Chapter 13

Lu Jiancheng learned from his sister why their parents had fallen out. He had never thought much of it before, but once Lu Tinglan pierced that layer of window paper, he realized how many grievances their mother had swallowed in silence for the family.

Lu Jiancheng thought, with no fear of making a spectacle bigger, that their dad might need a firewood stick of his own. If Mom hardened her heart and gave him a few good whacks, he probably would have stopped stirring up so much trouble long ago.

Father Lu, still out running errands, had no idea that an even more "filial" son than Lu Tinglan had appeared! His dear boy had already planned how many blows from the firewood stick he should take tonight.

Filial piety worked miracles. It could knock your teeth right out!

As for the divorce—Lu Jiancheng quietly sent Lu Tinglan a look.

Lu Jiancheng: Is Mom serious about the divorce, or did she just say it in anger?

Lu Tinglan kept her cards close and gave him a look that said, Figure it out yourself.

Lu Jiancheng was still baffled, but Lu Tinglan's inner voice gave him the answer.

[Whether they divorce isn't up to Mom. It's up to Dad. If he can cure his habit of handing out kindness to anyone and everyone, they definitely won't reach that point. If he can't, well...]

Mother Lu stitched a shoe sole while watching her son sidelong. Shhk, shhk went the needle and thread through the cloth, a sound especially unnerving in the quiet room. Lu Jiancheng tensed all over and immediately pledged allegiance to his mother and sister.

"The three of us are definitely on the same side. I, Lu Jiancheng, will never defect to the enemy! I unconditionally support every decision my mom and sister make!"

Grinning shamelessly, Lu Jiancheng sidled up to Mother Lu with a fawning look. "You two rest. Tonight I'll show you what I can do—we'll fry up a huge plate of meat! Let Dad sit there and drool!"

At dinner, the Lu family's little wooden table was divided into two unmistakable camps.

Mother Lu, Lu Tinglan, and Lu Jiancheng occupied most of the table. Their bowls held the hand-rolled noodles Lu Tinglan had been craving all day, and a porcelain bowl on the table was filled with stir-fried pork and garlic shoots. The aroma of animal fat mingled with garlic, enough to make anyone's mouth water.

If their door had not been shut tight, the hungry neighbors might already have shown up with bowls in hand.

Lu Tinglan picked up her chopsticks, put a piece of pork in her mouth, and chewed it slowly. As she ate, she stole glances at Father Lu's reaction. He was her dad, after all. She only made a show of savoring it and did not taunt him aloud. In her heart, though, she had already praised the stir-fried pork and garlic shoots to the heavens.

[Meat dishes taste so good. Add plenty of oil and plenty of seasoning—how could it possibly taste bad? Incredible. I wish I could eat meat every day!]

The aroma of stir-fried pork and garlic shoots spread through the room with domineering force. At a little corner of the wooden table, Father Lu held a bowl of thin sweet-potato porridge and stared at the wilted pickled vegetables on the small plate before him. He could usually put up with this meal, but now every bite was harder to swallow.

Across from him, the family of three was happily urging food on one another. Lu Jiancheng placed a chopstickful of pork slices in Mother Lu's bowl. "Mom, you work so hard every day. Eat more and build up your strength!"

Mother Lu did not refuse, and her chopsticks barely stopped moving. Who did not know meat tasted good? It was just that the family used to have a bloodsucker to support, leaving them short of money for everything. Whenever they had something tasty, she had wanted the children to eat it first. She had never even imagined eating meat in big, carefree bites like this.

Lu Tinglan watched, filled with feeling. [It should've been like this ages ago. It's not as if our family can't afford it, so why have we been living such bitter lives every day? What kind of man can't give his wife and children a good life?]

The more Father Lu heard his daughter's inner thoughts, the worse he felt. He nearly buried his head in his bowl, too ashamed to face anyone. As soon as he had gulped down his porridge, he fled the table.

Once the other three had left the table, Father Lu quietly slipped back, gathered the bowls and chopsticks, and took them to the kitchen to wash.

Lu Jiancheng put in a good word for his father. "Dad was busy outside all day, and he still came home to cook and wash the dishes. He's really worked hard."

Lu Tinglan shot him a sidelong glance and complained inwardly. [Men really are cheap. Give them a pleasant look and they start throwing their weight around. Show them a little displeasure and suddenly they know their wives don't have it easy, and they deign to do a few chores. In all my years, I can count on one hand how many times Dad has cooked and washed dishes. He does it for one day and you're moved beyond words. Mom has done it for more than twenty years, so why do you still find fault with her every day?]

Lu Tinglan had said it all for her!

Mother Lu had little schooling, and sometimes the words lodged in her throat no matter how badly she wanted to say them. Her daughter had spoken for her completely, saying even things she had not thought to say herself.

Beautifully done!

The smile Father Lu wore as he waited to be praised for his work froze at the corners of his mouth. Fine. He had better keep working on himself...

