Lu Aiguo’s gloomy eyes studied her carefully, trying to determine whether she was telling the truth.
Lin Xiyun couldn’t even be bothered to roll her eyes. She plopped down onto a chair with a look that plainly said, “What else would it be?”
She committed wholeheartedly to her role as the daughter who always sided with her birth family.
“Of course. I have two older brothers, don’t I? They both needed to get married. My mother worked so hard to keep the family running, so naturally the money went toward building houses for them.”
Who else would it go to?
The meaning was written all over her face.
Seeing how matter-of-fact she looked, Zhao Jinlan anxiously asked,
“I remember your family gave you over a hundred yuan as a dowry, didn’t they?”
“Last year my mother came to visit and said my eldest brother had just had a baby and money was tight, so I lent it to her.” Lin Xiyun rubbed her hands together with a cheerful grin, as though she hadn’t just threatened someone with a stool moments ago.
“Don’t worry, Mom. My mother treats me so well. She’ll definitely pay me back!”
Looking into Lin Xiyun’s clear, trusting eyes—eyes filled with absolute faith in her family—Zhao Jinlan fell silent.
…
Why did those words sound so familiar?
Oh, right.
Last month.
And the month before that.
Li Zhaodi had said exactly the same thing whenever she borrowed money for her parents’ family.
“They’re just borrowing it. They’ll definitely pay it back.”
After marrying into the Lu family, she’d spent years funneling food and goods back to the Li family, and not once had anything ever been returned.
Borrowing money? Paying it back?
Nothing but lies.
Zhao Jinlan had lived long enough to see through tricks like that.
Realizing there wasn’t a single cent she could squeeze out of Lin Xiyun, she grew frantic, slapping her thigh dramatically.
“Oh, what a miserable life I have! I married three daughters-in-law for my sons, and two of them only know how to steal from the Lu family to support their own parents! How am I supposed to live like this?”
Unafraid of Lu Aiguo’s scrutiny, Lin Xiyun remained calm.
After all, it was true that the original owner’s five-hundred-yuan bride price was still with her mother, Liu Xia.
When Lin Xiyun got married, Liu Xia had wanted her to take all the money with her as security.
The Lin family wasn’t wealthy and couldn’t provide much of a dowry. City people looked down on country girls, and the Lu family already had several daughters-in-law. Liu Xia had worried her daughter would be looked down upon or bullied after marrying into the family.
But the original Lin Xiyun had known herself well enough.
She’d refused the money.
She’d insisted she couldn’t control her spending and asked her mother to hold onto it for her, so she’d always have savings in case of an emergency.
Thinking it made sense, Liu Xia had kept the money.
Lin Xiyun hadn’t had the chance to visit her parents or retrieve it yet, but all of her memories of them were warm and loving.
Wasn’t that the perfect excuse?
Seeing no sign that she was lying, Lu Aiguo finally withdrew his gaze.
With a heavy thud, he set his enamel mug on the table, splashing a few drops of water.
Then he turned and scolded his wife.
“That’s enough crying. I’m not dead yet.”
After being barked at, Zhao Jinlan unwillingly shut her mouth.
The way she glared at Lin Xiyun made it seem as though she wanted to bite her alive.
“Fourth Daughter-in-law, your mother and I need to discuss this further. You can go back now.”
As Lin Xiyun turned to leave, Lu Aiguo added another warning.
“Nothing’s been decided yet. Don’t go telling anyone about this.”
She turned back with a bright smile.
“Don’t worry, Dad. My lips are sealed.”
Lu Aiguo: “…”
That smile gave him chills.
For some reason, he felt even less reassured.
After leaving the main house, Lin Xiyun glanced toward the eldest son’s room.
The door was tightly shut even though it was broad daylight.
Grinning happily, she hummed a tune all the way back to her own room.
“Old man, how much of what the fourth daughter-in-law said do you think was true?”
The more Zhao Jinlan thought about it, the angrier she became.
She simply couldn’t accept Lin Xiyun living such a comfortable life while they had to spend their own hard-earned money.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not,” Lu Aiguo replied. “Her attitude makes one thing clear—she isn’t giving us a single cent.”
