Xu Huixin gathered all the letters exchanged between Luo Yan and Shen Shuyu and stored them in her space. Then, she headed straight to the bus stop at the door and took a bus to the post office in another district.
On the bus, she flipped through the letters by their sending dates and found the most recent one. Luo Yan was pregnant and quite anxious. In her letter, she had also included the phone number of the brigade.
Xu Huixin went directly to the post office and dialed that number. After being transferred several times, the call finally reached the Xinmin Brigade where Luo Yan was.
When the brigade leader heard that someone was looking for Luo Yan, he immediately called over the children playing at the brigade’s gate to summon her from the youth work point.
Since discovering her pregnancy, Luo Yan had been staying at the youth work point for several days. She felt both nervous and happy about this unexpected child.
She truly liked Shen Shuyu—a transport officer among the Eight Senior Cadres, with a respectable job, only 27 years old, good-looking, and respectful toward women. Every time he came to deliver goods to Sucheng, he would make a special trip to see her. Although he had been married before and had several children, it wasn’t a big problem.
The last time he came, he even brought gifts to the youth work point to see her. Everything he bought was of good quality. Moreover, he held a wedding ceremony at the youth work point and treated everyone there to a meal. The brigade leader and other officials were all present.
This gave Luo Yan a great deal of face in the entire Xinmin Brigade. It was precisely Shen Shuyu’s actions that completely eased the resentment Luo Yan had felt about having his child.
She had already made up her mind: if Shen Shuyu’s children were easy to get along with, she would treat them well. Although she couldn’t love those children as her own, she wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for them.
But aside from that, she had no intention of caring for them. She wasn’t unable to have children herself, so why should she devote her care to someone else’s? Stepmother-stepchild relationships were notoriously difficult. If she kept her distance, people would say she was heartless; if she got too close, they’d accuse her of ill intentions. Being neither too near nor too far was the best way—no one could find fault with that.
When the village children came to call her and said there was a phone call from Sucheng, Luo Yan turned over in bed, unable to contain her joy. As she left, she took a cheap hard candy from her pocket and handed it to the child who had brought her the letter.
Though it was just the cheapest fruit-flavored hard candy available at the time, it was a rare treat for the rural children.
The child gratefully said thank you and ran off, clutching the candy.
Luo Yan wanted to run to answer Shen Shuyu’s call, but for the sake of the baby in her belly, she chose to walk instead.
By the time she arrived at the Xinmin Brigade, more than ten minutes had passed. The brigade leader, seeing her arrive, pointed to the phone and then went out, pipe in hand. It was northern Jiangsu, and winters were bitterly cold. The brigade headquarters had no stove, so he had to hurry home to warm up by the fire.
Taking a deep breath, Luo Yan redialed the number that had just called her.
Xu Huixin had been waiting in the post office, and almost at the very first ring of the phone, she picked it up: "Hello, is this Luo Yan?"
The words "Brother Shen" slipped out of Luo Yan’s mouth but then froze there, barely swallowed back: "Yes, this is she. May I ask who’s calling?"
In that fleeting moment, Luo Yan’s mind raced. Perhaps this was Shen Shuyu’s sister, calling to reassure her now that she was pregnant! After all, Shen Shuyu was a delivery man, spending nine months of the year away on assignments.
Luo Yan understood the nature of Shen Shuyu’s job.
“I’m Shen Shuyu’s wife.”
Xu Huixin’s words plunged Luo Yan into an icy abyss. Darkness flickered before her eyes. She gripped the table tightly, and only after a long moment, confirming she wasn’t imagining things, did she speak: “I’m sorry. I didn’t know Shen Shuyu was married. When he was with me, he said he was widowed and now single. If I had known he had a wife, I would never have gotten involved with him.”
Though Luo Yan had gone to the countryside, her values remained intact, and she had her pride. No matter what, she would never destroy another woman’s family. That was her principle—her bottom line.
She closed her eyes. “If you don’t believe me, I can send you the letters he wrote to me. I’ll also terminate the pregnancy.”
Before coming from the youth work point, Luo Yan had held great hope for the child in her womb, believing it to be the fruit of her love with the man she cherished. But now, she saw it as a curse.
“I believe you, Comrade Luo. Because not only were you deceived, I was also tricked by the Shen family. I’ve just discovered Shen Shuyu’s true nature and want to expose him. I need your help,” Xu Huixin said. Having seen how the story unfolded, she knew Luo Yan’s character and thus directly made this request.