It was not until the next day that Lu Tinglan heard from Father Lu how things had ended for Huo Qi.

The police had arrived quickly. The people at the Educated Youth Compound were caught off guard before they could agree on what to say.

Zhou Zhuo had initially wanted to smooth the matter over, but once the educated youths came to their senses, they refused to suffer the loss in silence.

For years, they had directed all their suspicions at Jiang Xingnian. Now that the fog had lifted, every odd thing they remembered began to make sense. Everyone added what they knew, one after another, and the evidence that Huo Qi had stolen from them grew stronger.

There were enough witnesses, but finding the stolen goods proved difficult. The Educated Youth Compound was only so big, and Huo Qi's bed took up so little space. More than a dozen people searched his little patch from top to bottom, yet not one missing item appeared. It was downright uncanny!

Huo Qi thought he might escape, and the educated youths who had lost things nearly gave up in despair. In the end, Jiang Xingnian found the stolen goods inside a smoke flue beneath the communal sleeping platform.

No wonder the male educated youths always felt that the heated platform never warmed properly. It turned out a rat had made a hole inside and blocked a smoke flue.

All sorts of odds and ends pulled from the flue lay scattered across the floor. Huo Qi could no longer deny it. Crying and shouting, he begged the educated youths to give him another chance.

Zhou Zhuo still could not bear it and joined in pleading for him. Then an educated youth close to Huo Qi slapped his forehead and blurted, "Didn't you lose a sum of money just after you arrived last year? Huo Qi was spending awfully freely around then..."

He did not need to say any more. Zhou Zhuo already knew the answer. She rushed at Huo Qi in tears, hitting and cursing him. Her family was not well-off, and half the money she had brought to the countryside had even come from her eldest sister's bride price. He had stolen it and spent every last bit. How could she not hate him?

The former lovers had become a bitter pair, a sight that left everyone sighing. Later, when it came time to decide what to do with him, Zhou Zhuo was reportedly the most adamant of them all. Huo Qi's family came and offered to repay their losses twofold. Some of the educated youths no longer wanted to pursue the matter, but Zhou Zhuo flatly refused. She would rather give up the compensation than let him escape prison.

Huo Qi was ultimately sentenced to three years of reform through labor for repeated theft. He was already in the Town Detention Center. People said that when he was taken away, he clung to the gate of the Educated Youth Compound and refused to leave, nearly pulling the rickety old wooden gate apart. The educated youths held that against him too.

The affair at the Educated Youth Compound was settled, but Father Lu was still worried. Several days had passed, and his wife showed no sign of wanting to make up with him.

He had done chores and spoken gently to her, but nothing worked.

After thinking it over, he decided he should first send away the daughter who seemed determined to make chaos reign.

That day, Father Lu came home beaming and headed straight for Lu Tinglan. "Dad found you a good job. Tomorrow, you'll go teach at the village primary school as a substitute!"

"Huh?" Lu Tinglan's first instinct was to refuse. "Dad, I don't want to go."

[I've barely had a few days to relax at home. Why do I have to start working already? No, thank you! Besides, I'm still a baby myself. How am I supposed to look after a whole bunch of children? Mom, Dad, please spare me QAQ!]

At her age, how could she say that without feeling embarrassed? Calling herself a baby over and over—who had ever heard of an eighteen-year-old baby?

This time, Mother Lu would not let her run away. "It's an easy job with little to do, and you still don't want it? Keep dragging your feet, and tomorrow you can come work in the fields with me."

Lu Tinglan pursed her lips. Fieldwork was hard, and she had no desire to do it. It looked like she would have to become a teacher whether she wanted to or not...

Seeing her agree, Father Lu went on to explain the school's situation. "The previous teacher got pregnant and left to accompany her husband in the military. There are still two teachers at the school: an older educated youth who's both the principal and a teacher, and Liu Cuilan's son, who teaches the third and fourth grades. If anyone at school gives you a hard time, don't just swallow it. Come home, and your mom and dad will back you up!"

[Wait, what?]

Lu Tinglan's attention was fixed on the two teachers at the primary school. Something suddenly clicked in her mind. Frantically searching her memory of the plot, she asked, "Is that older educated youth called Qin Shujie?"

When Father Lu confirmed it, Lu Tinglan went pale.

[Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no! How could I forget such an important part of the plot?]

Father Lu and Mother Lu both looked at her. What could have made Lu Tinglan panic like this?

Lu Tinglan's brows drew tightly together, and her lips pressed into a straight line.

[So those two bastard men—the ones who molested students, fooled around in a classroom, and strangled the witness—got together this early!]

That one short sentence struck the three other members of the Lu family like a thunderbolt. All three stared in shock.

What? What did you just say?

The honest, refined Educated Youth Qin molested students?

And Liu Cuilan's precious son was gay?

The two of them would even become murderers?

That couldn't be true...

This revelation was so outrageous that the Lu family felt dizzy beneath the rolling thunder. For the first time, they hoped Lu Tinglan's inner voice had gotten something wrong.