Transmigration: Flirted with My Childhood Sweetheart
Chapter 308 - 307: Brother, I’m Not Old Yet

Chapter 308: Chapter 307: Brother, I’m Not Old Yet

Being an elder, the biggest fear is being caught pondering misdeeds by the younger generation.

And what’s even more terrifying is being caught by a naughty and chatty youngster.

Li Dahe, rarely flustered, cleared his throat, decided to pretend nothing happened, and took the initiative: "Why are you showing off again? Can’t feel at ease without making trouble, can you? Didn’t you understand when I told you to rest in your room?"

Nianhe, very opportunely, reined in her smile, put down the thermos, and said: "We brewed brown sugar ginger water at the Educated Youth Corps to bring to the villagers. The autumn rain is cold; if we don’t drink ginger water, we’re sure to fall ill later."

As she spoke, she picked up a thermos and asked Uncle Guan, "Uncle Guan, do you have a teacup?"

"Yes, yes, but there is only this one." Uncle Guan took a teacup, emptied the water inside, and reached out to take the thermos from Nianhe.

The thermos was incredibly heavy, and Nianhe’s arms trembled a bit from carrying it all the way here.

She didn’t refuse Uncle Guan’s help and shook her wrists by the side.

Uncle Guan, looking at the color of the brown sugar ginger water, couldn’t stop smacking his lips: "You girls must have used all the brown sugar."

Seeing the color of the ginger water, it was clear that these girls didn’t hold back on adding brown sugar.

Brown sugar is rare these days, only women in confinement or the seriously ill can get some brown sugar tickets. Villagers who get brown sugar, turn it into hard bricks and hardly dare to use it, saving it to treat important guests.

Uncle Guan glanced at Li Dahe, eyes twinkling with amusement.

People, after all, are reciprocal. They treat these educated youth like their own children, and these kids treat them like uncles and grandfathers too.

Back and forth like this, hearts warm up.

Li Dahe was also somewhat moved, yet still said gruffly: "A bunch of men drinking brown sugar water? Just making ginger water would have been enough, wasting good stuff."

Nianhe said with a smile: "How can this be called a waste? Our village’s harvest relies on the men rushing to gather it. You can’t fall ill; otherwise, that would really be a waste of food."

Uncle Guan handed the teacup to Accountant Zhao and turned back to Nianhe, saying: "Don’t mind your uncle; he’s just worried about you all."

Li Dahe clenched his teeth stubbornly: "Worried about these little bastards? Why should I worry about them?"

"That’s right, you’re not worried. You’re just afraid we might trip, bump, or burn ourselves while delivering water, and if we ran out of brown sugar and got sick, felt faint, or suffered..."

"That’s right, I just hate worrying about you all," Li Dahe casually responded, but immediately realized something was amiss.

All this worrying, at the end of the day, still shows concern.

He glared helplessly at Lin Nianhe.

Nianhe, acting as if she hadn’t seen, moved on to Accountant Zhao and asked with concern: "Uncle Zhao, does your leg hurt?"

After Accountant Zhao finished the brown sugar ginger water in his cup in one go, some color finally returned to his face.

He helplessly tugged at the corner of his mouth, holding his knee, "Normally, I feel fine, but it hurts whenever it’s a rainy day... I’m just a useless person who can’t do anything but cause trouble."

"Look at you talking like that, it’s just a broken leg, wheelchair-bound, what’s the big deal?" Nianhe spoke breezily, not avoiding the topic of Accountant Zhao’s disability, and straightforwardly said, "Not to mention far off examples, Sun Bin also had disabled legs and still managed to achieve great accomplishments and leave a lasting legacy, didn’t he?"

Accountant Zhao: "..."

That’s not far off? How much further do you want to go?

"Uncle Zhao, I’ve heard from students in my class that they all started learning arithmetic from you," Nianhe’s eyes sparkled as she looked at him, "If it weren’t for your teaching, I’d have to put in much more effort!"

Accountant Zhao’s eyes brightened upon hearing this, "Miss Lin, are you serious? Is the arithmetic I taught the children really useful?"

He usually took charge of recording the accounts for the Ten Miles Team. Due to physical limitations, he always tried to avoid attending meetings at the commune if he could, which gave him quite a bit of spare time.

Whenever curious children approached him, he would teach them a bit if he could.

He always thought to himself that being disabled, if he could leave something behind for the children, then his life would not have been lived in vain.

"Of course," Lin Nianhe nodded earnestly, "How could I possibly deceive you about such a matter?"

Lin Nianhe was indeed not spouting nonsense; several kids from Ten Miles Team in their class had learned simple addition and subtraction from Accountant Zhao.

For children, things learned outside of the classroom always left a deep impression. The difference was quite noticeable between the children who had learned arithmetic from Accountant Zhao and those who hadn’t in the first few lessons.

Accountant Zhao was very excited, his pale lips quivered, trying to say something, but the words choked in his throat.

He looked towards Li Dahe, as if to say: Big brother, look, I seem to be of some use after all.

Li Dahe’s eyes also felt a bit warm.

Ever since his younger brother became paralyzed, he had been downhearted, even though he was the only one in the village who had completed high school during the "Down to the Countryside Movement." But he still felt that being an accountant was just the village people pitying him.

The more comforting words the villagers said, the more they stabbed into Accountant Zhao’s heart like knives.

But it was different when Lin Nianhe said it. She hadn’t been here long and wasn’t familiar with Accountant Zhao, making her words seem a bit more persuasive.

It’s always like this with people. Kindness and comfort from strangers always seem sweeter and more convincing than that from those close to us.

Li Dahe stepped forward and gave Accountant Zhao a strong pat on the shoulder, saying, "I’ve told you hundreds of times, the village can’t do without you. You think my words are just hot air, yet you believe this kid the moment she opens her mouth. You old fool, you’ve followed me since you were a kid, and now you don’t believe me in your old age."

Accountant Zhao’s eyes were full of emotion. He grabbed Li Dahe’s hand, looked up at his thinning hair, and said, "Brother, I’m not old yet."

Li Dahe: "..."

Lin Nianhe clamped her mouth shut tightly, fearing that if she laughed out loud, she would get kicked.

She straightened her raincoat and stood up, "Ten Miles Team can’t do without Uncle Zhao. I’ll go back and get you a hot water bottle to warm up."

Accountant Zhao, heart swelling, had forgotten his leg pain.

Hearing this, he wiped the damp corners of his eyes and for the first time through the excruciating pain, he smiled, "Miss Lin, I’m fine, there’s no need to go through the trouble."

He felt energized now and did not feel bad at all.

"No worries, Uncle Zhao, it’s just a few steps," Lin Nianhe said as she put on her raincoat hood, "Uncle Guan, don’t forget to serve brown sugar water to the villagers coming to deliver corn."

"Go on then," Uncle Guan chuckled, waving at her, "Be careful on the road, don’t slip."

"Alright!"

Lin Nianhe ran into the rain, her slender figure gradually blurring.

Uncle Guan poured a teapot of brown sugar ginger water and handed it to Li Dahe, staring in the direction where Lin Nianhe had left, he softly exclaimed, "All such good children."

Li Dahe took it, took a big sip, and after smacking his lips, he shouted towards the rain curtain:

"SWEET!"