As soon as Lin Ruochu called for people to start moving her things, Lin Zhiyuan was the first to spring into action. He was terrified that if he was even a split second too slow, this stepsister of his might suddenly change her mind.
He had seen right through Lu Yichen long ago as a thoroughly rotten man, but Lin Ruochu had been completely blinded by him. No matter how much anyone tried to warn her, she wouldn’t listen, so eventually, everyone stopped trying.
Now, thank goodness, Lin Ruochu had finally seen the light on her own. Not only did he jump straight into action, but he even hurried the rest of them along. “Dad, Mom, let’s pick up the pace, or it’ll be pitch dark by the time we get back.”
Lin Jianguo and Zhang Xiufang nodded in unison. “Alright, let’s pack it up quickly so we can head home.”
If it weren’t for the fact that Lin Ruochu had originally fancied Lu Yichen herself, and that her father had personally agreed to the match years ago, Lin Jianguo never would have consented to let her marry into that family. The Lu family had talked a big game about treating Lin Ruochu like their own flesh and blood, but what were the actual results? When the time came to discuss the betrothal gift, they clammed up and tried to dodge the issue entirely.
In the end, they had merely tossed out two bolts of printed floral fabric to pass as the betrothal gift. Lin Jianguo had wanted to speak up, but because Lin Ruochu had fiercely defended Lu Yichen, and his relationship with his daughter was already distant, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and compromise.
Zhang Xiufang had been utterly furious about this as well. Knowing they were heading over to call off the engagement today, the Lin family wasn’t about to let themselves get taken advantage of. Zhang Xiufang grabbed those two bolts of floral fabric and hurled them straight at Li Guifen’s chest. “Take your precious betrothal gift back! Who do you think you’re looking down on?”
The fabric hit Li Guifen square in the face.
Li Guifen’s expression turned a shade of green, but she swallowed her towering rage, forcing it into a pleading whine. “Ruochu, dear… Yichen just did a foolish thing. Won’t you forgive him this once?”
“Don’t you worry, I’ll make sure to discipline him properly this time. I guarantee he’ll treat you right from now on.”
Unfortunately for her, not a single person bothered to respond.
Before long, Lin Jianguo and the others had hauled everything out of the house. Since Lin Ruochu had planned all along to pack up her belongings today, they had brought along a specialized flatbed cart, clearing out everything in one fell swoop.
Watching the cavernous, empty space left behind in the room, Li Guifen let out a wail of despair. “What a sin… what an absolute sin!”
“All those fine things, just hauled away like that. What are we going to do now?”
Hearing Li Guifen’s ear-splitting screech, Lu Xianggui roared, “Shut your trap! What are you howling for? Do you want the entire village to come and watch us make fools of ourselves?”
Li Guifen snapped her mouth shut; the disgrace the Lu family had suffered today was already far too big.
Only then did Lu Xianggui turn his ire toward Lu Yichen. “Even if you’re infatuated with that educated youth, couldn’t you have kept it under the table? Look at us now—the Lu family’s dignity has been completely dragged through the mud.”
“And another thing—once your leave is up, you’ll dust off your pants and head straight back to the military unit. Who do you think the villagers are going to mock? Besides, your mother and I are getting older. With Lin Ruochu gone before she even stepped foot through our door, who is going to take care of us two old folks?”
That was right; this was precisely what Lu Xianggui had been plotting all along. He and Li Guifen were aging, and over the past couple of years, their legs and joints had started acting up. They needed people to farm the fields and look after them in their old age.
Lin Ruochu had always been the ideal candidate—she was their intended daughter-in-law, completely devoted to their son, and easy to manipulate. She was the absolute best choice.
Yet this good-for-nothing son of theirs had gone and driven a perfectly good daughter-in-law away with his reckless stunts. Who was going to wait on them now?
Lu Yichen hadn’t genuinely believed Lin Ruochu would pack up and strip the house bare today. Was she actually refusing to marry him? A sudden, unexplainable wave of panic gripped his chest.
Still, he quickly steadied himself. He had no idea what Lu Xianggui was plotting, but he was completely certain of one thing: he was still going to marry Lin Ruochu.
He scoffed dismissively. “Lin Ruochu is just throwing a tantrum. Give it a few days and she’ll come crawling right back to me.”
