Seventies Sweetheart: From Breakup to Billionaire-Chapter 180: My Brother Isn’t That Kind of Person
"Drink up." Aunt Ge noticed Lin Xiang staring blankly, not moving her chopsticks, and couldn’t help urging, "Drink it before it gets cold."
"Oh, okay." Lin Xiang picked up her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of corn. It was cooked, but apart from the taste of corn itself, it had no other flavor.
The ribs were the same, still carrying a meaty smell. For Lin Xiang, it wasn’t considered delicious, but for Aunt Ge, this was a rare treat.
Her family couldn’t afford to eat ribs even once a month.
During this meal, Lin Xiang felt very uncomfortable inside.
After eating, Lin Xiang volunteered to wash the dishes but was refused by Aunt Ge.
"You better go study and strive to get into a good university next year. That’s what’s important."
At night, Lin Xiang knocked on Mrs. Lin’s door.
"Mom, are you asleep?"
Mrs. Lin wrapped in a coat came to open the door for Lin Xiang, "Why didn’t you put on a coat before coming out? It’s windy tonight, what if you catch a cold? Hurry and come in."
Once inside, Lin Xiang got straight to the point, "Mom, I think our situation isn’t very good."
"What’s not good?"
"Aunt Ge has waived our rent and still provides us meals; isn’t it inappropriate that we contribute nothing?"
Aunt Ge, alone, pushes a cart to the market, works hard all morning, and has to cook meals for us when she returns.
She’s earning money on her own to support two children and now has to feed the mother and daughter. What’s going on here!
Lin Xiang isn’t someone who likes to take advantage, especially now that she knows how dire Aunt Ge’s circumstances are, she doesn’t want to take advantage.
Mrs. Lin also felt something was amiss.
Especially since Aunt Ge’s experience is somewhat similar to hers; thinking from her perspective, she also didn’t want to take advantage of her.
"Girl, what do you suggest we do? Maybe we should pay the rent?"
Mrs. Lin looked around at the house they were living in now, "This is a lot better than the house we initially looked at. That place required two yuan rent; maybe we should give two yuan rent as well?"
Mrs. Lin felt a bit pained.
Two yuan a month, that’s twenty-four yuan a year.
Thinking back, before the girl went to the state-owned restaurant to make Western-style meals, all their savings combined barely exceeded two yuan.
But nowadays, not only do they have Lin Xiang’s bonuses, but Lin Yun also sends his monthly stipend...
"Speaking of which, why hasn’t your brother sent his stipend this month?" Mrs. Lin wrinkled her brow, "Could it be he deliberately only sent for the first month and doesn’t want to send it again?"
If that’s the case, she’d surely have to go to the military to get this money back!
"Mom, my brother has been in the military for a little over a month, not even two months yet. The money he sent last time was probably an advance, and it will probably take two months before he sends again. Plus, there will be delays on the way; don’t worry, my brother is definitely not like that."
Mrs. Lin thought to herself, people who seem honest on the surface are often the ones more prone to doing rebellious things.
She hadn’t been good to Lin Yun before, and now he’s away from the Lin Family, maybe he doesn’t even want to come back!
"Mom, I think it’s inappropriate to give rent right now; Aunt Ge would surely overthink it. I was thinking, from now on, we could buy the groceries for the family. Even though five mouths need to eat, it’s not necessary to eat meat every day. It wouldn’t cost much over a month; what do you think?"
Mrs. Lin calculated in her mind and found it feasible, then agreed to Lin Xiang’s suggestion.
Lin Xiang guessed Mrs. Lin didn’t have much money left, so she handed her a banknote and a few meat tickets.
Returning to her room, Lin Xiang couldn’t focus on her books at all.
A few days ago, she went to the post office. There were no letters from Beijing, nor any parcel or remittance slips—none at all.
It’s been more than half a month since she last sent Lin Yun a letter, normally she should have received a reply by now.
The more Lin Xiang thought about it, the more uneasy she felt. She took out her stationary and wrote Lin Yun another letter.
The next morning, passing by the post office, Lin Xiang bought a stamp and stuck it on the envelope, then sent the letter out.
When Lin Xiang arrived at the classroom, most of the students were already there.
Without a teacher supervising them, everyone was diligently reciting their lessons, and the sound of reading aloud echoed vividly. Even though the classroom was rough and dusty, standing at the door, Lin Xiang vaguely felt the thriving energy.
She liked this feeling.
Returning to her seat, Lin Xiang also took out her textbook to start reading.
Now in high school, there is no division between humanities and sciences; every subject must be studied. Only during college entrance examinations do students choose between humanities or sciences.
Whether humanities or sciences, Chinese, mathematics, and politics are mandatory subjects for the exams.
Lin Xiang considered herself okay in other subjects; the only shortcoming was politics.
The current politics exam doesn’t have many answering techniques; it’s all about rote memorization, especially current affairs, where no small errors are allowed.
Lin Xiang sat at her seat, preparing to read the textbook.
The person behind her was poking her back forcefully with a pen. When Lin Xiang impatiently turned around, Kong Jingjing took out a glass jar and generously invited Lin Xiang, "My mom made this especially for me; do you want to try some?"
The contents of the half-transparent glass jar were unclear, but it was certain that the food prepared by the family for a long journey to school was particularly precious. Lin Xiang and Kong Jingjing merely knew each other, not yet close enough to shamelessly eat her precious food.
"Thank you, Kong Jingjing, but I’ve already had breakfast this morning."
"Alright then." Kong Jingjing shrugged, opened the lid herself, and pinched a piece with her hand to feed it into her mouth.
As soon as the lid was opened, the classroom, which already had an unpleasant odor due to poor ventilation, became overwhelmingly stinky.
Chen Xiangqin covered her nose with her hand, "Kong Jingjing, I’ve told you so many times, don’t eat that in the classroom, why don’t you listen!"
Kong Jingjing smacked her lips, "Mr. Wen said that in order to save our study time, we are allowed to bring food to eat in the classroom."
Kong Jingjing’s deskmate jumped away like a missile, "Mr. Wen did say food could be eaten in the classroom, but didn’t say you could eat this! It smells awful, if you’re going to eat, do it outside!"
Kong Jingjing faced continuous resistance from classmates while eating, and despite her thick skin, shame forced her to leave the classroom.
The students sitting by the window quickly opened it to allow fresh air in. Only when most of the nauseating smell dissipated did they close the window.
But with all the fuss, the warmth in the classroom was dispersed; those wearing thin clothes stood up, stomping on their spots to keep warm. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
The classroom became a chaotic mess.
