Chapter 30: The 1990s Teacher Supporting Character Who Despises the Poor and Favors the Rich (7)

The villagers were all skeptical when they heard that Fang Yuwei had allowed Mother Lin to stay in town.

Not only did they not believe it, but even Father Lin didn’t believe it.

When Mother Lin was packing to leave, Father Lin stood nearby and tried to dissuade her. “Why don’t you tell the kid you’re not going?”

“What else can I do if I don’t go? No one’s looking after the shop. That Wang Guihua was arrested. Our son has to take care of the children and watch the store. How could he possibly handle it all?” Mother Lin sighed, feeling heartache.

Even though she felt conflicted and somewhat reluctant in her heart, she could overcome and sacrifice for the sake of her children.

After hearing this, Father Lin said nothing more and helped her continue packing.

On the way, Mother Lin was actually very anxious. She clutched the bag holding her luggage and kept trying to reassure herself. She didn’t hope for a great relationship with Fang Yuwei. She only wished they wouldn’t end up arguing.

Mother Lin had Lin Heizi take her directly to the breakfast shop.

Fang Yuwei was at class. The two children were in kindergarten. Lin Yan was busy in the shop. As soon as she arrived, she began to help.

Mother Lin wasn’t good with dealing with people, but she was quick with physical labor and silently started cleaning and tidying up. She worked as well as two people.

Originally, Li Cui was tidying up and delivering plates in the main hall and also had to wash dishes in the back kitchen. She was older and struggled to keep up. Walking too much made her legs ache. She even considered asking Lin Yan to find someone else.

When Mother Lin came, she immediately offered to only wash dishes in the back kitchen and just wanted a salary.

With a family member helping, Lin Yan didn’t have to rush around so frantically every day. The school dormitory only had one room, which couldn’t fit everyone. He cleaned out the storage room next to the back kitchen and changed the lock so Mother Lin could stay there.

“Will Xiao Wei have any objections?” Mother Lin asked Lin Yan again. Then she added, “It’s fine if I don’t stay. I can take a tricycle back at night.”

From the town to the village was just ten kilometers. A passenger tricycle could take her back. It only cost one yuan.

She felt bad spending even that money, but when she thought about saving on an extra salary, it seemed worth it.

Or she could just walk back without letting her son find out.

“Xiao Wei is the one who asked you to come. Why would she have any objections? Just stay and rest easy. When the Qingming Festival holiday comes, we’ll go back together,” Lin Yan said.

Although his words were certain, Lin Yan wasn’t fully confident in his heart. He could only hope they wouldn’t argue. That would put his mind at ease.

Close to noon, Lin Yan went to pick up the kids.

The two little ones were delighted to see their grandmother and ran toward her calling out “grandma” in their tender voices and went to hug her.

Mother Lin looked down affectionately at her grandsons and all her hesitation vanished.

As long as she could see her grandsons, what did it matter if she had to suffer a bit?

Lin Yan wanted to take Mother Lin back to the dormitory, but she quickly shook her head. “I’m not going.”

“It’s almost time for lunch,” Lin Yan said.

He had to go back to cook. Fang Yuwei would be finishing class soon.

“I’m not hungry. I’ll just eat something simple later. The shop has everything.”

No matter what Lin Yan said, Mother Lin refused to go and even urged him to go back quickly to make lunch. “The kids will be hungry if you’re late.”

Lin Yan just needed to go back first and start cooking the rice before stir-frying the dishes.

The two children played outside with their remote control cars. Lin Yan occasionally peeked out to check on them and gave them a few reminders.

Mother Lin sat in the shop watching the stream of cars on the road. She wasn’t used to it after being in the village for so long and felt a bit out of place.

It was noon and not many people were around. She sat in the shop and looked at the counter filled with pastries and buns, thinking she could eat a leftover pastry later if she got hungry.

“Sister-in-law, you’re not going back to eat lunch?” Li Cui came out after washing the dishes and asked Mother Lin.

Mother Lin shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

Li Cui said, “Even if you’re not hungry, you should eat something. I’m heading back for lunch too. I’ll come again in the afternoon.”

“I’ll eat something later.”

Just as Mother Lin finished speaking, Lin Yan walked over from across the street. “Mom, Aunt Zhang is watching the shop. Come eat lunch with me.”

“Didn’t I say I’m not hungry—”

“We’re all waiting for you.”

Lin Yan’s words made Mother Lin unable to refuse.