In the storyline, Luo Yan waited three months for Shen Shuyu’s reply but never received a letter. As her pregnancy began to show, she could no longer wait and took leave to come to Shen City. The moment she got off the train, she went straight to the address Shen Shuyu had given her.
But the place had always been an empty house, and letters sent there were left in a nearby mailbox. Finding the real person collecting those letters was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Luo Yan didn’t have the time to investigate further. She went to the Dongsheng Textile Factory, which Shen Shuyu had mentioned, only to find out there was no such person employed there!
Textile manufacturing was booming in Shen City, with no fewer than ten factories. But at this point, Luo Yan didn’t want to dig any deeper. She understood everything: Shen Shuyu had only been using her. Once he got what he wanted, he discarded her. The talk of marriage and wedding banquets was just a ploy to win her over.
Luo Yan endured her hatred, packed up the things she had brought, and took the train back to Xinmin Brigade. Not long after, she aborted the child and fabricated a story that Shen Shuyu had already died. At the educated youth point in Xinmin Brigade, she lived as a widow.
After the resumption of the college entrance examination, she was admitted to university and returned to the city. Upon graduation, she caught the wave of the Reform and Opening-up and seized the opportunity to start a business. Years later, she became a rival to Xu Huixin, the female lead. The two clashed fiercely, exchanging blows with such intensity that neither wanted to see the other succeed.
When Shen Shuyu saw Luo Yan, he was deeply moved and believed that Luo Yan’s fight against Xu Huixin was all about competing for him. Brimming with confidence, he shamelessly went to see Luo Yan several times, hoping to rekindle their past relationship.
But Luo Yan despised him utterly and refused to listen to any of his explanations. Seizing an opportunity, she directly had him sent to prison. If it weren’t for the author of the book writing her a tragic ending—betrayed by an insider and dying in a hit-and-run—she would have crushed both Xu Huixin, the legitimate heroine, and Shen Shuyu, the cowardly male lead, without mercy.
This was precisely why Xu Huixin approached Luo Yan in the first place. She believed that a girl like Luo Yan, once she found out Shen Shuyu had deceived her with such a monstrous lie, could never let it go quietly.
Moreover, Xu Huixin always thought that if the author hadn’t arranged for Luo Yan to become disheartened and unwilling to continue tracking down Shen Shuyu’s whereabouts, Shen Shuyu would have been finished long ago. There wouldn’t even be a male or female lead left.
Luo Yan closed her eyes. After a long moment, she opened them and said, “Give me an address. I’ll come find you myself.”
Xu Huixin gave her the address of her family home. After noting it down, Luo Yan hung up and called her own family. Although she had been sent down to the countryside, she was still deeply cherished at home. It was just that her family wasn’t particularly wealthy.
Luo Yan had told her parents about Shen Shuyu’s situation—knowing that Shen Shuyu was a widower raising a child. Her parents strongly opposed the marriage. Luo Yan had the most intense argument of her adult life with them. But despite the quarrel, when it came to such serious matters, she wouldn’t keep things from them.
The call Luo Yan returned was answered by her father. Upon hearing the news, he flew into a rage over the phone. He urged her to get leave from the brigade leader and come back immediately so they could confront Shen Shuyu together.
Luo Yan was a decisive and straightforward person. She didn’t fully believe Xu Huixin’s words, but Suzhou was very far from Shen City. She prepared everything she needed. For example, she got the brigade leader to issue a certificate proving that she and Shen Shuyu had held a wedding. The certificate wasn’t just signed and stamped by the brigade officials who had come to eat that day—it was also sealed by the educated youths at the point.
*****
While Luo Yan was busy, Xu Huixin wasn’t idle either. She had returned to her parental home, which was located in the western district of the city. The Xu family had lived in Shencheng for generations, so even in the city center, they owned a large five-room tiled house, three side rooms, and a spacious courtyard where they could grow vegetables and flowers.
Caught up in the twists of fate, Xu Huixin had insisted on becoming a stepmother, leading to a fierce quarrel with the Xu family. After that, many years passed without any contact. Yet, during the time Xu Huixin worked tirelessly for the Shen family, the Xu family couldn’t bear to watch silently and offered a great deal of support.
Xu Huixin returned home bearing injuries; the gauze was still soaked with blood, terrifying her parents and relatives.
It wasn’t until late at night, just before going to bed, that Lin Xi saw the message Xu Huixin had sent in the group chat. At that moment, Lin Xi had just finished practicing the Yi Shu Thirteen Exercises once more.
