungry today? Didn't you eat breakfast?" Lin Jiaxue asked, placing a piece of fatty meat into his bowl.

"I did. But when I eat with you guys, my appetite gets better."

He wasn't sure whether it was because of the enhancement of his physical fitness, but he ate much more than usual that day. Fortunately, Lin's mother cooked a lot of rice at noon, otherwise, he might have still been hungry.

In the end, he even polished the oil off with rice.

Only leaving behind some chili and prickly ash hulls.

Just like that.

Tang Qing spent a busy yet fulfilling afternoon.

In the evening.

Lin's father pushed the tricycle into the shop and closed the door. Tang Qing then headed back to Lin Jiaxue's house by the bus, planning to have dinner before leaving.

After dinner.

Lin Jiaxue obediently began clearing the table with her mother while the two men sat drinking tea.

It was the same at Lin's house, and over the years, Tang Qing had come to take it for granted. In this life, he didn't know if it was habit or something else, but he felt somewhat content.

Indeed, human inertia can be terrible.

Tang Qing once again despised himself deeply.

Looking at Lin Jiaxue busying herself around the kitchen with a domestic grace.

A feeling of "home" suddenly emerged.

A feeling that he'd forgotten, or rather lost.

After sitting for a while at Lin's house, digesting his food, Tang Qing left, planning to complete his tasks during the holidays, as he would have less free time once school started.

It wasn't dark yet.

And the buses were still running.

Lin Jiaxue didn't walk him home; they had known each other for so many years, so there was no need for such formalities. Plus, Bieng a quiet type, Lin Jiaxue didn't like clingy behavior.

He took a taxi.

It took about ten minutes to get back to his uncle's house.

His uncle would be away for four days, so there were certain things that had to be completed. If he didn't finish these tasks before the...

His elder cousin would definitely nag him to finish his homework. It was absolute nightmare-material for Tang Qing.

He really didn't understand why his cousin was so concerned about his homework.

After freshening up.

As Tang Qing lay in bed, he recalled the events of the day. It all felt like a dream, but the number of things that had happened proved it wasn't.

"System, can I give you a name?"

"Sorry, you can't."

"Can you change your voice?"

"Sorry, you can't."

"Who created you?"

"Sorry, you don't have the authority to access that information."

"Can you chat?"

"Sorry, I can't."

"What are the functionalities of Level 2?"

"Sorry, you don't have the authority to view that."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Sorry, I don't."

......

That's how Tang Qing started jibber-jabbering with the system.

He asked some questions he had asked earlier, and some he had not asked before.

What really irked Tang Qing was that it either didn't know or didn't have the authority to answer most of the questions. However, having a voice for company was quite nice during boring times.

Slowly.

After spending a weary day, Tang Qing fell asleep.