Chapter 17: They’re Trying to Ruin Her Completely!

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Along the way, Sun Xiaorong found it extremely difficult to ride. Her stomach grew more and more uncomfortable, forcing her to ride for a while, then stop for a while.

That was how she covered the dozen or so miles—riding and stopping repeatedly—and it took her more than an hour before she finally reached Lin Yang’s home.

Lin Yang’s house stood at the entrance to the village.

Beneath the old tree by the village entrance, several middle-aged women were sitting around chatting.

When they saw Sun Xiaorong riding toward them, surprise flashed across their faces, followed by a round of exchanged glances.

“Xiaorong, are you heading to Old Lin’s place?” one of the women asked despite herself.

Sun Xiaorong hurriedly concealed the worry on her face and replaced it with a sweet, obedient smile. She nodded politely.

“Yes, Auntie.”

She had always deliberately cultivated this gentle, sensible image in the village, and it had successfully deceived quite a few people.

Whenever the villagers mentioned Sun Xiaorong, their first impression was that she was polite and well-mannered, nothing like the fierce-tongued members of the Sun family.

Struggling with the bicycle, Sun Xiaorong slowly pushed it into the courtyard of the Lin household.

The moment she entered, a voice like the wailing of ghosts and howling of wolves reached her ears.

“Mother, stop hitting me! I truly know I was wrong! I swear I’ll never do it again!”

Lin Yang’s tearful voice sounded especially miserable.

“You think there’ll be a next time? Do you think I don’t dare break your dog legs? Lin Dahai, you useless old fool, what are you waiting for? Hold this little bastard down!”

Zhao Guixiang’s furious roar came from inside the house, so loud it seemed capable of lifting the roof.

The commotion left Sun Xiaorong standing there in a daze, her face full of astonishment. She had no idea what was going on.

As it turned out, after Lin Yang returned, he had told his mother everything about running into Sun Xiaorong. He had also mentioned that he had asked Sun Xiaorong to ride the bicycle back.

The moment Zhao Guixiang heard that, she exploded like a firecracker.

“What? You gave the bicycle to Sun Xiaorong and told her to ride it back? Once something falls into the hands of that Sun family, do you really think you can get it back so easily?”

Zhao Guixiang planted both hands on her hips, her eyes bulging like brass bells.

Lin Yang hurriedly put on a fawning smile and guaranteed solemnly, “Mother, don’t worry. We’ll definitely get the bicycle back, and Sun Xiaorong will come here herself. By then, she’ll be the one begging me!”

Zhao Guixiang refused to believe him. The more she listened, the less reliable it sounded, and the fire in her heart rose higher and higher.

Only after Lin Yang repeatedly assured her, thumping his chest and insisting that there would be absolutely no problem, did she reluctantly refrain from beating him right away.

But she waited and waited. More than an hour passed, and she did not even catch sight of Sun Xiaorong.

At last, Zhao Guixiang’s patience was completely exhausted.

“You’re just like a dog that can’t stop eating filth! Who was it that swore to me he would never marry Sun Xiaorong? And now look at you! Did you go and sit back down in the mess you yourself had made?”

Furious to the point of trembling, Zhao Guixiang gripped the feather duster tightly and lashed it repeatedly against Lin Yang.

Lin Yang darted wildly around the house, leaping from place to place while crying out in misery.

The moment he had returned, his mother had demanded to know where Li Jianhua’s bicycle had gone.

With no other choice, he had answered truthfully.

Besides, he knew perfectly well that Sun Xiaorong would come to their door. He was absolutely certain of it.

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His mother, however, had misunderstood.

She assumed that Sun Xiaorong had once again bewitched him. The favorable impression she had only just begun to form of Sun Xiaorong instantly plummeted to rock bottom.

And so this chaotic scene had come about.

At that moment, Sun Xiaorong stood in the courtyard so awkwardly that she could have clawed out an entire three-bedroom apartment with her toes.

She neither knew whether to go in nor whether to leave. She was utterly at a loss.

Lin Yang spotted an opening. Seeing that the window was unlatched, he wasted no time throwing it open and climbing through.

He landed badly, lost his balance, and rolled across the ground in a most undignified fashion.

As soon as he scrambled to his feet, he saw Sun Xiaorong standing in the courtyard with the bicycle.

He was already seething with anger, and now his fury found a target. He immediately roared at her, “Sun Xiaorong, did a donkey kick you in the head? Watching me get beaten makes you feel great, doesn’t it?”

Startled by his sudden shout, Sun Xiaorong hurriedly waved her hands and tried to explain, “No, I only—”

“You only what?” Lin Yang cut her off without giving her a chance to finish.

Yet inwardly, he was thinking that she had been forced to ride more than a dozen miles and had taken over an hour to get there. She certainly would not have harmed the baby.