She followed Lin Yan back to the dormitory and kept saying she didn’t want to go and wasn’t hungry. But when she saw the three bowls of rice already placed on the table, her resistance faded.

“Tell Grandma to eat,” Fang Yuwei said to the two kids.

“Grandma, eat,” the two of them said with their bowls in hand, smiling at Mother Lin.

Xiao Yangyang picked up a piece of rib with his hand. “Grandma, there’s meat.”

“I have some too,” Xiao Chaochao didn’t want to be outdone. “I’m eating two pieces.”

“Mom, give this to Grandma,” Xiao Yangyang looked at Fang Yuwei and raised the rib he had already bitten into to share with Mother Lin.

Mother Lin quickly said, “Grandma doesn’t need it. Yangyang can eat it.”

“There’s more on the table. Grandma will eat later. You eat quickly,” Fang Yuwei said to him.

Xiao Yangyang rubbed his head and continued gnawing on the meat seriously.

“Little Baobao can eat by himself now,” Mother Lin said with a face full of happiness. “It’s good he can eat by himself.”

“That’s mostly because Lin Yan doesn’t have to run after him feeding him all around the playground anymore,” Fang Yuwei said as she filled a bowl with rib soup for Mother Lin and placed it in front of her.

Mother Lin was a bit flustered. “I can do it myself.”

Fang Yuwei then filled a bowl for Lin Yan, and lastly for herself.

The day Mother Lin arrived, she was tense the whole time. She kept watching Fang Yuwei’s expression, afraid of seeing any signs of displeasure. She wanted to avoid causing trouble for her son.

But Fang Yuwei didn’t react at all, making Mother Lin feel she had worried too much.

After a few days, Mother Lin relaxed. Since her cooking was much better than Lin Yan’s, she took over the kitchen and cooked meals for them. After eating, she would return to the shop to rest, since it was nearby.

After Lin Yan picked up the children, he no longer had to constantly keep an eye on them. The two children naturally clung to their grandmother.

During this time, Mother Lin smiled a lot more. Looking at her chubby little grandsons, she felt full of energy.

Qingming Festival was originally scheduled to start on the fourth, but since Fang Yuwei happened to have no class, she managed to return home for tomb-sweeping on the third.

The whole family came back early.

When the villagers saw Fang Yuwei returning with the children and Lin Yan, the topic of conversation once again turned to her.

These past few days, many people had been gossiping behind their backs, saying that Mother Lin would be sent back in a few days, and this time the argument must have been serious.

In the end, they discovered that Mother Lin was actually in a good mood, smiling and greeting people when she saw them, which made everyone quite curious.

When the family returned to the Lin household, Father Lin was holding a chicken, ready to slaughter it. Upon seeing Fang Yuwei bringing the children back, his expression became slightly unnatural.

He was not good with words. He tried several times to speak but ended up saying nothing. When he saw that Mother Lin was acting normal, the anxiety he had been holding onto these past few days finally eased.

“Chicken—”

The two children immediately ran over upon seeing the chicken, watching it flap around, and even tried to reach out and touch it.

Fang Yuwei stood beside them, watching.

“Mom, chicken—” Xiao Yangyang pointed at the chicken in Father Lin’s hands.

Fang Yuwei nodded. “Mm.”

Seeing that the two of them were engrossed in watching, she started glancing around the Lin home out of the corner of her eye.

The Lin family had only two tile-roofed houses. One of the larger rooms was her and Lin Yan’s wedding room, and beside it were a few built storage rooms used for grain or miscellaneous items.

Father Lin and Mother Lin were both very hardworking people, but they still couldn’t earn much money. Mainly, crops and grains didn’t sell for much anymore. Farmers were merely able to get by with basic needs.

At the time of their wedding and the birth of their children, all necessary ceremonies had been done as best as they could. It must have cost them all their savings.

While Fang Yuwei was deep in thought, she did not notice that the two children’s eyes were darting about and secretly observing her from the corner of their eyes.

Father Lin was about to kill the chicken and reminded them to stand back.

They slowly retreated, and just as Fang Yuwei wasn’t paying attention, they suddenly turned and ran off.

They ran off very fast.

Fang Yuwei didn’t even react in time. “Where are you going?”

When she walked out, the two children were already gone. Her mind buzzed. “Yangyang, Chaochao?”

In the countryside, the houses were packed close together, with many small alleys. Just turning a corner and the children would be out of sight.

