Chapter 66

Qin Huai felt his brain was a bit messy; he needed to sort things out.

Very well, he had been mentally prepared for a long time that Chen Huihong wasn't human.

Chen Huihong being a divine tree from the Classic of Mountains and Seas entering the world to undergo tribulation was a bit sudden, but still within the acceptable range.

She failed her tribulation and entered reincarnation; the general reason could be seen from the dreams, which was acceptable.

But isn't their tribulation mechanism a bit unreasonable?

It's very illogical.

According to the logic of cultivation novels, one needs to break through after cultivating to a certain level, and if the level is higher, one needs to be struck by lightning; after being struck, one upgrades, and if unsuccessful, one restarts.

They have a set of standardized procedures.

Chen Huihong and the others don't have a procedure for this tribulation.

It feels like it mainly depends on their mood.

Qin Huai organized his language in his mind and asked seriously: "Then... are you now the Mad Young Lady of Beiping City, or our neighborhood committee's Chen Huihong?"

"Both." Chen Huihong said. "I've woken up, not been possessed; I am still me, just that I've remembered the memories of my previous lives."

Qin Huai: "... You even read cultivation novels."

Chen Huihong laughed heartily: "I don't read much; now that I'm older, my eyes aren't good, and looking at my phone for a long time makes me dizzy, so I listen to audiobooks. A while ago, I especially loved listening to that 'Domineering President and Cold-Eyed Wife' thing; I was embarrassed to play it out loud, so I secretly wore Bluetooth earphones, which made my ears hurt."

Qin Huai:...

"How about we talk about something unrelated to people." Qin Huai said numbly. "Is Huihui the reincarnation of Hui Niang?"

Chen Huihong shook her head.

"I don't know."

Seeing Qin Huai's surprise, Chen Huihong smiled helplessly: "I am just a tree, not a divine beast like Bifang or Taotie that has the ability to swallow the sky and destroy the earth. When I underwent tribulation for the first time, I only realized I had failed just before I died; I was confused myself, so how would I know about human affairs?"

Qin Huai felt that Chen Huihong was indeed a bit confused.

"Where did you start watching my first-life memories?" Chen Huihong asked with great interest.

Qin Huai:...

What a bizarre Q&A.

"You were buried in the soil and suddenly popped out." Qin Huai said concisely.

"Oh, I probably know when that was." Chen Huihong nodded. "It's like this: since we plants and trees basically don't have any self-protection ability, it's usually very dangerous when we take human form and come to the human world to undergo tribulation."

"Sometimes seniors who successfully underwent tribulation would share their experiences with us, telling us that the human world is always in chaos, either war or famine, and plagues would break out from time to time."

"Encountering such chaotic times, undergoing tribulation is very dangerous."

"Not to mention I am Bai; when we Bai encounter a famine year during tribulation, we are divided and eaten by disaster victims and rebel armies, or even tied up and have our flesh carved off daily to serve as a mobile grain storehouse. Countless have tasted all kinds of suffering, been filled with resentment, and finally fallen into the quagmire of hatred, sinking deeper and deeper until they failed their tribulation."

"When I first arrived in the human world, I stole clothes and inquired about the situation in the provincial capital. When I heard about the three-year drought and disaster victims everywhere, I was scared to death and wanted to hide in the deep mountains and old forests overnight."

"As a result, the drought in Jin Province was too severe, and I couldn't even find deep mountains and old forests, so I had no choice but to bury myself in the soil."

Qin Huai:...

"After hiding in the soil for a while, I felt this wouldn't work. Although we monsters from the Classic of Mountains and Seas don't have a set procedure for entering the world to undergo tribulation, blindly hiding and never seeing people for a lifetime will definitely lead to tribulation failure. So, while hiding, I wanted to find if there were any lonely, seemingly weak people to make contact with."

"You also know that it was my first time being a human, and everything was fresh; I didn't do it well and was full of flaws." As she spoke, a look of nostalgia appeared on Chen Huihong's face. "If I hadn't met Hui Niang, who taught me how to be a human along the way, and then accidentally been mistaken for the Mad Young Lady after entering Beiping City, I'm afraid I would have been discovered, tied up, and burned long ago."

"However, if I had been tied up and burned, I might have succeeded in my tribulation. The fastest way for us plants and trees to succeed in tribulation is to not pretend well, get tied up as a monster, and be burned, so we generally don't learn the rules of the human world much."

Qin Huai didn't know what to say, so he just scratched his head.

Chen Huihong smiled: "Do you think we are quite inexplicable?"

Qin Huai nodded: "A little."

"But this is also something that can't be helped. If you flip through the Classic of Mountains and Seas, you'll know that powerful great monsters are ultimately the minority; plants and trees like us, who have no special abilities and are either eaten or used as medicine, are the norm. Except for a few with innate talents, the mentality of most monsters undergoing tribulation is just to muddle through, because if you can't muddle through, you're really dead."

"And when undergoing tribulation for the first time, we can still choose to transform into human appearance and age; if the first life fails and we enter reincarnation again, it's truly a rebirth and a fresh start, and the uncertainty is too great."

