Twelve noon.
Lin Qimo woke up with an aching waist and weak legs. Her mind was filled with scattered, chaotic memories from the night before. She sat there blankly when a voice suddenly came from outside the door.
“Comrade in Room Nine, it’s time for hourly check-out and cleaning. Please open the door. Thank you!”
She had slept all the way until noon.
Blinking, Lin Qimo looked around. It seemed like something was missing.
The knocking came again.
“Comrade in Room Nine, it’s time for hourly check-out and cleaning. Please open the door. Thank you!”
Without having time to examine the intimate marks left on her body, Lin Qimo hurriedly threw on her clothes and opened the door.
Just in time to meet a woman across the hall who was also opening her door in a rush.
Their eyes met.
Lin Qimo stared in shock.
“Landlady? What are you doing here?”
Qin Wenying was equally shocked though she was staring at the marks on Lin Qimo’s neck.
Looks like my silly little brother finally figured things out, she thought. At this rate, I’ll be an aunt before long.
“Ah, I like staying in hotels. I treat it as traveling,” Qin Wenying answered somewhat guiltily.
She certainly couldn’t say she’d followed them here.
After thinking about it, Lin Qimo found the explanation reasonable.
The mountain city was full of wealthy and influential people. The landlady clearly wasn’t short of money. The only thing Lin Qimo couldn’t understand was treating hotel stays as a form of travel.
Turning to the cleaning lady waiting outside, she smiled politely.
“Auntie, I’m sorry. Please give me five minutes. I haven’t finished tidying up yet.”
The cleaner immediately nodded when she saw how courteous Lin Qimo was.
After closing the door, Lin Qimo washed up quickly and prepared to clean the room.
Only then did she realize there was nothing to clean.
The room was already spotless.
It was a simple room to begin with a small table, a leather sofa, a wardrobe, and a five-foot-wide bed.
Aside from the unmade blankets, there was nothing out of place.
Her gaze landed on a passbook and a stack of cash lying on the pillow.
She picked them up.
From among the cash, she pulled out a note.
Lin Qimo laughed in exasperation.
“If we weren’t already married, disappearing after spending the night together would really be unacceptable.”
Opening the first page of the passbook, she immediately noticed something unusual when she saw the account holder’s name.
Then she counted the total amount.
“One, two, three, four, five… five digits.”
She examined the deposit dates more carefully.
The records started with one hundred yuan and gradually increased to deposits of three or four hundred yuan every month.
The thick passbook was filled entirely with savings records.
“You’re really not afraid I’d run off with ten years’ worth of your salary.”
She had felt a little upset that he had left without saying goodbye.
But after seeing this, every trace of that feeling disappeared.
At the train station.
Lin Qimo never expected to run into the photo studio owner again.
And this time they were sitting directly across from each other.
“Little sister, what a coincidence!” Qin Wenying greeted enthusiastically. “This train doesn’t have many stops ahead. Where are you headed?”
Because she already liked Qin Wenying, Lin Qimo answered honestly.
“Back to Xiangyang County.”
“Well, isn’t that a coincidence? My hometown is Xiangyang County too. Which part are you from?”
“A small rural village.”
Qin Wenying had intended to make something up, but now she didn’t know what to say.
She could only look to the man beside her for help.
Si Chongguang smiled gently.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the countryside to photograph scenery? This young lady looks so fresh and refined. Her hometown must be a place that nurtures people well.”
Qin Wenying quickly picked up the conversation.
“That’s right! Little sister, how’s the scenery in your hometown? I want to take some landscape photos for promotional purposes.”
Suspicion flickered through Lin Qimo’s mind.
She carefully examined the two of them.
Then she replied tactfully,
“Our village doesn’t nurture people. In fact, it resents wealthy city folk. You’d better not go. I’m afraid you might not be able to leave once you get there.”
“A place like that exists?” Si Chongguang asked in disbelief. “Is there a reason they hate rich people?”
Qin Wenying smiled.
“Don’t mind him. He doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s the type who can’t even tell the difference between onion shoots and rice seedlings. There are plenty of things he hasn’t seen before. Hearing you say that actually makes me even more curious about your village. I’d really like to visit.”
“My name is Wenying. You can call me Sister Ying.”
She then introduced Si Chongguang.
“This is my husband, Si Chongguang. He’s an avid geography enthusiast. You can call him Brother-in-law if you’d like.”
Si Chongguang nodded solemnly and pulled a geography magazine from his backpack, immediately becoming absorbed in it.
Lin Qimo had already guessed they were educated and well-off people, but she still looked surprised when Qin Wenying confirmed it.
“A geography enthusiast?”
“Yes. He’s always studying things I can’t understand. Anyway, he loves it. He even hopes to return to school and continue his education someday.”
Lin Qimo didn’t disagree.
Because she knew that the next decade would become one of the fastest periods of economic growth.
The countryside would experience a golden era of intellectual awakening, renewal, and opportunity.
Many of the educated youths who had been sent to the countryside in their younger years would finally have the chance to reclaim the decade of youth they had lost.
Lin Qimo nodded in agreement.
“I believe that within just a few years, education and literacy will become the only way to rise out of rural poverty and contribute to the country.”