Chapter 1: A Novel Set in a Different Era 01 The banquet can be skipped, but the certificate is required...
Lin Tingyue was awakened by being splashed with water.
There was a group of men and women, young and old, standing in the room. The man closest to her was wearing a white shirt and black pants, holding an old-fashioned enamel mug, and glaring at her angrily.
"Lin Tingyue, have you no shame?"
She was splashed with water and scolded as soon as she arrived in this world. Anyone would be a little confused in that situation. Her mind was filled with all sorts of memories and information, and she was speechless for a moment.
At this moment, someone rushed forward and stood in front of her, defending her, "Xu Xingyi, aren't you being a bit too harsh? We don't even know what happened yet, how can you blame it all on Xiaoyue? And isn't the other person innocent too!"
"A lone man and a lone woman have been in this house all night, what could possibly happen?" The man called Xu Xingyi said dismissively, then looked at the "lone man" in his words and asked, "Yu Xingzhou, don't you think so?"
"...I didn't touch her."
Xu Xingyi had been waiting for these words, and immediately revealed a mocking smile, "Who would believe that?"
"If you don't believe me, I can go to the hospital for a checkup to prove my innocence. But don't you know better why Yu Xingzhou and I would be alone here all night?" Lin Tingyue said, patting the female educated youth blocking her way to indicate that she was fine, and calmly took two steps toward Xu Xingyi.
“You locked the door last night, so neither of us could get out, and we’ve been stuck here.”
Upon hearing this, the onlookers gasped in surprise.
Xu Xingyi never expected that the woman who always obeyed him would suddenly reveal the truth. Shouldn't she kneel down and beg for his forgiveness at this moment?
"You need to provide evidence to support your claims. Just because you say I did it doesn't mean I did it."
"You want evidence, is that it?" Lin Tingyue curled her lips and looked at the middle-aged man behind them who had been staring at them without saying a word. "Captain, is the door lock still there?"
The other person nodded.
"The lock will probably leave fingerprints. I'll call the police now and have them take your fingerprints and compare them with yours. That should give us the answer, right?"
Xu Xingyi's pupils, like his expression, were panicked, swaying left and right, their auras instantly reversed.
“Xu Zhiqing, if you have any complaints about Lin Zhiqing, you can talk to her nicely. Why do you scare that girl like this? She quit her job and voluntarily accompanied you to our village. She has taken great care of you these past few months.” The brigade leader broke his silence and started to criticize Xu Xingyi.
What a joke! How could he let Lin Tingyue report him to the police? If this got back to his superiors, he would be criticized for not doing his job properly. Besides, Lin Tingyue has a father who is a military officer; he knows who he can and cannot mess with.
"Captain, it's not like that, it was Lin Tingyue first..." Xu Xingyi wanted to explain, but seeing the captain shake his head and the warning in his eyes couldn't be clearer, he stopped talking abruptly and could only suppress his dissatisfaction with Lin Tingyue for the time being.
While everyone was still discussing and saying all sorts of things, Lin Tingyue didn't want the matter to escalate any further. She glanced at her watch and reminded them, "It's getting late, everyone has to go to work. Let's call it a day. Yu Xingzhou and I will go later; we have some things to discuss. Could you please give us some time, Captain?"
Perhaps it was because Lin Tingyue had such a strong presence, but the captain suddenly felt that Lin Tingyue was the captain and he was just a follower, and he also felt that Lin Tingyue was different from before...
Forget it, why bother thinking about this? With that thought, he nudged Xu Xingyi, signaling him to leave. "Right, everyone, let's disperse and get on with what we're doing."
The captain waved for all bystanders to leave, leaving only her and Yu Xingzhou in the room.
Lin Tingyue's arrival in this novel was incredibly unfortunate; it happened right after the villainous female supporting character with the same name as her had done something foolish, and the male lead, Xu Xingyi, brought people to catch them in the act.
It was still 1976, and having illicit relationships was punishable by being sent to a labor camp. The male protagonist was trying to get revenge for his sweetheart and was determined to torment her to death.
"I lied to you about what happened yesterday, I'm sorry." Although she really didn't want to take the blame, she had no choice. In her previous life, after sacrificing herself on a mission, she suddenly connected with some kind of Time and Space Administration, which said that she had accumulated merit and could be reborn in a book.
