Chapter 4

“You lazy girl, you’ve been lying around all day without feeding the chickens! You never do anything! All you do is eat!”

When Li Aifeng saw her daughter Lin Hongna, the anger inside her instantly flared up.

Lately, it seemed that bad luck was constantly hitting their family. First, her eldest daughter, Lin Hongna, fell into the river while washing clothes by the bank.

Li Aifeng, like most women in the countryside, never placed much importance on her daughter.

When she heard that her daughter had fallen into the river, she didn’t panic. She first fed the chickens at home before heading to the river to check on her.

By the time she reached the village, Lin Hongna was already pulled out of the river by the villagers using a bamboo pole.

It was still late March, and the early spring air was cold.

Lin Hongna couldn’t swim and had been struggling in the water, screaming and swallowing several mouthfuls of water. By the time she grabbed the bamboo pole to climb out, she was soaking wet, and her lips were frozen blue.

Li Aifeng, being impulsive, didn’t care that her daughter had fallen into the river. Instead, she blamed the villagers who had helped, accusing them of pushing her daughter into the water, demanding medical fees.

This angered the villagers, who, without caring about Lin Hongna, let go of the pole and turned to leave.

Li Aifeng angrily chased after them.

Lin Hongna had no choice but to go home on her own, take off her wet clothes, wrap herself in a quilt and fall asleep.

When Lin Hongna woke up again, everything was different.

Li Aifeng had thought that her daughter would be fine after a good rest, assuming that she would get over it.

However, Lin Hongna, after waking up, suddenly refused to marry Gu Shi’an, the man whom her parents had arranged for her to marry.

Lin Daguo and his wife had tried to hit and scold her, but Lin Hongna stubbornly refused. One night, she even threatened to hang herself.

Though Lin Daguo was a harsh man, he could not bear to see his own daughter suffer. He had no choice but to let his niece, Lin Yao, marry in her place.

As he considered this plan, Lin Daguo felt that it could work out. He believed that Gu Mancang was kind-hearted and nostalgic, so if the truth about the substitution came to light, he could appeal to Gu Mancang’s emotions and smooth things over.

However, he didn’t account for the fierce and sharp-tongued Zhang Cuilan.

On the wedding day, Zhang Cuilan somehow spotted the deception and immediately lifted the red veil from Lin Yao’s head.

When Lin Yao bumped into a pillar, Lin Daguo quickly led his family away in a hurry.

Though they managed to escape, the next day Zhang Cuilan came to the Lin family’s house with her brothers and nephews.

In the end, Lin Daguo was beaten up, and the money he had embezzled from his brother was also seized by the Zhang brothers.

The more Li Aifeng thought about it, the angrier she became. If it weren’t for her daughter causing such a scene and refusing to marry Gu Shi’an, they wouldn’t have so many problems!

Just as she was about to yell at Lin Hongna to vent her anger, Lin Hongna calmly spoke.

“Mom, what are you doing? Tonight, Jialiang asked me to go to the county to watch a movie. If I delay and make him unhappy, don’t expect my brother to get promoted.”

Li Aifeng, with the curse words stuck in her throat: “……..”

Her son was her life’s priority.

For the sake of her son’s future, Li Aifeng swallowed her anger, bit her tongue, and stomped off to the kitchen to cook.

Sun Jialiang was none other than Lin Yao’s husband in her previous life.

In her previous life, Lin Yao had been chosen by Mother Sun for her pretty face and was married into the family of the light bulb factory’s director. Later, when Sun Jialiang entered business, he made a fortune thanks to his parents’ connections, sharp business acumen, and ruthless methods.

Once the Sun family became rich, they moved to Port City.

Lin Yao, as the wife of a wealthy businessman, lived in a villa on the hillside with maids, drivers, and bodyguards, enjoying a life of luxury. Even though Sun Jialiang had a mistress outside, Lin Yao was still the enviable wealthy wife.

At least, in her previous life, Lin Hongna had been extremely envious.

But now, Sun Jialiang was the man Lin Hongna was currently courting.

Lin Hongna twirled her hair and admired her delicate and smooth white fingertips with a smug, sarcastic smile curling at her lips.

Look at people like him—once they have something to gain, they change.

If she had been like in her previous life and married into a courtyard full of ordinary people, how could she have the status she has now at home?

In her previous life, Lin Hongna had never been happy with the marriage her grandfather arranged for her.

People used to say that the Gu family lived in the city with a good living condition, that her husband was a soldier, and her in-laws and sister-in-law all had government jobs. She would live a comfortable life once married.

What a load of nonsense!

The Gu family was a mess!

Gu Mancang is a taciturn person who can’t get anything out of him even if you hit him with a stick.

Zhang Cuilan was a tyrant, controlling Gu Shi’an’s wages and allowances. Lin Hongna couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law, and her relationship with her sister-in-law, Gu Chunmei, was terrible.

Then there was the troublemaking Gu Shidong, who always sided against her.

She didn’t even like Gu Shi’an, with his cold, silent personality. What she liked was someone refined, literate, and cultured!

In her past life, she had suffered in silence after marrying into the Gu family. On their wedding day, Gu Shi’an had received an urgent telegram from the army and left for his duties immediately.

From then on, she had been living like a widow!

She had been miserable, so why should she remain faithful to Gu Shi’an?

Six months later, Lin Hongna, tired of being lonely, had an affair with a man from the alley. Her sister-in-law caught her, and Gu Shi’an, who had returned from the army, calmly divorced her.

