After breakfast, the entire family, except for Wang Xiaoqin, had to hurry off to work.
Wang Xiaoqin was in poor health. When she was young, she had given birth to two sons, but neither survived. She had always been frail, and the constant anger and stress had further damaged her health. Once she got a little older, she was frequently sick.
The production brigade cadres knew about her condition, so outside of the busy farming season, she was allowed to stay home. The others, however, were not.
If someone was perfectly healthy yet took frequent leave, the brigade cadres would criticize them and even drag them out for ideological education.
Ren Chaomei was very enthusiastic. After changing into her dirtiest pair of cloth shoes for farm work, she was ready to leave.
But just before heading out, Ren Ganying said weakly, “Dad, could you ask for sick leave for me? I’m not feeling well today.”
“Got it.” Ren Dahe replied sternly without picking a fight. Ren Ganying’s complexion really did look terrible—deathly pale, with a slap mark still visible on her face. She indeed wasn’t fit to go out.
There was plenty of work to do in the production team, with something to be done practically all year round.
Recently, Xiaoqiao Production Team had been busy digging up potatoes, pulling weeds from the corn and soybean fields, raising rice seedlings, and so on.
After attendance was taken, Ren Chaomei was assigned to the weeding team.
Weeding was considered the easiest task among the day’s jobs.
Back when Ren Chaomei had been a student, she had studied properly and obediently looked for a job when she was about to graduate. Now that she had become a production-team member, she also had the awareness that she needed to do farm work.
She simply treated it as if, after graduating from college, she had found a job at a farm. Mentally, she adapted quite well.
However, while Ren Chaomei bent over and carefully distinguished soybean seedlings from weeds, Aunt Liu, who was working the same plot of land, insisted on gossiping with her while working.
“That Wang family who tried to trick you into a marriage—who introduced them to you? How could someone be so wicked?”
“It was that matchmaker, Cai, from their commune. That matchmaker Cai is no good. Just to get her matchmaking fee, she knew there was something wrong but deliberately kept quiet. When the police questioned her, she insisted that the man had deceived her too. And that man? He acted like he was innocent, claiming he was shy and didn’t normally talk to people…”
Perhaps Matchmaker Cai really hadn’t known the whole situation at first. But after discovering something suspicious, she still had the same idea as the Wang family: gamble that the girl would swallow the humiliation.
After all, once the marriage was completed, everything would be settled. The deed would be done, and her matchmaking job would count as successful.
Aunt Liu nodded knowingly, as if she had plenty of experience. “You young girls are still too innocent. A matchmaker’s mouth is full of lies. Don’t believe a single word they say. When it comes to men, you have to keep your eyes peeled and judge for yourself.”
“Old and honest, not much of a talker” could easily become “honest and quiet” once it passed through a matchmaker’s mouth.
It was one thing to deceive people about little details, but this time they had actually swapped out the man. That was truly outrageous.
After carefully hearing all the details of the marriage scam, Aunt Liu clicked her tongue and continued asking, “You and your older sister usually have pretty high standards. How did you two fall for this?”
“The man was handsome. My older sister said that just looking at his face, she felt he was definitely going to have a bright future.” Ren Chaomei paused and didn’t deny her own mistake. “I thought the same thing at the time.”
Beauty was a scarce resource. Being good-looking really could put food on the table.
A beautiful woman could make a man willingly spend money on her. A handsome man could make a woman willingly suffer hardship for him.
But suffering alongside an ugly man? Absolutely not. That was why Ren Chaomei had flipped the table as soon as she arrived.
Whether she was badmouthing the Wang family or her own Ren family, Ren Chaomei could talk about it with great enthusiasm…
But halfway through, she suddenly realized that although Aunt Liu was chatting with her, her hands hadn’t slowed down at all.
Ren Chaomei immediately stopped complaining and hurriedly pulled weeds, desperately trying to catch up.
Farm work was exhausting.
Weeding was repetitive labor that required little thought. It was also something the original owner had often done before, so mentally, Ren Chaomei felt it was easy. But the physical fatigue was something her mind couldn’t control.
It wasn’t even halfway through the morning when Ren Chaomei couldn’t help rubbing her lower back.
Her waist was aching badly. Even though this body was accustomed to farm work, it still felt sore.
“No wonder families can end up fighting like cats and dogs during the busy farming season.”
When the body was suffering, one’s temper easily became irritable as well. During the busy farming season, Ren Dahe had to drink every day after coming home, and then he would lecture his wife and children. The original owner was also quick-tempered and would feel like cursing whenever she saw Ren Dahe.
Now was not the time to push herself beyond her limits. She needed to slowly adapt to rural life.
After thinking it over, Ren Chaomei decided to ask the team leader for leave.
“Team Leader, I can’t do this anymore. I need to ask for leave. I think I injured my waist when I fought with the Wang family before. I need to rest for a couple of days…”
She simply rolled up her sleeve and showed the bruises on her arm, which was enough to make the team leader understand how fierce the fight had been.
She had won, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been injured.
It wasn’t the busy farming season, and Ren Chaomei’s excuse was reasonable and well-founded. The team leader didn’t ask any further questions and simply told her to hurry home and rest.
Because she didn’t have a good relationship with the Ren family, when Ren Chaomei returned home, she noticed that the main gate was strangely locked from the inside and wouldn’t open, but she didn’t call for anyone to unlock it.
“Who closed the gate?” she muttered softly before silently climbing over the wall.
But after sitting on top of the wall and preparing to jump down, she suddenly noticed that Ren Ganying was actually rummaging through Ren Dahe’s bedroom.
She froze for a moment, not daring to alert Ren Ganying. She quickly and quietly climbed down from the wall.
“Well, look at her. She’s even faster than me.”
Ren Ganying really was more quick-witted than the original owner. The original owner had never thought of taking the money back herself.
When the money had been stolen, the original owner had still been young. The valuables in the household were all locked up, let alone money. Even the cabinet where the grain was stored was kept locked.
She couldn’t pick the locks, and if she were discovered, she would be beaten. The original owner had no way to deal with those locks. As time passed, she eventually gave up on the idea of getting the money back.
Ren Chaomei had thought about retaliating and stealing the money back herself.
But she had only just transmigrated. There were still many things she hadn’t figured out, and she hadn’t yet adapted to her new life. She had planned to slowly find an opportunity later.
“Look at her efficiency!” Ren Chaomei criticized herself for a couple of seconds before immediately running to the neighboring house.
Because they were distantly related, as soon as Ren Chaomei entered, she called out to the woman in her sixties, “Second Auntie, come help me with cupping, or give my back a massage. My waist hurts.”
“I have to go wash clothes by the river, and then I still have to cook. How about this afternoon…”
Before Second Auntie could finish, Ren Chaomei dragged her along. “My waist hurts terribly. It’s urgent. Once you’re done, I’ll go wash clothes with you.”
“If it hurts that badly, you should buy some medicinal plaster and put it on…”
Ren Chaomei nodded absentmindedly as she pulled the woman to her own house.
The gate was still closed, but this time Ren Chaomei didn’t climb over the wall. She simply kicked the gate open.
Second Auntie was stunned. “Child, how can you just kick the door down?”
Second Auntie outside the door was shocked, while Ren Ganying inside was equally stunned.
The sudden appearance of Ren Chaomei left her standing awkwardly in Ren Dahe’s room, caught between retreating and staying.
“Big Sis, don’t hide in there without making a sound. I know you deliberately locked the gate to keep me from coming in.”
“You wanted me to give in and beg someone to open the door? Dream on.”
“Huh? Why are you in Uncle Dahe and the others’ room? And why did you make such a mess? What are you looking for?”