Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 242 - 241: The Battalion Commander’s Stone Lion

Chapter 242: Chapter 241: The Battalion Commander’s Stone Lion

Wang Xue relayed the situation in the front yard to Lin Nianhe, then lowered her voice and asked, "What exactly is going on with you? If it’s something hard to say, I can tell her you’re sick and not feeling well today and send her on her way."

Lin Nianhe’s mind, unusually slow, took more than ten seconds to respond after Wang Xue finished, saying, "Ah, it’s nothing."

Having said that, she didn’t move.

Wang Xue watched her from outside the window, waited for a while, and couldn’t help urging, "If it’s nothing, then hurry out and clear things up with Dahu’s mother! How could Hongqi, that reticent type, handle this?"

"Ah? Oh, right."

Lin Nianhe, in a daze, followed Wang Xue to the front yard with unsteady steps.

She was really too sleepy. When she reached Sister-in-law Zhang, she accidentally stepped on a stone and fell forward uncontrollably, plunging right into Sister-in-law Zhang’s arms.

Sister-in-law Zhang: "..."

Lin Nianhe: "..."

Their eyes met, and both were baffled.

Miao Hongqi couldn’t help pulling the corner of his mouth and asking Wang Xue, "Did you drag her up from the Kang (traditional heated bed)?"

Wang Xue replied with a dry laugh, "Not exactly... but it seems her heart is still on the Kang and hasn’t caught up with us."

Sister-in-law Zhang looked at the girl in front of her with a fair complexion and a face like a porcelain doll and subconsciously asked, "Girl, are you alright?"

"I’m, I’m fine," Lin Nianhe steadied herself and rubbed her eyes before saying, "You must be Dahu’s mother, right? I’m Lin Nianhe. The paper Dahu did yesterday was set by me."

Sister-in-law Zhang immediately tensed up again, she moved to bring her cloth pouch forward, raising her hand just to hear Lin Nianhe continue,

"Dahu is eager to learn. He came to me before, saying he wanted to learn more math. The questions I set for him were harder than those taught in class. Couldn’t he do them?"

Sister-in-law Zhang, looking at Lin Nianhe’s innocent face tinged with slight bewilderment, finally believed completely—The teachers weren’t looking down on her Dahu, they truly cared for him!

Sister-in-law Zhang’s face flushed with embarrassment immediately. She stammered, the smile at the corner of her mouth almost faltering, "Look at me, I still..."

She had no idea what to do and slapped herself.

"Hey hey, Dahu’s mother, please don’t do that," Lin Nianhe was more awake now, hastily reaching out to stop her hand.

"I, I... I didn’t know any better, I thought you all..." Tears welled up in Sister-in-law Zhang’s eyes.

With misconduct rampant in the family, even the child couldn’t live in peace... The incident with Wang Xixi, she actually hadn’t been involved; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been released after just over a month of reform.

But her ordeals were more demanding than those still inside.

She faced sneers, all the slander heaped solely upon her. Her natal family ignored them, and where she once managed only six points of work, now she gritted her teeth and did eight or nine, just enough to barely get by with her children. If not for her little savings, even sending Zhang Dahu to school would be a luxury.

For her, it was truly difficult to believe that there were still people in this world who wanted good for them.

Tears streamed down Sister-in-law Zhang’s face, her hand held by Lin Nianhe shaking, her lips quivering, unable to speak a word.

Lin Nianhe showed her a warm smile and said, "Dahu’s mother, don’t worry. The adults’ problems won’t affect the child, and we won’t make it difficult for him."

"Mhm, mhm... You, you all..." Sister-in-law Zhang struggled to find words and, in the end, only managed to say, "You’re all good people."

"Rest assured, Dahu is filial, your good days are yet to come."

Sister-in-law Zhang felt comforted, wiping her tears, insisting on stuffing that half bag of hazel mushrooms to them.

