The Romance Extras Turned Out to Be a Yuri Story - Chapter 83.1 

After Zhang Qiu returned to school, she received a postcard sent by Lin Luoluo.

She turned it over and over, thinking that her own postcard should have arrived as well.

Tearing open the envelope, Lin Luoluo’s delicate handwriting sprang out.

【Qiu, I wonder if you still remember having a pen pal in junior high. I occasionally received a letter signed ‘Qiu,’ and I think that was truly the beginning for us. Perhaps you’ve forgotten, but I will always remember a girl named Qiu who corresponded with me for three years. I deeply regret only finding you now.】

Zhang Qiu was stunned.

She picked up her phone and called her grandmother.

“Hello, Grandma, could you check under my bed to see if that box of letters is still there?”

“It is? Then I’ll come back for a trip.”

Hanging up the phone, Zhang Qiu decisively bought a ticket home.

Lin Luoluo called her when she had already arrived home.

Lin Luoluo: “Huh? Why did you come back so suddenly?”

Zhang Qiu: “To take care of something, I’ll head back once it’s done.”

Lin Luoluo: “No rush, you can stay longer and spend time with Grandma.”

“Okay.” Zhang Qiu chuckled, “Then I’ll head back tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, and please say hello to Grandma for me.”

“Sure.”

After hanging up, Grandma asked, “Jiujiu, that box has been sitting there for so long, what made you suddenly think of it?”

Zhang Qiu was squatting on the floor, wiping the dust off the box, her eyes full of happiness as she looked up.

“Grandma, I found her.”

“Ah?” Grandma was surprised for a moment, then burst into laughter, “Haha, thank goodness!”

“After the high school entrance exam, didn’t you go look for her and say the address she gave was wrong? After all these years, how did you find her? Did you go to her house again?”

Zhang Qiu shook her head.

“She came to find me.”

Zhang Qiu carefully opened the box.

After they lost contact in high school, she sealed away these memories, never expecting them to be brought back to life one day.

Grandma sat on the bed and smiled, “You didn’t have many friends back then, you spent all your time helping me with factory work. It took you so long to save up enough money to go look for her, and then the address turned out to be fake. You didn’t speak for days, Grandma was so worried about you.”

Zhang Qiu had a faint smile on her face.

“Grandma, it’s all in the past.”

She opened the letters one by one. The handwriting was very immature, filled with words of comfort and grievances.

Zhang Qiu was very withdrawn at the time and kept her worries to herself. She really wanted to drop out of school and work to lessen the burden on her grandmother. If it weren’t for the person in the letters persuading her, and the teacher’s financial aid, she might not be where she is today.

It was that experience that made her grit her teeth and strive for excellence. She knew deep down that only by succeeding could she change her destiny and provide a good life for her grandmother, and she had managed to do it.

Grandma asked, “Who is she?”

Zhang Qiu said, “My schoolmate.”

“When will you bring her back for Grandma to meet?”

“When she’s on break, I’ll ask her.”

“Okay.”

That evening, Zhang Qiu messaged Lin Luoluo.

【Grandma wants to meet you.】

Lin Luoluo’s heart skipped a beat.

【So sudden?】

【Want to come?】

Remembering the past, Lin Luoluo replied: 【Yes.】

【Then come over next week when you have time off.】

【Okay.】

Putting down her phone, Lin Luoluo faced an interrogation, with her mother as the chief examiner, her father as the co-examiner, and Lin Xiangdong as the assistant.

Her mother coughed to get everyone’s attention.

“Finished replying to the message?”

“Mhm.” Lin Luoluo sat up straight obediently.

“Boyfriend?”

Lin Luoluo hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

Lin Xiangdong flashed a big grin, desperately trying to stifle his laughter.

Lin Luoluo secretly glared at him.

Lin Xiangdong raised his chin, telling her to suffer the consequences.

