Seeing that Yang Xiaolin had paid the money, Hong Shanpang had no choice but to swallow her anger.
“I’ll pay too, but I don’t have any money right now.”
“Then take the beating first. Six hits each.”
“Why is there one more hit now?”
Su Xiaoqi lazily raised her eyelids.
“Interest.”
“You can keep delaying if you want. By tomorrow, it’ll be twenty hits each. Don’t think I’ll just let this slide. If I have to, I’ll go to the commune and seek justice.”
“If the commune won’t handle it, I’ll go to the County Armed Forces Department.”
Those two sentences made both the production team leader and the party secretary’s hearts skip a beat.
Yang Huaihua felt her chest tighten.
“Su Xiaoqi! Just wait until Zhou Ye comes back. He’ll beat you to death!”
She had raised Zhou Ye with her own hands. There was no way he’d side with an outsider.
“Before he comes back, I’ll beat the Xu family to death first.”
After thinking for a moment, Su Xiaoqi added,
“If a soldier can’t even protect his own wife, what’s the point of him?”
Those words actually made perfect sense.
Several young wives in the village looked at Su Xiaoqi with shining eyes.
She was saying everything they had always wanted to say.
The team leader glared fiercely at Xu Youtian.
“Go get twenty yuan.”
Xu Youtian took several deep puffs from his pipe before glaring at his two sons.
“If you don’t want to be beaten to death, go home and get the money.”
Yang Xiaolin stubbornly lifted her chin.
“I’d rather let her beat me to death.”
Su Xiaoqi raised the shovel and slammed it onto Yang Xiaolin’s backside with a loud thud.
Caught off guard, Yang Xiaolin fell to the ground.
Su Xiaoqi immediately swung the shovel again, smashing it toward her knee.
“Ah! Just destroy the world already!”
Terrified, Yang Xiaolin hurriedly rolled away. Unfortunately, her face landed right in a fresh pile of chicken droppings.
The smell nearly made her faint.
She wiped her face with her sleeve and burst into tears.
“Waaah… Su Xiaoqi, you hit me! Deduct five yuan…”
Su Xiaoqi planted the shovel into the ground.
Stepping on it with one foot, she smiled brightly.
“The interest just increased. It’s eight hits each now. I’ve only hit you once.”
Hong Shanpang was frightened out of her wits.
Even the cruelest landlords weren’t this ruthless.
“I’ll go get the money! I’ll get it right now!”
After years of secretly saving under her father-in-law’s silent approval, she had barely managed to put aside just over twenty yuan.
And now ten yuan was gone.
Yang Xiaolin could only struggle back to her feet.
“I’ll go get mine too.”
“Don’t think about running away and never coming back. I charge interest. Once it goes over ten hits, the price goes up.”
Su Xiaoqi was completely enjoying herself now.
Making other people suffer felt unbelievably satisfying.
Yang Huaihua glared at Su Xiaoqi with poisonous eyes, silently cursing her.
Su Xiaoqi caught the old woman’s vicious expression with a single glance.
“Bah! Abusing your own children just because of some dead old man…”
Yang Huaihua trembled with rage and pointed at her.
“I’ll make Zhou Ye divorce you!”
“This is the new society. Divorce me? The Qing Dynasty has been gone for ages. Stop talking like that.”
Secretary Xu’s eyes widened like bronze bells.
“Yang Huaihua! What nonsense are you talking about?”
She didn’t dare argue with the secretary and could only swallow her curses.
Less than five minutes later, Yang Xiaolin and Hong Shanpang each returned with ten yuan wrapped in handkerchiefs.
Inside were one-cent, two-cent, and five-cent coins, along with one-jiao, two-jiao, five-jiao notes, and the largest denomination—a two-yuan bill.
It was all money they had painstakingly saved over the years.
Su Xiaoqi didn’t mind that it was all small change.
Right in front of everyone, she sat cross-legged on the ground and carefully counted every cent.
The villagers watching the spectacle all stared wide-eyed, silently counting along with her.
“All right. Our debts are settled.”
She returned the two handkerchiefs.
“Your handkerchiefs.”
Then she stuffed the money into her pocket.
Yang Huaihua’s eyes nearly burned with envy.
Forcing a smile onto her face, she said,
“Su Xiaoqi, you’re young and don’t understand these things. Let me keep the money for you.”
“You wicked old woman. You’re obviously trying to cheat me out of my money.”
Su Xiaoqi shouted so loudly that everyone heard.
Yang Huaihua: “…”
The villagers: “…”
The mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law all wore completely different expressions.
Some thought Yang Huaihua should manage the money.
Others believed Su Xiaoqi should keep it herself.
Su Xiaoqi returned the shovel to Xu Laoliu.
“Thanks, Laoliu.”
“Hehe. Just treat me to a piece of candy next time.”
“No problem.”
She also thanked Secretary Xu and the team leader, showering them with compliments one after another.
The two men were practically floating with pride.
As expected of an educated youth from the city.
She really knew how to speak pleasantly.
Everyone soon dispersed to begin work.
