Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 779 Returning to the Countryside
In the autumn of Northwest China, the chill can sometimes come suddenly. When Xia Lin came out of the emperor's palace, the palace maids around him immediately lowered their heads and pretended not to see him.

After all, although this matter is already widely known and talked about, without evidence, it can only be called a rumor. And anyone who spreads rumors will probably lose their life.

"You wait a moment."

Third Sister chased after you barefoot from the house, carrying a fox fur coat in her hand: "When you came, the weather was warm, but when you leave, the wind is cold. Take this with you, don't still think of yourself as a young man."

"Hey, I'm just asking you, I finished last night without even realizing it, I'm still young at heart."

"Hurry up and go!" Third Sister glanced at the palace maids with their heads down beside her, and gave him a push, feeling rather embarrassed. "I'll go see the child after I've sorted things out here."

"It'll probably be at least the middle to late part of next year. See you then." Xia Lin waved his hand. "Go back now, don't catch a cold."

"Ah."

Xia Lin left, taking advantage of a clear morning. This time, he truly solved 70% of the current problems. The next step is the remaining 30%, which is the super evolution of the version he has been longing for all these years.

It's important to know that his progress is clearly behind schedule. This is already the fourth five-year phase, but there's still no sign of a train. In his own version, satellites were already in space by the fourth five-year phase. Of course, this kind of comparison might be biased, but the fact that he's so far behind is still making him unhappy.

However, he also understood that the chaos would continue for a long time to come, and he still needed to accumulate strength to increase his margin for error. Otherwise, a small mistake could cause his plans and arrangements of more than ten years to collapse.

After many years, he finally returned to Fuliang. He didn't inform anyone and came quietly by himself. Princess Douya and her group had arrived a few days ago, while Xia Lin traveled lightly down the Luo River to avoid attracting too much attention and being targeted by others.

In the current situation, Xia Lin is only truly safe by staying in this place. After all, there are countless people in the world who want to kill him, including many famous and skilled individuals from the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Returning to his small house, his only private property, which was originally a sanatorium left by his father-in-law, Xia Lin naturally found his place as his father-in-law grew old and lost the energy to keep mistresses.

The room was spotless, with bright and clean windows and tables. On the windowsill were daffodils kept in water, and there was even a small tabby cat watching Xia Lin, the uninvited guest, warily from above the cabinet.

"Mimi, come here."

Xia Lin waved to it, but the tabby cat wasn't as obedient as the head of the aristocratic family. Perhaps because Xia Lin's murderous aura was too strong, the little cat immediately activated its Spinosaurus mode and ran away to some unknown corner with a look of terror on its face.

"damn thing."

Xia Lin sat on the bench for a while, then went to get some water from the kettle. Just then, someone walked by in the alley outside, accompanied by a loud voice: "Tonight at the Grand Theater Square, the Four Heroes of the Wind and Dust will be performing their latest stage musical. No tickets required, please come and enjoy the show."

Xia Lin almost burst out laughing when he heard the name "Four Heroes of the Wind and Dust," but he was really tired, otherwise he would definitely have gone to see what this "wind and dust" thing was all about.

He lay down for a while, and suddenly heard children playing outside. So he got up, went to the top of the wall, and called out, "Kids, come here."

The children who were playing around crowded around and curiously looked at the unfamiliar face.

At this moment, Xia Lin took out three silver coins from his pocket and handed them over: "Go and buy some food from the shops around here for me. You can keep the remaining silver coin as errand money."

One of the children nervously accepted the money from Xia Lin's hand, then curiously looked at this nouveau riche: "Are you alone? You're eating so much?"

"What's wrong?"

“I usually eat a bowl of noodles at the shop on my way to and from school for only five copper coins. These two silver dollars are worth two thousand copper coins. If you want to eat…” The child counted on his fingers for a while: “Forty bowls of noodles!”

“What forty bowls?” an older child corrected. “It’s four hundred bowls! He wants to eat four hundred bowls of noodles!”

"Hey!" Xia Lin shouted anxiously from the top of the wall, "Get me something good to eat! Don't just give me noodles! I could never finish four hundred bowls of noodles even if I died! Just bring me whatever you think is good. That silver dollar is your travel fee. I'm going to take a nap. Call me from the top of the wall when you're done."

The children scattered in all directions. Xia Lin wasn't worried about whether they would take the money and run. He had only intended to drive away these brats and have some peace and quiet. After all, compared to hunger, he was so tired that his bones were about to fall apart.

He was in a daze and didn't know how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes, it was almost dusk, but those little rascals still hadn't returned. He stretched contentedly, stood up, took a sip of water, and prepared to go out to find some food.

He didn't really blame the kids. Human nature can't withstand tests. It was their duty to do things for Xia Lin after receiving the money, but it was also perfectly reasonable for them not to do it. If they insisted on testing human nature, they would only end up failing.

