Font Size:
“Because I’m your mother, that’s why! Qinglan, be a good girl and take your little brother home. I’ve even written down the address of the hometown—it’s in the drawer, together with the money. Just think of it as your mother begging you, okay?”
Seeing that being tough wasn’t working, Yao Yanfang switched to a softer approach. She didn’t believe she couldn’t coax two inexperienced kids into doing what she wanted.
“You think you deserve to be called ‘Mom’? Dad’s only been gone a week and you’re already trying to run off with the compensation money? Someone like you doesn’t deserve to be my mother. My brother and I only want the compensation money. The rest—the family savings and other funds—you can keep for your retirement.”
“You’re asking for two thousand yuan just like that? Aren’t you afraid you’ll choke on it? The most I’ll give you is five hundred—no more.”
Lin Qinglan hadn’t expected the compensation to be as much as two thousand yuan—she had thought it was just a few hundred.
Unfortunately for Yao Yanfang, she didn’t realize Lin Qinglan had lost her memory. If she had known, she wouldn’t have accidentally let slip that the compensation was two thousand yuan.
Judging from Yao Yanfang’s stinginess, if she was willing to give five hundred, she clearly had much more in her hands.
Lin Qinglan decided to test her a little further. If the woman still refused to be honest, she’d just have to take it by force.
“We want every last cent of the two thousand. Besides that, I haven’t even asked for any other money.”
“The donations from your dad’s comrades—I already returned those. I don’t have any extra money.”
Returned? Yeah, right. But that didn’t stop her from making it up to brush Qinglan off.
Oh? So there were also donations?
There wasn’t a single truthful word coming out of Yao Yanfang’s mouth. It was clear now—they’d have to take the money by force.
Lin Qinglan parked the bicycle and marched up to snatch the two large bags from Yao Yanfang’s hands, then handed them to Lin Zheng.
“Lin Zheng, go through everything and find the money.”
“Don’t worry, Big Sis—I’ll definitely find every last yuan Mom tried to hide!”
Luckily, there was no one else on the road at the time. Lin Zheng dumped all of Yao Yanfang’s clothes onto the ground. Thud!
Four stacks of cash fell out onto the dirt.
“Sis! Mom had so much money in her bag!”
Lin Zheng quickly stuffed the bills into the bag, leaving the clothes strewn across the ground.
“My money—my money! You can’t take it away from me!”
Yao Yanfang was practically crying. She hadn’t expected Qinglan to become so bold after hitting her head—she actually dared to lay hands on her!
“Mom, didn’t you say you didn’t have any money? Then where did all this come from? There are still four of us in this family.
The three of us siblings taking three-fourths isn’t unreasonable, right?
Lin Zheng, give one stack back to Mom.”
Lin Qinglan wasn’t trying to go too far with things—after all, Yao Yanfang was still their mother, no matter how awful she was.
“No! Give the money back! Xiao Zheng, don’t listen to your sister—give the money to Mommy, okay? If you do, I’ll take you with me.”
“No! I don’t want to go with you. I want to stay with Big Sis.
If I go with you, I won’t even get to eat!”
Lin Zheng might be small, but he wasn’t stupid.
It had always been Big Sis who took care of him at home.
Whenever their mom had something nice, she’d take it to Grandma’s house.
Grandma didn’t like him either. There was no way he was going to go live there and suffer.
“Mom, suit yourself!”
Yao Yanfang was about to explode. These two kids were driving her crazy. At this rate, even a roasted pig would’ve been more filial than them.
And what the hell was up with Qinglan’s strength? That dead girl had grabbed her so hard her hands were red.
Now that the kids had the money, there was no way she could go back and ask them for it again.
No, she had to find another way to get it back.
Then it hit her—Lin Qinglan was already sixteen, old enough to get married.
If she found her a good husband, she could not only collect a decent bride price but also find a way to get the money back from them.
The more Yao Yanfang thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
When she got home, she’d talk to her mother. Her mom knew the nearby villages well and could help find a groom who offered a high bride price.
Meanwhile, completely unaware of Yao Yanfang’s scheme, Lin Qinglan was riding the bike with her brother and the money back to the family compound.
“It really is you! I’ve had this inexplicable chest pain for the past two days—was it because you were hurt?”
“Yeah, I hit my head on a wall the day before yesterday. Almost didn’t make it. Qingmei, I’ll be coming to see you soon—surprised?”
Now that she knew the second sister of this body was her best friend, Lin Qinglan no longer resisted the idea of returning home.
As long as she was with her bestie, she could live anywhere.
“What about Lin Jianshe? Did he bring you here too?”
Lin Qingmei didn’t want to acknowledge Lin Jianshe and Yao Yanfang as her parents, so she bluntly referred to them by name.
“Dad… he died. I’ll tell you everything once I get there.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for you. Let’s hang up.”
Lin Qingmei knew it wasn’t convenient for Lin Qinglan to talk much on her end, so she didn’t press further.
She’d be coming soon anyway—whatever she wanted to know, she could ask then.
