It was June, and summer had already arrived. The air was filled with a restless, stifling heat.
Outside a row of short school buildings was an open area. Under a huge tree beside it, several children were playing with a jump rope made of rubber bands. The children were of different heights, but they all wore old, patched clothes. Their clothes and faces were covered in dirt from playing outside.
It was break time.
A woman with two long braids was wearing a faded dark-blue cotton outfit and cloth shoes. She was talking to several children.
After the children finished talking over one another, the woman took out a few pieces of candy and handed them out. She then walked to the side, wiped away the tears that had fallen from her eyes, sniffed, and firmly walked toward the only office in the school.
Bang!
The old wooden door was pushed open roughly, leaving the two people inside with nowhere to hide.
A man was sitting at a desk grading homework. A woman wearing a pure white shirt had one arm resting on the back of his chair. She leaned toward him and spoke quietly, her lips very close to his ear. The two looked extremely intimate.
The woman froze.
She clenched her fists, and her face twisted with anger.
Hearing the noise, the two people who had been leaning close together were startled and quickly separated.
The woman in the white shirt raised her eyebrows angrily.
“Who are you? Don’t you know you have to knock before coming in?”
The man remained seated, still holding a pen in his hand. He wore a pure white shirt with black trousers. His shirt was tucked into his belt, and he was even wearing leather shoes.
His clothes made him look very much like someone from the city.
“Miaoyin? What are you doing here?”
He immediately stood up, but his leg hit the table. He winced in pain.
He was embarrassed and annoyed. Even someone as shameless as him could not pretend nothing had happened after being caught acting suspiciously with another woman by his own wife.
A few days ago, he had argued with Miaoyin. He had said a few sweet words to calm her down, so he thought they should have a few peaceful days.
Why had she suddenly come to the school today?
“Knock? I’ll knock on your damned door! You shameless woman!”
Lin Miaoyin ignored the man completely. She stared fiercely at the woman in the white shirt, rushed forward, grabbed her by the hair, and slapped her twice.
“Are you that desperate for a man? You even throw yourself at a married man! I’ll beat that shameless face of yours today and teach you to stop chasing other people’s husbands!”
She slapped her twice more, one hand after the other.
Lin Miaoyin had spent years doing farm work, so her hands were rough and strong. The fair, delicate face of the female educated youth from the city immediately became red and swollen, and the corner of her mouth split open.
The woman in the white shirt had been completely caught off guard. In Lin Miaoyin’s hands, she was like a helpless rag doll.
Her mind went blank.
People from the city always valued manners and proper behavior. Who could have expected this country woman to start hitting people without saying a word?
There was no way she could fight back.
Lin Miaoyin did not let her go. She grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the door.
“Come with me to see the village Party secretary! We’ll hold a public criticism meeting! You two are having an improper relationship! You’ll get a disciplinary record! You could even be executed!”
“Ah! Let go of me! You crazy woman! Let go!”
The woman’s scalp hurt terribly. She grabbed at her own hair and screamed.
“Teacher Meng, help me!”
Meng Yuanzheng hesitated.
He knew his wife had a hot temper, but she was also soft-hearted and usually listened to him. If he said a few nice words and coaxed her, perhaps everything would be fine.
He absolutely did not want to be officially accused of having an improper relationship with another woman.
He should just calm her down. Saying a few nice words wouldn’t cost him anything.
He forced a smile and was about to step forward to apologize.
Before he could say anything, Lin Miaoyin spat at him.
“Shut your damn mouth! I’ve already heard everything from the children outside. You two shameless people have been sneaking around behind my back for more than a day or two. You were practically ready to jump into bed together! You think I’m stupid, don’t you?”
“We didn’t do anything!”
Her vulgar words left Meng Yuanzheng completely humiliated.
Lin Miaoyin refused to listen. She continued dragging the woman outside by her hair.
Meng Yuanzheng became frantic. With no other choice, he followed them and grabbed Lin Miaoyin’s arm, constantly trying to persuade her.
He still wanted to go to college.
He could not be publicly criticized or receive a disciplinary record.
He could not lose his job as a primary school teacher.
Most importantly, he did not want to go back to doing farm work.
“Miaoyin, Miaoyin, I was wrong! I promise it won’t happen again. From now on, I’ll only treat you well!”
Meng Yuanzheng was practically ready to kneel.
Lin Miaoyin glared at him and kicked him hard between the legs.
He immediately let go.
“Ow! Ow!”
He covered himself and crouched down, his face twisted in pain.
“You crazy woman! Savage woman!”
“You think you’re not going to prison for hitting people?” the woman in the white shirt shouted.
“Ha! Prison? Do you think I’m afraid? At least I’ll have the two of you keeping me company!”
The children who had been playing outside noticed that their teacher still had not returned even though class had started. They came running out to see what was happening.
One after another, they asked,
“What’s wrong with Teacher Zhang?”
An older child explained,
“Miaoyin is Teacher Meng’s wife. My mother said that once a man has a wife, he isn’t supposed to stay alone with other women. Otherwise, it’s called having an improper relationship.”
“Ohhh…”
The children gathered around, excited to watch the commotion.
