Ling Xi was, of course, faking it.
When Su Miaomiao lunged at her, she didn’t even touch her—Ling Xi had thrown herself down and pretended to be knocked over. In all the chaos, no one noticed. Afterwards, when she took the beating, she protected her vital spots; she had no serious injuries anywhere, it just looked frightening.
“Sure, the not-breathing part was fake, but the bald head is real,” Cai Yu quipped. “You’ve successfully achieved the freedom of hair loss.”
“Shut up!”
Touching her sparse patch of yellow hair that had been pulled out in clumps, Ling Xi consoled herself through gritted teeth: it’s fine, it was all worth it.
But when she saw the bald girl in the hospital bathroom mirror, she burst out crying: “No, it wasn’t worth it at all!”
Yu Lian was startled and hurried over. “What’s wrong, Xi’er? Where does it hurt?”
“My hair… waaah, my hair…” Ling Xi cried so hard she hiccupped.
Looking at the few wisps of hair her daughter had left, Yu Lian comforted her tenderly. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’ll grow back in a while.”
“Really?” Ling Xi asked innocently.
“Of course it’s true!”
“You promise?”
“Mama promises. Look at me and your dad—we both have hair!”
“…Waaah—”
At dinner time, Su Changhe came to visit his daughter with two pieces of good news, which finally eased Ling Xi’s grief over her lost hair.
“Third Uncle agreed,” he said, a little downcast. “Once Xi’er recovers, we’ll split the family.”
Ling Xi perked up instantly, itching to leap off the bed and dance a disco right then to prove she was perfectly fine.
And in truth, she really was fine. The doctor said she just needed to go home and apply some ointment, but Su Changhe and Yu Lian firmly believed she’d been frightened into a faint and needed bed rest, and refused to let her return to the old Su household.
Ling Xi knew they were afraid Old Mrs. Su and the Third Branch would give her trouble over the family split. Well, the Third Branch was paying the hospital bills, and the accommodations weren’t bad, so fine, she’d stay.
After dinner, Su Changhe pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. “A telegram from the Huaian Base. Take a look.”
Ling Xi took it. Seeing it was filled to the brim with writing, she knew it wasn’t from Xiao Jue, and felt a faint twinge of disappointment.
But she quickly focused, extracting the important information from Chen Tianjun’s pages of rambling—essentially just two things: the name Su Lingxi and a list of items.
Three “Great Unity” bills, one radio voucher, one nationwide grain ration coupon, plus a jin of red date cake and two Balaji dresses.
Ling Xi tsked twice. Well, he wasn’t completely stupid—he’d known to specify that these items were an extra reward for helping catch the criminal, to be given to her alone.
Actually, when she’d learned about it yesterday, she’d wanted to ask Chen Tianjun which screw had come loose in his head that he’d given the things to Su Xinghui. Hadn’t he seen how Su Xinghui had set her up that day when Commander Guo came?
Of course, she also guessed that Chen Tianjun, being so careless, probably couldn’t even remember who Su Xinghui was.
Needless to say, Ling Xi had hit the truth.
That day, after handing over the items, Chen Tianjun had returned to the military camp in high spirits, and from far off he’d spotted Xiao Jue waiting in the guard hall.
“Delivery made?” Xiao Jue asked, as if inspecting a military matter.
Chen Tianjun didn’t take offense; he thumped his chest. “When your brother takes on a job, do you really doubt him? Delivered, safe and sound!”
Ripples stirred in Xiao Jue’s deep eyes, and his tone showed rare fluctuation. “How is she?”
“Seems fine. She even went back to school,” Chen Tianjun said thoughtfully.
Xiao Jue frowned. “‘Seems’?”
“That’s right.” Chen Tianjun nodded. “She hadn’t even gotten out of school this afternoon, so I had her older sister pass along your money and tickets, plus the little trinkets I bought for her. They’ve probably reached her by now.”
He was quite pleased with his own cleverness, but when he looked up, he saw Xiao Jue staring at him as if he were an idiot. Puzzled, he asked, “What?”
