AYLS – Chapter 137

Since the new semester had just started, the kids’ latest test scores weren’t available yet. So Lin Qiao had to compare them based on their previous final exam results.

This move left quite a few kids who hadn’t taken their studies seriously scratching their heads in frustration.

Some of the more dissatisfied ones approached Lin Qiao, complaining that it wasn’t fair. “We didn’t even know the scores would be this useful, so we didn’t take the exams seriously.”

But when it comes to making excuses, Lin Qiao had been through it all before.

If you didn’t do well on the exam, you didn’t do well—there was no need for excuses.

Lin Qiao said, “If you’re not taking exams seriously, how can I trust you to raise chicks? Wouldn’t that be risking their lives? You really didn’t study properly?”

The dissatisfied kids had no choice but to admit it and insist that they actually had been taking the exams seriously.

Lin Qiao spent some time looking over the final exam rankings and total scores for these dozens of kids.

The final results were somewhat unexpected, but also somewhat predictable.

Zhang Lanlan and Li Xiaojun were both the top students in their class, and their total scores were the highest overall. Zhang Lanlan’s total score was three points higher than Li Xiaojun’s.

Looking at these scores, Lin Qiao couldn’t help but admire these hardworking academic achievers. She even sighed to Su Weizhen, remarking on how impressively well the children were studying and regretting that she hadn’t taken her own studies seriously back then.

Su Weizhen said, “You’re not bad yourself. You achieved what you have now through self-study—how could you be worse than anyone?”

Lin Qiao pursed her lips and, feeling a bit guilty, admitted, “That’s true.”

Su Weizhen asked, “So, you’re choosing these two kids then?”

“Yes. We’ve got to keep our word and follow the previous rules.”

Lin Qiao quickly announced the results—of course, not everyone’s scores. She wanted to leave room for the other children to compare themselves. After all, they already knew their own results. She only needed to announce the top two, and the rest could figure out where they stood.

As expected, when the scores were announced, the group of kids was stunned.

Sheng Wen and Sheng Wu were speechless, frozen at home like little quails.

Previously, the parents in the compound rarely paid much attention to their children’s grades. Busy with work and family, they mostly let the kids study on their own as long as teachers didn’t report problems. Some did care, but if their children’s results weren’t ideal, they wouldn’t make a fuss.

This time, because the kids had taken part in the assessment for fun, it unexpectedly sparked the parents’ interest in their children’s studies.

Now, everyone was curious about exactly how their children’s scores compared to others.

At Commander Sheng’s home, he didn’t even know how to express his feelings. On one hand, he was proud of Zhang Lanlan and Li Xiaojun and happy for their parents. On the other, looking at his own sons’ disgraceful scores made him fume.

It was humiliating.

He had never paid much attention to their grades before, thinking they were all similar. Now, seeing the real gap, it was shocking.

After all, he had at least learned a few letters and became a soldier, kept up with his studies in the army, later advanced in a military academy, and even received honors. Otherwise, how could he have been assigned to such an important border unit?

And yet, his own son turned out to be a dunce.

Commander Sheng was so furious that he went to look for a whip at home.

Sister-in-law Sheng stopped him, saying, “Today is a good day. What are you doing making a fuss? If others follow your example, which child would dare participate in the assessment? Isn’t that against the original intention?”

Who knew, as soon as she said this, Sheng Wen and Sheng Wu started laughing. Especially Sheng Wen—he didn’t run away but walked straight up to Commander Sheng. “Dad, hit me. Hit me hard. I promise I won’t dodge.”

Li Xiaojun and the others looked worried, thinking he was asking for trouble. Li Xiaojun asked, “Awen, what are you doing?”

“Nothing, I just like getting hit,” Sheng Wen replied. After taking a beating, he could go around the compound spreading the word, discouraging all the other kids from participating in the assessment, leaving fewer competitors for himself.

Commander Sheng wasn’t oblivious to his little scheme. “Don’t think you can dodge. You might scare a bunch of fools, but your real competitors—the top achievers—they won’t be afraid of a beating. They might even be happy not to compete with you and your bunch of idiots.”

