Lin Anjie was stopped halfway by Xue Feng's mother.
Xue Feng's mother is quite proud now.
Xue Feng used to be a poor student, but after Anning tutored him, his academic performance improved significantly. He performed well in the college entrance exam and even got admitted to a university in the Capital, which made the Xue Family feel very proud.
Xue Feng's mother is no longer cold-hearted, and stands outside boasting about Xue Feng's good life in the Capital.
"I'm telling you, our Feng is doing so well in school. The place he stays has heating, so he won't freeze in winter. The food in the cafeteria is also great. He eats white bread rolls every day and occasionally even gets to eat meat, all of which doesn't cost us a penny, as it's subsidized by the state."
Xue Feng's mother's face was smiling, and she couldn't help feeling more and more happy and proud: "Xue Feng told me that the computer science he's studying is really going to be in demand. He might stay in the Capital after graduation; he will be a Capital's resident then."
The rural women nearby listened with envy, thinking they should teach their own kids a good lesson, to make them study hard and get into a university as well.
While Xue Feng's mother was boasting, she saw Lin Anjie walking over looking distracted and feigned concern as she approached: "An Jie, when did you come back? What have you been doing?"
Lin Anjie didn't hear Xue Feng's mother speaking and continued walking.
A hint of displeasure flashed in Xue Feng's mother's eyes, and she reached out to grab Lin Anjie.
She didn't know why, but she just couldn't stand Lin Anjie; she always wanted to berate her whenever she saw her.
"What's wrong with you now?"
Lin Anjie snapped out of it after being grabbed.
She didn't want to make a spectacle, so she forced a smile: "I just got back. I'm heading home."
Xue Feng's mother chuckled, "That's true as you can just return to the Su family now. After all, your family has disowned you; you can't even enter your parental home anymore. That's really pitiful."
Several women came over and surrounded Lin Anjie making unkind remarks.
"Pitiful? It's all her own doing. I've never seen anyone so cruel, trying to sabotage her own sister from going to university by stealing her admission notice."
"She even tried to harm Anning by trying to give her sleeping pills during the college entrance exam. No wonder Lin Aiguo cut ties with her, who would want such a daughter?"
"I don't know what she's planning this time by coming back; it's likely not going to be anything good."
These words pierced through Lin Anjie's ears, making her heartache even more.
Her face gradually turned grim with anger and she retorted: "Whatever happens in my family is none of your business."
Seeing the disdain in Xue Feng's mother's eyes, a surge of anger filled Lin Anjie's chest.
She pushed through the crowd: "I have things to take care of, I'm leaving now."
As she walked away, someone yelled from behind, "What a shameless woman."
"Utterly disgraceful."
"An irresponsible wife always out and about, who knows which man she's with. Zhiqiang doesn't even know how many green hats he's been wearing."
Anning, however, did not care about who Lin Anjie met on the road or what was happening at the Su family.
It was already the 20th of the last month of the year, and the family was busy preparing for the New Year.
This year the Lin Family had made some money and of course intended to have a lavish celebration.
Earlier, Lin Hongjun had bought a whole pig weighing over two hundred pounds and had it slaughtered and divided equally among the brothers; there was plenty of meat.
Lin Aiguo also bought chickens, ducks and fish, while Lin Aimin purchased quite a lot of other items.
These days, the family was busy boiling meat, making sausages, frying meatballs, steaming buns, and making tofu.
Wang Cuixhua was always busy from dawn to dusk, so Anning had to help out and even got to eat some good food in the process.
Besides that, Anning also had to keep an eye on Lin Anping's studies.
Lin Anping was quite intelligent, just not very hardworking. He was somewhat restless and couldn't sit still for long.
If left to study on his own, he wouldn't make any progress, but he was well-behaved when someone supervised him.
Anning hoped that Lin Anping would also go to university, so naturally, she would drill him daily on his studies while at home.
Lin Anping was pushed by Anning to practice incessantly, which overwhelmed him quite a bit.
But he also knew that Anning was doing this for his own good. Although reluctant, he could still bear it and study.
Worried that Lin Anping would revert to his old ways after she left, Anning went to Lin Aimin's house to find Lin Anran and asked him to do homework with Lin Anping every day and to supervise him.
By the time Anning had almost finished making arrangements, it was nearly the end of the year.
One day, the family bought a lot of sunflower seeds and candy, and Lin Aiguo also bought a box of liquor, then he mentioned that at night Wang Cuixhua should cook a few dishes, call over his brothers Lin Hongjun and Lin Aimin, and the three of them would have a few drinks, which was when they heard a knock on the door.
Lin Anping went to open the door, and upon opening, he saw Su Zhiqiang and his two brothers with unfavorable expressions standing at the doorway.
"What's going on?"
Seeing that something was amiss, Lin Anping quickly called out loudly: "Dad, Dad, come out quickly."
Anning, hearing the noise, came out as well, and she could tell that the Su brothers had come looking for trouble, so she hurried out to find people.
By the time Anning had called Lin Hongjun, Lin Aimin, and several other cousins over, Su Zhiqiang and the others were seriously discussing matters with Lin Aiguo.
Anning quietly pulled Lin Anping aside and asked a few questions before she understood what had happened.
It turned out Lin Anjie had run away.
Lin Anjie had returned to the Su family, and Su Zhiqiang had scolded her, almost leading to a fight.
Later, Lin Anjie bribed Liu Erni as well as Wang Min and Li Mei, and with these three people speaking up for her, Su Zhiqiang did not hit her.
Lin Anjie patiently coaxed Su Zhiqiang, buying many New Year goods, and finally managed to get the household registration book the day before yesterday.
Having gotten hold of the household registration book, she took her things and ran away yesterday evening when no one was at the Su family home.
Su Zhiqiang came back and searched all night but couldn't find her. Later, he heard someone saw Lin Anjie at the county bus station, and he realized that she must have run away.
Su Zhiqiang was furious. After eating breakfast early in the morning, he went straight to the Lin Family's door.
Lin Aiguo stood in the courtyard wearing a military coat, not inviting the Su brothers inside at all.
He said sternly, "Our family has already severed ties with Lin Anjie; she is not my daughter, she is your Su family's daughter-in-law. You didn't keep an eye on her; what's the use of finding us?"
Lin Hongjun stepped forward and said, "Exactly, we specifically went to your house to declare our severance of ties, and her household registration book was also at your house. Now that you can't find her, it's wrong to come here causing trouble."
Su Zhiqiang trembled with anger, his eyes filled with fury: "When she married me, she was still a person of the Lin family, right? You also took our betrothal gifts, now that she's gone, who else should we find?"
"Yes, you took the betrothal gifts, so you should be responsible till the end."
Su Zhijian and Su Zhikang also supported Su Zhiqiang.
Hearing this, Lin Aiguo also got angry.
"Betrothal gifts? You still have the nerve to mention betrothal gifts."
He scrutinized Su Zhiqiang up and down: "Back then, I didn't realize you were such a coward, a pushover; I thought Lin Anjie would live a good life with you. Little did I know the Su family lacks integrity. You weren't even married yet and you were coaxing Lin Anjie using our family's money to buy things for you—all those betrothal gifts were taken by Lin Anjie to buy things for your family. Later, during the wedding, I still thought no matter what, she's my daughter, I couldn't let her go without a dowry. I gave exactly the amount of betrothal money to Lin Anjie to bring back to the Su family."
Lin Aiguo said this and took a deep breath, suddenly feeling somewhat powerless: "To arrange your wedding, our family took on quite a bit of external debt, which we only paid off this year. And now you still have the nerve to talk to me about betrothal gifts."