Using Magic to Defeat Magic
Seeing that Lin Weijia did not believe her, Lin Ran addressed Lin Meng directly.
“I assume my cousin heard it yesterday as well?”
Lin Meng nodded absentmindedly.
She had almost forgotten about Zhou Manman. Since Zhou Manman knew the news, putting aside the other people at the youth reception center, Zhou Manman herself would certainly compete with her. As for Lin Ran, she clearly remembered that in the novel, Lin Ran had never come out to earn work-points until she married the male lead. Why was she suddenly trying to be a scorekeeper now?
Lin Meng shared the same thought as Lin Weijia: they both felt this might just be an excuse from Lin Weiguo because he didn’t want to help.
On this side, Lin Weijia only believed Lin Ran’s words once he saw Lin Meng nod. However, he wore a look of utter dismissiveness.
“Those sent-down youths are all outsiders. How could such an important position as scorekeeper be handed over to an outsider! It definitely must be held by one of our own brigade members!”
Lin Weiguo naturally understood this logic, and he believed the sent-down youths knew it in their hearts too. But that wouldn’t stop them from making a scene; even if they didn’t get the scorekeeper position, they could use the fuss to demand some other light work. As the brigade leader, he would be the one dealing with the headache!
But clearly, Lin Weijia did not take those youths seriously. In his eyes, Lin Meng’s biggest competitor was Lin Ran. Therefore, as long as Lin Weiguo agreed to help Lin Meng, the position of scorekeeper was as good as hers.
Thinking of the benefits of Lin Meng becoming the scorekeeper, Lin Weijia grabbed Lin Weiguo’s arm and tried even harder to persuade him.
“Big Brother, just help your little brother out. Our family can’t compare to yours with five able-bodied laborers. In our house, only my wife and I can work. Mom and Yebao are truly the old and the young—they can’t do manual labor at all. Now that there’s finally a suitable job for Meng-ya, Big Brother, you must help for Mom’s sake!”
At this point, he was nearly in tears. The effect was significant, and Lin Weiguo indeed began to waver. Of course, the main reason was his consideration for Grandma Lin; if the second branch’s conditions improved, Grandma Lin could live better. As for Ranran, at worst, she just wouldn’t go to work to earn points. They had so many people in their branch anyway; they didn’t lack her contribution.
No one knew a husband better than his wife. One look at Lin Weiguo’s expression and Shen Wenfang knew exactly what he was thinking. But she was extremely unhappy, because Lin Weijia was always pulling this routine of selling his misery to their family. How much advantage had they taken from them over the years? Yet Lin Weiguo fell for it every single time!
Although Shen Wenfang knew Lin Weiguo just wanted Grandma Lin to have a better life, the food their branch provided and the subsidies they gave during holidays were already more than enough! It was purely that the second branch was never satisfied with the advantages they took!
In the past, she had endured it because she didn’t want to make things difficult for Lin Weiguo. But now was different. They actually wanted to take advantage of Ranran, and she could not tolerate that! If she gave in this time, they might set their sights on Ranran forever! She would absolutely not allow it!
Thinking of this, Shen Wenfang immediately shot a look at Wang Zhaodi. Weren’t you the one making a fuss every day for Ranran to go out and work? Now that someone is coming to steal Ranran’s job, keep making that fuss!
It wasn’t appropriate for her to speak up, so it was best for the juniors to come forward. Fortunately, Wang Zhaodi wasn’t too stupid. Of course, there was another more important reason: Wang Zhaodi was angry too.
Think about it—she had caused a scene for so long, and with great difficulty, she had finally gotten Lin Ran to agree to earn work-points. She had almost been driven back to her mother’s house by Lin Lao’er because of it. After she had suffered so much grievance to succeed, did Lin Weijia and his daughter think they could just take it away by flapping their lips?
She didn’t even need to think about it; if the scorekeeper position was given away today, her parents-in-law would definitely not let Lin Ran go out to work. How could that be allowed?! If Lin Ran didn’t earn points, wouldn’t she just stay at home and continue to “eat for free” and take advantage of them?
So even if Shen Wenfang hadn’t signaled her, Wang Zhaodi was already on the verge of losing her patience. Now that she had been given a silent command, she immediately started shouting.
“Second Uncle, you say that so easily. It’s not your food being eaten, so it’s easy for you to talk without feeling the burden, isn’t it?”
“We finally got Little Sister to agree to earn work-points so she wouldn’t stay home as a freeloader. If we give this opportunity away, how is she supposed to go to work?”
“Giving it away is fine, but how about this: from now on, Little Sister can go to Second Uncle’s house for three meals a day. Our family isn’t interested in supporting idle people. Based on what you said, since we’re all one family, I assume you won’t mind!”
“…”
Wang Zhaodi was speaking with great vigor. On the other side, Lin Lao’da also nudged Liu Ping secretly, telling her to help say a few words. Receiving the task, Liu Ping immediately sat up straight, took a deep breath, and summoned the courage to speak.
But unfortunately, Wang Zhaodi’s combat power was too strong; her mouth went on and on without stopping. Forget Liu Ping—even Lin Weijia tried several times to get a word in but couldn’t find an opening. Consequently, every time Wang Zhaodi paused for a breath, Liu Ping would open her mouth to speak, but in the next second, Wang Zhaodi would continue. In the end, Liu Ping’s face turned bright red, and she never found a chance to jump in.
It wasn’t until Wang Zhaodi’s mouth was dry and she had finally finished everything she wanted to say and came to a complete stop that Liu Ping finally caught her chance and managed one sentence.
“Right!”
It even came with a bit of a tremble. After saying it, she immediately lowered her head, not daring to look at anyone. Shen Wenfang and Lin Lao’da looked at her with somewhat complicated expressions.
However, fortunately, Wang Zhaodi’s solo performance was enough. Lin Weijia was visibly fuming; he had already stood up and started demanding an explanation.
“Big Brother, listen to this—what kind of talk is this? I am their elder, after all! I just came to ask my own brother for a small favor. If you don’t want to help, just say so. Is there any need to send a junior out to humiliate me?”
“If you won’t help, then forget it! To think I treated you as family and thought we were all one branch. It turns out I thought too much; you don’t treat me as a brother or an elder at all!”
Lin Weijia was incredibly angry. In all his life, he had never suffered such an indignity. He was on the verge of losing his mind and had long since forgotten his original purpose for coming.
Lin Weiguo was also angry. No matter what, Lin Weijia was his brother and Wang Zhaodi’s elder. Now his daughter-in-law was just short of pointing at Lin Weijia’s nose and cursing. How could his face look good?
Just as he was about to lose his temper, Shen Wenfang stepped in first, feigning a reprimand:
“Second Daughter-in-law, how can you speak to an elder like that? If it weren’t for the fact that it’s almost time for work, I would definitely give you a proper scolding!”
These words stunned Lin Weiguo, who had been about to teach Wang Zhaodi a lesson. He hurriedly checked the position of the sun.
“Oh no, oh no, it’s already time! I have to hurry and arrange the team’s labor!”
Lin Weiguo could no longer be bothered with Lin Weijia and rushed out in a hurry. The rest of the Lin family followed closely behind, each running faster than a monkey, not forgetting to remind Lin Weijia.
“Second Uncle, you should hurry too, lest you’re late and lose work-points!”
This nearly made Lin Weijia faint from rage.
“Fine! You all are very good!”
With that, he huffed and slammed the door as he left.