“Xiaohe?” Lin Tieshan’s expression was complicated.
For a moment, he didn’t know whether to ask why Lin Xiaohe had applied to the Federation Central Military Academy or where she had gotten a gun.
Lin Jingqiu pressed her lips together, pushed the wheelchair into the house, grabbed Lin Xiaohe, and then slammed the door shut, cutting off the villagers’ prying eyes.
Seeing the frosty look on Lin Jingqiu’s face, Lin Xiaohe thought to herself, Uh oh, Second Sister is angry!
Lin Xiaohe stood by the door, not daring to go further in.
The Lin house had four rooms and a living room. The sofa in the living room was unfolded, with a messy blanket bunched up on it.
The windows were a bit small. Sunlight streamed in, landing right on the sofa.
Lin Xiaohe sighed inwardly. She was gaining a new understanding of the Lin family’s poverty.
Placed in the 21st century, the Lin house would just be a very ordinary apartment.
But in the interstellar age, this was the epitome of a destitute family—too poor to afford even a simulated electronic roof or a household robot!
“Xiaohe, it’s… it’s okay if you didn’t do well. Don’t worry too much. As long as our family is together, even if we get driven out of the city, we can all die together, nice and neat! We won’t leave anyone behind!”
Lin Tieshan stumbled through his attempt at comfort.
Seeing Lin Xiaohe’s face darken like coal after his words, he hurriedly added, “Don’t be afraid, Xiaohe. We’ll definitely let you die first, Dad will be last! Dad will dig a hole and bury you, I promise your bones won’t be used as fertilizer by mutated plants.”
Lin Xiaohe felt even more exasperated, mentally complaining.
Is that a threat?
It must be a threat!
“Thanks, Dad, but I don’t want to die.”
Lin Tieshan looked troubled, whispering, “Xiaohe, I’m afraid… that’s not really up to us.”
Lin Xiaohe gave a cold laugh. “Who is it up to, then?”
BANG!
The front door was kicked open. A boy with hair gelled into spikes like a hedgehog swaggered in, slung an arm around Lin Xiaohe’s shoulders, and said in a sinister tone, “Star credits have the final say!”
Lin Xiaohe glanced at her mentally ill older brother, Lin Chiyang. “Big Brother, where have you been?”
“Bagging heads.”
“Huh? Beating up who?”
“Anyone who said you wouldn’t get into college, I beat them up!” Lin Chiyang let go, plopping down onto the sofa.
Finding the blanket uncomfortable, he balled it up again and tossed it into a corner of the sofa.
Lin Xiaohe hadn’t expected her big brother to be so fiercely protective. Feeling immense pressure, she cautiously probed, “There weren’t that many people saying that, right?”
Lin Chiyang smirked, adopting a condescending air. “The whole village was saying you wouldn’t get into college!”
Lin Xiaohe’s vision darkened, her spirit deflating. “So?”
Lin Chiyang threw his hands on his hips and laughed heartily. “I beat them all up!”
Lin Xiaohe, Lin Jingqiu, and Lin Tieshan all sucked in a sharp breath together.
Things seemed to have gotten serious!
Indeed, the ominous premonition came true!
The Lin family was graced with a bill and a penalty notice. The fine wasn’t much, just a measly eighteen thousand star credits!
The already struggling family was now plunged into deeper crisis.
Lin Xiaohe felt like crying but had no tears. So being a farmer in the interstellar age wasn’t the worst part; being a destitute farmer was even worse!
Her gentle, soft-spoken second sister, Lin Jingqiu, had a change in her eyes. Rubbing her hands together, she walked towards the sofa. The moment she grabbed the collar of Lin Chiyang’s shirt, his eyes instantly cleared, and even his tone of voice turned soft and cute.
“Little Sister, what’s wrong? You’re holding on too tight, your hand must hurt. Let big brother blow on it for you.”
With that, Lin Chiyang puffed out his cheeks and pretended to blow on Lin Jingqiu’s hand.
