After such a dangerous incident—one that nearly cost a life—both Xu Tonglin, who had fallen into the river, and Xu Tongdao, who had jumped in to save him, were given leave.
The production team leader brought the two of them back to the household where they had eaten earlier, found two sets of spare clothes for them to change into, and then sent them home to rest.
As the team leader, he had been badly shaken by what happened.
If two seventeen-year-old boys had drowned in the river, he would have had no idea how to explain it to his superiors or to the boys' families.
And so, Xu Tongdao and Xu Tonglin each held an umbrella, with Xu Tonglin also carrying a flashlight. Step by muddy step, the two of them made their way home.
Neither of them felt much joy at being excused from duty.
What they felt instead was lingering fear from their brush with death.
Xu Tongdao's emotions were even more complicated. He kept thinking… thank goodness he had managed to pull Xu Tonglin out of the river. Otherwise, having just been reborn, he might have ended up drowning alongside Xu Tonglin.
If that had happened, his rebirth would have been completely meaningless—a total waste of this inexplicable second chance.
"Thanks… Tongdao. If you hadn't jumped in to save me just now, I'd probably already be a corpse."
Walking beside him, Xu Tonglin spoke quietly. Xu Tongdao turned his head and saw that Xu Tonglin no longer wore his usual grin. He was looking at Xu Tongdao with a complicated expression.
Xu Tongdao smiled. "No need to thank me. We're brothers."
He said it casually, but Xu Tonglin nodded solemnly and said, "That's right. Tongdao, you saved my life. From now on, we're real brothers. If there's ever anything your family needs my help with, don't ever be polite with me. This life-saving debt—I, Xu Tonglin, will remember it for the rest of my life."
Xu Tongdao looked at him for two seconds, then nodded slightly. "Alright. From now on, we're real brothers. If you ever have anything, you can tell me too. From now on, there's no distinction between us."
Xu Tonglin finally smiled and nodded vigorously. "Alright, alright!"
After a few seconds, Xu Tonglin suddenly asked, "Oh right, our middle school exam results should be coming out in a few days. Heh, I definitely don't have any hope. What about you? With your grades, you should have a chance, right? Are you confident?"
Xu Tongdao gave a self-mocking smile. "Given my family's situation, do you really think I still have the conditions to keep studying?"
Before Xu Tonglin could reply, Xu Tongdao continued, "Once the weather clears, I'm going out to find a job. What about you? What are you planning to do?"
"Find a job? You…"
Xu Tonglin frowned. "You mean… no matter whether you get into high school or not, you're planning to go out and work? Even if you get accepted, you won't attend?"
Xu Tongdao hummed in response.
Xu Tonglin fell silent, then sighed after a long while. "Sigh… I really don't know where your dad went. If he could come back soon, that would be great."
Xu Tongdao smiled silently.
He knew very well that his father's disappearance meant he would never return.
At least, up until the time before Xu Tongdao's rebirth—when his mother passed away—his father had never come back.
So he didn't want to talk about it. In his heart, he had long since treated his father as dead.
The two walked in silence for a bit longer before Xu Tonglin sighed again. "Sigh… I'm going to go learn a trade too. My parents already planned it out—they want me to follow my dad as a helper, then eventually become a mason. What about you? When you head out in a few days, what kind of job are you planning to look for? How about following my dad to learn masonry too?"
A mason…
Xu Tongdao smiled again.
He had already worked as a helper and a mason in his previous life.
If he really wanted to do it now, there would be no need to learn at all.
And he also knew that in a few years, the real estate industry would explode. When that happened, any profession related to real estate would make good money.
So when he heard Xu Tonglin talk about becoming a helper and learning masonry, he had no intention of stopping him.
But he himself did not want to go to a construction site for now.
First, the real estate boom was still several years away. Going to a construction site now would only earn twenty or thirty yuan a day—sometimes not even that.
Second… at seventeen, his body hadn't fully matured yet. Heavy labor would be extremely exhausting.
As for becoming a mason directly?
At seventeen, who would let him be a mason? Who would trust a green kid like him?
In his previous life, after his father disappeared, his first job was as a construction helper. Those years exhausted him like a dog. Maybe it was because of how tiring it was, but after he started working on construction sites, he never grew any taller.
Now that he had been reborn—and had other options—there was no reason to go back to selling his strength on a construction site.
He had already thought through what job he would look for in the coming days while on the dike earlier.
"No. I'm planning to become a chef."
Xu Tongdao answered.
Xu Tonglin was stunned. "A chef? Do you have a connection?"
Before Xu Tongdao could reply, Xu Tonglin suddenly remembered something and laughed. "Right! I remember—you have a cousin who's a chef, don't you? Are you planning to follow him and learn the trade? That must be it, right?"
Xu Tongdao's eldest cousin on his maternal uncle's side—Ge Liangcai—was nine years older than him and currently worked as a chef at the Hongxing Hotel in the county town.
In his previous life, when Xu Tongdao switched careers to learn cooking, it was under Cousin Ge Liangcai.
Of course, that was in his previous life.
Now that he had been reborn, there was no need to start again from the basics.
So he shook his head. "No. I plan to make my own way."
"Make your own way?"
Xu Tonglin couldn't help but repeatedly try to persuade Xu Tongdao, strongly suggesting that he should still go learn under his cousin…
The two chatted as they walked, talking all the way home.
By the time they reached the village, it was already close to eight in the evening.
When Xu Tongdao arrived home, the front door was already shut, though light still shone from the windows of the rooms on both sides of the main hall.
He reached out and knocked. From inside came his mother's voice. "Who is it? Who is it?"
"Mom, it's me."
Xu Tongdao answered. Footsteps followed, and the door opened. The one who opened it was his younger brother Xu Tonglu, but his mother and sister also hurried over with puzzled expressions.
His mother said, "Tongdao? Weren't you on flood-duty? Why are you back already?"
His sister Ge Yuzhu asked, "Huh? Big Brother, whose clothes are you wearing? Where are your own clothes?"
Xu Tonglu also looked him up and down, frowning. "What happened?"
"Tonglin fell into the river. After I pulled him out, the team leader sent both of us back. My clothes got soaked—these are the ones the team leader gave me."
Xu Tongdao explained simply as he walked into the main hall. He spoke lightly, but it only left his mother and siblings with even more questions, all of which were immediately thrown at him.
TL: If you want to read ahead by at least ten chapters, patreon.com/EdibleMapleSyrup