"Most monsters who fail their first tribulation find it very difficult to succeed later."

"For example, me: I spent 7 years in the human world in my first life and was finally shot by a bandit."

"In my second life, I lived to be three and starved to death; I couldn't even determine which region I was born in. My third life was even more unlucky; I was stolen by human traffickers while still in swaddling clothes, and when they checked the goods, they found I was a baby girl, so they couldn't sell me and threw me on the ground to die."

"My fourth life was okay; I was born in the city with four siblings, and life was happy. But by then, I had basically forgotten who I was, only feeling an obsession in my heart to let everyone live a good life and be well-fed. Later, I was admitted to an agricultural university, researched seeds, and died of sudden death from working too hard and staying up late every day before I was 30."

"And then there's now."

Qin Huai could only sigh: "Your obsession is actually to let the whole country be well-fed; what a great obsession."

Chen Huihong was amused by Qin Huai's words and shook her head quickly: "It shouldn't be, but I actually don't know what my obsession really is."

"When I died in my first life, I realized that what I couldn't let go of in my heart was that Hui Niang died without being able to eat the longevity noodles I ordered for her 15th coming-of-age ceremony."

"Perhaps in my heart, what I truly resented was myself."

"I hate that I wasn't careful enough; I knew that moldy cornmeal couldn't be eaten, but I didn't try my best to dissuade Hui Niang."

"I hate that I was too indifferent; that night, I had already guessed that Hui Niang had a stomachache from eating the cornmeal, but I didn't insist on going to the clinic to call a physician."

"I also hate that I was too selfish and cowardly; if I had called a rickshaw that day to send Hui Niang to the hospital in the inner city and borrowed money from Shopkeeper Lu, she might not have died. I wasn't afraid of others knowing I wasn't the Mad Young Lady, but I was afraid that if I didn't pretend well, others would discover I wasn't human."

"At that time, I was just having fun; I thought the human world was very fun, and Beiping City was more interesting than any human world described by my seniors. I was afraid that someone would tie me up and burn me, ending my tribulation, and I was also afraid that my attachment to the human world would cause me to fail my tribulation, so I ultimately chose to let things be and watched Hui Niang die."

"Before that, I hadn't realized it, until the moment I died, when I thought, 'What a pity; if Hui Niang had been able to eat those longevity noodles that day, she might have been healthy and lived a long life.' Only then did I realize that my tribulation had probably failed."

"So," Chen Huihong's expression was a bit helpless, "my obsession is probably not seeing Hui Niang healthy and happy."

Qin Huai was silent for a long time before he asked: "So, I still have that question."

"Is Huihui the reincarnation of Hui Niang?"

"I don't know." Chen Huihong shook her head with a smile. "Perhaps she is, perhaps she isn't; in the vast sea of people, there are always strangers who look alike, not to mention that nearly a hundred years have passed."

"I've heard before that when monsters reach their last life, heaven will give us one last chance to succeed in our tribulation; this is a chance from heaven, and also our last chance for self-rescue."

"Perhaps Huihui is the chance heaven gave me."

"I don't care if she is Hui Niang or not; she is the Huihui I raised since she was a child, and I hope she will always be healthy, safe, and happy."

"Master Xiao Qin, is there anything else you want to ask?" Chen Huihong asked.

Qin Huai shook his head; he felt he knew enough of what he wanted to know.

"Then I have a question to ask you."

"Is there anything you want?"

"According to the tradition of us monsters, if someone helps us succeed in our tribulation, we should give this person a big gift to show our gratitude."

Qin Huai sat up straight immediately.

"According to the normal plot of novels, a drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring; I came with nothing and will leave with nothing, so I should naturally repay you with all my assets."

Qin Huai sat even straighter.

"But all my assets are to be left to Huihui."

Qin Huai:...

Remembering the memories of the Mad Young Lady is different; you've changed, Sister Hong.

"However, there is a gift for you that you should like very much." Chen Huihong took out her phone to search and clicked on the admissions website of Shuanghai High School.

"I can have my brother donate a sum of money to Shuanghai High School to renovate the track and field or enrich the teaching equipment, so my brother can recommend a talented student for tuition-free enrollment."

"And my brother's daughter, my niece Jiahai, is already a student in the junior high department of Shuanghai and doesn't need this talented student quota, so this quota can naturally be given to Did Luo Luo, who needs it."

"Shuanghai High School is not far from here; Did Luo Luo doesn't even need to live on campus, and Sister Zhao doesn't need to be separated from you father and son to go back and accompany Did Luo Luo to read high school. The most critical thing is that my brother's company can also sponsor excellent talented students at Shuanghai High School, such as sponsoring Did Luo Luo to study abroad three years later."

"To be honest, I think Did Luo Luo is really suitable for sports; have you really not considered letting her take the path of a sports talented student?"

"Master Xiao Qin, what do you think of this gift?"

Qin Huai was silent for a moment and said: "You really didn't pay a penny for this money."

You let your brother pay for everything.

No wonder you were cheated out of 200,000 by a scammer; you haven't been cheated by your sister at home any less.

(End of chapter)