Even Qin Yan spoke to her with a stern face. “Lin Qingqing, we are all friends here. We are supposed to help each other. Even if Jun Ning wants to give us gifts, we shouldn’t accept them.”
Seeing that not a single person at the Youth Point supported her—and instead, everyone was watching her make a fool of herself—Lin Qingqing’s face flushed red then turned pale. It was an ugly sight.
“You’re all bullying me!”
After shouting at the group, she shot Jun Ning a hateful glare, turned around, and stormed back to her room in a rage.
The others looked at each other, speechless.
Seeing everyone ganging up on Lin Qingqing, Jun Ning chuckled inwardly. This was the benefit of the original owner’s habit of taking small losses to win people over. This was the true meaning of “suffering is a blessing”; as long as you are willing to offer kindness to others, there will come a day when you reap that kindness in return. Most people possessed a heart of gratitude. As for the “white-eyed wolves” (ingrates), they weren’t worth mentioning.
In the original plot of the book at this point in time, the male and female leads hadn’t actually gotten together yet. Qin Yan was still with his fiancée, who was waiting in the city for his return; he didn’t have much of a romantic feeling for Lin Qingqing yet.
Lin Qingqing’s situation was the same. On one hand, she was sleeping with Director Tan to get her return-to-city quota. On the other, she was flirting and entangling herself with two well-off young men from the village, driving them to distraction. Those two men were constantly at each other’s throats, having secret fights over her without anyone knowing. She was simply too good at putting on an act.
In the book, it wasn’t until after they returned to the city and went through various events together that Qin Yan, under Lin Qingqing’s persistent schemes and pursuit, reluctantly ended up with her. Their relationship had always been driven by Lin Qingqing’s initiative. Qin Yan was also quite a scumbag; he didn’t refuse Lin Qingqing’s intimacy, yet he maintained a close relationship with his fiancée, Gao Yuan.
Gao Yuan soon became pregnant with Qin Yan’s child. Seeing that Qin Yan refused to leave Gao Yuan, Lin Qingqing hired a local thug to frame her, destroying her reputation and forcing her to marry the thug instead. Thus, Lin Qingqing successfully tore the couple apart.
Afterward, Lin Qingqing pursued Qin Yan even more aggressively. She played the “victim” card, telling him that if he wouldn’t marry her, she would happily be his mistress and stay by his side until he gave in. Men are prone to vanity; pursued by a woman with decent prospects, Qin Yan eventually caved and married her. But even after marriage, their stolen “romance” was never happy—it was an endless cycle of bickering.
The entire novel was essentially a messy history of this toxic couple’s entanglements, interspersed with plots about how they calculated and used the connections of various supporting characters to strike it rich. In the book, since the original owner had died and there was no reborn Jun Ning to block her path, the general impression of Lin Qingqing wasn’t too bad. Even when her affair with Director Tan was eventually exposed, she played the innocent victim and cried about her grievances, gaining the sympathy of many.
But things were different now. Jun Ning’s rebirth had caused a butterfly effect, exposing the inherent selfishness in Lin Qingqing’s bones. Jun Ning’s presence was destined to change the fates of these youths and countless supporting characters in the story.
Once the Great Team Leader and his family left, the exhausted youths, who had been working all day, rushed back to their dormitories to rest and queue up for showers. Today, it was Xiao Yanru and a male youth named Ro Dali’s turn to cook.
Ro Dali’s personality was very similar to Xiao Yanru’s: he was a righteous man with a chivalrous heart. It was because their temperaments matched that they had chosen to be partners when the duty roster was made, requiring one male and one female to work together for three-day shifts. If someone couldn’t cook due to an emergency, they had to ask permission from the leader, Gu Xiangwen, and their partner so a replacement could be found.
Ro Dali and Xiao Yanru went to their rooms to grab their washbasins, fetched water to wash their faces, and wiped away the sweat. Feeling refreshed, the two of them entered the kitchen.
The kitchen cabinets held the grain rations allocated to the youths. The keys were given to whoever was on duty, and no one else was allowed to take anything. If grain went missing, the person on duty was held responsible.
As soon as they stepped inside, they were met with the rich aroma of chicken soup. Seeing Fu Jingwei sitting there tending the fire, they immediately asked, “Fu Jingwei, are you making chicken soup? Is it for us?”
Fu Jingwei chuckled. “In your dreams! This soup is for A’Ning. She drowned today and weakened her body; the doctor said she needs nourishment. Plus, today is her birthday, so I traded for an old hen with a villager. Consider it my birthday gift to her.”
Xiao Yanru teased him with a smile, “Wow, Fu Jingwei, you really are good to A’Ning.” Then, she suddenly gasped in realization. “Oh no! I almost forgot it was A’Ning’s birthday. I haven’t prepared a gift for her at all.”
Ro Dali laughed from the side. “A’Ning won’t be angry even if you don’t give her anything. Her personality is just too good.”
Xiao Yanru agreed deeply. “That’s true. A’Ning is just such a good person; that’s why we all like her so much. I’ll head back to the dorm later to see if I have anything I can give her.”
Ro Dali added, “I’ll look around too. If all else fails, we can just give her a red envelope!”
Just then, Jun Ning walked in with a bag of items, a smile on her face. She had overheard their conversation at the door.
“Why are you worrying about gifts?” Jun Ning laughed. “I’m already happy enough that you’re spending my birthday with me.”
She pressed the bag into Xiao Yanru’s hands. “Here, these are some good things I’ve been saving. I’m bringing them out today so we can all eat and celebrate together.”
Xiao Yanru took the bag and asked curiously, “What kind of treats are these? You really are generous; every time your family sends something, you share it with us.”
Jun Ning replied, “Well, don’t you share your things with me too? If you consider me a friend, don’t be so polite.”
Xiao Yanru opened the bag and took a look. Inside were five catties of snow-white, refined rice, a piece of dried beef jerky, two bottles of braised pork cans, and twelve eggs.
She let out a delighted squeal. “Oh my goodness, A’Ning! You were actually hiding so many good things? I thought you’d eaten everything already. This is great—we don’t have to worry about the birthday feast lacking dishes now!”