Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Run! Tigress and Henpecked Husband

Lin Lan put the money away and closed the door behind her. She grabbed her sickle and back-basket from the woodshed, dropped Little Douzi off at the old lady’s house, and then headed to Niu Bei Mountain to cut grass.

Just as she reached Old Chen’s thatched hut, a cheerful Old Chen, looking full of life, called out to her. “Little Lin, I’ll be heading home soon.”

Lin Lan was happy for him too. “Congratulations, Uncle Chen! That’s wonderful news!”

Old Chen thanked her, “Little Lin, thank you!”

Lin Lan quickly brushed it off. “Uncle Chen, let the past be the past. Things will only get better from here.”

“Alright, we’ll say no more about it.” Old Chen took a fountain pen from his jacket pocket and handed it to Lin Lan. “Little Lin, this pen has been with me for over thirty years. I want you to have it as a memento.”

Lin Lan accepted it with a smile. “Uncle Chen, come back and visit whenever you’re free.”

Old Chen smiled and nodded. “I will!”

Lin Lan saw He Xianghua, Liu Guozhi, and several others who looked like officials walking toward them. “Uncle Chen, I should be going. The people here to get you have arrived.”

Old Chen nodded with a small smile. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye!”

By the time Lin Lan reached the foot of the mountain with her back-basket, she looked back and saw a group of people escorting Old Chen toward the tractor path. ’He’s finally made it through the hard times,’ she thought.

With Wu Shufen gone, Lin Lan was much busier. At noon, she had to go home to cook before picking up Little Douzi. Thankfully, the old lady helped her by snipping the fava beans and tending the stove fire.

Since tomorrow was Sunday, Lin Lan fried an extra-large batch of fava beans, filling a urea sack to the very top.

She picked up the sack and said to the old lady with a grin, “Great-Aunt, don’t go home to cook. Just eat here with us. You can even help me with the cooking.”

The old lady shot her a playful glare. “All you know is how to boss an old woman like me around.”

Little Douzi hugged her arm. “Great-grandma, eat at our house! Food doesn’t taste as good when you eat all by yourself.”

The old lady chuckled, looking at him fondly. “My dear, if Great-grandma eats all the yummy food at your house, there won’t be anything left for you.”

Little Douzi leaned close to her ear and whispered, “It’s okay. I’ll help Mama snip fava beans to earn money and buy more.”

The old lady smiled and nodded. “Alright, Great-grandma will go get the cooking started.”

Lin Lan caressed Little Douzi’s cheek. “Great-Aunt, I’m heading out!”

“Go on!” the old lady said with a smile.

Lin Lan arrived at the Eucalyptus Forest with her sack and noticed it was a bit more crowded than usual. As she entered the woods, she saw that Zhou Xiaohong had already started selling, while Li Xiangyang was squatting in his usual spot.

She had just taken out her bag of fava bean samples when a regular customer came and bought several bags. Business was booming, one customer after another, and Lin Lan was swamped. But at the same time, her right eyelid wouldn’t stop twitching.

’Left eye for wealth, right eye for disaster.’ Lin Lan felt a flicker of unease and glanced around, but she didn’t see the person standing on a nearby field ridge, staring at her with pure jealousy.

Zhang Yazhen stared at the woman, who was beaming as she busily made change. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She rubbed them and looked again. That smile, blooming like a flower, was an absolute eyesore.

Her expression clouded over, her eyes glinting with venomous jealousy. She spun around and hurried off toward the vehicle factory.

Lin Lan quickly tucked one ten-yuan and two five-yuan bills into a hidden pocket in her waistband. A glance inside her sack showed a dozen or so bags of fava beans still left.

Just as two more people came and bought a few bags, while she was still feeling pleased, she suddenly spotted several members of the Joint Defense Team running in their direction.

“Run!” she yelled, grabbing her sack and bolting deeper into the woods to the south.

Zhou Xiaohong and Li Xiangyang were already ahead of her, running like the wind.

Shouts echoed from behind them: “Stop running! Halt! Halt…”

Hearing the shouts, Lin Lan wished she could sprout another pair of legs. She couldn’t help but lament, ’So the twitching eyelid really was a bad omen!’

She was about to break free from the Eucalyptus Forest. The tractor path was just ahead. Victory was within reach, and a wave of joy washed over her.

In the next instant, she learned the meaning of “joy turning to sorrow.” Her foot caught on a protruding tree root. “Agh!”

Lin Lan face-planted, getting up close and personal with the earth. The sack flew from her grasp, and her delicate, straight nose was nearly flattened against the ground.

She cursed her rotten luck. ’Ever since I got here,’ she thought, ’it’s been one unlucky thing after another. Why do other people get blessed with good fortune after rebirth, while I’m stuck with a permanent jinx?’

A pair of military-issue rubber shoes appeared in her line of sight. Lin Lan heard someone chuckle mockingly. “Go on, run! Why aren’t you running anymore?”

Lin Lan looked up to see a man built like a beanpole standing over her, a smug look on his face. In his hand, he was holding her urea sack.

“Heh heh,” she forced a laugh. “Comrade, I didn’t mean to run! It was just an involuntary reflex!”

As she spoke, Lin Lan pushed herself up, ignoring the pain, ready to grovel for mercy. But then she looked up and saw Li Xiangyang being led over by the Joint Defense Team as well. She shot him a surprised glance.

“I’m an old hand at this,” Li Xiangyang said, looking at her with a nonchalant shrug.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep