This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 77 Your Heart Is Really Big

Although Chen Shi'an had a meal at the class monitor's house, he got home much earlier than he usually does after evening self-study.

Around 8:30, Chen Shi'an opened the door to his home.

Li Wanyin and the cat on the sofa both turned their heads to look at him.

"Shi'an is back so early today?"

"Meow?"

"Yeah, has Sister Wanyin eaten yet?"

"I ate it a long time ago... Did you go to buy more supplies? You bought so much stuff!"

Chen Shi'an changed his shoes, carried several large bags into the house, and placed them on the coffee table.

"I didn't have to go to evening self-study tonight, so I went to Uncle Lin's house for dinner. Uncle Lin was very kind and gave me a lot of fruit and snacks. I couldn't finish them all by myself. Sister Wanyin, feel free to take whatever you want."

"Uncle Lin is so good to you! Apples, pears, dragon fruit, strawberries, grapes... spicy strips, dried meat, macadamia nuts, walnuts, milk candy, dried mango, hawthorn snacks, potato chips... Wow!! He must have gone out of his way to buy them, right?"

"I guess so. I saw Uncle Lin had prepared these fruits and snacks before he left. He probably bought them when he went grocery shopping this afternoon."

"So you went to Uncle Lin's house for dinner. Does he live nearby too?"

"Yes, it's the road to the left from our school gate."

"Dongyuzhen Mansion?"

"Oh, Sister Wanyin knows which neighborhood?"

"Haha, I haven't been there, but that should be one of the better neighborhoods nearby. Although it's a 10-20 year old neighborhood, the location is great, and the prices seem to be tens of thousands per square meter! That's terrifying!"

"Oh no, then I can't even afford one square meter."

Chen Shi'an knew that housing prices were high, but he didn't really grasp the concept. In fact, he didn't have much of a concept of money. It wasn't until Li Wanyin talked about the specific housing prices that he realized he couldn't even afford a single square meter.

"Me too! I don't know how many years I'll have to work before I can afford my own house!"

Every girl hopes to have a stable home of her own, and Li Wanyin is no exception. It's not that she hasn't thought about settling down in the city, but the housing prices are just too frightening. Assuming she can be hired after her probation period, and assuming she can get the highest salary of 6,000 yuan after that, even if she saves 3,000 yuan a month after deducting daily living expenses, it would still take her at least ten years of work to afford a down payment...

Chen Shi'an had no idea how wealthy Lin Mengqiu's family was. He had heard Lin mention it while chatting with Uncle Lin over tea. Besides being a member of the school's board of directors, Lin also ran educational institutions. Chen Shi'an didn't really understand terms like "shares," "cooperation," or "private," but in short, the class monitor's family was well-off.

"Does Sister Wanyin plan to buy a house?" Chen Shi'an asked with a smile.

"Wow, that's too far-fetched. Of course I've thought about it. I've even dreamed of being like Uncle Lin, having several houses in the future and being able to collect rent from them."

Li Wanyin laughed, then said with a touch of emotion, "Uncle Lin must be a very capable person, right?"

"Yes, that's quite impressive. Back then, he was admitted to a top university from a small mountain village. He had no background or resources; he worked his way up all the way."

"Uncle Lin is really amazing!"

Li Wanyin didn't know much about Lin Ming, only that he was a landlord, a principal, and a very kind person. Hearing Chen Shi'an say this, she couldn't help but feel admiration. As someone who also came from the lower class, she knew all too well how difficult it was to change one's fate.

Either you met a benefactor, or you seized a fleeting opportunity, and of course, your own hard work is also indispensable.

Benefactors and opportunities are rare and hard to come by, and Li Wanyin understands this very well. All she can hold onto now is hard work.

Chen Shi'an sat down on the sofa and reached out to open the snack bag. The black cat jumped onto the coffee table and took out a packet of dried meat from the bag.

"Meow."

Chen Shi'an opened the dried meat and shared it with the cat and also with his sister who was standing next to him.

"Thank you~"

"Has Sister Wanyin finished her part-time job?" Chen Shi'an asked while eating.

"Okay, I don't have to go to work tomorrow. It's a good day to rest, and then I can start my new job on Monday."

Li Wanyin had just finished showering and was wearing casual shorts and a T-shirt. She sat cross-legged on the sofa, her smooth hair covering her entire back. On her lap was a second-hand laptop she had bought when she was in college. She was currently browsing the internet, looking at experience posts related to the job of [Administrative Specialist]. Whether they were useful or not, she was already preparing for the job before it even started.

As in the past when she shared an apartment with Xiao Rui, even though Xiao Rui was also a girl, Li Wanyin rarely stayed in the living room. Most of the time, she and Xiao Rui stayed in their own rooms.

It was when she shared an apartment with Chen Shi'an that she truly felt at ease and relaxed, and was willing to come to the more spacious common areas to sit, watch TV, chat, or play on her phone or computer.

"What is Sister Wanyin looking at?"

“It’s an experience post,” Li Wanyin said generously, turning her computer screen towards Chen Shi’an.

Are these even useful?

