“What I mean is what you mean. Why are you being sarcastic in front of my mother-in-law and my family? You say distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. That's true in other villages, but not in your Linjia Village.”
"What do you mean, 'not your son'? What did that ugly, deformed boy do to make his ancestors' graves swell with auspicious smoke? It's me who has taken a liking to Lin Fusheng and my daughter. How dare you bring them up? And you're still calling them 'friends'? Call them 'friends' my ass! If it weren't for your big mouth making it known to everyone, would my daughter have been wasted by that wicked woman for so many years?"
"If it weren't for your Linjia Village, would my youngest son have been forced to join the army? I didn't hold it against you in the past because of our fellow villagers, but you've made a scene right under my nose. Today, I'm going to settle this score with you properly." Li Xiujuan's eyes were red with anger. She snapped a pair of chopsticks in half with one hand. With a snap, Li Xiujuan grabbed Liu Rugui and led him toward the people from Linjia Village behind her.
“Village chief, I rescued you from the deep mountains in May two years ago. Is it too much to ask for two pounds of grain in exchange for your life?”
"Lin Daniu, last year at the end of the year, I slaughtered a pig for your family and asked you for two catties of meat. Would you have refused?"
"Lin Tiezhu..."
Li Xiujuan recounted everything in detail, only to be interrupted by a harsh voice, "Li Xiujuan, we're all from the same village, why are you being so petty and driving the villagers to despair?"
"So this is driving us to a dead end?" Li Xiujuan sneered, then looked up with a chilling gaze. "Compared to what you did to my youngest son, it's nothing."
Upon hearing this, the villagers of Linjia Village, who had just been ready to fight for three hundred rounds, fell silent. Li Xiujuan looked around, and no one dared to meet her gaze.
Even the village chief, Lin Zhiyuan, had a shifty look in his eyes.
“Village Chief, the villagers all trust you. Tell me, how should this matter be handled?” Li Xiujuan called out his name, and everyone looked over. This was tantamount to pushing Lin Zhiyuan into the eye of the storm. If Li Xiujuan wished, there would inevitably be losses. If she did not wish, how could he, as the village chief, command the respect of the people? The people of Linjia Village are not all like Liu Rugui; there are many who are discerning and clear-headed.
“Fusheng’s wife, what you ask for is not unreasonable, but could you exchange these two catties of grain for chickens and ducks? Also, because of the locust plague, most of us have no food at all. Now that we’ve gone north, who knows how difficult it will be. Why don’t you give me some leeway and offer something else in lieu of grain or exchange a little less?” Lin Zhiyuan used a strategy of retreat to advance, and Li Xiujuan was unwilling to push things too far and create new enemies, so she relented.
With Lin Zhiyuan leading the way, the others who felt guilty towards Li Xiujuan contributed some grain to varying degrees. Only Liu Rugui and her ilk, who had been so arrogant before, were now filled with regret. After all, when it came to one-on-one combat, no one in Linjia Village could beat her.
Li Xiujuan ignored them, her eyes reddening as she looked at the mountain of meat and grain.
Lin Zhaozhao watched silently, her face turning cold after she found the corresponding memory.
Li Xiujuan had four children: her eldest son Lin Zheng, her second daughter Lin Zhaozhao, her third daughter Lin Yangyang, and her youngest son Lin Dan. Of the four children, her youngest son was the weakest and was carefully raised from a young age. He only started to grow tall like a normal person after the age of ten. Even so, he was still half a head shorter than others until he was fourteen years old.
The border of Daliang was plagued by constant warfare and suffered repeated defeats. In order to stabilize the border defense, the imperial court forcibly conscripted soldiers, one person per household.
The Lin family had chosen Lin Zheng, but things are unpredictable, and Lin Dan was also sent to the battlefield.
Ultimately, it all comes down to the female lead, Lin Jinxiu.
Only then did Lin Zhaozhao understand why Lin Jinxiu hadn't reminded the Lin family's eldest branch about the locust plague when she moved north—because the eldest and second branches of the Lin family had already broken ties before that.
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