С нетерпением жду весеннего ветерка!

Глава 21

"I am..." He paused, then turned to the others and asked, "Hey, what are we good for?"

The men's smiles were somewhat forced: "Exactly, hey guys, what exactly are we doing here?"

One of them said menacingly, "You're eating out on the street, little girl. Hurry home and lock the door, be careful of wolves outside!"

The others laughed and agreed, easing the awkwardness.

The neighbor said, "Xu Lishui, every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its debtor. What kind of skill is it to bully a little girl!"

Qiu Shanglin glared at him: "Shut up, what's it to you!"

He gestured with his chin and asked the leader, "You freeloaders, you've been bothering me for seven or eight days now, haven't you? I'll let you off the hook for the sake of our fellow villagers; but my windows haven't done anything to offend you, have they? Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

Xu Lishui chuckled: "How much?" and reached for his wallet.

Shang Lin tilted his head and asked the person behind him, "Brother Hua, how much did this glass cost again?"

Hua Zi stood behind her expressionlessly, arms crossed, like a mountain: "Thirty-five."

Qiu Shanglin refused to install the best glass, saying that he probably wouldn't be able to stay here for long.

Xu Lishui retorted angrily, "Are you kidding me, Jin Boli, Thirty-Five!"

Although it wasn't much, it was still equivalent to his father's monthly salary. Even though the family didn't rely on that salary, they couldn't just blatantly extort money—he was always the one extorting others, when did it become someone else's turn to extort him!

She shrugged and pressed down on Qiu Xialin, who was itching to make a move: "I still have the invoice. It was transported from the best place in the provincial capital. Anyway, it's been used for a while. How about I give you a discount? Thirty? No, no, twenty."

Xu Lishui's face twisted in rage: "Do you know who my father is? How dare you try to extort me!"

Shanglin chuckled and looked down at Qiu Xialin, asking, "Xialin, do you know who my father is?"

Xia Lin blinked, not understanding her question.

Xu Lishui frowned, about to strike, but the adults hiding behind the window couldn't stand it anymore. It wouldn't matter if Li Changsheng and the others weren't familiar with the children, but the two Qiu family children had been together for a whole year, were well-behaved and polite, and were, after all, members of their compound. How could they let someone else beat them up?

Several tightly closed doors opened simultaneously, and voices shouted, "What are you doing!"

Meanwhile, Hua Zi had already arrived at Shang Lin's side.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Xu Lishui took a few steps back, glared at Li Changsheng and said fiercely, "Don't think that you can get away with hiding like a coward. You just wait!"

They fled in panic.

Shanglin smiled and said, "They're wrong. Xialin, how should we put it?"

"May the green hills remain forever, and the clear waters flow on forever!"

She clapped her hands: "Ha, that's right!"

Yin Yeyao glanced at Hua Zi and nodded: "We'll resolve this tomorrow."

Shang Lin looked at the two of them with a sense of unease and said in a low voice, "I think I might have been a bit abusive."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the door next door slammed shut with a loud bang.

Several adults shook their heads: "His maternal grandfather doesn't care either."

"I've never seen them cook, so I have no idea what this child eats!"

Shang Lin's eyes remained fixed on the door next door until Yin Yeyao pulled her back inside.

Before they had eaten half of their meal, Shanglin's gaze kept drifting to the white wall. Next door to the wall was their neighbor, Li Changsheng, who lived right next door.

He suddenly understood why she had been staring at the wall.

Shanglin was restless, thinking and looking again and again. Finally, he couldn't help but put down his bowl, get up, and get another bowl of rice. He also picked up a lot of vegetables and handed it to Xialin.

"Go, send it to the neighbor next door."

Xia Lin shook his head: "He doesn't want to."

That guy next door is terrifying; he's vicious, like a wolf.

She shoved it into Xia Lin's hand and instructed, "Put it on the steps, knock on the door, and then leave."

Yin Yeyao looked at her, but she pretended not to see him and continued eating with her head down. It wasn't until Xia Lin returned safely from her mission that she finally couldn't help but meet his gaze. After a long silence, she couldn't help but explain:

“The child moved here two weeks ago to live with his maternal grandfather. The old man is often not home, and they haven't had enough to eat or wear. That's why I…”

Looking at him, his ambiguous smile and strange gaze, I couldn't help but wonder why.

She hadn't done anything wrong, and she wasn't anyone to him, so why did she seem guilty? Why did she see condemnation in his eyes?

Yin Yeyao finally withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and said calmly, "What did I say?"

With a few words, Shanglin felt utterly depressed.

I—damn—

Li Changsheng (Part 1)

Qiu Shanglin got up, tidied herself and her younger brother, and prepared to go out. Several rented books were due for return. It was the dead of winter, and the north wind was howling outside. Long icicles hung from the eaves. Xia Lin opened a small crack in the window, braved the cold, broke off a piece, and popped it into her mouth. She breathed heavily, her breath coming in gasps from the cold, and turned back to say:

"Sis, it's cold."

