Chapter 18

Song Wanyue gave a mischievous grin, the hatred in her heart easing a little.

She had inherited the original host’s memories, and with them, the grudges as well. Revenge shouldn’t be delayed—if she didn’t deal with her enemies thoroughly today, she probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

Just thinking about how, if she had arrived a bit later and their scheme had succeeded, she would’ve been forced to marry the male lead and raise his child as a stepmother—she shuddered. She would’ve run away overnight, even if it meant lugging her things onto a train.

If necessary, she could always move to another unfamiliar place. With money, anything was possible. She didn’t believe she wouldn’t be able to rent a place to live.

She shook Zhang Shufen hard, but the woman didn’t wake. Song Wanyue started collecting things instead.

Clothes, bedding, sheets, the wardrobe—everything except the chamber pot. She searched every possible hiding place for money.

Counting it all, there was a little over five hundred yuan. The family’s money had always been managed by Zhang Shufen. It seemed Gu Weimin really hadn’t pocketed much; after all, the two of them had been at odds, constantly keeping watch over one another.

Now, all of it was hers. Consider it compensation for their failed scheme against her yesterday.

She turned toward Gu Dahai’s room. He was the male lead, after all. With his supposed luck, surely he would have some private stash that might surprise her.

With that in mind, she searched carefully.

Aside from leaving him a change of clothes and his bed, she took almost everything. All she found was forty yuan in hidden cash—it looked like Zhou Shanshan and Gu Dahai hadn’t managed to spend all the bride price money.

On her way out, she glanced at the two of them, suddenly remembering she hadn’t checked under the bed. Squatting down, she noticed disturbed soil—it had been dug up recently. She grabbed a hoe and dug away.

Five minutes later, she unearthed a clay jar. Brushing the dirt off, she opened it. Inside were two gold bangles and a jade bracelet. Jackpot. These were valuable. She tucked them away.

Seemed like the male lead was indeed pretty capable at making money.

The Gu family’s three sons were already married, and their two daughters were married off. By tomorrow, once the news spread that their home had been robbed bare and Zhang Shufen had collapsed into paralysis, it would cause quite a stir.

Married daughters generally didn’t stay long at their parents’ house to care for them—their in-laws wouldn’t allow it.

Zhang Shufen picking that moment to smash her head and fall ill was almost too timely.

One paralyzed woman in the Gu family was enough; two would raise suspicion. After some thought, Song Wanyue decided to spare Gu Weimin for now. As much as she wanted the entire Gu family running in circles, two invalids at once wasn’t very believable.

Applying the same method, she cleared out the other rooms too, leaving the Gu household practically empty. Finally, she carefully erased all traces of her footprints and made her way back to the educated youth dormitory.

Only the party secretary and the village hunter kept dogs, so by taking a detour she could avoid them.

That detour made her round trip an hour long.

Back in her personal space, she ordered two buns. After working through the night, she was starving.

—

At dawn, Song Wanyue woke up humming a tune. But the moment she stepped outside, she stopped—the original host never had that habit.

That was her own habit: humming when in a good mood.

Breakfast was corn porridge with stir-fried cabbage. Even though she was used to it by now, she still felt a bit uncomfortable.

She told herself it was like dieting. And to avoid suspicion, she would never eat meat in the morning—only at night, hidden away in her space.

People couldn’t underestimate the villagers. Their noses were sharp these days.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker in the village crackled to life with the party secretary’s voice.

“Everyone, after breakfast, gather at the threshing ground immediately. This is urgent.”

It was nearly six-thirty. Work started at seven.

Following the other educated youths, Song Wanyue headed to the threshing ground, where the Gu family appeared in a pitiful state.

Especially Gu Weimin—his face was scruffy with untrimmed stubble, and he looked utterly disheveled.

Party secretary Zhang Jianjun raised his voice, “Did anyone hear any noises near the Gu household last night?”

With so much stolen, there should’ve been some kind of disturbance.

The crowd looked at each other blankly.

