Many people looked at them as if they were seeing something very unusual, both curious and embarrassed.

Once they were outside the dormitory building, Jiang Lin let go of Cheng Rushan’s arm, and they went to the cafeteria.

The campus was bustling with people—new students and returning workers and soldiers.

The cafeteria was crowded.

Cheng Rushan wanted her to sit down while he went to get the food, but Jiang Lin insisted on staying put and told him to wait.

She smiled at him and said, “Since we’re at school, I’ll treat you. Just wait and eat.”

She took a lunchbox from her backpack to get the food.

At that time, the cafeteria didn’t provide trays, so everyone had to bring their own utensils.

The line was a bit long, but she wasn’t in a hurry.

She looked at the available options in advance: stir-fried cabbage, mashed potatoes, and tofu with spinach.

For this season and era, it was quite decent.

While Jiang Lin was in line, a boy in front of her turned around, noticed her, and said with a smile, “Hey, are you a new student? I haven’t seen you before.”

Jiang Lin replied with a smile, “Yes, I’m new. My husband brought me here to register today.”

The boy seemed momentarily surprised, then chuckled awkwardly, seeming a bit dismissive.

He thought she was showing off by mentioning her husband right away.

Jiang Lin had planned to say this whenever an unfamiliar boy tried to approach her.

She wanted to make it clear from the start that she was a new student and her husband had brought her.

This way, she could avoid any misunderstandings or unwanted advances.

Sure enough, the boy didn’t say anything more and quickly got his food and left.

Jiang Lin, knowing that their home had enough grain, decided not to be too frugal.

She wanted Cheng Rushan to have enough to eat, so she bought five large steamed buns (about 150 grams each) and used chopsticks to carry them since they were hard to handle.

She also bought a lunchbox of mashed potatoes and tofu with spinach, spending a total of six cents.

Cheng Rushan was following his wife’s advice and sitting patiently in a spot, keeping an eye on the seat opposite him for her.

However, before Jiang Lin could return, a female classmate quickly took the seat opposite him and smiled at him. “Hi, what’s your major? Aren’t you going to get food?”

Cheng Rushan wanted to apologize and explain that he was saving the seat for his wife, but he also felt it would be rude to kick her out since she was already seated.

As he glanced up, he saw Jiang Lin coming with a lunchbox and several big buns.

Embarrassed, he quickly stood up to help her.

The female classmate’s face turned red with embarrassment.

She had tried to start a conversation by greeting him, but he ignored her and walked away, making her feel very awkward.

She thought everyone around was laughing at her.

Cheng Rushan helped Jiang Lin with the buns and lunchbox, just in time to stop a male classmate who was nervously trying to gather the courage to help her.

Jiang Lin smiled at the male classmate and said, “See, I wasn’t lying. My husband came to help me with my registration.”

The male classmate’s face turned bright red. “S-sorry.”

Cheng Rushan introduced himself, “Hello, I’m Cheng Rushan.”

The male classmate, not much taller than Jiang Lin, felt intimidated by the tall Cheng Rushan and started stammering, “Y-you, you’re Cheng Rushan too?”

Cheng Rushan and Jiang Lin exchanged surprised looks.

The male classmate almost cried, “No, no! My name is Song Yuluo.”

Cheng Rushan smiled and said, “That’s a nice name.”

Song Yuluo replied, “It sounds a bit like a girl’s name.”

Jiang Lin suddenly remembered, “Oh no, you saved a seat for me, didn’t you?”

Cheng Rushan gave a helpless look and said, “The seat was already taken, and I felt bad asking someone to move. I don’t have much experience with saving seats.”

Jiang Lin glanced at him and thought, “Oh, come on, Brother Shan! You’re saying you felt bad? I don’t believe it!”

Song Yuluo immediately said, “There are seats over there with my classmates.”

Cheng Rushan and Jiang Lin went over and found that there were indeed some seats available, so they sat down.

