From the moment Song Dabao arrived at the Lin household, his eyes never left Lin Yuxi.
Lin Yuxi felt utterly disgusted, but her expression remained calm. Today, she was determined to teach Song Dabao a lesson—quietly, without anyone noticing.
“Yuxi, what work are you doing today? Let me help you,” Song Dabao said ingratiatingly as he sidled up to her.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working at home? What are you doing here—trying to skip labor?” Lin Yuxi had no intention of being polite.
“I… I’m not… I just…” Song Dabao stumbled over his words. He might be a bit dim, but not completely foolish—he knew some things shouldn’t be said.
“I asked him to bring me something. Since he’s already here, let him go cut grass with you today,” Old Madam Lin said, stepping in to smooth things over.
“We’re going to work, not to play. We don’t have time to watch him. If he trips or gets hurt, don’t come blaming us—we won’t take responsibility.”
Lin Yuxi deliberately included Lin Yuwei and Lin Yuzhu, so whatever happened later wouldn’t fall on her alone.
“Exactly. If anything happens to him, don’t come looking for us.”
Everyone in the Lin family knew what Song Dabao was like—a spoiled child raised by the Song family. He was worse at work than even they were.
They were heading to the mountainside to cut grass. If Song Dabao fell or got hurt, the Song family would surely come after them. They weren’t going to take the blame.
“Enough. What could possibly happen while cutting grass? Just do your work. Dabao, be careful yourself,” Old Madam Lin said, annoyed but helpless seeing her granddaughters’ attitude.
The group arrived at the mountainside and began cutting grass. At first, they stayed relatively close, but gradually spread farther apart.
Song Dabao ignored everyone else, lazily swinging his sickle while inching closer to Lin Yuxi.
Lin Yuxi glanced around. Once she could no longer see anyone else, she continued cutting grass while subtly heading deeper into the mountain.
Unaware, Song Dabao simply followed her, and before he knew it, he had entered the forest.
He kept trying to strike up a conversation, but Lin Yuxi ignored him completely.
Soon, they neared the large pit where a wild boar had fallen before. Lin Yuxi quickened her pace, camouflaged the edge of the pit, and hid behind a tree.
As for whether Song Dabao would fall in—that depended on his luck. She had even carefully avoided the section with the sharpened stakes that had pierced the wild boar. See? She was merciful.
Unfortunately for Song Dabao, his luck was terrible.
When he looked up and couldn’t see Lin Yuxi anymore, panic set in. He hurried forward, scanning around frantically—completely ignoring where he stepped.
The outcome was predictable. His foot slipped, and he tumbled straight into the pit.
To make matters worse, as he fell, the sickle in his hand slashed his other arm.
The pit was deep—there was no way he could climb out. With his arm injured and in pain, he immediately began wailing miserably.
Seeing that he had fallen in, Lin Yuxi turned and left, quickly returning to the spot near the foot of the mountain where she had been cutting grass earlier.
From her space, she took out the grass she had cut before and piled it up. Anyone looking would think she had been working there for quite some time.
She looked around, spotted someone cutting grass nearby, and walked over, pretending to be exhausted.
“Hongying, it’s you. Do you have any water? Can you spare me some? I’ve run out—I worked too fast today, sweating a lot, and didn’t bring enough.”
As she spoke, she handed Zhang Hongying two pieces of fruit candy. “My classmate gave these to me—try them.”
Zhang Hongying poured some water from her flask into Lin Yuxi’s bottle, and Lin Yuxi quickly took a few sips.
Since the grass was tall and plentiful, they had to deliver it to the production team several times a day. The mountainside wasn’t close, so they usually brought baskets and ropes—once a basket was full, they’d tie it up and carry it back together, saving trips.
Zhang Hongying, the brigade leader’s youngest daughter, was a year younger than Lin Yuxi. Seeing the candy, she happily accepted it.
“Thank you, Sister Yuxi! You cut so fast—let me see how much you’ve done.”
“Sure. There’s plenty of grass here—just cut here later. I’ve been working since morning and already cut this much.”
Lin Yuxi needed a witness—to prove she had been there cutting grass the whole time.
The two of them went to the pile of grass. Zhang Hongying helped load it into the basket, chatting as they worked.
Soon, Lin Yuwei and Lin Yuzhu came over. Seeing how much Lin Yuxi had cut, they were surprised.
Lin Yuxi deliberately wiped her sweat. “I’ve been working nonstop since morning—so exhausting.”
By then, the basket was full. She tied it up and saw there was still quite a bit left.
“You two can split the rest. If we leave it here, someone might take it.”
Hearing this, they were delighted. They quickly filled their baskets, then divided the remaining grass into three piles and continued working.
Lin Yuxi sat to the side. “I’ll wait for you—we’ll go deliver the grass together. I’ll rest for a bit.”
No one suspected anything. After cutting so much grass, of course she would be tired.
“Where’s Song Dabao?” Lin Yuwei glanced around but didn’t see him.
“Who knows? Maybe he ran off somewhere to play. If he wanted to work, he’d stay at home—why come here?” Lin Yuxi said casually.
“Exactly. Not doing his own family’s work but coming here—who would believe that?” Lin Yuzhu added.
“Let him go wherever he wants—it’s none of our business.” Lin Yuxi waved her arm as if it ached from working.
Lin Yuwei didn’t really care—she had only asked casually.
After a while, they tied up the grass and returned together to deliver it to the production team.
Meanwhile, poor Song Dabao screamed and wailed in the deep pit, but no one heard him. It was the busy farming season—no one went up the mountain.
After delivering the grass, Lin Yuxi and the others went to another spot at the foot of the mountain. They rested for a while, ate the corn buns and water they had brought, and then continued working.
No one thought of Song Dabao again.
That afternoon, when they returned home after work, the others hadn’t come back yet. Old Madam Lin had returned shortly after them.
They helped her cook and feed the chickens and ducks.
Only after the meal was ready did Old Madam Lin realize Song Dabao was missing.
“Where’s Dabao? Didn’t he come back with you?” she asked.
“Didn’t see him.”
“No idea.”
They all shook their heads. Old Madam Lin grew anxious.
“He went out with you—how could you not know?”
“He came with us to cut grass, but after we started working, we don’t know where he went,” Lin Yuxi said. The other two nodded.
“Then where did he go? Why didn’t you keep an eye on him?” Old Madam Lin began to complain.
“He’s not a child—he’s older than us. And we had work to do—how could we watch him?” Lin Yuwei protested immediately.
“Exactly. He’s a grown man—why would we need to look after him? Maybe he didn’t want to work and just went home?” Lin Yuzhu chimed in.