Chapter 24

Not long after the Zhang mother and son left, Zhang Jie suddenly returned.

“Sorry, my mom asked me to come back and grab something.”

Ma Guixin watched helplessly as Zhang Jie took back all the gifts they had brought that afternoon.

The richer they are, the stingier they get, she thought bitterly.

But tonight, it was indeed Lin Yuanyuan who had caused a huge scene. Ma Guixin was worried the Zhang family might spread bad rumors about her, so she didn’t dare say a single sarcastic word.

As Zhang Jie walked past Lin Qian again, he couldn’t help but stop and steal another glance at her.

Such a beautiful girl, he thought. Lin Yuanyuan can’t hold a candle to her.

When Lin Yuanyuan saw him ogling Lin Qian with that love-struck expression, she was so furious she almost lunged at him.

Unfortunately for her, Zhang Jie picked up the gifts and ran off before she could do anything.

The courtyard finally returned to a brief moment of peace.

Just then, Lin Dawei walked in from outside. He stood next to Lin Qian, looking confused. “What’s going on? Wasn’t Yuanyuan already engaged to Lu Zhanting? Why are the Zhangs here again?”

Ma Guixin gave him a dirty look. “The cousin’s already married off, so it’s time the elder daughter got married too.”

As she spoke, she shot Lin Qian a glare. “You know how good the Zhang family’s conditions are. That Zhang Jie clearly likes you too. And you just stood there saying nothing like a block of wood!”

Lin Qian snorted coldly.

From childhood to now, no matter how many mistakes Lin Yuanyuan made, Ma Guixin always found a way to twist things and take it out on her.

In her past life, she had constantly blamed herself for not being good enough, which made her suffer deeply in that toxic family dynamic.

Lin Dawei guessed right away that his wife’s plan to match Lin Qian with someone had just fallen through. He quickly tried to smooth things over. “Alright, alright. I’ve been working all afternoon and I’m starving. Let’s eat.”

Ma Guixin turned and went into the kitchen.

A light breeze blew through the yard, and Lin Qian suddenly caught a whiff of unfamiliar cooking smells—it was coming from Lin Dawei’s direction.

She leaned close to him and whispered, “Dad, maybe you should go outside and air out a bit. You smell strongly of that stir-fried pork with fermented black beans.”

Lin Dawei panicked. He didn’t even have time to explain himself and immediately ran out of the courtyard in embarrassment.

Lin Qian smiled to herself. Widows really are easy to bait. The care package she’d sent Wu Xiuhong under Lin Dawei’s name clearly hadn’t gone to waste.

Lin Yuanyuan suddenly walked up to Lin Qian, face dark, and demanded, “Tell me the truth—did you already know that Zhang Jie liked you before I went to meet him for the matchmaking?”

Lin Qian answered deliberately, trying to provoke her, “Yeah, I knew. But what’s that got to do with your arranged meeting with him?”

“How can it have nothing to do with it?! You, Lin Qian, have always been only worthy of the leftovers I don’t want. If I had known Zhang Jie liked you from the start, there’s no way I would’ve agreed to meet him!”

She recalled how, in her past life, she had married into the Zhang family only to realize she’d been treated as Lin Qian’s stand-in. That thought made her seethe.

What made it worse was that Zhang Jie had always loved Lin Qian. Yet after his family fell into decline, he dragged her—Yuanyuan—into a life of hardship right along with him.

Lin Qian shook her head disapprovingly and cut straight through her delusions. “Don’t forget, Lu Zhanting was someone you stole from me. From how desperate you were to marry him, it looked like you couldn’t wait.”

“Lu Zhanting is different!”

“Oh? And what makes him so different?”

Lin Yuanyuan swallowed her resentment and stubbornly insisted, “Don’t think I don’t know—Lu Zhanting never liked you in the first place. You never managed to win him over. But I’m different. I’ll let you watch as I slowly, step by step, win over that excellent officer. The man you couldn’t get—I can!”

Lin Qian calmly pushed her aside. She didn’t care to compete with a lunatic over the affection of a scumbag.

That night at the Lin family dinner table, there was a bowl of thin porridge and two plates of shriveled, blackish pickled vegetables. Ma Guixin had always been terrible at making pickles.

One look was enough to kill Lin Qian’s appetite. She scooped herself half a bowl of porridge just for appearances.

Lin Dawei had clearly eaten his fill elsewhere. As soon as he sat down, he sighed. “I’ve been working all day and this is what I get? Didn’t I advance two months’ pay? We’ve already borrowed enough pots and pans from the factory and neighbors—can’t we at least make one decent stir-fry?”

Ma Guixin rolled her eyes and snapped, “Why do you complain so much? How much could your advance pay even be? Yuanyuan’s getting married soon—we have to prepare her dowry. And winter’s coming. We still need money for warm clothes and blankets.”

After being scolded like that, Lin Dawei slumped down and ate his porridge in silence.

Lin Qian watched all of this with cold detachment. She saw clearly just how resentful yet powerless her father was under Ma Guixin’s thumb.

Lin Yuanyuan chimed in with fake concern, “Auntie, your head is still hurt. No matter what, we can’t let you suffer.”

Ma Guixin was immediately touched by that and grinned. “Ah, only my niece truly cares about me.”

Lin Yuanyuan then gave her a meaningful glance toward Lin Qian’s direction.

Ma Guixin caught on and asked, “Qianqian, did you find a job today?”

Lin Qian knew she wasn’t asking out of real concern, so she didn’t answer immediately.

Lin Dawei summoned the courage to defend her. “There’s no rush on the job hunt. We’ll find something eventually.”

But Ma Guixin brushed off her husband’s words like air and continued, “It’s not that I’m pushing you, but jobs are hard to come by these days. Your cousin’s about to get married, and you’re getting older—it’ll be harder to find a match later. Starting tomorrow, don’t bother looking for work. Just come with me to go on blind dates.”

What she was really thinking was: Lin Qian’s bride price would come in handy for Yuanyuan’s dowry.

Lin Qian responded by painting a rosy picture. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve already found a job. There’s a boss opening a new restaurant right across from the machinery factory. I’ll be helping out in the kitchen. It pays fifty yuan a month, includes meals but not lodging. I eat at the restaurant and come home to sleep. After deducting meals, I’ll have a full fifty yuan left each month.”

Both Ma Guixin and Lin Dawei were stunned. Fifty yuan a month—that was equal to both of their monthly wages combined.

Ma Guixin worked on the assembly line and earned twenty yuan. Lin Dawei, as a technician, made thirty.

“Sweetie, are you serious? That kind of opportunity really exists?” Ma Guixin even sweetened up and placed a piece of pickle into Lin Qian’s bowl.

Lin Yuanyuan, bitter that she still hadn’t found a job herself, couldn’t help but sneer. “What, are they hiring you to wash dishes or fry the food?”

Only Lin Dawei showed real concern. “Even though the authorities have relaxed controls on private businesses, there’s no guarantee the policies won’t change again. Is it really safe?”