The next day, Lin Baiyu enjoyed the rare luxury of waking up naturally.
She immediately noticed that her body felt much lighter than before. It seemed the system had not lied to her after all. At this rate, she would probably recover to normal health within a few days.
By the time she woke up, dawn had only just broken, yet Grandma Lin was already up preparing breakfast.
Following the sounds from the kitchen, Lin Baiyu walked over and, relying on the original owner’s memories, helped Grandma Lin tend the fire while breakfast cooked.
A pot of corn porridge simmered on the stove, while two sweet potatoes and two white flour buns steamed above it.
After breakfast was ready, Grandma Lin also placed a plate of pickled vegetables on the dining table.
During the meal, Grandma Lin gave both white flour buns to Lin Baiyu, insisting that she needed proper nourishment to recover. However, Lin Baiyu firmly refused.
She told Grandma Lin that she had lost a great deal of weight recently and needed to nourish herself as well. If Grandma Lin became sick too, what would she do then?
Those words struck directly at Grandma Lin’s heart. In the end, she stopped insisting and agreed to eat one of the buns herself.
Afterward, Lin Baiyu told Grandma Lin that she had been lying in bed for too long and wanted to accompany her to work so she could move around a bit.
The request was immediately rejected.
“Your health has only just started improving. Stay home and rest properly. If you’re truly almost recovered in a couple of days, then you can go outside.”
Although Grandma Lin still disapproved, the eager look in her granddaughter’s eyes eventually softened her stance.
Hearing the latter half of her words, Lin Baiyu’s eyes lit up.
“Don’t worry, Grandma. I’ll take good care of myself. In a few days, I’ll definitely be all better.”
In her previous world, Lin Baiyu had been an orphan. She had never had particularly close friends growing up. Aside from working hard to create a better life for herself, she could almost be described as emotionally detached.
However, whether it was because of the merging of memories or because she was destined to have this family bond, after the initial awkwardness faded, she quickly began treating Grandma Lin as a genuine family member.
Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it.
Lin Baiyu had never been the sentimental type. Now that she was receiving this love and care, she became even more determined to repay Grandma Lin in the future.
After breakfast, Grandma Lin left for work.
Lin Baiyu obediently stayed home to recuperate. Following her memories, she fed the family’s few chickens, the very ones that had supplied all the eggs she had been eating during her illness.
With nothing else to do, she initially planned to clean the house. However, after making a full round through both the front and back rooms, she discovered that Grandma Lin kept everything impeccably organized every single day.
It was actually rather unusual.
Most rural families of the time were not particularly concerned with housekeeping. After a long day of labor, people generally considered it enough if chores were simply done well enough.
Yet in the original Lin Baiyu’s memories, their home had always been clean and orderly.
The thought only puzzled her briefly before she attributed it to personal habits.
Perhaps Grandma Lin had grown up in a relatively comfortable household, and years of life’s hardships had never worn down her standards.
The chickens had been fed, and there was no cleaning to do.
Realizing the system had not appeared all morning, Lin Baiyu decided to take the initiative.
“Xiao Bai, are you there?”
“I am, Host. What do you need?”
The system’s mechanical voice sounded beside her ear.
“What exactly does a Melon-Eating System do? How am I supposed to help you increase your energy?”
“Simply put, by observing and collecting major gossip events and providing them to the system, as well as completing tasks issued by the system, the host can earn Melon-Eating Points and system reward packages. Melon-Eating Points can be exchanged in the system store for items the host needs, while the system gains energy from the information gathered by the host.”
“According to system analysis, the host’s current physical condition is not suitable for completing tasks. In order not to affect energy collection, please recover your health as soon as possible.”
Through the system’s explanation, Lin Baiyu gained a basic understanding of its rules.
In short, she and the system benefited each other.
If she compared it to her previous life, it was essentially like getting a new boss. The difference was that this job did not require endless overtime.
“Why did the system choose me?” This was something Lin Baiyu still could not understand.
“According to system analysis, the host possesses willpower far beyond that of ordinary people, as well as an unusually optimistic mindset. Although the host previously devoted herself entirely to work, data analysis has shown that gossip is a natural human instinct.”
“After evaluating all relevant data, the system concluded that even after arriving in the 1970s and facing a significant decline in living conditions, the host would still be able to adapt successfully. Without overwhelming work pressure, it is believed the host will be able to embrace her true nature and complete system tasks.”
…
After hearing the explanation, Lin Baiyu was completely speechless.
Having grown up in an orphanage, she had learned from a young age how to read people and situations. As she grew older, her determination to become stronger only intensified.
Life has been difficult.
