Chapter 77: Sun Lanlan Knows a Thing or Two About Manipulation

Yang Ming and Wang Xueping returned with smiles on their faces. Judging by Yang Ming’s newfound care and attentiveness toward Wang Xueping, it was clear she was truly pregnant.

“Comrade Lin, thank you. Here’s a small token of my appreciation,” Yang Ming said, settling Wang Xueping in and handing a pound of peach pastries to Lin Jingyue.

He was expressing his gratitude for her reminder.

“Oh, and this is for Comrade Jiang. Could you please pass it on to him?” He took out another pound of peach pastries; after all, it was only right to give something in return for borrowing a bicycle.

Lin Jingyue accepted them without ceremony. “Alright, congratulations to you both.”

She remembered how Yang Ming had been when he first arrived—silent and proud. Some people really do grow up quickly.

“Thank you,” Yang Ming scratched his head, eyes brimming with joy.

With their return, news of Wang Xueping’s pregnancy spread quickly.

Naturally, the people in the brigade soon heard about it as well.

Qian Guihua pursed her lips. “She’s lucky, that’s all. If it weren’t for that wretch, the child in Wang Xueping’s belly would be my grandson.”

She harbored deep resentment toward Lin Xinrou. She had a perfectly good daughter-in-law, and someone just had to stir things up.

That wretch, truly despicable.

“Mother.” Sun Lanlan glanced at the silent Sun Zhiyuan and rolled her eyes.

Her mother really couldn’t read a room to save her life.

“What? Are you trying to scare me with that loud voice?” Qian Guihua slammed her bowl down on the table. “Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you do! You’re almost nineteen now, and after New Year’s you’ll be twenty. Didn’t the Cai family take a liking to you? Now they’re not coming to discuss the marriage—what if they back out?”

At the mention of this, Sun Lanlan’s face darkened.

If they didn’t come, so be it! She wouldn’t marry!

“Hello, is anyone home? Auntie? Uncle? Lanlan?” The table was quiet, so even though the voice outside in the yard was not loud, everyone inside heard it clearly.

Sun Lanlan’s tense expression relaxed instantly when she heard Cai Jinzhou’s voice.

If she were rejected, her reputation would be ruined; what good family would want her then?

And if she didn’t marry, even if she had a strong mind, the endless gossip would drown her.

Not to mention her family would never agree.

“Sorry, my grandfather’s been ill these past days, so I’m late,” Cai Jinzhou entered, set down the wine and pastries he’d brought, and apologized first.

Sun Lanlan’s heart also eased.

She might have seemed carefree these past days, but every night she’d been unable to sleep and often grew irritable from overthinking.

She’d even lost some weight.

Cai Jinzhou was here today to apologize and to ask when the Sun family would have time for his parents to come over and discuss the wedding.

Qian Guihua’s heart finally settled, and she grinned with pride whenever she saw someone—her daughter was going to marry into town and have a supply of state grain.

On the surface, everyone praised her, but behind her back they mocked her mercilessly. Her daughter-in-law had a tarnished reputation, and who knew if her daughter was any better.

Were it not for the village secretary’s connection, the Sun family would have been buried in gossip by now.

Even so, people still talked endlessly behind their backs.

And because Lin Xinrou and Sun Tiezhu had been taken to the commune, the whole commune knew about it.

Not long ago, Qian Guihua had been avoiding everyone, but recently she’d started showing off again.

“Lin Jingyue, I’m getting married!” One day, while Lin Jingyue was sighing and shucking corn in her work gloves, she was startled by Sun Lanlan’s booming voice.

She reacted instantly, swinging her leg around. “Are you looking for trouble? Don’t you know you can scare someone to death?”

But Sun Lanlan had predicted her move and leapt away as she finished speaking. “Ha! You missed!”

Lin Jingyue’s kick landed on air. Seeing Sun Lanlan so smug, she felt a surge of annoyance.

She threw down a corn cob, lunged forward, and grabbed Sun Lanlan, sending her tumbling into the field.