They even said they had prepared some ancient empress script for her, but the system malfunctioned and sent her into a period novel instead. She couldn't escape and had no choice but to accept it.
Yu Xingzhou didn't speak, his hands clenched into fists, and he turned his face away from her.
Sigh, if it were her, she probably wouldn't accept this apology either. She deliberately lured the girl to the cowshed with money because of her bad class background, and even drugged her, just to ruin the original female lead's reputation.
"Feel free to ask for anything, and I'll compensate you."
Yu Xingzhou laughed upon hearing this. "Just because I come from a bad family background, you think I can bully you at will?"
“…I’m sorry.” Lin Tingyue lowered her eyes and bowed her back to Yu Xingzhou. She didn’t ask for his forgiveness, she only hoped that it would make Yu Xingzhou feel better at this moment.
After an unknown amount of time, the other party finally let out a sigh.
"Forget it, I'm barefoot and have nothing to fear. But you, the villagers will definitely gossip about you later. Even if you do some kind of test to prove yourself, they won't believe you."
Lin Tingyue was well aware of this; people only wanted to believe what they believed, and they didn't care about the facts.
She was about to say that she didn't care what others said about her when she heard Yu Xingzhou say, "If you need it, I can take care of it..."
Although Yu Xingzhou was drugged by the original owner of the body, and the two of them were locked in the room by the male lead, nothing happened between them last night. Even if something did happen, she would go to the hospital to see if there were any emergency contraceptive methods available at this time.
But at this moment, she couldn't bring herself to refuse.
She couldn't be happier that Yu Xingzhou was going to become the richest man in the future and that the other party was willing to take responsibility!
In the original storyline, they were supposed to get married, but the female supporting character was unwilling to accept it. She held a wedding banquet but did not register the marriage. She continued to harass Xu Xingyi until the college entrance examination was reinstated and she chased after the male lead to take the exam and return to Beicheng.
Since there's no need to follow the plot, we should seize any opportunity to curry favor with powerful figures; otherwise, we might miss it.
“We can just have a banquet and not get a marriage certificate. This is common in the countryside. If you have the opportunity to return to the city later, it won’t delay you in any way.”
Yu Xingzhou knew that Lin Tingyue came from Beicheng and had a good family background, so it was impossible for her to stay in the village forever.
He was different; he had a landlord grandfather and a father who worked on a farm.
The Yu family wasn't always like this. Grandpa was a kind and generous man with a good reputation in the village. In addition, he cooperated with the work and wasn't made things difficult for the family. The family's brick and tile house was preserved. The only problem was that because of their class background, the farm work they were assigned was the most tiring.
Later, Yu Xingzhou's father returned to China with his wife and children. A few years later, they were caught up in that massive wave of violence. Not only did they have to go back to the land to make a living, but they were also not allowed to return to their hometown. As for his mother, her maternal grandparents sensed something was wrong and she was forcibly taken away by her family, leaving her husband and children behind in Hong Kong.
Yu Xingzhou lost both his parents for a time, so he returned to Donghe Village to live with his grandparents.
But this happy period didn't last long. My grandparents fell ill and passed away one after another, and my parents weren't around either. I had to do all the farm work myself, but I couldn't earn enough work points, and I was malnourished, which created a vicious cycle...
However, Lin Tingyue didn't think these things were important. The composition of the ingredients would change over time, and besides...
She carefully examined the tall, thin man before her. He had almond-shaped eyes, a high nose, and fair skin—a combination that perfectly suited her taste. He was just too thin, which wouldn't be ideal for manual labor, but malnutrition was normal given their current lack of food and clothing; she could always improve his health later. As for the physical labor, she would do it herself, as long as Yu Xingzhou remembered her kindness and could live a life of luxury as a wealthy wife in the future.
Seeing that Lin Tingyue remained silent, Yu Xingzhou felt that she might not agree. After all, she was willing to go to the countryside to follow her sweetheart. Even if they had broken up now, she wouldn't be able to accept marrying another man so quickly.
A heavy silence hung in the air. The man subconsciously raised his long, slender, fair arm, marked with a few scars, and stroked the back of his neck before lowering it. His body subtly turned towards the doorway. "Think it over first. I'm going to work too..."
