Chen Chen’s mother, wiping the sweat from her face, quickly apologized to the teacher, explaining that she lost track of time and had brought her child late.

The teacher went outside to speak with Chen Chen’s mother, and Chen Chen made faces at Cen Huai’an.

Unfortunately, Cen Huai’an was already focused on the Sudoku he brought and didn’t notice him.

Sudoku was something Cen Huai’an asked to buy when Chuxia was shopping at the Xinhua Bookstore.

Compared to memorizing classical poetry, he preferred solving these logical math puzzles.

He had completed half of his Sudoku book; it was a 4×4 grid with relatively easy difficulty at the beginning.

With Chuxia’s explanation of the solving methods, he could figure out the answers quickly.

As the puzzles got harder, he had to think longer, but the sense of accomplishment when he solved them was even greater.

Chen Chen, as hoped, sat next to Cen Huai’an. When he plopped down, his chubby body shook a little.

He eagerly pulled out his things and whispered to Cen Huai’an, “An An, An An, I brought candy. Let’s play Connect Six after class, okay?”

Chen Chen’s level at Connect Six was quite poor; Cen Huai’an could easily win within a single recess.

Even though Chen Chen couldn’t win, his enthusiasm for playing was high.

When Cen Huai’an didn’t want to play, he would find others to play with.

No matter who he played with, he never won.

His candies, marbles, and cards were often taken away by others.

Cen Huai’an looked up at the teacher, who was indeed glaring at Chen Chen, his eyes almost popping out.

Seeing Cen Huai’an’s gaze, Chen Chen shuddered and immediately lowered his head, no longer daring to speak.

---

In the afternoon, Chuxia took Cen Huai’an home and received two package pickup notices: one from Cen Zhengnian and one from Beijing, sent by Jiang Hongru.

Jiang Hongru?

It seemed her mother-in-law’s surname was Jiang and was from Beijing.

Could this be something sent by her mother-in-law?

Chuxia took the package pickup notices to the post office and collected the two packages.

Before opening the packages, she wasn’t sure who the sender from Beijing was.

The original Chuxia had married in Liangzhou and hadn’t been familiar with her in-laws since then.

Therefore, Chuxia was unsure who in her in-laws’ family sent the package.

She only knew her mother-in-law was in Gansu, not Beijing.

The package from Cen Zhengnian was even larger than the previous one, and the other package was heavy and too difficult for her to move alone.

Chuxia asked the mail carrier for help and agreed to pay extra to have them delivered to the family compound.

Otherwise, she could only watch helplessly.

When she got home and opened the packages, Chuxia was both surprised and delighted to find high school exam papers and the latest study materials!

The package from Cen Zhengnian included these materials, and the one from Beijing was all study-related items.

Chuxia opened Cen Zhengnian’s letter and understood that he supported her exams and had asked his mother to find materials through her grandfather.

His mother also found many resources in the northwest.

Looking at the materials and reflecting on the original Cen Zhengnian, who was a man of few words, proud, and reluctant to ask for help, Chuxia couldn’t imagine how he had requested his mother’s assistance.

Moreover, sending so much at once showed that her in-laws fully supported her college entrance exams.

The original Chuxia had received many packages from her mother-in-law before. Chuxia sighed.

Cen Zhengnian’s family was indeed a good family, and she couldn’t describe her current feelings.

If the original Chuxia had listened more to her mother, she wouldn’t have ended up as she did in the book, and Cen Huai’an wouldn’t have grown up to be the antagonist.

The saying that “character determines destiny” couldn’t be more evident than now.

But dwelling on these thoughts was useless.

The original Chuxia was no longer here.

Chuxia gathered her emotions and went back to examining the packages.

Cen Huai’an, while she was lost in thought, had already laid out the books on the table. Besides the books, there were also furs, clothes, and various food items.

No wonder the packages were so large.

The furs needed to be tailored, as they arrived as whole pelts—two of them.

Chuxia didn’t understand furs and couldn’t tell what kind of fur it was, but it felt comfortable to the touch.