Meng Yuanzheng and the woman in the white shirt were so embarrassed that they wanted to disappear, but there was nothing more important right now than avoiding a disciplinary record.
“Miaoyin, Miaoyin, you’ve misunderstood! We’re just ordinary revolutionary comrades. I have absolutely no feelings for her!”
Meng Yuanzheng finally managed to stand up. He ignored the pain between his legs and hurried over to beg her again.
“Misunderstood? Your mouths were almost touching each other’s ears, and you still call that a misunderstanding?”
Lin Miaoyin spat directly in his face.
She did not loosen her grip on the woman’s hair.
“We country people don’t understand the ways of you city people. Whether this is a misunderstanding or not, let’s go ask the Party secretary. The children all saw what you two were doing!”
“Miaoyin, Miaoyin, please! I was wrong! I promise this is the last time! I swear! Ah!”
Lin Miaoyin kicked him hard in the chest.
Meng Yuanzheng, who was kneeling on the ground, toppled over like a man with no strength left in his legs.
“Lin Miaoyin! You crazy woman! You wicked woman! No man will ever want you for the rest of your life!”
The woman in the white shirt screamed angrily.
Lin Miaoyin did not even bother listening.
With one hand, she held the woman’s hair. With the other, she grabbed her around the neck and dragged her toward the Party secretary’s house.
The woman’s feet kicked wildly against the ground. Her face turned bright red, and she could barely even curse anymore.
As they passed a pond, the commotion quickly attracted the attention of the villagers working nearby.
Everyone began asking what had happened.
When they saw Lin Miaoyin dragging the woman in the white shirt, most of them immediately understood.
“I always said that Educated Youth Zhang wasn’t an honest woman. She dresses like she’s not even here to work in the countryside. She’s always flirting with the men in the village. I’m really afraid she’ll teach my son bad habits!”
“Educated Youth Meng isn’t a good man either. He’s already married, yet he’s always chatting with the young girls in the village.”
The villagers’ voices carried openly through the air.
The woman’s heart pounded violently.
Her face turned bright red.
No!
She could not be taken to the Party secretary!
She did not want to be publicly criticized!
“Oh? You’re glaring at me now?”
Lin Miaoyin tightened her grip on the woman’s hair.
The woman screamed in pain again.
Then Lin Miaoyin suddenly noticed something.
She took a closer look and her eyes widened.
“Meng Yuanzheng, you bastard! This is the dacron fabric my cousin gave me as a wedding gift! You actually stole it and had this slut make a shirt out of it!”
Meng Yuanzheng trembled.
“No, Miaoyin. That’s not what happened. Listen to me…”
“Take it off! Take it off right now!”
Lin Miaoyin’s eyes were bloodshot as she frantically tried to pull the woman’s shirt off.
The buttons immediately popped off, revealing the bra underneath.
The woman desperately struggled to stop her.
The surrounding villagers also gathered around. They pretended to persuade Lin Miaoyin to stop, but in reality, some of them were reaching out to help pull at the shirt.
“Ah! Help me! You savage people! Meng Yuanzheng, save me! Save me!”
The woman was in pain all over.
Using all her strength, she kicked Lin Miaoyin hard in the calf.
Lin Miaoyin loosened her grip.
The woman immediately pushed her with all her strength.
Lin Miaoyin was caught completely off guard.
She screamed as she fell backward toward the pond.
Meng Yuanzheng happened to be standing behind her.
As a result, the two of them lost their balance and tumbled straight into the pond together.
Author’s Note
I recommend my own novel, After Swapping Bodies with the Immortal Venerable [Transmigration].
Jiang Cai transmigrates into an old-fashioned cultivation romance novel and becomes a villainous supporting female character who has a crush on the male lead.
The male lead and the supporting male characters all love the heroine.
But the moment Jiang Cai opens her eyes, she finds herself in a life-or-death situation. The heroine’s admirers are about to beat her to death.
To save herself, she shouts,
“Don’t kill me! I’m together with the Immortal Venerable!”
She survives, but she fails to become a cultivator. So she packs her belongings and prepares to leave the mountain and return home.
But just before she leaves, she somehow swaps bodies with the high-and-mighty Immortal Venerable!
And this Immortal Venerable happens to be the ultimate villain of the original story.
The Immortal Venerable helps her achieve first place in the cultivation assessment, while she can only sit in the highest seat and pretend to be mysterious and profound.
Later, the Immortal Venerable is busy practicing cultivation, working, and being ostracized by his fellow disciples.
Meanwhile, Jiang Cai spends her time watching the fun, eating snacks, dealing with the endless people who suddenly fall for her, and admiring her own—well, the Immortal Venerable’s—handsome face in the mirror.
After suddenly returning to her own body, she is forced to teach herself how to cultivate.
But she soon discovers strange cultivation manuals appearing in her pockets, inside her cabinet, and even under her pillow.
Holding the manuals in her hands, she thinks:
“How could the Immortal Venerable be such a good person and still be the ultimate villain? Even if he really is a villain, I’ll gladly become his loyal follower!”
Jiang Cai says, “Immortal Venerable, please let me follow you!”
The Immortal Venerable gives her a calm glance.
“I heard that you and I are together?”