For some inexplicable reason, Lin Shengxia felt as though something inside the cave was drawing her toward it!
She stored everything she had been carrying into her space, then quickly walked toward the cave entrance.
Only when she got closer did she realize that the opening was much larger than she had initially thought. If she crouched down and crawled inside, there would still be about half a head’s worth of space above her.
But…
Lin Shengxia looked around, suddenly uncertain.
Should she really go inside?
Her rational mind told her that entering an unfamiliar cave could expose her to all kinds of dangers. Yet another voice in her head kept telling her that if she didn’t go in, she might regret it someday.
After thinking it over, Lin Shengxia took out the lighter she had bought in 2026. She found a thick branch and lit it as a makeshift torch before slowly crawling forward with one hand.
After advancing about five or six meters, she found her path blocked by a vertical drop in the cave floor.
Holding the torch over the opening, Lin Shengxia peered down.
It looked to be about two or three meters deep, and there happened to be a thick vine growing along the side of the rock.
She tugged on it several times with all her strength.
It was surprisingly sturdy.
Wrapping one hand tightly around the vine, she slowly lowered herself into the cavern below.
The moment her feet touched solid ground, she quickly raised the torch in front of her.
The chamber at the bottom wasn’t very large. Turning around once was enough for her to take in almost everything around her.
Lin Shengxia didn’t notice anything particularly unusual.
The only thing that caught her attention was a small, pitch-black fruit growing from a protruding section of the cave wall.
She had never seen anything like it before.
Still, since she had already come this far, she carefully plucked the strange fruit and stored it inside her space.
Once that was done, she climbed back up the vine and crawled out of the cave.
The moment she emerged, she discovered that the sky outside was already completely bright.
Clearly, she had spent far longer inside the cave than she had realized!
Growing anxious, Lin Shengxia hurriedly extinguished her torch and ran toward the ruined temple.
Fortunately, she didn’t encounter anyone along the way.
However, just as she was approaching the temple, she suddenly heard someone calling her name from behind.
There was a hint of uncertainty in the person’s voice.
“Shengxia?!”
The voice sounded vaguely familiar.
Lin Shengxia turned toward it and saw He Zhiyu staring at her in complete shock. Beside him stood two young men around the same age as him…
Lin Shengxia was a little stunned, but she still nodded politely.
“Long time no see.”
“Shengxia, it really is you?! What are you doing at Maisui Production Brigade?!”
“My entire family was sent down here…”
Lin Shengxia spoke frankly and without embarrassment.
However, she clearly noticed that the moment she said those words, the two young men standing beside He Zhiyu instinctively took two steps backward.
Obviously, neither of them wanted to become involved with someone as troublesome as her.
Lin Shengxia didn’t feel particularly hurt by their reaction.
She simply looked seriously at He Zhiyu.
“So if you see me again in the future, you can just pretend you don’t know me. My parents are still waiting for me, so I’ll be going now!”
After saying that, she quickly ran down the mountain.
Before long, her figure had completely disappeared from the three men’s sight.
Standing to He Zhiyu’s left was an educated youth named He Peiting.
Only after confirming that Lin Shengxia had really left did he lower his voice and advise, “That girl is right. If you run into her again, you’d better pretend you don’t know her.”
“But… but her father is my elder brother’s teacher. If my brother finds out…”
He Zhiyu didn’t finish his sentence.
However, He Peiting and Hong Fan, who stood beside them, immediately understood what he meant.
The two patted him firmly on the shoulder.
“She’s already in this situation. As long as you don’t say anything, who’s going to tell your brother?”
Even among the educated youths, He Zhiyu’s family background and circumstances were considered outstanding.
Perhaps the only person among the group from the capital who could surpass him was Fu Yanzhi.
However, Fu Yanzhi was a solitary person who preferred keeping to himself. He was nowhere near as skilled as He Zhiyu when it came to winning people over.
After listening to He Peiting and Hong Fan’s persuasion, He Zhiyu eventually took a deep breath.
“Forget it. With their current status, even if I told my brother, they might only drag him down with them. I’ll pretend I never saw her. At least that way, I can preserve Teacher Lin’s dignity.”
If Lin Shengxia had been there to hear He Zhiyu’s shameless words, she probably would have laughed from sheer anger at his hypocrisy.
But by then, Lin Shengxia had already returned home.
In fact, she was happily enjoying a bowl of soft, fragrant longan and lotus seed porridge her mother had cooked.
Although she didn’t think He Zhiyu would come looking for them, Lin Shengxia still told Lin Qizheng about encountering him halfway up the mountain.
After hearing her story, Lin Qizheng merely nodded calmly.
“He won’t come.”
Although Lin Qizheng had only met He Zhiyu a few times, he could tell that the young man was nothing like his student, He Zhizhang.
Their personalities were completely different.
If He Zhizhang hadn’t wanted to help his younger brother advance in life and repeatedly brought He Zhiyu along to visit him, someone like He Zhiyu would once have found it difficult even to meet Lin Qizheng.
But now, their circumstances had been completely reversed, and their social positions had undergone a tremendous change.
Lin Qizheng wasn’t particularly upset about it.
After all, He Zhiyu had never been his student.
Seeing that her father understood the situation perfectly well, Lin Shengxia finally relaxed.
She hurriedly left through the back door.
Because she had spent so much time inside the cave, she arrived at the steamed bun shop later than usual today.
The familiar old customers breathed sighs of relief when they finally saw her.
“Oh, Shengxia, you’re finally here! We thought something might have happened to you. We were just about to ask Auntie Li where you live!”
Lin Shengxia raised a hand and wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead before hurriedly unloading her things.
Seeing her struggle, regular customers like Xu Aixia immediately stepped forward to help.
With everyone pitching in, her stall was set up in no time.
Today, she had once again brought two large carp, along with an entire bag of eels.
Her mother was too afraid to touch the eels, so she had told Lin Shengxia to bring all of them here and sell them.
Truthfully, Lin Shengxia herself was afraid to touch them too.
She simply left the eels lying quietly inside the fishing net and avoided handling them unless absolutely necessary.
The moment Xu Aixia saw the two large carp, her eyes lit up.
She immediately glanced around.
When she didn’t see Lin Changcheng anywhere nearby, she hurriedly pulled both large carp toward herself.
“Shengxia, I’ll take both of these fish! Give me two bunches of green vegetables too. I’ll braise the fish when I get home. My grandson happens to be coming over for lunch today. Now I finally have something good to serve him!”
Lin Shengxia knew about the Xiao family’s situation, so she didn’t refuse.
Smiling, she placed the fish into a net and weighed them.
After collecting the money, she turned her attention back to the wild vegetable stall.
About ten minutes later, Li Guiying came hurrying over.
When she saw that there were no wild duck eggs today, disappointment flashed across her face.
But the moment she noticed the eels inside the fishing net, her eyes immediately brightened!
“My goodness! These eels are huge!”
Seeing that she was interested, Lin Shengxia quickly smiled and nodded.
“I got lucky and found a whole nest of them. Auntie, would you like to buy some?”
Li Guiying lifted the bag slightly to estimate its weight.
There had to be more than ten jin of eels inside.
For a moment, she hesitated…
Seeing this, Zhang Guangming quickly spoke up from beside her.
“Guiying, if you’re worried you won’t be able to finish them all, why don’t the two of us split them?”
Sure enough, the moment Li Guiying heard Zhang Guangming’s suggestion, she nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Then she looked eagerly at Lin Shengxia…