Lin Qiaoyun got up late that morning. By the time she finished breakfast and ran out to watch the excitement, all that was left was the gossip everyone else had already picked over.
She was quite satisfied with what she had done the night before.
Today’s scandal was simply too huge.
So huge that when the Lin family was discovered lying all over their courtyard, nobody found it particularly strange.
At most, people thought the Lin family was unlucky.
But no matter how unlucky they were, could they be unluckier than Li Tieniu and Wang Meifeng?
Who would have thought an affair could cause such a massive uproar?
After Lin Qiaofeng was found in the latrine, the Lin family simply cleaned her up and carried her back inside.
Not a single person came to watch.
Which just proved one thing.
If you want to cover up one piece of gossip, it’s actually very simple.
All you need is an even bigger scandal.
The Lin family ran to the village chief and secretary again, claiming that thieves had broken into their house another time the previous night.
The village chief casually told them to be more careful about locking their doors and sent them away.
The incident involving Li Tieniu and Wang Meifeng was simply too serious and had caused too much of a negative impact.
Although there was no crime of “hooliganism” or similar offenses at this time, issues of personal conduct were still treated very seriously.
In the end, even the Public Security officers were called.
The same two officers from before came again.
After making inquiries around the village, they became convinced that there really was some wandering underworld figure operating in Guyun Village.
They also suspected that Li Tieniu and Wang Meifeng had been drugged by this person.
Otherwise, it was difficult to explain what had happened to them.
And when they learned that every member of the Lin family had once again suffered from severe diarrhea at the same time, the officers became even more convinced.
In the end, it was confirmed that Li Tieniu and Wang Meifeng had indeed been drugged.
However, there was no doubt that the two also had problems with their conduct.
After they recovered from their injuries, both were summoned to the Public Security Bureau and given a stern lecture.
Brother Ah Niu didn’t suffer any major consequences.
Wang Meifeng, however, hurriedly married a man from the mountains.
That was a story for later.
Meanwhile, the patrol team in Guyun Village had officially been organized.
People now patrolled every night.
The village chief and secretary took the matter very seriously.
Neither of them wanted another incident to happen in Guyun Village.
…
Now that things had finally quieted down, Lin Qiaoyun turned her attention back to the valley.
She hadn’t gone up the mountain for three days.
When she went to check, she found that aside from the rice, which was still being raised as seedlings, everything else had already been planted.
Corn, soybeans, potatoes, and sweet potatoes had all been planted.
Her sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law were busy pulling weeds.
The soil in the valley was extremely fertile, but weeds grew just as quickly.
Seeing everyone working, Lin Qiaoyun joined in.
Actually, she had a weed trimmer and even glyphosate in her space.
But she wasn’t sure whether she should use them.
That stuff didn’t seem very good.
She worried it might contaminate the soil.
It was better to work a little harder and pull the weeds herself.
After finishing her work on the mountain and returning home, Lin Qiaoyun finally received the first letter Zhao Tiezhu had written to her.
Good heavens!
The entire letter was filled with how much he missed her.
He also told her that he would work hard to arrange things so she could join him at the military base as soon as possible.
He reminded her to send him a copy of their wedding photo when she wrote back.
Zhao Tiezhu really was a good man.
No wonder someone had set their sights on him.
Lin Qiaoyun happily sat down and wrote a reply.
She told him everything at home that she could talk about.
She also encouraged him to study more and improve his education.
Only by learning more could he go farther in the future.
After finishing the letter, she went to discuss things with Jinhua and Yinhua, preparing some food to send to their brother whenever they had the chance.
During the busy harvest season, they had caught a large number of loaches and small fish.
Jinhua and the others had dried them into fish jerky.
The stuff wasn’t worth much money, but it was still meat.
As for dried pork, Lin Qiaoyun decided not to send any.
It would attract too much attention.
But dried fish was common in rural areas.
No one would question how much of it they mailed.
Seeing the Public Security officers again today made Lin Qiaoyun feel that she needed to be even more low-key.
If someone discovered a clue about her, things would become troublesome.
She didn’t want to kill anyone here.
But if someone threatened her, she wouldn’t be polite either.
Just like Li Tieniu and Wang Meifeng the night before.
She would never let off anyone who tried to harm her.
People could call her cold-hearted or ruthless if they wanted.
That was simply who she was.
She didn’t regret what she had done to Wang Meifeng at all.
Showing mercy to an enemy was being cruel to yourself.
She had experienced such things too many times in her previous life.
Just because you let someone go didn’t mean they would spare you.
She had been betrayed countless times before.
Evil had to be crushed while it was still in its infancy.
Only then could you avoid being hurt.
After discussing matters with her sisters-in-law, Lin Qiaoyun happily returned to her room and went to sleep.
…
Meanwhile, the Lin family was on the verge of collapse.
Starting right after lunch, every member of the family began suffering from diarrhea.
They spent the entire afternoon running to the toilet before it finally stopped.
Even a fool could tell that they had truly offended someone dangerous.
But Wang Chunhua and Lin Qiaofeng stubbornly insisted that Lin Qiaoyun was responsible.
The problem was that Lin Qiaoyun had never even appeared at the Lin family’s house.
How could they accuse her without any evidence?
Even the village chief and secretary repeatedly warned Wang Chunhua and Lin Qiaofeng not to casually slander a military family member.
If it happened again, they would be arrested and sent to the police station.
Only then did Wang Chunhua finally calm down.
…
But Lin Youde had developed a completely different theory.
He was convinced that his mother was a spy.
He believed all of this was retaliation from a spy organization.
Perhaps his mother had failed some mission and was now being punished by her associates.
Otherwise, why would their family be targeted?
Their family was just ordinary farmers.
What reason would anyone have to seek revenge against them?
His second brother’s family was even more honest.
They worked like old oxen every day in the fields.
No matter how hard Lin Youde thought about it, he couldn’t understand why people from the underworld would target them.
The only suspicious thing was his mother’s strange behavior.
She clearly had money and was educated.
So why hadn’t she sent him to school?
Why hadn’t she educated her grandchildren?
It made no sense.
Unless she really was a spy and had no feelings for them.
Or perhaps…
She wasn’t even his real mother.
The more Lin Youde thought about it, the more frightened he became.
He was already sick.
After suffering from diarrhea, his illness worsened dramatically.
He nearly scared himself to death.
Fortunately, Liu Dani noticed something was wrong and rushed him to the hospital, where he was saved.
Lin Youde’s medical expenses made the already struggling Lin family fall into even greater hardship.
Just when it seemed their family couldn’t survive any longer, Wang Chunhua received a letter.
Inside was two hundred yuan.
Suddenly, life became easier again.
But when Lin Youde learned that his mother had received two hundred yuan, he wasn’t happy.
Instead, he became even more worried and frightened.
He lived in constant fear.
One day, when he could no longer endure it, all of those fears would finally explode.
…
Whether the Lin family lived well or poorly didn’t concern Lin Qiaoyun.
She spent her days studying.
School would start soon, and she wanted to be prepared.
One day, while reading at home, she suddenly heard someone calling her name from outside.
She ran out to look.
To her surprise, it was two of her former middle school classmates.
“Lin Meili, Liu Qing, what are you two doing here?”
“Classmate Lin Qiaoyun, you’re really hard to find. Of course we came because we have something to talk about.”
“Then come inside and tell me.”
Lin Qiaoyun invited the two girls into her home.