3. Go back to your hometown and farm_1
Song Tan snapped back to reality and accepted her takeout—this was a top-notch meal worth 188 from the most reputable private kitchen in town.
However, as soon as she opened the box, the fragrance of the food mixed with a muddled scent, much like the air she found herself increasingly uncomfortable with.
Song Tan felt her stomach churn, and no matter what, she couldn't eat.
Just then, the boss known as "King Skinner" among the staff walked in and immediately said, angrily,
"Song Tan! You still have the appetite to eat? Where's the PPT I asked for? I'm telling you, if you don't hand it in by 2 o'clock, don't bother keeping your job!"
Song Tan abruptly stood up: That's right, she remembered she had something to forget! She was here to get fired!
"Fine, make sure to pay the wages on time; I'm resigning now to go back to my hometown!"
The entire office was stunned.
Seeing Song Tan begin to pack her things, King Skinner stood there, at this moment looking bewildered and pitiful:
"I... I didn't mean that... "
Finding another employee who was obedient, hardworking, capable, and cheap was not easy for him.
Huo Xueying also stopped eating and came over, intending to persuade Song Tan not to act impulsively. With the current tough job market, it wasn't easy to switch jobs.
But when she suddenly noticed the part of Song Tan's head that had been shorn bare and the gauze stuck to it, she now felt a sense of grievance:
"If you're going to go, go! Tantan, I'll help you pack! First take care of yourself, and after work, I'll come to you!"
The words Song Tan had just spoken were desires hidden deep within her for many years. After saying them, images of her home's green mountains, the fat mother hen clucking, and the hefty pig snorting quickly filled her mind...
She didn't know if the pigs at home were free of impurities, but surely they were better than those in the city, right?
At this moment, she could hardly wait to go home.
"No need, I'm serious. I'll pack up the rental later, then head straight back home!"
Now, Huo Xueying was also dumbfounded.
...
Song Tan packed at an unusually fast pace.
Two lifetimes of hard work were all for the sake of a better life, weren't they?
With her capabilities in cultivation (though she hadn't yet started practicing), wouldn't living self-sufficiently at home be comfortable?
Having obtained a temporary ID from the police station, she took a taxi back to the rental apartment with her suitcase.
In the 20 square meter room, a few clothes hung near the window, and a stack of books related to work lay on the desk.
On the small 1.2-meter bed with its cotton bedding set lay yesterday's hasty departure wrinkles. Looking at it, Song Tan involuntarily remembered how thrifty she used to be.
She sighed silently.
She dug out a cardboard box she couldn't bear to throw away, packed some simple toiletries, disassembled the bed linen set, one box of clothes, three pairs of shoes.
That was it.
After cleaning up a bit, she called the landlord—she was leaving early, the deposit wouldn't be returned, but she got a refund for the excess rent.
She calculated she still had sixty-three thousand, five hundred yuan!
She was going back to her hometown!
...
High-speed train, taxi.
Four hours back-to-back, the now generous Song Tan didn't take the slower long-haul trains and buses as she used to.
At this moment, she also stood at the roadside five or six hours earlier than usual.
Looking at the babbling stream on the other side of the road, breathing in air that was different from the city's (though still somewhat muddled), she finally pulled herself out of a swaying state of mind.
Coming up the slope in the distance, a motorcycle roared towards her, descending and passing through fields planted with tea trees on both sides, before eventually stopping in front of her.
A short and dark-skinned man looked at her, a simple smile spreading across his honest face:
"Tantan, why are you on holiday?"
The middle-aged man stepped off the bike and placed the huge suitcase on the metal rack behind the motorcycle, tucking it in tightly with rubber straps and giving it a shake before speaking:
"Get on, Dad will take you home. Your mom has baked some sweet potatoes, and I caught a few crucian carp yesterday to stew for you—what happened to your forehead?"
This was her father, Song Sancheng.
Song Tan's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at this ordinary man filled with concern, managing a smile before casually touching her head, "Nothing, I bumped it when I got off work, but the company keeps asking for overtime, so I decided to come home and rest for a few days."
"You should rest, or how will you cope if you get sick at such a young age?"
The motorcycle's ignition was forcefully kicked a few times, then it roared to life, and Song Tan instinctively grasped the rear rack, feeling the increasingly fresh sensation of the wind on her face.
Up the mountain, through bends, and amidst ever-denser trees, even in the cold winter, one could see the lush green Tea Mountain and the pine forests...
This was her home, Yun City, Qingxi Town, Yunqiao Village.
A hometown with clear mountains and waters, distinct in all four seasons.
This was her new life.
...
The motorcycle climbed and descended for about ten minutes and finally neared the village after a long downhill stretch.
Yunqiao Village was nestled in the mountains. Although the village-to-village road connections and the once-a-day bus service made leaving no longer an issue, the winding mountain roads still posed an inconvenience. Over the recent years, fewer and fewer young people remained in the village.
The elderly were gradually passing away, the young were moving away, and the population left behind in the village was becoming increasingly sparse.
All told, there were now barely 30 families in the surrounding area.
But what did that matter to a Cultivator? What deep forest or remote mountain hadn't they lived in? Spending months in retreat, sometimes even decades, it didn't matter whether there were people around or not.
...
Song Tan got off the motorcycle, feeling an intriguing sensation stirring inside her—a vibration from her Spirit Plant, a sign that the deep forests were indeed more suited for cultivation.
Thinking of the abilities she would regain after restoring her cultivation, Song Tan became more confident about her future.
In the Cultivation World, she was a dual-elemental cultivator of wood and water, practicing techniques teeming with vitality.
Yet the path of cultivation was arduous, and forming a Golden Core was difficult. Without a Golden Core, in the dog-eat-dog Cultivation World, she couldn't control her own fate.
In search of an opportunity for a breakthrough, Song Tan had spent a century cultivating Spirit Plants in the back mountain, carefully understanding life and death, growth and decline, weathering storms and sunshine, dew and frost.
Nurturing plants with Spiritual Energy had almost become a second nature to her.
Now blessed with an extra lifetime, returning to the countryside, she didn't seek much, just to plant something she could stomach to eat.
The food of the mundane world was too impure for her tastes; she really struggled to swallow it!
With this thought, her empty stomach growled louder, and she was greeted by a wafting fragrance.
A short and stout woman emerged from the kitchen on the other side of the courtyard:
"Tantan, what do you want to eat tonight? I've made crucian carp soup and grilled a few as well. How about I stir-fry some eggs for you? Don't you love eggs? It's too late for slaughtering a chicken now, but I'll stew one for you tomorrow—Old Song, go pluck a bunch of cilantro, we'll add it to the fish soup later."
Cilantro is another name for coriander, and everyone in the Song Tan family loved its flavor.
Seeing her mother, Wu Lan, Song Tan also smiled, "Add a couple more handfuls of da fei; they never use it in Ning City when making fish, and I've missed it for so long."
The people from Yun City loved to add this herb when cooking fish for its unique aroma. It was only after she started working in Ning City that Song Tan learned that "da fei," scientifically known as ageratum, was not consumed by people from other regions, including Ning City.
Wu Lan laughed, "How could those restaurants outside make delicious meals? But in this deep winter, where could we find ageratum? Let's just use cilantro."