Upon closer reflection, Yan Xin realized that she had never been with a man in either of her two lifetimes. In her previous life, she chased after Chen Zisong all day long, completely infatuated with him, but ultimately she never got him.
Now that Chen Zisong is no longer her target, she is not interested in anyone and has no intention of having a boyfriend, let alone getting married.
"Xiaozhu, if we're not married by forty, we'll definitely never get married in this life. Let's just live together then, so we'll have each other's company when we're old." Yan Xin was thinking quite far ahead.
"That's a good idea." Lin Xiazhu agreed wholeheartedly.
After finishing their meal, Yan Xin escorted her back to her dorm. When she got out of the car, she picked up some things that were piled up on the ground. "These are all food. Take them back for Cha Cha and Tao Zi. There's also roast duck that you can share with Zhang Yu and the others, one for each of them."
"You want to kill me with work? Trains are so crowded at the end of the year, you know how crowded the Spring Festival travel rush is?" Lin Xiazhu felt a headache coming on. Yan Xin bought so many things that they filled a whole sack.
“You can take a plane, but not many people fly these days, since they can’t afford it,” Yan Xin chuckled.
"You can bring all this stuff on a plane?" Lin Xiazhu clicked her tongue.
After thinking for a moment, Yan Xin loaded the things back into the car. "Let's mail them back. I'll mail them tomorrow. By the time you get home, the things will be almost here. It's really troublesome for you to carry so many things by yourself."
Whatever, she bought everything anyway, so she can send it if she wants. This time she won't take the car back; she'll take a plane, which is easier and will arrive the same day, even though it costs more.
"Here, a plane ticket for the 20th." After Yan Xin had loaded all the things into the car, she suddenly handed Lin Xiazhu a plane ticket.
"...You bought me a plane ticket?" Lin Xiazhu was surprised. How could she really feel like she was being taken care of by her mother?
"Aren't you surprised? You're so surprised you can't even speak." Yan Xin's face held a strangely kind expression.
Lin Xiazhu shivered involuntarily and said uncomfortably, "You don't need to be so nice to me, this feels too strange."
"This is all in your head. What's there to be upset about? Let me tell you, think straight. Right now, I'm treating you like my best friend, that's why I'm nice to you. I'm not your mother, and I'm not giving you maternal love. Wake up."
Yan Xin glared at her and poked her head with her index finger.
"You should have said so earlier. I thought that after ten years in the Lin family, you had gotten used to it and automatically assumed the role of a mother. You didn't even want to get married anymore; you just wanted to raise the four of us to be successful." Lin Xiazhu joked in a serious tone, as if she had just made a public announcement.
"Stop talking nonsense, or I'll take back the tickets." Yan Xin pretended to snatch the tickets back.
Lin Xiazhu quickly defended herself, saying, "You're kidding! A plane ticket costs over six hundred yuan, which is a month's salary for an average worker. She'd have to be crazy to refuse it. We should save money wherever we can."
"Don't be angry, I was just joking. You have to treat me like this in the future. I'll bring you some local specialties after the New Year. How about the Eight Great Dried Products?" Lin Xiazhu was serious, after all, the Eight Great Dried Products are very famous.
"Sweet potato chips, peanuts, and dried tofu are okay, but nothing else." Yan Xin shuddered, really not liking the so-called local specialties.
It wasn't that she was deliberately trying to dislike the Eight Great Dried Foods; it was just that some of them were hard to describe. For example, she wouldn't even dare to try dried rat or dried pig gall, no matter how much others enjoyed them.
Peanuts aren't one of the eight famous dried foods, but Yan Xin likes peanuts from Changhe County. They're boiled and then sun-dried, so they're not as heaty as roasted peanuts. Yan Xin likes to eat them as a snack.
"Don't you want dried bamboo shoots?" Lin Xiazhu remembered that she really liked the dish of braised pork with dried bamboo shoots, with bonito flakes and shiitake mushrooms as ingredients, and it was incredibly fragrant when it was simmered.
