Lin Family Village
Ever since she sneaked back to the educated youth dorm in disgrace yesterday, the news of Xia Lin crashing Lin Ruochu’s wedding to act as the bride had spread like wildfire across the entire Lin Family Village.
Who in the educated youth dorm didn’t know that Xia Lin and Lin Ruochu were supposed to be best friends? Since Xia Lin was incapable of carrying heavy loads or doing hard labor, Lin Ruochu routinely pitched in to help her with farm work.
In fact, because of her close ties to Lin Ruochu, Xia Lin was almost always assigned the easiest chores—such as weeding, gathering pigweed, or feeding the pigs.
Never in anyone’s wildest dreams had they expected Xia Lin to pull such a shameless stunt, stabbing her own best friend in the back. Once word got out, Xia Lin instantly became the target of universal contempt and scorn from everyone in the dorm.
Xia Lin desperately wanted to clear her name, insisting that Lin Ruochu had simply fainted and that she was merely stepping in out of the kindness of her heart to pour the wedding toasts. But nobody was foolish enough to buy such an obvious lie.
Being ostracized and isolated by her peers in the dorm left Xia Lin bitterly resentful, and she directed all of that fury straight at Lin Ruochu. If Lin Ruochu hadn’t ruined her plans by failing to get “caught in the act” as intended, she never would have ended up being shunned.
In her own twisted imagination, she was supposed to be the selfless, noble hero who sacrificed her own comfort for the sake of her friend’s reputation, and everyone ought to be singing her praises.
Instead, things had deteriorated to this miserable state, and she needed to figure out a new strategy—fast.
Before Xia Lin could even adjust to the crushing “loneliness” of being ostracized, she was struck by a bolt from the blue the very next morning during work assignments: she had been assigned to carry nightsoil (fertilizer buckets of human waste).
Refusing to accept her fate, Xia Lin marched up to demand an explanation. “Team Leader, you’re deliberately targeting me!” She had been down in the countryside for two years, and she had genuinely never touched a single piece of heavy farm work. While all the other educated youths had been tanned dark by the sun, she had managed to stay fair and delicate.
Naturally, she wanted no part of such a foul, exhausting chore.
The team leader shared the surname Lin and was named Lin Gensheng. As a direct cousin of Lin Jianguo, he had previously shown Xia Lin special favor purely out of regard for Lin Ruochu. Now, not only would he withhold any special treatment, but he had deliberately singled her out for this exact task.
He had already held a low opinion of Xia Lin to begin with, and her public challenge of his decision right in front of the entire work crew cemented her place on his blacklist.
“That’s how the work is assigned. Comrade Li and Comrade Liu can both handle it—what makes you so precious that you can’t?”
“Since you came down to the countryside, you’re here to help build up the motherland. Drop that bourgeois landlord-princess attitude of yours.”
During this era, being branded with a label like “landlord” was a devastating accusation. Xia Lin wasn’t a complete idiot; the moment those words slipped past her lips, she knew she had made a massive mistake.
Unfortunately, what was said could not be unsaid.
With no other choice, she had to swallow her pride and bow her head. “Team Leader, that’s not what I meant. I will obey the assignment.”
Without sparing her another glance, the team leader turned on his heel and walked off to resume his own work after finishing the lineup. Xia Lin cast a hopeful glance toward the distance, looking for Lin Ruochu, but she was nowhere to be found.
Any thoughts Xia Lin had harbored about repairing her relationship with Lin Ruochu had to be temporarily shelved.
Now, stripped of Lin Ruochu’s assistance and isolated by the female educated youths in her dorm, she couldn’t even ask the male youths for help for fear of displeasing Lu Yichen.
Left with no alternative, she had to resign herself to her fate and trudge off to work.
Though Xia Lin moved with agonizing reluctance, not a soul felt a shred of pity for her. Seeing her dragging her feet, someone even barked a harsh prompt: “Comrade Xia, you’d better hurry up and move. Don’t hold up the work shift.”
Xia Lin looked up to find the speaker was none other than Lin Xu, the team leader’s daughter who also served as the work-point recorder. Xia Lin didn’t even dare to talk back, because she knew better than to cross her.
Eyes burning with unshed tears, Xia Lin lowered her head and forced herself to begin. Lin Xu sneered under her breath, “What is she even pretending for? I’ve had her number for a long time.”
