Chapter 39: Slapping the Reborn Woman of the Face-Slapping Era

Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Slapping the Reborn Woman of the Face-Slapping Era

The Lin family made money this year, and the villagers of Xiaogou Village are all thinking of following the Lin family to grow greenhouse vegetables next year, hoping to get rich together.

There are quite a number of clansmen with the Lin surname in Xiaogou Village, so conflicts arose between the Lin family and the Su family; for whatever reason, most people tend to side with the Lin family.

When Lin Aiguo stated that Lin Anjie had stolen money from the family to give to Su Zhiqiang, before getting married, the amusement-seeking villagers gave Su Zhiqiang very meaningful looks.

"No wonder the Su family could afford a radio last year."

"Right, before Lin Anjie married into the Su family, they had a few days when they ate meat every single day."

"They married three daughters-in-law at the same time, incurring quite a bit of foreign debt; without any subsidies, where would the money come from to buy meat?"

"It’s also because Lin Aiguo is too good-hearted. If Lin Anjie were my daughter, I would have beaten her to death a long time ago, to save her the embarrassment."

When Su Zhiqiang heard these comments, he felt awful.

He didn’t know that the money Lin Anjie gave him had been stolen from her home. Besides, Lin Anjie didn’t give him that much money. How come it sounded like, according to others, she had emptied the Lin family’s coffers and given everything to him?

At such a time, Su Zhiqiang would absolutely not admit to spending Lin Anjie’s money.

He straightened his neck and said to Lin Aiguo, "Uncle, I didn’t know about Lin Anjie stealing money from your house, and I haven’t spent her money either. Who knows where she spent all the money. I’m here today to set the record straight face-to-face: the betrothal gifts we gave initially were not small. Now that she’s run off, you can’t let us suffer this silent loss."

Su Zhiqiang had made up his mind to get the betrothal gifts back.

Unfortunately, Lin Aiguo was not going to give it to him.

"You can talk all you want, but it’s useless."

Lin Aiguo frowned, looking annoyed: "Our family has already severed ties with Lin Anjie. Whether she stays or goes, it’s none of our business. If she ran away, you go look for her. If you want the betrothal gifts back, ask her, not me."

When Lin Hongjun and Lin Aimin heard this, they parted the crowd and walked over: "Su Zhiqiang, do you think my Lin family is easy to bully?"

As Lin Hongjun walked over, he shouted, "Ever since we went to your house to announce the severance of ties, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, you didn’t even send a single mooncake to my Lin family, so we already ceased contact. Now that your wife’s run off, why are you looking for us? If you can’t keep your wife, that’s your incompetence; what use is looking for us?"

What Lin Hongjun said was justified.

But what Lin Hongjun’s wife said was somewhat unpleasant.

"No matter what, Lin Anjie married you and lived with you. When she married you, she was still a pure unmarried woman, wasn’t she? You’ve shared a bed with an unmarried woman; shouldn’t you pay up? Now you can’t keep her, yet you want to demand the betrothal gifts back. This is not decent behavior. Are you expecting to sleep with her for free or what?"

When she said this, many people laughed.

That’s just the way things are.

Not to mention an unmarried woman, even if you find someone outside to sleep with, you can’t do it without giving anything, right?

Su Zhiqiang’s face turned red from the villagers’ laughter.

And he felt furious.

Behind him, Su Zhijian and Su Zhikang wouldn’t put up with this.

"So I deserve not to have a wife? You Lin family didn’t raise your daughter well. Now that you’ve married her off and she’s emptied our coffers, who else should we look for if not you?"

"Yeah, with Lin Anjie gone, our family can’t afford another bride-price for my brother now. Your family owes my brother a bride."

In the midst of speaking, Su Zhikang glanced over at Anning.

His meaning was pretty clear: Lin Anjie had run away, but Anning was still here, Lin Anjie’s sister. Without the sister, the younger sister could make up for it.

Once Su Zhikang said this, and with that look he gave Anning, not just the Lin family, but even the onlookers were angered.

