The appearance of the Lin family didn't lead to any violent flare-ups between the Wang and Su families, nor did anyone sustain serious injuries.
The Wang family walked away rather unwillingly after being intimidated and threatened.
They left without taking Wang Min with them.
Upon seeing the somewhat fierce look in Su Zhiqiang's eyes, Wang Min, frightened, shrank her neck and entered the house, hiding on the kang and dared not show her face.
Su Shuanzi, along with Su Zhiqiang, was very grateful to Lin Hongjun and Lin Aiguo, and even offered to invite the Lin family members for a drink. Lin Hongjun quickly waved his hand: "No need, you've had a busy day, and now this incident at night, I think it's best if you rest early. If you really want to treat us, any time is fine."
In fact, Su Shuanzi was just being polite and had no real intention of inviting them.
He gave a dry laugh and had Su Zhiqiang escort the Lin family out.
Upon returning home, Anning quickly brought water for Lin Aiguo and Wang Cuixhua to wash their hands and faces.
While bringing in the warm water, she overheard Wang Cuixhua crying.
"My dear, I don't know what kind of life An Jie will have in the future. Her sisters-in-law are no easy opponents, who knows what quarrels will happen later, and the Su family is so poor..."
"Enough."
Lin Aiguo actually felt sorry for Lin Anjie too, but he was getting frustrated with Wang Cuixhua's crying, and said somewhat sternly: "The Su family won't be poor forever, right? No one can claim poverty as their own, they'll have their day of prosperity. Moreover, the girls from the Li and Wang families are no easy characters; do you think your daughter is the only good one? If Anning had married into the Su family, I'd be worried, but An Jie, I'm not concerned at all. She doesn't cause trouble like others and can live peacefully—who can take advantage of her?"
Wang Cuixhua cried even louder: "I knew you looked down on An Jie, always so biased."
Hearing this, Anning quickly coughed: "Mom, stop crying and wash up, then go to sleep."
She brought the basin in. Wang Cuixhua went to wash her face, and as her hand touched the water, she felt its perfect lukewarm temperature which warmed her heart. She felt somewhat guilty for the harsh words she had spoken to Anning just now.
Anning wore a smile on her face, appearing warm and gentle, her eyes particularly clear and bright: "Mom, our house is closer to the Li and Wang families anyway. How would we not know if something happened at the Su's place? If my sister were to be treated unfairly at the Su's, wouldn't we find out earlier than those other families?"
With these words, Wang Cuixhua felt somewhat relieved.
Lin Aiguo took a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff: "Anning, you should go to bed too; you have school tomorrow."
Anning nodded happily in agreement, wiped her hands and face with a damp cloth, and quickly went to bed.
Afterward, Anning continued to study diligently, and until before the New Year, she had no time to inquire about Lin Anjie's affairs.
In the twelfth lunar month, First Middle School held its semester final exams. After the exams, Anning stayed home for two days before going back to school to collect her results, which officially started her vacation.
This examination was conducted county-wide, with all high schools in the county participating in a unified test, grading, and ranking process.
And Anning did exceptionally well this time.
The original owner of the body had always had good academic performance, consistently ranking first in First Middle School.
However, the teaching resources in Town First Middle School were not great; they were at the bottom in the county-wide exams, and although the original owner ranked first in Town First Middle School, they wouldn't rank high in the entire county.
But Anning was different.
After she arrived, she consciously strived to improve her grades, gradually convincing the teachers to accept her increasingly better academic performance. Although she didn't fully showcase her true abilities in this joint exam, she still took it seriously.
When the results came out, Anning surprisingly achieved the first place in the entire county, which delighted the principal and teachers of Town First Middle School.
Because of Anning's excellent performance in the exam, which greatly honored Town First Middle School, the school rewarded her with US$ 10, and the county authorities also gave her a hefty reward of US$ 15, so Anning suddenly received a total of US$ 25.
With the money, and since it was just before New Year's, Anning bought some items in town to bring back home.
When she returned home, the family was just cooking meat.
Lin Jiugen and Wu Pan'ni were also at Anning's house. Seeing Anning return, Wu Pan'ni's face bloomed with smiles, wrinkling up like a flower: "Ningning is back, hurry over and let grandma have a good look at you."
Anning quickly went over. She sat next to Wu Pan'ni and took out a blue wool scarf from her bag: "Grandma, I bought you a scarf in town. Try it on and see if it looks good."
Wu Pan'ni's calloused hands touched the warm and smooth surface of the scarf, her eyes filled with joy: "This scarf is really nice, the fabric is so soft and smooth, I've never seen such a beautiful scarf before."
Anning wrapped the scarf around Wu Pan'ni and asked Lin Jiugen with a smile, "Grandpa, does grandma look good?"
Lin Jiugen laughed too: "Beautiful, very beautiful."
Wu Pan'ni wore the scarf for a moment then took it off, smiling at Wang Cuixhua: "At my age, what do I need a scarf for? You wear it."
Wang Cuixhua was startled and quickly waved her hands: "Mother, you should wear it. Anning specifically bought it for you. Keep it on, I have a scarf already."
Anning folded the scarf and stuffed it into Wu Pan'ni's arms: "Grandma, this was bought for you. You can't give it away to others, or else I'll be upset."
Wu Pan'ni looked at Anning with difficulty.
She actually liked the scarf very much, but she worried that if she accepted the scarf, and Anning hadn't bought something that Wang Cuixhua liked, what if Wang Cuixhua held it against Anning? If because of a scarf Anning felt wronged, Wu Pan'ni would definitely feel heartbroken.
Anning naturally understood Wu Pan'ni's concerns.
She quickly took out two large skeins of wool from her bag, both bright red in color, eye-catching: "Grandma, look at this. I specifically bought these to knit scarves for my mom, my aunt, and my aunt-in-law."
As she spoke, she also took out a few packs of cigarettes for Lin Jiugen: "Grandpa, these are for you, but you need to smoke less."
Lin Aiguo looked enviously at Lin Jiugen, then turned his yearning eyes towards Anning.
Not only Lin Aiguo but also Lin Anping was filled with eager anticipation.
Anning handed Lin Aiguo a bottle of alcohol and pulled out several sets of test papers from her bag for Lin Anping: "These are specially picked for you. These sets of test papers are excellent. If you finish them during the holidays, you will definitely be able to improve your grades."
Lin Anping's hands trembled as he took the test papers, with thoughts of despair.
Why is it that for everyone else it's cigarettes, alcohol, and scarves, but for him, it's these damned test papers?
When it came to grades, Wu Pan'ni was particularly concerned, she tugged at Anning and asked, "Ningning, how did you do on the exam this time?"
Wang Cuixhua slapped her thigh, exclaiming loudly: "Anning, the gifts you brought for us... Where did you get the money from?"
As Anning took out the things, the Lin Family was just happy and forgot about the cost of these items. After all, they weren't things that Anning, a poor student, could afford.
It was only after Wang Cuixhua mentioned it that everyone snapped back to reality.