She had known all along that Xia Lin was rotten to the core; she had detested Xia Lin’s phony demeanor from day one, and it was about time everyone else saw her true colors.
She used to warn Lin Ruochu not to spoil Xia Lin so much, but Lin Ruochu wouldn’t listen. Well, she knew the truth now, didn’t she?
Lacking physical stamina and thoroughly revolted by the stench, Xia Lin dragged her feet through the chore, accomplishing very little.
By the time the morning shift finally drew to a close, Xia Lin felt as though every bone in her body was shattering. She had never endured physical labor this punishing in her entire life.
Nursing a deep sense of grievance, she headed back toward the dorms, and the moment she caught sight of Lu Yichen waiting outside, her tears completely broke through the dam.
Seeing Lu Yichen instantly brought all of her pent-up misery rushing to the surface. But as she hurried forward, Lu Yichen abruptly took several steps backward.
It wasn’t that Lu Yichen did it intentionally; rather, Xia Lin had managed to spill some of the foul contents on herself during the morning’s labor, and she still carried a distinct, unpleasant odor.
Unaware of how she smelled, Xia Lin watched Lu Yichen back away from her, and the pain in her chest deepened into absolute devastation.
Her very first words were a torrent of complaints. “Lin Ruochu bullied me—she got people to assign me to carry nightsoil!” Then, with a choked, sobbing whine, she added, “I wanted to explain things to Ruochu, but I couldn’t even find her today.”
“That’s going too far.” Lu Yichen’s expression darkened. He couldn’t wrap his head around it: fine, if Lin Ruochu wanted to cause him trouble, whatever—but why was she deliberately picking on Xia Lin?
Still, he had a far more pressing matter to address with Xia Lin today, so he swept the complaint aside.
“Linlin, where is the bracelet I gave you?”
Yesterday, when Lin Ruochu stormed over to the Lu household to demand the return of her dowry, the spectacle had been so ugly that the entire village was now buzzing with gossip about how the Lu family had swindled Lin Ruochu’s jade bracelet.
Even though swallowing his pride to ask back a gift he had already given away deeply wounded Lu Yichen’s ego, the endless chatter of the villagers annoyed him far more.
That was why he had come today—to retrieve the bracelet once and for all and shut those gossiping mouths.
Unaware of Lu Yichen’s true agenda, Xia Lin blinked in confusion. “The items you gave me are safely tucked away.”
“Good. Hand the bracelet back to me; I’ll buy you something much better in the future.” He couldn’t bring himself to admit out loud that the bracelet belonged to Lin Ruochu.
Xia Lin never imagined Lu Yichen had come specifically to demand the bracelet back. Her face drained of color—how could anyone ask back a gift they had already presented to someone else?
Besides, she adored that bracelet and had zero intention of handing it back to him.
Seeing Xia Lin stand there in stunned silence, Lu Yichen pressed her. “Linlin?”
Snapping back to reality, Xia Lin hurriedly swallowed the look of betrayal threatening to crack her carefully maintained expression. “Alright… I’ll go get it for you.”
Reluctant as she was to part with it, she knew even better that she couldn’t afford to show her displeasure. Doing so would only anger Lu Yichen, and if she lost him, she would lose everything.
Rushing inside, Xia Lin fetched the bracelet, handed it back to Lu Yichen, and pasted on a pleading expression. “Brother Lu, can we go together to apologize to Ruochu? I really don’t want things to be this awkward between us.”
Remembering Lin Ruochu’s icy hostility from the previous day, Lu Yichen furrowed his brow. “I’ll handle explaining things to Ruochu myself.”
That was precisely the answer Xia Lin was waiting for. She immediately nodded. “Alright then, I won’t go looking for Ruochu just yet. Make sure you clear my name properly.”
“Ruochu is just throwing a temper tantrum. Once things are talked out, it’ll blow over,” Lu Yichen said with absolute, misplaced confidence. Pocketing the bracelet, he turned and strode away.
Meanwhile, down in the township, Lin Ruochu had already arrived. Fu Tingshi had been waiting for her since early morning, even taking a moment to purchase a trendy hair clip currently popular in the market.
He had a gut feeling that this clip would look stunning in Lin Ruochu’s hair, so he bought it on impulse—only to suddenly worry while waiting whether she might actually dislike it.