Chapter 7 - 6: Persuading Mom
"When I first came out, I wanted to stay far from home, find a hotel for a few days, but the hotel was too expensive. I heard that most things in the city require tickets, which I didn’t have. Just then, I passed by here aimlessly, found out that this place rents houses, so I rented a place for a month. The next day, when I went out to buy food, I got hit by a car. The person must have been in a hurry. Seeing it was just an exterior wound, he directly compensated me twenty bucks. That’s what I used to buy things," Lin Wan recounted with her head down.
"You got hit by a car? Where? Are you alright?" Liang Hongmei and Lin Yinghui were scared, pulling Lin Wan to check her.
"It’s fine now, it’s already scabbed." Lin Wan raised her arm to show the peeling wound: "Cars rarely come to the town, I was careless. It was just a skin scrape. The driver must have been wealthy, generously gave me twenty bucks and left." Speaking of which, she was rather lucky.
"Be careful next time, not far west from this town, there’s a camp. It’s normal for cars to pass by here often," Lin Yinghui said.
"Camp? I stayed here for a month last time and didn’t hear about it."
"It was built only a few years back. It’s normal not to know if you don’t go out often. It’s next to the woods, not many people."
"...Oh."
Lin Wan was supposed to go home today, so she didn’t plan to buy anything.
The three of them discussed, and Mom planned to come over to help Lin Wan. A few days ago, Brother was working in their town carrying wood with Brother Ah Zhi, earning six bucks a month.
Brother didn’t want to keep working and quit halfway through, the boss was stingy, deducting five dimes even if just a day less in a month. At least it’s six bucks, got to stick it out and finish. Uncle’s family is still worrying about Lin Wan, and Lin Yinghui also needs to go back home to reassure them.
"Brother, I don’t want to go to college this year." Lin Wan saw that Brother became even thinner in just under a month. She knew he worked hard for their family, being the family’s pillar, swallowing all the bitterness without a word to her or Mom.
"Why? Haven’t you always wanted to go to college? Is it about the cost of living? Brother can study while working. I heard you can apply for bursaries in college, I..."