"Hmm, I want fresh spring bamboo shoots and dried bamboo shoots. If you have any winter bamboo shoots, bring me some too. And remember to make lots of braised pork belly." Yan Xin was starting to crave it, and when she got back, she asked the chef to make her braised pork belly with young hen.
"Would you like some rice cakes?" Lin Xiazhu asked with a smile.
"I'll take this one. I don't like rice cakes, I'd rather have cake." Yan Xin shook her head with some disdain.
On January 20th, Lin Xiazhu flew back to S City. As soon as she got off the plane, she saw Zhang Yu and Chacha waiting for her at the airport.
"Sister, sister, over here!" Lin Chacha called out loudly, waving her hand vigorously, as if afraid the other woman wouldn't hear her.
Lin Xiazhu walked over quickly, carrying a small suitcase. "Why are you here?" She hadn't told them to come and pick her up.
"I didn't go back, I was waiting for you to come together. I invited Zhang Yu. He bought a new car, and he would be so upset if I didn't let him show it off. I'm giving him a chance." Lin Chacha laughed and chuckled.
"Hehe, I just bought this pickup truck last week. The bed can carry things, it's very practical." Zhang Yu grinned foolishly. He got his driver's license in the first half of the year, but he was a little short of money and couldn't afford a car. He made a lot of money in the second half of the year and bought the truck.
"You have a car now? Then you have to come pick me up." Otherwise, how can I show off?
The three of them happily left the airport. Not far from the airport, there was a brand-new military green pickup truck parked, and Zhang Shengli was standing next to the truck with a silly grin on his face.
"Sister Xiaozhu is back, get in the car quickly." Zhang Shengli fawned over her and opened the back door.
“You should change how you address me from now on. Don’t call me ‘sister’ when you see me. You are all several years older than me. It will make me sound old.”
Although her combined age across two lifetimes is more than enough to warrant the title of "sister," others don't know she's lived an extra life. If Zhang Yu and a few other women in their twenties call her a young girl who's not even twenty, people will gossip.
"That's what we've always called it, why change it all of a sudden?" Zhang Shengli was completely baffled.
“We were all young before, but now you’re all old enough to get married. If you keep calling me ‘sister,’ you won’t even be able to get a wife. So please stop calling me ‘sister.’”
After Lin Xiazhu got in, she moved to the other side so that Chacha could get in. Zhang Shengli sat in the passenger seat, and Zhang Yu drove.
"That's right. My sister is going to have a boyfriend in the future. It's too much of a misunderstanding for you rough guys to keep calling her 'sister.' Stop calling her that. She's my sister, not yours." Lin Chacha firmly defended her older sister's reputation.
Zhang Yu and Zhang Shengli: "..." Fine, if you don't want to call me that, then don't.
"Is anyone trying to set you up? You're not getting any younger, it's time to get married soon." Zhang Yu's mother was very worried because she was born deaf and mute, and she was afraid that Zhang Yu would not be able to find a wife. She felt sad and guilty every day that he didn't get married.
Lin Chacha had mentioned this to Lin Xiazhu more than once on the phone. Some gossipy people in town like to talk nonsense, and knowing that Zhang Yu's mother can't hear, they deliberately gesture for her, which is extremely disgusting.
“My family is poor. Most of the money I earn goes to supporting my family. I don’t have much money saved up, and we don’t even have a new house. No one wants to marry into my family.” Zhang Shengli chuckled. Actually, he really wanted to get married, but Tiao Nian wouldn’t allow it.
“Your family is a bottomless pit, so just leave it at that. You and Longfei should save some money, grit your teeth and buy a piece of land in the county town to build a house. You won’t have to worry about finding a husband then,” Zhang Yu said as she drove.
"Sigh, I'll try my best to buy a piece of land next year, and if necessary, I can build it myself." Anyway, he really wants to get married.
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