Hah, now she’s resorting to threats?
“Hongyan, don’t say that! Our village has always been united—how could we possibly stand by and watch you starve?”
“Qingyue is the most understanding and kind-hearted person. She wouldn’t just sit by and let something happen to you either.”
As Gu Niancheng spoke, he shot Lin Qingyue a look, hoping she would back him up.
“Gu Niancheng, what I said earlier still stands. The money must be given to me today. Otherwise, I’ll go to town and report you.”
“Murder, plus indecent assault and rape—do you think you’ll ever see the light of day outside again?”
“You… Lin Qingyue, what nonsense are you talking?”
Gu Yunyun was stunned. Since when did her eldest brother have so many crimes to his name?
Lin Qingyue let out a scornful laugh. “He lied to me, saying we’d already gotten our marriage certificate when we actually hadn’t. Yet he forced himself on me, and I got pregnant from it. Does that count as rape?”
When the Village Chief heard that something so vile had happened right in his own village, he quickly asked, “Niancheng’s wife, I remember you two held the banquet and went to town to get the certificate, didn’t you? How could it be that you don’t have one?”
“Then you’ll have to ask Gu Niancheng about that.”
The Village Chief turned to Gu Niancheng, but Gu Niancheng’s guilty conscience wouldn’t even let him meet the Village Chief’s eyes.
The Village Chief understood everything then, so frustrated he nearly spat blood.
“You… you really are…”
“Lin Qingyue, are you certain you want to sever ties with Gu Niancheng?”
Lin Qingyue nodded. “His heart isn’t with me or the child anyway, and he’s carrying on with someone else. A man like that is too filthy. I don’t want him.”
“Fine. I’ll write the severance document right now. The village will front the hundred yuan for him.”
“Gu Niancheng, don’t say I’m being heartless. I’ll give you three days to scrape together the money and bring it over. Otherwise, you can kiss your university days goodbye and go reform yourself in a jail cell.”
The Village Chief’s word was final. Lin Qingyue hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly.
Gu Yunyun’s eyes reddened with anger. “A hundred yuan? Lin Qingyue only got knocked up with a worthless girl—why should she get a hundred yuan?”
“Ha, the leadership has said men and women are equal, and women hold up half the sky. Gu Yunyun, by calling the child in my belly worthless, are you questioning the leadership?”
“I…”
Gu Yunyun was left speechless.
“Village Chief, I think Gu Yunyun’s thinking has some serious problems too,” Lin Qingyue said in a calm, light tone.
“Hmm, then let her go clean up manure at the village pig farm for a month!”
The pig farm was the filthiest job there was, and cleaning pig manure was dirty and exhausting on top of that. It was usually reserved for reformed criminals or those of the worst class. When had Gu Yunyun ever done that kind of work?
“Lin Qingyue, how dare you make me go shovel pig shit? You’d have me do such a lowly job?”
“Village Chief, the leadership says no work is noble or base—every trade has its master. Gu Yunyun says working at the pig farm is lowly. See her level of consciousness?”
“One year!”
The Village Chief shot Gu Yunyun a vicious glare. She wanted to argue further, but Gu Niancheng quickly clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Mmph mmph mmph…”
Gu Yunyun still wanted to speak, but Gu Niancheng warned her fiercely, “You want to shovel pig shit for the rest of your life?”
Only then did Gu Yunyun quiet down.
Lin Qingyue successfully obtained the severance document, signed by both the Village Chief and Fu Xingzhou—absolutely valid.
Plus the hundred yuan. Ten crisp, neatly stacked banknotes.
As for the grain, since Gu Niancheng was the party at fault, all the household provisions and belongings went to Lin Qingyue.
However, the house they lived in belonged to the Gu family.
The Village Chief said Lin Qingyue could stay until the New Year.
Lin Qingyue didn’t refuse. After all, she needed a place to stay. But she definitely wouldn’t remain here for long.
“Isn’t your husband dead?”
As they exited the Village Chief’s gate, Fu Xingzhou raised an eyebrow with a faint, knowing smile.
“Alive is less comfortable than dead.” Lin Qingyue pouted in dissatisfaction, feeling a bit guilty.
