Rebirth: The Comeback of the Girl
Chapter 120: Fire Burns the Butt

Chapter 120: Chapter 120: Fire Burns the Butt

Zhen Yu was woken up by the noise in the living room in the middle of the night, faintly hearing the word "fire" and was immediately frightened into getting up with a roll.

She grabbed the short jacket by her pillow, putting it on as she turned on the light and slipped on her slippers then dashed off to the living room.

"Where’s the fire?"

The moment Zhen Yu’s voice rang out, two boys nearly of age made a loud "ao" sound, frantically grabbing something to cover themselves.

"Where’s the fire?!" Zhen Yu asked again without any concern for the boys’ actions, intensifying her tone and simultaneously sniffing the air.

There seemed to be the burnt smell of hair in the air.

"The mattress caught fire! We just put it out." Zhen Yan responded, still standing on the kang bed, holding a pillow horizontally against the wall.

"That’s right, that’s right! The mattress caught fire." Fu Yu, standing next to Zhen Yan, said, mimicking Zhen Yan’s movements.

Zhen Yu stepped forward and saw that both quilts had been flipped to the end of the kang, leaving only the two mattresses in the middle.

Just as she thought... there was a big black peach-shaped scorch mark in the middle of each mattress, and they were still faintly smoldering.

Zhen Yu quickly pulled the mattresses to the floor. During the process, the smoldering grew slightly, yet the two boys stood by the wall, motionless.

"Don’t just stand there! Throw the mattresses outside onto the snow pile!" Zhen Yu called looking up, but she was met with their shaking heads.

"Or, little sister, could you, you go throw them out?" Zhen Yan replied reluctantly.

"What’s the matter with you two?" Before Zhen Yu could finish, Fu Yu suddenly turned red-faced.

Zhen Yan embarrassingly said, "Well, that... little sister, can you find some long johns for your brother?"

Zhen Yu: "..."

So their long johns were also burnt through, huh?

Zhen Yu wordlessly put on her cotton-padded coat, and quickly went in and out twice, first throwing the two mattresses onto the snow pile in the yard.

Only then did she return to the bedroom, rummaging through her brother’s wardrobe for two pairs of long johns and throwing them onto the large kang before turning back to her room to sleep.

-

The two brothers who had their behinds scorched looked at each other, and Zhen Yan spoke first: "It’s not bad to have trousers to wear, in the middle of the night! Hurry up and change, then go back to sleep."

"Uh-huh!" Fu Yu nodded repeatedly. Although their homes were close, they were still next door, so he had to borrow Zhen Yan’s trousers for now.

They lay down on the burnt-out floor covering on the kang, one horizontally and one vertically, and soon fell asleep again.

The next morning, as usual, Zhen Yan was woken by his sister.

"Zhen Yan! Time to exercise!"

Zhen Yan muttered in response, "Oh, got it." Then he started to get dressed in a wobbly fashion.

Fu Yu heard the siblings’ conversation in a half-dream state, turned over, and continued to sleep.

Soon, various little noises sounded by his ear. He opened his bleary eyes and asked, "Exercise what?"

No one answered him.

Fu Yu lay on the edge of the kang, struggling to open his eyes. Just as he made out the scene before him, he sat up with a jolt.

Wow! Zhen Yu’s head was upside down in front of him. Although it was far away, who could handle that early in the morning? It could scare a person to death!

"You, what are you doing?"

"Stretching my waist." Zhen Yu straightened up and moved her limbs around, then went straight to the kitchen without looking back.

Overnight, the stove fire had gone out. With Mrs. Zhen absent, Zhen Yu had to rekindle the flame and prepare breakfast herself.

-

Fu Yu sat on the kang and took a look at Zhen Yan, who was still stretching, then after some thought, started getting dressed.

Holding his cotton-padded jacket, he said to Zhen Yan, "I’m heading home now!"

"Aren’t you having breakfast here?" Zhen Yan was surprised, wondering why this kid suddenly became a stranger.

"All this is burnt. I have to go home and put on a new one!" Fu Yu said, stuffing his burnt long johns and other things into his jacket pocket as he spoke.

Only then did Zhen Yan remember that he needed to find a pair of pants to wear inside, feeling quite strange wearing one fewer layer!

-

After breakfast, Zhen Yan went to the yard to drag the two mattresses back to the room.

"Little sister..."

"We have to tear it down and redo it; I don’t know how to."

"Ugh, mom’s definitely going to yell at me when she’s back! And the linoleum on the Kang..."

"Why do you sleep like a log then!" Zhen Yu has no sympathy for her brother.

"It was all because Fu Yu was too excited! He kept chatting with me in the first half of the night, but I was too sleepy to wake up in the second half..."

—

Because of this incident, Mrs. Fu made it clear that she wouldn’t let Fu Yu sleep over at the Zhen Family’s house anymore.

Zhen Yu also made sure to lower the fire after dinner every day, preventing the Kang from getting too hot.

The siblings studied together in the small bedroom every night, and their little friends stopped coming over; the living room was entirely empty.

Mrs. Zhen was gone for five days and didn’t return until Sunday afternoon.

Zhen Yu spent half a day at the Han Family, but upon returning home in the evening, she saw her mother busy in the kitchen.

"Mom! You’re back."

"Yeah, go inside and keep grandma company," Mrs. Zhen said while adding coal to the stove.

Zhen Yu was slightly stunned, slowing her footsteps.

It’s different now; in her previous life, grandma did not come back this early, and when she did, she moved straight into the Uncle’s house.

In this life... Are these uncles trying to push the responsibility onto Mrs. Zhen?

But those six unfilial men can only wish; I will never allow it!

-

Entering the living room, her brother was not there; it seemed he hadn’t returned home yet.

The withered old lady was sitting cross-legged at the head of the Kang. When she heard the door, she lifted her eyelids to look but then remained silent, dropping her gaze again.

Zhen Yu’s face was expressionless, and the old lady’s eyes indifferent.

"Grandma." Regardless, she maintained basic respect for her elder and called out to her.

Silence.

Quiet.

It was as if Zhen Yu was the only person in the room.

Zhen Yu, receiving no response, walked straight into the small bedroom without anger and gently closed the door.

She sat at the desk and began to ponder her next move.

After some time, the door to the small bedroom opened, and Zhen Yan stormed in, visibly frustrated.

"Little sister!" He had barely called out when Zhen Yu understood what he was about to say.

"Brother!" She said in a firm, low voice, interrupting his next words, hinting, "We’ll talk after dinner."

Zhen Yan scowled and nodded his head.

-

The dinner table was silent, and after helping Mrs. Zhen clean up the living room, the siblings returned to the small bedroom.

As soon as the door closed, Zhen Yan dragged his sister onto the small Kang, "She’s not going to live with us permanently, right? I don’t agree!"

"She won’t! I won’t allow it!" Zhen Yu immediately replied.

"But mom..."

"If someone comes forward to take her, mom won’t stop them."

"Relying on our six uncles? Dream on!" Zhen Yan retorted sarcastically.

He paused then added, "She just left Uncle Cheng’s house; he definitely won’t take her back! Uncle Cheng and the oldest Uncle live too far away,"

"I’ll get Uncle to take her away!"

Zhen Yan, looking at his sister’s resolute face, suddenly felt not so uneasy.

Maybe she really could make it happen?!

"Go do your homework," Zhen Yu said, seeing her brother’s face relax, pushing him to get up, "She’ll stay at most for a week, she’ll definitely leave!"

"Okay," Zhen Yan replied, still somewhat doubtful.