Everyone in the village knew that less than a week after Lin Dahai died, Lu Chaonan had rushed back to attend the funeral in mourning clothes. He had also taken Lin Shuya to register their marriage.
The very next day, he had left in a hurry. Two years had passed since then, yet Lu Chaonan had never returned.
The Lu family did not acknowledge Lin Shuya as their daughter-in-law either. Even now, she had never once stepped through the Lu family’s door. She remained in the Lin family home, guarding an empty house and an empty title.
The Lu family had never approved of the marriage and had spread the story everywhere that Lin Shuya had forced Lu Chaonan into marrying her. They claimed that she had used Brigade Captain Lin’s past kindness toward Lu Chaonan to pressure him into registering their marriage, and that Lu Chaonan disliked her so much that he had not returned home in two years.
Now that Lin Shuya herself had brought up divorce, no one believed she was serious. They only thought she was desperate to see Lu Chaonan and was using the university admission notice to force him to come back.
Ye Qing gave an awkward laugh. “Second Brother is busy with work. It is not as though we can simply call him back whenever we want. If Second Sister-in-law wants to see him, why not buy a train ticket and visit him at his unit?”
After saying that, she deliberately paused and covered her mouth.
“Could it be that Second Sister-in-law does not even know where his unit is?”
They had been married for two years, yet she did not even know where her husband worked. Lin Shuya could feel the curious, gossiping gazes surrounding her.
She rolled her eyes. “Are you incapable of understanding human language? I want a divorce.”
In this novel, Lu Chaonan was the male lead, while Lin Shuya was the cannon fodder wife of the male lead who would eventually die at his hands.
If she wanted to live, she had to stay as far away from the male lead as possible.
At first, she had planned to use the admission notice to ask the Lu family for money, buy a train ticket, and find Lu Chaonan so she could divorce him.
However, Lu Chaoxi’s words had given her a new idea. She could simply summon Lu Chaonan back and settle the divorce in one go.
Tian Shufen looked up at Lin Shuya, a bad feeling rising in her heart. This time, Lin Shuya was serious.
There was an old saying that one would rather tear down a temple than break up a marriage.
Things had reached this point because of her, and she was the one primarily responsible.
Lin Shuya and Lu Chaonan could get divorced, but not because of this matter. Tian Shufen could not bear the consequences of destroying their marriage.
Taking a deep breath, Tian Shufen stepped forward and confronted her directly.
“Ye Qing, why did you lie to me?”
Ye Qing had still been thinking about how to strike back at Lin Shuya. The sudden question pulled her back to her senses, and she looked confused.
“What did I lie to you about?”
Tian Shufen came clean. “You told me that as long as I could persuade Lin Shuya to intercept the admission notice and hide it, you could guarantee that the teaching position at the village primary school would go to me.”
The smile on Ye Qing’s face froze.
“I am just an ordinary educated youth who was sent to the countryside. I have neither power nor influence. The reason I was able to become a teacher at the village primary school was because the village cadres trusted me. How could I possibly have the ability to interfere with the appointment of teachers there?”
Although Tian Shufen had already prepared herself mentally, she was still furious when she heard Ye Qing go back on her word.
Perhaps Ye Qing had never intended to take revenge on Lin Shuya alone. Perhaps Tian Shufen had been one of her targets from the very beginning.
That made sense. This was the same person who had once written a letter of accusation just to compete for a teaching position at the village primary school. How could she suddenly let go of their past grievances and start thinking about Tian Shufen’s interests?
She had been foolish and simple-minded enough to let herself be used.
“So, you wanted to kill two birds with one stone and scheme against both Lin Shuya and me?”
Ye Qing had already prepared a response.
“Tian Shufen, everyone in the village knows that you and I have had a grudge against each other for years. Would I have to be out of my mind to think of working with you?
“Besides, Lin Shuya and I are sisters-in-law. Why would I collude with an outsider to frame someone from my own family? Tian Shufen, could it be that you set your sights on my admission notice and, in order to take my place at university, encouraged Lin Shuya to do this?”
