In the blink of an eye, summer passed, and autumn arrived.

Jiang Xinglei, who had come in the spring, was now heading back to the provincial capital.

After being investigated, Lu Hang’s father was not demoted but was instead promoted.

He encouraged Jiang Xinglei to take the entrance exam for the textile factory.

Thanks to Jiang Lin’s persistent tutoring, Jiang Xinglei found the exam easy and was selected to work at the factory.

Jiang Lin also ensured that Dabao and Xiaobao attended elementary school.

Wen Sheng, who used to follow her everywhere, either worked on roofing and brickmaking or practiced swordsmanship when Jiang Lin stayed home to study.

Cheng Rushan began traveling not only within the province but also across the country, experiencing different environments.

He noticed an increase in street vendors in southern cities, even though the authorities tried to control them.

He intuitively felt that street vending and commercial activities would only grow, and the flow of goods would become more frequent.

Therefore, he traveled extensively, learning about transportation routes, local customs, and famous local products.

No one in the family was idle anymore.

One morning, Jiang Lin and Wen Sheng visited the brick kiln and then took a walk to the school to secretly check on Dabao and Xiaobao.

The village school had been quite perfunctory over the years.

The children didn’t want to attend, and the teachers didn’t bother to prepare lessons, just going through the motions.

Although Dabao and Xiaobao were attending school, they found the lessons boring and preferred the fun of studying with their grandfather in the youth class.

So, during class, they either daydreamed or made up stories, their imaginations running wild.

This particular class was a self-study period.

After assigning tasks, the teacher left.

Dabao, always observant, noticed Jiang Lin and Wen Sheng outside.

He immediately nudged Xiaobao, “Mom’s here.”

Xiaobao quickly picked up his textbook and began reading loudly and earnestly, “Autumn has come, the leaves have turned yellow. A flock of wild geese is flying south, sometimes in formation, sometimes randomly…”

His sudden outburst startled the classmates behind him, who wondered what he was doing.

After a while, Xiaobao, using his book to cover himself, whispered to Dabao, “Is Linlin gone?”

Dabao glanced back and, seeing Jiang Lin staring at them through the wooden window frame, smiled and winked at her.

He then told Xiaobao, “She’s gone.”

Xiaobao breathed a sigh of relief, sat up straight, threw his book aside, and stretched. “Dad will definitely be back for the Mid-Autumn Festival, right? We’re going to have a big celebration.”

Speaking like a child, he didn’t care if his words made sense.

Dabao nodded, holding back his laughter.

Xiaobao added, “Class is over, class is over. What’s so great about self-study? It’s not as fun as the youth class.”

Some students started to make noise, “Hey, give us something fun!”

Xiaobao: “I’ll tell you a story about Dongsheng fighting a T-Rex!”

“Yes, we want to hear!” The classroom was filled with first and second graders.

They stopped studying and turned to listen to Xiaobao’s story.

“A long, long time ago, Dongsheng…”

“Xiaobao, how could your dad be a long time ago?”

“Hey, don’t interrupt!” The other kids quickly told the one who disrupted the story to be quiet.

Who cares how long a long time is, and who said Dongsheng is Xiaobao’s dad? Dongsheng is me!

Jiang Lin listened for a while outside the window but didn’t say anything.

She turned and quietly walked away.

Wensheng followed her, “Mom, Xiaobao’s stories are fun. Please don’t scold him, okay?”

Jiang Lin: “I’m not going to scold him, and I’m not a teacher.” Children’s imagination is so precious, why scold them?

But the teaching quality in the countryside is really poor.

She thought she needed to find a way to let Dabao and Xiaobao study in the city.

So she had to get into college.

That way, she could take the two brothers to study together.

The exam was in winter, and admission was in spring the following year. “Jiang Lin, you can do it!” She clenched her fist to encourage herself.

Wensheng: “Mom, will Dad come back for the big moon?” On the fifteenth, Wensheng always called it the big moon.

Jiang Lin said excitedly, “Yes, your dad promised he would come back for the Mid-Autumn Festival and celebrate Dabao and Xiaobao’s birthdays.”

Thinking about Cheng Rushan coming back made her excited.

Cheng Rushan had been away for quite a while, a whole month.

At first, she thought, “Finally, I can sleep alone and sleep in.” But after a few days, she started to feel lonely.

Ah, humans are really strange creatures.

She and Wensheng went to find Cheng Yunzhi.

Unexpectedly, Zeng Hongjie and another publicity officer were there too.

They were organizing some oral history records, transcribing, and categorizing them.

“Xiaojie, why are you here today?” Zeng Hongjie hadn’t visited in a while.

Seeing Jiang Lin and Wensheng come in, Zeng Hongjie couldn’t help but pick up the camera to take a picture. “Don’t move!”

She had visited recently and knew about Wensheng’s current condition, finding it quite amazing.

A 12-year-old boy with mental confusion had transformed into a man who could sing and curse, then into a carefree child of six or seven, and now into a boy just over ten.

