When Yuan Yaqing saw Cai Jinhua shifting all the blame onto her, she quickly said, “It won’t happen, Zhicheng ge. The Supply and Marketing Cooperative will definitely have vegetables. When the snow gets lighter, I’ll go buy some. We won’t run out of food.”
“Shut up!” Xu Zhicheng snapped. “Do you think I’m worried about food at home?”
He revealed the matter about Director Yang’s brother-in-law, his face dark. “Yuan Yaqing, let me tell you this. If the Military District cafeteria runs out of grain, we’re finished.”
“Forget going back to work. I might even be fired!”
Cai Jinhua nearly fainted when she heard this.
She had given money so Xu Zhicheng could return to the hospital. Now she was being told not only would he fail to go back, he might even lose his job entirely.
In that instant, she wanted to kill Yuan Yaqing.
“You wretch! It’s all your fault! Who told you to meddle? You don’t know anything yet you pretend you do. If you ruin my son’s job, I’ll kill you!”
As she spoke, Cai Jinhua slapped her hard.
But Yuan Yaqing was not the old Lin Xun who would silently endure bullying. After freezing for two seconds, she exploded. “You old hag, what right do you have to blame me? If you hadn’t been greedy and bought spoiled meat, would things have turned out like this?”
She shoved Cai Jinhua hard.
Seeing her dare to push back only made Cai Jinhua angrier. “If you hadn’t demanded such a huge bride price, would I have needed to save that bit of money? It’s all your fault. You’re a jinx!”
Director Yang’s issue was unresolved. The cellar at home was empty. Now the household was in total chaos. Xu Zhicheng felt like he was about to explode.
Why had things never been this chaotic when Lin Xun was still at home? Whether it was food, daily matters, or his mother’s temper, Lin Xun had managed everything in perfect order and never made him worry.
Had he made a mistake divorcing her?
The more Xu Zhicheng thought about it, the angrier he became. He slammed the table and roared, “Enough! All of you, shut up!”
While their house was filled with smoke and tension, the courtyard not far away was filled with the rich aroma of meat.
The snow outside was too heavy. Secretary Sun had already said no one needed to go to work, but Huo Yanzhou still had to lead people in clearing the surrounding snow. Otherwise, it would pile up thicker and make the roads impassable.
“Let’s have hand-pulled noodles for lunch. It’s too cold. We need to eat more to stay warm,” Lin Xun said as she carried out a sack of flour and a chunk of mutton from the cellar.
The cellar was fully stocked now. They could eat whatever they wanted. Braise the mutton, pour the sauce over the noodles, and the aroma alone was mouthwatering.
“Want some roasted potatoes?” Huo Yanzhou sat by the stove.
“Yes!”
He could not cook, but during past missions he had learned how to roast potatoes. He was especially good at controlling the heat, roasting them crisp on the outside and tender inside.
The potatoes needed time to cook. After Huo Yanzhou finished two big bowls of noodles and went out to work, Lin Xun sat in the kitchen warming herself by the fire, thinking about the farm while waiting for the potatoes.
At that moment, she heard movement outside. Thinking it was Huo Yanzhou returning, she stepped out and saw Cai Jinhua instead.
Still assuming Lin Xun was the old pushover, Cai Jinhua immediately ordered, “Lin Xun, quickly give me ten jin of flour, ten jin of meat, and two bundles of firewood.”
Lin Xun nearly laughed. Was she bored in the snow and came over to provide entertainment?
“Hurry up! Are you trying to freeze me to death?” Cai Jinhua shouted.
Lin Xun sneered. “Why should I give you anything? Who do you think you are? A beggar on the roadside, asking for alms the moment you open your mouth?”
“You!” Cai Jinhua was stunned. She had never imagined Lin Xun would dare speak to her like this.
“Lin Xun, have you grown bold? I’m your mother!”
“Get as far away from me as possible,” Lin Xun replied coldly. “I’ve already divorced Xu Zhicheng. What kind of mother are you to me?”
She moved to shut the door. Cai Jinhua, already dizzy from hunger, panicked when she saw she was serious. “Lin Xun! Are you even human? You show no mercy at all. Aren’t you afraid of retribution?”
With a loud smack, a snowball larger than a fist hit Cai Jinhua squarely in the face, leaving her seeing stars.
“I was planning to settle accounts with you in a few days. Since you mentioned retribution, let’s talk about what you deserve.”
Lin Xun rushed forward, grabbed Cai Jinhua by the hair with one hand and stuffed a fistful of snow into her mouth with the other.
“All these years you forced me to drink strange concoctions and swallow bitter medicines. Since you came asking for food, I can’t very well let you leave empty-handed.”
“How does the snow taste, Mom?”
