Chapter 29

“Then, teacher, what about my dorm?”

“The dorm’s fine, there aren’t many people anyway.” The teacher didn’t seem to care much and waved it off, indicating it wasn’t a big deal.

Since even the teacher said it wasn’t a problem, Lin Yun didn’t dwell on it anymore and went straight back to her dorm.

Given that the facilities of the entire school weren’t great, the dorm conditions naturally weren’t much better — the most obvious issues being dampness and dust.

You couldn’t really feel the dampness in the hot months of August and September, but with more students arriving over the past few days, the rising dust in the dorm made things uncomfortable. The floor was made of packed earth, not even concrete.

But since the school had been around for years, the floor was riddled with dents and potholes from years of wear, with several large holes visible in the central area.

When Lin Yun returned, there were only three people in the dorm: Zhao Baozhu and two other girls who looked familiar but whose names she couldn’t recall. Lin Yun nodded at them in greeting.

The dorm had previously been used as a classroom, so it was relatively spacious. There were eight metal bunk beds, meaning the room could hold up to 32 people if fully occupied.

Zhao Baozhu quickly walked up to her. “What did the teacher want?”

“It was about class placements. I plan to take the exam at the office tomorrow. They’ll assign classes based on the results afterward.”

“Huh? Why do you still need to take an exam? I thought we chose our classes based on our preferences, not test scores.”

“But everyone else is taking it. If I don’t, it feels a bit weird. It’s okay, I decided on my own. I’m kind of curious if I’ve fallen behind academically.” Lin Yun knew Zhao Baozhu was standing up for her, but she really didn’t think it was a big deal.

“Alright, alright, it’s just an exam anyway. This weekend, let’s go out — my treat!” Lin Yun shook Zhao Baozhu’s shoulder. “Let’s hang up the mosquito nets first. There are way too many mosquitoes. I don’t want to wake up covered in bites.”

Lin Yun had specially bought two mosquito nets from the supply co-op in town, since the ones at home were basically falling apart. She felt like having or not having them made no difference — they were not only torn but also filthy.

She had bought two on purpose: one for the bed she shared with Lin Yumei, and the other for Lin Yonggang’s. The quality of mosquito nets at the time was still really good — fine mesh and solid material.

She hadn’t bought any for Lin Chuntian’s bed because she had checked and found theirs were still in decent condition. Plus, she had only managed to get two mosquito net coupons.

But that night, as Lin Yun and Lin Yumei were about to hang up the new nets, Zhao Lanxiu saw them and immediately scolded them.

“You girls are wasting money again. It’s not like we don’t already have good nets. Buying new ones? No matter how much money we have, it won’t be enough for you to squander. The ones at home are perfectly fine, and here you are using new ones. If you act like this after getting married, how are you supposed to manage a household? What kind of family could stand a daughter-in-law like this?”

Lin Yun frowned deeply and was speechless. “If we have good mosquito nets, why aren’t we using them? Ours are basically in tatters. If you’d taken out the good ones earlier, would I have needed to buy new ones?”

Zhao Lanxiu was momentarily stunned by her response, then snatched the new net from Lin Yun and brought out an old but still usable one. Lin Yun checked it — it was intact, just really worn.

“Use this one first. I’ll keep the new ones. And Yonggang too — always wasting money on unnecessary things.”

Lin Yun quickly stopped her. “Mom, if you’re putting the new ones away, when are we ever going to use them?”

“Use them after these are worn out, of course.” Zhao Lanxiu said as if it were common sense.

“So you’re saying we should use the old ones first, then when the new ones become old, we keep using the old ones? By that logic, we’ll never actually get to use anything new. You just want us to always use old stuff. Do you have some kind of attachment to old things?” Lin Yun was genuinely confused.

“Either we hang the new mosquito net you’re holding now, or I’m taking it to school with me. Your call.” Lin Yun grabbed the new net back from her hands.

“Fine, fine, do whatever you want. You’re brave now and have money of your own. I can’t control you anymore. Do what you like.”

In the end, Lin Yun hung up the new net at home and brought the other one to school.

“Ah, you brought a mosquito net too? I did as well. Looks like we’re in sync!” said Zhao Baozhu.

It wasn’t really about being in sync — in the past, it was always Zhao Baozhu who brought a net. Lin Yun’s family couldn’t afford to let her bring one to school.

Getting bitten by mosquitoes was just something she endured. It’s not like the mosquitoes here could kill you. Besides, there were many students without nets.

“I always used yours before — now we’ll use the one I brought.” The two girls then began hanging up the net efficiently.

By nighttime, the dorm still wasn’t full. Lin Yun overheard a few girls saying that because there weren’t many girls, the first- and second-year students were housed together.

Lin Yun knew there were two classes per grade, so together they made up around 100–200 students. Yet there were only 23 girls in the dorm. Even accounting for some who might be commuting, the ratio was still unbelievable.

She was well aware of the rural preference for boys over girls. Zhao Lanxiu was like that too. To be fair, she did have some affection for the original Lin Yun and Lin Yumei, but that affection would never outweigh Lin Yonggang’s interests.

Their family was getting along better now only because they had money. Lin Yun had made quite a bit herself, and Lin Chuntian was also doing well selling jars. She’d heard him say he could make 100–200 yuan a day when business was good, at least a few dozen on slower days.

Considering the average wage at the time was just a few dozen even in cities like Shanghai and Beijing, Lin Chuntian earning that much in a day was impressive.

With money in hand, they had more confidence in their son’s future. And when his interests were secure, treating the two daughters a bit better didn’t seem so hard to do anymore.