Chapter 11: I Am Ye Bingyu

Li Yurong looked at her with disdain from head to toe and said, “An old winter melon like you, our Zhang family wouldn’t want.”

Bihua’s face changed colors from white to blue as she pushed Lin Wangsheng.

Lin Wangsheng took a deep drag from his cigarette, stomped out the butt on the ground, spat, and joined the fray.

“Anyway, what you’re saying is that your family wants to take something for nothing, right? Not spending a dime but getting a wife for free. How do you think that’s going to happen?”

At this time, there was no custom of asking for a high bride price; usually, the groom’s family paid for the dowry.

The bride’s family would contribute some of their savings to send with their daughter.

In fact, marrying off a daughter usually meant losing money.

Only in special situations, like when the bride’s family was in poor condition or had various burdens, would they scrimp on the daughter’s dowry.

They would buy slightly inferior items, and after the purchase, they might even have some money left over.

Couples like Lin Wangsheng and his wife clearly received 888 yuan from the groom’s family, yet their daughter had no clothes, no bedding, not even a towel for washing her face as part of her dowry. They could only afford to give 20 yuan to marry her off, which could be said to be the worst deal in the surrounding villages.

“If you say that, which family isn’t taking something for nothing? Are you joking? You kept the bride price for yourselves, and there’s nothing in the dowry, yet you still have the nerve to scold us. Let everyone see, is there such a parent in the world? Perhaps your daughter got mixed up with your adopted daughter; Weiwei isn’t your biological child, is she?”

Oh no!

Upon hearing this, Lin Wangsheng and his wife turned pale, desperately trying to maintain their composure, then resorted to anger to cover their embarrassment, cursing at Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife.

Lin Bingwei had been busy in the yard and heard the commotion from the slope. She went to the gate to watch for a while.

The person standing on the slope, hands on her hips and cursing, was none other than Bihua.

Lin Bingwei grabbed a hatchet and rushed out.

At this moment, Zhang Jianguo, with his short legs, chased after her, “Aunt… Aunt…” he struggled to call out.

Lin Bingwei took a deep breath, suppressing her anger, and squatted down to comfort Zhang Jianguo.

“Jianguo, stay at home and watch the chickens. Don’t let them run away. Your aunt will be back soon, okay?”

He nodded.

Lin Bingwei smiled and patted his head, “Then go back for now.”

He turned and ran back, closing the gate to prevent the chickens from escaping.

Only then did Lin Bingwei rush over with the hatchet.

The slope was lively at this moment; Bihua was fiercely cursing, nearly overpowering Zhang Yuanxiu and Li Yurong.

What good words could someone so uncouth like her have?

Her insults were completely illogical, spewing whatever came to mind.

She cursed their parents and their entire family.

Saying things like their family was losing virtue and would die out.

Your son is dead, your daughter-in-law has run away, your grandson is mute, and so on—these were all her insults.

Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife were left speechless, their faces red, blood pressure soaring.

People around were watching the spectacle, with some asking, “Why did Bihua turn hostile when it was mentioned that their daughter might have been swapped?”

“Could it really be true? Did the two girls actually get mixed up?”

Another person mocked, “That’s impossible. If it were true, it would have been done on purpose. Just look at her attitude.”

She looked like someone whose secret had been exposed, furious with shame.

At this moment, Lin Bingwei had arrived at the battlefield and saw Zhang Yuanxiu’s face turning red; fearing he might collapse from the anger, she kicked Bihua away.

Bihua fell into the ditch, crying out and unable to get up.

Her flying kick stunned the entire audience.

They had never seen a woman fight like Lin Bingwei; weren’t they usually the ones pulling hair and tugging at headpieces?

“Lin Bingwei, you ungrateful wretch! You thunder-struck one! How dare you hit your mother?” Lin Wangsheng didn’t immediately help Bihua but instead directly accused Lin Bingwei.

Lin Bingwei ignored him and turned to look at Zhang Yuanxiu and his wife.

Li Yurong was already in tears from anger.

Zhang Yuanxiu wasn’t in a much better state.

He had previously become paralyzed due to being unable to handle the pressure, possibly suffering from some condition like hypertension, unable to withstand the insults.

If he were to be directly insulted into paralysis, what would that mean for him?

“Dad, Mom, it’s okay, don’t be angry, just watch from the side.”

The two surprisingly calmed down as if they had someone to rely on.

At this point, Bihua had been pulled up from the ditch by onlookers, looking dirty and extremely disheveled.

Lin Bingwei turned to face them, “The 888 yuan was taken by me, and it’s right in my pocket. What do you want to do about it?”

As she said this, she looked like a female bandit, not pointing her finger at them, but instead holding a hatchet and pointing it in their direction.

It was as if whatever they wanted to do, she would cut them down with her hatchet.

Lin Wangsheng and his wife felt inexplicably intimidated.

People like her only bully the weak and fear the strong.

Seeing Lin Bingwei so tough, Lin Wangsheng even bypassed her and focused his gaze on Zhang Yuanxiu.

“My daughter Weiwei has always been well-behaved; as soon as she got to your house, she became like this—her parents don’t even recognize her. What have you done to her?”

Bihua echoed, “Yes, yes, folks, you all know my daughter Weiwei. Was she ever like this before?”

The crowd felt that something was off; Lin Bingwei used to be a pushover who could take beatings and insults without a fight.

Lin Wangsheng and his wife treated her poorly; she worked tirelessly every day and was very filial towards them.

In the end, she was sold to the Zhang family for 888 yuan.

Everyone thought she was unfortunate and very obedient.

Why had she suddenly changed so much?

Whispers spread through the crowd.

Lin Wangsheng and his wife seemed encouraged by these remarks, straightening their backs.

Bihua said, “I suspect the Taoist Zhang has cast some spell. They don’t know what kind of magic they’ve used on my daughter Weiwei to make her like this.”

The crowd found this reasonable and moved a bit away from Zhang Yuanxiu in fear.

“Taoist Zhang, you shouldn’t use such immoral spells.”

“Yeah, although we don’t expose superstitions anymore, if you’re harming others, we’ll report you!”

Zhang Yuanxiu grew anxious and said, “Don’t listen to her nonsense. Where would there be such spells? If there were, I’d have cast a spell on them right away to make them work for my family!”

Yes, everyone thought that made sense.

If there were really such spells, they would have been used long ago.

“Then why is that? Lin Bingwei didn’t used to be like this.”

Lin Bingwei smiled faintly, “The reason I’ve changed so much is very clear.”

Everyone looked at her with curiosity.

“What reason?”

“That’s because I discovered their secret.”

“What secret?” The onlookers craned their necks to hear.

Lin Bingwei fixed a cold smile on Lin Wangsheng and Bihua.

The two looked at her with an inexplicably guilty expression.

Lin Bingwei said lightly, “I found out the truth that they swapped me with Ye Bingyu. I am Ye Bingyu.”

“What?” The crowd gasped in shock.

The faces of Lin Wangsheng and Bihua changed.