The courtyard gate was left open, and Gu Yunyun stormed in with five or six village women in tow, their presence bristling with menace.
Each of them wore their hair in glossy black braids, dressed in navy-blue nylon patched clothes, dark trousers, and worn handmade cloth shoes—a scene steeped in the era’s unmistakable flavor.
Spotting Lin Qingyue standing at the kitchen door, Gu Yunyun raised her hand and swung it straight at her.
The women behind her craned their necks, watching the spectacle with gleeful schadenfreude.
Lin Qingyue’s gaze darkened. Just as the slap was about to land on her face, she suddenly sidestepped, tilting her head slightly.
A gust of air swept past her ear as Gu Yunyun, unable to check her momentum, sent her palm grazing through the strands of Lin Qingyue’s hair and slamming hard against the stone wall behind her.
Gu Yunyun howled in pain, furiously shaking her stinging hand!
“You… you filthy wretch! How dare you dodge?”
Gu Yunyun’s eyes burned red with rage as she raised her hand to strike again.
Watching Gu Yunyun, who was about to lash out without a second word in her fury, Lin Qingyue wished she could charge forward and beat her until she couldn’t take care of herself.
In her past life, this sister-in-law had tormented her endlessly.
Though Gu Niancheng came from a rural background, he was exceptionally handsome.
Tall and lean, with fair skin and striking brows over bright eyes, he was renowned as a fine-looking young man across the surrounding villages.
Their marriage had come about in a somewhat disreputable manner, and Gu Yunyun had always believed that Lin Qingyue had schemed to trap Gu Niancheng.
But in truth, it was Gu Niancheng who had knelt and begged to marry her.
After she married into the family, all the chores that should have fallen to the younger sister were dumped onto her shoulders.
Not only that, Gu Yunyun constantly found fault, hurling veiled insults, and had laid hands on her in secret more than once.
The Gu family always said she was young and naive, urging Lin Qingyue, as the elder sister-in-law, not to stoop to her level.
What chilled Lin Qingyue to the bone most was that in her past life, when her son fell ill and needed hospitalization, she sold the family’s most valuable fat pig for a hundred yuan—money that was stolen by Gu Yunyun before it even warmed in her hands.
That was her son’s lifesaving money. Lin Qingyue knelt and begged her to return it, but Gu Yunyun flatly refused.
Left with no choice, Lin Qingyue borrowed from every household in the village and still couldn’t scrape together enough. Forced into a corner, she had to sell her blood again.
It was her third time selling blood within a single month. The hospital staff didn’t even dare accept it; she had to kneel and plead before they agreed.
When Gu Yunyun married, she insisted on the three major dowry items as her due, and with her parents bedridden, she made life hell for Lin Qingyue, the sister-in-law.
She cursed her as a jinx and a scourge, then stripped the house of anything worth value and hauled it all away.
Lin Qingyue had raised the matter with Gu Niancheng many times, but her husband did nothing, merely saying his sister was still young and that she should be more tolerant.
Her thoughts flickered by in an instant. As the slap was about to descend again, Lin Qingyue nimbly sidestepped, grabbed the arm of the nearest woman, and ducked behind her:
“Auntie Liu, my sister-in-law has gone mad and is trying to beat me to death—save me!”
The woman Lin Qingyue had seized to shield herself was stout and broad-shouldered, with a slightly dark complexion. Big and brawny, she was the village’s notorious gossip and a fearsome shrew.
Already irritated at being yanked around, she was about to shove Lin Qingyue away when she heard the pitiful sobbing coming from behind her:
“Auntie Liu, I can’t go on like this. I’m eight months pregnant, and my husband spends all his time hovering around that young widow Yao Hongyan. He’s even given away our family’s grain and oil to her. Now I can’t even put food on the table for me and the baby, and on top of that, I’m getting beaten by my sister-in-law. Wuwuwu, how am I supposed to keep living like this? I might as well just go and smash my head against a wall.”
Lin Qingyue cried as she made a move to run outside.
