Everyone looked at him. Lin Xiaoxiao, too, tilted her head up at him in surprise.
According to what Lin Pandi had said in her previous life, he was extremely indifferent to love and marriage. Why would he take the initiative to agree to the bride swap?
Lu Ye’s hand, hanging at his side, was slick with sweat despite the bitter cold.
He didn’t care what other people thought of him, but when Lin Xiaoxiao looked him over, his heart began to race.
An auntie who loved stirring things up slapped her thigh. “Well, then! That leaves only Lin Xiaoxiao from Second Son Lin’s family who hasn’t said anything, doesn’t it?”
“Xiaoxiao, dear, why don’t you agree? Then this whole thing will be settled!”
The others joined in as soon as they heard her.
Lu Ye’s expression darkened. He swept a cold glance over the people egging her on, then stepped in front of Lin Xiaoxiao again, blocking some of their stares.
He hoped she would agree, but he didn’t want her cornered into saying yes.
Old Party Secretary coughed loudly twice to warn everyone, then turned and asked gently,
“Girl, do you want to go through with the bride swap? Speak freely. Second Grandpa will stand up for you!”
Grandpa Lin’s favoritism had always been lopsided, and Old Party Secretary felt he ought to stand up for Second Son Lin’s family.
Lin Xiaoxiao understood his kindness and smiled politely at the old man.
“Thank you, Second Grandpa!”
She glanced at the tall, broad-shouldered figure standing in front of her, solid and dependable, and felt conflicted.
Perhaps marrying Lu Ye would be a way to escape the old Lin family’s hold over her, at least for a while.
She let out a breath and made her decision.
“I can agree to the bride swap!”
Lu Ye’s tense body relaxed for an instant, only to stiffen again the next.
“But!” Lin Xiaoxiao continued.
“My older cousin schemed against me. However you look at it, I’m the victim here, and I need compensation!”
Lu Ye’s back relaxed again, and the knot of worry in his chest loosened. At least she wasn’t refusing to marry him.
He let out a long breath, then looked at Lin Pandi and said coldly,
“Xiaoxiao is right. Strictly speaking, pushing her into the water counts as attempted murder. You have to compensate her!”
Lin Pandi jerked her head up, her face full of disbelief and resentment.
In her previous life, when she argued with the shrewish neighbor in the village, he had never once stood up for her.
He would only coldly tell her to stop making trouble, then send those shrews compensation and make her lose face. When had he ever defended her like this?
Lin Pandi was too caught up in feeling wronged to think about how she had secretly picked vegetables from other people’s private plots.
She wanted to make a scene and demand to know whether Lu Ye had been carrying on with Lin Xiaoxiao behind her back all along.
But when she met Lu Ye’s icy, beastlike gaze, she couldn’t bring herself to say a word of it.
After a pause, unwilling to provoke the dangerous Lu Ye, Lin Pandi’s eyes darted about. She raised a hand to wipe away nonexistent tears and made excuses to Lin Xiaoxiao.
“Xiaoxiao, I know you’re upset about losing such a good fiancé as Brother Jianguo, but this was all an accident.”
“I was just envious that you had new clothes to wear, so I borrowed them. I was worried you’d get cold, so I put my coat over you.”
“You lost your footing and fell into the water. I jumped in after you to save you. I never touched you at any point, so how can you say I pushed you?”
Lin Xiaoxiao gave a cold laugh and fixed her gaze on Lin Pandi. “Are you sure you never touched me from the moment I fell into the water?”
Lin Pandi’s eyes shifted away, but she stubbornly stuck to her story, thinking Lin Xiaoxiao was only trying to scare her into confessing. She insisted,
“Yes! You were standing far away from me. I didn’t have time to grab you, so I never touched you!”
Lin Xiaoxiao smiled and stepped forward, pulling her hand out from under the coat Lu Ye had draped over her after bringing her ashore.
“Then what’s this in my hand? How do you explain it?”
Everyone’s eyes turned to the red hair tie in Lin Xiaoxiao’s pale hand, still tangled with a small clump of hair.
