Lin Qiaoyun lay on the bed, searching through her pile of supplies for things that could be used in this era.
There was simply too much random stuff in her space.
Back in the apocalypse, aside from collecting food, she had thrown anything she thought might be useful into her space. Even things other people did not want—gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and paintings.
After searching for quite a while, she finally found a pile of supplies she had once collected from a nostalgic domestic goods supermarket.
Everything there could be used in this era.
Enamel mugs, peony-patterned washbasins, thermoses, military canteens, sturdy old-style bicycles, Meihua watches, fabric, cold cream, hair pomade, green military uniforms, sewing machines, and charcoal irons.
To her surprise, there were also more than ten jin of pastries, White Rabbit candies, and over fifty small mooncakes.
She had probably thrown everything into her space without paying attention when collecting them and forgotten about them. Otherwise, they would never have lasted until now—she would have eaten them long ago.
Lin Qiaoyun took out a bottle of water from her space and drank some. Then she ate a mooncake to restore her energy.
She knew there would probably be another battle waiting for her soon.
She had never underestimated old village women.
These elderly women who had lived through wartime treated human lives—especially the lives of little girls—as less valuable than their chickens.
They beat people when they wanted to, cursed when they wanted to, and abused others however they pleased, all to assert their authority in the household.
Just after Lin Qiaoyun finished eating, her mother—Xu Nian’en—walked in carrying a bowl of porridge.
“Daughter, come on, drink this while it’s hot. Mom secretly added an egg for you. Hurry and eat.”
Seeing that her daughter was awake, Xu Nian’en quickly helped her sit up.
“Drink some. You’ll heal faster if you eat. Once you’re married, don’t come back here anymore. This family is really…”
Lin Qiaoyun said nothing and simply drank a few mouthfuls of porridge from Xu Nian’en’s hand.
It had been so long since she had tasted rice porridge this good.
Even though it was plain, the familiar scent of rice and egg was enough to make her sit up immediately. She grabbed the bowl from Xu Nian’en and started gulping it down.
Just as she had a few mouthfuls left, the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open.
Bang!
“Well, well, Second Sister-in-law! Who would’ve thought? Mom only asked you to make breakfast, and you’re secretly feeding your daughter special food—an egg, no less! What right does this money-losing girl have to eat eggs? Those eggs are for my grandson!”
As soon as she finished speaking, the woman lunged toward Lin Qiaoyun, trying to snatch the bowl.
“Big Sister-in-law, what are you doing?”
To Lin Qiaoyun, eating came before everything else.
She could tolerate many things, but no one was allowed to steal her food.
Not even heaven itself could stop her.
She raised her arm to block the woman rushing at her, quickly swallowed the rest of the porridge, and then smashed the bowl hard against the woman’s head.
Smack!
The bowl fell to the ground.
Luckily, it was sturdy and did not shatter.
Liu Dani rubbed the swelling bump on her head and snarled viciously,
“You little bitch! How dare you hit me? I’ll beat you to death!”
She raised her hand and slapped toward Lin Qiaoyun, who was still sitting on the bed.
Unfortunately for her—
Faced with this woman who had rushed over to hit her for no reason, Lin Qiaoyun stopped holding back.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Several hard slaps landed across Liu Dani’s face.
Then Lin Qiaoyun lifted her leg and kicked her straight out of the room.
“Ahhh!”
After the scream, Liu Dani went completely silent.
“What happened? What happened? Big Sister-in-law, are you okay? How did you suddenly fall like that?”
Although Xu Nian’en was stunned by her daughter’s actions, she also knew better than to admit what had happened.
After all, it happened inside the room. It had only been the two of them, with no witnesses.
The Lin family had been eating breakfast. Hearing the commotion in the courtyard, they all ran outside to look.
Good heavens.
Liu Dani’s face was swollen like a pig’s head, and she was sprawled on the ground, unable to get up.
She must have fallen really hard.
No one could figure out how she had managed to hurt herself so badly.
Why did no one suspect she had been beaten?
Because Xu Nian’en and Lin Qiaoyun had always been too obedient in this family.
The Lin family never would have imagined such a thing.
Though later on, they would all realize just how badly they had misjudged things.
“Help me up! I’m going to beat that little bitch to death! She dared to hit me!”
The head of the Lin family, Lin Zhong, finally spoke.
“That’s enough, eldest daughter-in-law. Stop making trouble. I told the second daughter-in-law to give Qiaoyun the egg. Go back and finish your meal. Don’t stir up trouble again.”
“Dad… but the egg…”
“What? Are my words useless now? Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been up to.”
Liu Dani lowered her head and did not dare say another word.
She let her husband help her up and returned to her room.
The reason Lin Qiaoyun had tried to kill herself was largely because of Liu Dani’s schemes.
As for the Lin family members—
The heads of the household were Lin Zhong and his wife, Wang Chunhua.
Together, they had three sons and two daughters:
Lin Youde, Lin Youshui, Lin Youfu, Lin Baozhu, and Lin Baoyu.
Lin Youde was married to Liu Dani, and they had two sons and one daughter:
Lin Fugui, Lin Fusheng, and Lin Qiaofeng.
Lin Youshui was married to Xu Nian’en, and they had only one daughter:
Lin Qiaoyun.
Lin Youfu was married to Wang Hongyu, and they had two sons:
Lin Fuwang and Lin Fujia.
Lin Baozhu was already married and had moved to another village.
Lin Baoyu was two years older than Lin Qiaoyun, but she still had not married and remained at home.
Lin Fugui was married to Liu Xiaocao, and they had a three-year-old son named Lin Qiang.
The biggest conflict in the family centered around Lin Qiaoyun and Lin Qiaofeng.
The two girls had been born on the same day, only one after the other.
At the time, a fortune teller had come to the house and insisted that one of the girls possessed an exceptionally noble fate and would one day become the wife of a wealthy man.
The other, however, supposedly had a lowly fate and would bring disaster to her family.
The old matriarch believed that because Lin Qiaofeng had been born first, she must be the one with the noble destiny.
That made Lin Qiaoyun the unlucky, cursed girl.
But Lin Qiaoyun had always been bright and clever.
Her father, Lin Youshui, had adored her since childhood. Even though her mother disagreed, he still sent Qiaoyun to school.
And naturally, since Lin Qiaofeng had Lin Qiaoyun as a comparison, she was also allowed to study.
Now, Lin Qiaoyun had just been accepted into high school.
She had already received her admission letter.
But Wang Chunhua refused to let her attend, saying that letting her finish middle school was already more than generous.
Not only did Wang Chunhua stop her education, but she also arranged a marriage for her.
She planned to marry Lin Qiaoyun into a Zhao family in their village.
In truth, there was nothing wrong with the Zhao family.
But because they lived at the far end of the village—and because certain people deliberately spread rumors—they had been turned into something frightening in people’s minds.
Since the original Lin Qiaoyun spent most of her time at school and rarely stayed in the village, she was easily influenced by those who deliberately stirred things up.
Unable to continue school and forced to marry into a family she feared, the original Lin Qiaoyun became overwhelmed.
In a moment of despair, she killed herself.