This had become her nightly ritual before sleep. With each passing day and every practice session, her understanding of the Yi Shu Thirteen Exercises deepened. Previously, completing all thirteen moves took her three hours; now she could finish in just two and a half.
After finishing the exercises, Lin Xi felt completely refreshed. Sometimes, she even sensed a faint warmth radiating from her abdomen.
She wiped away the sweat, took a shower, and sent a copy of the Yi Shu Thirteen Exercises—previously photocopied using the Damingbao family’s copier—to the new group members Gu Nuanyang and Xu Huixin. The group’s delivery system had been upgraded, making it much easier to distribute materials.
Unlike before, when she had to spend a whole day compiling and then sending the materials individually to everyone.
Gu Nuanyang, having previously been nourished by the Fingertip Spring, boasted the best physical condition in the group. While practicing the Yi Shu Thirteen Exercises, she had already reached the seventh move.
When Lin Xi shared this news in the group chat, everyone celebrated her progress enthusiastically.
Chu Qianmo saw this and felt the faint pain in his heart surge again. He couldn’t help but grumble: 【[Dog Brother] Chu Qianmo, the Wife-Killer Cultivator: Tell me, wouldn’t it be great if the Fingertip Spring could be extracted and given to me? The group chat system doesn’t even have a body—what’s the point of coming here?】
No sooner had Chu Qianmo finished speaking than that familiar electric shock sensation hit him again. He writhed as if dying, skillfully blew smoke rings, and smoothed down his hair that stood on end from the shocks. He felt like a real tough guy once more.
This had been happening frequently over the past two days because Chu Qianmo discovered that after being electrocuted by the group chat system, the meridians in his body expanded. If he focused on cultivation now, his progress would surely skyrocket, and his alias, Song Ergou, would become famous throughout the cultivation world.
But Chu Qianmo’s ambitions lay elsewhere. He had no desire for immortality; living forever was a lonely fate. It was better to enjoy the good things in life while he was still alive.
He pulled out his chat device and continued chatting in the group.
He hadn’t spoken in the group chat for a long time; everyone knew he had been quietly dealt with after launching a stealth attack on the system.
At that moment, Xu Huixin happened to come online and started talking.
Everyone gave her a thumbs-up for her revenge plan. Knowing that she had directly crippled Shen Shuyu’s leg before leaving the Shen family only made them feel even more satisfied.
Xu Huixin was very familiar with the Shen family: [Xu Huixin from the era novel “Stepmother Xu Huixin”: It’s already past six in the evening here. I bet Shen Shuyu still has that chastity device clenched in his mouth.]
[Qin Suyuan, the real heiress who was switched at birth: Doesn’t his mother care about him?]
[Xu Huixin from the era novel “Stepmother Xu Huixin”: Care? What for? People just treat the saying “a wife for many years becomes the mistress” as a mere phrase. But to Shen Shuyu’s mother, Su Xianghong, it’s a fact. However, before me, Shen Shuyu’s early days, his brother’s wife never gave her the chance to turn that phrase into reality.]
[Ever since I, this old workhorse, entered the Shen family, she finally found her opportunity. I do all kinds of work in the Shen family. To put it bluntly, without me, the Shen family would probably starve to death.]
[In the three years since I came in, I’ve served them all that time. Now, Su Xianghong probably can’t even remember how much salt to put in the food, let alone tidying up the house. Today, after she picked me up from the hospital, she just went back to her room to sleep. I bet she still hasn’t woken up.]
[Shen Shuyu’s three children are all terrified of how he looks after the injury. I guess they’ll only realize he’s been tied to the bed by me around seven or eight o’clock. It’s been delayed for so long; even if a miracle happened, his leg wouldn’t be saved.]
In the group chat, everyone grew even more approving of how Xu Huixin handled the situation. Gu Nuanyang eagerly absorbed Xu Huixin’s way of dealing with things.
She felt that anything she couldn’t understand or imagine, she could learn from this group. Even Qin Suyuan, who wasn’t very old, taught her a lot. “Among three people, there is always a teacher for me”—Gu Nuanyang had been learning this saying since elementary school, but this was the first time she truly felt its meaning.
After discussing Shen Shuyu’s matter for a while, Lin Xi’s hair had dried. She turned off the lights and lay down to sleep.
While she slept, faint, multicolored specks of light slowly drifted into her body. Lin Xi’s brows relaxed in her sleep, completely unaware of what had happened.