"Haha, just browsing. It's like watching a palace drama. The workplace is a deep and complex place. I'm a newbie, so it's always good to do more preparation."

As she spoke, Li Wanyin put down her computer, straightened her legs, put on her slippers, and looked ready to get to work.

"Here's your choice. Tonight, would you like mung bean soup, white fungus soup, or taro sago pudding? There's still so much left over."

Chen Shi'an smiled and said, "I just finished eating and I'm still quite full. If Sister Wanyin is free, why don't we go for a walk downstairs together? I've been here for several days and haven't really gone out at night."

“Great! I also want to go for a walk. It’s boring to go alone, so let’s go together.”

Li Wanyin readily agreed to Chen Shi'an's casual invitation, getting up from the sofa and taking her laptop back to her room.

A short while later, when she came out again, she had changed her home shorts into casual trousers, and the old T-shirt she usually wore to sleep in had been replaced with a much newer white T-shirt.

Her simple attire is enough to highlight her charm as a mature woman. Her long legs, slender waist, and upright chest, despite being ordinary clothes, exude a gentle and graceful charm that young girls lack.

Chen Shi'an was still wearing his school uniform and had no intention of changing. He decided to wander around outside for a bit before coming back to take a shower.

After the two changed their shoes, Li Wanyin remembered something and ran back into the house to take the trash with her before coming out with Chen Shi'an.

"Shi'an, did you bring your keys?"

"I brought it."

"Then I won't bring it."

This natural conversation made the two of them feel the reality of living under the same roof.

The siblings walked slowly down the stairs side by side, and the motion-activated lights in the stairwell rang in response to their footsteps.

Stepping out of the residential building and walking in the community, Li Wanyin felt refreshed as the cool night breeze blew by.

To be honest, this was the first time she had gone out for a walk since she had lived here for three months.

You don't need to think about whether you have to go to work tomorrow, or worry about how to find a job, or even figure out what destination you should go to on this trip.

Chen Shi'an was so tall. She was only 1.65 meters tall, and when she walked next to him, she felt like she didn't even reach his chin. This height made Li Wanyin feel very safe when she walked next to him, as if he could easily protect her.

But he was still wearing his school uniform, and the blue and white uniform silently reminded him of his age, making Li Wanyin feel that she was the older sister and should have the responsibility to take care of him.

In short, it's a contradictory yet wonderful experience brought about by two different senses.

The trash can was on the path near the wall. Li Wanyin quickly walked a few steps ahead to throw away her trash so that Chen Shi'an wouldn't have to stop and wait for her. This was a habit ingrained in her. In the workplace, this would probably be what leaders would praise as 'cleverness'. In reality, she was simply more thoughtful and empathetic than many others, even in the smallest things.

Perhaps it was precisely because of Li Wanyin's almost ingrained qualities that Chen Shi'an felt she was like an 'older sister' when they first met.

"Sister" is a noun, but for Li Wanyin, there seems to be no more fitting adjective.

In the dim light of the old streetlights in the neighborhood at night, Li Wanyin pointed to the cat-shaped black shadow in front of her and said to Chen Shi'an with a smile, "Shi'an, look at that black cat, it looks like Shi Mo."

Chen Shi'an: "..."

Only when the two approached did Li Wanyin, who was slightly nearsighted, finally see the dark figure that had stopped ahead to wait for them...

The more I looked at it, the more it resembled Shimo; the more I looked, the more it resembled… until finally I realized—

"Shi Mo?!"

"Meow." "Wait, how did you get down here?! You were just watching TV at home! When did you run out?!"

Li Wanyin was shocked, but the black cat in front of her was none other than Shimo!
"Um, maybe it escaped from the balcony."

"Oh... Ah?! The balcony? The ninth floor! Shimo, you jumped down?!"

Li Wanyin's eyes nearly popped out of her head; she was so frightened that she quickly came over to check if the fat cat had any injuries from the fall.

"Shimo, are you alright? Why did you suddenly jump down?"

The black cat wouldn't let her touch it, and even gave her a very human-like 'making a fuss' look, before running and jumping away on its own, continuing to walk ahead of them.

"Don't worry, Sister Wanyin, the cat won't break, and Fei Mo will be fine."

"...You have such a big heart."

Li Wanyin was completely impressed by the person and the cat. Seeing that Shimo was still nimble and didn't seem to have hurt himself, she finally felt a little relieved...

My mind is automatically making excuses for the fat cat, like there's some building or pipe outside the balcony that it can use to climb, or that it really won't get hurt if it falls from the ninth floor... Hey! It's still so hard to convince myself!

"What should we do then? Should we take Shimo back with us? Why let it run around outside like this?"

Li Wanyin said worriedly that she had raised cats herself and knew that cats were very neurotic animals and did not follow people like dogs, especially in the city. If a cat left home, it would almost certainly get lost.

"It's alright, Sister Wanyin, don't worry. Fei Mo always follows me wherever I go, so it won't get lost."

"...You have such a big heart."

Li Wanyin was once again convinced, and prayed that if Chen Shi'an got married and had children in the future, she would hope that his wife would never make him take care of the children...

