Lin Xiangbei asked instinctively, ”What did she say to Shen Yan?”
Lin Wanwan sneered. ”She was the one who called me, saying Xue Liping was pestering Shen Yan, and told me to come deal with Xue Liping.
Yet she told Shen Yan that you came running to pester her, and warned Shen Yan to be careful of you. And you actually wanted to give her money—are you an idiot or what?”
Lin Xiangbei’s face changed instantly. ”That’s impossible! She’s not that kind of person!”
“If you don’t believe me, go ask Shen Yan! And think about it—if she were a good person, has she ever shown up openly since we came to Haicheng? How many times has she come to see you? Wasn’t it always sneakily, never daring to let anyone see? Besides, she goes to see Shen Yan all the time herself. What face does she have to claim Xue Liping is clinging to Shen Yan? If she really saw me as Shen Yan’s wife and thought Shen Yan shouldn’t get too close to other women, then she should be keeping her own distance!”
Lin Xiangbei found it hard to accept. “That’s impossible! How could she…”
He didn’t want to believe Lin Qingyu was such a schemer, but every word Lin Wanwan said made sense. He couldn’t even come up with a way to defend Lin Qingyu.
Seeing him wilt like a frost-bitten eggplant, Lin Wanwan landed another blow: “If Lin Qingyu didn’t go see Shen Yan all the time, how would Xue Liping even know she existed? Why would Xue Liping go out of her way to target her?”
Lin Xiangbei’s face fell. “How could she… she never used to be like this…”
He grabbed at his hair in distress.
Lin Wanwan couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
Lin Qingyu never used to be like this?
She used to commit identity theft!
The Original Owner’s eldest brother was in the army. Once, when he came home on leave, he accidentally had a relationship with a female educated youth.
That woman didn’t dare make it known and ran off quickly.
Lin Qingyu impersonated her, making the Original Owner’s eldest brother believe the woman he’d slept with was her, and that he had to take responsibility for her.
Lin Qingyu refused to marry him, but she took his money, and to this day she’s kept him dangling on a string.
Meanwhile, that female educated youth gave birth to a child after her return to the city, and never married.
Later, the child was abducted by human traffickers, and her whole family was ruined because of it.
Lin Wanwan looked coldly at Lin Xiangbei. “Anyway, if you don’t believe me, go ask Shen Yan how many times Lin Qingyu has come to see him and what she told him. From now on, if you still care about me as your sister, or about Mom and Dad, stay away from Lin Qingyu. If you want to earn money to support her, you’d better show filial piety to Mom and Dad first. If you really can’t stop worrying about her, tomorrow I’ll go to her school and ask her classmates and teachers what kind of trouble she’s in that she needs so much money. Besides, if she really were in trouble and needed money, why wouldn’t she go to Shen Yan instead of you? Is she saying you have more money than Shen Yan?”
Lin Xiangbei panicked at once. “Don’t go to her! I… I won’t see her anymore! I won’t give her money either! Will that do?”
Lin Wanwan narrowed her eyes. “You’ve given her money before? How much?”
Lin Xiangbei instantly felt guilty. “N… not that much…”
Lin Wanwan demanded with a stern face. “How much is ‘not that much’? Have you been secretly sending her money all these years?”
Lin Xiangbei’s face turned miserable. “Just stop asking. I’ll go ask Shen Yan.”
Seeing that he still wouldn’t give up, Lin Wanwan couldn’t help rolling her eyes again.
Still, it was money Lin Xiangbei earned himself—he could give it to whoever he wanted.
As a transmigrated freeloading sister, she really had no right to meddle too much.
But who could blame her—she had inherited the Original Owner’s identity, along with the Female Lead’s hatred toward the Original Owner!
The Female Lead had been reborn, and she had sworn to make the Original Owner destitute and wretched!
If she didn’t stop Lin Xiangbei from sending money to the Female Lead, the Female Lead would use Lin Xiangbei’s money against her!
So she had to win over the Original Owner’s four brothers!
And then destroy the Female Lead’s pond.
Unless the Female Lead changed her mind and stopped targeting her, the two of them would be locked in a fight to the death.
