Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Chapter 22 You want to marry her?

The village chief and the brigade leader arrived even faster than the police, and kept asking Lin Qin about her situation.

Lin Qin, her voice trembling with tears, said helplessly, "After my dad got injured, I didn't dare to sleep too soundly, for fear that he wouldn't be able to find me in the middle of the night. I woke up when I heard a sound in the courtyard. At first, I thought it was a cat, but after a while, the wind started blowing in from the door. I knew it wasn't a cat; it must have been a thief."

I was hiding there with a stick. I didn't intend to kill anyone, but he lunged at me. I was terrified, and by the time I came to my senses, he was already like that.

She still doesn't know who that person is, and all she feels is endless panic.

Most of the villagers were reasonable and knew that Lin Qin had a hard life, so no one sympathized with the thief who was beaten to death.

When the police arrived, everyone spoke up for Lin Qin, mentioning Lin Yi's injuries, Lin Qin's hardships, and accusing the thief of doing something inhumane.

The police went up to check and found that the thief was still breathing, but barely alive. They immediately asked the village chief to call people to take the thief to the hospital.

Lin Qin had to take care of Lin Yi and couldn't leave, so the police didn't force her to go to the police station to give a statement. They left after investigating the scene at dawn.

With such a major incident at home, the plan to bring Liu Yaya back has to be temporarily put on hold.

The villagers were all talking about how hard Lin Qin had it, but Li Lian was furious. Originally, she was planning to take advantage of Lin Yi's injury to force Lin Qin to remarry so that she could take over Lin Yi's house and land. Once Lin Qin got married, they could take over Lin Yi's land without any problem.

But Lin Qin was ungrateful and refused to agree. Her suggestion to Qian Dashan was to ambush Lin Qin in public, hug her, and spread rumors so that Lin Qin would have to marry him even if she didn't want to.

Everything was planned perfectly, but unexpectedly, a Cheng Yaojin appeared out of nowhere. No one knew what was going on with that person, and he was beaten half to death by Lin Qin. When Qian Dashan received the news, he was so frightened that he ran away.

What a useless fellow! No wonder he's still single at his age!

Like Li Lian, Liu Yongming and "Fang Ying" were also furious.

"What did you say? The thug who went to steal money was beaten to death by Lin Qin?" Fang Ying was stunned and could not accept this fact.

Liu Yongming was even more depressed than her, his expression so sinister he looked like he wanted to kill someone.

He took a deep breath, opened his eyes again, and slowly said, "I think I understand now. That woman is really going all out. Dealing with her requires a long-term plan. She will definitely be on high alert during this time. We'll make our move when she lowers her guard."

"What about that thug? Will his family cause trouble for us?" Fang Ying was more worried about them getting involved.

Liu Yongming shook his head, looking flustered. "It shouldn't be. I didn't say anything. I just told him that Lin Qin had five hundred yuan, and that he went to steal it himself. What does it have to do with us?"

Fang Ying gritted her teeth in hatred, "That bitch is too lucky! She managed to dodge my attacks time and time again! It's unbelievable!"

Liu Yongming was stunned for a moment, and his face turned pale as he realized what was happening. "I really hadn't thought about that much until you mentioned it. Now that you say it, it reminds me that we've been incredibly unlucky ever since we plotted against her cheating on us. Maybe we really have encountered a ghost!"

Fang Ying got goosebumps and kept patting Liu Yongming, saying, "Don't scare me! Let's get the marriage certificate done quickly, lest something unexpected happens."

"Okay! We'll get the marriage certificate tomorrow!" Liu Yongming agreed readily.

Ever since the thug was taken away, Lin Qin has been absent-minded at home all day long, and she gets startled by any noise outside the yard.

Seeing this, Lin Yi couldn't help but worry, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't been injured, you wouldn't be going through such a difficult time."

Lin Qin shook her head. "Dad! It has nothing to do with you. I'm just worried that this kind of trouble won't end."

Lin Qingxiang and Lin Shaojun told others that the man was after her divorce compensation, but only she knew the truth: he also wanted to sleep with her, perhaps wanting both money and sex. She could guard against it for a while, but not forever.

After this incident, there will definitely be others who will try to take advantage of her.

Lin Yi couldn't help but sigh again.

Early the next morning.

Chen Wenjun brought Liu Yaya to Shanglin Village.

Liu Yaya hadn't seen her mother for several days. Upon seeing Lin Qin, she immediately rushed towards her, exclaiming, "Mommy, I missed you so much! Didn't you say you'd come to see me? You didn't keep your promise!"

Lin Qin hugged her tightly, feeling heartbroken. "Mom misses you too, but there are just too many things to do at home, so Mom really doesn't have time to pick you up."

At this moment, Lin Qin was extremely grateful that Liu Yaya was not by her side. If the child had been there, she couldn't even imagine what would have happened.

Chen Wenjun asked with a serious expression, "When I entered the village just now, I heard people at the village entrance talking about you killing someone. What exactly happened?"

He didn't believe Lin Qin would do that.

Lin Qin shook her head, her eyes red, "I didn't know a thief had broken into my house that night. I didn't know and just kept hitting him. By the time I realized what was happening, he was already lying in a pool of blood. I didn't mean to kill him!"

Lin Qin still feels lingering fear when she thinks about the harrowing experience of that night.

Chen Wenjun looked at Lin Yi, who was sitting motionless in a chair in the main room, thought for a moment, and stepped forward and said, "Uncle, you can't go on like this. You need to recover for several more months. What if a group of people break into your house next time?"
"We can't just sit here and wait to die. I think you should come stay with me for a while. My house is on a boat, so thieves can't get on. With me there, I can help Lin Qin, and it will be more convenient for you to recover."

Lin Qin was somewhat tempted, but not wanting to make a decision on her own, she could only look at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi was silent for a while, then said to Lin Qin, "Go to the field and bring back all the edible vegetables."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yaya skipped and hopped after Lin Qin, saying, "Mommy, I'll go with you."

Lin Qin agreed and walked towards the vegetable garden with a large basket in her hand.

On the way, she asked Liu Yaya about her life on the five-awning boat.

Liu Yaya was so excited that she danced around. "Mom, I played cat's cradle and stacked stones with Brother Ping An on the boat. Uncle Chen took us fishing and collecting snails. He even caught a little turtle for us. It was so tiny, I'm keeping it as a pet on the boat."

Seeing her happy, Lin Qin's mood improved considerably. "Then why didn't you bring it back?"

Liu Yaya shook her head, "The little turtle's home is in the river. If we don't want to keep it anymore, we'll release it back home. I'm afraid I'll kill it if we bring it back."

Seeing that the child was compassionate, Lin Qin didn't say anything.

Lin Yi also asked Chen Wenjun about Liu Yaya's life on the five-awning boat.

Chen Wenjun didn't hide anything, "Yaya gets a little seasick. During the day, I took them to a small deserted island on Nanxi to collect stones and fish. We boarded the boat when it was getting dark. She went to lie down in the back cabin on her own and fell asleep quickly. She's had a pretty good time these past few days."

Lin Yi smiled with relief, then gave Chen Wenjun a deep look. "Now it's just the two of us. Tell your uncle the truth, what's going on between you and Aqin? Do you want to marry her?"

(End of this chapter)