But looking at it from another angle, a few silver dollars for Xia Lin's afternoon of rest is incredibly precious. You have to understand that he hasn't had a good night's sleep in months. He finally understands why Zhuge Liang died from overwork. With that kind of workload, it's quite remarkable that he could live to be in his fifties or sixties before dying.

However, just as he was about to go out, the unique, shrill voices of the children outside swept in again, followed by a loud banging on the door of his courtyard. Curious, he went over to open the door, but was startled by what he saw.

The area outside was full of children... Each child was carrying all sorts of things, mainly snacks, and behind them was a broken cart that they had somehow gotten their hands on, probably something that someone had abandoned. The cart was also piled high with all sorts of random things.

They unloaded the goods from the truck like ants carrying food, piling them up little by little in front of Xia Lin.

There's rice noodles, regular noodles, tea eggs, roasted corn, potato cakes, maltose, marinated chicken legs...

They brought over everything that was available on the food streets. At that moment, the boy in the lead held up a silver coin and said to Xia Lin, "You said it, this one is ours."

"Yes, they're all yours." Xia Lin looked down at the mountain of snacks piled up in front of her: "You bought so much?"

"Didn't you tell us to buy delicious food? There's plenty of delicious food here."

Xia Lin was speechless for a moment. He looked down and realized that these things were indeed the most delicious treats for children. Whose fault was it? He should blame himself for not setting standards when making the work plan. Now look what happened, someone bought a whole truckload of snacks.

"You guys wait a minute."

Xia Lin shouted, and the leading child, thinking he was going back on his word, frowned and went up to him, shouting, "If you go back on your word, you don't deserve to be an adult. You said this silver coin was for us."

"No regrets. Look at how possessive you are of your food." Xia Lin finished speaking and turned to point to the mountain of food piled up on the stone table in the courtyard, saying, "Do you think I can finish all of this by myself?"

"That's your problem, it has nothing to do with us."

"You brat." Xia Lin sighed helplessly. He had been a powerful figure in the world for so many years, and now he had been outmaneuvered by a child.

"Come in, everyone. Please eat some of my food."

"Really?" the kid asked incredulously. "You're asking us to help you eat?"

"I'm old enough to be your father, why would I lie to a little kid like you?"

This was quite a surprise. A dozen or so children suddenly flooded into the courtyard. The oldest was only eight or nine years old, and the youngest was only three or four. Only the older child looked about twelve or thirteen. They rummaged through the pile of food to find what they liked to eat, without fighting or grabbing.

Xia Lin sat down next to him and ate with him. He was eating a bowl of sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves, and there was a child next to him who had delivered mung bean soup to him in a bamboo tube.

"Don't you go to school?"

"Okay, today is a day off. We'll be going to the academy first thing tomorrow morning."

"Oh, I see. What does your family do?" Xia Lin asked the boy curiously, "Your family doesn't seem well-off, does it?"

The boy's clothes were decent, but not fancy; he looked like an ordinary person. His shoes were a bit old, but not broken, suggesting that his family wasn't wealthy; they were just ordinary people.

"It's alright. My father runs a tofu mill, and my mother is a matchmaker."

Xia Lin looked at the boy with exceptionally bright eyes with curiosity: "How are your grades?"

"My grades are good, but I've been a bit distracted lately." The little boy chatted with Xia Lin like a little adult: "Sigh... it's very frustrating."

"Why?"

“A really pretty girl came to our class. Every time I see her, I can’t concentrate on my studies. My teacher has scolded me several times, but I just can’t stop secretly looking at her during class.”

Xia Lin burst into laughter after hearing this, a genuine laugh from the bottom of his heart. These little rascals' affairs were the most amusing. He even went up to her with a gossipy air and asked, "Didn't you write her a love letter or something?"

"I don't know how...and nobody has ever taught me."

Xia Lin finished the sticky rice in a few bites, then rolled up his sleeves and said, "Go, get some paper and pen. Today, I'll show you how to write this love letter."

The very next day, this scoundrel handed the love letter Xia Lin had written to him, which he had told him to go back and study on his own, directly to that little girl. Without even a word to him, the little girl immediately passed it on to her teacher.

"Who taught you to write such foul language? Your father? Your brother?"

The teacher sternly reprimanded the boy, but he remained silent about Xia Lin, showing his unwavering loyalty.

"But as they say, young love is the ultimate thing. I didn't write any vulgar language. What's wrong with a person being more beautiful than a flower?"

"Still talking back, huh? You won't talk, huh? Go, call this person over here. If he doesn't come, you don't need to attend class! I want to see what kind of twisted logic this person is spouting to you."

The boy returned to Xia Lin's courtyard with a pitiful look on his face, leaning against the wall and shouting to Xia Lin, who was reading a book inside, "Uncle... Uncle... I'm doomed."

Xia Lin turned her head: "Hmm? What's wrong?"

(End of this chapter)