Chapter 154: Honored by Your Favor, How Could It Be a Burden?

"Why would that have anything to do with me?" Lin Jingyue didn't give it a second thought. If they came looking for trouble, she would simply knock them flat. Besides, Jiang Xun was certainly not interested in teaching a bunch of brats.

Chen Chunlan wanted to say more, but seeing the Brigade Leader's wife approaching, she swallowed her words. Once the meeting dispersed, everyone continued to discuss the matter. Back at the educated youth dormitory, Lin Jingyue and Jiang Xun exchanged a glance before returning to their respective rooms.

Half an hour later, as dusk began to fall, their doors opened one after another. Outside the dormitory, Lin Jingyue handed the items she was holding to Jiang Xun, who was behind her. "Do you think this is enough?"

She had prepared half a jin of brown sugar, half a jin of tea leaves, two bottles of decent white liquor, and a red envelope. "I tucked twenty yuan into the envelope." If she could secure this teaching position, she would have two years of relative ease. It was May 1975, so, well, a little over two years.

"It's enough." The gift was quite generous. If it weren't to be on the safe side, she wouldn't even have needed to give the envelope.

At the Brigade Leader's house, they had just finished dinner. The Brigade Leader, who was leaning against the kang and picking his teeth, sat up straight instinctively upon seeing Lin Jingyue and Jiang Xun enter. He looked at them with involuntary wariness. "What are you two doing here?"

Only Auntie Chun was in the main room, along with Tie Dan and the daughter of their second daughter-in-law. Everyone else was either busy in the kitchen or had retired to their own rooms.

Auntie Chun nudged the Brigade Leader and warmly invited Lin Jingyue and Jiang Xun to sit. "Look at you two, coming over is enough, why bring gifts?" She skillfully took the items, and upon feeling the thickness of the red envelope, she understood the situation immediately. She glanced at the Brigade Leader.

The Brigade Leader looked at Lin Jingyue and Jiang Xun, rolling his eyes inwardly at how shrewd these two were. He signaled for Auntie Chun to accept the gifts and then looked at the pair. "Are you here about the primary school teacher vacancy?"

"Yes, we are hoping for your favor, Brigade Leader." Lin Jingyue smiled brightly. "Don't worry, it's just one spot."

The corner of the Brigade Leader's mouth twitched uncontrollably. Just one? She really had the nerve to say that.

"The higher-ups have stated that there must be an examination; I cannot make the final decision entirely on my own," the Brigade Leader said with a composed air.

"We understand that, which is why we’re hoping you might bend the rules a little." If he couldn't make the decision "entirely" on his own, it meant he had influence, and that was enough. As for the exam, Lin Jingyue had confidence in herself. If she, someone who spent every day with her nose in a book, couldn't outperform the others, she might as well give up.

Everyone present were clever people. The Brigade Leader nodded. "Since that is the case, I understand your intentions."

"Thank you for your trouble, Brigade Leader. We'll be going now," Lin Jingyue said with a smile. Jiang Xun had remained silent throughout the entire exchange.

"Stay a while longer, you haven't even had a drink of water," Auntie Chun urged. Although this girl had never been fond of her daughter, her daughter had brought it upon herself. Therefore, even though she held a grudge against Lin Jingyue, she didn't have the audacity to be snide toward her.

"Next time," Lin Jingyue said with a smile, waving her hand as she led Jiang Xun out of the Brigade Leader's house.

After they left, Li Cuihua came into the main room. "Father, Mother, I think I saw Lin Jingyue earlier. What was she doing here?" Having returned after a divorce, Li Cuihua carried a sense of reckless abandonment.

Auntie Chun lifted her eyelids to look at her. "It has nothing to do with you. Did you wash the bowls?" This daughter was becoming increasingly unruly.

"Mother, let the eldest and second sisters-in-law wash them. I've been doing it for days," Li Cuihua complained. In the past, she had never touched a dish in her life.

"Do you want to eat in this house?" Auntie Chun looked at her calmly, not scolding her. "If you want to eat, you do the work. If you stay, you fulfill your obligations. If you don't want to, then get out." If this daughter wasn't disciplined now, she would be ruined.

Li Cuihua’s face changed. "Mother..."

"Your mother's words are my words. This house does not support those who are gossipy, lazy, or gluttonous." The Brigade Leader also felt a pang of heartache over this daughter who had brought him such shame. People were still poking fun at him behind his back. With no other choice, Li Cuihua, unable to leave, headed to the kitchen.

On the other side, Lin Jingyue and Jiang Xun walked back leisurely, in no particular hurry after delivering their gifts.

"There's a moon tonight," Lin Jingyue said, looking at the crescent moon in the sky, her eyes curving. She opened her arms and took a deep breath of the fresh air...

*Cough, cough.* Her face turned green the next second.

"Ugh—" It was "fresh" air, all right—it reeked of raw fertilizer.

"Cough..." Jiang Xun gave a light cough, took Lin Jingyue's hand, and walked forward. "This is not the right time or place for romance."

"...Do you even know how to use idioms?" She looked at the man beside her, speechless.

As the dappled moonlight fell upon his shoulders, it was the first time Lin Jingyue felt that the idiom "cloaked in stars and moonlight" could be so vividly brought to life.

"Jiang Xun."

"Hmm?" The man turned his head slightly, holding the hand of his beloved girl, his voice low and filled with an indescribable tenderness.

Lin Jingyue looked up, her eyes brimming with starlight. "I like you. Very, very much."

"So, I might be a bother to you for the rest of my life." Her tone was a mix of helplessness and coquetry, her voice soft and sweet, which instantly softened Jiang Xun’s heart.

He tightened his grip unconsciously, looking at her clear, luminous eyes beneath the hazy moonlight. "To be favored by you—how could it ever be a bother?"

He was overjoyed. "I like you too. In the blooming of mountain flowers, in the scattered stars, in the rising tides, and in the quiet of the fading light, my girl."

As he finished speaking, his other hand covered her radiant eyes, and he lowered his head, pressing his slightly cool lips against hers. *My girl, my feelings for you go far beyond the word 'like.' From the moment we first met in the courtyard of the educated youth dormitory, your hazy silhouette and those eyes as bright as the stars—you stood there, and you did so much more than just make me fall for you.*

"What are you two doing?"

Jiang Xun and Lin Jingyue stiffened and pulled apart abruptly. Seeing who had spoken, both of their faces burned like fire in the moonlight.

Xie Wenjuan pulled Chen Chunlan aside, and Chen Chunlan couldn't help but rub her forehead. "...Someone else is coming in a moment."

The two of them: "..."

Just as they were feeling awkward, two figures appeared on another path: Feng Wanjia and Zhang Shuting. Everyone was pulling strings, and everyone wanted that teaching position.

"No sense of timing," Lin Jingyue grumbled at Chen Chunlan, pulling Jiang Xun toward the dormitory.