Sun Zhaodi couldn’t help herself. She worked exceptionally fast today, finishing her chores early so she could head to the educated youth hostel while no one was around.
“Youth Li? Youth Li?” The gate of the hostel was bolted shut, so Sun Zhaodi knocked.
Inside the room, Li Baoling was planning to count her money one more time when she suddenly heard someone calling for her.
When she came out to look, she saw a woman in her fifties. She looked a bit stern when silent, but as soon as she saw Li Baoling, she smiled, and her face became kind.
If she wasn’t mistaken, this was Lin Mingyuan’s mother. That meant Lin Mingyuan had already come clean about everything.
People didn’t use the term “Auntie” (A-yi) much here. Li Baoling searched her memory for a moment before calling out, “Auntie (Shen-zi).”
“Oh, I just came by to check on you. Are you feeling alright?” Sun Zhaodi asked with concern.
“I’m okay. My head is still a bit dizzy, probably because I was so frightened that day.” Li Baoling wasn’t lying; she really was dizzy from lack of sleep.
“I’m sure you were! That river at the end of the village is quite deep. People who aren’t good swimmers don’t even dare to go near it. You’re just a young girl, and naturally timid, so falling in must have been a terrible ordeal.” Sun Zhaodi thought about how, in the past, they would have found an elder to perform a ritual to “call back the soul” after such a fright. However, she didn’t dare say that out loud nowadays; it was considered “feudal superstition,” and if someone reported her, she’d be in deep trouble.
“Did you come to see me for something specific today?”
“Well, I don’t want to make you laugh, but our ‘Little Four’—the one who saved you—do you know him?” Sun Zhaodi didn’t want to jump straight into the marriage talk. What if Little Four had been talking nonsense?
Li Baoling put on a shy expression and said, “I know him.”
Having lived through much herself, Sun Zhaodi understood immediately upon seeing that look. It seemed this wasn’t just a case of her son’s one-sided enthusiasm.
“Then tell me, what do you think of Little Four?”
Li Baoling thought for a moment and then said, “I think Lin Mingyuan is quite admirable.”
Goodness, she even used the word ‘admirable,’ Sun Zhaodi thought, hardly believing her ears.
“It’s just as you said—the river is so deep, yet he dared to jump in to save me without expecting anything in return. This shows he is brave and kind. I also heard he finished high school, so he must be smart and persistent. Although I’ve only been here a few days and have heard many rumors, I truly feel Lin Mingyuan is a good person. After all, you have to spend time with someone to know what they are really like.” Li Baoling delivered this with great sincerity.
And most of what she said was true. The stories about Lin Mingyuan liking her and following her were lies they had been forced to invent, but the fact remained that Lin Mingyuan had jumped into the river to save her without hesitation. From the looks of it, he had even lost his own life in the process.
Thinking of this, Li Baoling felt a bit guilty for having been so smug about having a modern partner here a few days ago.
In the future, when she and Lin Mingyuan were capable, they would definitely treat the Lin family well.
By the time she finished listening, Sun Zhaodi was grinning from ear to ear. How could someone touch a person’s heart so deeply with just a few sentences? Exactly! Everyone else looked down on their Little Four—even his own father complained about him—but as his mother, she knew better. Even if the boy was a bit lazy, he was smart and kind-hearted.
“What a wonderful girl. I don’t know how your parents raised you.” Sun Zhaodi was already holding her hand.
However, mentioning parents reminded her of something. “If you really start dating Little Four, would your parents agree?”
There was a huge gap between the city and the countryside, and Youth Li was from Beijing, no less.
“Auntie, I’ll be honest with you. There are three children in my family: an older brother and a younger brother. Actually, it should have been my younger brother who came to the countryside, but my parents couldn’t bear to let him go. They took away my job opportunity and forced me to come here instead. So, I’m actually quite disappointed in them.” Li Baoling decided it was best to tell the truth.
Sun Zhaodi understood. Who hadn’t gone through something similar? Back then, her own family was going to sell her off for a bride price until she met Little Four’s father by chance.
“Your parents are something else. What belongs to one should belong to them; they are far too biased.” Sun Zhaodi knew she was biased herself, but she would never steal from one child to give to another, and she actually doted on her daughter quite a bit.
“So, from the moment I walked out that door, I no longer had a home. But I didn’t expect God to be so kind to me; I actually quite like our village.” Li Baoling wasn’t lying. She had been assigned here randomly without any connections and ended up in Liujia Village.
From the original owner’s memories, she realized that Liujia Village was quite decent for this era; the work was hard, but there wasn’t much political trouble.
Sun Zhaodi knew what she meant and comforted her, “Don’t you worry about that. We don’t have many bad people here.”
Li Baoling added, “Since Lin Mingyuan is so good, his family must be wonderful too to have raised such a person. Since mothers are usually the ones in charge of the children, most of the credit goes to you.”
Li Baoling was full of sincerity, and she truly meant it. This made Sun Zhaodi feel even more delighted.
Exactly! Whose children aren’t managed by their mother? She dared to say that out of the four children in her house, every single one was raised by her.
After a heart-to-heart talk, Sun Zhaodi had stopped calling her “Youth Li” by the time she left, calling her “Baoling” instead. She truly liked this girl. Not only did her looks match their Little Four, but her way of speaking and acting showed she was a good child.
“If the two of you have really made up your minds, start thinking about what you want for the wedding. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me. Don’t be shy, or you can tell Little Four.”