After all, the first time they met, she’d claimed to be a widow!
“Heh…” A soft chuckle escaped the man’s lips.
“By the way, Brother Fu, why are you here?”
A person originally from the provincial capital suddenly appearing here.
Right, she remembered Fu Xingzhou mentioning Qi Ling Liu?
“Are you at Qi Ling Liu now?”
Lin Qingyue knew there was a munitions factory there, though she’d never paid much attention to it before.
“Mm. Grandma is very worried about you.”
Hearing the word “Grandma,” Lin Qingyue felt a warmth in her heart: “I’m fine, everything’s going well.”
“How is Grandma’s health? Does she still run off on her own?”
Lin Qingyue genuinely liked that old lady.
“She’s doing alright.”
“By the way, what are your plans from here on?”
He’d only just learned that Lin Qingyue had the audacity to get a divorce. Among the locals here, almost no one dared to divorce.
Even if a couple’s relationship was terrible, they’d still muddle through life together.
“Even though the fault isn’t on your side, rumors will still work against you, especially concerning the child…” Fu Xingzhou reminded her.
Lin Qingyue understood what he meant and smiled nonchalantly: “It’s fine. I won’t be staying here much longer anyway.”
The college entrance exam scores were about to come out. She wanted to attend university.
“You’re going back to the city? What about the child?”
Many educated youths who married in the countryside later abandoned their children and never returned when they got the chance to go back.
“I want to bring her with me to university.”
“Brother Fu, I also took the college entrance exam.”
Fu Xingzhou was stunned. He hadn’t expected that Lin Qingyue, alone with a child, would actually want to go to university!
Did she have enough energy for that?
“Impressive!”
After seeing Fu Xingzhou off, Lin Qingyue wanted to go home. Her mood was still quite good after completely severing ties with that scumbag Gu Niancheng.
“Sister Qingyue, who was that man just now?”
Gu Xiaoyu ran over, grabbing Lin Qingyue’s arm with a gossipy look on her face.
“I ran into him earlier when I went to town. I saved his grandmother, and since he had business in our village, we just chatted for a bit.”
“What a coincidence?”
Gu Xiaoyu blinked a few times: “Sister Qingyue, I heard you were incredibly fierce today.”
The news of their divorce had spread to many in the village. Most people said Lin Qingyue was a fool—divorcing her husband when she was about to give birth, leaving herself with no one to take care of her.
When the time came for childbirth, she’d have a hard time of it.
“Is that so? I think I’m pretty amazing too.”
Lin Qingyue smiled confidently. Just as she reached the courtyard gate, Gu Yunyun came charging in:
“Lin Qingyue, you really have no shame. You’ve already divorced my brother, yet you’re still hanging around our family’s courtyard.”
“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
Gu Yunyun planted her hands on her hips, looking contemptuous: “But even if you regret it, it’s too late. The Gu family wouldn’t want a troublemaker like you as a daughter-in-law anyway!”
Lin Qingyue unlocked the door, pushed open the courtyard gate, and directly grabbed the broom by the entrance, swinging it straight at Gu Yunyun!
“Ah, you crazy woman, how dare you hit me?”
Whack, whack, whack… The broom in Lin Qingyue’s hand swung with fierce momentum as Gu Yunyun fled in panic, finally slinking away in disgrace.
She had taken quite a few hits, her hair now a mess.
Oh my, Big Sister Qingyue, you’re amazing.”
Gu Xiaoyu’s eyes were practically sparkling with admiration.
She carefully took the broom: “But with movements like that, aren’t you afraid of harming the baby?”
“I was working in the fields even at seven months pregnant. How delicate do you think I am?”
Gu Xiaoyu looked at her with deep respect: “Speaking of which, that’s what I admire most about you. For someone who’s supposedly a fragile educated city girl, you work even harder than us girls born and raised in the countryside. Sister Qingyue, you really are incredible.”
Yes, it was precisely because she was capable and had no parents to rely on that the Gu family had chosen her as their scapegoat, wasn’t it?
“But even though you’ve driven Gu Yunyun away, the old Gu family won’t let this go easily. Sister Qingyue, you still can’t feel at ease living in this house. Why don’t you come stay at my place instead?”