Chapter 4: Going to the Countryside

“You think you’re too good for this, don’t you?” Her mother, Hu Meili, scoffed. “Lin Xiangnan, with your all-round development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, you’re afraid of going to the countryside to do farm work?”

“Fine, I’ll go,” Lin Xiangnan replied, rolling her eyes.

She had food and drink in her own space, so she didn’t need the work points from the team. She already had a plan: go to the countryside, but slack off during work. Participation was the key.

Hu Meili glared at her. “Go back to your room. I can’t stand seeing you.”

“This mom is so fierce,” Lin Xiangnan muttered under her breath, finally managing to retort, “Who told you to look at me anyway?”

With that, she quickly slipped back to her room and shut the door.

“Hey, you little troublemaker, you dare talk back to me?” Hu Meili grumbled. “You’re only getting older, not wiser. I’ve wasted my time raising you…”

Lin Xiangnan could be a keyboard warrior online, arguing with people, but in real life, she rarely argued, especially not with someone like Hu Meili, a middle-aged woman. The problem was that Hu Meili would resort to violence if she couldn’t win an argument. She was unbeatable.

Lin Xiangnan retreated to her room and was just about to relax when a knock came at the door.

Hu Meili never knocked, so it must be her younger brother, Lin Xiangxi.

“Come in,” Lin Xiangnan said without looking up.

“Here, roasted sparrows, still hot. Want some?” Lin Xiangxi pushed aside the leaves, revealing the roasted sparrows, their aroma filling the air.

These days, ordinary people couldn’t go to university, and no one around them cared about education. A few years ago, when the schools were in chaos, the children at home even skipped school for a few years. If it weren’t for the fact that high school allowed students to delay going to the countryside by two years, Hu Meili wouldn’t have let her children study.

These roasted sparrows were clearly something Lin Xiangxi had gotten by skipping school in the afternoon.

Lin Xiangnan grabbed a sparrow leg. “I’ll just have a taste. I haven’t moved much today, I’m not hungry.”

“Hey, Mom made you congee too,” Lin Xiangxi said, noticing that the congee was barely touched. He knew his sister wasn’t really hungry.

“I can’t finish the congee. Do you want it?”

Lin Xiangxi nodded eagerly, took the bowl, and gulped it down in two swallows. “Delicious.”

Lin Xiangnan couldn’t agree. Hu Meili had no culinary skills; she cooked rice and stir-fried dishes by simply adding water and letting them simmer until done.

At dinner time, Lin Xiangnan didn’t even come to the table. She stayed in her room packing her things. Hu Meili wasn’t joking when she said she would send her to the countryside to work.

The house was small, and Lin Xiangnan and Liu Hongying shared the same room and bed at night. Lin Xiangnan was uncomfortable with this arrangement and tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Liu Hongying suddenly asked, “Mom wants you to go to the countryside to get used to it for a few days?”

Lin Xiangnan didn’t want to answer. She stopped making any noise and pretended to be asleep.

“If we had money,” Liu Hongying sighed, “you and Honghe could stay. But unfortunately, we still owe debts. You’re stronger than me. Mom cares about you. Even if you go to the countryside, she’ll send you things, you won’t have it so hard.”

She and Lin Xiangdong had gone to the countryside together. Hu Meili often sent things and food ration coupons to her son, but Liu Laobai, their father, acted as if he had forgotten he had a daughter and let her fend for herself in the countryside.

After returning to the city due to illness, Hu Meili disliked her for being a burden and wanted to marry her off. She introduced her to several blind dates. Liu Hongying was dark and thin, like a stick, and she limped. She had no job. The people Hu Meili introduced were not good, and some even tried to set her up with a fool.

Liu Hongying naturally refused to marry into such a family. She had been dragging her feet, and now not only did Hu Meili dislike her, but even Liu Laobai, her own father, looked down on her and wanted her to marry a fool for a higher dowry.

Liu Laobai had spent 500 yuan buying a job for his son, and Hu Meili was unwilling to share the debt with him, so Liu Laobai was short of money.

Liu Hongying continued in a sympathetic tone, “Next year, Xiaoxi will graduate from junior high. Mom’s saved money won’t be enough to buy a job, maybe she’s even thinking about your dowry money. You’re better off staying in the countryside for two years than marrying someone just to get rid of yourself.”

It was one thing to want to go to the countryside yourself, but it was another to be persuaded by someone else.

Lin Xiangnan no longer pretended to be asleep. She retorted, “The countryside is so good. Why did you come back to the city?”

“It’s not like I had a choice,” Liu Hongying said matter-of-factly. “Don’t think our family is doing well now, but the reality is there. Honghe will definitely go to the countryside. So will you.”

To emphasize her point, Liu Hongying even brought up her younger brother.

In a family with no power or influence, even if they had many children, they could only keep one.

Their family had six children, and some were destined to be sacrificed. Other families also sent their children to the countryside, but it wasn’t as chaotic as theirs. Liu Hongying’s return to the city had been so tragic that it had scared everyone in the family, making them see going to the countryside as a den of vipers.

“You’re talking from a position of privilege,” Lin Xiangnan turned her back. “I’m going to sleep, don’t talk to me anymore.”

The bed was too hard, and Lin Xiangnan didn’t sleep well all night. In the morning, she wanted to stay in bed a little longer, but Hu Meili came to urge her.

“Get up and eat breakfast. We’re going to your second aunt’s house today. I wasn’t kidding yesterday.”

“I know.”

Breakfast was coarse grain pancakes and pickled vegetables. The pancakes were dry and the pickled vegetables were too salty. Lin Xiangnan ate a pancake for a long time and still couldn’t finish it.

Hu Meili urged impatiently, “What are you dawdling for? Finish up and pack your things. We’re leaving. It takes half a day to get to your second aunt’s house. I have to go to work in the afternoon.”

Knowing that Lin Xiangnan had taken leave to help with work in the countryside, her younger brother, Liu Honghe, looked at her with undisguised pride.

While Hu Meili went to the yard to borrow a bicycle, Liu Honghe came over and said, “Sister, work hard, get used to it first. Don’t be unprepared when you suddenly go to the countryside.”

Lin Xiangnan looked at him with disdain. “I think you should be the one getting used to it. I’m not sure if I’ll go to the countryside, but you definitely will.”

Liu Honghe was very confident. “I’m my dad’s real son. You’re just a girl. How can you compare to me? Mom will rely on me to take care of her in her old age.”

Hu Meili relying on her adopted son to take care of her in her old age? Lin Xiangnan scoffed. “You should shake your brains around before you talk to me.”

“You’ve eaten poisonous mushrooms and gone crazy, you dare talk to me like that…” Liu Honghe wanted to say more, but when he saw Hu Meili pushing the bicycle towards them, he immediately cowered, grabbed his schoolbag, and left.

Hu Meili parked the bicycle, then took a cloth bag, opened the cupboard, and packed some food. She had to bring her own food since she was going to stay at her relative’s house for a long time. Besides that, she also brought a bag of peanut brittle.

After packing everything, Hu Meili patted the back seat of the bicycle domineeringly. “Hurry up, get on.”