Sheng Wen: “……”

At home, Xiao Qiao could hear the children wailing. Clearly, many of their scores were forced out by their families, and they all got a serving of stir-fried bamboo shoots and meat as punishment. She felt a little embarrassed, calling out from her doorway while eating some crispy rice. “Gu Huayuan, do you think these kids, after going through this, will be too scared to participate next time? That would really waste all my hard planning.”

Gu Huayuan, fixing a small stool at home, looked up and smiled. “Just think about yourself. If your family hit you, would you still participate?”

“They wouldn’t hit me… I don’t have any family, you know that,” Lin Qiao said angrily.

“I was just giving an example. Fine, I misspoke. Let me analyze it for you. I think these kids won’t give up; on the contrary, they’ll probably be even more motivated to participate. Before, it was their own choice to join. Now, their parents will likely encourage them to take part, too, to better supervise their grades.”

“That makes sense. I feel reassured,” Lin Qiao said, smiling and raising her eyebrows. “But I still have to say, just hitting the kids won’t work—you need to educate and guide them.”

……

The next day after school, Zhang Lanlan and Li Xiaojun went to the chicken farm as if it were second nature.

Lin Qiao didn’t even need to explain things in detail.

“Have you finished your homework?” she asked.

Zhang Lanlan replied, “We finished it already—at school.”

True diligence from these academic stars. Lin Qiao admired them sincerely. She encouraged them, “Keep this up. Don’t let work get in the way of your studies; that would be putting the cart before the horse.”

“Yes. If we have questions we don’t understand, we can ask… Sister Su Weizhen.”

Lin Qiao had wanted them to ask her, but realizing the kids were already in middle school and might have forgotten a lot of what she knew, she decided not to embarrass herself.

There wasn’t much to do at the chicken farm. Lin Qiao was in charge of the first batch of newly hatched chicks. Su Weizhen was busy as well; although the high-quality chicks she brought would take a long time to start laying eggs, she also hatched some local eggs for comparison, to see how the farm’s flock measured up against hers.

Zhang Lanlan and Li Xiaojun helped by doing some cleaning.

Lin Qiao also taught them how to feed the chicks, and they learned earnestly.

Once they mastered it, they could take over some of Lin Qiao’s tasks.

By the time Su Weizhen finished hatching the second batch of chicks, Lin Qiao would still need to care for the new brood.

……

“What are you looking at? Staying up late again?”

Lin Qiao, propping her head with her hand, reclined on the bed, watching Gu Huayuan sitting at the desk reading something.

“Nothing really. I was tidying up today and suddenly came across your photo.”

Lin Qiao still remembered—that was the photoshopped picture Fat Cat made for her.

“What are you looking at that for? I’m right here in person, isn’t that better to look at?”

Smiling, Gu Huayan put the photo away. “It’s nothing. I just wanted to look a bit more at your past. By the way, you grew up in Yuan’an. Is there anyone you miss over there? When we have time in the future, we can go back and take a look.”

Lin Qiao touched her head and thought about it. In truth, she was asking Fat Cat: Is there anyone?

Fat Cat pretended to be asleep and ignored her.

Lin Qiao gritted her teeth in frustration and said aloud, “No. I worked as a maid when I was little and didn’t really meet anyone.”

“Oh. Then is there any place in Yuan’an that left a deep impression on you? When we have time, I’ll take you back to revisit your old home. We’ve been married for so long—sometimes I feel like I owe you. If you like, when we’re old, we can even retire in the place you grew up.”

“No need…” Lin Qiao refused immediately. Of course she wouldn’t retire there. She wasn’t familiar with Yuan’an at all—how would she know any place worth remembering?

“I don’t want to go back there.”

She frowned and asked Gu Huayan, “Why do you keep bringing up the past? You know I don’t like talking about before, yet you keep mentioning it. Are you doing it on purpose to upset me?”

Gu Huayan gently rubbed her head, showing rare and obvious tenderness. “It just came to mind. I want you to be happier. Xiao Qiao, we’re husband and wife—we’re supposed to spend our whole lives together. We can rely on each other, support each other, trust each other. If there’s anything you want, anything bothering you, anything difficult—tell me, okay?”

