Chapter 9 Ideas

Xia Xiao had never really considered these things before. She was only thirteen years old, so discussions about marriage should have been a decade away.

Yang Xuehua said, "Not every villager goes looking for a bride like that. I think Xia Xiao is quite good, and it's not necessarily about finding a daughter-in-law. Xia Xiao has a good temperament and gets along well with Zheng Xianghong."

Sun Yuhua came back from the shower room and heard the discussion, scoffed, and said, "Are you all planning to marry into the countryside and not return to the city?"

Everyone fell silent. They were all city girls and naturally wanted to go back to the city.

Xia Xiao and Sun Yuhua were from S City, Yang Xuehua and Wang Aihua were from the Capital, Feng Ying was from H City, and Dong Meihua was from T City.

Yang Xuehua, Wang Aihua, Sun Yuhua, and Feng Ying were all high school graduates and now eighteen or nineteen years old, Dong Meihua was seventeen, and Xia Xiao was thirteen.

"Can we even go back? Our hukou have already been moved here. The previous two groups didn't manage to return either," Feng Ying said with a worried expression.

"Yes, the first batch has already gotten married and had children here."

With that, worry filled everyone's faces, and even Sun Yuhua fell silent.

Xia Xiao remained quiet; she knew the history. Returning to the city would take at least another seventeen or eighteen years, and that would also depend on meeting certain conditions.

Not to mention them, even seventeen or eighteen years later, Xia Xiao would be in her thirties, and so would Yang Xuehua and the others, who would most likely have already married and had children here by then.

Once married and with children, returning becomes difficult.

As a child, Xia Xiao had watched a TV series about this era. Some people had gotten divorced just to return to the city. What had struck her most was the lyrics of a song: Dad has a home, Mom has a home, leaving me alone – why is that?

"Let's eat some walnuts," Xia Xiao said, trying to divert everyone's attention from this heavy topic.

"You'll have to crack them open first," Dong Meihua pointed out.

"I'll do it," Wang Aihua said, finding a hammer. The dormitory residents also tried the walnuts, with Sun Yuhua silently joining in, though her mind was elsewhere.

"Xia Xiao, eat more. You still have to go harvest sweet potatoes tomorrow, right?" Yang Xuehua asked.

Xia Xiao nodded, "Yes, after the sweet potatoes, I'll need to continue with the corn."

Dong Meihua looked at Xia Xiao with envy and was about to speak when Yang Xuehua said, "Just keep working hard, and by the holidays, you can visit home."

As soon as Yang Xuehua finished speaking, everyone perked up. Xia Xiao asked Yang Xuehua, "It's my first year here, so I won't go back, but are you going home for the holidays, Sister Xuehua?"

Yang Xuehua shook her head, "It's too far, and it's not convenient to travel back and forth, so I won't go this year." Looking over at Wang Aihua, she asked, "What about you? Going home for the holidays?"

Wang Aihua silently shook her head, "I'll go next year, and we can go back together then."

Yang Xuehua nodded, agreeing that it would be better to travel together during the holidays.

The residents of the dormitory, none of them would go home this year; they all planned to return next year.

Xia Xiao had just been reborn and didn't dare to visit the original host's family in the "Capital." A single mishap could give her away, so for now, it was best to stay put and make an effort to write a good family letter, hoping it would reach them before the New Year.

Taking baths was a queueing process, and Xia Xiao was the last one; everyone had worked all day. After bathing, they hardly chatted before some went to bed.

Xia Xiao had reservations; therefore, she didn't enter the "space." She also couldn't frequent this "space" too often, lest she arouse suspicion.

But having been woken up early, Xia Xiao felt sore all over, as if she had been run over by a wheel, the pain made her gasp.

Yang Xuehua laughed, "Before sleeping, you should massage yourself a bit; otherwise, it'll hurt a lot when you wake up in the morning. Ah, you'll get accustomed to it gradually."

After everyone left, Xia Xiao first entered the "space" and drank a big mouthful of spring water before she hurried to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"Auntie, thank you for your walnuts." Xia Xiao took the chance to thank Zheng Xianghong.

Moved, Zheng Xianghong thought about how her youngest son had brought home some walnuts and pocketed a few before leaving; she immediately understood and quickly said, "Oh, it's just a few walnuts. Have a taste."

Perhaps it was because of the "Spiritual Spring" water that Xia Xiao drank earlier in the day, but she felt especially energetic while working, and although Zheng Xianghong also helped, Xia Xiao's improvement was significant compared to yesterday.

This time it wasn't only Zheng Xianghong who praised her; several women complimented Xia Xiao too, only Li Shengmei scoffed, and though she did not nitpick further, she remarked, "Let's see how long you can keep helping."

In the end, Li Shengmei still had issues with Zheng Xianghong; whatever Zheng Xianghong did was distasteful to her, and Xia Xiao, cared for by Zheng Xianghong, also became a disliked person in Li Shengmei's eyes.

Although Xia Xiao was still very tired that day, being praised and encouraged made her feel very happy. She also felt that the village women were not difficult to get along with, save for a few; mostly, they were kind-hearted, simple, and sincere.

In the evening, Zheng Xianghong entered her youngest son's room and asked, "Did you give walnuts to Xia Xiao last night?"

"You already know, don't you?" Gao Jiaxing replied with an expression that said you already know, so why ask.

Zheng Xianghong leaned in closer, "You don't have feelings for Xia Xiao, do you?"

"Mom, are you nuts?" Gao Jiaxing rolled his eyes at Zheng Xianghong.

Undeterred, Zheng Xianghong glared back at her son, "Confess honestly; otherwise, why would you, being fine, give walnuts to Xia Xiao? Are you that kind-hearted?"

Zheng Xianghong didn't think her youngest son was that type of person. He had been a child king since he was young, good at fighting and working, but poor at studying and flattering girls. Not scaring the girls was already an achievement. But now her son was actually pleasing a girl, and even using her name, which greatly surprised Zheng Xianghong.

Thinking about her son also being sixteen, it wasn't strange if he liked a girl, but Xia Xiao – the thought of the height difference between Xia Xiao and her son made Zheng Xianghong feel a bit conflicted.

"Do you like girls who are shorter?" Zheng Xianghong asked one more question, wondering how much taller Xia Xiao could grow.

Zheng Xianghong herself was not very tall, only 1.60 meters, while Guoqiang was around 1.75 meters. Yet, she didn't know what her son had eaten to grow so big; she had to look up to talk to him.

"Sit down. I want to talk to you. Why are you standing so tall?" Zheng Xianghong scolded, finding it tiring to talk to her son.

Gao Jiaxing sat down silently, not responding to Zheng Xianghong, but instead said, "Mom, if you have nothing else to do, go mend Dad's clothes. He tore a hole in his pants working today. Lucky it was evening; otherwise, it would have been embarrassing.

"Why didn't your dad mention it to me?" Upon hearing this, Zheng Xianghong became attentive and, taking advantage of the oil lamp not yet being out, hurried to make repairs.

Gao Jiaxing watched Zheng Xianghong leave, sighed softly, and muttered that his mom was too clinging.