Was it just her imagination? Had her nerves been stretched too tight?
Lin Yinyin quickened her movements. In no time at all, she finished stripping Lin Baogui, then rummaged through Widow Liu’s room and found her large undergarments, which she placed over Lin Baogui’s face.
She also looted the place while she was at it.
After finishing everything, she headed straight to Wang Erhua’s house next door.
Her next target: dealing with her stepmother, Lin Xiulan.
She skillfully climbed over the wall and knocked on the door. “Aunt Erhua, are you home?”
With a creak, the door opened. Wang Erhua, in her forties, poked her head out. At a glance, she saw the handkerchiefs wrapped around Lin Yinyin’s arms and wrists, and her face darkened instantly.
“What happened?! Did that vicious woman Lin Xiulan beat you again?”
She grabbed Lin Yinyin and pulled her inside. “Get in here! No one’s home at my place, and I’ve got medicine. The doctor prescribed it when my nephew got hurt. Come on, let me put some on!”
“No need, Aunt Erhua.” Lin Yinyin smiled and waved her hand. “I came to ask you for a favor.”
“Just say it!” Wang Erhua thumped her chest. “I told you before don’t bottle up your grievances. Come to me! You never listen.
Is this about canceling that engagement? Come on! I’ll take you to the brigade leader right now!
We’ll say Lin Xiulan is selling her daughter human trafficking is illegal! As long as you don’t agree, she can’t force you!
If that doesn’t work, I’ll call my eight sisters-in-law and we’ll storm the brigade leader’s house until he agrees. Otherwise we won’t leave we’ll eat and drink at his place and see how he explains it to his tigress of a wife!”
Lin Yinyin: “……”
So Aunt Erhua was this kind of person.
If the original host had had a bit more courage to ask for help, maybe she wouldn’t have been tormented to death.
Lin Yinyin smiled and said directly, “Aunt Erhua, I’m not canceling the engagement.”
“What?” Wang Erhua’s eyes widened.
“Not canceling? That won’t do! Wang the Fool’s family is a pit of fire! He eats and defecates on the kang and drools all day. If you marry into that house, you’re finished!”
“That’s not it, Auntie. I’m not canceling the engagement I’m changing the bride.”
“What do you mean?” Wang Erhua didn’t understand.
“When the Wang family comes to fetch the bride later, help me distract the guy. I’ll push the bride onto the cart.”
“Oh, alright!” Wang Erhua agreed without thinking.
But after nodding, she suddenly froze. “Wait a minute?”
She blinked. “You push the bride onto the cart? Who’s the bride?”
“Lin Xiulan,” Lin Yinyin said matter-of-factly.
Wang Erhua: “……”
She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.
After a long moment she finally squeezed out, “Y-you’re going to marry off your stepmother?!”
“Why not?” Lin Yinyin raised an eyebrow.
“She can sell me why can’t I ‘marry’ her off?
And I’m being kind. I found her a strong, healthy man twenty years younger than her. She should be thanking me.”
Wang Erhua: “……”
She stared at Lin Yinyin for a long time. The eyes, the nose, the mouth it was Lin Yinyin. But the more she looked, the stranger she seemed.
Before, the girl didn’t even dare lift her head when speaking. Today she was bold and her ideas were a little wild!
“What’s wrong, Aunt Erhua? Did I do something wrong?” Lin Yinyin smiled, waiting for her reply.
Wang Erhua originally wanted to say that marrying off her stepmother like this was too extreme. But then she thought: as the saying goes, if you haven’t tasted someone else’s suffering, don’t urge them to be kind.
This girl’s life had been too bitter. Now that she wanted to fight back, how could she refuse? What if she scared her and she went back to being timid again?
For the sake of her late mother, she had to help.
Wang Erhua slapped her thigh. “Right! Yinyin is doing the right thing!”
“I support you! That vicious Lin Xiulan deserves some suffering! Don’t worry I’ll help!”
Rolling up her sleeves, she added, “If she resists, I’ve got eight sisters-in-law. We’ll tie her up and drag her to the wedding ceremony!”
Lin Yinyin: “……” Those eight sisters-in-law sure were busy.
But she didn’t need them. “No need, Aunt Erhua. Just distract him. I’ll handle the rest. Here’s the plan…”
The sun slanted westward. It was time to get off work.
The sound of donkey hooves clopped at the village entrance.
A donkey cart draped in red silk stopped at Lin Dayong’s door.
Wang Erhua had already been waiting outside, cracking sunflower seeds. When a young man jumped down from the cart, she immediately called out, “Qiangzi, what are you doing here?”
The young man was Wang the Fool’s cousin, Wang Daqiang also Wang Erhua’s nephew by several twists of kinship.
Wang Daqiang grinned. “Second Aunt, I’m here on behalf of Dasha uh, I mean Brother Dagen to fetch the bride!”
“Oh?” Wang Erhua feigned surprise and stepped closer. “You parked here. Don’t tell me the bride is from Lin Dayong’s house?”
“Yeah. My aunt said the girl here might have a hard fate, but she can bear children. Dagen doesn’t mind.”
“Oh. Perfect. I’m heading back to my maiden home can you give me a ride? Save me the walk.”
“Second Aunt, that’s not appropriate, is it?” Wang Daqiang looked troubled. “It’s the bride’s cart. Others aren’t supposed to ride it it’s unlucky.”
“You’re marrying a ‘lone star of misfortune’ already, what luck are you talking about?” Wang Erhua said deliberately.
That line was suggested by Lin Yinyin to catch his attention.
Wang Erhua grabbed Wang Daqiang’s arm and turned his face away, starting to dig up old grievances. “Wang Daqiang! When you were little, you came to my house stealing pig feed and pulling up my cabbages. I remember it all! I fed you corn buns, dried sweet potatoes, corn pancakes!
And now what? Grown wings and too proud to let me ride in your cart?
Won’t even give me a lift? You ungrateful child…”
While she was spraying spit and lecturing him, Lin Yinyin, head wrapped in a scarf, came out quickly carrying a tightly bound “bride” with a red veil over her head.
She shoved the person onto the donkey cart and urged Wang Daqiang, “Hurry and take her away. It won’t be good if she wakes up!”
“Wakes up?” Wang Daqiang was overwhelmed.
Seeing the bride lying stiffly, he couldn’t help asking, “Is the bride unconscious?”
Lin Yinyin shot him an impatient look. “Of course.
If she were awake and knew she was marrying Wang the Fool, would she agree?
Would you agree? Or do you want to marry him instead?”
Wang Daqiang: “……” What did this have to do with him?
Wang Erhua chimed in immediately, “You silly boy, why ask so many questions!
A young girl getting married for the first time of course she’s scared and unwilling!
With someone like Dagen, it’s already hard enough to find a wife. An unconscious bride is perfect!
Hurry up. I need to get home too.” She winked at Lin Yinyin.
Lin Yinyin added fiercely, “Go back and tell Wang Dagen’s mother I took the money and delivered the person. I even stuffed her mouth and drugged her for free. We’re square.
Take her away now. If she wakes up and refuses, or if you miss the auspicious time and your family comes looking for trouble, I won’t accept returns!” She gave the cart another shove.
“Go, go, go! We’re leaving right now!” Wang Erhua climbed onto the cart with the bundle she had prepared.
With the two women playing off each other, Wang Daqiang lost any suspicion. He urged the donkey forward, hauling the unconscious “bride” and Wang Erhua, who clung to the side of the cart, toward Wang Family Village.