Though slender, Lin Xun worked as a veterinarian. Her grip was stronger than that of most men. Cai Jinhua, an old woman, could not resist at all. Snow was packed into her mouth again and again, icy and hard.
Her face quickly went numb from the cold. Ice shards cut her tongue, drawing blood. She could only whimper.
Lin Xun finally let go and brushed the snow off her hands.
Cai Jinhua tried to run, but Lin Xun said lazily, “Did I say you could leave?”
“Lin Xun! You’ve gone too far. I’ll report you to the commander!” Cai Jinhua’s tongue was torn, her mouth full of blood, pain making her nearly faint.
“Go ahead. I was just about to report that in this kind of weather someone came viciously to steal food, and I beat her up. Tell me, is that excessive?”
“I didn’t steal anything!”
“You didn’t steal food,” Lin Xun said calmly, “but you stole my money.”
“Cai Jinhua, from the time I married into your Xu family, over two years, I earned a total of sixty yuan and fifty cents in work points. You took it all. Hand it over.”
“If you don’t, stuffing snow into your mouth will be the least of it.”
She cracked her knuckles. The sound made Cai Jinhua’s scalp prickle.
Lin Xun lowered her voice. “The storm is raging. There’s not a single person around. If I did something to you, do you think anyone would notice?”
“Maybe they would. But that’s fine. With so much snow and wolves all over the grassland, I could just say you were torn apart by wolves. Who would dare doubt it?”
Her tone was light, her smile gentle, yet it was more terrifying than anything. For the first time, Cai Jinhua truly felt fear.
Lin Xun was insane.
She really might kill her.
“I’ll give you the money! I’ll give it to you! Just let me go!” Cai Jinhua fumbled frantically in her pocket, shoved the money into Lin Xun’s hand, and ran off in a panic.
Watching her miserable figure flee, Lin Xun snorted. Cai Jinhua was more cowardly than she had expected.
Still, in weather like this, sitting at home eating hot roasted potatoes and getting back money that had once been taken from her was a fine outcome.
There would be plenty of chances in the future to repay everything Cai Jinhua had done to her.
Cai Jinhua stumbled home, cursing as she ran. She would report this to the police immediately and have that lunatic Lin Xun arrested.
But when she reached home, an even greater blow awaited her.
“What? How much did you say? Five hundred yuan!”
Xu Zhicheng’s face was dark. “Mom, keep your voice down. If we don’t pay, my job is finished.”
Braving the snow, he had just gone to see Director Yang to ask whether the cafeteria had suffered losses. Before he could even speak, he had been driven out.
“Look at what your wife has done! Xu Zhicheng, you’ve ruined me this time!” Director Yang had roared.
Believing Yuan Yaqing’s rumors, Director Yang had stopped his brother-in-law from purchasing winter vegetables, thinking that if prices fell as she claimed, they could pocket at least a thousand yuan in kickbacks.
Who could have predicted that a blizzard would hit on the third day? Not only did prices not fall, vegetables became impossible to find in nearby farms.
In the end, Director Yang had to exhaust every connection he had to secure two truckloads of vegetables, barely avoiding a food shortage crisis in the cafeteria. But this cost him a face and several hundred extra yuan.
Xu Zhicheng apologized repeatedly and humbled himself before Director Yang finally relented, on the condition that they compensate the additional expenses. As for ending his suspension early or finding Yuan Yaqing a job, that was no longer possible.
After all their scheming, not only had everything come to nothing, they now had to pay five hundred yuan.
“So forget it. We absolutely cannot report this to the police,” Xu Zhicheng said through gritted teeth.
If they involved the police, the investigation would uncover his prior relationship with Lin Xun. It would inevitably lead to the hospital, and if the cafeteria matter were exposed, Director Yang would fall, and so would he.
Cai Jinhua swayed. “Heavens! Yuan Yaqing, you disaster star. How did our family end up marrying you? You’re the reincarnation of a broom star!”
Five hundred yuan. That was five hundred yuan.
Yuan Yaqing could not utter a single word. She could not understand why everything had changed. In her previous life, Lü Yuzhi had died and there had been no snow disaster. But in this life, everything was different.
She had married Xu Zhicheng, yet her life only worsened. After endless scheming, she still did not have a job.
Meanwhile, after marrying Huo Yanzhou, Lin Xun’s life kept improving. She ate well every day. Huo Yanzhou treated her tenderly and even drove her to and from work.
But in her previous life, Xu Zhicheng had become the richest man, a winner in life. Huo Yanzhou had lost his entire family and died young, a solitary star.
Had she chosen wrong?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible. The timing must not be right yet. When the moment came, the Huo family would still perish, and Xu Zhicheng would become wealthy.
When that day arrived, Lin Xun would be trampled beneath her feet, and she would be the wife of the richest man.