Song Sijia’s heart pounded like a drum. She was finally going to marry the future richest man, never again to endure the dark, hopeless days of her past life.
Sun Hongmei and her husband returned after just an hour away.
Judging by the expressions on their faces, the matter was settled.
The wedding dates remained unchanged, still set for two days later, but the marriage partners had been swapped.
Just as everyone was celebrating, Song Siyi spoke up.
“Since the marriages have been exchanged, shouldn’t the bride prices be swapped back too?”
Her words instantly darkened everyone’s faces.
Eldest Aunt sneered, “Siyi, one shouldn’t be too greedy.”
Song Siyi met her gaze. “That’s not right, Eldest Aunt. Since the marriages have been exchanged, the bride prices naturally should be swapped. Are you suggesting my cousin should take the brigade leader’s family’s bride price and marry Lu Yan instead?”
In her heart, Song Sijia had already trampled Song Siyi a hundred times over. Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!
One day, she would make her pay.
At the mention of the brigade leader’s family, the Songs fell silent. They had no desire to offend the brigade leader.
In the end, the Old Lady made the decision. “Give her the bride price.”
Song Sijia gritted her teeth. The family had already promised the bride price would go with her when she married.
The brigade leader’s family had offered a full eighty yuan more. This Lu Yan was truly poor and stingy—better to have given nothing at all than to become a laughingstock.
But for the sake of becoming the wife of the richest man, she clenched her teeth and made the exchange.
Song Siyi gained another hundred yuan and couldn’t have been happier.
She left the house in high spirits.
Just as Sun Hongmei and the others were about to chase after her, the work whistle sounded.
They had no choice but to give up, and the whole family headed out to work.
In just one noon, news of the two girls’ exchange marriage had spread throughout the entire brigade.
As Song Siyi walked out, many people came up to inquire.
The most eager was the village’s big mouth, Aunt Cuihua.
“Siyi, did you really exchange?” Aunt Cuihua leaned in, buzzing with gossip.
“Yes, we did.”
Aunt Cuihua slapped her thigh. “Oh, it’s for the best! You didn’t see those two kissing by the river—utterly shameless!”
“Your cousin clung to that Educated Youth Lu, calling him ‘brother’ over and over. Thank goodness you exchanged, or you’d be wearing a giant green hat!”
Song Siyi was surprised. Though Aunt Cuihua loved gossip, she wasn’t one to spread baseless rumors.
Didn’t Lu Yan have a white moonlight in his heart? How could he tolerate Sijia clinging to him like that?
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Song Siyi’s lips. In her past life, he had refused to touch her—probably because he looked down on her.
Lu Yan was truly despicable, pretending to be so devoted.
In her past life, she had endless chores and no time to take care of herself.
At just nineteen, though her features were pretty, her skin was rough and sallow, and she wore coarse, plain clothes. She couldn’t compare to Song Sijia, who never worked and always wore pretty bulaji dresses.
But now, she was infinitely grateful he hadn’t touched her back then. Otherwise, discovering his affair with his white moonlight later would have sickened her to death.
Aunt Cuihua was still chattering away when Song Sijia caught up from behind and overheard everything.
Song Sijia rushed forward and blocked Song Siyi and Aunt Cuihua.
“Cousin, you agreed to the exchange marriage too. How can you go around spreading lies?”
She glared accusingly at Song Siyi, as if Song Siyi had committed some heinous crime.
Song Sijia’s voice was loud, quickly drawing the attention of many people nearby.
Song Sijia: "My falling into the water was an accident, and Educated Youth Lu saving me was unavoidable. To make my cousin agree to the exchange marriage, our family has already compensated her with eight hundred yuan. What more does my cousin want?"
"Spreading rumors like this about me—do you want me to die?"
As she spoke, tears streamed down Song Sijia's face.
Upon hearing that Song Siyi had been compensated eight hundred yuan, those who had initially felt Song Sijia was in the wrong immediately turned their gazes toward Song Siyi.
That was eight hundred yuan! In these times, no family had it easy, yet the Song family could actually produce eight hundred yuan!
The crowd looked at Song Siyi as if she were a gleaming piece of fat meat.
Song Sijia secretly curled the corner of her lips. If Song Siyi dared to take that eight hundred yuan, she would make sure her reputation in the brigade was utterly ruined.
Listening to the murmurs around her, Song Siyi felt nothing.
People were like this—when you were weak, they pitied you, but when you were no longer weak, they could just as easily turn around and crush you, even more ruthlessly.
Song Siyi simply stated the facts calmly.
"I returned to the Song family when I was three. At that time, my father sent home a monthly subsistence allowance of twenty yuan."
"Thanks to my father's allowance, all the siblings in the family were able to attend school. When I said I wanted to go to school too, Grandma said I was too young and wouldn't let me."
"When I was five, my father sacrificed his life. The military unit gave a compensation of one thousand yuan, but all that money was taken by Grandma—not a single cent was given to me, his daughter."
"The family used that money to build a big house. You all got new clothes, but what did I have?"
"After my father's sacrifice, I never saw a single cent of the fifteen-yuan monthly pension. I served you all like an old ox, never stepping into a school for a single day while you were studying."
"That eight hundred yuan was my father's pension. How did it become compensation from you?"
Song Siyi's words were devoid of emotion but clear enough.
Aunt Cuihua exclaimed, "Goodness, no wonder I always wondered why Siyi never went to school. Whenever I asked your grandma, she said Siyi was sensible and wanted to help the family."
"Now it seems she simply wouldn't let her. If they had the means, why wouldn't they let a child go to school?"
"So it turns out the Song family are the bloodsuckers, the whole family leeching off Siyi. If Jianbin knew his daughter was being treated like this, he'd probably rise from the grave in anger."
The Song family arrived just in time to hear Aunt Cuihua's words and the murmurs of the crowd, their faces flushing with shame.
"I wondered why Song Sijia suddenly fell into the water. Could it be that she and Lu Yan got involved?"
"Exactly, otherwise why the exchange marriage?"
Aunt Cuihua added, "Sijia, those words just now were clearly spoken by me, an old woman. Why did you immediately drag Siyi into it?"
"I take full responsibility for what I said. I saw you kissing, I saw you embracing each other. So what?"
"Don't think that just because you exchanged marriages, it's all fine. What you did was adultery, and I can report you."
Sun Hongmei was terrified upon hearing this. She dropped her sickle and lunged forward.
"I'll beat you to death, you shameless wretch! How dare you slander my daughter's reputation!"
Aunt Cuihua was not one to back down. She rolled up her sleeves and charged forward. "You think I'm afraid of you? If you dare to do it, you should dare to face the consequences. A family of bloodsuckers!"
Song Sijia hadn't expected things to turn out this way. She looked pitifully at Song Siyi and said, "Cousin, are you satisfied now that things have come to this?"
Song Siyi raised her hand and slapped her.
Song Sijia covered her face, staring at her in disbelief. "You!"
"Smack!"
Another crisp sound echoed. Having already died once, what was there to fear?
However Song Sijia had bullied her in the past, she would now repay it in kind.
Song Siyi lunged forward, pinned Song Sijia down, and landed several solid punches.