Chapter 018

Chu Xia didn’t say another word to Lin Xiaohan after that.

She sat quietly on the cart, keeping a close eye on the road ahead.

They’d nearly had an accident on that downhill slope earlier because they didn’t know the road and weren’t paying attention.

By the time the sun had risen halfway into the eastern sky, they arrived at the county seat.

Once there, they got straight to business. After asking for directions, they found the education bureau, handed over the letter of introduction, explained their purpose, and, under the guidance of the official in charge, paid the tuition and miscellaneous fees and submitted the application forms to complete the enrollment process.

After all the formalities were done, they received the textbooks they needed.

Of course, the education bureau didn’t keep all the fees. After collecting the payments, they would redistribute funds according to regulations and the specific needs of each school.

So Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan took the money allocated back to them and purchased essential teaching supplies like chalk, blackboard erasers, and ink.

They originally wanted to buy some sports equipment too, but the money wasn’t enough, so they dropped the idea.

By the time they wrapped everything up, it was already noon.

After neatly stacking the textbooks, chalk boxes, and blackboard erasers on the cart, Chu Xia let out a sigh of relief—only for her stomach to suddenly growl loudly.

Hearing the noise, Lin Xiaohan instinctively turned to look at her.

Catching his glance, Chu Xia gave an awkward little smile and said, “I’m starving.”

“Then let’s find a place to eat,” Lin Xiaohan said, and led the donkey cart forward.

They had gotten up early, eaten breakfast early, and had been rushing around all morning, so he was just as hungry—his stomach just hadn’t made a sound yet.

As soon as Chu Xia heard him mention food, she felt even hungrier.

Since Lin Xiaohan was leading the donkey, she didn’t climb back onto the cart. Instead, she walked beside him along the street, turning her head to look at the signs of shops along the way.

When she spotted a sign that read “People’s Restaurant,” she pointed and said, “That one.”

Lin Xiaohan had seen it too and tied up the donkey near the restaurant before heading inside to eat.

The restaurant served both staple foods and stir-fried dishes.

Staple foods required food coupons, but stir-fries didn’t.

Looking at the menu on the wall, a bowl of plain noodles cost nine cents, while a bowl of three-delicacy noodles cost thirty-five cents. After a brief moment of hesitation, they both ordered the three-delicacy noodles but didn’t order any stir-fried dishes.

They were absolutely famished, and just the thought of eating white-flour noodles made the wait feel even longer.

To distract herself from the hunger, Chu Xia started a conversation with Lin Xiaohan. “After lunch, I’m planning to go to the post office to send a letter home. Are you sending a letter too?”

Among the sent-down youth, this was a topic that easily sparked conversation.

Everyone was far from home, all feeling the same longing for family, so it was easy to connect over that.

But Lin Xiaohan replied flatly, without a hint of emotion: “No.”

Chu Xia blinked at him, surprised, and asked again, “It’s been a month since we came down here. Don’t you miss your family?”

Lin Xiaohan gave the same blank expression and tone: “No.”

Chu Xia stared at him again, then lowered her voice, curious. “Can I ask why not?”

Lin Xiaohan looked at her and firmly shut the topic down: “No.”

Chu Xia: “…”

Fine, don’t tell me. I don’t care anyway.

Though she told herself she didn’t care, her eyes still lingered on Lin Xiaohan, and without realizing it, her mind drifted to what she remembered from the novel.

Back when they were in school, her whole world revolved around Han Ting. She hadn’t paid any attention to Lin Xiaohan, even though they were classmates. Naturally, she didn’t know anything about his family situation.

But the novel did provide some basic background about him—and it seemed to match up.

According to the novel:

Lin Xiaohan came from a decent family. His father was the director of a food factory.

But his mother had died when he was very young.

Later, his father remarried, and his stepmother gave birth to a younger brother.

Because Lin Xiaohan had a cold, sarcastic personality that made him hard to like, his father was always strict and harsh with him, while showering his younger brother with love and indulgence.

He wasn’t someone who was ever well-liked by those around him. If even his own father treated him that way, his stepmother of course wasn’t close to him either—at most maintaining a surface-level civility.

He was the kind of person who, it seemed, was destined to never receive genuine affection.

Whether it was family, friendship, or love, no one was willing to give it to him.

Then again, he didn’t seem to want it.

He pushed all feelings and emotional ties far, far away.

The only thing he ever truly desired was success—success that would let him step on everyone around him and leave them in the dust.

As Chu Xia was lost in these thoughts, Lin Xiaohan suddenly asked, “Am I better looking than Han Ting?”

Snapped out of her daze, Chu Xia blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

Lin Xiaohan asked again, his tone a little curt, “You’ve been staring at me for so long—what are you thinking about?”

Chu Xia understood what he meant.

Half joking, half serious, she said, “I was wondering if maybe you’re just lacking love.”