This woman really was clever. Even when trying to prove her innocence, she would never allow herself to suffer the slightest loss.

In a moment, she would surely come up with some lofty and respectable excuse.

He truly could not be bothered to waste words on her.

Inside the house, Zhao Guixiang was still seething. Hearing the exchange outside, she exchanged a glance with Lin Dahai.

Lin Dahai did not even have time to finish his smoke. He set down his pipe and hurried outside.

The moment he emerged, he saw Lin Yang pointing at Sun Xiaorong’s nose and cursing furiously.

“What do you mean, ‘no’? It’s completely over between us. There’s no possibility of us ever being together again! I heard every word Liu Datong told me. My ears aren’t deaf!”

“You’re carrying his child, yet you rode a bicycle along mountain roads for more than a dozen miles, taking over an hour to make it here!”

“Don’t stand in front of me crying and pretending to be pitiful. If you’ve got the nerve, come with me to the township clinic right now.”

“Didn’t you keep insisting that you wanted to prove your innocence? Then let’s go! Right now! If I’ve misunderstood you, forget the usual wedding gifts—even a thousand yuan in bride price for your family would be nothing!”

Having said this, Lin Yang secretly glanced back at his parents and quickly blinked once. Then he put on an even angrier expression and shouted at the top of his lungs:

“Sun Xiaorong, I was blind before, completely blinded by infatuation! Even if I remain a bachelor for the rest of my life, I will never marry a worn-out slut like you!”

Lin Dahai and Zhao Guixiang both froze when they heard this. The son standing before them suddenly seemed like a stranger.

In the past, their son had been utterly devoted to the Sun family’s girl.

Anyone who said a single bad word about her could expect him to fight them to the death.

Even when the two of them criticized her a little, their son would argue with them until the entire household was thrown into chaos.

But now, seeing his expression—and remembering the quick wink he had just given them—they finally understood what he meant.

He was signaling them to play along!

Lin Dahai had never been good with words, and for a moment he had no idea what to do next. He could only stand there anxiously.

Fortunately, Zhao Guixiang reacted quickly. She immediately understood her son’s intention, strode over, and once again swung the broom used for sweeping the heated bed at him.

“What nonsense are you spouting, you little bastard?”

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Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Yang glanced beyond the fenced courtyard.

Several unmarried young women, newlywed wives, and middle-aged village women were all craning their necks and staring eagerly.

Their expressions made it obvious that they had come to watch the spectacle, thoroughly enjoying the drama.

Since that was the case, he might as well make the performance even more convincing and give everyone a feast.

Lin Yang pretended to look both aggrieved and furious. He covered his face with one hand, secretly digging his fingers hard into his eyes. Before long, they had turned bloodshot.

When he pulled his hand away, both eyes were already brimming with tears, which rolled down his cheeks.

With a heavy thud, he dropped to both knees and cried out in a choked voice:

“Mother, your son has been unfilial! Everything you and Father told me before, I treated as nothing more than wind in my ears. I refused to listen. But now I’ve finally seen the light. I was wrong—terribly, disastrously wrong!”

“Your son is sorry to you both! In the past, my eyes were filled with nothing but Sun Xiaorong. All I wanted was to find someone with whom I could grow old together, even if it meant regretting nothing until death!”

“But I was blind. She deceived me completely. I was such a fool!”

As he wailed in anguish, he repeatedly slapped himself across the face.

Lin Yang’s purpose in putting on this performance was perfectly clear.

On the one hand, he wanted the entire village to see Sun Xiaorong’s true colors.

She usually acted sweet and well-behaved in the village, and her reputation was excellent. Everyone praised her whenever they met.

Her disguise had taken deep root in people’s hearts. She had built an almost indestructible image of herself as a good person.

Unless he seized the moral high ground, he might well be branded the faithless man by the villagers, condemned by everyone and despised by all.

And if that happened, how could he pursue that innocent and kindhearted fool of a girl?

On the other hand, he also had to make his parents firmly believe that there was absolutely no possibility of anything ever happening between him and Sun Xiaorong again.

It solved several problems at once.

That was why Lin Yang spared no effort in staging such a grand performance, even resorting to a self-inflicted act of suffering.

Kneeling before his parents was something he did willingly.

As for striking himself so hard across the face, he considered it a form of atonement for the person he had been in his previous life.

Lin Yang knew perfectly well that he owed his parents far too much.

Even when his mother struck him with the bed-sweeping broom, he felt that there was a peculiar kind of happiness in it.

At that moment, Sun Xiaorong’s face was as pale as paper, and her entire body trembled uncontrollably.

She had never imagined that after struggling all the way back on a bicycle, this was what would await her.

She felt as though her world had collapsed in an instant.

Lin Yang was clearly determined to destroy her completely.