Chapter 8

“Comrade Chen Shimo, you’re just angry out of embarrassment.”

I walked over and sat down on the chair opposite my mother.

Looking at my mother’s slightly flushed face, I couldn’t help but laugh again.

Seeing that my mother seemed about to give me a smack, I quickly restrained my expression.

“Mother, opening a school is no joke. What are you really thinking?”

My mother reached out and took off the Double-Pronged Hairpin from my temple.

“Jin’er, do you know how many catties of grain this hairpin could buy?”

“It could buy one hundred and fifty catties of rice. If you buy coarse grains, it would be even more.”

I pressed my lips together and said nothing.

“When I first came here, I was actually very happy.”

“I had never lived such a good life before-eating rice and white flour at every meal, wearing such soft clothes. There were even people to serve me in all aspects of daily life.”

“You could say I was indeed corrupted by these sugar-coated bullets.”

My mother took a sip of tea, her gaze deep and heavy.

“Before I got married, I went with my mother to my Dowry Estate.”

“You know, your grandfather was just a minor official, but the shops and fields he gave me could still bring in several hundred taels a year.”

“I looked at those thin farmers, at their dark and shriveled faces.”

“It was like seeing my own parents from the past.”

“I realized I was still a farmer’s child, someone who once swore under the banner to dedicate my life for my beliefs. How could I trample on these people’s heads and enjoy life by sucking their marrow?”

I understood: those who have seen the light will never willingly pretend to be blind in the darkness.