Several aunties started cursing loudly.

"Pah, your family sure has the nerve, daring to say such things."

Xue Feng’s mother cursed the most fiercely: "Your old Su family really has no shame, flaunting your own trash yet daring to demand a bride as compensation from the Lin family, spit! If it wasn’t for how badly you treated Lin Anjie, would she have run off? Now instead of looking at your own faults, you come knocking on our door looking for trouble. Do you think everyone’s as blind and foolish as you?"

Lin Aiguo was so angry his face turned purple, and he rushed to the corner to grab a shovel and held it in his hand: "All of you, get out, get out..."

Lin Anping and Lin Antai, along with their brothers, also stood behind Lin Aiguo, fearing they would be at a disadvantage if they got into a fight with the Su family.

The Su brothers, Su Zhiqiang and the others, actually had a bit of audacity at home.

At home they strutted around as if they owned the place, but when it really came down to it, they were rather useless.

Now seeing the Lin family had both the numbers and the village on their side, they became cowardly.

Su Zhiqiang took several steps back: "Uncle, let’s talk this out, you’re angry right now, let’s not talk about this. I’ll come back in a few days."

He dragged Su Zhijian and Su Zhikang and ran out.

After the Su brothers left, Lin Hongjun finally thanked the villagers who had spoken up for the Lin family, and after the crowd dispersed, the family closed the door and went inside to talk.

Once inside the main room, Lin Hongjun hadn’t even sat down when he said to Anning: "Don’t go out alone from now on, and write more letters home from school. If you can, don’t come back, just lay low outside for a couple of years."

"What do you mean by that, brother?"

Lin Aiguo was a bit unhappy with Lin Hongjun’s words: "Our Ningning hasn’t done anything wrong, why can’t she come home?"

Lin Hongjun sighed: "Look at those three Su brothers, they might plot something against Ningning in the future. As the saying goes, there can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can’t guard against one for a thousand days. If Ningning goes out alone and someone tries to harm her, we’d be devastated."

Wang Cuihua nodded vigorously, tugging on Lin Aiguo: "Dad, our eldest brother is right, Ningning does need to be careful."

Anning understood this reasoning as well.

She smiled: "Being cautious is right, but I can’t just not come home. At most, I’ll have Anping accompany me when I go out, or I can ask my brothers too."

"What a mess this is."

Lin Aimin muttered unhappily, scratching his head: "The mess caused by Lin Anjie is still affecting our Ningning. Isn’t she harming Ningning enough?"

Lin Aiguo let out a long sigh.

Anning didn’t say much, she went out to boil some water, brewed tea for Lin Aiguo and the others, and then went out with Wang Cuihua to prepare lunch.

Lin Hongjun and Lin Aimin had lunch at Anning’s house. After the meal, the three brothers discussed some matters.

Regarding Anning’s plan to contract the mountains and ponds, Lin Hongjun made a firm decision.

They agreed to continue planting greenhouse vegetables next year, and also finalize the contract for the mountains. Additionally, they planned to hire someone to prune the fruit trees on the mountain.

Afterwards, Anning truly never went out alone, every time she went out, Lin Anping or Lin Antai or one of the others would accompany her.

It wasn’t until after the New Year had passed and Lin Hongjun finalized the mountain contracting, that Anning packed up her things to head back to school.

In the Capital, Anning immersed herself in her studies.

Every day she was either in the classroom or the library, or helping a professor in the experimental fields.

One of her professors was researching new fruit tree varieties, having developed some with high yields and good flavor. After seeing them, Anning approached the professor to ask for some cuttings to take home for grafting.

The professor agreed happily, and personally helped Anning cut some branches.

Anning preserved the cuttings with a special technique and took them back home. It took her five days to graft the cuttings onto their family’s fruit trees, and she also taught Lin Antai and Lin Anhe the grafting technique.

When Anning returned to the Capital, she began to find time to take revenge for the original host.