Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 703 - 428 Colorful People_2

This strike, if it had been an ordinary person, would have knocked them down, but Jiang Ning casually grabbed it, slightly diffused the force, and caught the swinging hammock in his palm.

Xue Yuantong stayed at a height of more than a meter, her hands gripping the woven bag, her little face deathly pale.

Jiang Ning slowly let go, and the hammock, having lost its momentum, stayed at its lowest point, almost coming to a stop.

Xue Yuantong’s heart thumped wildly—if it hadn’t been for Jiang Ning, she might have been thrown out.

Xue Yuantong shakily descended from the hammock, nearly traumatized.

Xue Chuchu was also speechless, still, Tongtong knew how to make a hammock so thrilling.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Xue Yuantong, still scared, looked at Jiang Ning and feigned composure, "What could be wrong with me? Just a hammock, was I cool just now?"

She imitated Jiang Ning, standing proudly with her hands behind her back.

Xue Chuchu: "Not cool, you screamed so loud."

She felt embarrassed for Tongtong.

Xue Yuantong put on a poker face, forcibly acting cool: "I did that loud on purpose."

Jiang Ning teased, "Really?"

Xue Chuchu couldn’t bear to watch Tongtong anymore; she turned her face away, listening to Tongtong and Jiang Ning bicker.

She wasn’t as outgoing as Tongtong; if it were her, she could never do such a thing.

Thinking back to the swing’s scare, Xue Chuchu remembered the past, when she and Tongtong grew up together. At that time, though Tongtong was lively and agile, she never showed off like this; she was actually very good at protecting herself.

Knowing not to do dangerous things.

Now, looking again, Tongtong had become more lively, her courage had grown a lot, and it seemed, she was more childish than before...

She couldn’t help but wonder, "Is it reverse aging?"

"Or is it because of... Jiang Ning?"

Xue Chuchu fell silent.

In that instant, her mind flashed with many images that continuously flickered until finally, two grayish frames froze.

One frame showed Xue Chuchu entering the urban area of Yu Zhou City for the first time, following her mother to the River Dam Bungalow, seeing the lonely silhouette of Tongtong sitting at the door.

The other frame was of Tongtong, beside her, arguing with Jiang Ning.

Xue Chuchu was naturally pessimistic; even her memories were grayish.

However, at this moment, Xue Yuantong’s wide-eyed, gesticulating figure unexpectedly painted a layer of vivid color for her.

It seemed, she came to life anew.

Xue Chuchu heard Tongtong’s crisp voice beside her, pleasing and melodious, gradually, in the colorful scene, the gray Xue Chuchu also tinged with color.

...

Noon.

The beef was cooked, Xue Yuantong went home to cook, with Xue Chuchu lending a hand.

Jiang Ning was in charge of moving the table; lunch was laid out on the table—cold beef slices, braised shrimps, and a dish of cold sliced tomatoes, which of course were not produced by Hu Qi Mountain, so they tasted quite average.

Xue Yuantong got two cans of peach in syrup, "Courtesy of mom’s company, preservative-free!"

Jiang Ning took the cans, unscrewed them effortlessly, and poured them into the soup dishes.

Xue Yuantong quickly scooped up a piece with a spoon; having been refrigerated, the large peach segments were cool and the flesh thick and juicy, tender but firm, sweet but not cloying, even tastier than fresh peaches!

Xue Chuchu dawdled for a while and, when Jiang Ning finally picked up his chopsticks, tried a slice of the cold beef.

The beef dripped with sesame oil, very fragrant, spicy, and slightly tangy with vinegar, deliciously chewy.

Xue Chuchu had spent another day freeloading her meals, feeling guilty yet having eaten a lot; she always felt a sense of guilt.

The summer was the perfect time for such food; while the meal was enjoyable, halfway through, a sturdy dark little boy from the neighbor’s house ran out—it was Dongdong.

Xue Yuantong’s chopsticks paused.

Dongdong, with his strong self-healing power, held a slingshot and scanned the surroundings. Suddenly, he noticed something unusual—the forest ahead had a swing!

The allure of a swing to a child was undeniable; he stared directly at the swing.

Without a second thought, Dongdong crossed the sunlit ground as if traversing a battlefield, reaching the location of the swing.

"Jiang Ning, Jiang Ning, what do we do?" Xue Yuantong nudged her, her little face full of worry.

Jiang Ning’s expression remained unchanged, as if saying, ’Can anyone else sleep next to my couch?’

