CHAPTER 845: CHAPTER 844: I HAVE A SIGNIFICANT OTHER

The old saying goes: Lin Nianhe deserves every beating she gets.

Li Dahe came to settle the dispute, and his expression was quite complicated.

"Just because of such a trivial matter, you guys can cause half the village to suffer?"

Li Dahe instinctively touched his head.

Wang Xue ran over, cheeks flushed, pointing at Lin Nianhe accusingly: "Uncle Team Leader, she started it!"

Lin Nianhe: "I have a partner."

"She said if you bothered us, nobody would yell at her anymore! She must’ve caused trouble elsewhere!"

"I have a partner."

"She almost kicked me into the ditch!"

"I have a partner."

"..."

Wang Xue was on the verge of collapse, stomping her foot in anger: "Can you stop mentioning your partner?"

Lin Nianhe: "I came first in the final exams."

Wang Xue: "..."

"Sister Xue, what did you score?"

"..."

"Lin Nianhe! I’m going to fight you!"

"Eh?"

Lin Nianhe swiftly climbed up the wall, her nimble movements leaving Li Dahe speechless.

Wang Xue couldn’t get up, bouncing tirelessly below the wall, attempting to hit Lin Nianhe’s ankle.

"Enough!"

Li Dahe roared angrily: "Quiet down, all of you!"

Wang Xue stopped bouncing, and Lin Nianhe jumped down from the wall.

Lin Nianhe sensibly said: "Uncle Team Leader, don’t be mad, Shanshan won the championship in the competition."

Li Dahe’s eyes lit up instantly: "Really?"

"Really!" Lin Nianhe nodded vigorously.

Li Dahe looked askance at the two: "What’s the championship got to do with me dealing with you two?"

Lin Nianhe: "..."

Wang Xue: "..."

Ten minutes later, Lin Nianhe and Wang Xue each received a pair of labor gloves and were sent to the fields to pull weeds.

Li Dahe said that instead of fighting, they might as well do some work.

Lin Nianhe never thought she would one day be burying her head in the black soil.

She grabbed a small weed, pulling it inch by inch, as she rolled her eyes at Wang Xue: "Look at you flaunting, now I have to be punished too."

Wang Xue glared back directly: "With so many roads in the village, you had to run to the brigade headquarters, how can I be blamed for that?"

"If you hadn’t hit me, why would I run?"

"If you hadn’t mouthed off, why would I hit you?"

"If you didn’t talk, why would I mouth off?"

"If you didn’t ask, why would I talk?"

"I asked, and you answered, how obedient of you!"

Wang Xue paused momentarily, replying: "Revolutionary friendship."

Lin Nianhe sneered: "And yet you hit me!"

"Didn’t you mouth off!"

"If you didn’t speak, how would I have the chance..."

"Lin Nianhe! Wang Xue!"

"Either work or get lost!"

The team leader couldn’t bear it anymore and stood up, shouting angrily.

Lin Nianhe promptly behaved: "Uncle, I won’t work, I’ll get lost."

Wang Xue: "Me too!"

The team leader: "..."

He wondered if he had offended the brigade leader.

Otherwise, why would these two troublesome girls be sent his way?

The team leader, being a team leader, was certainly no ordinary person.

He thought he could punish them... Just send them back to reflect on their actions, it would be easier and quieter.

These two were ineffective at work as educated youth, let alone now.

He sent them back, and there was not a single dissenting voice in the cornfield.

Lin Nianhe and Wang Xue squabble back and forth noisily on their way back to the Educated Youth Corps.

As they entered, they almost bumped into Niuwa who was coming out.

Niuwa saw Lin Nianhe and was momentarily stunned before asking: "Sister Hehe, why are you back? Sister Wen Lan said... you went to help in the cornfield."

Lin Nianhe brushed the dust off her labor gloves, shamelessly saying: "Yeah, I saw there wasn’t much work, so I came back."

Niuwa considerately didn’t expose her lie, smiling as he took her hand: "I have a question for you."

"Okay, go ahead."

Lin Nianhe washed her hands and returned to her little room with Niuwa.

Niuwa took out a junior high school textbook from who knows where, turned to page thirty-two, and pointed at a problem: "Sister Hehe, I don’t understand this."

Lin Nianhe was shocked, barely believing her eyes: "You’re already studying junior high courses?"

Niuwa propped his chin, nodding: "Elementary school courses are easy, Teacher Zhang found me some junior high textbooks, I study by myself, and if I don’t understand, Teacher Zhang teaches me."

Teacher Zhang is a new teacher at the village school, graduated from a university, considered highly educated at the time.

Lin Nianhe looked at him, feeling a bit worried inside.

Niuwa grew up too fast, rarely acting spoiled, seldom expressing emotions freely. He diligently acted like the "good child" in adults’ eyes.

He...

"Niuwa, are you happy?" Lin Nianhe closed the textbook, frowning lightly as she asked.

Niuwa replied with a sound, then nodded: "I’m happy."

"I’m talking about studying, you read from morning till night, are you really happy?" Lin Nianhe asked more specifically.

Niuwa continued nodding: "I’m happy."

"You don’t find it tedious?"

"Why would I?" Niuwa looked at her confusedly, "Sister Hehe, don’t you think solving a problem is a very rewarding, happy thing?"

Lin Nianhe: "..."

There’s indeed a gap between a top student and an excellent student.

She paused momentarily, asking: "Don’t you find playing marbles and slingshots fun too?"

Niuwa nodded lightly: "It’s fun for a while, but it doesn’t feel as happy afterward. But if I solve a hard problem, every time I think of it later, I still feel happy."

Lin Nianhe felt there was no need to ask further.

This kid just loves studying.

He’s curious about the outside world too, but his curiosity is mainly reflected in his studies.

Lin Nianhe ruffled his hair: "Even study needs relaxation, if you don’t want to go out, read some leisure books instead."

"I know." Niuwa smiled sweetly, nodding firmly, "I practice the military boxing that Brother Feng Wei taught me every day."

"That’s good." Lin Nianhe turned back to the textbook, took out draft paper and explained the question to Niuwa.

The backyard was filled with the sound of reading, while a loud noise erupted from the front yard.

Sie Yufei fell off the bed, ran out with a face full of alarm: "I might be sick, why am I hearing math problems again?"

Wang Xue pointed to the backyard without looking up: "You’re not sick, it’s those two studying."

"Who?"

"Lin Nianhe, Niuwa."

Sie Yufei looked pained, clutching his head as he crouched down.

"These girls really don’t leave room for others! Isn’t she on vacation? Isn’t Niuwa on vacation too? Studying what? Are books that interesting?"

Just then, Li Dahe rode up on his bicycle: "Sie Yufei! Get up, the scores are out!"