“Besides, I’ve already submitted my marriage application. This is a military union—Lin Ruochu has nowhere to run.”
Seeing his son’s absolute confidence, Lu Xianggui let out a sigh of relief. As long as she could be coaxed back eventually, he didn’t care about the rest.
“Fine. Just as long as you know what you’re doing. I don’t care how you handle it, but that female educated youth with the surname Xia is never stepping foot into our Lu family’s doors.”
Xia Lin was lazy, loved to idle away her time, and spent all day dressing up like a peacock—anyone could tell she wasn’t a woman built for hard labor. On top of that, she was far too scheming; people like her were impossible for their family to control.
Infatuated as he was with Xia Lin, Lu Yichen had never actually intended to break off his marriage with Lin Ruochu, so he agreed without a second thought.
Meanwhile, back on the path to the village, the Lin family was marching home together in high spirits.
Along the way, Zhang Xiufang was already calculating, “Once we move these things back, we’ll set them right inside Ruochu’s room. When the time comes for her to marry in the future, we’ll just buy a fresh set all over again.”
Lin Jianguo had no objections to that, though he remained somewhat worried about his daughter. “Ruochu, are you truly certain you want to call off the engagement with Lu Yichen? You’re completely done with him?”
With absolute resolve, Lin Ruochu answered, “If he treats me like dirt even before we’re married, heaven only knows how he’d abuse me once we tied the knot. A man like that is not someone I will ever marry.”
“Good for you!” If the setting hadn’t been so public, Lin Zhiyuan would have broken out into applause. “It’s about time you finally woke up. Don’t go crawling back to coddle Lu Yichen in a couple of days.”
“Little brother, you can rest easy. Even if that scumbag Lu Yichen kneels right down in front of me and begs, my heart won’t soften for a single second.”
“Who’s your little brother? Don’t go throwing titles around.” Though he snapped back defensively, the corners of Lin Zhiyuan’s mouth twitched upward in an irrepressible grin.
He and Lin Ruochu shared no blood relation. Back then, when Zhang Xiufang’s first husband passed away, life for a young widow raising a child in the village had been agonizingly difficult. The neighborhood kids used to mock Lin Zhiyuan relentlessly, calling him a wild orphan without a father.
Later on, when Zhang Xiufang married Lin Jianguo, they finally formed a real family. Lin Zhiyuan had been very young at the time, but he understood one thing clearly: from then on, he had a father, and he belonged to a complete, unbroken home.
When Lin Jianguo subsequently treated him with deep paternal affection, Lin Zhiyuan finally understood what it felt like to have a true father.
It was a pity that his older stepsister had never seemed to like him. Lin Zhiyuan had desperately craved a complete family and longed for Lin Ruochu to accept him, though perhaps out of a lingering fear that if she rejected him, he might lose his home all over again.
Because of this complex mix of feelings, Lin Zhiyuan had always treated Lin Ruochu like his true older sister in his heart, even if she continually pushed him and his mother away.
Today was the very first time Lin Ruochu had openly acknowledged him as her younger brother out loud. To say he wasn’t thrilled would be a blatant lie.
Even so, he refused to show it. Though his smile was practically splitting his face, he forced his expression flat and muttered a retort.
Unfazed by his blustering, Lin Ruochu reached out and playfully ruffled his hair. Grinning brightly, she teased, “If you aren’t my little brother, who is? You’re stuck with being my little brother whether you like it or not.”
This time, Lin Zhiyuan didn’t argue back. Chuckling under his breath, he deliberately averted his face and refused to look at her, determined not to let Lin Ruochu catch him beaming with joy.
Watching the interaction between the siblings, Zhang Xiufang felt her heart swell with warmth. She nudged Lin Jianguo gently. “Look at that—do you think Ruochu is finally willing to fully accept us?”
While Lin Jianguo wasn’t entirely sure, the changes in Lin Ruochu were undeniable. At the very least, today she had called him “Dad” again, and her tone lacked its usual icy, hardened edge.
A smile broke across Lin Jianguo’s weathered face. “That’s right. That punk Lu Yichen simply lacked the blessing to hold onto her. He’s going to live to regret this.”
As the family walked along, chatting and laughing happily toward home, Lin Ruochu suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure standing near the village entrance and paused. “Dad, you guys go on ahead. I need to take care of something.”