Half of his face remained hidden in the shadows as he quietly considered another plan.
Zhao Jinlan snorted.
“What a waste of all those eggs and pork I’ve been feeding her these past few days. I should’ve eaten them myself!”
It had turned into a complete loss.
While Zhao Jinlan continued grumbling, Lu Aiguo slowly got onto the bed.
He glanced sideways at her.
“After work tonight, don’t come straight home. Go call Fourth.”
Hearing that, Zhao Jinlan’s eyes lit up.
“You mean… complain to Yanbei?”
Then she muttered uncertainly,
“But will it work? Ever since he joined the army, he’s become like a completely different person. He’s distant with us now. We can barely get a few words out of him.”
Especially when it involved Lin Xiyun.
Not once had their fourth son taken their side.
Lu Aiguo shot her a glare.
“What? Is he planning to stop recognizing his own parents? Just do as I say!”
Pulling the thin quilt over himself, he silently cursed his wife’s slow thinking.
“No matter how much a man loves his wife, can he still love a wife who’s been rumored to cheat on him?”
He smiled coldly.
“Tell him exactly how the injury to the back of her head happened.”
“I refuse to believe Fourth won’t care.”
That made sense.
Zhao Jinlan immediately agreed.
“You’re right! I’ll go this afternoon!”
The gloom on her face disappeared instantly.
She could already picture Lin Xiyun being divorced and sent back to the countryside.
The old man was right.
With Lu Yanbei’s rigid, serious personality, there was no way such a rumor wouldn’t leave a mark in his heart.
Even if it started as only a tiny suspicion, gossip would eventually turn it into “fact.”
Then she’d simply find her fourth son a new, obedient wife.
Wouldn’t all of his military allowance end up in her hands?
She’d never have to look at Lin Xiyun’s face again.
Filled with that pleasant fantasy, Zhao Jinlan worked her afternoon shift with unusual enthusiasm.
After getting off work just after five o’clock, she hurried straight to the public telephone booth beside the post office.
Using the return address from the package Lu Yanbei had mailed the previous month, she asked the operator to connect her to his military district.
After a long wait, someone finally picked up.
“Mom.”
The familiar voice was as calm and distant as ever.
Yet Zhao Jinlan sounded exceptionally warm.
“Yanbei! How have you been lately? Everything going well?”
A military base outside the capital.
Inside the deputy division commander’s office, a tall man sat ramrod straight in his crisp military uniform.
His broad frame filled the uniform naturally, radiating the commanding presence of someone accustomed to authority.
Beneath his thick brows were sharp, penetrating eyes. His handsome, well-defined face remained expressionless.
His right arm wasn’t moving easily because of an injury, so he held the phone with his left hand.
Lu Yanbei frowned slightly.
“Mom, if you have something to say, just say it.”
Embarrassed by his blunt interruption, Zhao Jinlan didn’t want to waste expensive phone charges, so she got straight to the point.
“Well… it’s about Xiyun…”
Her tone was filled with deliberate implication and feigned regret as she intentionally described what had happened between Lin Xiyun and Chen Zhu’s family in a vague, misleading way.
Finally, choking back fake sobs, she complained,
“I don’t know if the blow to Xiyun’s head damaged her brain, but now she yells at me whenever she wants. She’s cursed out almost everyone in the family. Just today at lunch she even demanded we split the household. When your father and I refused, she picked up a stool and tried to hit us.”
“Tell me… your mother has been driven to the point where I can’t go on living…”
“What kind of mother-in-law gets bullied to death by her own daughter-in-law…”
She cried and wailed.
But the other end of the line remained strangely silent.
For a moment Zhao Jinlan thought the call had been disconnected.
She was just about to tap the receiver when Lu Yanbei finally spoke.
His voice carried unmistakable astonishment…
and a hint of excitement.
“You said Xiyun… suffered an injury to the back of her head…”
“…and her personality changed completely afterward?”
Author’s Note:
Because the male lead has been reborn, in his previous life he was only a regiment commander at this point in time. In this life, however, he already knows many future events, and with a minor golden finger (special advantage), his rank is higher. Please don’t worry too much about it!