The next day, Lin Suyu began casually gathering information about the Wang family from the neighborhood ladies.
The heads of the Wang family were Huang Jinhua’s parents-in-law. They had three sons and four daughters in total, but only three sons and the youngest daughter had survived.
Huang Jinhua’s in-laws were traditional, believing that parents should not split households. As a result, over a dozen people in the Wang family all squeezed into four rooms in the large shared courtyard.
The elder couple lived at the back of the main hall, with a wooden partition in front, while the other three rooms housed the remaining family members. Inside each room, wooden lofts had been built for the children to sleep on.
The first branch couple had three sons. Being the eldest, they received more resources. After finishing middle school, their eldest son paid to work temporarily in a factory, but proved capable. The workshop director chose him as a son-in-law, and he successfully got a wedding house and married.
The first branch’s second son got into a vocational school. After graduation, he was assigned a job and, a few years later, moved into a single-room dormitory. In short, although the first branch had many people, they were capable and never lacked housing.
The second branch was smaller: the couple had one son and one daughter. The son joined the army, the daughter had a job—again, nothing to worry about.
The third branch was Huang Jinhua’s household. The least capable branch had the most children: three sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Wang Shunfa, was twenty-two. Not only did he have a temporary job, but there wasn’t even a decent room for him to marry.
Huang Jinhua had originally planned to marry off her eldest daughter, get a larger bride price, borrow from relatives, and use the money to buy a courtyard. But Lin Suyu’s grandfather transferred the courtyard to Lin Suyu’s name in just one day.
Seeing that a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl had moved in, Huang Jinhua thought she could guilt the young girl into letting her eldest son rent a room as a wedding house—and she had ways to wriggle out of the rent later.
Unfortunately, Lin Suyu refused outright. Huang Jinhua then tried intimidation, hoping fear would force Lin Suyu to comply—but she failed.
The day before the exam, Huang Jinhua’s youngest son, Wang Shunda, learned he would share a classroom with Lin Suyu. He quickly informed his mother.
Huang Jinhua immediately devised a cruel plan: slander Lin Suyu for cheating during the exam. If it succeeded, she could ruin Lin Suyu’s reputation—what could a lone orphan do without a name?
The scheme was vicious. For ordinary people, clearing their name might take a long back-and-forth. But Lin Suyu was different: any paper notes or scraps Wang Shunda threw her way were immediately sent into her space, leaving no evidence for anyone to slander her.
Wang Shunda’s attempt to slander Lin Suyu failed, and after getting bagged and beaten, he went home with a high fever, suffering all night.
To make matters worse, Wei Hongying decisively broke off her engagement, returning the bride price. Huang Jinhua’s eldest son, as if bewitched, was in a daze and didn’t even attend class the next day.
Lin Suyu, having witnessed Wang Shunfa’s crazed state, was cautious whenever she went out for the next two days, afraid he might come after her again.
She didn’t realize that the force of her mental power had actually injured Wang Shunfa. Though not serious, it left him dazed for two days and caused a lasting side effect: extreme irritability and poor emotional control.
The Wang family’s house was in the rear yard of the shared courtyard, separated by a wall. This actually worked in Lin Suyu’s favor—her ten-meter mental perception range was just enough to cover the area.
The Huang Jinhua household wasn’t short of money either. In one room alone, there were three or four hiding spots, totaling about four hundred yuan when Lin Suyu scanned with her mental power.
Lin Suyu laughed in disbelief. She had assumed Huang Jinhua’s desperate attempts to grab her house were due to poverty, but it turned out not to be lack of money—it was just that they thought a small girl could be easily bullied.
She might be young and weak, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t teach them a lesson.
After assessing the Huang Jinhua household, Lin Suyu went to the market to buy vegetables. Outside her space, mental power could act as a scanner and even probe other minds. Could it be used to communicate with animals as well?
Curious, she bought a large rooster from the market and brought it home. If it failed, she could simply roast it for a meal.
If it succeeded, she could raise a few little helpers to assist her with looting and moving things in the future.
Just as she reached her door, she saw Liang Hui resting her chin on her hands, sitting and waiting.
“Liang Hui!?”
The exams were over—why was she here? Did she know Lin Suyu intended to roast the rooster?
“Suyu, why are you just getting back? I’ve been waiting for you for a while. Exams are done, and you don’t have anything to do, right? Want to come with me to the beach?”
Jinmen City lay north against the mountains, east to the sea, west to the capital, south to the plains—geographically ideal. From Lin Suyu’s place, it was only a two-hour ride to the beach.
Since Liang Hui’s second and third brothers returned for summer vacation, she had been begging them to take her to the beach. Today, finally, they agreed, and she wanted to bring her good friend Lin Suyu along.
“It’s a bit far to the beach from here, right? Are your family okay with you going? Or are you going with them?”
Lin Suyu set down the basket and took out her keys, asking the question she wanted to clarify.
“My second brother has two classmates visiting Jinmen City, and they planned to go to the beach. Of course I had to go too, so I signed us both up. I’m just one little girl—if you don’t come, no one would go with me.”
Liang Hui’s tone was pitiful. Lin Suyu was actually keen too; she had never been to Jinmen City’s beach.
“Are you sure me coming along won’t bother your brothers?”
“Definitely not. You’re with me—they’re just our transport. My second brother prepared the bikes; my third brother will give you a ride there.”
Lin Suyu had met Liang Hui’s third brother a few times while coming for tutoring. He seemed like a decent person.
“Alright, then I’ll tag along. Let’s eat at home for lunch; I bought some meat.”
Of course, Liang Hui was happy to stay. She had also brought a bag of peaches—not just for the trip, but also hoping Lin Suyu would stay for lunch. Lin Suyu’s cooking skills far surpassed her mother’s; even plain boiled vegetables tasted better.
In the end, Lin Suyu’s experiment with mental communication with animals failed. The rooster became a roast chicken, and the two of them ate it greedily, mouths dripping with oil.