“And if you need anything in your daily life, just look for Little Four. If you run into me or your two sisters-in-law, we can help you too.” Sun Zhaodi had already given her full approval.
“Okay, thank you, Auntie,” Li Baoling thanked her.
“We’ll be family soon; there’s no need for thanks.”
Having finished her business, Sun Zhaodi didn’t linger; she still had to go home and cook.
As soon as she left, the other people from the hostel returned. Someone with sharp eyes naturally recognized that the woman who had just left was the Captain’s wife.
Zhang Lihua was exhausted after a day’s work. Seeing Li Baoling so relaxed and even having time to chat with the Captain’s wife made her even angrier.
“Sister Baoling, the woman who just left was the Captain’s wife, wasn’t it? What was she doing here?”
Seeing that Zhang Lihua was being so rude, Li Baoling replied, “What business is it of yours?”
“Well, we don’t have any personal relationship with the Captain’s family, so she must have come to talk about something regarding the hostel. That makes it everyone’s business. Why shouldn’t we know?”
As she said this, the other educated youths looked over as well.
“Then I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. It really has nothing to do with you. She just came to ask if I was feeling better; she was purely worried about me. Don’t flatter yourself by thinking it involves you.”
Seeing that Zhang Lihua was about to speak again, Li Baoling said, “You complain about being tired every day when you come back, but I see you have plenty of energy to talk. It seems you’re still not working hard enough.”
“You!” Zhang Lihua couldn’t win the argument.
“Hurry up and cook. It’s your turn today,” the others urged. They were starving and didn’t want to listen to them bicker.
On the other side, Sun Zhaodi acted normally on her way home, but as soon as she stepped inside, her mouth curled into a smile and she was beaming with joy.
“Mom, did you go to see her? How was it?” Lin Mingyuan was always observant, and he knew his mother would definitely go.
At his question, the whole family gathered around curiously. Even Lin Guoqing pricked up his ears.
“You brat, you certainly have a good eye! That girl is wonderful. I only saw her for a little while, but I like her from the bottom of my heart,” Sun Zhaodi praised.
“And Little Four wasn’t lying; that girl has her eye on him too. It’s not just because he saved her; she said Little Four finished high school and is smart.”
“If Baoling hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have known our Little Four had so many virtues. I told you all not to look down on him every day. Look, someone who knows quality has arrived!” Sun Zhaodi was very proud. Finally, someone other than herself had discovered her son’s worth.
The others felt a bit conflicted hearing this. He only finished high school because he was too lazy to work in the fields.
Beside them, Lin Mingyuan scratched his head. That does sound like something she would say.
“Oh, by the way, I asked the girl what she wanted for the wedding, but she said she didn’t know. I’m thinking that regardless of what she asks for, we need to start preparing in advance. We’ll need new quilts and new clothes, and all sorts of other things. Oh, just talking about it makes me anxious—we don’t have enough. Eldest, Second, both your families should help chip in. Once things get easier, Mom will pay you back immediately.” Sun Zhaodi wasn’t joking; she would never covet her daughter-in-law’s things.
Li Shufen and Wang Hongmei knew her character, so they both agreed.
However, wasn’t this a bit too fast?
“You’re in too much of a hurry. You should let the two children get to know each other first before talking about these things,” Lin Guoqing said, feeling quite uncertain after hearing all that praise.
“What’s the rush? These things take time to collect! Besides, if the two of them are officially dating, in everyone’s eyes, it’s practically the same as being married.” Sun Zhaodi knew the village gossips all too well; they could say anything.
Besides, the two of them weren’t exactly young, and they both wanted to get married, so wasn’t it perfect?
Sun Zhaodi continued, “You aren’t the one managing the household, so you don’t know the stress. It’s not easy to find a partner for a child these days.”
“By the way, Little Four, when you see Baoling, ask her if there’s anything she likes. Don’t be shy; Mom will find a way to get it for her.”
Later, when the two met, Li Baoling asked Lin Mingyuan, “How about we just ask for something simple for the wedding? We aren’t the original owners; it feels wrong to ask for too much.”
“Are you stupid?” Lin Mingyuan thought Li Baoling was usually incredibly smart, so he didn’t understand why she was being dense now.
Just as Li Baoling was about to snap back, he immediately said, “Besides the discomfort with the environment, have you felt anything else these past few days?”
Li Baoling thought seriously and then shook her head.
“Well, there you go! Same here. Except for being a bit unaccustomed to the environment, I’ve been like a fish in water. Even when my Captain father beats me, I can practically predict his moves. And I feel absolutely no shame about calling for backup or yelling for my mom when I’m about to get hit. Getting along with the rest of the Lin family feels perfectly natural too. So, I’m even starting to think—could this be our past life? Maybe they really are our family.”
“Otherwise, why would the heavens send us here? If I feel this way, you probably should too.”
Hearing Lin Mingyuan say this, Li Baoling felt it actually made sense. She hadn’t received any lingering consciousness from the original owner; the transition was so smooth it was as if she was Li Baoling and Li Baoling was her.
“Since we’ve figured that out, I’m the most favored child in the Lin family. It’s not too much to ask for a bit more of a bride price. Most importantly, that money will be spent on the two of us! Usually, I can’t get a single penny out of my dad. And since they’re family, once we become successful in the future, we’ll definitely treat them twice as well.” Lin Mingyuan spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“The Lin family is lucky to have you,” Li Baoling remarked.