Early the next morning, Lin Xi got up early. After eating, she drove out. Chi Xiangping and the others knew she was busy. Although they didn’t know what exactly she was busy with, they didn’t bother her.
Lin Xi headed straight to the neighboring Meng City, only having breakfast after arriving there. Each city’s rice noodles had slight differences in preparation and ingredients, but one thing remained the same—they were all delicious.
After finishing her meal, Lin Xi bought a fruit basket and a bouquet of fresh flowers from a roadside fruit shop and headed to the hospital.
Ming Shu was undergoing her rehabilitation exercises when she learned that Lin Xi had arrived. Her mother, Ming Li, went to the door to greet Lin Xi.
Ming Li felt that Lin Xi was truly her lucky star. They had only met once briefly at the community gate, but within days, Lin Xi uncovered the truth behind her daughter's "disappearance" and even managed to rescue her.
Not long after, Ming Shu woke up! Ming Li had been searching for her daughter for so many years, praying to gods and Buddhas countless times. The more she came into contact with Lin Xi, the more she prayed—and gradually, she began to believe.
Lin Xi parked her car in the lot, and as she stepped out, she spotted Ming Li.
Ming Li saw Lin Xi too and strode over with a warm smile. “Xiao Xi, long time no see. You’re still as beautiful as ever. How’s your grandmother’s health?”
Ming Li’s gentle and enthusiastic tone, especially the phrase “long time no see,” stirred deep emotions within her. After finding her daughter, every day seemed to fly by. Those days when she opened her eyes only to close them again while searching for her daughter felt like a distant past life.
Her daughter was found and awake now. A heavy weight lifted from Ming Li’s heart. For her daughter’s sake, she had started taking better care of herself—eating more, sleeping well, and with the help of last month’s gene repair serum, her complexion looked much healthier.
“Long time no see, Aunt Ming. You look much better than the last time we met,” Lin Xi said as she carried a fruit basket and walked beside her toward the rehabilitation center. “How is Ming Shu’s condition?”
Ming Li couldn’t help but smile. “The doctors say her recovery is progressing quickly. It’s only been about a month since she woke up, but her bodily functions are improving steadily. She’s already doing arm rehabilitation exercises. The doctors believe that if she keeps this up, she’ll be able to walk within half a year.”
After years as a vegetative patient, Ming Shu’s muscles had atrophied to varying degrees. The fact that she was able to start rehabilitation so soon amazed not only Ming Li but also Ming Shu’s attending physician. Apart from Ming Li and Lin Muxi, he was the one who cared most about Ming Shu. He had even asked Ming Li and the two women for permission to write a research paper about Ming Shu’s case. Although Ming Li didn’t understand why Ming Shu was recovering so well, after discussing it together, the three agreed.
If Ming Shu’s case could be thoroughly studied, it might help many other vegetative patients. For Ming Shu, that would be a great blessing.
“What about Miss Lin?” Lin Xi asked about Lin Muxi.
“She’s living with us now. She didn’t earn much when she was a celebrity, and she donated all the money she had left behind. She went for a checkup a few days ago, and the doctors said her previous report might have been a misdiagnosis. There’s no virus in her body after all.”
At the moment she heard it was a misdiagnosis, Lin Muxi froze in place. Not long after, she leaned against the wall and broke down in tears. Ming Li and Ming Shu cried along with her. As someone she protected, Ming Li and Ming Shu were the ones who most wished for her well-being.
Now that the clouds had parted and the fog cleared, Ming Li felt that each day held new hope.
In the rehabilitation room, Lin Xi saw Ming Shu diligently following the doctor's instructions for her recovery exercises. Lin Muxi, dressed simply in a sweater and jeans and wearing a mask, was also there, quietly learning alongside her.
At this moment, she had shed the aura of a movie queen, looking no different from an ordinary person.
Ming Li told Lin Xi, “Muxi has become our sworn daughter. From now on, she’s like my own. Having such a good sister by Ming Shu’s side, even after I’m gone, I won’t worry about her being lonely.”
Lin Xi watched as Ming Shu and Lin Muxi completed the rehab movements with the doctor, exchanging a warm smile.
Seeing how close they were, she thought of the many troubling stories shared by the women in her group chat. It made her realize that while there are many heartless people in this world, good people are certainly not few.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, Ming Shu finished her rehab exercises. She propelled her wheelchair toward the door, with Lin Muxi following closely behind.
Ming Shu lifted her head and smiled at Lin Xi, her eyes curved like crescent moons. “Hello, you must be Lin Xi, the one my mom and Muxi told me about. My name is Ming Shu. Thank you for helping my mom and Muxi back then.”
