Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 233 - 232 School Lunch in the Village

Chapter 233: Chapter 232 School Lunch in the Village

Lin Nianhe and Wang Shumei just couldn’t figure out how Wen Lan saw the shadow of a hangman in Zhou Chujiang.

Although he was a bit annoying, his appearance was decent enough and had nothing to do with a hangman.

But Wen Lan just couldn’t stop laughing, she said while laughing:

"I told you about my neighbor who writes for the newspaper, haha... One day, for some reason, he decided to hang himself... haha..."

"Before hanging himself, he recited a poem he wrote, haha... then the beam broke..."

Lin Nianhe: "Pfft..."

Wang Shumei: "Hahaha..."

They didn’t mean to laugh, but the beam breaking was just too much!

Tears appearing from laughing, Wen Lan caught her breath and continued: "That day when Zhou Chujiang started reciting poetry, I immediately thought of him, haha... I didn’t dare to look at him because I was afraid I might laugh in front of him, haha..."

Lin Nianhe: "Stop talking about him, continue about your neighbor."

Wang Shumei: "Right, right, what happened after the beam broke?"

"Oh, after the beam broke, the house collapsed, can you believe it? He was pinned under the roof, and miraculously only got some scratches, no broken bones or anything... When they dug him out, he was babbling about the great terror between life and death, saying it’s better to be alive."

"Pfft..."

"Hahaha..."

After laughing for a while, Wen Lan suddenly remembered: "Hey, do you two think I like Zhou Chujiang?"

Lin Nianhe: "Do we?"

Wang Shumei: "Who said that?"

Wen Lan, pointing back and forth at them: "You two just said it."

Lin Nianhe: "Did we?"

Wang Shumei: "Not at all."

Wen Lan: "Yes."

Lin Nianhe and Wang Shumei looked at each other for a moment, then unanimously turned away: "Let’s go, it’s time to eat hot meals."

"Right, right, it’s also time to heat the kids’ lunch boxes."

From behind them, Wen Lan asked, "So when are we making dumplings?"

"Why make dumplings? It’s not even the New Year."

"Yeah, what kind of household just makes dumplings when there’s nothing else to do? Can’t we just live normal days?"

Wen Lan: "...!"

No matter how much Sister Lan protested, those dumplings were not happening.

Kids from the Nine-miles Team always brought packed lunches to school, which were handed in the morning to the kitchen, and then heated and distributed at noon.

Today, Lin Nianhe also brought a packed lunch, thinking that since these kids were new to school, she should join them for lunch.

Her lunchbox only contained rice and stir-fried garlic shoots, but when she returned to the classroom with her lunchbox and saw the food her students brought, she suddenly lost her appetite.

Their lunch containers or enamel jars had one or two cornbreads, some had a bit of home-pickled veggies, some had fermented tofu the size of peanuts, and some just had a bit of soy sauce...

Lin Nianhe felt her lunchbox was too hot to hold.

"Teacher Lin, you’re eating at school too?" He Jianyu asked while chewing on his cornbread.

Lin Nianhe came back to her senses, forced a smile, opened her lunchbox and said, "No, I’m eating at home. Look, I made too much food. You guys help me finish it, otherwise it will spoil by evening."

While saying this, she divided the rice and garlic shoots among several students with a spoon.

The little kids stared at the extra white rice and stir-fried shoots in their bowls, their eyes wide and puzzled, no one moved their chopsticks.

Lin Nianhe chuckled and urged, "Eat quickly, or it’ll get cold."

The little ones all swallowed their saliva, but still, no one moved.

Just then, Principal Wu came in holding a dish basin.

As soon as she entered, she said, "Why did you leave without getting your food? Don’t you know that your tuition includes meal costs?"

Principal Wu spoke naturally, spooning dishes for each student.

Tofu stewed with cabbage, plus a quarter of an egg for each.

The students tilted their heads, looking blankly at Principal Wu and Lin Nianhe.

Did their tuition include meal costs? They also didn’t know.

Once Principal Wu had finished dishing out the food to everyone, she added, "You’ve all seen the vegetable plot behind our school, right? From now on, the vegetables you eat will come from there, so you must work hard during labor class, understood?"

The little kids nodded, seemingly more persuaded by the principal’s words, and finally, they picked up their chopsticks.

Watching them eat for a while, Principal Wu reminded them, "No leftovers, no one is allowed to waste food."

"Okay."

"Got it."

"We won’t."

Seeing them eating honestly, Principal Wu felt reassured and left. Lin Nianhe stayed a bit longer, then turned and followed her out.

She quickly caught up with Principal Wu and asked, "Principal, with both vegetables and eggs, your salary can’t cover it all, can it?"

Principal Wu was quite resigned, "I manage day by day; I have no use for money anyway."

She was all alone; saving money was pointless.

Before Lin Nianhe could speak, Principal Wu continued, "The eggs left for your class—I’ll let you distribute them later."

Lin Nianhe tugged at her sleeve and suggested, "Principal, let’s raise some chickens and pigs, let the kids feed them. Teaching them to fish is better than giving them fish."

Principal Wu seemed somewhat helpless, "I’d like to, but our village school doesn’t have quotas for raising chickens or pigs. I’ve discussed this with the Team Leader before, and he said we can only keep two chickens, following commune member standards."

Two chickens for nearly a hundred people, those chickens would die before they could provide enough for everyone to eat.

Lin Nianhe inquired, "Then who can handle this matter? Does the commune manage it?"

Principal Wu shook her head, "There’s never been such a precedent—even if the commune allows it, chickens and piglets aren’t free. The school is too poor to afford them."

Lin Nianhe remained silent, blinking her eyes as she looked at her.

Furrowing her brows, Principal Wu pulled her hand and whispered softly, "You shouldn’t spend your money on this anymore. As a young woman, you need to keep some money for yourself. Listen, don’t worry about this, I can handle it—we still have our vegetable plot."

Looking at her expression, Principal Wu knew that this young woman was thinking of diving into her own pockets again.

She couldn’t help worrying about Lin Nianhe when recalling how this village school came about.

What family could afford to keep spending like this?

Lin Nianhe took her hand in a reverse grip and said, "Here’s the plan, Principal. I have a physical education class this afternoon. I’ll go to the commune and ask Uncle Feng if we can rear chickens and pigs. If he allows it, we’ll figure out a way."

"You... Alright. You won’t rest easy if you don’t go, so after you finish your meal, head there, and I’ll watch over your class."

"Alright."

Lin Nianhe smiled, waved at her, and left the school with the empty food container.

Upon returning to the Educated Youth Corps, Lin Nianhe took out a bowl of noodles with soybean paste from her space, ate it, and then packed her bag and got on her bicycle.

She rode to the entrance of the village, unconsciously stopped, turned around, and looked back at the impoverished yet beautiful village.

They won’t always be this poor.

They definitely won’t.