Chapter 15: Li Limei’s Scheme

Li Limei finally managed to meet her brother, Li Libin. She exaggeratedly recounted the previous events to him, focusing on badmouthing Yu Meijuan and her daughter.

During the incident of catching them in the act, the siblings were not present. Therefore, they did not fully understand the sequence of events, and their mother had only briefly mentioned it to them afterward.

Then, they heard their mother say that they would soon be able to live openly with their father.

As for what kind of lifestyle it would be, it didn’t matter much to either of them. Throughout their upbringing, their mother took care of their daily needs, while their father provided ample living expenses.

Despite living in a village, their life was not worse than that of people in the city.

Li Limei was at the bottom of her class academically, but her clothing and spending were far from ordinary. Thus, she had her own group of admirers.

However, everything changed drastically when their parents were sentenced.

Their parents were taken away, and their family’s assets were confiscated. It was then that they realized things might not be as simple as they had imagined.

“It was because of that incident. It must be that mother and daughter who did something. Otherwise, after all these years without any trouble, it was only after Dad divorced that woman that he got into trouble,” Li Limei said confidently, looking at her brother. It must be said that she was indeed self-satisfied, but so what?

Li Libin was already known as a troublemaker in the area. He was Shen Jianguo’s first son, and although he didn’t have an official title, Shen Jianguo spoiled him greatly, which contributed to his arrogant and domineering personality.

Now, his once comfortable life had been shattered, and he faced disdain from all sides. Although no one openly mocked him under his intimidating presence, people began to distance themselves from the two siblings. After his sister’s reminder, he realized that their unfortunate situation was primarily caused by Yu Meijuan and her daughter.

Thus, the idea of taking revenge on Yu Zihan took root in Li Libin’s mind.

“They’ve been gone for a long time; who knows where they went? I want to deal with them, but I can’t even find them,” Li Libin suddenly realized this issue.

“Hmph, have you forgotten? That jinx goes to County No. 1 High School, and she’s very focused on her studies. As long as we can block her at school, how can we not catch her?” Li Limei said fiercely.

Li Limei was very envious of Yu Zihan’s excellent academic performance. Although she also went to school, she could only attend the school in the town, which Shen Jianguo had spent a lot of money on.

She could have continued her studies, but now that her parents had been arrested and their family had nothing, her future was uncertain, and she had no means to go to school.

Since she was having a hard time, she didn’t want Yu Zihan to have it easy either. It would be best if her brother could sell her, so they could make a nice profit.

“Bro, do you know any traffickers? If we sell her to the mountains, we could get some money. That old woman has changed too; she doesn’t acknowledge our identity anymore, and we can’t get a single penny from her. How will we live in the future?”

Li Libin was enlightened by Li Limei’s words. He secretly cursed his sister in his heart, thinking she was truly ruthless. He would have to be cautious around her; she might scheme against him at any moment.

“But if you’re going to block that girl, you need to do it quickly, or you won’t catch her,” Li Limei reminded him.

“Why?” Li Libin asked, confused.

“Winter break is coming soon. Our school resumes the day after tomorrow, for picking up the winter vacation homework and report cards. They should also be going to school that day. You should go block her at the school gate the day after tomorrow and find a trafficker so you can sell her that day,” Li Limei suggested, completely unaware of the implications of her actions.

Li Libin took his sister’s words to heart, but he rolled his eyes. “I don’t have any money left. I need to take a bus to the county, and finding someone will cost money too. You need to give me some money first; I’ll sell that woman and pay you back when I get the money.”

“You don’t have money; do you think I’ll have money? Don’t you know our family’s money has all been confiscated? Where will I get money from?” Li Limei sighed as she looked at her unfortunate brother.

“I have no money, so I’ll just stay at home. The New Year is coming, and I don’t want to go out; it’s freezing,” Li Libin said as he lay down on the bed, acting stubborn.

“Look at you, just lying there without trying to make money. How are we going to celebrate the New Year?”

“Then let’s not celebrate. We still have food at home, right? The money was confiscated, but we still have rice and grains. We won’t starve,” Li Libin was not buying his sister’s argument.

Seeing her brother’s stubbornness made Li Limei’s teeth itch with resentment, but she didn’t show it on the surface. Now she knew that although her brother was unreliable, he was still the only person she could rely on.

After thinking for a moment, she returned to her room. Li Libin quietly followed her, but the door wouldn’t budge.

“Stupid girl, even your brother is being shut out,” Li Libin cursed in his heart.

After a while, Li Limei came out and handed Li Libin twenty yuan.

“Take this, don’t spend it recklessly. This is all I have left. If you manage to do this, buy some New Year goods in the city. We have to celebrate the New Year too,” Li Limei said, feeling a bit sad about the topic.

Li Libin took the money and nodded, his expression showing a hint of melancholy. He reminisced about past New Year celebrations when their father would prepare a feast of New Year goods, and their mother would organize everything. All they had to do was dress up nicely.

On New Year’s Eve, the family of four would happily stay up late together. Their father would also give them a generous amount of lucky money. This year, however, it had turned into this situation.

Thinking of all this further strengthened Li Libin’s determination to cause trouble for Yu Zihan.

This day was the day to return to school. Yu Zihan arrived at school early. Today, they would receive their winter vacation homework and report cards, and then they could start their joyful winter break. This would be the last vacation before the high school entrance exam.

“Ding ding ding,” the class bell rang, and Teacher Wang entered with the test papers.

“This time, everyone did well on the exam, which deserves praise, especially our classmate Yu Zihan, who achieved first place in all subjects. Everyone should learn from Yu Zihan,” Teacher Wang’s words drew all the students’ attention to Yu Zihan, most of them filled with envy and admiration, with a few harboring jealousy.

“Liu Haoran and Yu Zihan, please pass out the test papers and winter vacation homework.” As Yu Zihan and Liu Haoran distributed the papers, Teacher Wang continued to assign the next tasks.

“I’ll analyze the math test paper for you soon. Make sure to resolve any questions you find difficult before the next semester; the next semester will be the busiest one.

I hope everyone not only rests well during the vacation but also exercises and makes time to review their studies. We won’t have new courses next semester; the main task will be reviewing.

During the winter break, it’s best to pull out the textbooks from the first and second grades and go over the foundational knowledge in them. This way, your overall review next semester won’t be too difficult.”

After Yu Zihan distributed the test papers, she returned to her seat as Teacher Wang began explaining the questions on the math test paper.

Throughout the morning, various subject teachers explained the test papers. The last class was Chinese.

Teacher Hu was a very responsible teacher, and she was also the one who liked to drag on the class the most. Students dreaded the fourth period in the morning being her class because it meant they might go hungry.

Sure enough, the dedicated Teacher Hu kept them for an extra twenty minutes, and in the end, she repeatedly reminded them to stay safe during the winter break and study hard.

“Teacher Hu, don’t you think about whether our stomachs can handle this?” Once the teacher’s figure disappeared from the classroom door, the students began to wail. Then they rushed out of the classroom like rabbits.

The most unfortunate ones were Yu Zihan and Luo Mengrui, as they were the duty students and had to finish cleaning before they could go home.