Lin Qinglan winced as she took out five yuan to pay for the phone call. She hadn’t even said much, and four minutes were already gone.
Once she got home, she immediately began packing.
Too many people here knew the original Lin Qinglan well.
If she stayed any longer, she was afraid she’d slip up.
Her personality was far too different from the original—there was no way she could keep pretending to be soft and fragile.
“Sis, are we packing up to go back to the hometown?”
“Yes. Go pack your stuff too. I’ll head to Dad’s unit later and ask his superior to help us buy two train tickets.”
Buying train tickets now was troublesome—you had to go all the way to the train station.
But her dad’s superior probably had connections to get sleeper tickets.
For the sake of comfort, Lin Qinglan was happy to take advantage.
“Got it. I’ll pack right away.”
Lin Qinglan always did things quickly. By noon that day, she had already approached her father’s superior.
Not only did she successfully get two sleeper tickets, but she also got a soldier to escort them home.
The soldier escorting Lin Qinglan and Lin Zheng was named Wu Hao, a subordinate of Lin Jianshe.
Wu Hao had felt guilty ever since arriving from Yunnan. If it hadn’t been for Lin Tuan (Commander Lin) saving him, he wouldn’t have died.
This escort mission was something Wu Hao had volunteered for—he felt responsible for caring for the commander’s children.
The train tickets were for the third day. That left one more day for Lin Qinglan to prepare.
The day before departure, Lin Qinglan took the martyr certificate and household registration documents to the local post office to transfer the martyr’s pension to Nancheng County, Jiangcheng City, Guangdong Province.
That way, she and Lin Zheng could pick it up directly from the Nancheng County post office.
What sparked her anger, though, was that while handling the household registration transfer, she discovered that Lin Qingmei had not been assigned her share of the martyr’s subsidy.
By regulation, all children of a fallen soldier under eighteen were entitled to receive the subsidy.
So why didn’t Lin Qingmei get one? Had someone embezzled it?
“Who’s in charge of logistics here? I need to speak with them.”
“That would be me. How can I help you?”
Logistics Director Huang looked at her curiously.
Wasn’t this Lin Jianshe’s daughter?
Why was she coming to stir things up in the logistics department?
“Then tell me, why doesn’t my second sister have a share of the martyr’s pension?”
She slammed the martyr’s certificate down on Director Huang’s desk.
Their family had three siblings—so why were only two receiving the subsidy?
“Your second sister? Isn’t it just you and your younger brother Lin Zheng?
We distribute the subsidy based on the household registry.
Your second sister isn’t listed in it.”
“So just because she’s not listed in the registry, that means she’s not my father’s daughter?”
Lin Qinglan wasn’t trying to be unreasonable—she just couldn’t swallow the injustice.
She knew she was being a bit pushy, but she still wanted to fight for Lin Qingmei.
If not money, at least something else!
“Well… let me go check with the higher-ups. I really don’t have the authority to make that decision.”
Director Huang truly had no power here—subsidies in the military followed strict regulations.
“Then hurry up. I’m leaving for my hometown tomorrow.
You’d better sort this out for me today, or I’m not leaving.”
Having no other choice, Director Huang called Commander Hu.
Commander Hu asked him to hand the phone to Lin Qinglan—he wanted to speak with her directly.
“Comrade Lin Qinglan, I sincerely apologize about your sister’s missing subsidy,
but the military has its rules.
Subsidies are issued based on household registration, and I don’t have the authority to change that.
However, I can give you 200 yuan out of my own pocket.
Take it to your sister and consider it her subsidy.”
“I’m not here for the money—I just want an explanation.
Why is it that the three of us siblings only get subsidies for two?”
“That’s a problem with your parents.
Your sister isn’t listed on the family registry, and once I break protocol for one case,
we’ll have a flood of children without registration asking for subsidies.
Director Huang is just following regulations—don’t make things hard for him.”
Truthfully, even Commander Hu didn’t know Lin Jianshe had another daughter back in his hometown.
The couple had hidden it well. If Lin Qinglan hadn’t stirred things up today, he’d still be in the dark.
“Fine. I won’t press you for it anymore.
But how about this—can you give me two sets of women’s military uniforms instead of the subsidy?”
Lin Qinglan hadn’t started this confrontation for money anyway.
She mostly wanted to make it public what Yao Yanfang had done,
so she couldn’t come back later crying and ruin the siblings’ reputation.
But if she could get some perks out of it, why not?
She wasn’t going to take Commander Hu’s money,
but two sets of military uniforms weren’t too much to ask, right?
“Sure. Hand the phone back to Director Huang. I’ll talk to him.”
Lin Qinglan didn’t know what Commander Hu said,
but after the call, Director Huang had someone bring over a large bag.
When she opened it back home, she was stunned.
Inside were four full sets of women’s military uniforms and two pairs of military boots.
Commander Hu really came through—knowing she liked uniforms, he gave her four sets!
Now both she and Lin Qingmei could wear them in rotation.