The Four Major Household Items—a bicycle, a sewing machine, a wristwatch, and a radio—were all things the groom’s family had promised the bride.
But after Bai Feng’er married into the family, every single one of them had been taken away.
Even worse, the house had been borrowed.
After the wedding, the owners reclaimed the house, leaving only one thing that had been genuine all along—Niu Lidong’s crippled leg.
What woman wouldn’t break down after discovering something like that?
Bai Feng’er was a proud and strong-willed young woman. When she found out the truth, she was so shocked that she couldn’t believe it. She had even nearly smashed her head against a wall to kill herself.
After hearing everything, Liu Dalong was equally stunned.
He knew some families were poor and might struggle financially after marriage, but he had never imagined there were people who would lie about absolutely everything.
This was outright fraud.
Seeing they could no longer hide the truth, the Niu family’s faces turned extremely ugly.
Making such a scandal in the village was disgraceful enough. If they couldn’t afford to marry, they should have told the bride’s family honestly instead of deceiving them like this.
Zhao Lanfen immediately tried to smooth things over.
“It’s not that we don’t intend to buy those things for Feng’er. We simply don’t have that much money right now. We’ll definitely make it up to her later.”
What she really meant was that the Bai family shouldn’t ask for too much.
After all, Bai Feng’er was already a member of their family. The marriage had already been consummated.
What else could the Bai family do now?
Bai Feng’er said firmly, “I don’t want them to make it up to me. I want a divorce from Niu Lidong.”
“What did you say?”
Niu Lidong shot to his feet and raised his hand to hit her.
Lin Yi stepped in front of Bai Feng’er and stared at him coldly.
His raised hand froze in midair.
He had never imagined a woman’s gaze could be so intimidating.
“What did you say?”
Both Zhao Lanfen and Niu Lijun cried out in alarm.
Even Bai Feng’er was frightened by her own words, but Lin Yi gave her a reassuring look, encouraging her to continue.
Her courage returned.
For some reason, standing beside Lin Yi made her feel as though she possessed a strength she had never had before.
“I want a divorce. They tricked me into this marriage. I don’t want to stay.”
“How can you talk about divorce just because you’re already married?” Zhao Lanfen wailed. “You can’t judge a marriage only by material conditions. You have to look at the person too!”
“If material conditions don’t matter, then what does?” Lin Yi replied clearly. “When the marriage was arranged, your family claimed you had this and that. Wasn’t that deception? If you had nothing, why couldn’t you simply tell the truth?”
Zhao Lanfen fell silent.
She finally realized the real problem.
Everything had gone wrong because of Lin Yi.
If this woman hadn’t been here, Bai Feng’er would never have dared to ask for a divorce.
“Hmph! Aren’t you the Zhou family’s second son’s wife? You’re just a widow. Instead of staying quietly at home, why are you sticking your nose into our family’s business?”
We can’t let her keep interfering. If Bai Feng’er gets divorced, even the second son’s wife will be gone.
Zhao Lanfen was desperate to drive Lin Yi away.
When Lin Yi saw the black words floating above Zhao Lanfen’s head, she immediately realized something was wrong.
What did the Zhou family’s second son’s wife have to do with Bai Feng’er?
Could it be…
Did the Niu brothers intend to share one wife?
The thought sent a chill down Lin Yi’s spine.
She had assumed Bai Feng’er had merely been tricked into marriage.
She hadn’t expected the Niu family to be this depraved.
Knowing exactly where to strike, Zhao Lanfen deliberately attacked Lin Yi over being widowed.
“A widow always attracts trouble. I think—”
Lin Yi smiled faintly.
“What about it? My husband died serving the country. Does that make me someone who deserves to be looked down upon? Team Leader Liu, what do you think?”
Lin Yi was now the widow of a fallen soldier—a martyr’s family member.
How much nerve did Zhao Lanfen have to challenge someone like her?
Naturally, Liu Dalong sided with Lin Yi.
“Lin Yi is right. Zhou Lixing sacrificed his life for the country. His family is a hero’s family. Are you saying you dare disrespect the family of a national hero?”
Those words frightened Zhao Lanfen badly.
She hadn’t realized the matter was so serious.
If she continued speaking ill of Lin Yi, would she actually be made an example of?