“You’d better send a telegram to Huaixing Village right now, with an itemized list stating that all these items are for Su Lingxi alone.”
Seeing how serious he was, Chen Tianjun’s tongue got a bit tangled. “Do we have to be so formal about it? You’re making it sound like counterespionage. Surely they wouldn’t dare embezzle anything?”
Xiao Jue honestly wanted to crack open this childhood friend’s skull to see whether it was actually stuffed with straw.
The little one’s relationship with her family was obviously bad, yet he’d confidently handed the things over to the Su family to deliver.
Especially the little one’s older sister. Though he couldn’t remember what she looked like, he clearly remembered how she’d tried to trip the little one up with a verbal trap that day—clearly not a kind soul at heart.
A cold gleam flickered in his eyes, and he offered no further explanation. “Go send it.”
Though Chen Tianjun felt the Su family wouldn’t dare do such a thing, he still felt uneasy deep down, and he scampered off to the mail room to send the telegram.
It was his first time ever sending a telegram to anyone outside his own family, and, well, he was a little excited about it!
So this comrade chattered on and on without realizing it, and by the time the telegram reached Ling Xi, it had become one long, rambling mess.
Fortunately, everything that needed to be said was there, so Ling Xi didn’t hold his wordiness against him.
With it in hand, Ling Xi now had proper grounds to demand her things back. The date cake had been eaten by Su Xingyu, and with Wang Guiqiu’s thick skin, she probably wouldn’t offer compensation—but the money, tickets, and dress, Ling Xi was determined to get back no matter what.
And so, after putting on a show of lying in the hospital for two days, the second branch boarded the vehicle back to Huaixing Village early on the third morning.
By now, word had long spread through the village that the Su family was going to divide the household. The fence was packed with onlookers, and the people inside the house all sat up straight and proper, like prisoners awaiting the judge’s verdict.
Today was practically the day with the fullest turnout of Su family members. With the village chief presiding, not only had Su Xingchen, who attended school in the county, come back—even Su Changjiang, who had married into another family, had returned as well.
The third branch still looked as listless as ever, seeming not the least bit worried about life without two laborers in the household. Su Miaomiao had even, in a fit of madness, worn that dress she’d snatched away—a full-skirted dress, no less—despite it being nearly winter, and didn’t seem to feel the cold at all.
Suddenly, a commotion arose outside. Su Changhe pushed the door open and entered with Ling Xi and Yu Lian. For the first time, Old Mrs. Su and the third branch were waiting for them to come home.
Seeing them, Old Mrs. Su’s mouth opened and closed, and she said hoarsely, “Changhe, you’re back…”
Her eyes were red-rimmed and her face haggard. Even now, she was trying to use what little remained of her maternal love to keep her son.
Su Changhe had no interest in watching her play the pity card. Too many times in the past, she had worn this same face while draining his blood to feed the third branch.
He turned his face away and got straight to the point. “Mother, if you come with the second branch, Lian’er and I will certainly wait on you devotedly. But there’s one condition—you must cut all ties with the third branch. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, don’t visit them anymore.”
The third branch’s daughter had nearly beaten Su Lingxi to death, and plenty of people had seen it. Everyone felt this demand was perfectly reasonable. Everything else could be let go, but a life was not something to be bargained away.
But if it really came to that, how could Old Mrs. Su possibly bear it?
She had always doted on her youngest son most, and the third branch had two precious grandsons, while the second branch had only a jinx who wouldn’t live long. Anyone who wasn’t a fool knew which to choose.
“Sanya has a weak constitution, and it wouldn’t be easy for you and Lian’er to care for her. I’ll go with the third one.” she said sanctimoniously.
Wang Guiqiu was of course delighted. Their mother was still hale and hearty—she could cook and feed the chickens, and even work in the fields earning work points during the busy farming season. If she went with the third branch, the second branch would surely still have to pay her filial support money. No matter how you counted it, they couldn’t lose!