Grandmother had two children: Uncle and Mother Su. Uncle and Aunt had three children of their own—two sons and one daughter. The eldest cousin, Li Mei, had already married and moved out long ago. The eldest male cousin, Li Wen, was also already married, and his twin sons were four years old.
Only the second cousin, Li Wu, who was a few months older than Su Wan, was still unmarried. He had inherited Grandfather’s carpentry skills and occasionally took furniture-making jobs to help support the family.
So compared to a few years ago, Grandmother’s family was not exactly wealthy, but at least they no longer worried about food and clothing.
After the meal, while everyone sat in the courtyard chatting, Su Wan took out the drawing and handed it to Li Wu.
“Cousin, could you help me see whether this shape on the paper can be made out of black stone?”
Li Wu took the paper and examined it carefully. He nodded and said, “Yes, this shape is simple and pretty easy to make. Black stone is easy to find too. Don’t worry, leave it to me. Come back in a few days to pick it up.”
Su Wan happily said, “That’s wonderful. Thank you, Cousin.”
With the matter settled, Su Wan was extremely happy on her way home.
A few days later, Su Wan went to retrieve the black jade replica that had been made. She held it in her hands and examined it repeatedly. It looked almost exactly like the real thing. Unless someone inspected it very carefully, they would not notice the difference.
It just looked a little too shiny, so Su Wan rubbed it in the dirt a few times. After taking it back out, it looked even more authentic. She nodded in satisfaction.
Soon… very soon…
It would all be resolved.
In October, the brigade elementary school officially started classes.
Su Wan also had to begin working again.
To be honest, Su Wan was very satisfied with her current job. Although the salary was not very high, it was still decent—thirteen yuan a month plus some ration coupons, and the brigade also provided grain subsidies. Overall, it was a very good position.
The brigade elementary school was jointly run by several nearby villages. Even so, there were not many children attending. The higher the grade level, the fewer students there were.
Moreover, village children generally started school late and were relatively older. Coincidentally, Su Wan taught fourth and fifth grade mathematics, which made things even easier for her.
However, under the current circumstances, the whole country was promoting the movement of educated youth going to the countryside to support rural construction.
The villagers were uneducated. They only saw that city children, after finishing school, still ended up coming to the countryside to farm. So in their eyes, studying seemed useless. In the end, everyone still had to work in the fields.
As a result, even fewer children enrolled in school this year.
Su Wan saw this clearly, but there was nothing she could do. She could not possibly go door to door persuading every family.
Even if she convinced them to send their children to elementary school, most families still could not afford to let them continue to middle school.
After all, every household was poor and had many children. When people could barely fill their stomachs, who had the energy to think about anything else?
And if one child went to school, what about the others? Most families simply could not afford to support them all.
After the autumn harvest ended, there was not much work left in the fields.
People only needed to turn over the soil to prepare for next year’s crops, and distribute wheat stalks and corn stalks to each household for firewood.
Because of this, Liu Rongrong had been quite free lately.
Watching Su Wan carrying books back and forth every day reminded Liu Rongrong of the incident with the lost money again.
Although Su Wan had helped her when she fainted, and seemed completely normal, Liu Rongrong still felt uneasy and wanted to test her again.
That afternoon, Su Wan was riding her bicycle home from school.
The elementary school was in the neighboring village, so Su Wan rode her bike back and forth every day.
As she passed the educated youth residence, she heard a familiar voice calling her.
“Comrade Su Wan.”
Su Wan got off her bicycle and turned around to see Liu Rongrong jogging toward her. She immediately became alert, wondering why Liu Rongrong was looking for her.
Liu Rongrong stopped in front of her and smiled gently.
“Comrade Su Wan, I’m sorry for stopping you. I actually have something I’d like to ask your help with.”
Hearing this, Su Wan was inwardly shocked. Asking me for help? But outwardly she remained calm and asked, “What is it, Educated Youth Liu? Just say it directly. If I can help, I definitely will.”
“Oh, it’s actually nothing serious. I heard you graduated from high school, so I wanted to borrow your high school textbooks to read.”
The moment Su Wan heard “high school textbooks,” she immediately thought of the college entrance examination and understood Liu Rongrong’s intentions.
Pretending to relax, she smiled and said, “Oh, I thought it was something important. So you just want to borrow textbooks? No problem. I’ll go get them for you right now.”
Liu Rongrong quietly observed Su Wan’s expression. Seeing no unusual reaction when she mentioned borrowing textbooks, she relaxed slightly.
Then she pretended to feel embarrassed and said, “Comrade Su Wan, if I borrow your textbooks, won’t it interfere with your studying?”
Su Wan replied carelessly, “Interfere with what? I already graduated from high school. Why would I still need to study? It’s not like we can even take college entrance exams.”
She said it half-jokingly.
Hearing this, Liu Rongrong’s eyelid twitched slightly. She cautiously probed, “Well… maybe one day college entrance exams will return?”
Su Wan laughed.
“Comrade Liu, are you joking with me? Right now, universities admit students through recommendations. If entrance exams ever come back, who knows how many years that would take?”
Then she asked curiously, “Are you borrowing books because you want to prepare for college exams?”
Liu Rongrong quickly waved her hands.
“No, no. I just want to read something to pass the time. When I came to the countryside, things were rushed, so I couldn’t bring many belongings. I didn’t bring my books.”
Su Wan nodded as if she suddenly understood.
“So that’s how it is… Then come with me now to get them.”
Su Wan pushed her bicycle while walking beside Liu Rongrong. She glanced sideways at Liu Rongrong, who seemed deep in thought.
Internally, Su Wan found it amusing.
This new Liu Rongrong really did not seem very smart. She was testing people far too obviously.
It was actually better this way. If someone truly clever had appeared, Su Wan probably would not have any peaceful days left.
Liu Rongrong carried the books away from Su Wan’s house. As she walked, she recalled how dismissive and unconcerned Su Wan had looked when talking about college entrance exams. She really did not seem like someone who had transmigrated into a book.
Looks like this was just the butterfly effect caused by me.
Feeling relieved, Liu Rongrong let out a long breath and planned to return the books after some time.
Long ago, she had already gathered all the high school textbooks and study materials from the town and county recycling stations, preparing herself for the college entrance examination seven years later.
In fact, Liu Rongrong smugly thought that even if she did not study, with her luck, she could probably get into a good university with her eyes closed.
At this moment, Liu Rongrong’s thoughts were beautiful.
But reality…
Su Wan was currently figuring out a way to replace the jade pendant.
Who knew whether Liu Rongrong would completely break down once she discovered that the treasure she relied on for survival no longer worked?