Lin Xiaohan blurted out, “Oh? Are you saying you want to love me?”

It was clearly meant as a sarcastic comeback, but the moment the words left his mouth, both of them froze. Chu Xia stared at him in surprise, and even Lin Xiaohan looked stunned himself. They locked eyes—an awkward, dry, and tense silence hanging in the air.

Just then, someone from the restaurant called out, “Two bowls of three-delicacy noodles, ready!”

Chu Xia snapped out of it and quickly got up, muttering as she walked, “N-noodles are ready…”

When she came back with the noodles, she immediately picked up her chopsticks and lowered her head to eat, not saying another word to Lin Xiaohan.

By the time they’d finished their meal in silence, the earlier awkwardness had faded.

The steaming, fragrant three-delicacy noodles filled their stomachs and left them both satisfied.

After leaving the People’s Restaurant, they didn’t rush off to do anything else.

It was midday, and most of the workers were taking a break. So they led the donkey cart to a quiet spot, fed it some hay and water to let it rest and regain its strength.

The reeds and water for the donkey had been prepped in advance by Liang Youtian and loaded onto the cart.

Once the donkey had eaten its fill and laid down in the sun to rest, Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan also took a break.

Having driven the cart all morning, Lin Xiaohan had earned a proper rest. He lay down flat on the cart, using the new textbooks as a pillow, making himself comfortable however he could.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, so once he lay down, there was barely any room left on the cart.

Chu Xia didn’t fuss about it and simply sat down by the edge of the cart, playing with a piece of reed in her hand.

After a while, she glanced sideways—and unintentionally caught a look at Lin Xiaohan’s face.

She remembered how, back in the restaurant, he’d asked if he was better-looking than Han Ting, and her gaze lingered a bit longer this time, quietly studying him.

Before, she hadn’t paid much attention to his looks—her general impression of him was just: arrogant and annoyingly smug.

But now, with his eyes closed and lying there quietly, he actually looked… pretty decent.

She stared, and her thoughts wandered.

Without meaning to, she mumbled, “Yeah… he is better looking than Han Ting…”

Lin Xiaohan wasn’t asleep. The moment he heard her say that—completely sincere, with nothing but praise—his lips almost curled into a smile.

But before he could actually smile—

He heard her sigh regretfully and add, “Shame about the mouth, though…”

Lin Xiaohan: “…”

He didn’t sleep much—just rested on the cart for about half an hour before sitting up.

“I’ll go buy the stuff first,” he told Chu Xia. “You stay here and watch the cart. Once I’m back, you can go shop.”

Dragging a donkey cart around the shops and bookstore really wasn’t practical. Plus, whether it was the donkey, the cart, or the textbooks and chalk loaded on it—none of it could be left unattended.

Chu Xia nodded. “Okay, you go ahead.”

Lin Xiaohan left, and Chu Xia laid down on the cart in his place.

Facing the sky, watching the bright blue above and drifting white clouds, soaking in the warm spring sunshine, she slowly blinked. Days like this, filled with the rustic simplicity of the countryside, were actually kind of nice.

Once she returned to the city and no longer lived here—

She’d probably miss this.

Lying there on the cart, her blinking slowed until eventually her eyes shut, and she didn’t open them again.

She’d gotten up early and had a tiring morning. Now, with the sun warming her, she fell into a deeper sleep than she ever did at night.

Who knows how long she slept, but eventually she began to vaguely feel like she was swaying.

At first, it was subtle. But soon it felt like the whole world was shaking apart.

Just as the thought “Is this an earthquake?” drifted through her foggy brain, a voice suddenly echoed by her ear, saying—twice—

“Miss, your donkey’s running away!”

Chu Xia was still groggy.

The words passed slowly through her ears and into her brain.

Donkey? Running away?

Wait—what?

The donkey ran away?!

She jolted awake, bolting upright on the cart.

Still dazed, she opened her eyes to see Lin Xiaohan standing beside the cart, looking at her.

“If you didn’t wake up soon,” he said, “the sun would’ve set.”

Chu Xia turned her head toward the tree where the donkey was tied—it was still there, perfectly fine.

No earthquake. The donkey hadn’t run off. The sun hadn’t even started to set.

She instinctively let out a breath of relief.

Still a bit unsteady, she stood up from the cart and muttered to Lin Xiaohan, “Sorry, I totally passed out. I’ll go now and be quick—I’ll be right back after I shop.”

Lin Xiaohan placed the items he’d bought onto the cart.

As Chu Xia took a few steps away, he called out after her, “Hey, you’re going the wrong way!”

She froze, turned around blankly.

Then let out an “Oh,” and wandered off in the opposite direction.

Lin Xiaohan: “…”

She had clearly been sleeping way too deeply. It took her a good four or five minutes of walking before her mind finally cleared.