Chapter 43: Chapters 49 and 50 (Two-in-One)

"Fourth Brother, aren't you scrimping and saving every day at school just to buy those pieces of junk?"

"No way! How could I possibly do that? Eldest Brother, you're wrongly accusing me."

"That's right, that's right. Eldest Brother, I'm with Little Fourth every day."

"Third Brother, shut up."

Hearing Eldest Brother lecture Fourth Brother, Lin Yilan quickly shut her mouth, trying her best to make herself as inconspicuous as possible in the car.

Wang Zixin saw her acting like a little quail and gently flicked her forehead.

"By the way, I already have news about what you asked me to look into before. Since it's the vacation period right now, we'll have time to take a serious look."

Lin Yilan brought her hands together in front of her chest and looked at her second sister with a face full of adoration.

"Second Sister, you're the best."

Such a wonderful second sister—she had to protect her well.

Watching this girl put on a naive and cute act, Wang Zixin fiercely pinched her cheek.

"I'm warning you, don't you dare learn from your fourth brother. If you want to buy something, just tell your sister, and sister will give you money."

Lin Yilan patted her chest and said with absolute certainty, "Second Sister, don't worry. I'm different from Fourth Brother; I can make my own money."

"Look how long I've been in Beijing, and I've already earned enough money to buy a house. Impressive, right?"

Wang Zixin played along helplessly. "Yes, yes, yes, you're the most impressive."

"But are you sure you want to buy a house right now? Most of the money in your hands probably won't be enough to buy a place near the school."

Lin Yilan nodded. "Yes, I think inflation might happen in the future, and the money I save up will become worthless by then."

Choosing to buy a house now was also a helpless choice on her part. She neither understood economics nor studied history very seriously, so she only had a general idea of what would happen in this era over the next decade or even two decades.

Just as she knew everything would go up in price soon, she didn't know the exact timing. To prevent her already meager assets from shrinking, she had no choice but to choose the most conservative method—buying a house.

Thinking of the road ahead, Lin Yilan rested her chin on her hand, looked out the window, and let out a deep sigh. Pressing against her twitching eyebrows, she soothed her nervous emotions. It wouldn't be long before her second and fourth brothers' biological father's family came looking for them.

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Whew—"

Lin Yilan panted as she rode her bicycle.

"Little Fifth, wait for me." Wang Xing's urgent voice came from behind her.

She squeezed the brake lever and planted her right foot on the ground. "Fourth Brother, you really are getting weaker and weaker."

Wang Xing pedaled his bicycle dejectedly, the veins on his forehead bulging from trying too hard.

How was it that ever since Little Fifth came to Beijing for college, her physical stamina was still so good, while only he had grown weak? Among the five of them, his stamina was already at the bottom. As a result, the ones with good stamina hadn't regressed, but he, a total weakling, had actually regressed quite a bit. Thinking about this, he felt even more useless.

Seeing her fourth brother pedal silently with his head down, Lin Yilan just smiled without saying a word. The rest of them had long wanted to find an opportunity to stimulate him.

Among the five of them, Fourth Brother was the only one who had poor health since birth, yet he was also the pickiest eater and the one who hated moving the most.

Now that it was finally time where he didn't have to do farm work in the countryside, if Third Brother hadn't been keeping an eye on him, Fourth Brother would probably have become even more useless.

Thinking this, Lin Yilan was completely oblivious to the fact that in her past life, she had also been a weakling who hated moving, wanted nothing more than to be a homebody, and dreamed of retiring early.

The two of them had circled most of this alleyway without seeing a single house under renovation.

Wang Xing looked at the wooden box tied to his backseat, which was already nearly half full, while Little Fifth's backseat was still completely empty.

"Little Fifth, should we switch to another alley?"

Lin Yilan shook her head. "No need. Since you've managed to collect so many things you like, let's finish exploring this alley."

Seeing this, Wang Xing stopped trying to persuade her.

Speak of the devil.

It was just that coincidental.

Lin Yilan saw a courtyard entrance where debris was being cleared out to the street, and she quickly dismounted from her bicycle.

She pushed her bicycle to a spot not far outside the courtyard, parked it to the side, waved at her fourth brother, and walked toward the courtyard entrance.

"Little girl, what are you looking at?"

She was almost startled out of her wits. Turning around, she saw an elderly woman wearing a red armbands staring at her sternly.

"Auntie, my brother and I just happened to ride our bikes past here. May I ask if the courtyard inside is being torn down?"

The woman with the red armband looked Lin Yilan up and down. Seeing that both she and the brother behind her had thin arms and legs, her guard lowered slightly.

"If you know they're tearing things down, stand further back. There's nothing interesting about this kind of commotion, so be careful not to hurt yourself and your brother."

Sensing the somewhat unfriendly tone in the woman's voice, Lin Yilan quickly fished her student ID out of her pocket.

"Auntie, I'm a student at the University of Technology..." She clearly explained both her identity and her purpose to the woman, "...so I wanted to ask if we could have the items they're taking down and don't want, provided we like them?"

