"It's useless to talk about this now. We need to contact Liu Yongguo immediately and tell him what's going on at home. After the scene she made today, Lin Qin is definitely on guard against us. Using this trick to plot against her won't work anymore."
The more Liu Yongguo thought about it, the angrier he became, thumping his fist against the wooden bed frame with a loud bang.
"It's all because you're useless!" Xu Manzhi burst out, scolding him bitterly once more.
Having already reached the street with Lin Yi, Lin Qin suddenly stopped, looked back at Lin Zhi and Li Lian, and said with a forced smile, "Second Uncle, Second Aunt, thank you for your hard work tonight. You should head back to the village first. We still need to make a trip to the health clinic, and it'll be the middle of the night by the time we get back."
Lin Zhi didn't push the matter. Assuming the airs of an elder, he lectured, "Today your husband's family certainly didn't act right, but after all, that's your mother-in-law, your eldest brother, his wife, and your sister-in-law—and you threw punches yourself. If you ask me, enough is enough. Don't make a scene until your husband's family can't even tolerate you anymore.
There has never been a daughter in our family chased out of her husband's home back to her maiden family. Don't go making your father lose face along with you."
"Exactly! Which daughter-in-law doesn't lower herself and tread carefully? You're the only one with such a big temper and a stubborn streak. You start throwing punches at the drop of a hat, and you even bit someone until they bled. It's only because the Liu Family was in the wrong; otherwise, after the fuss you kicked up today, they'd force your husband to divorce you!
You're going to be the death of me! I have no idea how your mother taught her daughter when she was alive—you have no manners at all!" Li Lian chimed in, nagging and cursing.
"Have you said enough? Who do you think you are? Even my dad hasn't said anything—what qualification do you have to run your mouth here? And leave my mother out of this! What did my mother ever do to you? What gives you the right to talk about her like that?" Lin Qin roared in fury.
They could curse her, and she could endure it, but Li Lian running down her mother was crossing the line!
Taken aback for a second, Li Lian snapped back to her senses and flared up in anger. "Hey! You wretched girl! If it weren't for your messy business today, we wouldn't have had to make this trip in the first place. What's wrong with me saying a couple of things to you? If you weren't so useless, could the Liu Family bully you like this? With the energy you have to pick fights, how did you end up getting pushed around this badly? Useless thing!"
"Enough!" Lin Yi roared furiously. "My daughter is not for you to lecture!"
Li Lian let out a contemptuous snort, turned on her heel, and stalked off. "Who wants to bother with you people!"
She hadn't come today to help Lin Qin at all; she had heard that Lin Qin was messing around with some wild man and came specifically to watch the show and kick them while they were down. Never had she imagined she wouldn't get to see a good show, only to witness Lin Qin's rebellious streak instead, leaving her empty-handed and boiling with rage inside!
"Are you coming or not?" After walking a few paces, Li Lian saw that Lin Zhi wasn't keeping up, turned around, and snapped impatiently.
Lin Zhi glanced at her with a less-than-pleasant expression, didn't even bother to give Lin Yi a direct look, and hurried to catch up with Li Lian.
Furious, Lin Yi felt his eyes go red with stinging tears, but he held them back. Instead, he hugged Liu Yaya and turned to comfort Lin Qin. "Your mother-in-law and the Liu Family's eldest couple might be heartless, but your husband is a junior college student. In another three or four months, he'll graduate.
Once he graduates and gets assigned a job, you can take Yaya and go with him. Then you won't have to entangle yourself with his old mother and brothers. Just bear with it for now while you can, and once you push through this, things will get better."
Walking behind Lin Yi, Lin Qin let her tears fall silently. She desperately wanted to tell him that this was impossible—that she and Liu Yongming had no future together—but she couldn't say it. Saying it now would accomplish nothing; she could only let time give Lin Yi the answer, even if that answer would cause him a great deal of heartache for a very long time.
Thinking she was still sulking in silence, Lin Yi sighed helplessly, hugged the child, and walked quietly toward the health clinic.
When the three of them arrived at the health clinic, only the night-shift doctor and nurse were on duty.