“N-No… that’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean that…”
Zhao Lanfen was nothing more than a paper tiger.
The moment things became serious, she was the first to back down.
Niu Lijun, however, had a completely different train of thought.
The moment he heard Lin Yi was a widow, he stopped listening to everything else.
His family was poor.
His mother had told him that he and his elder brother would have to share one wife, and he had reluctantly agreed.
But now that he knew Lin Yi was a widow…
His mind was already wandering.
Before he could finish his fantasy, Zhao Lanfen slapped him hard across the face.
“Mom! Why’d you hit me?”
She shot him a fierce glare.
“Hurry up and say it. Tell them we didn’t mean anything by it. We never intended to disrespect a hero’s family.”
How could she not know what her own son was thinking?
Lin Yi was someone they absolutely could not afford to provoke.
Niu Lijun was completely dazed by the slap, but he knew his mother was always right.
“Y-Yes… We weren’t trying to bully a hero’s family.”
Niu Lidong and the others also hurriedly chimed in with apologies.
Lin Yi couldn’t help feeling pleased.
So the title of being a martyr’s family member really carried this much weight.
It seemed Zhou Lixing had left her something useful after all.
“So…” she asked casually, “does that mean I can interfere in this matter?”
“Of course! Of course you can!”
Zhao Lanfen answered hurriedly, her tone almost flattering.
With the Niu family completely cowed, Bai Feng’er gradually regained her confidence.
“I insist on getting a divorce. Uncle Liu… Lin Yi… please help me.”
Lin Yi could tell Bai Feng’er still seemed hesitant, as though there were things she couldn’t bring herself to say aloud.
That only confirmed Lin Yi’s suspicions.
Fortunately, marriage fraud alone was already sufficient grounds for a divorce.
Lin Yi looked at Liu Dalong.
“Team Leader, hasn’t the government been promoting freedom of marriage for years now? Please uphold justice.”
Liu Dalong: “…”
The ball had been kicked right back to him.
Very clever.
Lin Yi had shoved him straight into the fire.
He cleared his throat before speaking sternly.
“Your Niu family undeniably committed marriage fraud. You admit that, don’t you?”
The Niu family fell silent.
They had no choice but to admit it.
The Four Major Household Items used during the wedding had long since been taken back.
The house had also been returned to its owner.
If they insisted it wasn’t fraud, they’d have to produce everything they had promised.
Zhao Lanfen cried miserably,
“Team Leader, you can’t destroy our family! They’re already married. How can they just stop living together?”
Liu Dalong frowned.
“Who’s the one destroying a family here?
“You lied and tricked people into marriage, and now you’re blaming me?
“If you have the Four Major Household Items, then you have them. If you don’t, then you don’t. How shameless do you have to be to lie through your teeth?
“And your leg!” He pointed at Niu Lidong. “If you’re crippled, then you’re crippled. Why didn’t you tell the bride’s family? Isn’t this nothing but fraud and deception? You’re practically no better than human traffickers, yet you’re still trying to talk your way around it!
“Now Bai Feng’er wants a divorce.
“Then she’ll get a divorce.”
Zhao Lanfen and the two Niu brothers were dumbfounded.
None of them had expected Liu Dalong to decide so decisively.
“Team Leader, you can’t—”
“Don’t try getting familiar with me,” Liu Dalong interrupted sharply. “These days, people are free to marry. The old feudal system of arranged marriages is long gone. If Bai Feng’er wants a divorce, then she’ll have one!”
He slammed his teacup onto the table.
The matter was settled.
Even a mighty dragon couldn’t overpower the local snake.
No matter how many people the Niu family had brought with them, none of them dared utter another harsh word before Liu Dalong.
Zhao Lanfen immediately thought of slipping away.
As long as they left now and simply didn’t accompany Bai Feng’er to the commune office tomorrow, the divorce couldn’t be finalized.
“Fine,” she said. “Our Niu family agrees. It’s getting late today, so we’ll head home first. Tomorrow morning we’ll come back and take care of the paperwork. It’s not as if our family can’t find another wife. We’re simply not worthy of a girl from the Bai family.”
She sounded so sincere that anyone unaware of the situation might have thought it was the Niu family rejecting Bai Feng’er.
