Lin Yuxi got up early again. Instead of waiting for those two sisters, she headed into town by herself.
She sold her wild chickens and rabbits on the black market and made another thirty-eight yuan. Selling there really fetched a high price—if she’d sold them through regular channels, she probably wouldn’t have gotten even twenty.
The money she earned today roughly made up for what she’d spent a few days ago. Now she had more than 350 yuan stored in her space.
In 1975, that was a huge sum. Most production team households, after a year of labor and deducting grain rations, would be lucky to receive just over a hundred yuan—many didn’t even get paid at all and ended up owing the team money.
In the entire village, only a handful of families could have as much as she did.
But she knew it still wasn’t enough. In a couple of years, she would have to find Lu Yi—she might even need money to help treat his grandfather’s illness.
And she also had to prepare to leave the Lin family. No matter what happened between her and Lu Yi in this life, she would eventually walk away from them.
When that time came, she’d need her own house—maybe even a job. In short, she had to keep earning. With money in her pocket, she wouldn’t feel uneasy.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered going to find her biological parents right away. But traveling wasn’t easy—you needed an official introduction letter from the production brigade, which was troublesome.
She also had no way to explain it to her family. Where would she say she was going? More importantly, she couldn’t be sure how her biological parents would treat her.
In her previous life, her biological parents had been grief-stricken and furious mainly because her adoptive parents had passed away, and Jiang Zhuyue had confessed everything herself.
On top of that, she herself had already died. It was only under those circumstances that her parents had been unable to accept the deception.
But if she went now—even if she managed to meet them—would they acknowledge her?
At present, Jiang Zhuyue was only fifteen, just like her. She wouldn’t act the same as in the previous life. She would cry, beg, and claim she knew nothing.
Would her parents really be willing to give up the daughter they had lovingly raised for fifteen years?
And what about her—the blood-related daughter they had never met and never planned for? How would they treat her?
What were the chances they would keep her and send Jiang Zhuyue back to the Lin family?
She had thought it through. The most likely outcome was that they would keep both of them—but living daily in a drama of a “real vs. fake daughter” competing for affection or scheming against each other was exhausting just to imagine.
That wasn’t the life she wanted. She had other things to do.
And most importantly, if the Jiang family didn’t accept her, the Lin family wouldn’t tolerate her either.
Then where would a fifteen-year-old girl like her go?
So she decided not to acknowledge her family just yet.
She detoured to a state-run restaurant for breakfast—two vegetable buns and a bowl of tofu pudding. It left her completely satisfied.
After eating her fill, she headed to school.
Though she had only been back for a few days, she could already tell—her memory was much better than in her previous life.
Maybe it was because she had experienced more across two lifetimes, making her mind sharper. Or perhaps it was due to the night school she had attended before. Or maybe it was simply a perk of being reborn.
Whatever the reason, what mattered was that studying now felt easy.
Lin Yuxi walked into the classroom and sat beside Jiang Xiuli.
“Yuxi, you’re here,” Jiang Xiuli said with a smile. “You came pretty early today. I thought you’d be with those two sisters again.”
Lin Yuxi curled her lips. “I’m not going with them. I’m better off on my own.”
Just then, Lin Yuwei and Lin Yuzhu appeared at the classroom door.
When Lin Yuwei saw Lin Yuxi, a trace of displeasure flashed in her eyes. She deliberately raised her voice and said to Lin Yuzhu:
“Some people disappear early in the morning. Who knows what shady things they’re up to? Maybe they’re afraid we’ll find out.”
Lin Yuxi didn’t get angry. She simply smiled faintly. “I wouldn’t dare associate with you two. Some people act like they’re above everyone else—I just don’t want to embarrass myself.”
Lin Yuwei’s face flushed red. It was true—they had never treated Lin Yuxi well and rarely spoke to her on the way to school.
But even if it was true, she couldn’t admit it in front of everyone. Just as she was about to retort, the class bell rang.
Lin Yuzhu hurried back to her first-year classroom, and Lin Yuwei quickly returned to her seat.
The teacher entered and began explaining the new lesson. Lin Yuxi listened attentively and quickly grasped the key points.
After class, homework was assigned. Lin Yuwei stared at it with a troubled expression, muttering, “This is so hard. How am I supposed to do it?”
Lin Yuxi chuckled inwardly. Knowing Lin Yuwei’s poor grades, she deliberately said:
“This problem’s pretty simple. Could it be that someone’s brain just isn’t working?”
As if she didn’t know how to irritate people—Lin Yuwei had bullied her plenty in her past life.
Hearing this, Lin Yuwei grew even more jealous. It was bad enough Lin Yuxi was prettier—but why was she smarter too?
Her gaze turned venomous as she stared at Lin Yuxi. You little bitch—just wait. I won’t let you have it easy.
They had lunch at school. There was a cafeteria, but Lin Yuxi had rarely eaten there before—she had no money and no food coupons.
In the past, she would bring a flatbread from home and just nibble on it for lunch.
Lin Yuwei and Lin Yuzhu, however, went to the cafeteria every few days. Their eldest aunt or third aunt would occasionally give them a few mao to spend.
Their eldest aunt wasn’t very diligent when it came to fieldwork, but she was very enthusiastic about gathering wild goods and picking fruit in the mountains.
Work in the fields earned work points, and since the whole family worked together, all grain and converted earnings went to Old Madam Lin.
But money from selling wild goods and fruit wasn’t strictly controlled, since selling them had to be done secretly and carried risks.
And of course, some people were hardworking while others were lazy—like Lin Yuxi’s parents. Others could gather two baskets; they couldn’t even fill one.
At first, everything was handed over to the family and sold together.
But after a few days, the eldest aunt refused to continue. She pretended to be sick and stopped going to the mountains.
In the end, Old Madam Lin gave up managing it—whoever gathered more could keep more.
Since then, whenever people went to the mountains together each year, the eldest aunt was always the most enthusiastic—and she didn’t favor sons over daughters.
She treated Lin Yuxi poorly, but she was good to her own daughters.
As for Lin Yuxi’s parents, they were lazy beyond reason. Even when they earned some money, they wouldn’t give any to her—not even to her younger brother, Lin Jianhua.
Instead, the couple would secretly go into town and buy treats for themselves. Parents like that were rare.
It was lunchtime again.
Lin Yuzhu came to find Lin Yuwei. As long as one of them got money in the morning, the other would ask for some too, and the two would go eat at the cafeteria together.
Today, they clearly planned to do just that. They cast disdainful looks at Lin Yuxi.
Lin Yuwei said smugly to Lin Yuzhu, “Let’s go see what good food the cafeteria has today. As for some people… they can just chew on dry flatbread. Oh wait—I almost forgot. Today, some people don’t even have flatbread to chew on.”
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