The newcomers were Lin Dong and Qiao Xiaohong.
Lin An’an’s feelings were complicated. “Brother, what brings you here?”
She was glad to see Lin Dong, but why had Qiao Xiaohong come too?
“Brother wasn’t at ease about you. I had to come see for myself.”
After returning home, Qiao Xiaohong had cried and told them all sorts of things. She had dropped out after only one year of middle school; every day, she had to work in the fields, with barely enough to eat or wear; and for the sake of making life easier for the family, they had forced her to marry a cripple…
Lin Dong had been furious when he heard it. Those would be An’an’s circumstances from now on. No, he had to go stand up for his sister.
Right—there was also this sister who had been exchanged back.
And so, even though Qiao Xiaohong was extremely unwilling, she had been brought along as well. The key point was that she had no choice. Mr. and Mrs. Lin supported their son’s decision. Their daughter couldn’t suffer like that without someone demanding an explanation.
After all, they had raised Lin An’an for twenty years, and raised her to be countless times better than this.
“Tell me. Why did you bully my sister?”
The man didn’t dare hide anything. Students were easy marks, and the stalls outside the school had fixed locations. Lin An’an had gotten in the way of someone else’s business.
Lin An’an could guess as much. She said, “I’ll let you off this time. Now get lost. If there’s a next time, I’ll call the police and let them decide whether to deal with me or with you.”
During the crackdowns, these little punks behaved themselves, but once the heat passed, they forgot everything again.
Supporting their legs and clutching their backs, the hooligans fled in a hurry, looking utterly miserable.
Lin Dong frowned. “You’re just letting them off?”
“It wasn’t anything major. If I handed them over to the police, they’d get no more than a lecture and some education. I still have to live around here, so there’s no need to make the conflict worse. Besides, my brother is a police officer. They’ll think twice before provoking me again, won’t they?”
Lin Dong smiled. “Not bad. You actually have some sense. I know people at the County Public Security Bureau. I’ll have them keep an eye on things.”
Watching the two of them chat and laugh together, Qiao Xiaohong felt terrible. She was Lin Dong’s biological younger sister, after all.
“Big Sis An’an.”
Lin An’an waved her off repeatedly. “Don’t. You were born in the morning, and I was born at night.”
Clearly older than her, yet she was putting on airs as some delicate little sister? It made Lin An’an sick just looking at her.
Qiao Xiaohong’s face turned pale, then flushed red, looking extremely ugly.
On the way home, Shanzi pushed the cart. Qiao Xiaohong tried several times to speak with him, but Shanzi wouldn’t let her come anywhere near him.
Lin Dong secretly asked, “An’an, has anyone mistreated you these past few days?”
“No.”
“Have you had enough to eat? Did the Qiao family only care about their sons?”
Lin An’an could guess what was going on. Little White Lotus had surely badmouthed the Qiao family to no end.
“Brother, don’t worry about me. You should be worried about Qiao Xiaohong. You need to protect her properly.”
“Why?” Lin Dong looked completely baffled.
“Because…” Lin An’an said, “she owes too many debts.”
Sure enough, just as they entered the village, a figure charged toward them.
“Qiao Xiaohong, you have the nerve to come back!”
The person shouting angrily, standing with all the fury of a soldier blocking the road, was Ji Cheng’s Mother.
It turned out that Ji Cheng’s Mother had been chatting with several village women. Their spot was on higher ground, giving them a clear view of Shanzi pushing the cart ahead and Lin An’an walking behind him.
She was a hundred times more satisfied with Lin An’an. The girl was fresh-faced and well-fed, unlike Qiao Xiaohong, who had barely two ounces of flesh on her entire body and was both contemptuous of the poor and enamored of the rich.
One of the women beside her said, “Qiao Shulin’s biological daughter isn’t bad. She came back from the city to the countryside, and she hasn’t made a fuss.”
“Exactly. Do you think everyone is Qiao Xiaohong? She was raised eating farm food, but the moment she got out of the countryside, she acted like she didn’t know any rural people.”
Wait… Who was the man walking beside Lin An’an?
Ji Cheng’s Mother’s heart began pounding. Could he be Lin An’an’s boyfriend from the city? He didn’t look bad either. If that was the case, wouldn’t her son Ji Cheng have no chance at all?
