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“Didn’t you say you lost your memory? Let me tell you about our family.”
“Our grandpa used to be the captain of an ocean-going fishing vessel, and our grandma was the fallen daughter of a wealthy family.”
“Back then, when Grandpa was out fishing, he rescued Grandma from drowning. That’s how they met, got to know each other, fell in love, and returned to their hometown to get married.”
“Over the decades, Grandpa worked on the ship, and the couple only had one son—Lin Jianshe.”
“When Lin Jianshe wanted to marry Yao Yanfang, Grandpa and Grandma strongly opposed it. They thought she was too petty and narrow-minded. But Lin Jianshe was stubborn and married her anyway.”
“When Lin Qingmei and Lin Qinglan were born, Grandpa and Grandma were initially happy. They traveled all the way to the northeast hoping to help Yao Yanfang with postpartum care. But Yao Yanfang wasn’t grateful at all. She looked down on them for being rural and refused to let them in the house.”
“She resented Lin Qingmei from the start, thinking her large size caused the difficult labor. Before the baby was even a month old, she made Grandpa and Grandma take Lin Qingmei away to raise.
Decades passed, and Lin Qingmei never even knew what her mother looked like.”
“The reason I was able to transmigrate here is because Lin Qingmei had lost all hope. When Grandma passed, she called the northeastern military unit. Yao Yanfang answered the phone and hung up before Lin Qingmei could finish speaking.
She felt the only person who had ever loved her was gone, and her parents didn’t want her either. The more she thought about it, the sadder she became, and then she died from a high fever.”
“Now I’ve become Lin Qingmei in this world, and you’ve become Lin Qinglan. From now on, we are truly family.
What are we going to do about Lin Zheng? Are we really going to raise him together? To be honest, if you hadn’t transmigrated into Lin Qinglan, even if those two siblings came to Linjiawan looking for me, I wouldn’t have helped them.
After all, they were raised by Yao Yanfang—I could never forgive them.”
Lin Qinglan fell silent after hearing her best friend describe the family situation. She hadn’t expected Yao Yanfang to be that heartless.
She felt it was so unfair to the original Lin Qingmei. Such a good child—how could she have encountered such a disgusting mother?
Qingmei raised her glass:
“Forget it, let’s not talk about these sad things. Come on, let’s have a toast—to our reunion in this world.”
“Cheers! From now on, we’ll live better lives.”
It had been a long time since they had enjoyed drinking like this. In their previous lives, they lived in constant fear.
In this life, they could finally live the way they wanted.
The next day, Lin Qingmei was awakened by Lin Zheng’s loud voice. Rubbing her throbbing forehead, she stepped out of the room.
“Lin Zheng, what are you doing, yelling so loudly?”
“Second Sister, sorry I woke you up. I got scared by this waving, clawing big shrimp.”
Lin Zheng had gotten up early to boil water and wash his face.
He hadn’t expected to find a big shrimp in the water vat—it nearly scared the soul out of him.
“It’s just a lobster, what’s so scary? I’ll let you taste how delicious it is in a bit.”
That lobster was something Qingmei had pulled from her space the night before. She had planned to use it to make lobster porridge for her best friend this morning.
“Really? Then I’ll help you start the fire!”
He had never eaten lobster before and was curious how it would taste.
“Mm.”
When Lin Qinglan woke up, the lobster porridge was already ready.
“Lanlan, you’re up. Go wash up—I’ll make a quick jellyfish salad and then we can eat.”
To avoid mistakenly calling her by her modern name in front of others, Qingmei decided to call her Lanlan from now on.
It worked nicely—both Lin Qinglan and Wu Chunlan shared the same “Lan” character.
“You really made lobster porridge?! Qingmei, you’re too good to me! After breakfast, let’s go dig for seafood—I want to gather a bunch to eat!”
In both her past and current lives, Lin Qinglan had always lived inland. She’d never gone beachcombing before.
“The tide will be up by the time we finish breakfast. If you want to dig for seafood, I’ll take you tomorrow.”
“Alright!”
After breakfast, Qingmei brought Qinglan and Lin Zheng to the village committee.
This time, they had returned from the northeast not only to settle down, but also to transfer their household registrations.
The village head had thought Qingmei was joking when she said her older sister was coming back.
He didn’t expect that not only had Lin Qinglan returned, but even little Lin Zheng had come too.
“Village Head, my sister and brother want to transfer their household registrations back.”
Qingmei handed over the proof of registration and the exit certificates.
(Note: Normally, you get an entry permit before exiting the previous location, but since this is a novel, the process is simplified.)
“Lin Qinglan, why are you transferring your registration back? You’re not going back to the northeast anymore?”
The village head looked at the siblings in confusion. Did Lin Jianshe even know they were doing this?
“We’re not going back. You probably haven’t heard—our father passed away recently. From now on, we’re staying in Linjiawan.”
Qinglan’s eyes were red as she pretended to be a grieving child who had just lost her father.
“What? When did this happen? Qingmei, why didn’t you tell me?”
Thud—the pen in the village head’s hand fell to the table.
He hadn’t expected Lin Jianshe to have died. He was still young—how could that happen?
“About twenty days ago. You know I’m not close with them. I barely talk to them.”
Qingmei rarely mentioned her parents in the northeast.
If she hadn’t needed something from the village head today, she probably still wouldn’t have said a word.
“Sigh. What about your mom? Did she remarry?”
“Pretty much! That’s why my sister and brother came back. Village Head, please help them process the transfer quickly—don’t waste time.”
“You two are a real headache, but fine—I’ll get on it right away.”
The village head had no choice. Every time he paused, Qingmei would start nagging him.
Once the transfer was done, Qingmei returned to the office to get back to work.
Being an accountant in Linjiawan wasn’t easy—there were tons of ledgers to go through.
Besides the field harvests, she had to record seafood gathered from the shore every day and fish caught by boats out at sea.
The books were messy and abundant. It took half a day just to organize them.
Meanwhile, the idle Lin Qinglan and Lin Zheng leisurely strolled from one end of the village to the other.
No one in the village recognized Qinglan, so they thought she was a stranger Qingmei had brought home, along with a young boy.
While passing by Lin Hongjun’s house, they happened to run into Lin Qinghua and Cheng Youjin sneaking around.
“Lin Qingmei, what are you doing here? Didn’t we already break off the engagement? Why are you still trying to block my way?”