Once all sixty children had left, the school finally quieted down. Chu Xia stood there and let out a long breath.

Then she turned to Lin Xiaohan and asked, “Should we go back too?”

Lin Xiaohan glanced at her, didn’t reply, and simply turned and walked into the office.

Chu Xia, now somewhat familiar with his personality, didn’t take his cold response to heart. She followed him inside, packed her things, and returned to the youth camp with him.

After lunch at the youth camp, Lin Xiaohan didn’t stay to rest. He washed his hands and left again.

Chu Xia also didn’t feel like sticking around listening to Han Ting and the others joke and mess around. She figured Lin Xiaohan had probably returned to the school, so she packed her backpack and headed there too.

But when she got to the school gate, she found it locked.

There was only one key to that lock, and after locking up earlier, Lin Xiaohan had taken it with him.

Standing outside the gate, Chu Xia frowned. If he hadn’t come back to the school, then where did he go?

Pondering for a bit, she thought of a possible place—the personal plot by the riverbank.

With that idea in mind, she turned and went to the brigade office.

There, she borrowed a sickle and a hoe, slung her backpack on, and headed for the riverbank.

Even before she reached their assigned plot, she saw a familiar figure working in the field—sure enough, it was Lin Xiaohan.

Seeing him there brought a smile to her face. She jogged over to the edge of the plot and called out brightly, “You’re here to weed too?”

Lin Xiaohan turned at the sound of her voice but showed no warmth in his expression.

He quickly looked away and snapped coldly, “Why are you everywhere?”

Ignoring his harsh tone, Chu Xia took off her backpack and set it on the grass. She replied cheerfully, “Well, because your plot is right next to mine. I’m here to weed and plant veggies too.”

Lin Xiaohan said nothing more and continued working.

Chu Xia didn’t try to chat either. With something to do, she focused on her own task.

She planned to prepare the whole plot and fill it with all her favorite vegetables—tomatoes, leafy greens, chives, chili peppers, cucumbers, and more.

They’d grow fast, and she could start cooking with fresh veggies soon.

Meat, of course, wasn’t easy to get, but she could go to the market and buy a few hens to raise.

Once they started laying eggs, she’d have eggs to eat—and any extras could be sold at the supply and marketing co-op.

Although the brigade encouraged pig-raising as part of their quotas, Chu Xia had no intention of raising pigs.

Even for full families, raising a pig was no small task—let alone for someone living alone like her.

Taking care of such a large animal took time and effort.

She already had her duties as a teacher, and couldn’t take on too many side jobs. She had to choose wisely.

As she weeded, Chu Xia quietly made plans for her future.

Even though she wouldn’t be staying in the countryside for long, she still wanted to make the most of her time there.

Once her thoughts were settled and judging by the sun’s position, it was about time to head back to school.

Teaching the children to read was their main job now; tending to their personal plots of land and growing some vegetables was just a side task—naturally to be done in their spare time.

Lin Xiaohan went to the river to wash his hands, ready to leave.

Chu Xia didn’t linger either. She slung her bag over her shoulder, went to wash her hands at the river as well, then picked up her tools and climbed back up the bank. Together, they walked the small path along the river back toward the school.

Sunlight poured over the riverbank.

Their figures—one tall, one shorter—walked in single file.

Their reflections shimmered across the rippling water.

Not wanting to look at Lin Xiaohan’s perpetually sullen face, Chu Xia chose not to walk beside him.

She kept a little distance behind him—just enough to stay within the range of his magnetic field, so to speak.

They returned to the brigade headquarters first to return the farming tools, then headed back to the school to rest for a while.

As the preparatory bell rang, students began arriving at the school one by one. The afternoon session of learning was about to begin.

While the children adapted to this new chapter of school life, Chu Xia was learning to adapt to her new identity as a teacher.

After another half-day of classes, hearing students greet her again and again as “Teacher Tang,” she gradually began to settle into the role, feeling more and more like a real teacher.

Before long, the dismissal bell rang out again beneath the eaves of the office building.

Aside from the students on duty cleaning the classroom, the rest filed out in neat lines, heading home.

As usual, Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan were the last to leave the school.

But after locking the school gate, Lin Xiaohan didn’t head back to the educated youth dormitory for dinner and rest. Instead, he took advantage of the remaining daylight and went to work his personal plot of land by the river again.

Noting his direction with a glance, Chu Xia followed suit and headed to her own plot.

By the riverside, the two of them got to work in silence, just like they had at noon—each tending their own piece of land.

The weeds in both plots were gradually cleared, revealing the yellow soil beneath.

After clearing the last of the weeds from his land, Lin Xiaohan stood up and called it a day.

Seeing that the sun was halfway below the horizon, Chu Xia also decided to stop. She packed up and left with Lin Xiaohan, walking the riverside path back to the dormitory.

As before, she kept a small distance behind him.

Because of that short gap, Lin Xiaohan’s shadow happened to fall right at her feet.