Song Yuluo introduced them to his classmates, who were surprised to hear that Cheng Rushan and Jiang Lin were from the class of ’77. They had mixed reactions.

Someone nearby indignantly said, “What’s the big deal? They just passed the entrance exam. Why should the curriculum be changed for them? Are we from the class of ’76/’77 not considered students?”

Song Yuluo replied with a smile, “We should all unite and learn from each other. We are all alumni, there’s no need for ranking.”

Jiang Lin smiled and didn’t say anything more.

She and Cheng Rushan just enjoyed their meal. “Oh look, I found a piece of meat,” she said, holding up a piece of meat with a good mix of fat and lean.

“Not bad.” She then placed the meat on Cheng Rushan’s bun.

The situation here was similar to everywhere else—there were more men than women at the table, with Jiang Lin being the only female student among eight people.

While the others were discussing current events, Jiang Lin’s sweet voice commenting on the meat and dishes made some male classmates look down on her, thinking women were shallow and only concerned with food, lacking a broader perspective.

Of course, this was partly because she was married; if she were single, they might have tried to impress her.

Men often act differently around attractive women, especially when their partners are present.

Jiang Lin didn’t care about their opinions.

She knew that some people would always find something to complain about.

Instead of engaging in gender-based conflicts, she felt it was better to focus on studying hard and staying ahead, so as not to be outpaced by younger students.

After eating, Cheng Rushan accompanied Jiang Lin around the campus to get familiar with it—the teaching buildings, administrative offices, the sales points, the auditorium, the water room and bathhouse, and especially the library.

With a library card, they could go in to read and borrow books.

Jiang Lin pulled Cheng Rushan into the library, saying, “Finally, a place where we can borrow books!”

She borrowed several basic books on architecture and civil engineering, as well as some biographies, stories, and essays about famous architects to spark her interest.

Cheng Rushan also borrowed a book.

Jiang Lin glanced at it and saw it was an old novel in a semi-classical style, which looked damaged, with yellowed pages as if it had been partially burned and then rescued.

She leaned in and said quietly, “Brother Shan, there are many modern novels and biographies here. Do you want to read something else?”

Cheng Rushan replied, “I’ll read this one first. After I finish, you can help me borrow another.”

He likely planned to borrow books whenever he came to pick her up.

He thought he would visit the campus frequently, especially since his wife was studying there.

The registration process would take three days, and the 12th was the day for the class leader and classmates to welcome the new students.

Before that, there was nothing much to do, so Jiang Lin and Cheng Rushan went home.

The day after tomorrow was the 2nd of February.

Jiang Lin had already cooked sweet potatoes and beans, so she didn’t need to be busy with that.

The next day, Cheng Rushan continued with his tasks, while Jiang Lin worked on her vegetable garden at home.

Gardening wasn’t easy. After plowing the land, she had to level the soil, removing clumps and stones with a rake.

Then, she had to create furrows, which varied depending on the type of vegetables.

She also needed to collect sticks and poles to support the plants, as cucumbers, beans, loofahs, and other vegetables needed to be supported as they grew.

If people like He Liang and Bie Dongshan were free, they would come to help her.

However, Zhao Quan and Du Qiang avoided her, likely influenced by He Changjiang, as if fearing that being too close to her might bring negative consequences.

Because Jiang Lin was so beautiful, several wives were secretly keeping an eye on her, worried that she might use her looks to attract men or cause trouble.

Especially Fang Chengguang, who had always been harsh with women and ignored matchmaking arrangements made by his family.

It was unusual for him to be so protective of her, which made others suspicious.

But Jiang Lin didn’t care.

In her two lifetimes, if she were still concerned about other people’s opinions, it would be beneath her.

As long as she acted righteously and didn’t harm others, she wasn’t afraid of anyone.

In Shuihuai Village, she was a fierce and outspoken young intellectual, and she wouldn’t be a timid little rabbit here.

