Shen Xiangyang’s originally decent mood vanished instantly because of those two greeting him.
Did they know he’d secretly eaten roasted rabbit?
In the past, whenever Shen Xiangyang caught a rabbit, he would announce it to the whole world. But here, in a strange place where he didn’t know anyone, as an outsider educated youth, people might accuse him of seizing collective property. So he had quietly, secretly dealt with a rabbit on his own.
Since the two of them had greeted him, he figured he could graciously reply: “Yeah, you—”
Damn it, before he could even finish his sentence, the two of them ran off. They actually ran away?
What the hell—were they sick or something?
Shen Xiangyang’s mood worsened even more, entirely thanks to those two lunatics just now.
At the same time, Zhang Lihua, Geng Jiajia, and the others were also confused. What had Li Baoling said when she left again? Didn’t she absolutely despise Shen Xiangyang?
So what was going on now?
“Oh my god, Li Baoling wouldn’t be trying to crawl back, would she?” Geng Jiajia panicked a little. That absolutely wouldn’t do.
Bai Xiujuan rolled her eyes at her. “Are you out of your mind? First of all, she’s already married. And didn’t you see her husband was there just now?”
“Right… then do you think Li Baoling misunderstood Brother Xiangyang before, and now that the misunderstanding’s cleared up, she realizes he’s actually a good person?” Geng Jiajia suddenly understood. That had to be it.
After a whole day of labor, Bai Xiujuan was exhausted. She’d already given up on trying to reason with Geng Jiajia—let her fend for herself. Bai Xiujuan could barely take care of herself anymore.
But Zhang Lihua, standing nearby, was troubled by something else entirely—Li Baoling hadn’t gone to work for several days now.
She didn’t know if it was just her imagination, but she felt Li Baoling not only looked fairer, even her face seemed fuller. She must be living a good life at the Lin household.
Thinking about that, Zhang Lihua clenched her teeth and fists in anger. Why?
Why was it that Li Baoling could act on a whim and still live a good life, while she herself worked diligently, step by step, yet nothing ever went smoothly?
Zhang Lihua didn’t show it on her face, but inside she was practically furious. Then, as the anger peaked, she thought again: Li Baoling had only been married for a few days—of course she’d live well for a while. Just wait and see. After some time, things might change drastically. As for her, she’d still be the same as always.
Thinking that way, the anger in her heart slowly subsided. Besides, she had already mailed that letter. When the time came, not just the Li family, but the entire compound would know that Li Baoling had married just days after arriving in the countryside. Let’s see how she’d ever go back then!
Though come to think of it, she probably couldn’t go back anyway. She was married now—naturally, she’d be stuck here for life. Heh heh. The more Zhang Lihua thought about it, the happier she became.
“Are you sick too?” Geng Jiajia asked, startled when Zhang Lihua suddenly snapped out of it. Ever since Li Baoling got married, Zhang Lihua had often been like this—no one knew when she’d suddenly scare someone. Today, Geng Jiajia was the unlucky one.
“You’re the one who’s sick!” Zhang Lihua glared at her and walked off.
Because of Li Baoling’s appearance, the educated youth point stirred up a small ripple again. Some people even began to envy Li Baoling’s life of not having to work after getting married.
But they were envying too soon, because starting tomorrow, Li Baoling and Lin Mingyuan would be going to work as well.
When Li Baoling heard this news, even food didn’t taste good anymore. Of course, that also had something to do with her stuffing herself with a big meal at noon. Switching all at once to wild vegetables and corn buns was still hard for her to accept.
The other members of the Lin family, however, were quite happy—especially after hearing about Fang Daming’s miserable state.
Sun Zhaodi was so pleased she even drank two extra bowls of water.
After dinner, it was only around seven o’clock. Unable to sleep, Li Baoling planned to go for a walk with Lin Mingyuan. But just as they stepped outside, they ran into Liu Heini, who was about to sneak into the Li household.
Why say “sneak”? Because even just visiting neighbors, she kept glancing left and right. If it weren’t clear that the Li family was home, one might’ve thought she was a thief.
Liu Heini hadn’t expected to run into the two of them either. Her expression stiffened for a moment, but she quickly recovered. This wasn’t Sun Zhaodi—what was she panicking for? And what did this matter have to do with the Lin family anyway?
Thinking that, Liu Heini cast the two brats a disdainful glance and strutted inside arrogantly.
“Did she just roll her eyes at us?” Li Baoling asked.
“Yeah. She’s probably sick,” Lin Mingyuan replied.
“Why do I feel like she’s up to something again?” Li Baoling recalled Liu Heini’s momentary awkwardness and felt she definitely had no good intentions.
Lin Mingyuan nodded. “No need to even doubt it—she definitely is.”
Li Baoling stood on tiptoe. “But we can’t exactly eavesdrop.”
“It’s fine. We’ve got brains, my mom’s got brute force. Dealing with just her—no problem at all,” Lin Mingyuan said confidently.
This time, though, the two of them guessed wrong. Liu Heini wasn’t targeting them—she was after her number-one enemy, Liu Fengying.
Li Xiuli hadn’t gone out these past few days and was worrying at home. Her daughter had a fierce temper—every day, aside from mealtimes, her door stayed locked, and she didn’t say a single word. Li Xiuli was afraid that if this continued, something might really go wrong.
So she was annoyed by Liu Heini’s visit. To put it plainly, among all the neighbors around here, there were very few she thought highly of—and Liu Heini and Liu Fengying were at the very bottom of that list.
“What do you want?” Li Xiuli asked impatiently.