The conditions at the health clinic weren't as good as a proper hospital, but the hospital was far away, and unless it was a major ailment, people didn't make the trip.
Lin Qin asked Lin Yi to watch Liu Yaya and the luggage while she went inside to see the doctor.
As luck would have it, she ran straight into Chen Wenjun, who had just finished his medical consultation.
Chen Wenjun gave her a warm smile. Keeping his left palm facing upward, he reached out two fingers with his right hand and traced two strokes across his palm—the exact gesture he used to coax her back when she was bedridden with illness.
Lin Qin's eyes instantly welled up with moisture.
She had thought they would never cross paths again in this lifetime, yet here he was, having been reborn just like her.
After finishing the gesture, Chen Wenjun did not acknowledge her openly.
The two of them brushed past each other.
Lin Qin composed herself, sat down on the high stool, and said, "Doctor, I was hit on the head with a stick and it's bleeding."
The doctor immediately furrowed his brow into a knot. "The patient right before you was also here for a head injury, said they were hit with a stick too. How did you get hit as well? Is the city falling into chaos again? Public security isn't great these days—you folks shouldn't go running off to rubberneck for no reason. Just a few days ago, someone went to watch the excitement and lost an eye."
Lin Qin shook her head. "No, we didn't!"
Seeing that she was reluctant to elaborate, the doctor didn't press further. He examined her and muttered thoughtfully, "For your condition, it's best to go to the city hospital for an X-ray to see if any vital areas were injured. All I can do here is help you clean the wound and apply medicine. If you start experiencing symptoms like nausea, vomiting, or dizziness, you must get to the hospital right away. Don't drag your feet."
Lin Qin nodded repeatedly in agreement.
In her past life, she had jumped into the river before her wound had healed, resulting in a chronic migraine that acted up terribly whenever the weather changed—more punctual than a weather forecast, though no major problems came of it.
It was already the middle of the night by the time the wound was treated.
The moment Lin Qin and Lin Yi stepped out of the health clinic with the child, they saw Chen Wenjun waiting outside.
Lin Yi instinctively frowned.
Chen Wenjun walked over carrying a shoulder pole and said, "Uncle, could I walk with you? It's dark, and I'm scared."
"..." Lin Yi fell silent.
He initially wanted to refuse, but then he remembered that Chen Wenjun had suffered unprovoked disaster because he was ambushed by the Liu Family, entirely through no fault of his daughter's. Besides, at this hour of the night with no one around to see, there was no fear of gossip spreading.
Combined with the safety of traveling together in the deep of night, he agreed.
Along the road, Lin Yi tried to make conversation. "You said you're a Tanka person—where do you live?"
"Nanxi Creek, right around the stretch near Qingyun Temple. Not too far from here," Chen Wenjun replied, shifting his shoulder pole as he walked at a brisk, steady pace.
Lin Yi nodded. "I've been there. Our home is in Shanglin Village, so we can walk a stretch together. From our place to Qingyun Temple is only a little over half an hour. Once we part ways, you'd better walk fast and stay away from empty, secluded places so you don't run into trouble again."
"Thanks, Uncle, I know."
Chen Wenjun answered every question politely and attentively.
Lin Yi's impression of him wasn't bad at all.
After they parted ways, Lin Yi muttered in a low voice, "Liu Yongguo is truly a scoundrel, actually laying a hand on an honest fellow like that. I reckon he just bullied Chen Wenjun for being a Tanka person, figuring the man wouldn't dare fight back!"
*An honest fellow?* Lin Qin glanced at Lin Yi's back. In the past, she wouldn't have raised a single objection to calling Chen Wenjun honest.
But everything Chen Wenjun had done today had zero to do with being an honest fellow; for all she knew, that guy was even more black-hearted than she was right now!
Thinking of this, the heavy weight lifting in Lin Qin's chest suddenly made her feel much more at ease.
After all, Chen Wenjun still had a paralyzed son.
In her past life, that child was so sensible and well-behaved that it broke your heart. She hadn't done anything special for the boy, yet he had respected her like a biological mother, thinking of her whenever he had anything good.
If Chen Wenjun rose up in the world, at the very least he could provide that child with a better living standard.