Her voice was soft and gentle, a stark contrast to her striking appearance.
“No need to thank me,” Lin Xi replied.
“But I really do want to thank you,” Ming Shu insisted, urging Ming Li and Lin Muxi to invite Lin Xi for a meal.
Lin Xi insisted she had just eaten breakfast, and the matter was dropped. The four of them returned from the rehab room to the ward. Ming Li brewed a pot of jasmine tea and placed it on the coffee table. Lin Xi took the kettle to pour water, and in that instant, two drops of gene repair serum slipped from the kettle into the jasmine tea.
Her movements were swift and unnoticed by anyone.
After finishing the tea and chatting briefly about their recent lives, Lin Xi left. Once she was gone, Ming Shu and Ming Li talked quietly.
“I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve known Lin Xi for a very long time. Seeing her feels so familiar,” Ming Shu said. She had no memory of the chat group or her past life in ancient times; only a faint impression remained of having drunk a bottle of water at the Garden Hotel and then having a very long dream.
In the dream, she seemed to have traveled back to ancient times, first entering a selection process, and then gradually rising to become a noble consort.
“Then from now on, let’s keep in closer touch with her,” Ming Li said, showering Ming Shu with unconditional affection.
Lin Muxi felt the same way. Birds of a feather flock together, and since Lin Muxi got along so well with Ming Shu and her mother, their thoughts often aligned. Looking at Ming Shu and recalling what Lin Xi had just said, Lin Muxi made a decision in her heart.
****
After leaving the hospital, Lin Xi parked her car in the building materials market parking lot. She wandered around a lighting store, then found an opportunity to slip into the restroom. Afterward, she took a stealth charm that she had exchanged from Chu Qianmo and left the restroom unnoticed.
Near the building materials market, there was a courier station. Lin Xi chose the smallest one, took a disguise pill, and transformed herself into the appearance of a middle-aged woman. She walked in to inquire about sending a package.
Inside the courier shop, the shopkeeper’s wife was dozing off against the wall. A strong aroma of roasted sweet potatoes filled the air. Lin Xi approached and noticed an electric heater nearby, with several small sweet potatoes warming on top.
The automatic doorbell by the entrance detected someone coming in and chimed a cheerful "Welcome!"
The shopkeeper’s wife finally lifted her head, rubbing her sleepy eyes to glance at Lin Xi, then flipped the sweet potatoes over on the heater.
“Are you here to pick up a package or send one?” she asked.
“I want to send a package,” Lin Xi replied, glancing around as she fully embodied the nosy, gossip-loving middle-aged woman persona.
“What are you sending and where to? Within the province, it arrives in a day. Outside the province, three to five days. Costs depend on distance—eight yuan for the first weight unit within the province, two yuan for each additional unit. For outside the province, the first unit ranges from twelve to fifteen yuan, with four yuan for each additional unit.”
Lin Xi took from her grandmother’s plastic woven basket—normally used for picking vegetables—a bound book of the Yi Shu Thirteen Classics, along with two bottles of gene repair serum disguised in green ointment jars.
“It’s a simple sketchbook for my granddaughter, plus her green ointment. Sending it to Jing City. You know how big cities are—even in winter, there are still mosquitoes.” The winter mosquitoes really did exist; Lin Xi wasn’t making that up.
Back in university, she had discovered that after heating was turned on in winter, some mosquito eggs would hatch and grow into mosquitoes. No one was prepared for this, and the next morning, everyone woke up with several itchy bites on their hands.
Fortunately, those mosquitoes were easy to kill—one spray of insecticide and they were gone.
The shopkeeper’s wife had never been to Jing City but had visited Guangyue, where mosquitoes were indeed plentiful in winter. She didn’t really understand the concept of north and south, so she didn’t think much of it.
“Alright, bring it over, I’ll pack it for you. Did you bring your ID? Now they require real-name registration for sending packages.”
Lin Xi pretended to be troubled and quickly said, “I didn’t need an ID last time I sent something, so I didn’t bring it this time. My granddaughter’s waiting for this sketchbook—she said she has to use it for some kind of competition.”
“Do you remember your ID number?” The shopkeeper’s wife had seen many senders like Lin Xi ever since real-name registration became mandatory. It was nothing new to her.
“I really don’t remember. Can I give you my father-in-law’s instead? He had some business to handle recently, and I helped him here—I happen to remember his info.”
