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Mother Lin stared at the last flicker of the flames going out, still shaken.
“How could we have something like that in our house?”
Just hearing the word “capitalist” now made her scalp tingle with fear. She didn’t even dare imagine what would’ve happened if someone had found that book!
“It was Chen Li,” Lin Ting said truthfully.
“He was jealous of our family background—and he was the one who reported us.”
Professor Lin was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe the future son-in-law he had so carefully chosen had been the one to turn them in.
“We treated him so well, and this is how he repays us?” Mother Lin said furiously.
“He has no conscience—must’ve been eaten by a dog!”
But then she grew serious, her mind sharp:
“Even if the book is burned, it doesn’t change the fact that we’re descendants of a capitalist family.”
“If the higher-ups won’t let this go, we’d better start preparing in advance.”
Professor Lin nodded in agreement.
“We’ll start by finding a new match for Xiao Ting.”
“Lin Yan, you and Wan Ning will go through a fake divorce for now. Once this all blows over, you can remarry.”
“No way!” her brother and sister-in-law exclaimed in unison.
Mother Lin tried to reason gently,
“It’s just a fake divorce. Wan Ning can take the two kids back to her family’s home for a while.”
“We can’t let you and the children suffer with us, can we?”
Sister-in-law Fu Wan Ning declared firmly,
“Mom, we’re a family. We’ll go through the good and the bad together.”
“You and Dad must stop talking about this fake divorce.”
Lin Ting remembered how, in her previous life, after their family was denounced, Wan Ning’s family quickly disowned her through a newspaper notice.
She couldn’t be sure that was a family they could rely on.
So this time, she stayed quiet and didn’t try to persuade them to go through with a fake divorce.
Mother Lin, seeing she couldn’t persuade her daughter-in-law, turned to Lin Ting.
“Xiao Ting, don’t worry. This time, I’ll make sure to find you a better man.”
“Your father thought Chen Li’s family background—five generations of poor peasants—made him politically ‘clean.’ Plus, as his student, he thought we knew him well. He believed marrying someone from a poorer family would help protect you, given our situation. Who could’ve known… sigh.”
But Lin Ting expressed her decision clearly,
“Mom, I don’t want to get married.”
“I’ve already burned the evidence. It’s very likely our family won’t be sent to a labor camp now.”
“But since we’ve already been flagged, being relocated to the countryside is almost inevitable.”
“I want to volunteer for the ‘Down to the Countryside’ program. Ideally, I’ll go wherever you’re eventually sent.”
Her words had barely landed before everyone spoke up at once:
“Absolutely not!”
Her father and mother had gone to the countryside many times in the past, and they knew how brutal the living conditions were.
“You wouldn’t survive there,” her mom said, worried.
Lin Ting interrupted,
“Mom, is marriage really the best solution?”
“Chen Li always seemed obedient and reliable. And yet behind our backs, he cheated and betrayed us. Can you guarantee the next man you find for me will be better?”
“If I stay alone in the city, and something happens to me—who could I turn to?”
“In such politically sensitive times, who would dare help me?”
Mother Lin hesitated. Her daughter had a point.
Lin Ting continued quickly,
“Let’s ask Commander Ling to help arrange for us to be sent to the same location when we’re relocated. I’m sure he’d be willing.”
Her grandfather had once saved Commander Ling’s life. Back then, the Commander had been a frequent guest at their home.
In her past life, after the Lin family’s downfall, Commander Ling had come to visit her, saying if she ever needed help, she could come find him directly.
Professor Lin thought about it deeply and finally said,
“I’ll ask someone to pass him a message. Whether he helps or not—it’s his choice.”
Lin Ting nodded.
“Of course.”
To the Lin family, this offer of help sparked a glimmer of hope.
After Professor Lin left, Mother Lin immediately accompanied Lin Ting to the Youth Resettlement Office to register her for countryside placement.
They had just angered Chen Li earlier that day and feared he might retaliate, so they were determined to get this done before the official notice came down.
Mother Lin suddenly thought of something.
“I heard that going to the northeast countryside lets you ‘hibernate’ in winter—less work than other places.”
“No matter where we end up, we’ll make sure you get assigned to a good place.”
Lin Ting nodded.
“Then I’ll prepare extra cotton clothes and bedding, and I’ll try to send supplies back to you.”
The mother and daughter saw eye to eye.
Luckily, there was still a spot available for northeastern placement, so they signed Lin Ting up immediately.
On their way back from the Youth Office, they stopped by the bank, and Mother Lin transferred half the family’s savings—3,000 yuan—to Lin Ting’s account.
If she hadn’t been worried about it looking suspicious, she’d have given her everything.
But she knew all too well—
if those people came to raid the house and didn’t find anything, they’d dig deeper and make life harder.
Lin Ting sighed softly,
“You and Dad have invested so much money into scientific research over the years. To end up like this… how could it not break your heart?”
Mother Lin clutched her chest.
“What hurts most is Chen Li.”
“Your father helped him get into the Agricultural Machinery Institute. That was his ticket to staying in the city. And instead of being grateful, he turned around and reported us.”
Lin Ting was deep in thought.
“What I’m most curious about… is who’s really behind all of this?”
“Who did our family offend?”
Mother Lin paused before replying,
“Your father and I have discussed this. We’ve always kept our heads down, worked diligently, never fought for anything. We truly don’t know who we might’ve offended.”
The two of them fell silent, pondering this question the entire way home.
Suddenly, a golden notification flashed in Lin Ting’s mind:
🎁 “Rebirth Gift: Portable Space!”
She wasn’t too surprised.
After all, if she could be reborn, why couldn’t she have a space too?
As soon as she got home, she locked herself in her room and ran tests.
She discovered she could enter the space via thought or physically.
Inside the space was:
Lin Ting immediately packed most of her clothes and tucked them into the space.
She also stashed away two comforters from the top shelf.
Books, a desk lamp, gifts from family and friends—everything went into the space.
Once she finished her things, she found her sister-in-law.
“Sis, do you have anything you want me to help you store?”
Fu Wan Ning thought for a moment and brought out a jewelry box.
“I’ve secretly saved these over the years. Leaving them here would just be a freebie for those people.”
Lin Ting took it right away and added,
“Sis, Dad already sent a message to Commander Ling. There’s a high chance we’ll reunite later.”
“Why not prepare daily necessities for you, Brother, and the girls? I’ll figure out how to send them to you later.”
Fu Wan Ning hesitated,
“You won’t be able to carry much alone.”
Lin Ting reassured her,
“I’ll mail the stuff. And once you’re in the countryside, it’ll be hard to buy anything.”
“Alright. I’ll get things ready and bring them to you later.”
“Okay.”
Then Lin Ting went to find her mother and said the same thing.
Mother Lin immediately gathered a pile of items for her.
“Better to mail them over than let those people get them!”
“Xiao Ting, I’ve already asked someone to exchange some universal ration coupons. I’ll give them to you to bring along.”
Just as she finished speaking, they suddenly heard urgent knocking at the door—
“We’re the Revolutionary Committee’s search squad! Open up immediately!”