“Luoluo, your parents aren’t unreasonable people, and you’re an adult now. Your parents aren’t opposed to you dating; it’s just that you’re inexperienced. Is this person okay, are they treating you well? Your parents haven’t met them, so we’re always anxious. Besides, if he turns out to be a beast and treats you badly later, and we don’t even know who he is, how can we help you get revenge?”

Her father cleared his throat and added, “Of course, we hope you two will be well, but a love that hasn’t met the parents is like a pile of loose sand, easily scattered by the wind. If he truly cares about you, let’s arrange a time to meet, and let us see what it is about him that captivated you.”

The father was secretly frustrated.

His caring little daughter had barely been home for a while before she was ‘taken’ by some ‘wild boar’ outside. The moment he found out, he almost exploded, but thankfully his wife held him back.

Lin Luoluo looked at her mother, then her father, and hesitated before saying, “You might not accept it.”

Seeing a chance, the mother cautiously asked, “Is he very ugly?”

Lin Luoluo shook her head.

“Is he very short?”

“No.”

“Is his family poor?”

“No, that’s not it either.”

“If none of that is it, what could we possibly not accept? Does he have some kind of illness?” The mother grew anxious.

Her father’s brow also furrowed tighter.

Lin Luoluo sighed, “Mom, Dad, it’s not that I don’t want to say. She is very pretty, and her height is good. Although her family isn’t wealthy, she’s very ambitious and treats me very well. I’m just afraid you won’t accept it.”

“As long as she treats you well and you like her, what could we not accept? Your parents aren’t old-fashioned people, we’re very open-minded.”

Besides, this is just dating, not marriage, the mother mused.

Marriage would naturally have a different set of standards, and dating was another.

Lin Luoluo gave her brother a meaningful look, then braced herself, closed her eyes, and said it.

“She’s a girl; I like women.”

Silence fell instantly, and the atmosphere solidified.

Lin Luoluo opened one eye and looked around. Both her mother and father were frowning in thought, no longer showing their earlier excitement.

The two even looked at each other, sighing in unison.

“It turns out it’s your generation.”

Lin Luoluo was confused, even bewildered.

This shouldn’t be the reaction!

Her father opened his mouth but ultimately decided to let her mother speak.

“You tell her, then.”

“Then you take our son out first?”

Her father nodded and took Lin Xiangdong away. Only Lin Luoluo and her mother were left in the living room. Her mother beckoned to her, “Come sit over here, I have something to tell you.”

Seeing that her mother wasn’t angry, Lin Luoluo dutifully sat down.

“I’ll tell you two stories; just listen as if they were stories.”

“Last century, the family was very poor. We had just gone through the chaos of war, and your great-grandmother had to follow the villagers south to escape the famine.”

“Everyone said the south was blessed with good weather, the land was fertile enough for anything to grow, and there was no shortage of food or clothing.”

“But she was young, and halfway through the journey, she was too hungry to walk and got separated from the main group.”

“When she was nearly starved to death, she collapsed outside a house and was rescued.”

“This family only had a farm woman and her two children. The woman had just lost her husband, so she recognized your great-grandmother as her sworn sister, taking her in to farm, which also meant getting another person to work for the family.”

“But the good times didn’t last. The land the woman’s husband left behind was taken by his brothers, and the children were taken by their grandmother. That family drove the two of them out.”

“Your great-grandmother was a decisive person. She immediately decided to continue south to find work and took her ‘sister’ along.”

“The two endured wind and exposure, but they were willing to work hard, and their lives slowly got better. At the time, they promised each other they would never marry men and would live together. But again, good times didn’t last. The sister’s children had no one to care for them, and she couldn’t abandon them. She heard that her husband’s brothers had married and had children, and her own children were often neglected, so she finally decided to go back for her children and was eventually forced to remarry.”

“Your great-grandmother later met a suitable person and also got married.”

“Later, your great-grandfather passed away early, and your great-grandmother never remarried.”

“The second story is about your aunt.”

“You’ve probably never met her.”

“Your grandma gave birth to two children, your dad and your aunt.”