“Alright, alright.” The shopkeeper’s wife pulled out her phone and started typing.
Lin Xi filled in Professor Gu Anbang’s home address, and for the sender, she simply wrote Lei Feng, using his ID number as well.
All these details were things Lin Xi had dug up when she was sending weapon blueprints before. She had noted down the ID number back then and was quite surprised she could use it now.
“Oh, your father-in-law’s ID is from the capital? I’ve never seen an ID starting with 100 before.”
“He’s from the capital city. Back then, wasn’t there a group of educated youth sent down to the countryside? My father-in-law was one of them. Later, he married my mother-in-law. After that, when it became possible to return to the city, he went back. My mother-in-law divorced him. A couple of years ago, he came back looking for us. It just so happened that my son was going to university there, so he went along with him,” Lin Xi recounted the story effortlessly, having been immersed in period dramas these days.
The shop owner’s wife also loved watching these kinds of TV dramas. She handed Lin Xi some foam paper to wrap the gene repair serum. Because Lin Xi’s story sounded so far-fetched, she didn’t even notice that the green ointment Lin Xi sent was actually a liquid, not a cream.
“Did your father-in-law get married in the capital? Did he have any children?”
“Of course he got married! It was just that my mother-in-law kept waiting for him to come and take her away. But he ended up marrying a cultured woman over there and had two kids. My husband grew up in the countryside, a real mud farmer—no comparison at all.”
The shop owner’s wife immediately thought of those TV dramas she’d seen before, one called something like *Dad Has One Family, Mom Has Another*. Suddenly, she looked at Lin Xi with a touch of pity.
“What a mess. But at least he’s got some conscience, knowing to take your son there to be raised. That’s better than most. I’ve seen those dramas where the kids are completely abandoned. When they come looking for their parents, they get kicked out.”
“Yes. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be helping him with this, right? I can barely read or write, and I’m running all over the place, not knowing where anything is.”
“That’s hard work. Alright then, fifteen yuan.” Listening to the story, the shop owner’s wife finished packing the express delivery, stuck on the shipping label. Lin Xi pulled out a pink wallet she’d stumbled upon from her high school days.
The pink leather was already peeling. This was the first wallet she ever owned. Lin Xi had long since put it away in her space as a keepsake. Now, using it suited her disguised identity perfectly. She took out fifteen yuan and handed it to the shop owner’s wife.
“How long will it take to arrive?”
“If it’s fast, four days; if slower, five. No more than five days.” The capital city was over three thousand kilometers from Meng City. Five days was already quick.
Lin Xi hummed thoughtfully. Today was the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month. Four days would land right on New Year’s Eve; five days would be New Year’s Day. She guessed that the research institute wouldn’t possibly give Professor Gu Anbang time off during the holidays.
But, as everyone knows, even during the New Year, couriers still have to work. She just hoped that when Professor Gu Anbang received this package, he’d be pleasantly surprised. Consider it a New Year’s gift, a way to pay respects to those who have dedicated their lives to the country.
The more Lin Xi thought about it, the better she felt about her idea. She gave herself a mental thumbs-up, then recalled the words Chi Xiangping had told her when helping send a package before, passing them on bit by bit to the shop owner’s wife.
When dealing with customers—even one who had just shared a juicy piece of gossip with her—the shop owner was very kind and patiently answered Lin Xi’s questions. As soon as Lin Xi stepped outside, she picked up a roasted sweet potato and called her girlfriends to share the big gossip she had only ever seen in dramas.
Lin Xi walked out with her head held high, feeling like she had done a good deed, just like Lei Feng. She made her way to an alley without surveillance cameras and activated the signal jammer Yao Xiran had given her.
After removing her disguise, she took another disguise pill, placed the signal jammer into her spatial pocket, then slipped through the back door of the building materials market to the lighting section’s restroom. There, she deactivated her invisibility, flushed the toilet, washed her hands, and left.
All this took just over half an hour.
Spending half an hour in the bathroom isn’t uncommon these days—young people tend to sit for long stretches, and constipation isn’t such a big deal anymore.
When she came out, she picked out two uniquely designed wall lamps, then two table lamps before finally leaving.
By the time she returned to Meng City, it was afternoon. Her great-aunt called to remind her not to forget about the blind date. Lin Xi was a bit annoyed. She knew she couldn’t avoid marriage for her entire life, but after seeing the men her friends had met, she genuinely didn’t want to get married.
She planned to just go through the motions at this blind date, but as soon as her car turned toward the police station, her great-aunt called again, clearly upset. The blind date had been postponed because the guy suddenly had a mission.
