The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 137 - 135: Xia Lin’s Secret Thoughts

Chapter 137: Chapter 135: Xia Lin’s Secret Thoughts

Lu Jingqiu got up early the next day, taking her food ration book to the grain station, where she collected fifty kilos of grain and placed it in the back of her cart.

She couldn’t carry any more, and it was the older brother at the grain station who helped her load it onto the cart.

Having finished collecting the grain by 7:30 AM, she hurriedly rode her bicycle toward Xue Jianian’s home.

She arrived at their place by about eight o’clock.

Unfortunately, as soon as Lu Jingqiu entered the alley, she saw Xia Lin, who had returned from buying groceries.

Seeing the grain on her cart, Xia Lin harrumphed and said, "Lu Jingqiu, you’ve rented a room; you’re not actually giving away grain to others, are you? Or perhaps, you’re bartering the grain for something else."

Next door, Xue Jianian left early and returned late every day, carrying a bamboo basket. As someone who had lived two lives, how could she not know what she was up to?

Last time she sent someone to seek revenge on Xue Jianian, but that person disappeared for months, making her suspect that he took her money without doing her bidding.

Moreover, Xue Jianian wasn’t supposed to be here at this time. She even suspected that Xue Jianian had been reborn, but after much probing, she found nothing amiss, though she couldn’t fake bartering, being so young yet familiar with Black Market people. It seemed she had underestimated Xue Jianian.

Lu Jingqiu, carrying tens of kilos of grain, had ridden a long way and was exhausted. She was immediately confronted upon arrival, which annoyed her, and she retorted, "Have I eaten your rice or drunk your malted milk? It’s none of your business."

After speaking, she passed by Xia Lin with large strides, visibly irritated.

Just then, Xue Jianian, hearing the noise, opened the door and gave Xia Lin a sharp glance, "Hmph, some people cannot bear to see others live well because they themselves live miserably, always needing to make unpleasant remarks. Comrade Lu, don’t bother with such people."

Lu Jingqiu’s rare good mood wasn’t to be spoiled by Xia Lin, and she pushed her cart directly into the yard.

Xia Lin retorted, "Who are you talking about?"

"Who’s having a hard time," she said.

"Whoever is having a hard time is who I’m talking about. You sure do like to meddle, wider than the river in front of my house," Xue Jianian snapped back then firmly shut the door, denying Xia Lin a chance to respond.

Inside, Lu Jingqiu whispered to Xue Jianian, "Has she been giving you trouble too?"

"Not exactly, just poking around with ill intentions. What difference does it make if she knows? With the country’s policies being lenient now, even if she wanted to report us, she wouldn’t have the chance," Xue Jianian replied.

Lu Jingqiu was aware of Xia Lin’s nature, unable to stand others doing better than her, let alone the grudge she had with Xue Jianian in her previous life. Lu Jingqiu decided to leave it at that without further inquiries and smiled, "I got fifty kilos of rice today; how much of your rice can you exchange for it?"

After opening the sack and looking inside, Xue Jianian said, "It looks like this year’s new rice. I’ll give you forty kilos."

"Okay."

The two of them then lifted the rice into the house. After finishing this task, Lu Jingqiu brought up the matter of the ginseng, "I plan to have Master Chen make three porcelain jars. I’ll give you one and turn the rest into Ginseng Slices."

"Thank you so much. Would five hundred kilos of rice and five hundred yuan be okay?" Xue Jianian offered.

Lu Jingqiu thought for a moment. The ginseng her mother had unearthed previously was a five-hundred-year-old Ginseng King, which had yielded this house and over three thousand yuan. Her ginseng was only decades old and couldn’t ask for so much from others.

Comrade Xue, you’re offering too much, especially since you provided some of the medicinal herbs. Just give me some grain," Lu Jingqiu said.

Xue Jianian considered that the stream water from her space—if used in the medicinal herbs—would definitely enhance their effects.

Gao Shu had told her the previous night that intensive training was scheduled, and preparations for supplies had begun, expecting to be more than the previous years. There might be a task at hand, and she wanted to get him something good, so she planned to include some of her stream water in the medicine for Lu Jingqiu.

"Then, I’ll give you an additional fifty kilos of millet and, come winter, ten kilos each of apples and oranges. All of these together wouldn’t even cost a hundred yuan."

"Sure, I’ll go talk to Master Chen now. How’s your search for the medicinal herbs going?" Lu Jingqiu asked.

"My grandfather hasn’t replied yet, but he should be on it. Those herbs are quite common where we’re from," Xue Jianian answered.

Xue Jianian then brought forty kilos of rice from her house and placed it onto the cart for Lu Jingqiu.