Chu Xia looked down and, out of boredom, started stepping on his shadow, playing with it as she walked.

Just as she was getting into it, the shadow in front of her suddenly stopped.

Puzzled, she looked up and saw that Lin Xiaohan hadn’t just stopped—he’d turned around to face her.

He stood with the light behind him, his face obscured in shadow, making it impossible to read his expression.

Startled, Chu Xia quickly took a step back and said, “Sorry.”

Geez, was his shadow something sacred too?

Lin Xiaohan stared at her silently.

The spring breeze carried with it the scent of soil and fresh grass, brushing gently across their faces.

Twilight, fields, flowing water… and a girl skipping along, stepping on the shadow of the boy in front of her—it should have been a picture-perfect scene.

Yet, for some reason, Lin Xiaohan just felt irritated.

He said nothing. Chu Xia, unnerved by his gaze, took another step back.

Just as she was wondering what on earth he was thinking, he suddenly turned and started walking again.

Chu Xia: “…”

What a strange, moody guy.

Still, she hadn’t really bothered him just now… had she?

She wasn’t the kind of person who stood out, nor did she draw attention. Surely someone like her wouldn’t have disturbed him.

Thinking that to herself while watching his retreating back, Chu Xia finally relaxed and resumed walking.

Once teaching and class routines became part of daily life, the days started to blur together.

Over the next few days, life fell into a rhythm.

Chu Xia’s routine was more or less the same every day: waking up in the morning and washing up alongside Lin Xiaohan, cooking and eating breakfast together, heading to school for classes, then tending their personal plots of land at noon and again in the evening.

They cleared the weeds from their respective plots, dug out the roots, picked out stones and pottery shards—removing everything that might hinder the growth of crops.

Then they loosened the soil with iron shovels.

They dug deep into the hardened earth, broke it apart, fertilized the land, and leveled it out in preparation for planting.

Once they settled into this routine, the days seemed to pass by quickly.

Sunrise to sunset—five or six days flew by without notice.

On Saturday morning, Chu Xia got up and started her day as usual.

But today was going to be different. Their plots were fully prepared now, and since they didn’t yet have seeds to plant, there was no need to go back to the land.

After breakfast, they headed to school.

This time, Chu Xia walked beside Lin Xiaohan. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, “Are you going to the market tomorrow to buy seeds?”

Lin Xiaohan turned to look at her and asked in return, “Why? You want to come with me?”

Chu Xia gave him a quick smile. “If you don’t mind, I think it’d be nice to have some company.”

Lin Xiaohan smiled at her, too—but didn’t respond.

Chu Xia took that as a yes and didn’t press further.

The morning air was fresh, and with the sun rising over the horizon, it was hard not to feel cheerful.

Walking beside Lin Xiaohan, Chu Xia’s steps felt especially light.

When they arrived at the school, Lin Xiaohan took out his key and unlocked the gate.

It was still early, and there was some time before the morning reading session—no students had arrived yet.

The small schoolyard was quiet, and with her mood and expression relaxed, Chu Xia followed behind Lin Xiaohan into the office.

She was planning to sit down and look over the day’s lesson plan, but just as she stepped through the office door, Lin Xiaohan suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm.

Chu Xia froze, caught off guard and unable to react. Lin Xiaohan gave her no time to process anything. He shut the door behind them, then dragged her by the arm into a corner, standing in front of her and boxing her in.

Completely unprepared, Chu Xia was startled by his abrupt action.

When she saw the expression and look in his eyes, she instinctively shrank back into the corner, her breath tightening on its own.

She had no idea what she had done to offend him, for him to suddenly act this way.

But Lin Xiaohan didn’t give her time to wonder. With a cold expression, he looked her straight in the eyes and asked, “What exactly do you want? Why do you keep sticking to me?”

So it hadn’t come out of nowhere—he had been holding this in for days.

Looking up into his eyes, Chu Xia felt overwhelmed by his presence. Even as she tried to hold her ground, she felt her composure faltering.

It took her a long moment to find her voice. “I… I’m not clinging to you…”

Lin Xiaohan stared at her. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Whether she was simply working with him, or deliberately trying to get close, he could tell.

Before, when they were busy recruiting students, it made sense for them to be together every day.

But now that school had officially started, there really wasn’t any reason for them to spend so much time together. They just needed to teach their own classes and handle their respective duties.

Yet, over the past week, Chu Xia had made no effort to put distance between them.

She was almost always around him—not bothering him, not trying to draw attention, but constantly present.

Frankly, she was just short of following him to the bathroom.

He didn’t know why she was doing this.

After thinking it over, he assumed she had come to her senses—realized Han Ting wasn’t worth her feelings—but emotionally couldn’t let go. So she had turned to him as a substitute, transferring her feelings onto him to fill the emptiness and ease her sorrow.

But being treated as someone’s emotional stand-in for Han Ting—that was something he absolutely could not tolerate.