“Second Sister-in-law, where is my admission notice? I already asked the postman. He delivered the admission notice to the village two days ago, and you were the one who received it.”
Lin Shuya had just walked out of the brigade office when someone stopped her.
Yu Qinglan’s eyes were red, and she looked deeply aggrieved.
Standing beside her was a postman in uniform. His expression was firm as he said, “Comrade, you received the admission notice two days ago and said you would hand it over to the intended recipient. I asked you to sign for it at the time. I can go back to the post office and request that your handwriting be verified.”
Lin Shuya pressed her lips together, her expression calm.
Fortunately, she had transmigrated into this period novel two hours early. The moment she opened her eyes, the first thing she did was find Tian Shufen and take back the admission notice.
In the original novel, the original Lin Shuya could not stand seeing everyone in the Lu family treating Lu Chaonan like someone they could constantly exploit. After someone deliberately stirred up trouble, she acted impulsively and secretly hid the admission notice.
To keep the Lu family from discovering what she had done, she even handed the admission notice over to Tian Shufen for safekeeping.
She had not expected the postman to have a record of her signature. Since the admission notice was no longer in the original Lin Shuya’s possession, she could not produce it when confronted. With no way to defend herself, she exposed Tian Shufen’s instigation, which firmly established her guilt.
Not only did she end up with a reputation for bullying her sister-in-law, but she also dragged her father’s good name through the mud, even though he had sacrificed his life in the line of duty.
After realizing that she had transmigrated into the novel, the first thing Lin Shuya did was find Tian Shufen and take back the admission notice. She had to protect her own reputation as well as her father’s honor.
Now, facing Yu Qinglan’s accusations, Lin Shuya remained completely composed. She simply turned around and looked at Tian Shufen with an amused yet mocking smile.
“So this is what you said would never happen?”
Tian Shufen had gone to the countryside as an educated youth three years earlier than Yu Qinglan.
When the village primary school was established in 1975, it needed to select one educated youth to become a teacher. The two of them competed for the position.
In the end, Tian Shufen lost, while Yu Qinglan was selected. From then on, the two developed a grudge against each other.
In order to compete with Yu Qinglan, Tian Shufen became very close to Lin Shuya and often encouraged the original Lin Shuya to do things that harmed others without benefiting herself.
However, when it came to the admission notice this time, Tian Shufen was only an accomplice. Yu Qinglan was the one who had planned everything.
After Yu Qinglan was admitted to university, the position at the village primary school would become vacant. Knowing that Tian Shufen had been longing for that position, she used it as bait and persuaded Tian Shufen to cooperate with her in putting on this act.
As a reader who possessed an all-knowing perspective, Lin Shuya knew that Tian Shufen would ultimately bring trouble upon herself.
The position at the village primary school had already been decided. It had been given to the brigade accountant’s son, who had just graduated from junior high school. Yu Qinglan had deliberately exploited the information gap between them, causing Tian Shufen and the original Lin Shuya to turn against each other.
In the end, Tian Shufen would gain nothing and, just like the original Lin Shuya, would ruin her own reputation.
When Lin Shuya had gone to see her, Tian Shufen had confidently insisted that Yu Qinglan would take the Lu family’s reputation into consideration and definitely would not make the matter too serious. She had continued to manipulate Lin Shuya into standing on her side.
With no other choice, Lin Shuya had taken her to the brigade office to verify the matter.
The two had just finished confirming the truth and walked out when they ran into Yu Qinglan, who had come to demand an explanation. In front of so many people, Yu Qinglan exposed the entire affair.
Tian Shufen’s face flushed red. She had never expected to be played by Yu Qinglan once again. Her hands hung at her sides, clenched tightly into fists, and her knuckles cracked softly.
Yu Qinglan did not understand the silent exchange between Lin Shuya and Tian Shufen. However, Tian Shufen’s weakness was firmly in her hands, and even if Lin Shuya grew ten mouths today, she would still be unable to explain herself.
“Second Sister-in-law, I know you are competitive and have always disliked seeing me surpass you. You cannot stand the fact that I am better than you. I have endured all the trouble you caused me in the past, but this time is different. This admission notice represents three years of hard work and determines the course of my future. Please give it back to me. I will do anything for you.”
Lin Shuya looked her up and down twice before sneering. “You are better than me? In what way? You are not as tall as I am, your skin is not as fair as mine, and even your hair is only half as thick as mine. With what little you have going for you, why would I be jealous enough to deliberately cause trouble for you?”
Yu Qinglan was humiliated instead. She clenched her back teeth tightly and continued pressing her.
“Second Sister-in-law, I only want one honest answer. Is my admission notice really still there? Have you already destroyed it? As long as you can produce it, I will work like a beast for you if that is what it takes.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the surrounding onlookers began condemning Lin Shuya indignantly.
“Educated Youth Yu married into our village, so she is one of us now. Getting into university is a great honor for our entire village. Ruining someone’s future like this is downright despicable.”
“I really cannot understand how Brigade Captain Lin, such a good man, could have raised something so heartless. First, she relied on the debt of gratitude to force Lu Chaonan to marry her, and now she is bullying her own sister-in-law.”
“Thank goodness I had the foresight to stop my son from marrying this troublemaker back then. Otherwise, our family would be the ones suffering now.”
“Someone like her should be driven out of the village. Comrade Yu, just report her to the police.”
…
In the original novel, the admission notice was with Tian Shufen, so the original Lin Shuya naturally could not produce it, which firmly established her guilt.
But now, Lin Shuya already had the admission notice in her possession. Without revealing her thoughts, she took a step back and reached into the cloth bag hanging from her shoulder. She pulled out the admission notice and waved it in front of Yu Qinglan.
“Are you talking about this? Of course it is still here.”
The moment Yu Qinglan saw the document in Lin Shuya’s hand, a flash of panic crossed her face. Wasn’t the admission notice supposed to be with Tian Shufen?
Could it be that Tian Shufen had betrayed her?
She glared furiously at Tian Shufen twice.
She reached out to take the admission notice, but Lin Shuya casually turned her wrist and slipped it back into the cloth bag, leaving Yu Qinglan grasping at empty air.
Yu Qinglan’s expression stiffened. “Second Sister-in-law, what do you mean by this?”
Lin Shuya smiled faintly. “You were not home two days ago, so I did you a favor and signed for the admission notice on your behalf. Yet instead of asking me about it, you immediately accused me of secretly hiding it and brought so many people here to verbally attack me. If I had been even a little less thick-skinned, I would have been driven to ruin today.”
With that, Lin Shuya swept her gaze across the crowd.
“You are all accomplices.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Qinglan secretly cursed Tian Shufen. She really was incapable of getting anything done without ruining it.
She softened her attitude and spoke gently.
“Second Sister-in-law, this admission notice may be nothing more than a piece of paper to you, but to me, it represents my entire future. I was too anxious and went too far with my words. I am truly sorry. I apologize to you.”
“You spread rumors about me in front of everyone and ruined my reputation. Do you really think a lighthearted apology can make all of that disappear?”
Seeing this, Lu Chaoxi, who had been standing behind Yu Qinglan all this time, could no longer hold back.
“Lin Shuya, you married my second brother, so you are part of the Lu family now. We all share the same family name. By making things difficult for Ye Qing like this, you are humiliating the entire Lu family. Believe it or not, I will make my second brother divorce you.”
Divorce was exactly what she wanted.
Lin Shuya immediately spoke up.
“Fine! Go and call him back. Whenever the divorce happens, that is when I will return the admission notice to you.”