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Until the next day, the leader Zhao Jinpu quietly told Hu Ruoyun about the situation: Cui Shuigen's family was not well-off, and he usually lived very carefully. Recently, it seemed that his family had not sent his living expenses on time. The boy, who loved playing basketball, hadn't even taken a shower for a week (the school shower cost twenty cents per visit). Lao Liu complained in the dorm about the strange smell and said, "If you don't pay attention to your hygiene, at least be mindful of how it affects others..."
Lao Liu, such a big guy, was actually brought to tears by his words.
Similarly burdened by poverty, the brother in the upper bunk was quiet and introverted, seemingly carrying the weight of a mountain on his shoulders. Since the start of the semester, he had only talked a bit more with Hu Ruoyun.
Hu Ruoyun recalled her family's past situation. Because they were poor, her father and Second Uncle, both nearly six feet tall, had never stood tall in the village; because they were poor, her mother's furrowed brow had never relaxed; because they were poor, her younger brother Xiao Hu had hardly smiled during his childhood; because they were poor, her sister Xiao Feng's clothes were always patched more and more.
"In the foreseeable future," she thought, "being ugly and poor means I can only desperately cover my inner insecurities with pride."
She didn't dare to dance, didn't dare to go to the movies, didn't dare to pursue girls... With barely enough money to count on fingers for living expenses, how could she ask a girl to buy movie tickets or snacks? It was better to avoid awkwardness altogether.
Those two years in so-called college were filled with contradictions between spiritual strength and real poverty for Hu Ruoyun. But who would choose poverty for themselves?
At this moment, the brother in the upper bunk seemed to be in a similar situation as she once was.
Yesterday’s mountain climb had exhausted Mao Na; she didn’t even eat dinner and was half-supported by Hu Ruoyun down to the dormitory. They stopped on the first step to rest for a while before finally making it back to their room. Her pale face and heavy breathing scared everyone in the dorm. Lu Meixin fussed over her as she helped Mao Na back to bed, worriedly asking, "Na, what happened to you?"
Mao Na weakly moved her sore and swollen legs and said breathlessly, "I climbed the mountain with Xiao Hu..."
Only then did everyone relax. Lu Meixin's stubbornness came back: "I thought you two had your first 'fight' or something!"
Mao Na couldn’t even retort before falling into a deep sleep without touching anything Hu Ruoyun had brought her.
Early the next morning, Di Rong returned from breakfast and shook Mao Na awake: "Na, your little husband is downstairs! Can you get up?"
Mao Na shook her head without opening her eyes: "Sis, stop bothering me! I'm still recovering!"
Di Rong continued poking her: "You don’t believe me? Then I’ll shout for him to leave!"
Only then did Mao Na open her eyes: "You’re not lying? I told him not to come yesterday!" As she spoke, she put on her pajamas and moved her sore legs to peek out of the window. Sure enough, Hu Ruoyun was down there pacing around.
After changing clothes and hastily fixing her hair, washing her face and brushing her teeth, she rushed downstairs while Lu Meixin teased from behind: "Look at you! As soon as you heard your little husband was here, you ran down like a dog chasing after something..."
When Mao Na reached downstairs, she pulled Hu Ruoyun aside: "Let’s find a place over there to sit; there are too many people upstairs staring at us." Before she could finish speaking, a whistle sounded. They looked up to see Di Rong and Lu Meixin peering out of the window at them; Lu Meixin still had her fingers in her mouth from whistling.
Hu Ruoyun waved back at them from afar as they turned toward a nearby garden.
Mao Na linked arms with Hu Ruoyun: "Didn’t we say you weren’t supposed to come yesterday?"
Hu Ruoyun replied, "It’s fine. I just came to see if your legs still hurt."
Mao Na took the soy milk that Hu Ruoyun handed her and sipped through the straw. "I’m never climbing mountains again! My legs hurt so much, it feels like they don’t belong to me!"
Hu Ruoyun passed her a still warm Egg Pancake and said, "When I was a kid, harvesting Wheat was just like this. After a long day of work, I should have been dead tired at night, but no matter how I lay down, my legs just couldn’t find a comfortable position. I ended up tossing and turning all night."
Seeing Mao Na eat and drink without being able to respond, Hu Ruoyun continued, "I remember my grandma used to say that the men in the village worked for the Landlord's Family. They would toil from dawn until dusk to earn a bit more grain. They’d drink cold water and eat steamed buns in between… When they got home, they would just collapse and not get up again. Their families felt sorry for them and would boil eggs saying, 'Come on, have an egg!'
The man would weakly reply, 'I can’t anymore; I can’t even chew an egg!'
The woman would insist, 'You can’t sleep on the ground! Come on, lie on the mat!'
And the man would say, 'I can’t; I can’t even get on the mat!'"
Mao Na spat out her soy milk in surprise. "Can’t chew an egg? Can’t get on the mat? You’re exaggerating!"
Seeing Hu Ruoyun’s serious expression, she couldn’t help but worry. "Your uncle and aunt at home aren’t like that now, right?"
Hu Ruoyun took her empty soy milk cup. "Definitely not anymore." He then shared with Mao Na about how Cui Shuigen had been bullied by Jie Bing until he cried.
Mao Na frowned in frustration. "Why is your Lao Liu so clueless?"
Hu Ruoyun continued to recount his experiences from the past month. "You’re in a training program, so it might not be as obvious for you. But you don’t know; some of my classmates seem to want to take revenge on their past hard lives after getting into college. They just coast through classes, only thinking about where to play next or chasing after girls… They don’t even consider what they want to do in the future or what they’re capable of. It’s like they just want to lie flat and give up completely! What will they do when graduation comes?"
Mao Na wrapped an arm around his waist. "I can’t control others, but I want to ask how you plan to spend these three years?"
Hu Ruoyun replied, "Right now, I’m still a student; studying is my responsibility, and I will work hard! The tuition and living expenses are no small amount. Although Story Collection gave me nearly fifty thousand yuan in royalties, I plan to take on some work during holidays—not only to earn money but also as social practice! As for what I want to do in the future, I haven’t figured it out yet, but I believe that as long as I stay grounded and work hard now, there will be rewards!"
Mao Na tightened her grip around his arm. "I believe in you; keep it up!"
Suddenly remembering something, she exclaimed, "Li Shengnan wrote to say that Xiaoxue had a baby—a boy! She also said Xiaoxue’s dad held his chubby grandson and cried hard, regretting that he shouldn’t have made things difficult for Xiaoxue and Zhang Qiang—almost breaking them apart… She also mentioned that she and Yao Wei are planning to get married on New Year's Day and want us to come back for it!"
Leaning closer to Hu Ruoyun's ear, she added, "She said she’s living with Yao Wei now; who knows when she might get pregnant too."
Hu Ruoyun feigned indifference. "What’s there to brag about? It’s not like anyone else can’t do it..."
This time Mao Na didn’t pinch him; instead, she leaned her face against his arm in agreement. "Exactly!"
With over three months until New Year's Day, they planned to return home then—to attend Li Shengnan and Yao Wei’s wedding, see Ouyang Xiaxue and Zhang Qiang’s adorable little baby who would melt anyone's heart, and visit each other’s parents.
Happiness is a state of mind that arises from fulfilling one's self-needs while hoping to maintain that status quo.
At this moment, both he and she were happy.
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