Lin Qizheng watched his daughter suddenly disappear and then reappear. He couldn’t help asking, “Did you see Elder Zhuang?”
“Yes. He’s lost quite a bit of weight, but he still seems to be in good spirits. However, it looks like he’s hiding someone with a gunshot wound in the cowshed. He asked me to bring him some anti-inflammatory medicine.”
Lin Shengxia looked at her father, hoping to hear his opinion.
Lin Qizheng lowered his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, “Shengxia, if it’s true that the national examinations will resume next year, then this year is bound to be anything but peaceful…”
Lin Qizheng knew Zhuang Beiwang very well.
The old man was upright to the point of stubbornness!
For him to risk his own life to save someone despite his current circumstances, that person had to be…
Clearly, Lin Shengxia had reached the same conclusion.
She took a deep breath and was about to speak when Dong Wanqiu interrupted them.
“No matter how important it is, we’ll talk after we’ve eaten!”
When Lin Shengxia suddenly disappeared earlier, Dong Wanqiu had nearly been scared out of her wits. It was only after remembering her daughter’s miraculous space that she forced herself to calm down.
When Lin Handong was dragged out of bed, the little boy was so sleepy that he could barely open his eyes.
Seeing him like that, Lin Shengxia couldn’t help laughing.
“You didn’t even go to bed late last night. Why are you so sleepy?”
“I spent the whole night dreaming. I’m so, so tired~”
Lin Handong nestled into her arms and acted spoiled.
But the moment Dong Wanqiu placed bowls of hand-pulled noodles in front of everyone, his eyes suddenly flew wide open.
He eagerly sniffed the delicious aroma a few times before happily running off to wash up!
Lin Shengxia shook her head.
After running around all morning, she was already starving, so she lowered her head and began eating heartily.
Seeing this, Dong Wanqiu quickly picked up another large portion of noodles from her own bowl and placed them into her daughter’s.
Lin Shengxia didn’t refuse and continued eating with great appetite.
She wasn’t the only one.
Lin Handong and Lin Qizheng were also devouring their noodles.
After all, Dong Wanqiu had added plenty of fresh vegetables and beef to the dish, making the noodles incredibly flavorful!
After everyone had eaten their fill, Lin Shengxia put everything away and skillfully lit some mugwort.
The family of four sat together on the doorstep, looking at the high courtyard wall they had built.
Just seeing it made them feel much safer.
With her stomach full, Lin Shengxia began feeling sleepy.
She was planning to take an afternoon nap before making another trip to 2026 when she suddenly heard a faint knocking sound outside the door.
The sound was extremely soft, as though whoever was outside was terrified of being discovered.
Lin Shengxia and Lin Qizheng exchanged a glance.
Both of them immediately had a suspicion about who it might be.
Lin Qizheng stood up and told Dong Wanqiu to take the two children inside the ruined temple and not come out.
Then he unlocked the brass lock.
Sure enough, He Zhiyu was standing outside.
Lin Qizheng didn’t appear particularly surprised to see him.
He simply asked, “What do you want?”
He Zhiyu looked at Teacher Lin, who had once barely spared him a glance, and saw how miserable and destitute he had become.
A secret sense of satisfaction rose in his heart.
Remembering why he had come, He Zhiyu frowned and spoke coldly.
“I came to warn Teacher Lin and your family. Don’t tell anyone that you know me. I don’t want you causing trouble for me.”
Hearing this, Lin Qizheng couldn’t help letting out a mocking laugh.
“Who do you think you are? What benefit would the Lin family gain from claiming a connection with you? You’re not your older brother, and you have absolutely nothing to do with me. As long as you don’t bring it up yourself, no one in the Lin family will ever tell anyone that we know you!”
“You!”
He Zhiyu hadn’t expected Lin Qizheng to speak to him so bluntly, and anger immediately surged through him.
Seeing his reaction, Lin Qizheng’s expression turned cold.
“If you’re here to cause trouble, I don’t mind making a scene. Our family has already fallen this far. We have nothing left to lose, so don’t think we’d be afraid of someone like you who still has everything to protect!”