"Don’t worry, I have a plan."

Dongdong saw the hammock between the trees and excitedly shouted out, "Hammock, hammock!"

He stepped back a few paces, preparing for a mighty jump onto the hammock. As for whether the hammock would break?

That was not a concern of his—it was just a hammock after all.

As Dongdong was about to make his move, Jiang Ning, with a flicker of his Divine Sense, caused the stinging caterpillar, also known as ’stinging caterpillar,’ to suddenly fall from the tree. It gently landed on Dongdong’s dark neck like a star touching water.

The stinging caterpillar gently struck Dongdong.

Dongdong felt something unusual on his neck and reached out to touch it, feeling something furry.

He looked at his hand and saw a furry, bright green caterpillar that was so visually uncomfortable it made one’s skin crawl.

Dongdong knew this was a ’stinging caterpillar.’ He screamed miserably, and flung the caterpillar away, his cry echoing through the skies.

The fear that followed a wasp sting descended upon him again; his neck burned painfully as the stinging caterpillar’s acidic venom took effect.

"Grandma, Grandma!" Dongdong howled as he ran towards his home.

The plump old lady rushed out of the house, hearing the terrible state of her grandson.

Dongdong rubbed his neck and cried out, "I’ve been stung by a stinging caterpillar!"

The old lady cursed twice and quickly went to make some soapy water.

Meanwhile, at the Xue Family, the atmosphere was very serene; the three of them had witnessed the entire process of Dongdong’s misfortune. Xue Chuchu always found it strange:

"Jiang Ning, was this your doing?"

Xue Yuantong then remembered how she had been on the swing but thankfully had not been stung by a stinging caterpillar. She felt secretly relieved.

Even though Dongdong was suffering, the presence of the stinging caterpillars was equally troubling for Xue Yuantong; stinging caterpillars sting indiscriminately.

Xue Yuantong was almost too scared to swing anymore.

Jiang Ning calmly peeled a shrimp and said, "Yes, it was my doing. I can control bugs."

Xue Chuchu thought he was talking nonsense—who could control bugs?

Xue Yuantong’s eyes lit up, "Really?"

"Yes, I used magic."

"Can I control them too?"

"You can’t," Jiang Ning stated.

Xue Yuantong felt slightly disappointed.

Seeing her reaction, Xue Chuchu felt it was bizarre—Tongtong, such a smart person, was actually believing Jiang Ning’s bluff?

Jiang Ning was quite pleased. He nodded and said, "It’s my magic. You can play without worry; you won’t get stung."

Xue Chuchu thought to herself, ’Is he treating her like a child?’

...

Simultaneously, in the Yu Zhou Center.

In the Changqing Liquid Company, within the conference room.

In the modest space, a dozen people sat around a rectangular conference table.

A middle-aged man, slender and bespectacled but energetic, pointed at the projected PPT, "Above is the agenda for this year’s conference, everything has been arranged."

Shao Shuangshuang leaned back in the central executive chair, fiddling with a wooden tag, her fingers skillfully twirling it. She nodded:

"Next."

An excited member of the management stood up; he was very muscular and stood at 1.95 meters. His voice was deep:

"President Shao, as for the new products you arranged last time, we have the results of our internal vote."

He clicked the mouse, and the projector screen changed, showing clean, succinct, and easy-to-understand data.

Sleep aid, acne treatment, skin whitening, vision improvement.

"What do you think?" Shao Shuangshuang squinted her eyes, the tear mole at the corner of her eye particularly prominent.

Dressed in a suit, a picture of urban sophistication, Lin Han was unexpectedly in the conference room—she was obviously the person Lin Zhongsheng Group had sent to manage their operations in Yuzhou.

Lin Han glanced at Shao Shuangshuang’s flawless face and spoke, "I suggest we develop the skin whitening product first. In recent years, skin whitening has been a consistently hot topic on social media platforms. The market for skin whitening products keeps expanding..."

She listed a few points, then continued, "The market for skin whitening is more mass-oriented and highly profitable, and it is also the most competitive market."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man interjected, "President Lin, if I may ask a question, if we launch a skin whitening product, how do you think we should price it? Should we follow the current uniform pricing?"

Lin Han smiled, "Of course, it should be tiered pricing; we want the money of ordinary people just as much as we want the money of the wealthy."

Ding Shuyan was also in the meeting room, but she was there as an observer.