As she saw Lu Jingqiu out, Xue Jianian too shouldered her bamboo basket to leave.

"Are you going to the Black Market?"

"I don’t really go there much now, I mostly go to the family courtyard, where the purchasing power is still strong. I don’t have much to sell, just doing the rounds this morning and won’t go in the afternoon."

"I wish you a thriving business, see you another day."

"See you another day."

Lu Jingqiu said a word to Master Chen, to make three bottles, and the rest into Ginseng Slices.

After getting home, she didn’t rest for long before she mailed the National Day illustrations she had drawn this week; today there were whole sheet stamps available, and Lu Jingqiu quickly spent four yuan to buy two sheets.

Last year, she had also collected two whole sheets of stamps. Afterward, she planned to collect two whole sheets of stamps every year. Some stamps could be worth a house in the future, she had heard that large sheets were even more expensive, so she thought about getting a few large sheets when the time came.

She didn’t feel like eating lunch, so she got a takeout from the cafeteria. After resting at noon, she began washing clothes and cleaning in the afternoon.

All in all, it was a pretty busy day.

In the evening, she lay in bed and fell asleep soon after.

Meanwhile, over at Xia Lin’s, she had returned to the yard that morning with a gloomy face.

Gao Shu concernedly asked, "What’s wrong? Did you argue with the neighbor again?"

Ever since their last quarrel, they had remained silent for a week, but had made up last night.

The reason Gao Shu mentioned arguing with Xue Jianian was, of course, because he had seen Xue Jianian secretly selling things.

After seeing that, Gao Shu naturally wanted Xia Lin to stay away from her, thinking it wasn’t good for a young girl to engage in speculative activities—it was too risky.

Xia Lin didn’t like Xue Jianian, and whenever Xue Jianian saw her, if she looked displeased, she would deliberately pick a fight. Xia Lin wasn’t sure whether that person had actually done anything suspect, but out of guilt, most of the time, she would avoid conflict.

Nevertheless, seeing Xue Jianian selling a basket after basket of goods every day, she was very jealous.

In her heart, she roughly estimated Xue Jianian’s accounts and figured they were at least similar to her own savings.

She just didn’t know where Xue Jianian was getting all these goods from.

As Gao Shu asked this, Xia Lin looked down, her eyes darting, and said, "I just ran into Jingqiu. She was carrying a bag of food to Xue Jianian’s place, probably to have Xue Jianian help sell it. I kindly reminded her, but she didn’t appreciate it. It seems like she’s getting pretty close to the neighbors."

As Xia Lin spoke, she subtly watched for changes in Gao Shu’s expression and saw his brow furrow deeply. She felt a sense of triumph and continued, "I suspect Jingqiu has been involved in reselling things before." She knew that Gao Shu felt guilty about Lu Jingqiu deep down, and this guilt might make Gao Shu consider Lu Jingqiu in some way, something she wouldn’t allow.

Gao Shu’s expression darkened instantly, and he said, "Next time I see her, I’ll have to remind her."

Xia Lin scoffed and said, "You’d think Lu Jingqiu’s family wouldn’t be lacking, what with her dad being a leader in the team, he must have a good salary, right? And isn’t she working at a publishing house too? Why would she care about flipping these little items... But maybe it’s true, her mother was sick last year and they probably spent a lot of money, and she’s always been extravagant, it’s possible her family has difficulties. I just tried to give her a heads-up, but she didn’t take it well. Don’t go out of your way to do her a favor and end up offending her. Besides, what was the relationship between you two before? If you go, she won’t know what to think."

The following chatter was packed with gossip, but Gao Shu realized she was a bit jealous and quickly said, "Linlin, you’re overthinking it. The past is the past, and I heard she even has a fiancé now. What, are you jealous?"

"Hmph, I had hot and sour noodles today."

Seeing her pouting and angry, Gao Shu found her very cute and hurriedly approached to coax her, "Alright, alright, I won’t go. I’ll cook today’s meal."

Xia Lin glanced at him coquettishly, a liveliness in her eyes that was even more striking than her usual gentle and content demeanor, causing Gao Shu’s heart to flutter. He stepped forward, embraced her, and the two were sickeningly sweet together.

While he was in school living on campus, they only had these two days together, and they wished they could stick together every moment.

Although Xia Lin enjoyed their time, she was still thinking about ways to make money.

In fact, with the clothes she had left, aside from setting up a stall in a small square after school in the afternoon, she also peddled them at school.

She was busy with school during the week and played the delicate and virtuous wife on Sundays.

With over four thousand yuan in her hands, she was already pondering whether she should take time off to go to Yangcheng City and sell some watches.