Chapter 2: Volunteering – The Daily Gossip in the Courtyard of the Sickly Aunt

Chapter 2: Volunteering - The Daily Gossip in the Courtyard of the Sickly Aunt

After finishing the meal, Lin's mother took her daughter back to the room she shared with Lin's father.

"Nuan'nuan, how could you be so foolish? This was a match I specially picked for you. How could you give him away so easily?" Her face was filled with worry.

"Ma~, I think Xiao Shu really likes the guy you introduced. Since she wants him, let her have him. You can introduce me to someone better, alright?" Lin Qing playfully wheedled towards her mother.

"You!" Lin's mother couldn't resist her daughter's playfulness at all.

"Sigh, the policies for going to the countryside are getting stricter and stricter. With your health, how can you survive in the countryside? I picked out a great match for you, and yet she still wants to snatch him. Sigh, forget it, forget it, I'll look around again!"

Lin Qing hugged her mother's arm, listening to her nagging, and felt truly content.

She vaguely recalled the nightmare from last night. She hadn't even met this man yet, so the same thing from her dream shouldn't happen again, right?

Unfortunately, she still overestimated Lin Shu.

The next day, instead of going on a blind date as planned, she was idly at home, looking at the comic books she had bought with her savings.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

Huh? Who was knocking? Everyone in the family was out, so who could be coming over?

"Who is it?" Lin Qing didn't open the door immediately but asked through it.

"Aunt, it's me! Open up!" Lin Shu's voice came from outside.

"Xiao Shu? You're..." Lin Qing opened the door and was about to speak when she saw the two people at the door and abruptly stopped talking.

"Aunt, I brought Jiang Yang over to meet the elders," Lin Shu said joyfully.

Lin Qing forced a strained smile at the couple before her. "There's only me at home. If you want to meet the elders, come back another time!"

Unfortunately, Lin Shu was pretending to be naive. "Aunt, aunt, aren't you the elder?"

"Hehe!" Lin Qing felt embarrassed, and her already sickly face couldn't hide her sudden pallor.

Jiang Yang's eyes lit up when the door opened. The woman in front of him had a delicate face, much prettier than the girl he had just started dating. But no matter how beautiful she was, it couldn't overcome her sickly appearance. His initial admiration quickly turned to disdain.

Just thinking about how the matchmaker wanted to set him up with this girl made him uneasy. He was a level-four machinist at the factory, earning a base salary of 51 yuan a month. If he married this sickly girl, the household expenses would definitely increase a lot. With children to raise, how could he afford it?

Lin Qing wasn't unaware of the disdain in his eyes, but he was her niece's boyfriend now, so she couldn't easily say what was on her mind.

Just as Lin Qing was unsure of what to do, a savior arrived.

Lin Qing caught sight of her mother coming around the corner of the corridor from the staircase, and her eyes brightened. "Ma, Xiao Shu has brought her boyfriend over!"

As soon as Lin's mother entered the corridor and saw Lin Shu standing at the door with someone, she hurried over, worried that something had happened.

Hearing her daughter's call for help, she knew this granddaughter was up to no good again.

"Xiao Shu, what are you doing?"

"Grandma, I brought my boyfriend over to meet the elders!"

"To meet the elders? And you chose a time when we're not around?"

"How would I know? I thought everyone was home!"

"Alright, ask him to go back for now, and we'll find another time when everyone is home to come and meet the elders." Mom had already made her point clear. How could they not understand the basic etiquette of informing before meeting the elders?

Lin Shu was a bit unhappy, but she had already achieved her goal of bringing him over. She didn’t want to stick around and deal with Grandma’s sour face, so she took Jiang Yang and left.

Lin Mu led Lin Qing into the house.

"When did they arrive?"

"Just a bit ago."

"What do you think of him?"

Upon hearing her mother's question, Lin Qing was reminded of the disdain Jiang Yang had shown her earlier.

"If Xiao Shu is happy, that’s all that matters."

"What about you?"

Lin Qing quickly shook her head, "He’s not my type."

"Alright then!" Lin Mu gave up completely.

"Don’t worry, I’ll find you someone even better." Lin Mu had no intention of giving up. She was determined to find a more suitable match for her daughter.

……

That night, Lin Qing fell ill with a fever.

She was scared, wondering why he showed up when she thought she had gotten rid of him. Why did it still feel like her nightmare? Did she only have a path of death ahead of her?

She still couldn’t believe that everything in her dream was real.

By the next morning, Lin Qing hadn’t woken up. Lin Mu went into her room to wake her and found that Lin Qing had become delirious from fever on the canopy bed.

Panicking, Mom shouted, "Big Brother, hurry and get a car! Your sister’s burning up and out of it!"

Lin Fu, a man nearing sixty, picked up his daughter and ran downstairs.

The whole family was in a rush that morning.

After much effort, Lin Qing was successfully admitted to the hospital.

——

Lin Qing, sitting blankly by the bedside, looked utterly pitiful.

She hadn’t noticed the man who had just moved in across from her had been watching her for a long time.

Seeing her daughter in such a state, Lin Mu felt her heart almost break from pain.

"Nuan’nuan! My sweet girl, don’t worry. I’ll find you someone better! Just relax!" Lin Mu stroked her head.

Lin Qing was lost in a daze and hadn’t heard a word her mother said.

Across from her, Cen Xi realized for the first time how shallow he had been. He hadn’t disliked beauty; he simply hadn’t met someone he truly liked.

Despite being ill, she was still breathtakingly beautiful. He felt as though he had fallen in love at first sight.

He perked up when he overheard the girl's family was looking for a match for her and wondered if he should recommend himself.

He looked around the ward and saw that it was the perfect moment since there were only the three of them.

He believed that if you like someone, you should go for it, so he made a brave decision.

He got out of his bed, carrying his IV bottle, and walked over to Lin Qing's bed.

"Hello, Aunt," he said.

Lin Qing's mother looked at the stranger who had suddenly approached, looking puzzled. "Hello, hello. Is there something you need?" She thought he might want to ask her for help.

But then she saw the man's face turn red, which made her even more confused.

Lin Qing looked up at him blankly. When Cen Xi caught sight of her gaze, it felt like something hit his heart, and his face turned even redder.

"Aunt, I... I... just heard you say that you wanted to... introduce someone?"

Lin Qing's mother immediately understood what he meant and sat up straighter, eyeing him up and down.

The man was dressed in work clothes and wore silver-rimmed glasses. The glasses didn't detract from his good looks but added a touch of maturity to his handsome appearance.

Feeling her eyes on him, Cen Xi stood up straighter, feeling constrained for the first time.

---

Salary Breakdown (for reference only, not based on real-world salaries):

Level 1: 25

Level 2: 31

Level 3: 40

Level 4: 51

Level 5: 65

Level 6: 80

Level 7: 96

Level 8: 112

Engineer: Starting at 106

Years of service: One dollar for each year of service

Summer allowance: $1.50 per month (for three months)

Service roles: Higher levels have lower pay rates.

Level 30: 28

For each level below, add four dollars.

Management roles: Starting at $32.

For each level above, add four dollars.