Lin Qingyue was genuinely aggrieved, and her cries were heart-wrenching and loud. Not only the people in the courtyard, but even passersby on the street could hear her clearly.
Gu Yunyun’s face darkened at the words. Forgetting the pain in her hand, she hurried forward and grabbed Lin Qingyue’s arm:
“Lin Qingyue, what nonsense are you spouting? My brother only looks after Sister Hongyan because he feels sorry for her. How could he possibly give her all your family’s food…”
Lin Qingyue turned around, grabbed Gu Yunyun by the clothes, and dragged her into the kitchen:
“Yunyun, take a look—the white flour, the cornmeal, the potatoes, your brother has taken them all to that widow. Even the big bowl of lard I rendered just yesterday, he took it over there to play the good Samaritan.”
Several nosy women squeezed in as well, with Auntie Liu leading the charge, being the first to rush inside. She looked at the thin layer of cracklings left at the bottom of the bowl and gave a sharp twitch of her lips.
This kitchen was too clean—there wasn’t a single bit of food to eat. Even a rat would probably curse its luck coming in here.
Could that boy Gu Niancheng really have given everything to the young widow?
She wasn’t the only one thinking that; the others had similar thoughts.
Even the spoiled Gu Yunyun, looking at the bare kitchen, didn’t dare speak recklessly despite her usual bluntness.
“And the firewood at home…”
Lin Qingyue turned and went out, stepping over the threshold, pointing at the pile of firewood by the wall that had shrunk considerably. Before she could finish, Gu Niancheng came rushing into the yard in a hurry.
Seeing Lin Qingyue, he lunged forward, grabbed her arm, and yanked hard:
“Lin Qingyue, weren’t you pretending to fall and not be able to get up? How are you suddenly full of energy again?”
“You’re as strong as an ox—why are you imitating Hongyan’s delicate act?”
“Hongyan is your best friend! She’s in trouble, so what’s wrong with me lending a hand? You’re falling down, faking stomach pains—you just don’t want me to help her, do you? How can you be so vicious?”
Lin Qingyue hadn’t expected Gu Niancheng to come back so quickly, but he certainly couldn’t know that there were still many people watching in the kitchen, right?
With that thought, Lin Qingyue’s eyes reddened, and she explained pitifully, “Niancheng, I’m not faking it. When you pushed me down for Hongyan just now, I really did disturb the pregnancy. My stomach is still throbbing with pain.”
“Can you please not give all our grain and lard to Hongyan? At least leave some for us—we need to eat too.”
Lin Qingyue was already thin and frail, and now she looked even more pitiful as she cried. But Gu Niancheng only grew more disgusted, shoving her away:
“Get lost! Hongyan is struggling all alone—what’s wrong with me taking a few things over to help her out? Lin Qingyue, if I’d known you were such a petty person, I never would have married you.”
“And here Hongyan has been saying nice things about you all along. If you had even half her sense, I wouldn’t have to…”
Lin Qingyue staggered several times, nearly falling, but Gu Niancheng had already strode off into the house.
The women in the kitchen were already stunned, mouths agape in shock.
They were just about to leave when Gu Niancheng rushed out of the house, grabbing Lin Qingyue’s arm roughly. His eyes were bloodshot as he gritted his teeth and roared:
“Lin Qingyue, where’s my money?”
“What? Money?” Lin Qingyue seemed frightened, her body shrinking back, her voice almost tearful.
“The money your grandmother sent last time.”
The veins on Gu Niancheng’s forehead bulged: “Hongyan’s condition is bad—she’s having a difficult labor, and both mother and child are in danger. Granny Wang says we need to go to the town hospital. Give me the money now!”
“I… don’t you manage all the money in our household? The ten yuan my grandmother sent last time, and the money I earned from climbing up the slope with my big belly to dig herbs…”
“I don’t care where your money came from! Just give it to me now—Hongyan needs it urgently!” Gu Niancheng had no patience for Lin Qingyue’s rambling. He tightened his grip, and Lin Qingyue felt like her wrist was about to be crushed, the pain nearly bringing tears to her eyes.