Chapter 25
Lin Yonggang felt a bit more at ease thinking about the pack of cigarettes his sister gave him. With that pack, he shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

Actually, Lin Yun didn’t want to do that either, but this was just how things were. As a staff member at the grain station, being favored by the farmers was completely normal. Social relationships and favors were something one could never truly avoid.

After Lin Yonggang and Lin Chuntian left, Lin Yun and Lin Yumei continued studying at home. A lot of their school supplies had already been used up. Lin Yun had bought more just yesterday, and they were using them now. At the time, Lin Yumei had even said Lin Yun bought too much, but Lin Yun said it’s all stuff they’d need anyway. It’s not like they’d stop needing it after using it once. Buying more just meant they wouldn’t always be worried about running out of pens and notebooks.

Sometimes, Lin Yumei really wondered how her younger sister’s brain worked. She always thought Lin Yun was just smart and good at studying, but after actually studying with her, she realized Lin Yun’s intelligence wasn’t just “good.” She could even use the knowledge in textbooks to come up with practice questions. In this era where there were no supplementary study materials, this was an impressive skill—on par with, or even better than, the teachers at school.

Just as the two of them were deep into their studies, Lin Yun heard someone calling her outside.

“Er Ya, Er Ya, are you home? I came to hang out with you!” It was a young girl’s voice.

Lin Yun was wondering who would come looking for her when Lin Yumei said, “Zhao Baozhen’s here to hang out with you. I was just thinking, how come she hadn’t come to see you this summer? Turns out she’s only coming now.”

Hearing that, Lin Yun realized who it was. She was the original host’s classmate and a close friend. In the original owner’s memory, Zhao Baozhu came from a well-off family and was always very kind to her, helping her out often. They were good friends. After the original host was forced to drop out, Zhao Baozhu did come to see her, but the original owner felt guilty—she didn’t want to trouble someone who had already done so much for her—so she turned her away.

“I’m coming,” Lin Yun called out loudly and walked outside.

When she opened the door, she saw a slightly tanned, chubby girl standing there with a big smile on her face. As soon as she saw Lin Yun, her whole face lit up, “Er Ya, did you miss me? I’ve been wanting to come see you, but I was staying at my grandma’s. I only got back yesterday, so I came to see you today.”

Zhao Baozhu kept talking excitedly after seeing Lin Yun, not even giving her a chance to speak. “Look what I brought you!”

She pulled out three candies from her pocket and handed them to Lin Yun. “My cousin gave me these. I thought they were delicious, so I brought you some to try too.”

Lin Yun looked at the three candies in her hand. From a modern perspective, they were just ordinary fruit candies, but in the countryside at this time, they were a rare treat.

“Thank you, Baozhu. Come on in and sit down. I was just studying with my sister.”

“You’re not…?” Zhao Baozhu started to say something instinctively but quickly stopped herself. Instead, she said, “Studying is great. The teacher said never stop learning. The more you study, the more it benefits you.”

Lin Yun noticed her careful expression, as if afraid of saying the wrong thing, and smiled. “I’ll be going back to school after the summer break. We’ll be classmates again.”

“Really?” Zhao Baozhu was thrilled. She rushed forward and hugged Lin Yun. “Ahhh, I’m so happy! You have no idea—when I got back, I even saw the teacher, and he asked me if you were going back to school. He said it would be a pity if you didn’t take the college entrance exam. I didn’t even know how to answer him then.

If he knew you’re going back to school after the break, he’d definitely be really happy.”

Lin Yun nodded with a smile.

After that, Zhao Baozhu started telling Lin Yun all about her time at her grandma’s, painting vivid stories with her words.

From her stories, Lin Yun gathered that she was the only girl in her family, so her cousins doted on her a lot. Even in this era where most people didn’t have enough to eat, all her clothes were new.

Zhao Baozhu stayed at Lin’s house for the whole afternoon, and Lin Yun finally understood why her cousins spoiled her—who wouldn’t love a little ball of sunshine?

When the afternoon broadcast started, Zhao Baozhu took her leave, saying she’d come hang out more often.

Lin Yun and Lin Yumei noticed it was about time to start making dinner. They divided up the tasks: Lin Yun was in charge of the fire. “Sis, let’s cook that piece of meat we bought yesterday, and make a bit more rice. I kind of want to eat crispy rice porridge.”

“Sure, leave it to me. You just keep the fire going.” In the past, Lin Yumei wouldn’t dare touch anything in the house without her mother’s permission. If her mom found out, she’d scold her at the door for an hour and let the whole neighborhood know.

But now that she had her own money, even though there were still things she couldn’t buy, having money gave her confidence.

After cooking, they called Zhao Lanxiu home for dinner. The three of them ate together, then went to the big tree at the entrance of the village to cool off.

They brought two large palm-leaf fans. Zhao Lanxiu’s fan was already worn out and barely moved any air, while Lin Yumei’s was still fairly new. As they swayed their way to the tree, they saw a bunch of people already gathered there.

A few aunties saw them and waved enthusiastically, “Come, come, sit over here.” They even made a bit of space for them.

Lin Yun was seated beside an old lady she didn’t recognize, who looked about sixty or seventy years old. The old lady took Lin Yun’s hand and said, “Ah, isn’t this our Er Ya, our future college student? I heard you’re going back to school soon?”

Lin Yun didn’t know how news of her returning to school had spread, but maybe there really were no secrets in the countryside. Though she figured it wasn’t something that needed to be hidden either.

So she nodded and said, “Yes, I’ll be going back after summer break. But I haven’t taken the college entrance exam yet, so I might not get into college. I wouldn’t call myself a college student yet.”

“Everyone says you’re really smart—you’ll definitely get in. Then you’ll be our village’s college student. Our village can produce talent, you know. I heard we even had a top scholar a long time ago.”

What could Lin Yun say? She just smiled without commenting. But clearly, nobody cared much about her modesty—the conversation continued enthusiastically. Lin Yun even noticed Zhao Lanxiu joining in.

“I’m not worried about her. I’m not worried about either of my girls. Er Ya is smart, and Yu Mei is sensible. It’s just Gangzi…” She let out a long sigh. “Sigh.”