After lunch, she continued working on her vegetable garden.

Several women had come by to chat with her—some were trying to gather information, others were testing her, and some were bad-mouthing others to win her favor.

A few were just showing off.

At that moment, three women were still gathered around, one of whom was You Hongliu, who worked in the finance office.

Although not an official, she liked to boast and show off.

You Hongliu asked, “Jiang Lin, why did you marry a country man when you came from the city?”

The other two women also expressed curiosity, “You’re so pretty and a city student. What made you choose this?”

“Is it because you like how handsome he is?” They laughed, thinking they were joking kindly.

Jiang Lin just smiled and didn’t directly respond to them.

She preferred not to escalate things with people who were only chatting without any real conflict.

You Hongliu was a bit annoyed that Jiang Lin wasn’t responding.

She had heard some gossip about Jiang Lin.

“You know, isn’t the work point value in your production team really low? I used to work in the countryside too. Back then, I could earn two or three yuan a day and at least 15 work points.”

Hearing her boast, Jiang Lin asked with a smile, “What did you do?”

You Hongliu replied, “Me? I could do everything. I led the team in farming, was the female team leader, worked as an accountant, and even taught them how to operate tractors.”

Jiang Lin asked, “How many years did you spend in the countryside?”

You Hongliu replied, “A long time—more than ten…”

Jiang Lin was surprised, “?!”

“Oh, about 13 or 14 months,” You Hongliu clarified.

Jiang Lin thought to herself, “I have to calculate that into years. For someone who clearly doesn’t know much about farming, claiming to have been a team leader in a production team is unbelievable. Even if you were a senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture or a research station, they would only make you a technician or advisor, not a team leader. The leader must be someone from the village who has authority.”

You Hongliu kept talking, suggesting various vegetables for Jiang Lin to plant.

Her advice was clearly uninformed, showing she had probably only gone to the countryside briefly and hadn’t really worked there.

In reality, You Hongliu’s situation was similar to Jiang Lin’s.

She didn’t like the hardship of rural life and quickly found a city person to marry.

Her husband’s family was better off, so she managed without working.

Eventually, her husband was transferred to the military district, and she moved here to work in the archives.

You Hongliu said, “Jiang Lin, you’re really something, getting such a big house right away.” Her tone was dripping with envy.

She was genuinely bitter that Jiang Lin got a large house so quickly.

You Hongliu had been here for years, first in a small single room, then in a two-room apartment shared with other families.

She hadn’t had a chance to improve her housing situation, while Jiang Lin had just arrived and already got a bigger house.

It made her very resentful.

Although You Hongliu was trying to find fault with Jiang Lin’s situation, she couldn’t directly criticize her for being lazy or enjoying luxuries because Jiang Lin had passed the university entrance exam, and Cheng Rushan was well-known in the area. Even though she was envious, she couldn’t openly say anything negative.

Jiang Lin, not wanting to feign modesty, simply said, “Yes, I think Cheng Rushan is quite capable.”

You Hongliu and the other two women exchanged looks, thinking to themselves, “She’s just flattering Fang Chengguang. What’s there to show off?”

At that moment, Wu Shuxian walked over and called out, “Sister, do you have a moment?”

Jiang Lin quickly responded, “Sister-in-law, yes, I’m free. What’s up?”

Wu Shuxian glanced at You Hongliu and the others, “If you’re so free, you don’t have anything better to do.”

The women replied, “We’re just getting to know Jiang Lin. We have a new beauty in the compound, so we’re here to introduce ourselves.”

Wu Shuxian said dismissively, “Stop pretending. When Cheng Rushan’s family didn’t have a big house and wasn’t close with Fang Chengguang, you didn’t bother to get to know them. Now you’re acting all friendly. Spare me.”

She had little regard for people like Kuang Guomei and You Hongliu, who she thought were just being envious.

Wu Shuxian didn’t hesitate to call out the three women, enjoying their annoyed but restrained reactions.