Chapter 295

"Mom, why hasn't the letter arrived yet?" Emily Johnson clutched the hem of her shirt, her fingertips turning pale.

Olivia Parker crouched on the field ridge, sweat rolling down her forehead. "The rice ripened early this year. We might have to start harvesting sooner."

"Did you apply to a university in your hometown?"

"Yeah." Olivia wiped her face with her sleeve. "Sophia did too."

Four admission letters—still no word.

"Someone from the next brigade already got theirs," Olivia whispered. "A top university, I heard."

Emily forced a smile. "Let's wait a little longer."

But the tension inside her coiled tighter.

What if she failed? How would she take the children back to the capital?

"Mommy!" Tommy Stone came bounding over, pointing at the courtyard wall. "The grapes are purple!"

Sunlight filtered through the grape leaves, casting dappled shadows on the clusters of ripe fruit.

"Go get the scissors," Emily said, her voice trembling. "Be careful."

Two bunches of grapes swirled in the basin, water droplets glistening. David Stone, ever thoughtful, fed his mother a grape first.

"Sweet?"

"Sweet." Emily's throat tightened.

Michael Stone burst into the yard. "Captain Zhang's grandson got into Provincial University! His letter came today!"

When Emily glanced at it, the gilded school name burned her eyes.

Dinner was smashed cucumber with mung bean porridge. Emily stirred the porridge absently, watching the grains sink and rise.

"For the autumn harvest, I—"

"You'll help in the canteen," Michael cut in. "Mom will handle the rest."

That wasn’t what worried her.

August 20th. If the letter didn’t come soon...

"Is Olivia Parker here?" The postman's shout electrified the brigade.

"Olivia's admission letter!"

"She really got in?"

Olivia stumbled forward, her hands shaking violently as she took the envelope. Eight years. A twenty-five-year-old woman—finally.

That afternoon, she settled her work points. Before leaving, she gripped Emily's hand. "Thank you..."

Sophia Green left the next day.

Captain John Stone Sr. gazed at the empty dormitory, knocking his pipe against the doorstep. "All gone now."

The setting sun stretched their shadows long and thin.