The color was pure white, and she guessed it was probably sheep wool; rabbit fur wasn’t this large.

Now is just the right time to get the tailor to make it; you’ll be able to wear it in winter.

“An An, this pile of things was bought by your grandmother and sent over by your father. This other pile was sent by your grandfather.”

Chuxia needed to tell Cen Huai’an that these things were sent, so he would know whom to thank for them, rather than just using them without knowing who sent them.

Cen Huai’an only had the image of Grandma Chen in his mind when he thought of grandmothers.Wang Yulan was not included.

He was familiar with the term “grandmother,” but he had never called anyone that, so he was unsure.

He opened his mouth and asked Chuxia, “Is my grandmother like Grandma Chen?”

If she were like Grandma Chen, he wouldn’t need to be coaxed to eat; he would eat heartily right away.

Grandma Chen, in the family compound, was always running around feeding her little grandson, sometimes even running through the whole compound to finish feeding him a bowl of rice.

“No, she’s not the same,” Chuxia said. “Every grandmother is different. Your grandmother must be a very good person; you can see she cares a lot about you.”

Cen Huai’an couldn’t imagine what his grandmother looked like and shook his head, asking, “Why haven’t I met her?”

“Because she’s as busy as your father,” Chuxia explained.

The original Chuxia’s mother-in-law was a strong woman working in the military and was very busy.

There weren’t many other impressions of her because Chuxia had only met her during the arranged marriage and never saw her again after that.

However, she often sent things and mentioned in her letters that she was too busy to visit and felt guilty about it.

She sent more money to Chuxia to ask her mother to help take care of her and Cen Huai’an.

But those things were taken away by Wang Yulan, and Chuxia was not well taken care of, making the gifts useless.

Chuxia didn’t want Eldest Brother Luo to get the house or for them to live so comfortably.

However, she was busy with studying and work, and with Cen Huai’an at home, she couldn’t find the time to add to their troubles.

But as long as Eldest Brother Luo didn’t get a house, with the family crowded into one house and without the money from Chuxia, they would soon create chaos.

None of them were good people, they don’t even care about their sister or daughter, then their is a grandson also.

She was waiting to see them cause their own downfall.

But how could she ensure they didn’t get a house?

Chuxia planned to think about it after finishing the transfer exam; right now, her own matters were the most important.

Cen Huai’an responded indifferently, “Oh.”

They never came to see him, and the things sent were things he never used before and didn’t like.

Now Cen Huai’an was no longer unwilling to read letters.

He would lean against Chuxia and listen as she read the letters from Cen Zhengnian and his grandparents.

“Your father said he sent you some calligraphy books he used to practice with.”

Chuxia flipped through the pile of books, found the one, and handed it to Cen Huai’an. “It’s this one.”

Cen Huai’an didn’t take it and said, “I don’t want to use his.”

“Then don’t use it,” Chuxia replied, leaving the book on the table and continuing to read.

When Cen Zhengnian praised his good temperament and how well he was raised by his mother, Cen Huai’an couldn’t help but mentally refute: it was Fairy Mother who raised him well, not the previous mother.

Cen Huai’an realized that the painful memories from before didn’t seem so bad now.

It must be Fairy Mother’s magic at work, indeed.

That night, Chuxia fell asleep on the bed.

Cen Huai’an quietly opened his eyes, whispered “Mom,” and seeing that Chuxia didn’t respond and had rolled over with her arm on him, he carefully moved her arm aside, got up, and tiptoed out of the room.

In the corner under the wall opposite the cabinet was a wooden box where Chuxia had put today’s books.

He carefully opened the box, using the moonlight from outside to search through the books until he finally found what he was looking for: the calligraphy book his father sent.

He took it out, closed the wooden box, and quickly stuffed the book into his school bag.

After completing this task, he patted his pounding chest and quietly returned to bed, covering himself with the blanket and falling asleep peacefully.

The next morning, Chuxia woke up, went to the wooden box to get her books, and noticed the calligraphy book was missing.

She raised her eyebrows but wasn’t surprised.

