The brigade leader’s wife and Lin Zhaodi were so scared their legs went weak, mumbling over and over:
“Crazy… she’s completely crazy! This Lin Yinyin has really lost it!”
Lin Yinyin didn’t care. She felt a rush of exhilaration, as if all the anger and frustration in her chest had lifted.
Now she still had business to settle at the brigade office.
A few quick steps brought her to the entrance. She raised her arm and pounded on the door with a loud “bang bang bang!”
“Brigade Leader! I need to speak with you!”
The moment he saw who it was, the brigade leader’s face darkened. “Lin Yinyin! What are you causing trouble for now?”
“Trouble?” Lin Yinyin immediately changed her expression, golden tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Wuuu Brigade Leader! You have to stand up for me!
I’m hungry! My black-hearted grandparents won’t give me a bite! They hit me with a fire poker the moment I stepped into their yard and yelled they’re cutting ties with me! I haven’t even had a sip of water!”
She cried, glancing at the village officials standing nearby, then plopped herself onto the ground.
“Brigade Leader, I thought I’d come to you for justice, try my luck at your house, and wouldn’t you know it my stepmother Lin Xiulan is here too!
She climbed into Wang Dasha’s bed, didn’t she? Then why is she lying on your kang?”
The brigade leader’s face went black as coal.
“Of course!” Lin Yinyin continued, “But that’s not the main point. The point is, she saw me raise my hand to strike and lift my leg to kick!
Wuuu my tiny body can’t take it! I could only resist helplessly. I don’t want to be beaten to death again!”
“Wuuu my life is miserable, I’m poor, what should I do?
Am I going to be the first in our brigade to starve or be forced to death?
My deceased dad, my late uncles, all my ancestors! All the forefathers of Lin Family Village! Come see how this poor child is being treated!
I…”
“Stop!” the brigade leader couldn’t take it anymore.
He knew Lin Yinyin had started standing up for herself, but he hadn’t expected this little girl to shamelessly act like an old lady, sitting on the ground and wailing.
“Tell me, what do you want?” the brigade leader asked directly.
“I have no money, I’m hungry, I have nothing to eat.
I went to the cattle shed—the people there are even worse off but I had no choice, so I came to beg you!
Maybe you uncles could show some mercy, give me some money or a bite to eat, let me stay at your house for a couple of days?”
The village secretary, watching him, immediately stepped back he didn’t want a jinx in his house. “Brigade Leader, I still have pigs to feed. I’m leaving!”
Another accountant chimed in: “My mother’s sick. I need to go check on her!”
Before long, the brigade leader looked at the empty room, his face darker than the bottom of a pot.
“Stop pretending! Tell me, what do you actually want?”
Lin Yinyin wiped her face, her gaze sharp and clear.
“I want to go to the commune hospital to find my stepdad! My grandparents won’t care for me, so I have no choice but to go to him! You give me a letter of introduction, enough for a couple of days!”
She knew that having an extra letter could always come in handy later.
The brigade leader stared at her for a long moment. Seeing her determined gaze, he knew that if he didn’t agree today, she wouldn’t let it go. “Fine! I’ll give you three days. Take it and leave. Don’t make trouble in the village.”
“I also want money five yuan! I need food and lodging! Without money, I’ll have to…”
“I’ll give you one yuan!” the brigade leader gritted out.
His valuables had been stolen, but luckily his private money was hidden at the brigade office.
“One yuan is too little!”
Lin Yinyin immediately bargained, no trace of the earlier crying left on her face. She counted on her fingers: “Round-trip to the commune is twenty cents, lodging is fifty cents, plus dinner, breakfast, lunch this money doesn’t even cover the basics.”
“Two yuan is already enough!” the brigade leader argued. “A meat bun at the state-run restaurant costs five cents you can buy twenty for one yuan! Sleep in the hospital hallway, no need for a guesthouse.”
“Oh?”
Lin Yinyin’s voice suddenly grew dark, her gaze sharp.
“Brigade Leader, if I have no place to sleep, I get stressed. If I get stressed, I go crazy.
And when I go crazy, I don’t care where I am.
Be it the police station, the commune office, or the county government they’ll see a little girl like me with nothing to eat, wearing rags. When they ask me what’s going on, I’ll say: my family in Chaoyang Brigade, my stepmother sold me to a fool, my stepbrother assaulted a widow, and my stepmother might even be involved with the brigade leader…”
“Stop! Three yuan is the max!”
The brigade leader shuddered. Commune office, county government how does she know so much?
Lin Yinyin knew she couldn’t push too hard yet, so she said reluctantly, “Fine, three yuan it is, but I have one condition you must agree.”
“What condition?” the brigade leader asked cautiously.
“My household registration no one touches it!”
Lin Yinyin stepped forward, eyes sharp as knives. “While I’m away from the village, if anyone dares tamper with my household registration, or try to sell me or force me to marry, I’ll report it to the police! I’m sure the police would care about abducting a military family member.”
“Military family?” the brigade leader’s heart skipped a beat.
“Yes! My sister is Lin Huizhi. Her fiancé is the battalion commander of the Hebei Provincial Military District!”
The brigade leader’s face changed instantly.
Lin Huizhi? Her fiancé had been promoted to battalion commander?
He looked Lin Yinyin over again how did she know this?
“You want to ask how I know, but that’s none of your business. Just know that my brother-in-law has already invited me to the military district. Whether he genuinely cares for me or wants me to curry favor for profit, their identities are clear. If something happens to me, they won’t ignore it.”
The brigade leader felt a chill run down his spine.
Thinking of all that had happened marrying the stepmother, sending the stepbrother to the widow’s bed, emptying the house, burning Old Man Lin’s house, even affecting his own home if she did all of this, she was terrifying!
Decisive, ruthless, and flawless in execution if she didn’t admit it, no one could prove anything.
Thinking of the missing marriage application from his drawer, the brigade leader’s throat bobbed, and his tone softened.
“Fine! Let’s be honest. I won’t hold past grievances against you. As long as you stop causing trouble, I guarantee no one will touch your household registration.”
“Good,” Lin Yinyin nodded, satisfied. This was exactly what she wanted.
“Brigade Leader, if you keep your word, I won’t go back on mine. The past ends here.”
The brigade leader immediately issued the letter of introduction, extending it an extra ten days.
Lin Yinyin checked the money and letter carefully, then tucked them into her pocket.
“Brigade Leader, until we meet again!”
The brigade leader knew she was leaving the village to find Lin Huizhi.
That was fine without the jinx around, the village would have a bit of peace.
Only, Lin Dayong might not have it easy. Lin Yinyin wouldn’t let him off the hook this time.
Ah! At least, it wasn’t happening in their village.