Looking farther back, she spotted Qiao Xiaohong’s thin little figure.
Ji Cheng’s Mother instantly flew into a rage. Ignoring the others’ attempts to stop her, she rolled up her sleeves and charged down the slope.
“Qiao Xiaohong, you have the nerve to come back!”
Qiao Xiaohong naturally hadn’t wanted to return. She had gone too far in her “accusations” against the Qiao family, enraging Mrs. Lin and prompting her to insist that Lin Dong stand up for Qiao Xiaohong and demand justice.
In truth, Qiao Xiaohong had already felt guilty before entering the village. Now that she saw Ji Cheng’s Mother, she was trembling a little.
Lin Dong stopped Ji Cheng’s Mother. “Auntie, let’s talk this out. What are you trying to do?”
Ji Cheng’s Mother regarded Lin Dong as her son’s potential enemy, so her tone was extremely hostile. “Who are you? Why are you sticking your nose into this?”
“I’m Qiao Xiaohong’s brother, and An’an’s brother too. If there’s a problem, talk to me.”
Qiao Xiaohong’s eyes filled with tears. “Auntie, I was wrong to break off the engagement. I’ll definitely make it up to you in the future. But Ji Cheng and I have no feelings for each other. I don’t want to muddle through the rest of my life without knowing what I’m doing. I’m sorry.”
Qiao Xiaohong twisted the facts, making Ji Cheng’s Mother so furious that her lips trembled.
“Qiao Xiaohong, did a dog eat your conscience? You know exactly what happened. Keep spouting nonsense, and watch your tongue rot!”
Lin Dong guessed that this was Qiao Xiaohong’s future mother-in-law. “Auntie, what era are we living in? Arranged marriages aren’t acceptable anymore. I support Xiaohong breaking off the engagement.”
“Of course! I knew it—the two of you crawled out of the same mother’s womb, and you’ve got the same kind of morals. What do you mean, an arranged marriage? If Qiao Shulin hadn’t done my family a favor, someone like Qiao Xiaohong wouldn’t be good enough for her even if a donkey kicked her in the head eight more times!”
Qiao Xiaohong cried even harder. “I already apologized. How can you still humiliate me like this?”
“Qiao Xiaohong, I already apologized. Can I slap you across the face now?”
Lin Dong was genuinely afraid Ji Cheng’s Mother would hit her, so he hurriedly stepped in front of Qiao Xiaohong.
“Auntie, I’m a police officer. If you keep making trouble, I’ll have to call the police.”
“Then call them! I don’t believe the Public Security Bureau belongs to your family. They don’t arrest a swindler and thief like Qiao Xiaohong, but come after me, the victim!”
Lin Dong felt as if his head had grown twice as large. He cast Lin An’an a helpless look.
There was no way to explain things clearly in the middle of the street. One wrong word, and they would become the village’s latest gossip. Lin An’an said, “Let’s go home and talk.”
The group returned to the Qiao family home. Lin Dong looked over the courtyard and house. It wasn’t quite as bad as having nothing but four bare walls; strings of corn hung everywhere, from the tree trunks to the walls.
Jiang Xiu asked Lin Dong to sit down. “You must be An’an’s brother, right? I’ve heard her mention you. You’ve protected her ever since you were children.”
“An’an is my sister. Of course I should protect her.”
When they were young, Mr. Lin was often away from home, while Mrs. Lin worked night shifts. The siblings had relied on each other through many long nights, so they had always been especially close.
Jiang Xiu asked bluntly, “Then why have you come? To return the money?”
Lin Dong froze. “Return what money?”
Jiang Xiu glanced at Qiao Xiaohong and said, “The Ji family’s betrothal gift money. Ask Qiao Xiaohong. She left nothing but a letter and disappeared without a word. Did she leave the seven hundred yuan in betrothal gift money behind or not?”
Qiao Xiaohong’s tears were like water stored in a sponge. All she had to do was blink, and they came spilling out.
“Mom, I know you’re angry with me, but you can’t trample all over me like this. We broke off the engagement. If I took the betrothal gift money too, would I still be considered human?”
Jiang Xiu had raised Qiao Xiaohong for twenty years, yet she had never truly understood her. Qiao Xiaohong could lie the moment she opened her mouth, without even stumbling over her words.