Song Dabao shuffled out of the house awkwardly. He was wearing Lin Old Man’s old clothes, and knowing how embarrassing he had been the day before, he felt too ashamed to face anyone.
“Song Dabao, you said you followed Lin Yuxi up the mountain, but she says she never went. What exactly happened?”
The production team leader’s tone already carried clear impatience.
Song Dabao looked at Lin Yuxi. “Yuxi… I followed you up the mountain yesterday. Did you forget?” he said ingratiatingly.
“You’re saying I called you up the mountain?” Lin Yuxi asked.
“No, you didn’t call me, I just—”
“So I pushed you into the pit?” she cut him off.
“No, I—”
“Since I didn’t call you there, and I didn’t push you into the pit, what does this have to do with me?”
“Even if I had gone up the mountain, you just admitted you followed me secretly. If something happened to you, how is that anyone else’s responsibility?”
Lin Yuxi didn’t give Song Dabao any chance to speak.
The people around them—including the village chief and the team leader—nodded, finding her reasoning sound.
But she wasn’t done yet. Turning to Song Dabao, she added, “I don’t care if you were chasing a pheasant or a rabbit, but don’t try to pin this on me.”
“Oh? Song Dabao, are you saying all this because your family wants ours to pay your medical bills?”
“That’s really out of line. You caused such a commotion that half the village searched for you all night. Even now, you’re delaying the village chief and team leader from going to work.”
“And my grandparents had to stay home instead of earning work points. And now you still want to extort more money from us? That’s too much!”
Lin Yuxi secretly pinched herself hard, tears instantly welling up from the pain.
“Do you think I’m easy to bully? Otherwise, why not say it was Yuwei or Yuzhu?”
“Grandpa,” she turned to Lin Old Man, “if you don’t believe me, ask Yuwei and Yuzhu—wasn’t I cutting grass at the foot of the mountain the whole time yesterday?”
She turned to the others again. “If you don’t trust family testimony, you can ask Hongying. We were together the entire time.”
Hearing his daughter’s name, the team leader quickly asked, “Hongying, what’s going on? You were with Yuxi yesterday?”
“Yes, we were together the whole time—me, Yuxi, Yuwei, and Yuzhu. We even delivered the grass together. You can check with the production team.”
Under Lin Yuxi’s subtle guidance the day before—and with the large pile of grass there—Zhang Hongying had subconsciously believed Lin Yuxi had been cutting grass the whole time. And since they really were together afterward, she spoke with full confidence.
“I think everything is clear now. Let’s not waste the village chief’s and team leader’s valuable time,” Lin Old Man finally said. “You two should get back to work.”
The team leader shot the Song family a glare before leaving with the village chief. The villagers who had gathered to watch also dispersed.
“You all should go to work too,” Lin Old Man said to Lin Yuxi and the others.
Knowing he believed her, Lin Yuxi took Zhang Hongying’s hand and left, with Lin Yuwei and Lin Yuzhu following behind.
“Hey, hey, hey—why is everyone leaving?” Song Dabao’s uncle panicked as the crowd dispersed.
Now he couldn’t even tell who was telling the truth anymore—his son or Lin Yuxi.
But one thing Lin Yuxi said was right: he had planned to cling to the Lin family no matter what and make them cover last night’s medical expenses.
Just the bandaging, fever shot, and IV drip had cost him two whole yuan—painful enough to his wallet.
“Isn’t everything already clear? Alright, go back. We’re heading to work too,” Lin Old Man said with a dark expression, convinced the Song family had tried to scheme against them.
Old Madam Lin had never dared to tell him about her plan to marry Lin Yuxi off to Song Dabao. It brought no benefit to the Lin family—not even a bride price—so he would never agree.
She had hoped to force the matter through first, leaving the family no choice afterward.
But after Song Dabao’s stunt, that plan would be even harder to pull off.
Lin Yuxi was in an especially good mood today. She had taught Song Dabao a lesson—finally avenging her past life.
“You seem pretty happy,” Lin Yuwei glanced at her sideways, puzzled.
“I am. I wasn’t bullied, and I even fought back successfully. Isn’t that worth being happy about?” Lin Yuxi replied, of course not revealing her true reasons.
Lin Yuwei studied her, feeling she had changed a lot. When had that started?
Maybe since early spring—after their grandmother beat her and she lay unconscious for a night. When she woke up, she was different. Well… she had almost been beaten to death—how could she not resist after that?
The Song Dabao incident was considered over. Whether there would be any follow-up, Lin Yuxi didn’t know—but she wasn’t afraid.
Taking advantage of the autumn harvest keeping everyone busy and away from the mountains, she secretly slipped in, gathering wild fruits and mountain goods. She didn’t plan to sell them.
She wasn’t short on money anymore. She would keep them to eat slowly and share some with Aunt Jiang.
The bustling autumn harvest finally ended. With the grain stored away, there wasn’t much collective work left. People began focusing on their own households—forming groups to gather mountain goods, chopping firewood to prepare for winter.
But none of that concerned Lin Yuxi—they had to return to school.
After more than ten days of classes, Lin Yuxi’s second batch of corn ripened. She kept enough seeds and sold the rest to Fifth Master.
This harvest was even better than the last—she made a full 4,000 yuan. She bought various ration coupons again, replenishing her space supplies.
One day after school, she stayed behind for cleaning duty. By the time she left the school gate, it was almost empty.
Suddenly, a young man stopped her.
“You’re Lin Yuxi, right?” he said in a tone of certainty.
Lin Yuxi stepped back cautiously. “And you are?”
“I’m a friend of Lin Jiangnan. He asked me to give this to you.” He handed her some money.
She looked down—twenty yuan and three pounds of grain coupons—and froze for a moment before recalling who Lin Jiangnan was.
“No, I can’t take this,” she quickly tried to return it.
Fang Ziyan refused. He had finally found a chance to deliver it, and Jiangnan had repeatedly warned him in his letter not to be seen and not to cause trouble for the girl.
“Jiangnan said to tell you—buy whatever you want to eat. Don’t go hungry,” Fang Ziyan said, waving off her attempt.
“If you don’t want it, give it back to him next time you see him. He said you’ll meet again.”
With that, he turned and left.
Lin Yuxi hadn’t expected that her emotional outburst in that moment back then would stir such deep sympathy in Lin Jiangnan.
He had already given her so much money before leaving—and now this again.
If she ever met him again, she would definitely return it.
Only… Lin Yuxi didn’t yet know that although she would see Jiangnan again—
this money… she would never get the chance to return.
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