Chapter 30: Is Elementary School Math Really This Difficult?

“Doctor Zhu!” Lin You saw Zhu Yan chase after him and shouted, “I’ve already given you the answer you wanted. If you keep pestering me, I’ll have no choice but to go to the military district and find the commander myself.”

Hearing him mention her father, Zhu Yan stopped in her tracks. “Lin You, you…” Before she could finish, she ran out of the office building in tears.

Lin You sighed, bent down, and gathered the torn pieces of their marriage application that lay scattered on the floor.

***

Zhu Yan returned to the garrison hospital, occasionally sobbing as she lay her head on the desk.

“Yanyan, what’s wrong? Did that Lin You bully you again? I’ll go find him right now!”

“Zhang Jun, I’ve told you many times, please call me by my full name!” Zhu Yan wiped her tears, stood up, and spoke coldly to the man behind her.

Zhang Jun, another doctor at the hospital, was Zhu Yan’s devoted pursuer. Despite being rejected countless times, he never gave up.

“Alright, alright, don’t be angry, Zhu Yan. Lin You isn’t worth your tears. You sit here crying, while he? Just a few days ago, when you were at the military district, he brought that girl back to his hometown. They must have stayed together along the way…”

“Enough, don’t say another word. Zhang Jun, I’ll tell you again today: even if I don’t end up with Lin You, I won’t be with you either! Give up this hope once and for all!”

Zhu Yan cut him off, pointing to the office door. “Now, please leave.”

“I…” Zhang Jun wanted to say something, but seeing Zhu Yan not even look at him, he clenched his fists and slammed the door as he left. “Zhu Yan, I’ve told you—I will never give up pursuing you.”

When he turned around, his face was twisted with anger. “Lin You! I won’t let you have it easy. Just wait! You care so much about that girl and those three kids? Hmph!”

Afternoon.

Xia Yan, holding farm tools, brought Lin Nuannuan to the backyard fields. She had only managed to finish part of the work before, leaving some undone.

To plant anything in the remaining half of the plot, the soil had to be turned over.

Arriving at the backyard, she saw that the chicks bought last time had grown noticeably. “They should start laying eggs in about three months.”

She stretched, then started swinging the hoe. To her surprise, her digging and striking looked quite skilled. Luckily, the soil wasn’t too hard, or it would have taken much more effort.

After a few hours, most of the remaining plot was turned over.

Just then, Wang Guilan walked over, carrying two fish. “Xia, there you are! I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

“Aunt Wang, what did you need?” Xia Yan paused her work, straightened her back, feeling a wave of soreness.

“We went fishing at the river this afternoon, caught several, so I brought you two. Fish from that river make the freshest soup.”

Looking at the two fat fish, Xia Yan felt her mouth water for fish soup. “Thank you, Aunt.”

“Why thank me? You’ve always given Erdan good things, and you brought him toys when you returned. He’s been hugging them every day, so happy.”

Wang Guilan laughed as she replied.

Xia Yan took the fish, already thinking about how to cook them for the family.

Wang Guilan looked at the plot, now mostly turned over. “Xia, you’re really capable! You managed all this yourself. Your delicate hands don’t look suited for farm work.”

“What do they look like then?” Xia Yan asked.

“Like a pampered capitalist’s daughter,” Wang Guilan teased.

A capitalist’s daughter? A few years ago, no one would dare say that—such a label could get you paraded in the streets with a dunce cap and sent down to the countryside.

“But, Xia, you only have three children. Planting half the field is enough to feed you. Lin’s salary and stipend are decent, and you work hard raising the kids alone. No need to make more work for yourself.”

Xia Yan smiled, “Aunt, idleness is idleness anyway.”

They chatted for a while, and as the evening grew late, Wang Guilan headed home.

When Xia Yan returned, she found Lin Hongzhuo standing with a troubled face.

“Zhuo, what’s wrong?”

“Aunt, I didn’t do well on the exam. The teacher asked me to bring a parent tomorrow.”

Xia Yan noticed the paper in his hand, the glaring red score of 59.5 catching her eye—though the margin was impressively precise.

Since arriving, she’d been busy cooking and looking after Lin Nuannuan, hardly stopping to check on the boys’ studies. Now she realized things might be serious, at least for Lin Hongzhuo.

“Aunt, could you go instead? I don’t want Dad to go.”

Xia Yan herself had been summoned to school as a child, so she understood the pain. “Alright, but from tonight, I’ll watch you do homework in the evenings. If you don’t understand something, ask me.”

“Aunt, do you know elementary math?”

Xia Yan: “…” I have a doctorate, for heaven’s sake! How hard can elementary math be?

She took the paper and glanced at it.

Her brows furrowed. These were elementary math questions?

4 ( ) 4 ( ) 4 = 16. Please fill in the brackets with suitable symbols.

Elementary, so only addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Xia Yan quickly ran through the possibilities in her mind but couldn’t find the right answer.

“Ahem, Zhuo, Aunt suddenly remembered she needs to start dinner. I’ll help you with the questions tonight.”

Seeing her flustered, Lin Hongzhuo glanced at Nuannuan. “Sis, does Aunt not know how to do it?”

The little girl tilted her head, a big question mark floating above.

In the kitchen, Xia Yan felt she’d finally returned to her proper battlefield: cleaning the fish, making slits, heating the oil…

She fried them until both sides were golden, then added water.

“If only I had some tofu, it would be perfect.”

Dinner was ready just as Lin You returned home, his face slightly dark.

The first thing he asked was, “Where’s Zhuo?”

“In his room, I think.”

Lin You immediately strode toward the room, so forceful that Xia Yan hurried after him.

“Lin Hongzhuo, can you not cause trouble at school for even a single day?!”

“Dad…” Lin Hongzhuo bowed his head, not daring to look at Lin You.

“I sent you to school to learn, not to make trouble!”

“Don’t scold the child,” Xia Yan pulled Lin You back. “Can’t you talk calmly? Maybe he has his reasons.”

“His reasons? Even if he does, he can’t contradict the teacher in class! On the way home, I ran into his language teacher, and she immediately started complaining to me.”

Lin You looked at Xia Yan, his face flushed with anger.

“Zhuo, come here and tell Aunt why you contradicted your teacher.”

Xia Yan walked to Lin Hongzhuo’s side, asking gently.

Lin Hongzhuo lifted his head slightly, glanced at Lin You, and hesitated.

“Don’t worry. Aunt is here—your dad won’t do anything to you.”

“It’s because the teacher explained an idiom incorrectly, and I corrected her…”

“She’s the teacher. How could she be wrong? None of the other students said anything—so you think you’re smarter than everyone else?” Lin You’s anger flared again.