She didn’t look for the book; since it was just her and Cen Huai’an in the room, if the book was missing, it must be Cen Huai’an who took it.

It was peculiar that he wanted the calligraphy book so much, but Chuxia just shook her head with a smile and went to cook.

With the exam papers and materials, Chuxia spent two days doing exercises.

By the morning of the 5th, when she went to the No. 9 Middle School for the exam, she felt much more confident.

This was the effect of practicing for exams on Chinese students.

The transfer exam lasted for two days. Chu Xia took the science exam, with four subjects on Saturday and three on Sunday: Chinese, Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and an additional Political Science subject.

The questions weren’t particularly difficult.

Chu Xia found it quite smooth since she had reviewed most of the material.

She finished the English test quickly and submitted it half an hour after the exam began.

The only areas she wasn’t confident about were Political Science and some vocabulary explanations in Chinese, as well as the classical Chinese questions.

However, Chu Xia wrote everything she could.

With her foundation in math and science, she wasn’t too worried.

After the exam, she received the answers and calculated her score.

She was confident she had passed the transfer exam!

With extra time left, Chu Xia happily went to the cinema, and sure enough, she found Cen Huai’an there.

“Huai’an!”

Chu Xia smiled at Bangzi and the others. Cen Huai’an ran over, his face sweaty.

Chu Xia handed him a handkerchief and said, “I’m going to take the fur coat to the tailor later. Do you want to come with me?”

Cen Huai’an looked at the Popsicle stall and shook his head. “I want to finish selling first.”

“Alright, I haven’t seen a movie yet, so I’ll go watch one while you sell.”

Cen Huai’an stared at his mother’s slowly retreating figure toward the cinema and couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

Then, feeling frustrated, he pouted.

He also wanted to watch a movie—why didn’t his mother ask him?

Even if he had to sell Popsicle, she could have asked him. Maybe he would have agreed.

Cen Huai’an expressionlessly returned to the Popsicle foam box, and it was obvious he was upset.

Bangzi wiped his sweat, glanced at the handkerchief in Cen Huai’an’s hand, and extended his hand, saying, “Can I borrow the handkerchief?”

Cen Huai’an immediately stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket. “No, this is my mom’s.”

He then fished out his own handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Bangzi. “Use this one.”

“Stingy,” Bangzi said, taking the handkerchief without minding.

He wiped his face and handed it back to Cen Huai’an, nudging him with his shoulder. “What’s wrong? Are you unhappy because your mom didn’t take you with her?”

Cen Huai’an, frowning with impatience, pushed Bangzi away. “No, it’s because of selling ice cream!”

After saying this, he ignored Bangzi, irritated by his annoying smile.

Chu Xia was unaware of the situation outside.

She entered the cinema just in time for the start of a film—Lushan Love.

Chu Xia thought the name sounded somewhat familiar; she might have heard it mentioned before.

Cinemas at this time were quite different from modern ones, with wooden hard seats.

In the dim light, she could see the era-specific slogans on the screen at the front and on both sides of the cinema. Chu Xia found it quite novel.

After finding her seat, the lights quickly went out, and the cinema was plunged into darkness, with the screen at the front lighting up.

It felt just like when she watched street films as a child.

As soon as the movie started, the chatter in the cinema ceased, and everyone looked up attentively.

Lushan Love was quite enjoyable.

From the perspective of future generations, Chu Xia thought it was great, even better than many movies made later.

The story of two young people meeting and falling in love, overcoming difficulties together, left Chu Xia with a sense of admiration for beautiful love.

However, upon leaving the cinema, she saw Cen Huai’an with a visibly unhappy expression.

All thoughts of pure love were immediately forgotten.

“Did you finish selling?”

“Yeah.” Cen Huai’an kept his head down, rubbing the stones under his shoes, and asked in a muffled voice, “Was the movie good?”

“It was great, especially good. I want to watch it again.”

Cen Huai’an instantly looked up, his eyes showing a sense of grievance.

His mother didn’t even ask him.

Chu Xia couldn’t help but laugh.