Niu Lidong, however, was unwilling.
He didn’t want a divorce.
Where else would he ever find another wife?
With his crippled leg—and after causing such a huge scandal—everyone in the surrounding villages and towns would know about it.
Who would ever marry him again?
Zhao Lanfen quickly shot him a meaningful look.
Hurry and leave. Tomorrow, just go somewhere else and hide. Then where will she find you to get divorced?
The black words above her head danced merrily, revealing every one of her thoughts.
Lin Yi immediately stepped forward and blocked their path.
“It’s already late, so don’t go back tonight,” she said with a smile. “You came all this way. How could we possibly let you ride home in the middle of the night? Wouldn’t that make Xiao Guan Village seem terribly inhospitable?
“Uncle Bai, I think your family has plenty of rooms. Why don’t you clear out two of them and let the Niu family stay here for the night? What do you think?”
Bai Jingmin wasn’t a fool.
He immediately understood what Lin Yi meant.
If the Niu brothers went home tonight and changed their minds tomorrow, refusing to go to the commune office for the divorce registration, then everything they had done today would have been for nothing.
If the Niu family decided to go back on their word, even though the Bai family was in the right, it would still be difficult to force the divorce.
“I’ll go prepare their rooms right away.”
Bai Jingmin hurriedly took Liu Yue’e with him to prepare a room.
Liu Yue’e was still somewhat reluctant, but after Bai Jingmin shot her a stern look, she obediently followed him.
The elderly couple had seen their daughter desperately trying to take her own life. They knew there had to be more to the story, but no matter how much they questioned her, she refused to say anything. Since Bai Feng’er now insisted on getting a divorce, they naturally couldn’t have been happier.
The Niu family, on the other hand, felt like crying.
They had planned to slip away, but now they couldn’t even escape.
“No need to trouble yourselves, in-laws. We’ll head back now and come again tomorrow,” Zhao Lanfen said with a smile uglier than a grimace.
“It’s no trouble at all,” Lin Yi replied with a smile. “Since you’ve come all this way, how could we fail to treat you properly? Otherwise, Xiao Guan Village would lose face, wouldn’t it, Team Leader? Besides, you can rest assured about your safety here. Nothing will happen to you.”
With those words, she completely blocked off their last avenue of escape.
Liu Dalong quietly instructed the village patrol team to strengthen their patrols and make sure no outsiders entered or left the village during the night.
The Niu family: “…”
There was no way they were getting away now.
That evening, Liu Dalong even invited several highly respected elders to keep the Niu family company.
They ate with them, drank with them, and chatted with them.
Aside from sleeping, the Niu family couldn’t do anything else.
Meanwhile, Lin Yi quietly led Bai Feng’er aside.
“There’s no one else here. Tell me the truth.”
At first, Bai Feng’er was too embarrassed to speak.
But after steeling herself, she thought that since Lin Yi was also a married woman, it shouldn’t matter if she talked about what had happened after marriage.
What she didn’t know was that the original Lin Yi had never actually consummated her marriage with Zhou Lixing. Even Lin Yi herself had never had any intimate experience with a man.
“So… Niu Lidong isn’t even human. Look what he did to me.”
Bai Feng’er lifted her clothes.
Bruises covered her arms and body—patches of blue and purple everywhere.
The marks around her neck were even more shocking, with obvious fingerprints from strangulation and bite marks.
“Niu Lidong isn’t even a real man. Since… he’s incapable… he takes it out on me. And he also…”
The rest was even harder to say.
But she forced herself to continue.
If she kept silent and Lin Yi didn’t become determined to help her, what would she do?
She finally revealed the truth.
Zhao Lanfen had wanted her younger son, Niu Lijun, to share Bai Feng’er’s bed as well.
“If I don’t get divorced…”
“I’ll die.”
Lin Yi was speechless.
Fortunately…
She had decided to intervene.
And now that she knew the full story, she was determined to see it through to the very end.
She turned to Li Shulin from the village patrol team.
“Uncle Li, please have your patrol work a little harder tonight. Whatever happens, don’t let anyone leave.”
Li Shulin had always been on good terms with the Zhou family.
The moment he heard her words, he immediately understood what was going on.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Leave it to us.”