Seeing the coldness in Lin Qizheng’s eyes, He Zhiyu realized that the man wasn’t joking.
His confidence immediately faltered.
He subconsciously retreated several steps, but unwilling to appear frightened, he still threw out a vicious threat before leaving.
“If I find out you’ve been running your mouths outside, just wait and see how I’ll deal with all of you!”
After saying that, he turned around and hurried down the mountain without looking back, almost as though he were afraid Lin Qizheng would chase after him…
Although Lin Shengxia had been hiding inside the ruined temple, she had heard everything clearly.
She couldn’t help shaking her head.
“This He Zhiyu can’t even compare to a single finger of Brother Zhizhang!”
“Of course he can’t. They may have the same father, but they have different mothers. Your Brother Zhizhang’s mother came from a distinguished family, unlike He Zhiyu’s mother, who…”
Before Dong Wanqiu could finish, Lin Qizheng returned to the ruined temple and interrupted her.
“That’s enough. Why are you telling the children about that? He Zhiyu is He Zhiyu, and Zhizhang is Zhizhang. If we see He Zhiyu again, we’ll simply pretend we don’t know him.”
“I’m just angry! Back then, he followed Zhizhang around everywhere like a little shadow, and he even had the nerve to ask you to write him a letter of recommendation! Bah!”
The mere thought of He Zhiyu being such an opportunistic bootlicker made Dong Wanqiu furious!
Lin Shengxia had to admit that He Zhiyu was quite talented in his own way.
After all, it wasn’t easy to make her usually calm and composed mother this angry!
However, Lin Shengxia soon put the matter of He Zhiyu out of her mind and fell into a deep sleep.
It was around three or four in the afternoon when she slowly opened her eyes.
After washing her face and getting rid of the last traces of sleepiness, she pushed open the door and headed out.
By then, Li Xiangqin’s bun shop had already closed for the day, so Lin Shengxia went straight to the pharmacy.
She told the clerk that someone in her family had accidentally cut their hand with a kitchen knife while cooking and that she needed supplies to stop the bleeding and bandage the wound.
Lin Shengxia had been visiting the pharmacy frequently these days, so the clerk had already become familiar with her.
Knowing that her family wasn’t particularly well-off, the clerk recommended practical and inexpensive medical supplies.
After paying, Lin Shengxia headed straight for the organic grocery store.
The Eight-Treasure Cakes she had brought today had been extremely popular with Li Xiangqin and the others, so Lin Shengxia decided to buy more ingredients.
That way, her mother could make another batch whenever she had time, and the family could enjoy some as well.
Once she had bought all the ingredients, she went to Pang’s Supermarket.
There, she bought several apples and an old hen. She planned to simmer the hen into a rich pot of chicken soup so she could bring a bowl to Elder Zhuang that evening.
After thinking about it, she also went to the snack aisle and bought several bags of snacks for Lin Handong to enjoy from time to time.
The little boy had suffered a great deal alongside them over the past six months.
He was only six years old, after all.
Naturally, Lin Shengxia couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.
She was just about to leave when she heard someone loudly calling out from the cooked-food section.
“Special price! Freshly braised pork head meat! Only twenty-five yuan per jin! Twenty-five yuan per jin!”
Hearing the vendor’s cries, Lin Shengxia’s feet unconsciously carried her toward the sound.
Sure enough, two large braising pots were steaming away in the cooked-food section!
She didn’t know whether twenty-five yuan was truly cheap or merely being advertised as a bargain, but the braised pork head meat certainly smelled delicious.
So Lin Shengxia simply ordered one jin and asked the clerk to slice it for her before packing it to go.
After thinking for a moment, she headed to the liquor section and bought a bottle of high-proof baijiu.
She had originally wanted to buy rubbing alcohol at the pharmacy, but she didn’t have an ID card, so the clerk hadn’t dared sell it to her.
Perhaps, she thought, the high-proof liquor could also be of some help to Elder Zhuang…