The old lady looked at the crowd glaring at her and tried to explain, “It wasn’t me… it was her… yes, she hit herself. I only hit her once.”
The crowd grew even angrier. What kind of nonsense was that? Who could beat themselves into such a state?
Lin Yuxi: I can. For a clean break—so I’ll never be beaten again—there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.
Before long, the production team leader, the women’s director, and even the village chief arrived.
On the way over, the village chief had already learned what happened and was fuming. The moment he saw Lin Yuxi’s miserable condition, his anger flared.
“Report this to the police! If we don’t, someone’s going to end up dead!”
He shot the team leader a look. The team leader instantly understood—the chief didn’t really intend to call the police; he just wanted to scare the old woman.
“Alright, I’ll go report it right now,” he said, pretending to leave.
The old lady panicked. She hurried forward, grabbing his arm, her voice trembling as she pleaded, “Don’t—don’t call the police! I was wrong! I won’t dare do it again!”
Then she turned to Lin Yuxi, forcing a smile uglier than crying.
“Xixi, Grandma knows she was wrong. Don’t let them report it. I promise I’ll never hit you again.”
Lin Yuxi sneered inwardly but put on a hesitant expression.
“Grandma… will you really never hit me again?” she asked weakly.
The old lady nodded frantically. “I won’t, I won’t! Xixi, please spare me this once.”
The village chief said sternly, “Xixi, since your grandmother knows her mistake, give her a chance. But if she does it again, she won’t be let off lightly.”
Lin Yuxi nodded obediently. “Alright, Grandpa Village Chief. I’ll trust Grandma one more time.”
The team leader stopped as well. “Fine, for Xixi’s sake, we won’t report it this time. But you’d better keep your word.”
The old lady nodded repeatedly, though a trace of venom flickered in her eyes.
“Grandma, can you give me some money? My head feels really dizzy. I want to go to the village clinic to get it treated and buy some medicine.”
Lin Yuxi truly was dizzy—not only from losing blood, but also because she hadn’t eaten since last night, nor this morning.
The old lady instinctively wanted to curse, but under the surrounding stares, she unwillingly took out one yuan. Meeting the village chief’s dissatisfied gaze, she had no choice but to take out another.
Lin Yuxi accepted the two yuan. She knew this was already her grandmother’s limit.
As the crowd dispersed, Lin Yuxi went inside to wash her face, then headed toward the village clinic. The fragile look on her face vanished instantly.
She knew the old woman wouldn’t let this go—but she wasn’t afraid. She would wait for the next move, and when it came, she’d make sure the old woman paid dearly.
By the time Lin Yuxi arrived at the clinic, her situation had already spread throughout the village. An early-arriving auntie was vividly recounting everything to the doctor.
The doctor, a man in his forties, had once been a barefoot doctor in the village. Later, through connections, he became a physician assigned from the town hospital to the village clinic.
He sympathized with Lin Yuxi. After disinfecting her wound, he didn’t bandage it—doing so would require shaving part of her hair, and she refused.
He gave her a few anti-inflammatory pills and charged her eighty cents.
Holding the remaining one yuan and twenty cents, Lin Yuxi walked home, wondering where she could hide the money so the old hag wouldn’t take it.
If only my space were still here…
In her previous life, she had obtained the space at nineteen. Back then, she had given a starving old woman a steamed bun, and the woman gave her a jade safety pendant in return.
Later, after being beaten by her so-called grandmother, her blood had stained the pendant, activating the space. The pendant disappeared, and a circular mark appeared on her wrist.
Thinking of this, she glanced at her wrist—and froze.
A circular mark was clearly there.
How was this possible? She was only fifteen now. She hadn’t even met that starving old woman yet.
There were still people on the road, so she couldn’t enter the space. Instead, she tried placing the one yuan and twenty cents into it.
The moment she thought of it, the money vanished from her hand.
Lin Yuxi was overjoyed. In her previous life, fate had closed every door on her—yet now, it had opened a window ahead of time.
Her space had returned with her.
When she got home and saw Old Madam Lin’s gloomy face, her good mood vanished.
The Lin family members had all returned. That morning, everyone except the old lady had gone to the fields to earn work points. They would work for a while, come back to eat breakfast, then continue working.
On rest days, after cooking breakfast, she still had to rush to the fields. She didn’t earn work points for herself—she worked to help the family.
Grandfather, eldest uncle and aunt, her parents, third uncle and aunt—all had to work.
Her parents, however, were lazy, often finding excuses to slack off. Today, her mother had even used going to the toilet as an excuse to sneak back home.
The eldest uncle’s family had three sons and a daughter. The eldest cousin, Lin Jianguo, was the pride of the family, working at a food factory in the county. The second cousin, Lin Jianshe, was in high school in the county.
Her cousin sister was in the same second-year middle school class as her, while the third uncle’s daughter was in first year.
The younger boys—including her own younger brother—were all in primary school in the village.
Whether it was cooking or farm work, among the younger generation, only she had to do anything. The others did nothing.
Even when she had school, she had to wake up early—cook for the entire family, feed the chickens and ducks, then hurriedly eat before rushing to class.
Meanwhile, her cousin sisters only had to wake up once the food was ready. They didn’t have to lift a finger.
So this is the difference between being biological and not.
The moment Old Madam Lin saw her return, she stretched out her hand. “Hand it over.”
“Hand over what?” Lin Yuxi replied coldly, pretending not to understand.
“The leftover money. Give it here.”
Money was the old woman’s lifeline—if she didn’t get it back, she wouldn’t sleep tonight.
Lin Yuxi sneered. “Grandma, it’s all spent. The doctor said my injury was serious—the medicine alone cost two yuan.”
The old lady’s eyes widened like copper bells. Hands on her hips, she shouted, “You little wretch! You dare lie to me? How could such a small injury cost two yuan? Where did you hide the rest?”
She lunged forward to search her, but Lin Yuxi was prepared and dodged swiftly.
“If you don’t believe me, go ask the doctor at the clinic. How would I dare lie to you?” she said righteously.
The old woman choked, unable to respond, her face flushing red.
At that moment, Lin Yuxi’s parents came out of the room.
Her father frowned. “Mom, Xixi’s hurt so badly. If the money’s spent, then it’s spent. Don’t make things difficult for her.”
Her mother chimed in, “Exactly. Mom, Xixi has it hard enough. Please stop scolding her.”
Seeing her son and daughter-in-law defending Lin Yuxi only made the old woman angrier, but she couldn’t lash out. She snorted and turned back into her room.
Lin Yuxi watched her hypocritical parents coldly, a faint, knowing smile tugging at her lips.
She knew—it wouldn’t be long before the two of them came to put on another performance in front of her.
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