“I’m here this time to give you an idea,” Liu Heini said. Seeing Li Xiuli’s attitude, she rolled her eyes internally. If it weren’t to stop Liu Fengying from gaining the upper hand, she wouldn’t even bother coming.
With Li Xiuli wearing that gloomy face every day, it’d be a miracle if her daughter could ever get married.
“You? Give me an idea?” Li Xiuli didn’t believe it at all. With someone like Liu Heini, it’d already be a blessing if she didn’t clap her hands in delight when something bad happened.
“That’s right,” Liu Heini continued. “Where’s Yunxia? Didn’t she come back? Why haven’t I seen her?”
She really knew how to poke at sore spots. Li Xiuli knew it—this woman was here to watch the drama.
“Is it because of Lin family’s fourth son?” Seeing Li Xiuli about to refute her, Liu Heini immediately said, “We’ve lived here for so many years. Yunxia grew up under everyone’s eyes—who can’t tell she took a liking to Lin Fourth? But who knew Lin Fourth’s eyes didn’t work properly, and he actually married an educated youth.”
“Do you know? Because of this, Liu Fengying has been talking behind your back every day, badmouthing Yunxia too—just waiting to see the spectacle.”
“She says your family deserves it, that finally you, Li Xiuli, have something to suffer over. She says you looked down on her Xiaohu, but Lin Mingyuan would rather marry an educated youth than look at Yunxia. At this rate, your Yunxia will end up an old maid sooner or later. With a mother like you, it wouldn’t be strange if she never married her whole life. Then the entire village will laugh at you—let’s see how you’ll ever step outside again.”
“I’m not making any of this up.”
Li Xiuli’s face grew even uglier. Of course she knew.
“I’m not the same as her. She’s holding a grudge over Xiaohu—there’s nothing like that between our families,” Li Xiuli said. Of course that wasn’t true—she’d said similar things herself.
“Enough. What are you really trying to say?”
Liu Heini replied, “Hasn’t Yunxia been fighting with you these past few days? Why is she fighting with you? Isn’t it because Lin Fourth got married? That’s easy—just find her a husband.”
Li Xiuli had thought Liu Heini might say something useful. Finding a husband—did she not know that already? The problem was there wasn’t anyone suitable. Besides, Yunxia wouldn’t agree right now anyway.
“At a time like this, are you still thinking of finding a city son-in-law?”
What else would she think? Li Xiuli wanted to show everyone that her daughter could pick anyone at random and still do better than Lin Mingyuan.
Seeing her expression, Liu Heini knew exactly what she was thinking. She really had no sense of reality, treating her daughter like some precious treasure. But she pressed on anyway.
“At a time like this, you have to find someone better than Lin Mingyuan!”
“Think about it—what’s so good about Lin Mingyuan? He’s no good at work, no good as a person either. All he’s got is a team leader father, who even beats him every day. If even his own father looks down on him, why would Yunxia fancy him?”
“It’s obviously because of his face!” Liu Heini grew more animated as she spoke. “Lin Mingyuan’s only decent feature is his looks. What else does he have that’s worth mentioning? Nothing! So the most important thing for you now is to find someone better-looking than Lin Mingyuan. Only then will Yunxia even be willing to meet him.”
Li Xiuli fell silent. She had to admit—what Liu Heini said made some sense. But then again, how many people were better-looking than Lin Mingyuan?
“And another thing—you can’t look for Mei Yufen. That woman has a big mouth. You say you want someone good-looking, and she’ll spread it everywhere in the blink of an eye. Then everyone will come watch your drama. Actually, speaking of matchmakers, there’s one in our Houliu Village. Back when my Baogen got married, she was the one who arranged it. She’s tight-lipped. As long as you give her a bit more stuff, she can talk anything into being a match.”
She’d even found the person for Li Xiuli already.
Li Xiuli had indeed heard of that matchmaker—she was quite famous, said to succeed with every pairing. But she asked, “Why are you being so kind this time?”
Liu Heini had long prepared her answer. “Even if I didn’t say it, you’d eventually think of it yourself. Of course it’s because of Liu Fengying. I can’t stand seeing her happy. Don’t look at her laughing at you now—if you said you wanted to become in-laws with her, she’d agree in a heartbeat. Not only has her Xiaohu taken a liking to your Yunxia, she herself is thinking about it too. Look at your family’s conditions—you’re a proper worker’s family. And hers? From one end of the year to the other, they barely earn any work points. Her eldest son only got married by selling off her daughter. Now she’s only got one daughter left—what about her youngest son?”
“I don’t even need to dig into her mind—who knows what crooked ideas she’s cooking up. When that happens, all the girls around here will need to watch out, especially your Yunxia.”
“And besides, no matter what, I watched Yunxia grow up too. Of course I hope she ends up well.”
Liu Heini mixed truth with lies. She didn’t believe Li Xiuli wouldn’t take it to heart.
Li Xiuli did take it to heart. Setting aside the parts about wishing Yunxia well, what Liu Heini said really did make sense. A cornered dog could jump over a wall—if things truly came to that point, Liu Fengying might really scheme against Yunxia.
Li Xiuli said, “I’ll think about it. But no matter what, I’ll remember that you came here today.”
“Good!” Liu Heini smiled smugly. With her brains, fooling anyone was easy.
“Then I’ll head back. Don’t come out to see me off,” Liu Heini said, pushing Li Xiuli back inside. The two of them together would draw too much attention—she’d rather sneak off alone.
But just as she stepped out the gate, she ran straight into Sun Zhaodi, who had come out to pour water.
Damn it all to hell!