Speaking of this, Lin Weiguo sighed.
His father had been dead for many years, and besides his mother, Zhao Guilan, he had a younger brother and a younger sister. When the family was split, his mother, due to her partiality toward the youngest child, moved in with his brother, Lin Weijia.
Lin Weijia had a son and a daughter. The one who fell into the river today was his daughter, Lin Meng.
“I went to see her too. She had a high fever at the time. I told Weijia to hurry and send her to the health clinic, but they didn’t want to spend the money, saying it would be fine if she just sweated it out under the covers at home.”
“In the end, it was only because I lost my temper that they had Lin Ye go call the barefoot doctor over.”
“I heard her fever has subsided now.”
Lin Ran frowned as she listened. She thought back to the cousin in her memory, who always seemed to have a gloomy face and kept her head down while working. The main reason was that her second uncle’s family favored boys over girls, and the same went for their grandmother, Old Lady Zhao.
Basic household chores were almost entirely dumped onto Lin Meng alone, resulting in her being busy every day like a spinning top, working non-stop.
In her memories, although Old Lady Zhao favored boys, she treated Lin Ran reasonably well. On one hand, it was because of her parents’ attitude—her parents doted on her, and even if Old Lady Zhao wanted to make her work, they would never agree.
On the other hand, it was because she was beautiful, with delicate features and fair, tender skin. She stood out particularly among the crowd of sun-darkened, sallow village girls, successfully leaping to become the “beauty of the surrounding ten miles.”
Based on these two factors, Old Lady Zhao had gradually become more attentive toward her. Conversely, her cousin Lin Meng had become the “control group.” Consequently, the relationship between the two had been mediocre since childhood.
When Lin Weiguo and his wife spoke of Lin Meng, they could only sigh. Finally, Shen Wenfang spoke up.
“Ranran, bring two eggs tomorrow to see your cousin. Your cousin is quite pitiful as well!”
Early the next morning, Lin Ran waited until everyone had gone to work before setting out for her second uncle’s house with two eggs. Shen Wenfang was very thoughtful and had boiled the eggs directly, instructing Lin Ran to make sure Lin Meng ate them as soon as she got them. She knew that if her second aunt saw these eggs, they would certainly never reach Lin Meng’s mouth.
The second uncle’s house was near the village entrance, not far from their home; it was only a few minutes’ walk. Lin Ran stood outside the fenced yard and called out.
“Cousin, are you home?”
“I’m here, come right in.”
Only when Lin Meng’s voice came from inside did Lin Ran push the door open and enter. At this time, the second uncle’s entire family was at work, and even the grandmother had gone to the river to wash clothes. Currently, only Lin Meng was home, lying in bed.
Lin Ran looked at Lin Meng, who was lying in bed. Even though her sallow complexion couldn’t hide her pale weakness, Lin Ran asked with concern:
“Cousin, is your body doing alright?”
“It’s about the same, just a bit hungry.”
Lin Meng’s voice was somewhat raspy, and she instinctively licked her lips as she spoke. Hearing this, Lin Ran quickly handed over the eggs.
“I happened to bring you some eggs, eat them quickly.”
Lin Meng’s eyes lit up. Without another word, she sat up, tidied her messy bobbed hair, and then took the eggs and began to peel them. She didn’t forget to thank Lin Ran.
“Thanks!”
Seeing her like this, Lin Ran felt that something was not quite right. This seemed different from the cousin in her memory. Her spirit and energy were completely different!
However, she didn’t think too much of it. She didn’t have much interaction with this cousin to begin with; regardless of what happened, it was none of her business. Now that she had visited and the eggs had been delivered, Lin Ran wanted to take her leave.
“Then, Cousin, rest well. I’m going back.”
Only then did Lin Meng take the time to look at Lin Ran again, her eyes full of curiosity.
Is this the female lead?
However, her body hadn’t recovered yet, and she didn’t have the energy to suck up to the female lead, so she simply nodded politely.
“Okay, thank you for coming to see me!”
Lin Ran nodded with a smile and left. Just as she reached the courtyard gate, a small “cannonball” rushed toward her.
“Cousin, you’re here? Did you bring me anything good to eat?”
Lin Ran staggered and only managed to stand firm by catching the little cannonball. At this moment, the boy was nestled in her arms, looking up at her with a chubby, spirited face. This was her younger cousin, Lin Meng’s biological brother, Lin Ye, who was seven years old this year.
He had been pampered by his parents and grandmother since childhood and was extremely gluttonous. But it seemed she had indeed forgotten about this cousin when she came. In her memory, because the original owner was the youngest in her immediate family, she only had this one younger cousin, so she was very good to him. As long as she had food, she would give it to him.
At this thought, Lin Ran had an idea and sneaked a piece of rock sugar from her space, holding it to Lin Ye’s mouth.
“Of course I brought you sugar. Eat it quickly.”
Lin Ye opened his mouth and sucked in the rock sugar, not forgetting to shout excitedly.
“Wow, wow, wow… Cousin is the best! Ye Bao likes Cousin the most!”
Ye Bao?
Lin Ran’s forehead was covered in black lines. Was it really not embarrassing to be called “Ye Bao” at seven years old? But there was no helping it; since the family spoiled him, calling him “heart and soul” or “treasure” all day, it led to Lin Ye still feeling like a baby even now at seven.
This younger cousin spent all day running wild outside, his face tanned dark, but being young and chubby, as long as he wasn’t making a scene, he was still quite cute. Lin Ran rubbed his large head.
“Cousin is going back now. Go and play.”
Lin Ye sucked on the sugar, nodded haphazardly, and scurried off on his short legs to find his playmates.
Over the next few days, Wang Zhaodi was likely feeling guilty, and she rarely made trouble. Lin Ran lived a few days of peace. During the day, she stayed home and read, picking up the original owner’s textbooks again. At night, she went into the space to continue organizing the ancestor’s books and occasionally prepared a small feast for herself.
But the peace didn’t last long. After only five days, Wang Zhaodi started causing trouble again.
“No way, I’ve worked for five days straight. I must rest tomorrow!”
Shen Wenfang had a headache. This wasn’t a daughter-in-law; she was practically an ancestor!
“Which family has someone like you, working for a few days and then resting for one?”
“I don’t care about others; anyway, I’m resting.”
“And other families don’t have a younger sister who is this old and yet stays home all day eating for free.”
Lin Ran was reaching the end of her patience. This second sister-in-law was just determined to make things difficult for her, wasn’t she?
“If you want to rest, then rest. Don’t use me as an excuse!”
Although she really wanted to say firmly that she would go to work tomorrow and tell her not to keep targeting her all day… when it came to farming, she seemingly really couldn’t do it!
“What’s wrong? You’re lazy yourself and you won’t let people speak? I’m only asking to rest for a day; I’m not like you, staying home all day acting like a young lady. Is even this not allowed?”
“Anyway, either you agree to let me rest tomorrow, or you make Little Sister go to work tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll follow Little Sister’s example and stay home all day being lazy!”
Once Wang Zhaodi made this harsh statement, the others had to compromise. Shen Wenfang and her husband certainly couldn’t bear to make Lin Ran go to work.
Lin Ran didn’t care whether Wang Zhaodi rested or not; after all, she didn’t need to rely on others for support. It was just that she minded Wang Zhaodi repeatedly using her as a weapon to attack Shen Wenfang. Every time she saw Shen Wenfang nearly driven to death with anger by Wang Zhaodi because of her, she felt very uncomfortable in her heart.
Isn’t it just going to work?
Fine, I’ll go!
At worst, I’ll just find a way to get myself an easy task!