She could only wait by the roadside, planning to take the corn out once she saw the truck arrive.
She doubled back into town to find Skinny Monkey, told him the location, and set the time—midnight.
That night, after everyone had fallen asleep, Lin Yuxi slipped quietly out of the house and arrived early at the agreed spot.
It was a rural road connecting the town to the village, not a main highway. In those days, there were very few vehicles, so by nightfall the place was completely silent. A few sparse trees lined the road, and Lin Yuxi hid behind one of them. After all, she was just a young girl—she couldn’t help but feel afraid of running into trouble at such a late hour.
Moonlight spilled across the road, adding a chill to the quiet night. From time to time, she peeked out, staring toward the end of the road, hoping the truck Skinny Monkey mentioned would appear soon.
Just as her patience began to wear thin, the distant rumble of an engine broke the silence.
Moments later, the vehicle drew closer. She stayed hidden until she saw Skinny Monkey get out of the truck.
Quickly, she pulled all the corn out from the shadows beyond the reach of the headlights, then stepped forward to meet them.
Along with Skinny Monkey were Fifth Master and several other men she had seen before at the black market. With such a large amount of grain, it naturally took several people to move it.
“Fifth Master, over here,” Lin Yuxi called softly.
Fifth Master turned and saw the neatly piled, bulging sacks. A satisfied smile spread across his face.
“Good job, girl,” he praised.
They had come well prepared—even bringing a scale. While some checked the quality of the corn, others quickly weighed it.
“No problems with the quality. Total weight: 10,480 pounds.”
Fifth Master didn’t waste words. Deals like this were best done quickly. Grain would always sell, but such a large quantity couldn’t be absorbed by a small town. They still needed to transport it overnight to the provincial capital.
He counted out 3,680 yuan on the spot. Since there were also dozens of sacks included, he rounded the amount.
Soon, they loaded all the corn onto the truck. Lin Yuxi helped as well.
Before long, the truck sped off into the night with the grain and the men. Lin Yuxi finally let out a long breath—everything had gone smoothly.
She entered her space, which was always brightly lit no matter the time. Looking at the thick stack of money in her hands, she couldn’t help but smile.
No matter the era, having money in hand gives a person confidence.
She quickly returned to the Lin household, quietly opened the door, climbed onto the kang, and went to sleep.
During the holidays, the production team wasn’t busy, so half-grown kids like Lin Yuxi weren’t assigned much work.
She followed a simple rule: whatever the two Lin sisters did, she did—no more, no less.
Old Madam Lin and the eldest aunt were the most displeased with this. Third Aunt Lin, on the other hand, acted like a transparent person—never interfering, never offending anyone. Lin Yuxi thought her third aunt was the truly clever one.
Every few days, Lin Yuxi would go into town to visit Jiang Xiuli, helping her with her studies while also taking a break herself.
On her way back, she would occasionally bring some treats home—pastries, a few buns. That was enough for Old Madam Lin and the others to turn a blind eye and leave her alone.
For the sake of freedom, she had to give them a little benefit. Of course, she claimed these were gifts from Jiang Xiuli as payment.
One day, Lin Yuxi went into town again. She really didn’t want to stay at that house.
She spent the whole day at Jiang Xiuli’s home. Jiang’s mother treated her especially well, always preparing delicious food whenever she visited.
At noon, she made dumplings for her, and in the evening she even tried to persuade her to stay for dinner—but Lin Yuxi firmly declined.
When she left, Jiang’s mother packed up the leftover dumplings from lunch and put them into her schoolbag.
Unfortunately, her luck wasn’t great that day. She hadn’t even left town when she nearly got hit by a car. Luckily, a young man in military uniform saved her.
The car sped off. Her ankle was sprained, and the soldier’s arm was scraped and bleeding.
“How’s your foot?”
“Thank you for saving me!”
They spoke at the same time.
“My foot really hurts—I think I sprained it,” Lin Yuxi said helplessly, looking at her already swollen ankle.
“You’re injured too,” she added, noticing the large scrape on his arm, where blood was seeping out.
Jiang Nan glanced at his arm. “It’s nothing serious. You—”
He had meant to say her injury looked worse. But when he saw her face clearly, he froze.
This girl looked astonishingly like his mother.
He had seen photos of his mother when she was young—and this girl looked almost identical. It was unbelievable that two people could resemble each other so closely.
“I’ll take you to the hospital,” he said, noticing her struggle to stand, only to sink back down from the pain. He quickly stepped forward to help her up.
Lin Yuxi knew she couldn’t make it home on her own.
“There’s a clinic in town. I’ll have to trouble you to take me there. I’m really sorry,” she said apologetically.
“It’s fine. My arm needs treatment too.”
She tried to stand, but the moment her injured foot touched the ground, a sharp pain shot through her, and she nearly fell again. Jiang Nan caught her.
“Let me carry you,” he offered. Seeing her frown in pain, he felt an inexplicable ache in his own chest.
With no other choice, Lin Yuxi nodded and climbed onto his back.
Suddenly, she felt an overwhelming sense of grievance. Maybe the injury had made her more vulnerable.
The young soldier carrying her was probably just in his early twenties. She didn’t know why, but she felt an inexplicable sense of trust toward him—perhaps because he was a soldier.
She knew she had two older brothers in her biological family, but in both her past life and this one, she had never met them.
Thinking of this, tears slipped down her face, falling onto Jiang Nan’s neck.
“Does it hurt that much?” he asked, quickening his pace.
“No… I was just thinking… I should have had two older brothers. If I had grown up with them, would they carry me like this and take me to the doctor if I got hurt?”
“Aren’t your brothers at home? Where are they now?” Jiang Nan asked, trying to keep her talking to distract her from the pain.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met them. They don’t even know I exist. Someone else has taken my place in their lives.”
Normally, she would never share something like this with a stranger. But at this moment, the overwhelming sense of grievance made her want to speak.
Before Jiang Nan could figure out how to comfort her, they arrived at the clinic.
The doctor led them into an examination room, applied medicine to Lin Yuxi’s ankle, and treated Jiang Nan’s wound.
“Wait here. I’ll get some anti-inflammatory medicine for the girl—it’ll help her recover faster,” the doctor said, closing the door behind him.
They waited… and waited…
But after a long time, no one returned.
When they tried to go out and check, they discovered something strange—
The door had been locked from the outside.
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