"Of course, if the landlord isn't willing, we can pay to buy them. Everything is open to negotiation."

The woman looked Lin Yilan up and down again, then glanced behind her to see Wang Xing smiling foolishly, before lowering her head to flip through her student ID once more.

"I don't know if their family is willing, but I can go ask for you. You just stand outside and wait." Returning the student ID to Lin Yilan, the woman walked toward the courtyard.

Lin Yilan took the student ID and carefully tucked it into her pocket.

Wang Xing hurried over to her side. Seeing that the woman had left, he poked her arm.

"It's a good thing you brought your student ID out today, otherwise the two of us probably would have been hauled off to the police station by these aunties and uncles."

Thinking of the several elderly people they had run into today, Wang Xing couldn't help but shiver. "These old folks are too formidable. If you really were a bad guy, being stared down by them would probably stop you from telling a lie."

Lin Yilan glanced at her fourth brother. He was truly a sweet, naive fool. She had no idea how this person would end up fighting for property against those people in his biological father's family later on.

Thinking of his ultimate fate, her heart softened a bit. She patted his shoulder and squeezed out a sentence, "Fourth Brother, study hard. If you're interested, I think you should consider pursuing a doctorate or something."

Wang Xing looked at Lin Yilan in horror. "As the person with the worst grades in our family, where do you get the courage to advise me?"

Lin Yilan immediately rolled her eyes in exasperation; there was no talking to this guy.

Seeing this, Wang Xing smiled apologetically. "I misspoke, Little Fifth, don't hold it against me. You know what I'm like."

Seeing that Little Fifth still ignored him, he pulled a long face and continued apologizing.

"I'll tell you a secret between Third Brother and me." Looking around to make sure no one was near, Wang Xing stepped close to her and whispered, "Third Brother and I have already figured out what we want to do in the future."

Lin Yilan couldn't keep up the act anymore. Seeing that there was something to be gained, she stopped while she was ahead. She was a bit curious about what could make her fourth brother look so mysterious. "What is it?"

Wang Xing stared into her eyes. "Swear that after I tell you, you won't tell anyone else!"

Lin Yilan eyed him for a moment and, seeing his serious expression, reluctantly made a gesture of swearing. "I swear."

Considering her past track record for trustworthiness, Wang Xing revealed his and Third Brother's future plans. "We plan to get two border defense passes before the next summer vacation and take a trip to Shenzhen."

"If Third Brother and I can't be assigned jobs in Beijing after graduation, we don't plan to go work at the assigned units."

???

Lin Yilan: "......"

She moved her lips, but didn't know what to say.

Just as she was about to speak, she saw her fourth brother lazily leaning against the bicycle and making a shushing gesture.

Ah... if Fourth Brother didn't have such a handsome face, her hands really would start itching.

Lin Yilan twisted her right hand, which was clenched into a fist.

"Little girl, I've talked it over with the homeowner. You can come in."

The woman with the red armband walked out of the courtyard.

"Thank you, Auntie." Lin Yilan quietly wiped the hand she had kept behind her back.

She followed the woman into the courtyard, while Fourth Brother stayed outside to watch the bicycles.

"Thud—"

"Clatter—"

The sounds of hammering and smashing echoed, accompanied by discarded old furniture and dismantled construction waste scattered across the ground.

Lin Yilan carefully sidestepped the busy workers, found an empty spot to squat down, and began rummaging through the items salvaged from the building.

Though her knowledge of ancient architecture wasn't deep, she could still distinguish the basic structures.

After a brief scan, she noticed there were quite a few items dismantled from this house; it seemed they were going through a major renovation.

She walked over to a nearly intact window frame, squatted down, and inspected it closely.

The carvings on it were still distinct, showing that the craftsman's skills were top-notch. Such a gorgeous window was just being thrown away like trash, which Lin Yilan felt was a terrible waste.

After a moment's thought, she took cotton gloves out of her pocket and moved the window to an open area.

For the next two hours, Lin Yilan acted like a gold prospector, continuously rummaging around the courtyard. This family's house had the most complete and best-preserved furniture among all the alley courtyards she had visited over the past few days.

She had to admit, there really were plenty of good things back in the old days.

Lin Yilan clapped her hands together to shake off the dust from her gloves, then stood aside with her hands on her hips, looking quite satisfied with her harvest from the past two hours.

Meanwhile, Wang Xing, who had been waiting impatiently outside, entered the courtyard and let out a shout when he saw the mountain of items in front of her.

"Little Sister?!"

"Are you crazy? You took so much!"

Lin Yilan dug into her ear and turned around calmly. "Fourth Brother, help me go outside and see if there are any transport workers."

Wang Xing pinched the bridge of his nose with a look that suggested high blood pressure. "Are you sure you want to take all of this back? Eldest Brother is going to beat me!"

Lin Yilan guiltily rubbed her nose. "Then I won't go home first. I'll take the things Zhao Qiangjun's family needs over to them first."