Su Xiaoqi hurried home and happily crawled back into bed for a second sleep.
While lying there, she couldn’t help thinking about Wen Anning.
Sang Biao suddenly burst into booming laughter that echoed inside her head.
“Beautiful Host! The Robbery System has officially activated… Are you ready to rob someone?”
“What the hell…”
Su Xiaoqi instantly jumped out of bed.
“Who are we robbing?”
Inside his pink bubble-filled room, Sang Biao rolled his eyes.
“Detected that Wen Anning picked up a hundred-year-old wild ginseng this morning, along with two wild rabbits. Want to steal them?”
“She’s that lucky?”
“Steal them.”
Ever since she was little, Su Xiaoqi had never been like other girls.
Watching heroic outlaws in television dramas, she had dreamed of carrying a giant battle axe, robbing her way to a wealthy life—and finding an unbelievably handsome man.
Pink bubbles floated everywhere like fish blowing bubbles.
Inside the previously empty storage space, a hundred-year-old wild ginseng and two unconscious rabbits suddenly appeared.
Looking at the unconscious rabbits, Su Xiaoqi asked,
“Sang Biao, does Wen Anning have a storage space?”
“Yep. Less than ten square meters.”
Sang Biao immediately began painting an even brighter future.
“As long as you earn enough points, you can even take away her storage space.”
“Damn, Sang Biao. You’re actually that powerful?”
“I just don’t follow the usual path. My abilities are incredible.”
Although he sounded like a burly mechanical giant, his obsession with everything pink was honestly disturbing.
Su Xiaoqi couldn’t figure something out.
Earlier, she had no points at all.
How had arguing with someone suddenly earned her points?
Unable to understand it, she simply set the question aside.
Whenever thinking became too troublesome, she’d deal with it later.
She slept until noon before finally getting up.
The Xu family was furious at the sight of her but didn’t dare say much.
Xu Yong’an especially wanted to throw a sack over her head and beat her up.
“Don’t get too smug, Su Xiaoqi.”
She casually poured herself a cup of cooled boiled water and took a sip.
Then she frowned.
“I just love seeing the way you hate me but can’t do anything about it.”
“Comrade Old Yang, what’s for lunch?”
Yang Huaihua was so angry smoke nearly rose from her head.
“All you know is eating! The corn porridge is gone. We’re having sweet potato porridge.”
Su Xiaoqi wasn’t picky.
She walked into the kitchen and lifted the pot lid.
First she scooped out two large chunks of sweet potato from the middle of the pot, then ladled herself plenty of rice porridge.
The lunch dishes consisted of boiled bok choy in plain water and a plate of cucumber salad.
Calling it a salad was generous.
It was just smashed garlic cloves mixed with a little salt.
Such bland food…
She sighed.
As she ate, all she could think about was meat.
She had to find an excuse to cook those wild rabbits.
After lunch, Su Xiaoqi prepared to head toward the back mountain.
“Zhou Cao, I’m going to see if there are any foolish rabbits that don’t want to live anymore and decide to run into me.”
Zhou Cao was speechless.
“Big Sister-in-law… can rabbits really stop wanting to live?”
“Of course. Maybe they were bullied by a vicious mother-in-law and couldn’t take it anymore.”
Su Xiaoqi said it with a completely serious face.
Yang Huaihua silently clutched her chest.
What terrible fate had she been born with?
How had she ended up with such a vicious daughter-in-law?
Su Xiaoqi headed straight for the back mountain.
“Sang Biao, do you know where I can find wild ginseng?”
Seeing Wen Anning’s outrageous luck, she hoped her own system would be more useful.
Sang Biao fell completely silent.
“What an unreliable system.”
Su Xiaoqi sighed.
She searched all over the mountain.
There wasn’t even any wild vegetable to be found.
Just as she was about to take a break, she noticed a pair of eyes staring back at her from not far away.
Both of them let out greedy snorts at the same time.
Su Xiaoqi swallowed.
The wild boar swallowed too.
The battle was about to begin.
The wild boar charged straight at her.
At that critical moment, a swift figure slammed into Su Xiaoqi, knocking her to the ground.
A pistol appeared in the man’s hand.
Bang!
The wild boar collapsed unwillingly onto the ground.
Su Xiaoqi looked up.
Standing before her was a man well over six feet tall.
He was incredibly handsome, his sharp brows and eyes carrying a naturally commanding aura.
His lean waist and long legs were perfectly proportioned.
Stop.
I’m a married woman now. I should have at least a little sense of propriety.
Even as she scolded herself inwardly, a string of curses flashed through her mind.
“I spotted the wild boar first. I deserve at least half the credit.”
Zhou Ye never expected that after returning from a mission, not only would the young bride he had married fail to recognize him…
She even had the nerve to try claiming half the wild boar with empty hands.
“How do you want to split it?”
He extended his hand toward her.
Su Xiaoqi dodged it.
“Men and women shouldn’t touch. My husband is built like a black bear, and his temper is as unreasonable as a wild dog. If you dare touch me, he’ll definitely hack you to death.”