Rebirth to Save Myself

The aunt was checking when the bus would arrive when she heard the sound. She looked down and saw Su Xia alone, with no other adults around. Since Su Xia had asked a question, she asked, "Little girl, where are your parents?"

"They are at the foot of the mountain."

"Then why are you here alone? It's quite a distance from the foot of the mountain!" The aunt squatted down, took Su Xia's hand, and continued, "Then come with me, okay? I'm going to the foot of the mountain too."

"Okay." Su Xia realized that she might have gotten lost on her own initiative, and now she could only hope to find her parents by going back to the foot of the mountain.

Everyone waited at the platform for quite a while before the bus finally arrived. Since there was only one bus route at that stop, everyone started squeezing towards the front door after the bus stopped. The auntie, holding Su Xia's hand, had her husband and son also squeeze on, saying to Su Xia as they did so, "You go find a seat first, and I'll put the money in here."

Su Xia was forcefully pushed onto the steps of the car by her aunt, and then she glanced over and thought she saw her mother's clothes. So she used her small size to squeeze through and run over, ignoring her aunt's calls from behind.

Su Xia ran up to the person, took a closer look, and then shouted, "Mom!"

Su's mother was sitting by the window, thinking that she had been looking for Su Xia all the way here but had not seen her. She wondered where the child had run off to. Then she heard Su Xia's voice, turned around and saw that it really was Su Xia.

"You child, I told you to wait here, why did you disappear?" Su's mother was both angry and anxious, and quickly grabbed Su Xia's hand to hug her.

At this moment, the aunt squeezed over and grabbed Su Xia's other hand, asking Su's mother, "Are you this child's mother?"

“She is my mother,” Su Xia answered the aunt’s question.

"Thank you so much. The little girl was running around like that, and her dad and I were so worried," Su's mother said to the aunt.

“This child is quite brave. I was originally planning to take her to the foot of the mountain to hand her over to the police. It’s good that she’s been found. My husband is behind, so I’ll go ahead first.” The aunt pointed to the back of the car and then said to Su Xia, “Be careful next time you go out with your parents, and don’t run around.”

"Okay, I understand, thank you, Auntie."

Even in her twenties, this experience of getting lost was still occasionally brought up in conversation. Su Xia didn't know why she was so bold back then, never considering human traffickers or the possibility of getting lost. Perhaps it was because her parents had never given her a thorough explanation of these things, so she only had a superficial understanding.

Back to the present, the mother said she was a little tired and wanted to rest, and the father planned to take her to visit a temple, but Su Xia immediately stopped him.

"Dad, I don't want to go."

Su's father was puzzled. Don't children all like to play? His family had originally planned to visit the temple today, so he was a little surprised to hear that Su Xia wasn't going. He asked, "Why aren't you going? It's a big and fun place, with a wishing well and goldfish."

"I'm hungry and want to eat lunch. Is it possible to eat inside the temple?" Su Xia asked, looking up.

Mr. Su thought to himself, "If we eat inside the temple, who knows how much it will cost. The entrance fee is already expensive, and although Su Xia is small, she grows very fast, so we might have to buy a child's ticket. Besides, I've been to this temple before, and there's nothing much to see." So he said, "Then let Mom rest for a bit, and we'll go down the mountain for lunch in a little while."

Su Xia nodded and went to her mother's side to help her take care of Su Yue. Su's mother was still wondering why they had returned, and Su's father explained that Su Xia didn't want to go, which Su Xia agreed with. Su's mother thought for a moment; since her daughter didn't want to go and she herself wasn't feeling well, she decided to go home later.

After resting for a while, the family started walking down the steps. Su's father helped Su's mother, while Su Xia held Su Yue's hand. Although Su Xia said she was hungry, it was just an excuse, but her stomach did indeed growl after they got down the mountain.

Seeing this, Su's mother said, "Just bear with it a little longer. The food at the tourist attractions here is expensive. Shall we take the bus back to eat?"

“Okay.” Su Xia didn’t mind. What her mother said was true, and she herself had expected it. She often went hungry back in her hometown and was used to it.

But Su Yue wouldn't agree. She was already hungry after accompanying the adults up and down the mountain, so she started to protest: "No, I'm hungry, I want to eat something."

"Su Yue, be good, let's be patient a little longer," Su's father said patiently, squatting down.

"I don't want to, I don't want to!" Su Yue plopped down on the ground, ready to throw a tantrum.

"There's a convenience store over there. Go buy some bread for the two kids to tide them over," Su's mother pointed to the grocery store across the street.

"What about you? Would you like something to eat?"

"No need, I made breakfast this morning, I'll eat when I get back."

"it is good."

After a while, Su's father brought back a small bread roll, broke it in half, and gave it to Su Xia and Su Yue. Su Yue stopped fussing as soon as she had something to eat. Su's father picked her up and they went to the bus stop together.

Su's mother waited anxiously for the delivery, only to find it was another daughter. Su's father, upon learning it was a girl, remained silent for a while, seemingly lost in thought.

When Grandma learned that Su's mother had given birth to another daughter, she left immediately, leaving Su Xia alone to pick up the phone. Su Xia knew very well that Su Yaoche wasn't actually born this year. But since this little sister had been given away, she still wanted to try and keep her.

"Dad, what name did you give my sister?" Su Xia asked.

"Why bother naming a little girl?" Su's father had made up his mind, so he didn't speak kindly to Su Xia.

"Dad, will you bring my sister back for the New Year?" Su Xia asked again.

The thought of facing his brother's and younger brother's sons when he went home for the New Year made Su's father feel choked up. He said, "I'm not going back. I'll see if I can bring you over for the New Year. That's all for now, bye."

Su Xia heard the dial tone on the phone and felt helpless. She put the phone down, turned around, thanked her neighbor Grandma Wang, and left the kitchen.

Grandma Wang is Aunt Wang's mother-in-law, and her family was the first in the building to have a telephone installed. So everyone would call Grandma Wang for anything, and then Grandma Wang would call someone. Grandma Wang also had three sons, but her sons were ambitious, and their family was better off than the Su family's, so her second and third sons both went to university and became teachers at the local middle school.

Grandma was very indignant, and kept saying that if Grandpa hadn't passed away so early, it wouldn't have been easy for her to raise three children on her own, otherwise she would definitely be better off than Grandma Wang.

Not long after, Grandma and Su's parents stopped mentioning the newborn sister. Su Xia understood that her sister had ultimately been given away. But it was for the best; rather than being disliked in this family, it would be a relief to go to a better one.