Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 174 - 173: The More I Live, the More I Go Back

Chapter 174: Chapter 173: The More I Live, the More I Go Back

Wen Lan’s happiness was simple.

She was happy with ten points because she could not only support herself but also help her family;

She was happy with ten points plus a subsidy, because not only could she help her family, but she could also go home for the New Year;

If she could make fifty yuan in a day or two... Wen Lan didn’t know how to be happy anymore, for in her limited understanding, such wild fantasies were unprecedented.

To make it feel a bit more real, she and Wang Shumei voted to decide that tomorrow, Lin Nianhe would treat them to a meal at the State-Owned Restaurant.

Two against one.

Lin Nianhe’s desired veto was overridden by two votes.

Lin Nianhe: "Even if I kicked down the doors of widows around the world in my past life, my sins wouldn’t be so great that I’d have to face retribution in this life from you two, right?"

Wen Lan and Wang Shumei looked up at the sky in unison, ignoring her.

As someone with two model younger brothers, Lin Nianhe stood her ground with hands on her hips: "Speak!"

Wen Lan said righteously: "I haven’t made any money yet."

Wang Shumei appealed to her emotions: "I have younger brothers and sisters to raise, as the eldest sister is like a mother, you know. Raising kids costs a lot of money."

Lin Nianhe: "..."

One meal, three dishes, Wen Lan ordered crispy pork, Wang Shumei went for braised fish, and Lin Nianhe added a plate of shredded potatoes.

It cost Lin Nianhe two and 30 cents, plus several Food Tickets.

Second Generation Lin, who used to throw away hundreds of thousands in a single night out, nearly cried at the sting of pain.

Truly, the more she lived, the more she seemed to regress.

"Come, Hezi, the tail of the fish is delicious. Here, you have it."

"Don’t be mad, don’t be mad. I’ll treat you after my sister gets married."

Lin Nianhe: "May I ask how old your sister is this year?"

Wang Shumei: "Fourteen."

Lin Nianhe didn’t want to speak anymore.

She silently pulled out the palm-sized notebook from her pocket, flipped past the page where she tallied up Su Yuncheng’s debt, and carefully recorded on a new page:

Wang Shumei owes one meal (to be repaid after Xiaoxiao’s wedding).

Wang Shumei: "..."

Wen Lan’s mouth was oily as she grinned, looking like a carefree fool.

With a showy gesture, Lin Nianhe flaunted the notebook to Wang Shumei before putting it away and picking up her chopsticks to eat.

The deep-fried, golden crispy pork looked especially tempting.

Fried food inherently has a strong appeal, especially in an era short of cooking oil, where few families were willing to use oil for frying.

Lin Nianhe, in her past and present life, had never tasted this dish. Seeing Wen Lan enjoy it so much, she also picked up a piece.

However, just as she took a bite, she was stunned.

Underneath the golden crust was greasy, oily pork fat.

Lin Nianhe: "...Ugh!"

She could stomach braised pork with a mix of fat and lean, but she couldn’t handle such pure fatty meat. Unable to restrain her reaction, she threw it up right away.

With a tremble, the remaining larger piece of crispy pork fell to the floor.

Wang Shumei and Wen Lan were startled by her, and as they were about to ask, a small dark shadow whooshed under the table, grabbed the crispy pork from the ground, and shoved it into his mouth.

Lin Nianhe instinctively looked down and met the eyes of the child under the table.

The little boy was so skinny he looked malnourished, with a dirty face and clothes, but his large eyes were clear and bright, as transparent as the creek in Ten Miles Team.

Lin Nianhe felt the child looked somewhat familiar but couldn’t recall where she had seen him before.

Seeing Lin Nianhe, the little boy’s eyes flickered with panic, clearly recognizing her. He quickly ducked lower and ran off beneath the tables.

Lin Nianhe momentarily lost focus and failed to stop him; when she saw him again, the little guy was sprinting out of the restaurant.

His running figure finally overlapped with a small shadow in Lin Nianhe’s memory.

She remembered, she had caught a glimpse of a little boy running toward them one day.

"Niuwa!"

Lin Nianhe called out.

The little guy paused for a moment, glanced back at her, and then ran even faster.

Lin Nianhe hurriedly stood up, leaving behind the words "You go ahead and eat, I’ll chase after him" before running out.

After all, Niuwa was small in stature, and Lin Nianhe caught up with him within fifty meters.

Lin Nianhe didn’t stand on ceremony, she grabbed the collar of his shirt and hauled him back.

"Niuwa?"

Lin Nianhe gripped his dirty little hand, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she looked at him: "What are you doing here?"

Ever since Uncle Niu was incarcerated, Niuwa had once again become an orphan.

He was luckier than the Zhang brothers, because the current leader of the Nine-miles Team was He Aimin.

He Aimin had wanted to take Niuwa back to his own family, but Niuwa insisted on waiting for his grandfather at home and refused to leave. So, He Aimin made a deal with him, if Niuwa would collect pigweed every day, he would earn four points, and later go to the He family for meals.

Whether it was good or bad food, it would follow the He family’s, at least keeping the child alive.

Lin Nianhe had heard about this, Su Yuncheng had mentioned it to her before. She thought at the time that Uncle He was a decent man, and Niuwa probably wouldn’t be wronged.

But looking at him now...

Niuwa pursed his lips, not speaking a word even as she dragged him.

Lin Nianhe crouched in front of him, ruffled his hair, and asked gently, "Are you looking for grandpa?"

Niuwa was baffled, his big eyes quickly brimming with tears. Holding back his tears, he pressed his lips tightly together and nodded.

Lin Nianhe wiped away his tears and softly said: "Tell me what happened, I’ll take you to see your grandpa, okay?"

Niuwa opened his mouth, asking in a low voice, "Really?"

"Really." Lin Nianhe nodded, "I promise."

"Okay..."

Niuwa’s story was actually very simple: at first, he only knew that his grandfather was gone, then he heard from the village aunties and women gossiping that his grandfather had been arrested and was going to die... so he came to town. He wanted to find his grandfather; he didn’t believe those people.

Lin Nianhe looked at this dirty little rascal with pity, and asked him, "How many days have you been here?"

"Two days," Niuwa whispered.

His voice was somewhat hoarse, sounding like he had caught a cold.

Lin Nianhe let out a silent sigh and said to him, "Your grandpa isn’t dead. First, you come eat with me, then take a bath in the afternoon. We’ll go see your grandpa clean and tidy, okay?"

Niuwa pursed his small mouth and shook his head: "I want to see grandpa."

"Won’t your grandpa worry when he sees you looking like a mud monkey?" Lin Nianhe countered.

Niuwa looked down at his blackened hands and fell silent.

"Come on, let’s go eat first, and later I’ll find someone to take you for a bath." Lin Nianhe stood up, pulling him by the hand towards the State-Owned Restaurant.

When she brought Niuwa back, there was a hot bowl of dumpling soup on the table and a wet handkerchief, belonging to Wen Lan.

Lin Nianhe took the handkerchief to wipe Niuwa’s hands and face, turning Sister Lan’s blue handkerchief black.

Wang Shumei said, "Looks like Niuwa hasn’t eaten well these past days, eat some soft dumpling soup first, so your stomach doesn’t hurt."

Wen Lan then took the tail piece of fish from Lin Nianhe’s bowl and put it in the empty bowl in front of Niuwa: "Niuwa, the fish tail is delicious, have it."

Lin Nianhe: "...?"

Doesn’t anyone care about the person who just got nauseated by fatty meat?

And, is their limited amount of love shifting too quickly?