Old Man Lin took a puff of his dry tobacco pipe. Forget it this eldest girl probably really hit her head too hard. She won’t listen to reason. It seems like her grandmother will have to properly “teach her a lesson.”
“I’m not getting married!”
Lin Qimo’s stance was very clear. She was deliberately being difficult after all, you can’t reason with shameless people.
Granny Tan was the most afraid that she wouldn’t agree to marry. She spoke first:
“If you don’t marry, we’ll tie you up and take you away. You’re already an old unmarried girl in our village. If we marry you off, others will only say we’re doing it for your own good.”
“We already gave you a chance before you said you could borrow money from your uncle. Turns out you didn’t borrow any money and now you want to pin the debt on your third uncle? Dream on.”
“Today, if you can’t pay, we’ll tie you up and send you off to settle the debt.”
Her eyes widened fiercely, as if she wanted to tear Lin Qimo apart.
“So Grandpa and Grandma didn’t really come for money they came to force me into marriage,” Lin Qimo sneered. She pulled out a red booklet and threw it at them. “Take a good look. I not only have a marriage certificate I’m in a military marriage.”
Granny Tan was stunned by the object hitting her face. It took her a long moment to react.
Seeing the red booklet fall to the ground, her eyes lit up and she instinctively reached to grab it
But Lin Qimo picked it up first.
She opened the marriage certificate and held it up. “See clearly. My husband works in the military. If you force me into another marriage, that’s coercion into remarriage bigamy is a crime.”
Just then, Aunt Qiu, the village head’s wife, arrived at Lin Qimo’s house.
Hearing that, she blurted out, “What’s going on? Who’s forcing someone into remarriage?”
“Aunt Qiu, you came at the right time. Please judge fairly for me. I’m already married, but my grandparents are still forcing me to remarry,” Lin Qimo said, her voice trembling as she pretended to cry.
No feelings just acting.
“Aunt Qiu, please take us to the village committee and ask the secretary to judge this. They’re forcing me into remarriage,” she said, covering her mouth as if sobbing.
The village head’s wife put down the spatula she was holding. Seeing how wronged Lin Qimo looked, she immediately turned to Old Man Lin.
“This is really inappropriate. Once a woman is married, how can she remarry? What era are we in? Are you trying to act like a man taking two wives?”
Granny Tan stammered, “She got married and didn’t tell us. Who knows if this marriage certificate is fake? She’s young and reckless such a big thing and she didn’t even discuss it with her elders.”
Lin Qimo immediately looked wronged. “How is getting married being reckless? I went through proper procedures and got my certificate myself.”
“My parents are dead. What elders do I even have? You say I should discuss it with you but what’s the point? Would you even prepare a dowry for me?”
That left the old couple speechless.
“Please, Aunt Qiu, help check whether my marriage certificate is fake so my grandparents don’t falsely accuse me,” Lin Qimo said.
Aunt Qiu examined the certificate and patted her shoulder reassuringly.
Seeing her pitiful expression, she immediately turned to scold the old couple.
“You two have gone too far. The certificate even has the official seal. How could it be fake? Your own granddaughter got married and you’re making a scene aren’t you afraid of being laughed at?”
“Qimo is already raising three younger sisters by herself. Over the years, you’ve never even arranged a match for her. Now that she finally found someone willing to marry her, you’re forcing her into remarriage? What kind of elders behave like this?”
“She only got married at this age, and it’s even a military marriage. That’s not easy at all.”
Old Man Lin felt extremely embarrassed being scolded by a woman, but since she was the village head’s wife, he could only endure it.
Granny Tan suddenly frowned and asked, “Wait she just got married so quietly, but where is her husband? Why didn’t he come back with her?”
Hearing the key question, even Lin Qimo paused internally.
Then, blushing slightly, she said, “He went back to the military base first for a mission. He’ll come back after a while.”
When Aunt Qiu heard “mission,” her expression immediately changed.
That was serious. Her husband might be someone important in the military maybe even with a formal position. This could help her own husband at the village committee in the future.
She immediately looked at the old couple with a stern expression.
“My husband also said Qimo is very capable and could help promote our village’s agricultural products. She’s a model young pioneer and a key supported talent of our village.”
“Her matters are the village’s matters. Whether our products become well-known depends on her. If you have any complaints, go ask the village committee whether they agree.”
“We still have things to do, so we’ll head back first. We’ll visit again in a couple of days.”
Old Man Lin quickly pulled Granny Tan away, not daring to stay another second, afraid she would drag them to the village committee.
Granny Tan was still angry as she left, turning back to glare.
“Old man, what about the money? We didn’t get it.”
“We’ll go back and talk about it,” Old Man Lin said, his head aching.
At first, when he heard about the military marriage, he already knew things had become difficult.
Even rural people knew how highly the state valued the military. People from the village committee were not someone ordinary villagers could afford to offend.
If this really escalated to the village committee, it would be impossible to end cleanly.
Moreover, the village secretary surnamed Zhang was notoriously stubborn completely unbribable and impartial. He was said to have served in the military when he was young and treated everyone equally, not even sparing his own relatives. Rumor had it he once sent his own mother for rural reform after she broke the law.
Someone like that was not to be provoked.
When Old Man Lin returned home, he told Lin Laoyao about the marriage certificate.
Upon hearing it, Lin Laoyao slapped his thigh in anger, regret filling him to the bone.
If he had known earlier, he should have tied her up back then. None of this would be happening now.
It was all his greed he had hoped to get money from her wealthy uncle in the city.
His eyes darkened.
“So she just went to a trip to Shan City and came back with a marriage certificate. If she ever goes to the capital, wouldn’t she fly straight to the sky? I underestimated her.”