Chapter 100: Where is the solution?

The eleventh day of the Lunar New Year was the day everyone went back to school.

Before that came tuition payments and the issuing of books. The younger generation of the Qin family had already paid their fees and brought their new textbooks home. Those who could afford it bought proper book covers; those who could not had their parents wrap the books in old newspapers and make do with crude covers.

When Qin Hongfei and her sister came over, the fact that they were the only two who were not in school made them look strangely out of place.

The children of the third and fourth branches clung to Qin Wanwan of the fifth branch. Qin Wanwan was very good at playing the elder sister. When the new books were handed out, Qin’s youngest aunt gave her money to buy covers. She not only bought for herself, but also for all her younger brothers and sisters.

Everyone got one, and they even came in cartoon shapes.

Books were highly prized in those days. When a child brought home new textbooks, parents would buy covers to keep them from getting damaged, but most were unwilling to be extravagant enough to purchase brand-new plastic covers. Each one cost fifty cents. A few books for a few subjects added up to several yuan, and that was not something ordinary families were willing to spend.

“Hongfei, look. Isn’t my book cover pretty?” asked a child from the third branch, three years younger than her, lifting the new cover happily as she chattered about what the new term would be like.

“Pretty,” Qin Fei answered eagerly.

“Xiao Qian, your Sister Hongfei doesn’t go to school, so she doesn’t understand this. Don’t make things difficult for her,” said Qin’s third aunt, with intent or without, no one could tell.

“Oh.” Qin Qian lost a little of her excitement and ran back toward Qin Wanwan.

Watching this, Qin Fei felt a faint emptiness in her heart. Thinking back, Qin Qian from the third branch had once been the child she took along to play with, yet after growing up, the child had grown closer to Wanwan instead.

Qin Hongfei was not so sentimental. Seeing Grandma Qin busily drying the freshly harvested dried chili peppers in the courtyard, with the rest still unstrung beside them, she called Qin Fei over and took the initiative to help.

Once they had work to do, they no longer seemed quite so awkward.

Grandma Qin glanced at the two sisters, a little surprised.

They had become sharper; they no longer seemed so dazed.

She did not stop them, simply let them help.

When the work was nearly finished, Grandma Qin wiped her hands on her apron and said, “Hongfei, come with me.”

Qin Hongfei thought the old woman was going to ask about school, but that was not it. After changing her clothes and taking something with her, Grandma Qin took her by the hand and headed straight for a place ahead.

It was the school.

Qin’s youngest aunt was already waiting at the school gate, chatting with a female teacher on duty.

Seeing this, what was there for Qin Hongfei not to understand?

Grandma Qin had brought her here to ask for forgiveness.

“Grandma, didn’t my mother tell you? The matter of school has already—”

Grandma Qin pinched the center of her palm and cut her off with a stern look. “Already been settled? Settled where? School is about to start, so have you paid your tuition? Have you collected your books? I don’t know how your mother taught you, and I don’t know why, at such a young age, you’ve already learned to lie and care about your pride. I won’t argue with you about that. But Hongfei, if you listen to that confused mother of yours, you’ll ruin the rest of your life. Like your sister, you need to go in, admit your mistake honestly to the teacher, and then this will all be over. Do you understand?”

She believed that Eldest Daughter-in-law Qin’s claim that the school matter had been arranged was nothing more than a lie made up so they would not have to bow their heads to the fifth branch.

Qin Hongfei did not resent the old woman. Under the assumption that she was lying, for her to still care enough to deal with the matter so earnestly, Grandma Qin was truly quite good. But she still did not agree with the old woman’s approach. Prejudice hurt people. Without confirming anything, why had she already hung the label of liar around her neck?

“Grandma, my mother didn’t teach me anything, and she didn’t instigate me to do anything. I was the one who told her the school matter had been settled, and it really truly was.”