What a perfect image of the simple-minded son of a destitute family!
Lin Jingqiu helplessly let go, patted Lin Chiyang’s head, and then tapped the sofa.
Lin Chiyang obediently lay down on the sofa, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
Lin Jingqiu then wheeled Lin Tieshan into the master bedroom before pulling Lin Xiaohe to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out two tubes of nutrient solution.
The two sisters sat at the dining table, raising their nutrient solutions in a shared ‘toast’!
Lin Jingqiu made a hand gesture mimicking a pistol, asking where Lin Xiaohe had gotten the gun.
Lin Xiaohe swallowed the nutrient solution with difficulty. The lowest-grade solution was indeed as bad as the memories suggested, tasting like drinking chalk.
Lin Xiaohe placed the touchscreen pen she had hidden in her sleeve on the table. “No gun. It was my exam pen. I was bluffing him.”
Lin Jingqiu understood, giving a thumbs up. Then she pointed to the master bedroom and made a motion of zipping her lips shut.
Lin Xiaohe: “I know. I won’t tell Mom, Grandpa, and Grandma about me applying to the wrong school.”
Lin Jingqiu smiled, ruffled Lin Xiaohe’s hair, pulled the garbage station job application form out of Lin Xiaohe’s pocket, waved her hand, and went back to her room.
Lin Xiaohe sighed inwardly. Though the Lin family was poor, with disabilities and illnesses, they truly treated the original owner incredibly well!
Learning that Lin Xiaohe had wasted her last chance to turn things around, they hadn’t even said a single harsh word. Lin Jingqiu even felt sorry for how hard Lin Xiaohe had worked on the exam and couldn’t bear to let her go collect garbage, deciding to go in her place.
Lin Xiaohe mused over this as she walked into the bathroom for an air wash.
Science told her she was clean, but Lin Xiaohe always felt that without even a drop of water touching her, she had basically washed thin air.
Purified water was expensive—one hundred star credits per liter.
The Lin family certainly couldn’t afford to use purified water for bathing.
Lin Xiaohe rubbed her face and went back to her bedroom. Her desire for star credits had reached an unprecedented peak!
Lin Xiaohe’s room was sparse, containing only a bed, a wardrobe, and a vase on the windowsill holding a single yellow plastic flower.
It was the only splash of color in the room.
Looking out the window, she could see the drooping heads of the stellar wheat.
This was the Lin family’s stellar wheat, infected with stellar blight.
Gazing at this stretch upon stretch of sick wheat, Lin Xiaohe felt her heart ache to the point of breathlessness.
Was it the wheat that was sick?
No, it was star credits! It was her own hope for survival!
[Here! I’m over here.]
Lin Xiaohe froze. Had she just imagined that?
[Big Sister Lin, take the child home. I’m your long-lost sister from another father and mother.]
The voice sounded again, comical yet carrying a thread of weakness and despair.
Lin Xiaohe’s heart thumped wildly, almost leaping out of her chest!
She was sure this wasn’t a hallucination. A wheat plant was really talking!
Her golden finger had finally come online.
Lin Xiaohe put on long pants and a jacket, donned a helmet, picked up an iron rod, and quietly opened the door.
She planned to follow the voice and see what was really going on!
Could this be a mutated wheat plant?
But according to Federation propaganda, mutated plants shouldn’t have subjective consciousness. They mutated due to stellar dust influence.
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes grew determined. Fortune favors the bold. Whether it was mutated wheat or not, she had to take this risk!
Because the Lin family was too poor! The kind of poor that could literally kill you!
In the field, the stellar wheat stood over a meter tall, with many wheat heads, but all were shriveled.
If this wheat hadn’t been infected with stellar blight, the yield definitely wouldn’t be low!
Unfortunately, the Lin family had bad luck. Theirs was the only field in the whole village where the wheat got sick.
Lin Xiaohe stopped. The voice had come from right around here.
She scanned the surrounding stellar wheat plants. Which one, exactly, was the talking wheat?