Two years after the college entrance examination had been reinstated, everyone understood that passing it was a path to changing one’s fate. Once admitted to university, one could become a city resident and receive state-supplied grain.
Tian Shufen could not pass the examination herself, so she could only resort to crooked schemes.
Ye Qing needed only a moment to recover before turning the accusation around and shifting all the blame onto Tian Shufen.
Then Ye Qing turned to confront Lin Shuya.
“Second Sister-in-law, Tian Shufen has an old grudge against me. She only became close to you because she wanted to take revenge on me. Haven’t you been dragged into trouble by her more than once over the years? We are family, so you cannot side with an outsider against your own family.”
Tian Shufen sneered.
“Family? Lin Shuya must have had terrible luck to marry into the Lu family and end up with a sister-in-law like you.
“You were young when you first went to the countryside, and you believed Lu Chaoxi’s smooth talk and registered your marriage with him. Only after getting married did you realize that he was all talk. When it came to work, he was lazy and always looking for ways to slack off, and his pockets were emptier than his face.
“Now that you have been admitted to university, you need money to support yourself. Lu Chaoxi cannot afford to pay for your education, so you set your sights on Lu Chaonan.
“If Lin Shuya hid the admission notice, she would be in the wrong. Then you could use that to force Lu Chaonan to agree to give you money and support you through university. You told me that yourself.
“The truth is, you have always been jealous of Lin Shuya. When she was still unmarried, she had a good father who spoiled and protected her. After her father passed away, she married a capable man.
“I, Tian Shufen, may resent the underhanded methods you used to obtain the teaching position at the village primary school back then, but I would never do anything illegal. You, on the other hand, are exactly as despicable on the inside as you appear on the outside.”
Tian Shufen had arrived in the village early. Aside from her poor relationship with Ye Qing, she got along well with everyone else.
When the policy allowing educated youth to return to the city was introduced, Tian Shufen had also had the opportunity to leave. However, because she could not bear to abandon her two children, she had given up the chance to return to the city.
For that reason alone, the villagers considered her a good woman. Ye Qing’s claim that Tian Shufen had hidden the admission notice in order to impersonate her and take her place at university simply did not add up.
Ye Qing noticed the change in the expressions around her and immediately opened her mouth to refute her.
“I…”
However, Lu Chaoxi was even faster. His eyes widened as he snapped in anger.
“This is a family matter of the Lu family. What does it have to do with you? Mind your own business. You had no ability to win the teaching position at the village primary school back then, and now that you cannot get into university, you have started causing trouble instead. Only an idiot like Lin Shuya would believe your nonsense.”
“Pah!”
What Tian Shufen hated most was being told that she was inferior to Ye Qing. Completely enraged, she spat in Lu Chaoxi’s direction.
“People who sleep in the same bed are no different from each other. You are just as shameless as Ye Qing. Lu Chaonan works himself to the bone out there, and all the money he earns goes toward supporting you ungrateful lot!
“The wife he properly married has not received a single cent from him. Lu Chaonan does not have much of a conscience either. Everyone in the village knows that when he was able to enlist in the Army back then, Brigade Captain Lin spent both money and effort to help him and treated him like his own son.
“And what happened in the end? Your whole family spread rumors that Lin Shuya had forced him into marriage. Lu Chaonan’s salary became a bottomless pit used to support the entire family, his elderly mother, his younger siblings, and even his younger brother’s wife. Yet the one person he did not support was his own wife.
“All of you have joined forces to bully a single woman. Aren’t you afraid of losing your conscience?”
Tian Shufen showed no mercy as she berated the Lu family.
Then, from the crowd of onlookers, a man spoke up.
“That is not right. I helped Brother Nan deliver money before. Out of the monthly allowance he sent home, ten yuan was specifically for Shuya.”
Tian Shufen turned around, her face filled with astonishment.
“Really? Then it seems Lu Chaonan has not completely lost his conscience. If the problem is not with Lu Chaonan, then it must be Li Chunhua who pocketed her daughter-in-law’s money.”