Song Wanyue poked Yang Liu with feigned confusion. “Yang Liu, did you hear anything? We studied until midnight and didn’t hear any dogs barking.”

“Nope. I slept like the dead. With work during the day and studying at night, even iron-bodied people can’t take it,” Yang Liu muttered, rubbing her head.

Accountant Zhang Youlin spoke gravely, “The Gu household was robbed last night. This is a very serious matter. Other than the clothes on their backs and their chamber pot, everything else is gone. We suspect it was a group crime, with multiple people involved.”

“The terrifying part is—the thieves cleaned up the scene. Not a single footprint left behind. The Gus have already reported it. The police will be coming soon.”

“Also, Comrade Zhang Shufen collapsed after hearing the news and seems to be paralyzed. The Gu family is preparing to take her to the county hospital. They borrowed thirty yuan from the team. Everyone, think carefully—did you notice anyone suspicious?”

The crowd broke into an uproar, voices overlapping.

“No idea, I didn’t notice anything.”

“Even the Gu family didn’t hear anything. How could we, living further away?”

“Exactly! My place is more than ten minutes’ walk from theirs. Who would wander around at midnight?”

Gu Weimin was at a loss. He used to be the brigade leader, used to ordering others around. Losing the position and going back to the fields was something he could accept.

But why had his entire household been emptied overnight?

Now all they had left was the house itself. What was there to even divide anymore?

“Secretary, did your dog bark? Only you and Hunter Yang Jianguo keep dogs,” Gu Dahai asked.

With so many people in the village, surely someone must have seen something.

Could it have been a big group, working together and cleaning up as they went?

Zhou Shanshan sat blank-eyed on the ground, clutching her son. The gold bangles and jade bracelet Dahai had given her were gone. He’d found them at the junk market, and now they were lost forever.

“At the very least, none of us woke up last night. It’s possible we were drugged,” Gu Dashan, the eldest son, suggested.

Zhou Lanhua arrived with her two boys, looking stunned.

Clutching Gu Weimin’s clothes, she cried hysterically, “What do you mean the Gu household was emptied? Impossible! Who could pull that off in one night? And Zhang Shufen’s paralyzed? Then what about the house? The Yang family kicked me out—where am I supposed to go with the children now?”

If she’d known, she would’ve remarried properly. Even if Yang Tieniu couldn’t father children, she could’ve found another man.

Now, in this mess, what could she do?

After nearly half an hour with no leads, Zhang Jianjun decided to proceed with electing a new brigade leader.

Song Wanyue pulled out some fruit candies to share with the educated youths—except Chen Jiefang. “Here, have some candy. I’m voting for Accountant Zhang. He’s upright and efficient. I also suggested to him that if enough of us support him, and he becomes brigade leader, he’ll grant us more time off to study for the college entrance exam.”

She had just pitched this idea to him while the others were distracted with chatter.

After all, November was almost here. There wouldn’t be much farm work left anyway. It benefited both sides.

In the village, many people cared deeply about work points—points meant grain.

She added, “Accountant Zhang only has one condition. Those of us who get into university and return to the city must leave our study materials behind for the village children. You all know how rare it is for kids here to make it to high school. This is a way to encourage them. He’ll announce it if he wins.”

“You also know how scarce review materials are right now. As soon as the news about the exams came out, people flooded the bookstores. Test papers are even harder to get than books, and way more expensive.”

Li Jiaojiao nodded. “Fine, I’ll vote for him too. You didn’t even need to say it—I was going to anyway. He doesn’t talk much and doesn’t scold people. Haha.”

When she’d first come down to the countryside, she hated farm work. Who liked it anyway? And when Gu Weimin was brigade leader, he cursed them out so harshly.

Switching to someone quiet and reasonable sounded great.

Yang Liu chimed in, “I’ll vote for Accountant Zhang too. When I first came down, I didn’t know how to work, and Auntie Cui even helped me out.”

Half an hour later, Zhang Youlin was successfully elected as the new brigade leader of Taohua Village.

The very first thing he announced after taking office was about the college entrance exam.