Lin Qiao rolled her eyes. “You say it so nicely, but you won’t even agree to hold my hand in public and show off our love. Whenever I try, you act like I’m teasing you. And also—you have to love me more in your heart. Love me as much as you possibly can. Use all your strength. Not a tiny bit less!”

Her poor progress bar was still crawling like a snail.

Gu Huayan said, “That’s all?”

“Of course! What else would there be? If you can do that, it solves a huge problem for me. I desperately need your love.”

Treating this like a mission, Lin Qiao wasn’t embarrassed at all and said it directly.

Gu Huayan: “…Alright. Then I’ll love you well.” He turned off the lamp and got into bed.

That night, Lin Qiao slept sweetly and even made soft little snores.

Beside her, Gu Huayan didn’t fall asleep at all.

He did love Xiao Qiao, but she had never given him a sense of complete reassurance.

Ever since she came to him, he had felt that this girl was very different from the person he had imagined.

How could a girl who had long suffered oppression have a personality like Xiao Qiao’s?

It was only because of some evidence he later found—and… his own selfishness—that he forced himself to accept these things that seemed real on the surface yet were full of suspicious points.

But as time went on, little details kept appearing that he couldn’t ignore.

Xiao Qiao’s habits in daily life, the way she dealt with people—if one paid a bit of attention, many things didn’t match. They didn’t align with the upbringing she supposedly had.

Even the old photos that convinced him of her identity contained doubts he couldn’t resolve.

So many photos from childhood to adulthood, yet Xiao Qiao’s smile was exactly the same in each one. The curve of her raised lips, the arc of her smiling eyes—identical.

Almost like… the same photo.

This mixture of real and unreal made his heart itch with unease.

Staring at the ceiling, Gu Huayan couldn’t sleep.

Even now, the only conclusion he was willing to accept was that he was overthinking, that he was wrong. That Xiao Qiao was just Lin Qiao—the childhood fiancée he had been betrothed to. His current wife, and future mother of his children.

They would grow old together.

He could not accept any other possibility. But as a soldier, he could not allow any lapse in vigilance. So even if he trusted her, he still had to uncover the truth.

Whether it was fear of someone using her to do something harmful, or fear of someone taking her away from him—he had to get to the bottom of it.

Looking at the deeply sleeping Xiao Qiao beside him, Gu Huayan chuckled softly.

Someone like her could never do anything harmful to the country. Even if his suspicions were right, he only needed to catch the hidden bad people before anything happened. Then Xiao Qiao would still be the same simple, innocent Xiao Qiao.

Lin Qiao slept sweetly, but she was actually dreaming.

Perhaps because Gu Huayan had asked about her past today, making her subconsciously tense, she ended up having a dream—

In her dream, Gu Huayan exposed her. That dog man didn’t show a shred of old affection and handed her over to the state.

The state asked her about future events—but she didn’t remember any history, how could she know the specifics of the future? She hadn’t even figured out domestic matters yet, let alone international ones. She spouted a bunch of illogical nonsense, and they kept making her write tests, history tests, making her so anxious she sweated all over and cried miserably.

When Gu Huayan shook her awake, she still had tears at the corners of her eyes. She angrily complained, “Gu Huayan, you ruined my life. I couldn’t sleep all night.”

“Dog man. Heartless.”

“If you ask me weird questions again, I’ll show you what I’m capable of.”

“Living a good life isn’t enough for you, huh? Watch out—I’ll learn from Ermie and make trouble for you every day.”

“And also, no matter what happens, you’re not allowed to hand me over to anyone. I don’t know anything. I didn’t study properly.”

Getting dressed, Gu Huayan: “…”

He helplessly lowered his head, then leaned over and kissed away the tears at her eyes. “Alright, I won’t ask. Don’t talk nonsense. If you want to sleep, sleep. If not, get up.”

Lin Qiao was still groggy, unable to figure things out. She blearily looked at him. “No, I need to sleep more. Dream something good—otherwise it’s such a loss.”

She said that and then collapsed, falling asleep.

Gu Huayuan smiled, gently touched her forehead, and then walked out with a smile.