After the divorce, Gu Mancang pretended to be kind and gave her 100 yuan. She was left with a bad reputation, rejected by her own family, and abandoned by the man she had an affair with. For the rest of her life, she struggled in poverty.

She couldn’t bear to see Lin Yao living a better life than hers!

Fortunately, fate had given her a second chance. The humiliation and suffering she had endured in her past life would now be Lin Yao’s to bear.

*

As the Dragon Boat Festival approached, the heat in Yunshui County intensified day by day.

The afternoon sun blazed high in the sky, and there wasn’t a single breeze.

With the holiday nearing, the supply and marketing cooperative and the pig farm were busier than ever. Customers kept coming in waves, and the usually relaxed Gu Chunmei found herself standing behind the counter for hours on end. She was so exhausted that when she got home, she collapsed onto the bed and couldn’t move.

Zhang Cuilan was also busy. When summer came, the state-owned pig farm had its hands full. The summer brought an influx of mosquitoes, especially after the rain when the humidity was high. The pig pens had to be cleaned twice a day to keep the pigs healthy.

As the weather warmed up, the pigsty became hard to ventilate. Zhang Cuilan and the other workers had to carry water to splash on the pigs to cool them down. Each pig needed at least one bucket of water, and with hundreds of pigs at the farm, this became a huge task.

After a few days, Zhang Cuilan’s shoulders were raw from the weight of the carrying pole, and in past years, the pain was so bad that she couldn’t sleep at night.

This year, after using the medicine Lin Yao gave her, she felt much better. She applied it before bed, and by the time she closed her eyes, she would sleep through till morning.

Gu Mancang’s workshop had heavy tasks, and he was always the last to return home, well after dark.

So, the only people left in the Gu household were the sick Lin Yao and Gu Shidong, who was on summer vacation.

With no adults around, Gu Shidong, like a monkey in a house without a tiger, ran wild, jumping around the house.

Recently, Lin Yao had been to the health center a few times to change the bandages on the injury on her forehead. One night, when no one was around, she pulled out some ointment from her space supermarket and gently applied it to the wound.

This ointment had been left to her by Grandma Lin. It was said to be very effective during the apocalypse.

Lin Yao used it several times, and indeed, it worked well. After just a few days, the wound had almost healed, leaving only a faint pink scar.

Gu Chunmei was not fond of how Lin Yao’s hair looked and urged her to visit the hair salon.

The master at the salon was skilled, and he used hot tongs to curl Lin Yao’s bangs into a fashionable style. Lin Yao was very satisfied and smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

Gu Chunmei was equally pleased. She held Lin Yao’s face and kissed her.

“As expected of my Yao Yao, this little face is really irresistible.”

She said, then hugged her and kissed her again.

Lin Yao: “…….”

Sister Chunmei, we don’t need to be this affectionate.

*

After getting Lin Yao’s bangs curled, Gu Chunmei thought the day was still young. The two of them chatted briefly and decided to make a trip to the supply and marketing cooperative to try their luck at buying some meat.

For the past few days, the Gu family had been eating thin porridge with pickled vegetables and steamed cornmeal buns.

It wasn’t just Lin Yao who was craving a better meal; even Gu Chunmei had the urge to eat something more satisfying.

As for Gu Shidong, the little rascal dreamed of eating braised pig’s trotters every night.

Gu Chunmei secretly complained to Lin Yao that this brat must be dreaming of gnawing on his own stinky feet.

Lin Yao imagined it for a moment and thought, given the difficulty of such a feat, it wasn’t entirely impossible for Gu Shidong to do it.

The old street in Yunshui County had smooth, polished stone slabs that had weathered centuries of wind, frost, and rain. The city’s moat wound around the street, and the willow trees along the roadside swayed gently in the breeze.

Gu Chunmei had diligently ridden her bike for about ten minutes, and by the time they reached the cooperative, Lin Yao’s face had turned red from the sun.

The two sisters quickly split up.

Gu Chunmei really treated Lin Yao like her own sister. When they passed an ice cream stand on the street, without saying a word, she ran over and bought two white sugar ice pops.

Each of them got one.

Gu Chunmei went to the side food shop to queue for meat while Lin Yao, holding her ice pop, stayed in the shade to watch their bike.

At this time, bicycles were quite precious.

The Gu family had spent 180 yuan and five industrial coupons, waiting for half a year to buy their “Feige” brand bike.

In Gu Chunmei’s words, even if she was lost, the bicycle could not be lost.

Lin Yao, while waiting, was secretly thinking of a way to grab a few pieces of cured meat from her space supermarket.

Yunshui County, being close to the south, had people who typically ate rice and noodles. However, everyone relied on the government-issued grain coupons to buy food. Ordinary people couldn’t afford fine grains, so most of the time, they ate cornmeal, buckwheat noodles, and sweet potato buns.

By now, it was already noon, and the side food shop most likely didn’t have any meat left.

Sure enough, after a while, Gu Chunmei came out of the shop with a bag of meat in her hand, looking dejected.

Clearly, she hadn’t bought any meat.

Lin Yao shook her head, stood up, and patted her hands, ready to take matters into her own hands.

She was about to think of a reason to convince Gu Chunmei to leave when, across the street, a tall and handsome young man appeared.

Lin Yao smiled, quickly finished the ice pop in her hand, and called out to Gu Chunmei.

“Sister Chunmei, your Da Tou Brother is here.”