Lin Xi was instantly delighted. She kept the music playing and drove happily toward home.
When Lin Xi got home, Chi Xiangping was already aware of the situation and was quite displeased. “Your great-aunt really isn’t reliable. How can she do things so carelessly?”
Lin Xi was thrilled but said with a smile, “Maybe it’s just not meant to be. Grandma, please don’t set me up with anyone else. Our family’s guesthouse is about to open, and I’m still carrying a huge loan—all in my name. Who in their right mind would want to marry someone buried in debt?”
“If you set me up again, and when the guy finds out, he’ll probably accuse you of tricking him into marriage!” The moment she said “tricking into marriage,” Chi Xiangping’s expression changed.
When Lin Xi’s mother was taken back to her maternal family, her maternal sister-in-law had accused Lin Xi’s father of tricking her mother into marriage.
This accusation was a heavy blow for Chi Xiangping; she felt she couldn’t handle it.
Her face shifted repeatedly. Although the family no longer owed money to individuals, they still had bank loans! Marrying off a daughter with so much debt would definitely invite gossip.
Seeing Chi Xiangping’s changing expressions, Lin Xi painted a hopeful picture for her: “Our village will start the guesthouse business next year. When more visitors come, I’ll start making money. You’ve heard about Wufeng Town, right? They sell fried potatoes and make thirty to fifty thousand yuan a month. Our place is just getting started, so we won’t make that much yet. But give it two or three years, once we build a reputation, won’t our family be able to pay off the debts?”
"Back then, I was only about twenty-six or twenty-seven, with money in hand and property to my name. Finding anyone I wanted wasn’t a problem. So I thought, why not marry in and have a child to carry on my family name? What do you think?"
Chi Xiangping wasn’t biased toward sons over daughters, but she still held the traditional views of her generation. When she heard that Lin Xi wanted to marry in and have a child to carry her surname, the smile on her face simply wouldn’t fade.
"Alright, alright, we’ll do it your way," Chi Xiangping said cheerfully as she headed back inside. Lin Xi didn’t need to guess—she was probably talking to her grandfather’s ancestral tablet.
Yao Yuran gave Lin Xi a thumbs-up from the side, and Lin Xi smiled shyly, pressing her lips together.
After the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, time seemed to fly by even faster. On the morning of the twenty-ninth, Lin Xi was busy pulling vegetables in the small garden.
According to local custom, on the night of this day, every household would eat hot pot together. The vegetables in the pot, aside from the meat, were not to be cut into pieces.
Eating long vegetables symbolized longevity and lasting happiness.
The morning dew was heavy, and a thin layer of frost covered the grass in the vegetable patch.
Her phone vibrated wildly in her pocket. Lin Xi shook the water off her hands and pulled out her phone to check: [System notification: Group member Xu Huixin has started a live stream and invites you to watch together. Accept/Decline.]
Lin Xi tapped “Accept,” and soon a screen appeared on her phone. She watched while continuing to pull vegetables.
After carrying them to the kitchen, Lin Xi returned to her room.
On the screen, Xu Huixin was walking alongside a woman dressed in a black padded coat.
It was the 1970s. Xu Huixin had finally found Luo Yan, who was accompanied by her father, Luo Xuwen.
The bandages on Xu Huixin’s head hadn’t been removed yet. She brought Luo Yan and Luo Xuwen back to her parental home.
Her parents were both at work and not home. Her nephews and nieces had gone to school and hadn’t returned yet.
Xu Huixin led them to a room.
“These are letters I exchanged with Shen Shuyu back then. You can take a look,” Xu Huixin said, pulling a mooncake box from the top of a cabinet and taking out several letters.
Xu Huixin was swept up in the story and deeply attached to Shen Shuyu, that much was true. But Shen Shuyu wasn’t completely unresponsive.
His letters were completely different from the man himself. The contents were witty and humorous, and just reading the words made it clear he was a learned and gentle soul.
Before Xu Huixin married into the family, Shen Shuyu had indeed been like that. But on their wedding night, he used the excuse that their children didn’t like her to sleep separately.
And for all these years, they hadn’t shared a room. Though during that time, despite his foolish filial piety, he would still bring back small gifts when he went out to soothe her. Of course, those gifts were never valuable.
Luo Yan took the letters and began to read. She had taken out every letter Shen Shuyu had written countless times before. She was intimately familiar with his handwriting.
