Lu Yichen tightly embraced Xia Lin, his face full of heartache and distress. “You mustn’t do anything foolish. This isn’t your fault.”
“Don’t worry, I will definitely make Lin Ruochu apologize to you and clear this up.”
With Lu Yichen’s guarantee, Xia Lin naturally gave up on her suicidal act and continued to pour out her grievances. “I… I just wanted to be your bride for once. I never expected Ruochu would treat me this way.”
Faced with such a pitiful Xia Lin, Lu Yichen felt a mix of heartache and guilt. In the end, he was the one who had failed her.
Clearly, he and Xia Lin were deeply in love, but because he had been betrothed to Lin Ruochu since childhood, Xia Lin had offered to break things off to avoid hurting Lin Ruochu.
Yet he couldn’t bear to let her go, so he had given the official title of wife to Lin Ruochu.
Lin Ruochu was already his lawful, proper wife—Xia Lin merely wanted to experience being his bride for a single day. Why couldn’t Lin Ruochu just be obedient? This was something Lin Ruochu owed Xia Lin anyway.
It was fortunate that Lin Ruochu didn’t hear these thoughts; had she heard them, she likely would have smashed Lu Yichen’s thick skull.
If the two of you are truly in love, then get together openly! Couldn’t you have properly discussed breaking off the engagement instead of dragging her down to use her for a lifetime?
However, Lin Ruochu was destined not to hear Lu Yichen’s inner monologue right now.
Leaving the Lu household, Lin Ruochu walked back toward her own village. A few villagers caught sight of her and found it strange. Wasn’t Lin Ruochu getting married today? Why was she already back? And walking all alone, at that?
Curious as some might have been, no one came forward to ask.
It wasn’t until she stepped through her front door that Lin Ruochu finally let her sorrow show. “Dad…” Seeing her father, Lin Ruochu could no longer hold back, and tears spilled over.
In her past life, Lin Ruochu’s relationship with her father, Lin Jianguo, had always been strained because he remarried a year after her mother passed away.
At that time, Lin Ruochu was still young and listened to malicious gossip claiming that once Lin Jianguo had a new wife, he would no longer care for her, and that Lin Jianguo and his new bride had probably been tangled up together even before her mother’s death.
At first, Lin Ruochu didn’t care about these rumors, but eventually, she started believing them and grew increasingly estranged from her father.
Lin Jianguo was a typical honest, hardworking man who lacked the eloquence to express his feelings. Knowing his daughter held a grudge against him, he didn’t know how to explain himself, simply figuring that Lin Ruochu would understand once she grew older.
Later on, Lin Ruochu did understand—unfortunately, it was far too late.
In her previous life, shortly after marrying Lu Yichen, he returned to his military unit. He stayed away for years without ever returning, let alone sending any money back.
Lu Yichen’s parents were in poor health. By the third year of their marriage, his father fell seriously ill, and medical treatments required a fortune.
The only physical laborer left in the household was Lin Ruochu. It was Lin Jianguo who felt heartbroken for his daughter and stepped in everywhere to help, making Lin Ruochu’s life somewhat manageable.
Though Lin Jianguo already had his own fields to tend to, he still took on the burden of working on Lin Ruochu’s behalf. Within a couple of years, he aged dramatically, his back hunching significantly.
Only then did Lin Ruochu realize that her father had always loved her; it was just that this unexpressive man had never told her so, and she had never tried to understand him.
Seeing Lin Ruochu return home at this hour and weeping so bitterly, Lin Jianguo’s immediate instinct was that his daughter had been bullied.
Clumsy and at a loss for how to comfort his grieving daughter, he vented his anger at Lu Yichen. “Did that punk Lu Yichen bully you? Dad’s going over right now to settle his hash.” Lin Jianguo snatched up a carrying pole, fully intent on marching over.
“Slow down! Listen to what Ruochu has to say first.” Zhang Xiufang hurriedly grabbed Lin Jianguo, blocking his path as if determined not to let him rush off blindly.
The person holding Lin Jianguo back was Lin Ruochu’s stepmother, Zhang Xiufang, an honest and dutiful woman.
Having brought her young son into the Lin family when she remarried, she had never mistreated Lin Ruochu. Initially, she even tried to butter Lin Ruochu up, but seeing that Lin Ruochu continually showed her absolute disgust, she stopped trying to force a warm face onto a cold shoulder.
In her past life, Lin Ruochu had assumed Zhang Xiufang brought baggage along with malicious intent, even falling for rumors that Zhang Xiufang’s son was the product of an illicit affair with Lin Jianguo.
It was only later that Lin Ruochu learned none of that was true, and that Zhang Xiufang was genuinely good—at least during the years when she desperately needed help, Zhang Xiufang protected her everywhere, just like a real mother.
Seeing Zhang Xiufang holding him back, Lin Jianguo grew impatient. “Don’t stop me.”
It wasn’t until Lin Ruochu spoke up that he stopped. “Dad, listen to me first. You can go after you hear me out.”
Lin Ruochu recounted everything that had happened that day. She left out the part about being schemed against to sleep with Fu Tingshi, mentioning only how Lu Yichen had drugged her and let Xia Lin impersonate her as the bride pouring toasts.
Finally, Lin Ruochu declared, “Dad, I’ve already called off the engagement. The Lu family bullied us too far. I’m not marrying him.”
Lin Jianguo’s immediate reaction was, “Good! Calling it off was the right move. This marriage has to end.”
“Since their Lu family thinks they can bully people like this, I’m going right over there to demand an explanation.”
Zhang Xiufang’s son, Lin Zhiyuan, had already stood up. Looking at Lin Ruochu with a critical expression, he sneered, “I told you ages ago that Lu Yichen was no good, but you wouldn’t listen. Look at you getting burned now.”
“Still, it’s up to me. I’ll go give Lu Yichen a proper beating right now.”
Lin Zhiyuan was only a year younger than Lin Ruochu. After following Zhang Xiufang to remarry into the Lin family, he changed his surname to Lin, though he had never formally acknowledged Lin Ruochu as his older sister out loud.
In her past life, Lin Zhiyuan had warned Lin Ruochu on several occasions that the relationship between Lu Yichen and Xia Lin was murky and unclean. At the time, Lin Ruochu had glared at him and snapped, “Are you just desperate to see me unhappy? One of them is my man and the other is my good friend—don’t you think I’d know if something was going on between them?”
Back then, Lin Ruochu refused to listen to a single word. Because of her preexisting dislike for Lin Zhiyuan, she always assumed he was hoping for her downfall and trying to drive a wedge between them.
Even under normal circumstances, Lin Zhiyuan didn’t treat her like a sister and loved to talk back to her.
It was only later that Lin Ruochu realized Lin Zhiyuan had always regarded her as a sister, and whenever she needed help later in life, Lin Zhiyuan was always the one stepping up to assist her everywhere.
Even though Lin Zhiyuan had continuously urged her to guard against Lu Yichen, Lin Ruochu had completely shut her ears to it, leading to frequent friction between the two of them.
Later on, Lin Zhiyuan died in an accident—passing away even earlier than she did.
Seeing Lin Zhiyuan standing before her again, and remembering him lying in a pool of blood in her past life, Lin Ruochu felt her eyes redden.
Having never seen Lin Ruochu look like this before, Lin Zhiyuan took a startled step back. “Hey, don’t go getting all emotional on me! I’m not doing this for your sake; I just don’t want to lose face.”
“You’re still my nominal older sister, after all. If you get pushed around outside and word gets out, won’t people say I’m useless? Isn’t that a slap to my own face?”