For dinner, Meng Yao steamed buns and cooked rice porridge. Seeing that Meng Yu was sulking in her room and refusing to eat, Meng Yao was in such a good mood that she even added a dish of scrambled eggs, something the family normally couldn’t bear to eat.
As usual, only the three of them sat down at the table.
Looking at the fragrant scrambled eggs, Zhao Meilan couldn’t help asking Meng Yao, “Ah Yao, is the household money still enough? If not, tell your father and me. Don’t be reluctant to spend.”
Meng Zhihong also looked at her. This eldest daughter of his was the most frugal. She normally hated spending money on herself and always gave the good food to her younger sister.
Thinking about the space she possessed, Meng Yao scooped some scrambled eggs into her parents’ bowls.
“Father, Mother, don’t worry. It’s enough. I also discovered a small business opportunity. Once I start earning money, we’ll be able to eat scrambled eggs every day!”
Hearing this, Meng Zhihong immediately frowned.
“Our family may be poor, but absolutely do not learn from those street loafers doing illegal things. A person must live honestly and uprightly.”
Zhao Meilan glared at her husband unhappily.
“What are you saying? Is Ah Yao that kind of person?”
After thinking about it, Meng Zhihong realized she was right and relaxed considerably.
Seeing her parents worried, Meng Yao explained proactively.
“Dad, you’re overthinking it. I just want to sell some vegetables from our fields. People in the city like natural, additive-free produce nowadays. Our vegetables are so good that city people will definitely buy them.”
Simple selling of vegetables and grain wasn’t considered anything serious, nor was it enough to become a political issue, so Meng Zhihong finally felt reassured.
But soon after came a wave of bitterness.
His accounting job sounded respectable, but in truth, he only earned a few yuan a month and didn’t even receive work points. The entire family depended on his wife earning points in the fields.
Fortunately, his eldest daughter helped support the household. But now that both daughters wanted to attend university, it would become another major expense.
After thinking it over, he could only sigh.
“Ah Yao, study hard. Get into university, get married, and escape the fate of village life.”
Meng Yao understood what her father was thinking. She looked at him with mixed emotions but said nothing more.
In this life, she would properly accompany her parents and also help them clearly see that person’s true face.
Halfway through dinner, Zhao Meilan quietly moved the scrambled eggs from her bowl into a clean small dish beside her.
Meng Yao lowered her eyes and glanced at it without saying anything.
After a while, Zhao Meilan’s heart softened toward her child after all. She spoke to Meng Yao and Meng Zhihong at the table.
“She’s so angry she’s probably starving by now. I’ll go see if she’s calmed down.”
After speaking, she filled another bowl with porridge and stood up with the eggs.
Meng Yao quickly stopped her.
She kept the scrambled eggs behind and said, “Mom, just bring the porridge over. I used quite a bit of oil in the scrambled eggs today. Eating something this greasy at night might upset Xiao Yu’s stomach again.”
Zhao Meilan immediately nodded.
“That makes sense.”
She pushed the scrambled eggs back toward Meng Yao.
“Then Yaoyao can eat them. I’ll bring her the porridge.”
Watching Zhao Meilan carry the bowl of porridge into Meng Yu’s room, Meng Yao’s eyes darkened.
Both Zhao Meilan and Meng Zhihong genuinely loved their daughters from the bottom of their hearts. But now that Meng Yu’s identity was uncertain, how could she make them see Meng Yu’s true nature?
This argument completely destroyed the relationship between Meng Yao and Meng Yu.
Though they still lived under the same roof, neither spoke to the other. When their parents were around, Meng Yao still pretended somewhat. But once their parents left, she couldn’t even be bothered to act anymore.
During their cold war, the one who truly suffered was Meng Yu.
There was no longer breakfast prepared for her in the mornings. Nobody washed her dirty clothes anymore. The snacks Meng Yao used to constantly feed her also disappeared.
Even studying became separate. Each learned on their own without exchanging a single word.
Watching Meng Yao frowning deeply over practice questions, Meng Yu finally felt some relief after days of resentment.
Although she didn’t understand why Meng Yao had suddenly decided to take the university entrance exam, she was certain Meng Yao would never pass.
Unlike her, who possessed memories from her previous life and already knew the exam content ahead of time. For her, passing would be ridiculously easy.
But she wouldn’t tell Meng Yao a single word.
Who told her to stop serving her? Let her struggle on her own!
After studying for a while, Meng Yu yawned lazily and gracefully returned to her room for an afternoon nap.
Meng Yao looked at the tightly shut bedroom door and sneered inwardly.
She could roughly guess Meng Yu’s thoughts. She was relying on memories from her previous life and believed she could easily enter university.
But was she really not afraid that this life might turn out differently?
If both she and Meng Yu could be reborn together, then what else was impossible?
Only knowledge truly stored inside one’s own mind belonged to oneself. No one could take that away.
As for the future, even Meng Yao couldn’t predict it.
In the end, they would simply see who laughed last.
By evening, Meng Yao was still troubled by several difficult questions she couldn’t solve no matter how hard she thought.
Finally, she decided to visit the educated youth center and ask the educated youths there for help.
After packing her schoolbag and bringing along the borrowed English book, she set off.
It was dusk now. The sunset clouds filled the sky with brilliant colors. Everyone in the fields was busy working, while wildflowers and grass along the roadside grew wildly. The air carried a faint scent of vegetation, and life seemed to thrive everywhere.
Following her memories, Meng Yao arrived at the production team courtyard, where several educated youths were shelling peanuts together.
Since the village chief knew these educated youths were intellectuals sent from the cities, he hadn’t assigned them overly heavy labor. At the moment, several young men and women sat together chatting while shelling peanuts.
Seeing her arrive, Aunt Liu, who was feeding chickens near the vegetable garden, greeted her.
“Ah Yao, what brings you here so late?”
Meng Yao patted the small bag on her shoulder.
“I came to ask the educated youth teachers about something.”
Seeing Aunt Liu chopping fresh grass into small pieces before tossing it into the chicken coop, Meng Yao walked over and watched for a moment.
The coop was clean and tidy. Five or six hens were followed by a flock of tiny chicks, each round and fluffy like little yellow balls, chirping noisily and adorably.
Meng Yao blinked as she watched them.
“Auntie, these chicks are so cute!”
Aunt Liu continued chopping grass without even looking up.
“Of course they are. They just hatched a few days ago and every one of them is energetic. I wonder how much they’ll sell for.”
“Auntie, I want to buy two. Are you selling them?”
Aunt Liu stopped working and laughed heartily.
“Listen to you! How could I possibly take your money? Just pick whichever ones you like!”
Meng Yao chose the liveliest pair, one male and one female.
In the end, she still left fifty cents for Aunt Liu.
“Auntie, leave them here for now. I’ll come pick them up on my way home.”
“Alright! I’ll get a basket ready for you.”
After entering the courtyard, Meng Yao greeted the educated youths.
“Brothers and sisters, there’s a question I can’t solve. Could someone help teach me?”
The educated youths were free at the moment and happily agreed, asking her to take it out so they could see.
The moment the test paper appeared, several people among the educated youths froze when they saw it was a high school mathematics paper.
One of them looked at Meng Yao in surprise.
“Ah Yao, you’re already studying high school material? Don’t tell me you’re planning to take the university entrance exam too?”
Since the entire village would eventually find out anyway, Meng Yao had no intention of hiding it.
“Yes. My younger sister and I are both preparing to take the university entrance exam.”
Immediately, the expressions in the educated youths’ eyes as they looked at her became somewhat strange and complicated.