……

Seeing that Shi Mo was indeed following them around at a distance, Li Wanyin felt much more at ease.

But I still watch over it like a child, checking on it every now and then, afraid it might run away.

After all, this is how she raised her younger sister since she was little. Li Wanyin is seven years older than her younger sister. When her younger sister was born, she, as the older sister, was already sensible. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she was half a guardian.

The two walked out of the residential area and onto the main street. It was around eight or nine o'clock on a weekend night, which is the busiest time in the city.

"Shi'an, where would you like to go for a walk?"

"How about we go for a walk along the West River?"

"Great! It's really lively over there at night. You know the West River area too?"

"Yes, I've been running there recently when I go for my morning run."

The Xijiang Riverbank is not far from the residential area; it's about a 20-minute walk west across the street.

Li Wanyin, however, was drawn to another piece of information in his words.

"You go for a run in the morning?"

"Yes, I've been going for a run every morning lately to get familiar with the surroundings."

"Exercise is great! What time do you usually get up to run?"

Although they lived under the same roof, due to the difference in their work and study schedules, Chen Shi'an would have already gone to school by the time Li Wanyin woke up each morning.

She was very excited after getting the job last night, but she slept very well. She didn't know why she felt so calm. So she woke up early this morning, at 6:30, but she still didn't see Chen Shi'an.

"Around five o'clock. I usually get up at five, go for a run outside, come back to wash up and have breakfast, and then leave at six-tenths."

"Five o'clock!!"

Li Wanyin was shocked, "You get up so early, and then you have to exercise. Can you handle studying during the day...?"

"Fortunately, I sleep quite well. When I'm really sleepy, I just sit quietly and meditate for a while."

Li Wanyin didn't know how he ran, but she admired people who could get up early and stick to exercising.

She had thought about getting up early to exercise, but apart from when she was in school, she really didn't have the energy to get up early to exercise after starting work. Every day after get off work, she just wanted to put her head down and go to sleep.

Chen Shi'an seemed to see through her thoughts and smiled, "However, from a health perspective, sufficient sleep and rest are more important than anything else. Working or exercising while exhausted is both mentally and physically harmful."

"Then you shouldn't have to get up so early for class tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, I don't have to go to class, but I'm used to waking up early."

"Impressive... So what are your plans for tomorrow?"

“I plan to go for a walk in the nearby mountains and look for some herbs or something. I’ll see what’s in the mountains and treat it as ‘stocking up’.”

Chen Shi'an used the same word that Li Wanyin had said when he brought the snacks and fruit home earlier; it was apt and useful.

"You even know about herbs! What are you going to do with them?"

"Make some health-preserving and beauty-enhancing teas or something to give to my classmates. Wanyin, do you want some? I can send you some."

"You can do this too!"

Li Wanyin was quite surprised, and laughed without any politeness, "If you're willing to give it to me, I'll definitely take it. I just didn't expect you to know these things..."

"Yes, I also learned some pharmacology while cultivating Taoism."

"But there's not much to collect from mountains that have been developed..."

"Sister Wanyin is quite familiar with Yunqi. Do you know which mountains might have wild herbs?"

"Hmm, there are quite a few mountains in Yunqi. I often see people selling wild mushrooms picked from the mountains at the market. I don't know where they pick them. If there's a mountain that's relatively close to us and hasn't been developed much, maybe we could go to... what's it called again? Waterwheel Mountain!"

As Li Wanyin walked and pondered, she finally figured out a hilltop that might have wild herbs and wild mushrooms.

"Waterwheel Mountain...that's a unique name. How did you know about it, Sister Wanyin?"

"Haha, I just suddenly remembered that I had a classmate who is from this area. She mentioned that her uncle often looked for wild mushrooms in Shuiche Mountain. They had a very unique name, so I remembered it. I'm not sure if there are any medicinal herbs."

"It's okay, we have time anyway, we'll just have to go and see for ourselves."

"These are very hard to find in the wild! Wild mushrooms and wild herbs won't just appear in front of you, how are you supposed to find them, searching bit by bit?"

"I have good eyesight, a keen sense of smell, and I understand the growth habits of herbs, so they're not hard to find."

Li Wanyin didn't believe he had good eyesight or a keen sense of smell. Even though she grew up in the countryside, she wasn't sure if he could find wild mushrooms, though she was very experienced at digging bamboo shoots.

Are you going alone?

"Okay, take Fei Mo with you."

Turning her head, she saw that Wanyin seemed to have something to say, so Chen Shi'an blinked and invited, "Sister Wanyin, you don't have anything else to do tomorrow, right? How about we go shopping together?"

"Okay~!"

To be honest, Chen Shi'an went out into the wild all by himself.

As the older sister, she was really worried...

　I recommend a seedling book to everyone.

　　[Light Fantasy] [Slice of Life] [Healing] [Suspense]

　　Suddenly one day, Xia Chuan's life came to a standstill in the summer of his fourth grade of elementary school.

　　His summer vacations kept repeating, and all sorts of "abnormalities" happened around him one after another.

(End of this chapter)