Without extraordinary willpower and an optimistic outlook, she would never have made it this far.
“Then won’t my behavior seem suspicious to other people? I’d hate to get arrested and turned into a research subject before I’ve finished collecting enough energy.”
Lin Baiyu asked cautiously.
“The host may rest assured. Tasks assigned by the system will always appear reasonable to outside observers.”
It seemed this system was fairly reliable.
After satisfying her curiosity, Lin Baiyu began organizing the original owner’s textbooks and books.
According to her memories, both Lin Baiyu and her older brother, Lin Bai’an, loved reading. Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin had always been supportive, so the family owned a considerable number of books.
As a result, although both siblings had only completed high school, their actual knowledge far exceeded that level.
However, following the principle of keeping a low profile, only their family knew this.
After that political movement began, Lin Bai’an would occasionally take Lin Baiyu to the scrap market to purchase old but useful items. Among them were many famous literary works that interested the siblings.
They specifically selected books with damaged or stained pages. Because they appeared old and worn, they could easily be hidden among stacks of scrap newspapers.
Fortunately, the elderly man overseeing the scrap collection could not read. Seeing that they were just children, he generally turned a blind eye.
By the time Lin Bai’an graduated from high school and enlisted in the military, the family’s collection had become quite impressive.
However, as circumstances grew increasingly tense, Lin Bai’an and Grandpa Lin came up with a plan.
Using the excuse that Lin Baiyu’s room needed repairs, something common in the village, they secretly built a small underground storage compartment beneath her room.
The storage space was not large, only enough to hold a wooden chest they had made themselves.
Into that chest went their more valuable books, carefully wrapped and preserved.
Thinking about it now, Lin Baiyu could not help admiring her family’s foresight.
Because only a few months after the project was completed, when Lin Bai’an had already joined the military, the political movement began sweeping through the village.
To avoid trouble, Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin followed the crowd and publicly destroyed a number of intentionally selected, less important books in front of the villagers.
They explained that they had only kept some textbooks for Lin Baiyu’s future use.
Since everyone knew the siblings excelled academically, nobody questioned them.
Of course, there were still some sharp-tongued women who sneered behind their backs.
What was the point of a sickly little girl reading so many books when she could never attend university anyway?
Comments like that were not uncommon.
Still, none of them dared say such things openly in front of Grandpa Lin, a respected veteran of the War of Resistance.
The Lin family was broad-minded. As long as no unnecessary trouble arose, they did not concern themselves with such gossip.
At the time, Lin Baiyu had only been thirteen years old.
Though she looked small, delicate, and frail, she was already remarkably mature for her age.
From then on, out of caution, she visited the scrap station only a few times a year. Even then, she searched only for materials directly related to her studies, things that would not attract attention.
Because she consistently ranked first in school throughout her high school years, the villagers had long grown accustomed to her occasional habit of collecting study materials.
Some people would still criticize her for wasting money, but she never cared.
After all, by village standards, she was practically a wealthy beauty.
And not just any wealthy beauty, but one who remained secure even under the circumstances of the era.
Grandpa Lin was a retired veteran of the War of Resistance who still received a monthly subsidy. He could also earn five to six work points a day.
Grandma Lin benefited from Grandpa Lin’s standing and worked as a warehouse keeper. Although she only earned five work points, the position was easy and highly desirable for an elderly woman.
While neither grandparent could perform heavy labor anymore, the work points they earned were more than enough to support the family.
Not to mention that Lin Bai’an regularly sent military allowances home every month.
Previously, the family’s largest expense had been funding the siblings’ education.
After Lin Bai’an joined the military, however, their financial situation improved significantly.
Even so, the Lin family always believed in keeping their wealth hidden.
Although Lin Baiyu appeared to live much better than most villagers, her poor health was a genuine issue. In addition, her grandparents would occasionally mention how expensive her medical treatment was and how carefully a young girl like her needed to be cared for.
As a result, while many villagers envied the Lin family, believing they were simply throwing money away, nobody used it as an excuse to cause trouble.
On the contrary, most villagers genuinely believed that because of Lin Baiyu’s health, the Lin family had little savings left.
Over time, this created a strange sense of balance among the villagers.
Although Lin Baiyu believed she already understood the complexities of human nature fairly well because of her upbringing, she still found people’s hearts difficult to predict.
In an era where a single misstep could lead to disaster, the two elderly people had gone to extraordinary lengths to protect their granddaughter and give her the best life possible.
Thinking about all this, Lin Baiyu could not help reflecting that, given the original owner’s intelligence and abilities, if she had not died young from poor health in the original novel, then after this decade-long movement ended, she probably would have become the protagonist of her own remarkable story.