On the speeding train, Yuanyuan Li wore a frown.
She was a child raised in Haidu City, where conditions at ho were never good. Her parents were ordinary workers at the Sea Star Company’s farm, supporting her college education with ager wages and hardworking hands.
She was well aware of her hotown’s plight and rembered the sea that nurtured her, which had withered away in the policy storm. Therefore, she deliberately chose the "Marine Resources and Environntal Managent" major in college, harboring a simple dream: to return with her knowledge to help her hotown, and to help people like her parents who depend on the sea, find a new way out.
She thought she had chosen a path that could connect ideals with reality. However, the cold reality drenched her spirit thoroughly.
The major was too niche with scarce job opportunities. It was challenging enough to get an internship at a research institute under the Ocean Bureau in the city where her school was located, only to find that the so-called "managent" work was filled with empty etings, long reports, and unrealistic "grand blueprints."
The leaders and experts discussed "revitalizing the marine economy" and "sustainable ecological developnt" in etings, spouting glamorous terms and forwarding "visionary" plans, yet they couldn’t even explain the common diseases in marine aquaculture, much less solve practical problems.
Ideals? Here, they seed more like a shimring façade, masking the pale and powerless disconnection from reality.
The small spark of wanting to change her hotown with professional knowledge was nearly extinguished in the day-to-day emptiness and disappointnt.
Just when she was disheartened and began questioning if her original choice was too naïve, her mother’s unexpected call struck her like a bolt from the blue, completely shattering her last bit of persistence.
"Yuanyuan... your dad’s farm... it’s almost done for! It’s going to go bankrupt! Your dad said they’ve owed wages for several months... everyone’s on edge at the farm... If it really collapses, your dad... at his age, where could he find another job?"
Her mother’s tearful voice tore at Yuanyuan Li’s heart.
The pillar of the family was about to crumble!
If the farm truly went under, her father would lose his job, ending the sole financial support for the already strained household. How could life go on? Trendous panic and a sense of responsibility instantly overwheld her. What academic ambitions? What changing the hotown? In the face of survival, all seed excessively luxurious and distant.
She almost imdiately quit her job and bought the earliest train ticket back to Haidu.
In the crowded carriage, her mind was in chaos, leaving only one brutally realistic thought: go ho! Even if it ant finding a cashier job in a small town supermarket, or waiting tables in a restaurant, she had to imdiately shoulder the family burden.
Her degree? Her major? At this point, they felt like the most useless burdens. Surviving, making sure her parents had food to eat and a place to live, was the only important thing.
As the train rattled on, the closer she got to ho, the heavier her mood beca. All she could picture was her father silently smoking, her mother looking worried. She even began to calculate how long her internship salary could support the family after her father lost his job.
When she finally arrived back at her familiar, old ho, Yuanyuan Li took a deep breath, laden with worry, ready to face a scene of chaos, and pushed open the door.
The somber atmosphere she had anticipated did not manifest.
On the contrary, the rich, enticing, long-missed aroma of sweet and sour ribs invaded her nostrils dominantly, accompanied by the lively sound of stir-frying and... her father’s loud, almost unfamiliar laughter?
"Oh, Yuanyuan, you’re back!" her mother’s voice ca from the kitchen, surprisingly accompanied by laughter!
The ease and happiness in that voice were things Yuanyuan Li hadn’t heard in months.
Soon after, her father, Li Guozhu, peeked his head out of the kitchen, looking radiant, with a wide grin on his face and eyes sparkling. He was even holding... a spatula?
"My girl is back! Wash your hands! Dad made your favorite sweet and sour ribs! Oh, the timing’s just right! Slls good, doesn’t it?" Li Guozhu spoke heartily, his booming voice totally unlike soone about to be laid off, more like soone who had encountered extraordinary good news.
Yuanyuan Li was bewildered, like a malfunctioning robot, frozen at the doorway, her luggage bag dropped onto the ground with a "thud": "Dad... you... mom said..."
She was completely confused. Could it be that her parents pretended on purpose to keep her from worrying?
"Oh, your mom was telling you about what happened the day before yesterday morning! Old news!" Li Guozhu laughed with a beaming smile, the wrinkles on his face beautifully smoothed out, "A false alarm! A huge false alarm! Our farm didn’t just not collapse, it... heh..."
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