Lin Nianhe could imagine what their life was like now; she simply said, "Dahu’s mother, we have our discipline, we can’t accept things from a student’s home, we appreciate your kindness, but we really can’t afford to make a mistake."

Thus, Sister-in-law Zhang finally gave up the plan to forcefully give away the hazel mushrooms, wiping away her tears as she thanked them profusely before leaving.

When she returned to the Nine-miles Team, the sky was already bright.

When asked where she had been so early in the morning, Sister-in-law Zhang finally straightened her back, smiling as she said: "Well, Dahu didn’t get home until after eight last night from doing his homework, so I thought maybe he’d gotten into trouble and been punished by the teacher, so I went to ask."

"Ah, he got into trouble, did he? He needs to be properly disciplined, can’t be like his father."

"The teacher said that it’s because Dahu is ambitious, that the teacher specially gave him extra homework and questions."

"..."

The person asking was stopped in their tracks, and by the time they regained their composure, Sister-in-law Zhang had already walked about ten meters away.

After holding back for quite a while, the person could only grudgingly say: "How strange, seems like even a bad bamboo can produce a good shoot."

Sister-in-law Zhang didn’t care about comments regarding bad bamboo; she had come to terms with it as long as her son was doing well.

For the first time since the trouble at home, she walked through the village with her back straight, not caring what anyone said anymore—the teacher said her son would have prospects in the future!

Teacher Lin Nianhe couldn’t have imagined that her words of comfort would have such an effect on Sister-in-law Zhang.

After explaining things, she went back to her room, dozed off again in a light sleep, and only at half-past six was she reluctantly dragged up off the kang by Wang Shumei.

Looking at Sister Shumei’s helpless face, Teacher Xiao Lin’s mouth automatically greeted her: "Have you eaten?"

Wang Shumei’s mouth twitched slightly, she tapped on Lin Nianhe’s head and said: "I’ve already finished eating. I’ve left some porridge for you, come eat."

"Alright."

Lin Nianhe agreed, but didn’t move an inch.

"What’s the matter? Do I need to feed you?" Wang Shumei said with a mix of laughter and tears, turned around to get a cool towel, and handed it to Lin Nianhe.

Lin Nianhe covered her face with the towel and only after a long moment thoroughly exhaled, feeling refreshed.

She asked, "Did someone come by this morning?"

Wang Shumei: "..."

Sister Shumei didn’t want to answer her, brought over the food instead, and instructed her: "Hurry up and eat, we’ll head to the school first."

"Okay."

Lin Nianhe quickly had breakfast, saw there wasn’t much time left, and headed straight for the school on her bicycle.

As she pedaled quickly, she passed a figure squatting at the school entrance, and the wind from the bicycle caused a few hairs on his head to teeter.

Lin Nianhe applied the brakes, propping one foot on the ground, and asked with curiosity: "Uncle Team Leader, why are you sitting here so early... are you playing stone lion?"

Li Dahe scowled, smoothed his disobedient hair to one side, and stared at her asking: "The pig issue! Any progress?"

"Well, your way of asking—I’ve already said I have a solution, why don’t you believe me?" Lin Nianhe got off her bicycle and said, "Just wait a moment, I’m going to check on the class first, you go back to the Team Leader’s office, I’ll come report to you in a bit."

Li Dahe didn’t leave but continued playing stone lion.

Lin Nianhe entered the classroom and saw that the homework books had been neatly placed on her desk, and the little ones were earnestly reciting the text.

She took a piece of paper full of mental arithmetic problems from the drawer and handed it to Niuwa saying: "Before today’s math class, let’s have a small quiz. Niuwa, copy these problems onto the blackboard, everyone start working on them, I’ll come back to check in twenty minutes."

After arranging for her students, Lin Nianhe finally stepped out, saw that the stone lion Team Leader was still firmly holding his position and sighed helplessly: "Uncle Team Leader, can’t there be more trust between people? Could I possibly scale the walls and run away?"

Li Dahe: "You sure are capable!"