Once they saw what it was, they all looked in unison at Lin Pandi, whose braid had come half undone.
Lin Pandi’s face went white. She hadn’t expected Lin Xiaoxiao to still be clutching it after falling into the water.
Lin Xiaoxiao raised her voice.
“You pointed at the river and said there was a big fish. While I was looking into the water, you suddenly pushed me!”
“My instinct was to reach behind me for something to save myself. I never thought I’d grab your braid and pull this out!”
“You say you didn’t push me, and that you were too far away to touch me. So what, did I conjure these things out of thin air and make them appear in my hand?”
Lin Pandi panicked. “I—I—I remembered wrong! You grabbed my hair while you were struggling when I tried to save you!”
“Boo!” The crowd jeered. Anyone who believed that now would have to be a fool.
Grandpa Lin glared at Lin Pandi, frustrated by her incompetence, then turned to scold Lin Xiaoxiao for refusing to let the matter go.
“That’s enough! It’s not that big a deal. When we get home, let the eldest son’s family give you a couple of eggs to apologize. Stop making a spectacle of yourself out here!”
Lin Xiaoxiao’s small face darkened. She shot back at Grandpa Lin, whose favoritism was blatant.
“Grandpa, everyone in the village knows you play favorites. Who’s making a spectacle of themselves is anyone’s guess!”
“I want compensation in front of everyone today. Otherwise, once we get home, forget getting eggs from your precious eldest son—you’ll probably make my father pay the eldest son’s household on top of that!”
Grandpa Lin of the Qingshan Production Brigade was famous for treating his eldest and youngest sons like treasures while squeezing his second son like an old ox.
On this point, everyone thought Lin Xiaoxiao was completely right. They looked at Grandpa Lin with contempt.
His face had already been dark, but now it grew so black it seemed ready to drip ink. Gritting his teeth, he asked,
“Then what do you want?”
Lin Xiaoxiao stated her demands without hesitation.
“She pushed me into the water, and I almost drowned. Not only was I terrified, but I still feel very unwell. Her family has to pay me ten yuan for medical expenses and emotional distress!”
“And they also have to give me twenty eggs to help me recover!”
And she wasn’t finished. Lin Xiaoxiao pointed at the clothes Lin Pandi was wearing and continued,
“And my red cotton-padded jacket. My mother borrowed new cotton and new fabric from my Maternal Grandma and worked hard to sew it for me, stitch by stitch. It’s filled with the love my mother and Maternal Grandma have for me. It’s priceless to me!”
“Never mind that Lin Pandi wore it—she got it filthy by taking it into the water. It’s only fair that she compensate me!”
Lin Xiaoxiao looked at Grandpa Lin, Grandma Lin, and the eldest son’s household, all with grim faces, and made what she pretended was a generous offer.
“We’re family, so I won’t make things difficult for you.”
“Either replace it with a brand-new jacket exactly like it, or pay me its cost: five yuan!”
Eldest Aunt Lin was furious. “You little brat! How dare you talk about us being family! Who extorts her own family like this? Why don’t you just go rob someone?”
Mother Lin immediately came to her daughter’s defense. “Who are you calling a little brat? What part of what Xiaoxiao said is wrong? Your Lin Pandi harmed someone first. Compensation is only right!”
Lin Xiaoxiao backed her mother up. “That’s right! If Eldest Aunt doesn’t accept it, we can get the police to settle this! Attempted murder is enough to send her to reform through labor!”
Lu Ye, quick to read the situation, made as if to go fetch the police.
“Enough! We’ll pay! We’ll pay as soon as we get home! You troublemaker—can’t you ever let things rest?”
Grandpa Lin shouted at her.
Lin Xiaoxiao curled her lip. “I don’t trust your word, Grandpa. You have to hand over the money and eggs right here, in front of Old Party Secretary and everyone else!”
The Lin family hadn’t divided the household yet. Once they got home and shut the door, whether they paid or not would be up to that old man.
She knew exactly what they were planning.