After leaving school, Lin Xiang first went to the supply and marketing cooperative, bought two cans of malted milk, half a pack of brown sugar, two jin of red dates, two jin of peach pastries, so dreg cakes, and a jin of White Rabbit milk candy. Seeing fresh apples for sale, she splurged and bought six red apples.
Except for the apples, everything else was what Yu Xiui had brought when she first visited the Li Hua Team and stopped by her ho.
Carrying the items, Lin Xiang followed the address Yu Xiui had left her before, asking all the way, until she finally found Yu Xiui’s ho.
"Who is it?"
Yu Xiui was in the kitchen making lunch. Hearing the knock on the door, she said to Tiantian, who was reading a comic book, "Tiantian, could you help mommy open the door?"
"Okay, mommy."
Tiantian jumped off the stool and trotted over to open the door with her little legs.
When she saw the person standing at the door, her eyes, like black grapes, were full of excitent, "Sister Lin Xiang!"
"Hello, Tiantian."
Lin Xiang couldn’t free her hands to pinch Tiantian’s chubby cheeks, "Tiantian, could you let sister in first?"
"Of course."
Tiantian moved aside to let Lin Xiang in. After she put down the things in her hands, Tiantian pulled her to sit on the sofa and shared the comic book she had been engrossed in with Lin Xiang, "Sister, let’s read together."
"Okay." Facing the soft and adorable Tiantian, Lin Xiang couldn’t feel any resentnt.
The kitchen was filled with smoke, and the noise of cooking was loud. Yu Xiui only heard Tiantian talking to soone, but she didn’t know who had co.
After finishing cooking, Yu Xiui wiped her hands with her apron as she walked out of the kitchen, "Tiantian, who’s here?"
"Teacher Yu, it’s ."
Yu Xiui’s steps imdiately halted, and her body even shrank back.
Clearly, Lin Xiang was just a short distance ahead, visible with just a raise of her head, yet Yu Xiui was unwilling and afraid to lift her head.
She was afraid of making eye contact with Lin Xiang.
"Teacher Yu, what’s wrong?" Lin Xiang inquired, seemingly concerned.
Yu Xiui’s reaction had already confird that the issue with Lin Xiang’s admission letter was related to her, otherwise she wouldn’t feel so guilty.
But Lin Xiang didn’t expose her in front of Tiantian.
She didn’t even know what attitude to adopt towards Yu Xiui now.
Yu Xiui quickly adjusted her mindset, forcing a smile, "Lin Xiang, why have you returned from Beijing?"
"It’s already mid-month, and I haven’t received my admission letter. Worried there might be so mishap, I ca back specifically to check. Teacher Yu, I went to the school and asked Principal Wu. He said he called Huaqing University’s admissions office, and my admission letter was issued at the beginning of the month. Logically, I should have received it by now."
"Do you know what’s going on?"
Lin Xiang’s tone was very calm, so calm it was as if she were discussing soone else’s affairs, yet it was also sowhat aggressive, leaving Yu Xiui no room to refute.
Yu Xiui opened her mouth slightly, closed it, then opened it again, and closed it again.
She repeated this several tis before she awkwardly said, "I really don’t know. But the other admitted students from our school have received their notification letters. I’ll find out what’s going on when I go to school tomorrow."
"Okay." Lin Xiang responded, then stood up, "I’ll trouble you with that, Teacher Yu. I have other things to attend to, so I’ll leave for now. We’ll et at school tomorrow."
Before leaving, Lin Xiang patted Tiantian’s head, "Make sure to eat on ti, okay? I’ll co to see you again in a few days."
After Lin Xiang left, Yu Xiui’s body went weak, and she collapsed onto the ground.
"It’s over, everything’s over..."
Tiantian only heard her mother mumbling but didn’t know what she was saying, so she tried to pull Yu Xiui up, "Mom, the floor is cold, you can’t sit on it, you’ll get sick."
Yu Xiui instead hugged Tiantian tightly, so tightly that Tiantian felt she almost couldn’t breathe.
"Mom, please let go of ..."
"Mom was wrong, Mom knows she was wrong, but now, there’s no way to make it right..."
Lin Xiang returned to Aunt Ge’s house. Aunt Ge and Fifth Uncle’s family had already gone to set up their stall, and in the yard stood an old and rundown bicycle. Chunya said Fifth Uncle had found parts from a scrap yard, and Ge Yuanxin assembled it.
It looked almost ready to fall apart but actually had a decent ride.
Lin Xiang tiptoed and knocked on Ge Yuanxin’s bedroom window, and a muffled voice quickly ca from inside, "What’s up?"
"Brother Yuanxin, I want to go back to Li Hua Team. I guess there’s no bullock cart heading back to the village now. Can I borrow the bicycle in the yard?"
"That bike belongs to Uncle Lin, you should ask him."
"I’ll take it for now. Please let my Fifth Uncle know when he cos back; I’ll return later."
Although she had a house at Li Hua Team, with Mrs. Lin not around, she’d be the only one there and with neighbors not close by, especially with Aunt Lin’s family in the village, Lin Xiang didn’t dare to stay alone at night, so she’d definitely return to the Ge’s.
Fortunately, it was sumr, and even though the Ge family didn’t have many rooms, they could all make do.
Riding a bicycle was faster than the bullock cart, and in less than half an hour, Lin Xiang reached the Li Hua Team.
When Lin Xiang’s figure appeared at the Li Hua Team, the aunts cooling themselves under the big banyan tree thought they were hallucinating.
"I just saw soone who looks a bit like the girl."
"I thought so too, just her skin is a bit darker. The girl was so fair-skinned."
Lin Xiang: ...
Can I not be darker?
Working under the scorching sun selling fast food at noon every day, getting a tan was deserved!
There wasn’t any sunscreen for sale now, and even though she’d wear long sleeves and pants and a hat, the effect of physical sunscreen was negligible.
"When I make big money, I’ll definitely start a production line to make sunscreen!"
Lin Xiang mumbled, greeting the aunts herself.
"Aunts, I haven’t been gone long, and you already don’t recognize ?"
"Girl? It’s really you!"
Aunt Qian was the first to react, approaching Lin Xiang, looking her up and down with a scrutinizing and evaluating gaze that made Lin Xiang uncomfortable all over.
"People say Beijing is a good place. The young girls change a lot after they go there. But usually, young girls beco prettier; but you, girl, you..."
"You got a tan, right?" Lin Xiang mocked herself: "No matter how good Beijing is, it’s for those born there. For us from small places, maintaining the basics of life is already difficult. To survive, we have to earn money, and to earn money, we must endure hardship."
User Comments
0 comments from readers