“Your aunt was never like a typical girl from a young age. She played whatever the boys played, like a tomboy. At the time, she wasn’t good at studying and was very mischievous, so everyone thought she would be a failure, but unexpectedly, she eventually earned a Ph.D.”

“However, she committed suicide.”

When her mother said this, she let out a heavy sigh.

“She was a very proud person.”

“And very smart.”

“When she reached the age for marriage, the family pressured her relentlessly until she finally said she had a girlfriend and intended to bring her home.”

“Everyone thought she was crazy.”

“The family tricked her into coming back and locked her up at home to ‘cure’ her.”

“Later, she was forced to break up and promised the family she would never ‘reoffend.'”

“The family thought she was better and lowered their guard, letting her return to school. She went back, but on the very day she returned, she heard the news that her girlfriend was getting married and jumped from a building.”

Lin Luoluo was profoundly shocked.

Her mother held her hand and said, “Mom isn’t telling you this to scare you, but to let you know that this gene runs in our family. It’s not wrong for you to like girls. As long as the other person treats you well, whether male or female, Mom will support you.”

Lin Luoluo’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Mom.”

Her mother pinched her little cheek.

“From now on, tell your family everything. Your family will always support you.”

“Now, can you bring her back for us to meet?”

“Mhm!” Lin Luoluo nodded.

That night, Lin Luoluo lay in bed chatting with Zhang Qiu.

【Do you think if society had been as open then as it is now, my aunt might not have died?】

【I heard her girlfriend was also forced to marry because their situation blew up, but she later divorced and is still single to this day.】

Zhang Qiu comforted her: 【It’s okay to feel empathy for others’ sadness, but don’t let it become your own grief. We won’t miss out on each other like they did.】

Lin Luoluo smiled as she looked at her phone, then suddenly asked: 【Sister, do you love me?】

“I love you.”

Suddenly, the phone rang. Lin Luoluo saw it was Zhang Qiu calling, answered, and heard that single sentence.

Zhang Qiu whispered, “Is my baby feeling insecure?”

Lin Luoluo nodded, then remembering she couldn’t be heard over the phone, she was about to speak when she heard Zhang Qiu say, “Let me sing for you.”

She sang Lin Luoluo’s favorite song, a little off-key.

Lin Luoluo listened and started to laugh.

“When did you practice?” She knew that while her sister was capable in many things, she had absolutely no talent for singing.

Zhang Qiu rubbed her nose: “Is it that bad? I practiced for a long time; I wanted to give you a surprise.”

“It’s not bad at all.” Lin Luoluo said, “Can you sing it for me again, Sister?”

“Okay.” Zhang Qiu sang it once more.

Lin Luoluo whispered, “Sister, I miss you so much.”

Zhang Qiu resisted for a moment but couldn’t hold back. She opened the ticket interface and started looking for the earliest bus ticket.

Seeing one leaving at five in the morning, she booked the earliest one, but on the phone, she reassured Lin Luoluo, “I miss you too.”

“Sister, can you please not hang up the phone?” Lin Luoluo was a little anxious; she was reminded of her restless days as a drifting soul.

“Okay.” Zhang Qiu indulged her completely.

Listening to the sound of the other person’s breathing, Zhang Qiu gradually fell asleep.

She was startled awake by a dream in the early morning.

It was still dark, and Zhang Qiu sat up in bed, drenched in sweat.

She had dreamt that she and Lin Xiangdong were in a severe car accident. She saw Lin Luoluo’s sorrowful expression, but in the blink of an eye, Luoluo dissolved like mist, and no matter how much she called, there was no answer.

She also dreamt that Lin Luoluo didn’t recognize her.

Zhang Qiu covered her face for a while, then picked up her phone.

The phone was hot and nearly dead, issuing a low battery warning.

Zhang Qiu glanced at it; the video call was still connected. The phone screen was pitch black on the other side. She softly called out, “Luoluo.”

A murmuring sound came from the other end.

“Mmm…”

Zhang Qiu didn’t call again. She quietly put her ear to the earpiece, listening to the steady sound of breathing coming from the other end.

Those were just dreams.

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