Linjiagou had always been poor. The village was nestled deep in a mountain valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains, and all the farmland was on the slopes. Even in years with favorable weather, after paying all the various taxes and levies, every household still had to tighten their belts just to get by. They had never lived a single day of comfort.
Lin Chaonan had just turned eighteen. He was at that passionate, energetic age—full of ideas and drive, wanting to contribute to the village. Yue Jiuyue certainly wasn’t going to stop him.
“Mm, go ahead.”
Lin Chaonan hadn’t expected Yue Jiuyue to agree so easily. He had hesitated for a long time, mentally preparing all kinds of arguments, and now he was stunned in disbelief.
Was this his mother?
Was she really this easy to talk to?
This was a way to make money, and he was just giving it away. And his mother wasn’t angry?
Shouldn’t she be furiously berating him?
Or at least chase him all over the village with a grinding stick?
For her to agree so readily, with no consequences at all—Lin Chaonan had to admit, he was a little scared…
“Mother, you… agree?”
“What’s the matter? You wanted to get yelled at? Or maybe you wanted a beating? Skin itching?”
That remark from Yue Jiuyue finally put Lin Chaonan at ease. His mother was still his mother. Maybe, because these years were so hard, she also wanted to do something for the village.
Lin Chaonan comforted himself with that thought and silently cheered himself on. He had to learn how to process herbs as quickly as possible, so he could teach the villagers sooner.
Yue Jiuyue, however, panicked for a moment. She had nearly slipped up. It was all the fault of this beautiful moonlight!
She wasn’t the original owner, after all. She couldn’t quite maintain this new identity. In her mind, if someone learned something through their own effort and wanted to teach it to others, that was their business—what did it have to do with her?
She forgot how unreasonable it was that, when her own family didn’t even have enough to eat, her son wanted to dedicate himself to the entire village, and she, as his mother, raised no objection.
Luckily, Lin Chaonan didn’t ask further questions. Otherwise, she would have had to rack her brain for some excuse to brush him off.
She silently reminded herself: no more zoning out. She had to remember her identity at all times and play her role well. Otherwise, if she really slipped up one day, who’s to say she wouldn’t have to rise from the ashes?
When she got home, Yue Jiuyue quickly went into her room and bolted the door. She took a bath, brushed her teeth, poured the dirty water bit by bit into a rat hole, then took out her bed, crawled under the covers, and fell into a deep sleep.
It was just a cold bath—she could tough it out.
Back in her school dormitory, to save on electricity, they would heat water once for two people to share. The first person had it easy. The second person could only hope for the best. If there wasn’t much hot water left in the heater, it was cold water for them. She had been caught out several times even in the dead of winter. Of course, whoever came after her got the same treatment.
Now it was already April, and with the dry weather, the temperature rivaled May. A cold bath really wasn’t a big deal—except for wasting water.
But there was another problem: because of the water shortage, she couldn’t wash her hair. Yue Jiuyue felt like she might as well not have bathed at all. Her scalp itched, and even after falling asleep, the itching persisted. She even started to wonder if she had lice.
Right before falling asleep, Yue Jiuyue suddenly remembered the rat hole she had filled with two tubs of bathwater. She wondered if there were still rats in that hole. Probably not, right? Otherwise, wouldn’t they have escaped by now?