Seeing her expression change, Mother Lin came over and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“They ran off somewhere.” Fang Yuwei was panicked and about to start searching.

When Mother Lin heard this, she quickly called out to Lin Yan, who was in the storage room. “Yangyang and Chaochao ran off to hide again!”

Fang Yuwei heard this and thought—again?

Lin Yan strode out quickly and headed off to search.

Mother Lin comforted Fang Yuwei. “It’s fine. Every time they come back, they run off like this. They just like to hide and wait for someone to find them.”

Even though she said that, Fang Yuwei still couldn’t relax and followed Lin Yan to look.

Fang Yuwei rarely came back and didn’t recognize the roads. She quickly lost sight of him. It was only when Mother Lin came back and accompanied her that she continued searching.

From time to time, they would run into one or two villagers in the alleys.

Seeing Fang Yuwei looking upset and Mother Lin following behind her, the villagers instantly assumed that Lin Yan’s wife had caused trouble at home again.

Fang Yuwei had no mind to deal with them. When she was dripping with sweat from the search and almost about to cry, Lin Yan came out from a corner holding one child in each hand.

The two little ones flailed in his hands like chicks, looking disappointed at being found.

Seeing how worried Fang Yuwei was, Lin Yan brought them back home and gave each of them a swat on the bottom.

Smack—

After being spanked, their small bodies leaned forward.

Father Lin and Mother Lin looked on with pained expressions, but with Fang Yuwei present, they didn’t dare say anything.

“Still want to run? You made your mom so worried.” Lin Yan clearly had searched a lot. Almost every time they came back, the kids would take the chance to run off and play hide-and-seek with the whole family.

The two of them hung their heads and fiddled with their fingers.

“Still want to run?” Lin Yan asked again in a stern voice.

The two little heads lifted up. Seeing how fierce their dad was, Xiao Chaochao felt that as the older brother, he should respond, so in a childish voice he said, “Yes.”

“We want to run.” Xiao Yangyang also nodded and echoed.

Lin Yan: “……”

Fang Yuwei felt both annoyed and amused. Just as Lin Yan was about to give them another swat, she pulled the boys into her arms. “If you do this, Mom will be very worried. What if Dad and Mom can’t find you?”

Clearly, the two had never thought of that. They just found it fun.

“If Dad and Mom can’t find you, and a bad person takes you away, then you’ll never see us again,” Fang Yuwei added.

Child kidnappers were still rampant during this time. These two were mischievous. Fang Yuwei was genuinely afraid.

The thought of never seeing Dad and Mom again made their faces instantly fall into sadness. They even looked like they were about to cry.

Fang Yuwei said, “Let’s not run off next time, okay?”

“Mm.” The two nodded and clung to her, hugging their Mom.

Watching Fang Yuwei soothe the children, convincing them with just a few words, Lin Yan suddenly realized that maybe his temper wasn’t so good after all.

He had been truly anxious just now. These two really never gave him or her peace of mind.

More and more people were gathering at the village entrance, which was naturally the gossip center.

Today’s gossip was all about Lin Yan’s family. The main focus was the wife he had married. It was said that for the past few years she hadn’t returned for the new year or any holiday, but now had come back for Qingming, only to argue with Mother Lin and threaten to leave.

“His mom followed her around, begging her not to go.”

“This daughter-in-law is really hard to please.”

“She even looked wronged. I didn’t even dare say much. As soon as she showed a sour face, she stormed off. So impatient. Clearly doesn’t want to stay here.”

“She must have left. No way she’d go with them to sweep graves.”

……

Just as a group of people finished analyzing and drawing their conclusions, someone suddenly said, “Their family is going up the mountain.”

Father Lin walked out from the alley, carrying a bamboo basket of offerings. Right after him was Mother Lin, carrying a hoe and a bag of incense and candles.

Then came Lin Yan, holding three long sickles and another bag of items.

Just like in previous years, it seemed that Fang Yuwei did not go again.

“Is it appropriate not to even bring the two children to burn incense?” an elderly woman with graying hair said discontentedly. “In the past, women like her would’ve been criticized harshly behind their backs.”

Before she could finish her words, the two children ran out. They were wearing light jackets and little hats. They ran to the main road, stopped, and shouted loudly to the back, “Mom, hurry up, Mom—”

Under everyone’s gaze, a woman wrapped up tightly walked out. She was wearing a sun hat and a sun-protective jacket, trying hard to catch up with the group.

The sun was really scorching.