Looking at the large honeycomb briquette stove burning inside the house, and the bright red flames, and then at the paper-cut window decorations, I hit my younger brother on the head with a roasted chestnut: "It's still cold inside!"

In rural areas, there is no centralized heating, so every household stores up coal briquettes as soon as winter arrives, enough to last the entire winter.

In the past, the Qiu family couldn't afford to burn coal, making winters particularly difficult. On the coldest days, they would shiver even under three quilts. Now, things are different. Qiu Jianguo bought a large truckload of coal briquettes early on and replaced the stove with a bigger one. No matter how the cold wind howls outside, the house remains warm and cozy.

Since the weather has gotten colder and colder, Xia Lin doesn't like to go out anymore. Even his good brothers prefer to stay at Qiu's house—they can't bear to burn coal all day long!

Xia Lin watched his sister get dressed, put on her shoes, and heat up the milk without hesitation, and said anxiously, "No, it's so cold outside, you shouldn't go out. Yesterday, Brother Yin also said that it's cold lately and you shouldn't run around."

She chuckled: "Is your brother Yin your own brother? You listen to him so much."

He served the milk: "It's so cold outside, and I haven't seen your brother Yin stop studying. It seems like he has to get up early every day to go to the city cultural center to practice his swordplay. Ask him if he takes a break when it's cold?"

Why do elites become elites? It's not because they are much smarter than others, nor because they took any shortcuts, but because they put in a hundred times more hard work and effort.

Of course, she never denies the role that intelligence and family background play in her success.

She longed to comfortably enjoy life indoors, drinking tea and reading, but whenever she thought of her grand yet distant ideals, the unknown future and the known future, and the tragedy caused by her family's poverty, she sincerely believed that having money gave her confidence; having more knowledge made her unafraid to walk alone in the dark... well, it seems there's no real connection.

Watching Qiu Xialin finish her milk, she picked up the cooled millet porridge and drank it down little by little.

The milk was specially ordered for Xia Lin; in her later life, she had a weak stomach and couldn't digest the milk. Although it's unclear whether it was congenital or caused later, it's safe to assume she wouldn't drink it.

He opened the door, shivered slightly to adjust to the cold air, and unconsciously glanced down at the ground before suddenly pausing.

He bent down to pick up the empty bowl from the floor and glanced at the closed door next door.

After thinking for a moment, he went back inside, put his things down, picked up a glass of milk that Lin hadn't finished, and went to the door next door. He knocked on the door.

No one answered.

"Knock, knock, knock," he continued knocking on the door.

Still, no one answered.

"Knock knock knock".

With a "whoosh," the door was suddenly pulled open, and a boy a head taller than her, hastily wrapped in a cotton-padded coat, stood in front of her like a wooden stake, glaring at her without making a sound.

Shanglin took a step back and looked up at him.

Hmm, no wonder Xia Lin is afraid; he always says he's scary. Anyone would be afraid of that fierce, cruel, cold, and completely emotionless gaze.

Yin Yeyao's gaze was also frightening, but the two were different concepts.

Shanglin suddenly remembered a saying: one is a petty person; the other is a wicked person.

Yin Yeyao willingly played the villain; but this... Li Changsheng, he unconsciously, naturally, and from the bottom of his heart, played the villain—a villain who couldn't take care of himself.

After glancing at the exposed cotton fibers, Shanglin made this conclusion.

He shivered and said kindly, "I'm cold, let's go inside and talk."

The other person didn't react, but shifted their body slightly, creating a gap.

A cloth curtain hung by the door, so dirty that its pattern was no longer discernible. I lifted the curtain and stepped inside, then froze.

Very good, very powerful. She had seen how chaotic families in the village were after their wives died, but this level of chaos... If there hadn't been a living person standing right behind her, she would have thought she had stepped into a garbage dump or a pigsty.

She carefully stepped over the smashed, ash-white coal briquettes and entered the house, looking left and right but unable to find a place to stand. She glanced back at Li Changsheng, who was staring at her expressionlessly, and held out her hand, gesturing for him to take it.

Li Changsheng glared at her, shook his head, and indicated that he did not want to.

Shanglin pouted: "It's very heavy."

The two stared at each other for about two seconds. Li Changsheng succumbed to her innocent gaze, reached out and took it, then casually rummaged through the clutter on the table, clearing a space on it.

Shang Lin sighed silently; she finally understood why a garbage dump was a garbage dump.

The room was fully equipped with daily necessities. Although the furniture was a bit old, it was still usable. There was a large bed and a small bed in the room. Near the small bed was a honeycomb stove, the kind of heating stove that every household has, but it looked like it hadn't been lit for many days. Rubbing his icy hands, Shang Lin thought, "No wonder the room is like an icebox."

Unable to bear the cold any longer, Ignoring the filthy blankets on the bed, I took off my shoes, sat down, and pulled the blanket over my lower body. I breathed a sigh of relief; finally, I didn't have to crane my neck to talk to people anymore.

Have you had breakfast?