After Meng Juan left, Lin Yi said,
“I want Yingzi to go back to school. Our family can afford it, so why shouldn’t she?”
Beside her, Yingzi looked at Lin Yi with sparkling eyes.
The words floating above her head shone brightly:
【I want to go to school.】
“No… I don’t need to. I’m not going back.”
“I’m too stupid.”
Yingzi pursed her lips and lowered her head, nervously picking at her fingers.
Liu Huilan looked at Lin Yi in surprise.
【What’s gotten into Lin Yi today? Is she just arguing with her sister-in-law out of spite?】
“Enough. Don’t get into a fight with your eldest sister-in-law. That’s just the way she is. She doesn’t have a bad heart—she just has a sharp tongue.”
Liu Huilan didn’t want her two daughters-in-law to be at odds with each other and tried to smooth things over.
Lin Yi didn’t care in the slightest about what Meng Juan had said.
She only wanted to solve the problem.
“Yingzi is still so young. Isn’t it far too early to start looking for a husband? Besides, who says girls can’t study? Didn’t the town send us two female cadres? They’re women too, and they’re doing their jobs just fine. If they can do it, why can’t Yingzi?”
Liu Huilan hesitated.
“But… Yingzi hasn’t been to school for two years.”
【What about Meng Juan? She’s dead set against letting Yingzi study.】
Seeing through her concern, Lin Yi said,
“Mom, why not? I’m a high school graduate. I’ll tutor Yingzi myself. Tomorrow I’ll go to the village school and ask about getting her back in.”
Liu Huilan hadn’t expected Lin Yi to be so decisive.
She had settled everything in just a few sentences.
“Second Sister-in-law… you’re really going to let me go to school?”
Yingzi looked at her pitifully.
Lin Yi gently rubbed her head.
“Of course. Are you afraid of going back to school?”
“I’m not!”
Yingzi answered with all the courage she could muster.
“Then why did you stop going before?”
Yingzi pouted.
“When Eldest Sister-in-law married into the family, she said things were too difficult financially and didn’t want me to keep studying.”
Everything suddenly made sense to Lin Yi.
She should have realized it earlier.
She simply hadn’t expected Meng Juan to wield so much influence in the household—that if she said Yingzi couldn’t go to school, then no one would let her.
“That’s enough.”
“Your second sister-in-law is sending you back to school.”
There was nothing more to discuss.
At Yingzi’s age, what else should she be doing besides studying?
As for getting married…
To hell with that.
The moment Yingzi heard those words, she shot out of the house like an arrow.
“I can go to school!”
“I can go to school!”
Inside the house, Liu Huilan and Zhou Xiangdong simply stared at each other.
“These two daughters-in-law really are something…”
“Ever since Meng Juan married into the family, we’d have a small fight every three days and a big one every five. We argued endlessly over whether Yingzi should stay in school.”
“But now the second daughter-in-law doesn’t even argue. She simply says Yingzi’s going back to school.”
After holding it in for a long while, Zhou Xiangdong finally sighed.
“Then let her go.”
He loved his daughter and knew that getting an education was a good thing.
While he and Liu Huilan were still healthy enough to work, letting Yingzi continue her studies might give her a better future.
“I think the second daughter-in-law is better than the eldest.”
After saying that, Zhou Xiangdong stood up and walked away.
Liu Huilan: …
Just like that?
The matter was settled?
…
Yingzi hurried outside to share the good news with her old classmates.
There weren’t many children attending school in the village.
Among those who had once been in the same grade as her, only a handful had gone on to middle school.
The rest were all working in the fields or staying home to look after younger siblings.
“Hongya! I’m going back to school!”
Hongya was carrying her little brother on her back while watching the children.
She stared in shock.
“What did you just say?”
“I’m going back to school! My second sister-in-law said I can.”
Hongya’s eyes immediately became misty with envy.
“That’s wonderful. Wasn’t it your eldest sister-in-law who refused to let you study? She used to make such a fuss over it every day, smashing pots and bowls at home. Your second sister-in-law is really that nice?”
Yingzi nodded enthusiastically.
“My second sister-in-law is wonderful. She’s as beautiful as a fairy, and she’s so kind. I’m going to tell everyone else too!”
Hongya nodded.
Watching Yingzi run off into the distance, her own eyes turned red.
…
Under the big tree at the entrance of the village, Matchmaker Liu was chatting with several villagers while pointing toward the Zhou family’s house.
“The Zhou family acts as though they’ve never had a daughter-in-law in eight lifetimes. They won’t let her do any work, and they don’t bother keeping her in line. She’s a woman who says whatever she pleases and does whatever she wants. What good did offending me do her? In a few years it’ll be Yingzi’s turn to get married. If I refuse to arrange a match for her, is she going to knock on every family’s door asking whether they want a daughter-in-law?”
“Matchmaker Liu, have a little conscience. What did that young girl ever do to offend you?”
People were too polite to expose her outright.
Everyone knew it was Matchmaker Liu who had acted improperly in the first place, yet she was blaming Lin Yi instead.
Still, everyone also knew that offending Matchmaker Liu rarely ended well.
If she decided not to arrange a marriage for Yingzi, she was certainly capable of following through.
Just then, Yingzi came running over from the distance, laughing all the way.
“Yingzi! What’s got you so happy today?”
“I’m going back to school! My second sister-in-law is sending me back to school!”
The crowd fell silent.
Had they heard her correctly?
Yingzi hadn’t been to school for years.
She could still go back?
“What did you say? Your second sister-in-law isn’t fooling you? You haven’t been in school for years. Can you really return?”
“My second sister-in-law would never lie to me! If she says I can, then I can. I’m not talking to you anymore.”
Someone glanced sideways at Matchmaker Liu before mischievously asking,
“If you’re going back to school, then what about finding a husband? Aren’t you getting married anymore?”
The villagers loved teasing girls with questions like that.
In the past, Yingzi would blush and chase after them in embarrassment.
But not today.
“I’m not getting married! Going to school is much better!”
The crowd immediately burst into laughter and turned to look at Matchmaker Liu.
Her face instantly burned with humiliation, as though she’d been slapped several times across the face.