Chapter 18

In front of her, Xu Ruhua had panda eyes and was limping as she walked in.

“Isn’t it because of Xu Nian Nian? I tried to help her find a match, and look what she did—she didn’t acknowledge me and had someone beat me up like this.”

Li Qiang had found her earlier, furious, and beat her up without saying a word.

She thought he had been reborn, which scared her so much she froze and didn’t dare to move.

After the beating, he said those things, and she finally understood why. She immediately started resenting Xu Nian Nian.

She couldn’t understand why Li Qiang didn’t go after Xu Nian Nian but came to make trouble for her instead.

When Xu Nian Nian heard this, she came out of the room directly:

“Xu Ruhua, you sure know how to pin the blame, huh? Why don’t you tell everyone how Li Qiang’s ex-wife died?”

Xu Ruhua’s gaze shifted uneasily. Could Xu Nian Nian know something?

She thought to herself, Xu Nian Nian was such a fool, why hadn’t she ever considered matchmaking with Li Qiang? At least Li Qiang had good looks and a solid family background. By all logic, she should have ended up with him, to suppress Xu Ruhua.

Xu’s father looked at Xu Nian Nian:

“How did his ex-wife die?”

Xu Nian Nian looked at Xu Ruhua and said each word clearly:

“Li Qiang paid a sum of money. His ex-wife always wore long sleeves and pants, even in summer. Isn’t that strange? People say she was beaten to death. My sister stole my boyfriend, and then gave me a domestic abuser. What a good scheme.”

Xu’s father was stunned for a moment, recalling that Li Qiang’s ex-wife had indeed passed away.

His suspicious gaze shifted toward Xu Ruhua.

Seeing her plan exposed, Xu Ruhua went cold, her support suddenly gone as she collapsed onto the floor.

Xu Xiuhong hurried to help her up:

“Daughter, what’s wrong with you? We’ve had such a tough life. We never get a reward for good intentions. Who could have known so much?”

Xu’s father, upon hearing this, felt Xu Xiuhong was making sense. His daughter was only 18, after all—how could she think of everything?

Xu Nian Nian crouched down and slapped Xu Ruhua hard across the face:

“Good intentions? Then I’ll send you to find Li Qiang. You and him are the same anyway. Don’t you love power?”

Xu Ruhua, already numb from the beating, didn’t resist, only shedding tears as she sat there.

Seeing her daughter in pain, Xu Xiuhong couldn’t hold back anymore. She tore off her previous pretenses and was about to strike back with a twisted expression.

Xu Nian Nian quickly threw some green beans on the ground, stood up, and realized her strength wasn’t enough to fight the middle-aged woman. She stepped back.

Xu Xiuhong stepped on the green beans, tripped, and fell hard onto her bottom.

Xu’s father quickly shouted:

“Why are there so many green beans on the floor? You wasteful woman, clean them up!”

What a waste.

Xu Nian Nian frowned, wondering if the green beans that Xu Xiuhong stepped on were going to be made into green bean porridge.

Sure enough, Xu Xiuhong started picking up the beans. Strangely, Xu Nian Nian had locked the beans away earlier, so how had they ended up on the floor?

Xu Nian Nian lost her appetite and left a message, “I’m not eating,” before heading inside.

She suddenly turned back and told Xu’s father:

“Tomorrow, Lu Huaijin will come to our house to discuss the wedding.”

After saying that, she turned and left, leaving behind a stunned Xu Ruhua, her face growing darker.

Xu’s father, still clueless about what was going on, looked confused.

Xu Xiuhong didn’t even bother to pick up the beans anymore.

Inside the house, Xu Nian Nian took out some meat buns she had made from the space. This batch of buns was made with flour from her space and tasted better than the usual flour bought outside. The aroma of meat and wheat mixed together, and they were soft and hot, just like freshly steamed buns, making her mouth water.

She ate two in a row before stopping.

Seeing that the little chicks in her space were now big enough to lay eggs, she fed them some spiritual spring water, hoping they would start laying eggs soon.

She still needed kitchen supplies for the space, so she planned to go to the supply store in the morning and buy a big iron pot, and she had industrial vouchers for that.

Taking out the money Lu Huaijin had given her, she counted the bills. There were ten of them.

This meant she now had 100!

That evening, she dreamed of soft, fluffy pastries and ate one piece after another.

She slept soundly, while Xu Ruhua, outside, clenched her fists and couldn’t sleep. She would make Xu Nian Nian pay for what she did.

Thinking about marrying Lu Huaijin? Dream on. She’d first have to ask her opinion.

The darkness made her feel more awake; she was a reborn person, after all. If she couldn’t deal with an idiot, it would be a disgrace.

The next morning, after breakfast, Xu Ruhua limped out.

She headed straight for the street office to register Xu Nian Nian for the countryside assignment.

The staff at the street office looked at her eyes and asked curiously:

“What happened to your eyes? Did someone beat you?”

Xu Ruhua stammered:

“I… I accidentally bumped into something while walking at night.”

The staff nodded thoughtfully. It was rare for people to come in to report on such things, but sometimes, when someone in the family met the criteria, the staff couldn’t detect it immediately. Usually, they would leave a few months of leeway, but they hadn’t expected someone to come in proactively.

“Where are you registering your sister for?”

Xu Ruhua thought for a moment. She had heard the winters in the northeast were harsh, but the land was fertile, and the work for the educated youth was less. It might be better to register her for the northwest.

She pointed to the northwest.

The staff, Yang Gui Feng, frowned but didn’t say anything, just wrote it down. She would notify them later.

Xu Ruhua watched her write it down and felt relieved, limping out of the office.

Yang Gui Feng looked at her departing figure and thought she had been too lenient with the beating.