Lin Wanwan was just fretting over this when she saw Lin Xiangbei walking back like a wilted eggplant.
He looked utterly dejected, clearly having taken a heavy blow.
Lin Wanwan perked up immediately: “Did you find out?”
Lin Xiangbei nodded, listless all over: “How could she do this…”
Lin Wanwan snorted: “She can’t let Shen Yan know that she was the one who told me to come to Haicheng and cause trouble, so of course she had to come up with an excuse. If she doesn’t claim you came to Haicheng to pester her, then the moment I suddenly show up in Haicheng to make trouble for Xue Liping, Shen Yan is bound to suspect her. So she had to give Shen Yan a heads-up in advance, making him think you secretly came to Haicheng, found out about him and Xue Liping, and deliberately brought me here to cause trouble.”
Lin Xiangbei grew even more dejected: “…”
Lin Wanwan seized the chance to assign him a task: “You remember that Zhuang Yufei from today, right? Tomorrow morning, go to the school and ask around—find out her home address in her hometown.”
With that, she pulled out twenty yuan and handed it to him. “This is your operating budget!”
Lin Xiangbei looked at her, puzzled: “That woman is a bit annoying, sure, but haven’t you already taught her a lesson? There’s no need to keep going after her, right? That’s a bit much.”
One look at his expression and Lin Wanwan knew that if she couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason, Lin Xiangbei definitely wouldn’t help her.
So she said mysteriously: “Look at her manners—do you really think she got into university on her own? I suspect it’s identity theft! She’s using someone else’s identity to attend university! Think how miserable that person whose place she stole must be—working so hard to get into university, only to have her steal their spot. That person might even be a female educated youth who was sent down to the countryside, unable to return to the city because of this, trapped in the countryside for the rest of her life…”
Lin Wanwan spun her tale, but Lin Xiangbei’s expression grew stranger and stranger.
He stared at her with a complicated look on his face, and only after a long while did he say: “That kind of thing really is too much. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll go to the school and ask for you!”
Seeing his odd expression, Lin Wanwan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
She thought back carefully, and only then remembered that back when Lin Qingyu got into university, she had suddenly accused the Original Owner of forcing her to hand over her admission letter so the Original Owner could impersonate her and attend university in her place!
The Original Owner was nothing but a tool in the book, so when the Female Lead wronged her, she naturally became a gourd without a mouth—unable to defend herself no matter what.
At the time, everyone in the village believed Lin Qingyu’s nonsense, thinking the Original Owner was bullying people with her family’s power.
The Original Owner’s father had even lost his position as Production Brigade Leader because of it.
This time, if Lin Qingyu hadn’t wanted the Original Owner to come to Haicheng and cause trouble, the Original Owner probably wouldn’t have even gotten a letter of introduction.
Lin Wanwan immediately grew anxious.
She grabbed Lin Xiangbei: “Fourth Brother, I never wanted to steal Lin Qingyu’s spot at university back then!”
Lin Xiangbei clearly didn’t believe her: “It’s all so long ago. Don’t bring it up again. I believe you’ve already learned your lesson.”
Lin Wanwan: “…”
She knew that no matter what she said now, Lin Xiangbei wouldn’t believe her.
She simply stopped explaining: “Anyway, I didn’t! Believe it or not! Tomorrow morning, get me Zhuang Yufei’s hometown address, and we’ll leave!”
With that, she went back to her room, took out the money and counted it, then went to sleep contentedly.
Early the next morning, Lin Xiangbei hurried out right after breakfast.
Lin Wanwan didn’t wait around at the Shen household. She made a point of strolling around the streets to get a sense of the market.
She didn’t return until noon.
Lin Xiangbei was back too.
She immediately pulled him into her room: “How did it go? Did you find out?”
Lin Xiangbei took out two train tickets and a slip of paper: “I bought tickets for this afternoon. This is Zhuang Yufei’s hometown address, along with the phone number for her production brigade.”
Lin Wanwan looked at the address and phone number, her eyes darting as an idea immediately formed in her mind.