Sun Lanlan glared. “Lin Jingyue, you shrew! Are you serious? If that’s how you want to play, I won’t hold back!”

She scrambled up from the ground like a lioness and charged.

“I’ll thrash you,” Lin Jingyue held back her strength—she didn’t use the boxing moves Jiang Xun taught her, just brawled like any ordinary girl, wrestling with Sun Lanlan.

Soon, the two of them were shouting and covered in mud and grass clippings.

Aunt Liu and Aunt Hua, who had watched the whole scene, stared wide-eyed, thoroughly entertained, and made no move to call for help.

Lin Jingyue and Sun Lanlan: “…”

Damn it, can’t you at least call for someone?

After a while, when others heard the commotion and fetched the scorekeeper and brigade leader, the two girls looked like they’d been through a chicken coop.

The team members, hearing that Sun Lanlan had dared to fight Lin Jingyue, all rushed over to watch the spectacle.

The field ridge was packed with onlookers, layer upon layer.

By the time Jiang Xun arrived, the brigade leader and scorekeeper, both wearing stern expressions, had already separated the girls.

Seeing Lin Jingyue’s hair in a wild mess and Sun Lanlan looking just as disheveled, Jiang Xun’s mouth twitched as he tried to suppress a smile—Jingyue, all fired up, was actually… rather cute.

“What happened? Are you hurt?” He tossed aside a stone he’d picked up earlier and walked over to Lin Jingyue, asking softly.

Seeing the stone on the ground, the black-eyed Sun Lanlan thought, “What the…?!”

The onlookers…

For some reason, the brigade leader suddenly felt a sense of relief—it wasn’t his family’s wall being picked at this time.

“What are you two fighting for? You’ve held up the autumn harvest—each of you…”

“Who says we were fighting?!” On hearing the threat to dock work points, Lin Jingyue’s eyes widened.

Earning work points wasn’t easy—up before dawn and working herself to the bone.

The brigade leader, interrupted, snapped, “Your heads look like chicken nests. If that’s not fighting, what is?”

“We were just horsing around, sparring a bit. Brigade leader, if you don’t believe me, ask Sun Lanlan!” Lin Jingyue turned abruptly to Sun Lanlan.

Her clear eyes flashed a warning.

Sun Lanlan wanted to be tough and refuse the threat, but when she opened her mouth, she couldn’t help herself. “Exactly! I was asking for advice from Comrade Lin—she was showing me how to fight back in case my future husband ever hits me.”

Cai Jinzhou, who’d just arrived: “…”

As soon as she finished, Sun Lanlan saw Cai Jinzhou. “…”

What a big mouth—was her brain full of mud? What nonsense was she spouting?

Lin Jingyue could barely contain her laughter but kept a straight face for the brigade leader. “We weren’t fighting. As long as we finish our tasks today, you can’t dock our points.”

“The onlookers were all slacking off—why should we get penalized?”

The brigade leader and scorekeeper looked at her in exasperation.

The spectators: “…”

And then, everyone scattered in a flurry.

The brigade leader glared at the two of them. “If you don’t finish your tasks, all your points for today are gone.”

Lin Jingyue and Sun Lanlan: “…” How could that be?!

As the brigade leader walked away, Lin Jingyue grabbed Jiang Xun and dragged him into the field, not caring about her wild hair or dirty clothes. “Hurry, hurry, hurry! If they dock our points, it’ll be too embarrassing.”

Jiang Xun…

So, what you really care about is your reputation?

Cai Jinzhou watched Lin Jingyue’s retreating figure, feeling a bit conflicted. She… actually knew how to fight?

“What are you looking at? No matter how much you stare, she wouldn’t want a blockhead like you. Who else would have you but me?” Sun Lanlan put her hands on her hips and glared. “We’re about to get married. I won’t hold your past against you, and you can’t hold my fighting against me.”

Cai Jinzhou: “…Alright.”

[Author’s note: This isn’t a switched-at-birth story. I see a lot of speculation, so just a heads-up, haha.]