Shen Shuyu’s handwriting had a unique trait that set it apart from others: after finishing the last stroke, he would fold it inward once more. Moreover, at the end of each sentence, he rarely used punctuation marks, opting instead to separate phrases with a single dot.
Besides these, there were countless little habits in his writing. Luo Yan finally could no longer deceive herself.
“What do you plan to do?”
“When I married Shen Shuyu, it was during the most chaotic time in the city. So, we didn’t register our marriage, nor did we hold a wedding ceremony. But we did swear our vows in front of the number one leader’s statue at the factory. So, from my side, the marriage is considered common-law in the eyes of the public. What about your side?” Xu Huixin asked Luo Yan.
“He once invited the educated youth in our brigade’s resettlement point to a meal, and he also treated our brigade leader and officials. This time, I came prepared with their proof.” Luo Yan didn’t take out the evidence to show Xu Huixin. They were at Xu Huixin’s house, after all. What if Xu Huixin was setting her up to be tricked?
“That’s good enough. Let’s first go to the local police station to accuse him of bigamy, then head to the Women’s Federation to accuse him of marriage fraud. The street office and the Women’s Federation share an office, so we can file both complaints at once.”
“Okay, I’ll follow your lead.” Luo Yan’s face was expressionless. She was a person who clearly distinguished love and hate. When she loved someone, she could even embrace their flaws. But if she found out that person had deceived her—
Then she would hate them with a passion that wished them dead.
Luo Yan’s father, Luo Xuwen, was waiting in the yard. When Luo Yan came out, he looked at her, and she nodded at him: “She didn’t lie to me.”
Luo Xuwen’s eyes flashed with fury. “That bastard really has the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard.” He glanced at Xu Huixin, thinking she was a pitiful girl, just like his daughter.
It was all that bastard’s fault.
Luo Xuwen was burning with rage, wishing he could tear Shen Shuyu to pieces.
The three of them took the bus together. Xu Huixin didn’t wait for her parents or siblings. How should she put it? This mess was her own doing, so there was no need to drag her family into the embarrassment.
Being tricked into a fake marriage and living such a miserable life—people would condemn Shen Shuyu, but surely some would also blame her.
After crossing over, her parents had treated her well, and she didn’t want them to face any criticism.
Along the way, Xu Huixin told Luo Yan about the past few years of her life with a blank expression. Luo Yan listened, glancing at Xu Huixin in surprise several times.
Xu Huixin’s face was calm and steady. The one caught up in the plot was the Xu Huixin in the story, but what did that have to do with the Xu Huixin who had crossed over?
They first went to the police station in the east of the city. When the two women said they had both been tricked into fake marriages by the same man, everyone at the station was stunned—especially after seeing the evidence in their hands. The police looked at them with sympathy.
Luo Xuwen was so furious he slammed the table.
Afterward, only one officer remained on duty at the station; the other four accompanied Xu Huixin and Luo Yan to meet with the Women’s Federation and the street office staff.
Twenty minutes later, a group of people stormed into the residential compound of the Red Star Textile Factory.
By coincidence, just as they entered the yard, Su Xianghong was pushing a wheelchair ahead of them. Hearing the commotion, she turned around and the sight of Xu Huixin instantly ignited a fire in her eyes.
“You shameless little vixen! You tied your man to the bed and pressed down on his leg. Do you have any conscience? Any humanity at all?”
Su Xianghong spun the wheelchair around, slammed on the brakes, and charged straight at Xu Huixin. During the few days Xu Huixin had been away, Su Xianghong had been fantasizing about tearing her apart!
Now, seeing Xu Huixin in front of her, she couldn’t tolerate anyone else in her husband’s life. She wanted to make this woman—who had no respect for her husband or their home—submit, even if it meant beating her to death.
Xu Huixin’s expression remained calm. When Su Xianghong got close, Xu Huixin slapped her hard across the face. Before Su Xianghong could react, Xu Huixin kicked her down to the ground.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Shen Shuyu was completely stunned when he saw the police officers, community officials, and women’s federation staff arrive.
Luo Yan cast him a cold, indifferent glance. As a father, Luo Xuwen finally laid eyes on the bastard who had been bullying his daughter. He charged forward and kicked Shen Shuyu and his wheelchair hard to the ground.
Then he raised his foot and fiercely stomped on Shen Shuyu’s good leg.
Ignoring the murmurs and comments from the onlookers, Luo Xuwen paid them no mind. As long as he had no manners, no one could insult him.
The screams of Shen Shuyu and his mother echoed relentlessly.
