---

Chapter 14 – Accepting Lin Tingjun’s Apology

“Huh?” Xu Jingchu swore she hadn’t meant it—she had been chatting so happily with Lin Tingyu that she nearly forgot Lin Tingjun was even there.

“Sorry.” Lin Tingjun repeated, his voice louder this time, his attitude toward admitting fault unusually serious.

Xu Jingchu was stunned, but the sharp-witted Lin Tingyu quickly answered for her: “It’s fine. Knowing your mistake and correcting it makes you a good comrade.”

“It’s alright, Brother Tingjun. I suppose you must have listened to someone’s slander.” Xu Jingchu deliberately kept it vague—she didn’t point out exactly who.

Lin Tingjun was intelligent enough to understand. Though she had no intention of marrying him, she knew having one more friend was better than having one more enemy.

The dumplings tonight turned out especially delicious. Qin Yajuan polished off two whole plates. She liked everything about being here with the big compound gossipers—except that the food and drink weren’t as good as at the Lin household, and constantly running errands around was more tiring than doing farm work in the village.

Every afternoon around two or three, she got terribly hungry. But she couldn’t complain about the dark flour in the steamed buns she got for free. The pocket money her mother had given her was nearly spent. Now, with no job and no income, she felt embarrassed always asking others for favors for nothing in return.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. She feared that the more debts she racked up, the heavier the payback would be later. If she couldn’t repay—or if repayment cost her future—she absolutely couldn’t accept it.

Still, one thing cheered her up: today’s scheme had gone smoothly. By tomorrow, gossip about Xu Jingchu would be buzzing through the whole compound.

The Lin family would never let someone like her become a daughter-in-law, nor allow her to flaunt the Lin family name outside, and certainly not let her get her wish. That job was bound to be Qin Yajuan’s.

“Uncle Lin, let me get you some more.” Xu Jingchu noticed Lin Jianbai’s dumpling plate was empty, though he was still savoring the taste.

“Alright, Jingchu, thank you. The dumplings are really delicious.”

“It was Brother Tingjun and Little Brother Tingyu who helped me wrap them,” Xu Jingchu said, unwilling to hog the credit.

“Really?” Lin Jianbai was surprised. He hadn’t expected either of his sons—especially Tingjun—to help out, despite his repeated urging.

Zhang Qiuyun was also astonished. “Jingchu, Auntie admires you. To manage wrapping dumplings with these two is quite a feat.”

“Mom, what about me? Jingchu-jie said my dumplings didn’t break while boiling. Aren’t you going to praise me?” Lin Tingyu pouted when his parents seemed to ignore him.

“Alright, alright—Mom is praising you now. Your dumplings were wrapped well. Of course, your Jingchu-jie taught you even better.” Zhang Qiuyun gave him a thumbs-up.

“Qiuyun, bring me some wine.” Lin Jianbai cleared his throat awkwardly. Somehow, it felt like no family meal was complete without a little drink.

“You ate so many dumplings already, and now you still want wine? Let me tell you, I saw your health report today. You need to watch yourself, old comrade!”

Zhang Qiuyun fussed over her husband’s health.

“I’m happy today! The dumplings were great, and Jingchu worked hard. Tingyu, your dumplings weren’t bad. Tingjun… you also…” Lin Jianbai paused for a long time before continuing, “…not bad.”

“Mm.” Tingjun gave a curt reply.

Xu Jingchu hadn’t realized the father and son’s relationship was so distant. A father struggling to praise his son, and a son awkwardly receiving that praise—it was strained, even though Tingjun’s ears had already turned red.

After dinner, the praised Tingyu eagerly volunteered to wash dishes. Tingjun, saying his younger brother was too small, stayed behind to help.

The Lin couple exchanged satisfied smiles.

Seeing that she wasn’t needed, Xu Jingchu returned to her room to study. Qin Yajuan hummed a cheerful tune as she went back to her room.

“Studying again, Jingchu? You think you can just study your way into college? What a daydream!”

“Better than you wandering around aimlessly every day.” Xu Jingchu couldn’t even be bothered to argue.

“Who are you calling aimless? At least I go out, make friends, look for work.” Qin Yajuan deliberately tried to provoke her. If Xu Jingchu also went out to “make friends” every day, it would only be easier for rumors to spread.

“Since you’re capable of finding work on your own, why don’t you kindly give me the job Uncle Lin arranged?”

“No way. If I have the ability, that’s mine. You can’t take it.” Qin Yajuan, satisfied with angering her, lay down to sleep with a smug smile.

The next morning, Qin Yajuan woke up early. She had noticed plenty of dumplings left in the kitchen last night. Just like when she stole buns before, the thought struck her again.

Perfect—she needed to thank those “actors” from yesterday.

Xu Jingchu had planned to make golden fried dumplings for breakfast. But when she entered the kitchen, she found only a few dumplings remaining.

She had clearly wrapped a lot yesterday. Even though she hadn’t cleared the table herself, she knew how much everyone had eaten. Everyone had gone to bed full last night—no one would’ve snuck up for a midnight snack.

Seeing freshly washed plates still dripping with water in the cupboard, Xu Jingchu instantly recalled the missing buns from a few days ago. The conclusion was obvious. It felt like someone was handing her the evidence on a platter.

Without showing a hint of anger, she calmly cooked porridge, prepared small pickles, and explained with an apologetic smile, “Uncle Lin, Aunt Zhang, since everyone ate so well last night, I decided to keep breakfast simple today.”

“No problem, Jingchu. You arranged it just right.” Zhang Qiuyun approved warmly.

Qin Yajuan kept her head down, sipping porridge silently, afraid someone might notice something.

Later, she proudly carried the dumplings to her buddies.

“Yajuan, these dumplings smell amazing!”

“It’s the meat and seasoning—nothing like at my house, where the dumplings are practically all cabbage.”

“Speaking of meat… if not for these dumplings, I can’t remember the last time I ate some.”

Their words weren’t blunt, but Qin Yajuan understood well. Everyone was craving meat. And here she was, always eating and drinking with them, always asking favors…

“Yajuan, about the little favor we did yesterday—worked out well, huh?”

As expected, they brought it up.

“Perfect! When I came this morning, I already heard people gossiping. So these dumplings are just appetizers. I’ll treat you all to a restaurant feast soon!”

Her words drew a round of cheers.

“But brothers, I have another request. Can you help me ask around about Wang Yuejin?”

“Wang Yuejin?” They looked puzzled.

“He’s… well…” Qin Yajuan twisted the hem of her shirt, pretending to be shy. “He’s my crush.”

“Girl, if he’s already your crush, what more do you need us for? Want us to play matchmaker?” Liu Xiaoxia teased.

“No, no!” Qin Yajuan shook her hands quickly. “I only met him once, outside the paper mill. So I assumed he worked there. Back then, I heard someone call him Wang Yuejin. That’s all I know. We didn’t see him when we went to the mill last time. Could you try again?”

In truth, her knowledge of Wang Yuejin was pitifully thin. In her past life, she had clung tightly to the Lin family’s coattails and never bothered with anyone else.

What she remembered most was mocking Xu Jingchu.

She and Wang Yuejin had only met a handful of times. If she saw him again face-to-face, she might not even recognize him. All she knew was his name—and that Xu Jingchu had known him at the paper mill. Beyond that, she was clueless.

But… they hadn’t seen him last time at the mill. Now, she was about to start working there. If Wang Yuejin wasn’t actually at the mill, wouldn’t that mean she had bet on the wrong horse?

Nervous, she could only ask these people to help her dig deeper.

---