"No, I've already thought it through." Lin Tingyue suddenly stood up and closed the distance between them, then solemnly grasped his hands and said, "Comrade Yu Xingzhou, I'm willing to marry you. We can skip the banquet, but we must get our marriage certificate."
"?"
"As the party at fault in this incident, I must bear the corresponding responsibility. This consequence is what I deserve, and you don't need to worry about me."
That's right, it's my right to be able to live off a woman in the future, Lin Tingyue thought to herself, feeling a little excited.
Although she was a special police officer in her previous life, she came from a bad family and never experienced any warmth, so she devoted all her energy to her work.
Now that she has the chance to change her life, she wants to live for herself and live as she pleases.
At noon, under an old tree, Xu Xingyi was having lunch with Song Xue.
Many people don't go home during the lunch break. They bring their own food and water when they go to work in the morning, and then quickly sit down in the shade to rest at noon.
"Don't worry, we can't just let this go like this." Xu Xingyi said as he took a big bite of the white steamed bun in his hand.
“Actually, I don’t understand. Lin Zhiqing said she would report it to the police, so why didn’t you let her? Last night, she used your name to lure me out and tried to take my virginity. Although she didn’t succeed, there should still be an explanation.” Song Xue ate her cornbread in small bites and drank some water from time to time.
At this point, Xu Xingyi's expression darkened further.
Both lived in the Air Force compound, but his parents were just doctors and nurses at the hospital, while Lin Tingyue's father was a high-ranking general, her mother was a high school teacher, and her two older brothers were also accomplished. As the youngest daughter in the family, she was showered with love and affection. Anyone who knew her identity would not want to go against her.
But that's precisely why she was spoiled; she had to get whatever she wanted.
In the past, if Lin Tingyue had cleared out all the women around Xu Xingyi because she liked him, he would have been happy to have some peace and quiet. But things are different now. He fell in love with Song Xue at first sight and would absolutely not allow anyone to touch a hair on her head.
He originally wanted to take this opportunity to have Lin Tingyue arrested and sent to a farm for labor reform, but he didn't expect that the brigade leader was a coward.
Xu Xingyi sighed, "The captain doesn't want to offend anyone."
"Is it because of Lin Zhiqing's father?"
"right."
Thinking of the vast difference between herself and the other person, Song Xue found it even harder to swallow the already bland food. "I really envy her. Her family must spoil her a lot, otherwise she wouldn't have done something so crazy."
"So what? It will be hard for her to get married in the future. No matter how good her family background is, it will still be tainted. You don't need to envy her."
Although these words were spoken by Lin Tingyue, Xu Xingyi's words also made Song Xue a little uncomfortable. It was as if a woman's only task in life was to get married. Her adoptive father never got married, and no one said anything about it.
Song Xue wasn't one to argue, so she just kept her head down and ate her food. Unlike usual, she didn't chat with Xu Xingyi after the meal, and left early.
Xu Xingyi thought she was unhappy because of Lin Tingyue, so he decided to find Lin Tingyue after work today to argue with her and make her apologize to Song Xue.
As a result, he had already prepared his speech in his mind, but when he returned to the educated youth settlement after work in the evening, he found Lin Tingyue carrying large and small bags of things out.
"What happened?" Xu Xingyi didn't go up to ask the person involved directly, but instead chose to ask the male educated youth in the same dormitory who was standing aside watching.
"She said she's going to marry Yu Xingzhou, and she's moving in tonight," the male educated youth explained, giving him a meaningful look.
"What?!"
Another male educated youth, not wanting to miss out on the fun, joked, "What's wrong with your hearing? If they don't stay at the educated youth settlement anymore, it'll be hard for us to eat meat and white flour buns every day."
A note from the author:
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illustrate:
1. The acts of raising, selling, and consuming wild animals mentioned in this article are all incorrect. Special circumstances require special treatment, and the author does not support or describe them extensively.
2. This is not a story about a strong female lead, and the female lead is not a typical "big heroine." She has her limitations and may want to rely on powerful figures, but this doesn't mean she's uninterested in her career. If you're only looking for a story about a self-reliant and career-focused female lead, you should probably look elsewhere.
3. The entire text is expected to be under 300,000 words; short story writers will not write very long ones.
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