Though it was the same person and body, when he was childlike, his beautiful eyes truly sparkled with innocence.

Now, he seemed like a boy in his teens, his eyes awkwardly blending shyness with a pretense of maturity.

Despite his tall stature of over 1.8 meters, his expression and gaze made people curious.

She chuckled, “Every time I come, it seems I miss the chance to take a photo with you and Cheng Rushan.”

Jiang Lin replied, “There will be other chances.”

Zeng Hongjie was there for Xiu Fang, not the exhibition room.

The exhibition room was already established, and everything was in place; it just needed Cheng Yunzhi’s final touches, which didn’t concern her much.

She had come to the supply and marketing cooperative to hear from Tao Zhen about Jiang Lin’s new product, called a “mouthpiece bag.”

Since Jiang Lin was supposed to deliver goods here in a few days, Zeng Hongjie couldn’t resist coming to see.

Jiang Lin greeted them and accompanied Zeng Hongjie to visit Xiu Fang.

She asked Wensheng to stay and help Cheng Yunzhi.

However, he didn’t like the cool and solemn decorations and atmosphere there, so he followed Jiang Lin and Zeng Hongjie to the embroidery workshop.

On the way, Zeng Hongjie said to Jiang Lin, “I heard the factories in the city are hiring. My uncle is in charge of recruitment there. Would you like to give it a try?”

Knowing that Zeng Hongjie’s family was well-off and many people asked her for job assistance, Jiang Lin had never sought her help and had always insisted she didn’t have such capabilities.

Otherwise, she would have already left the clean water department at the cultural center.

She hadn’t expected Zeng Hongjie to offer help with job searching.

Jiang Lin thanked her sincerely.

“Xiaojie, thank you so much. I do want to try my luck and see if I can work in the provincial capital. After all, my family is there, so it would be more convenient.”

Zeng Hongjie hadn’t realized Jiang Lin had such big ambitions.

She smiled and said, “Then you’ll have to figure something out.”

If she weren’t married, she could use connections to transfer back.

Now, being married with children, returning to the city would require divorce; otherwise, it was impossible.

Jiang Lin smiled, “Thank you for your concern. There will always be opportunities.”

They continued chatting as they entered the room.

The embroidery workshop and the Yu Hong class were together, occupying two rooms with two sewing machines and twenty assistants, ranging from eight or nine-year-old girls to women in their sixties or seventies, as long as they were skilled with their hands.

Because Zeng Hongjie liked it, she had promoted it in the county as a folk culture, so they encountered no obstacles and everything ran smoothly.

Nowadays, Zeng Hongjie buys some unique items here and even designs patterns herself for Xiu Fang to process.

Yan Runzhi also likes Zeng Hongjie a lot.

When she saw her coming, she gave her a beautiful mouthpiece bag as a gift.

It had a bronze clasp, multi-layer linen fabric with simple embroidered patterns—elegant, durable, and perfectly matching Zeng Hongjie’s taste.

Zeng Hongjie loved it at first sight, holding the handbag in surprise. “Auntie, you’re so talented! How did you make this so beautifully?”

Yan Runzhi smiled, “With Bao’er’s mother’s good guidance.”

Zeng Hongjie exclaimed, “I want to order ten, no, twenty of these!”

Jiang Lin smiled, “Then you can choose the patterns.”

Zeng Hongjie was so captivated by the mouthpiece bag that she forgot everything else.

She pulled Yan Runzhi to select and modify patterns, even designing new ones that included both Chinese and foreign elements.

Jiang Lin didn’t disturb them, watching quietly in the room.

With Yan Runzhi and the other women focused on their work, it was a peaceful and cozy atmosphere.

Yan Runzhi even brought a radio to play operas for everyone, as they weren’t interested in other programs and only liked operas.

When the radio started playing the Huangmei opera “Wang Xiaoliu Makes Tofu,” Wensheng immediately became engrossed.

Jiang Lin let him stay to listen while she went to South Road to see if she could catch Cheng Rushan’s group.

After waiting for a while with no luck, she felt a bit disappointed, thinking she might have to wait until the fifteenth for them to return.

Around noon, Jiang Lin invited Zeng Hongjie’s family for lunch.

In the afternoon, Dabao, Xiaobao, and Wensheng didn’t go to school.

They told stories to the other kids and played together.

Zeng Hongjie worked with Jiang Lin to design new patterns.

She had many ideas she liked and showed them to Jiang Lin to see if they could be made into samples.

“Linyin, this time I want to order more so my sister-in-law can sell them in the city.

You don’t know, last time I took some back, they were all snatched up.” Zeng Hongjie’s taste was refined, and her designs were delicate and unique, hence the higher prices.

Jiang Lin racked her brain, recalling the fashion trends of the 80s and 90s and incorporating her own understanding and the preferences of those around her to create something fashionable locally.

After all, even if something is a global trend, if it doesn’t suit the tastes of the people around you, it won’t catch on.

The two shared common interests and talked for a long time, unaware that the room had grown dim.

Yan Runzhi let them chat while she went home to prepare dinner.