80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches-Chapter 55 - 53: Why Are the Flowers So Red?

Lin Lan kicked the door. "Sun Xiuhua, you bitch! You better clean out those pig ears of yours and listen up! From now on, if I hear even half a word out there ruining my reputation,

I’ll go to the distillery and find Liu Zhiming’s boss. If I don’t get your Liu Zhiming sent back here to toil in the mud, then my name isn’t Lin Lan!"

Before the words had even faded, she kicked the door again. BANG! With a tremendous crash, the rickety wooden door looked like it was about to fall apart.

Terrified, Sun Xiuhua, who was hiding behind the door, hurriedly braced it. "You wouldn’t dare!"

BANG! Lin Lan kicked it once more, retorting fiercely, "You bitch, just watch me and see if I dare!"

Sun Xiuhua heard the malice in Lin Lan’s voice and started to lose her nerve. "If you dare go to the distillery, I’ll go to the joint defense team and report you every single day."

Lin Lan sneered. "Go ahead! Don’t think for a second I don’t know that you and that bitch Zhang Yazhen have already run to the joint defense team a few times! And look at me, I’m still perfectly fine!"

Sun Xiuhua’s heart pounded in her chest. ’This woman isn’t afraid of anything. It looks like she’s really going to cause trouble at the distillery.’

’That distillery job pays dozens of yuan a month. In a few more years, when Zhiming retires, Jinbao is supposed to take over his position. I can’t let her ruin this!’

With this in mind, she took a moment to compose herself and asked, "What... what exactly do you want?"

Lin Lan could tell from Sun Xiuhua’s tone that she was scared. "All I want is to raise my son in peace. If anyone dares to cause trouble behind my back and tries to break my rice bowl so I can’t eat, then nobody gets to eat."

Seeing that her tone had softened slightly, Sun Xiuhua immediately promised, "Don’t you worry. I... I already told those sisters-in-law when I came out. As long as you don’t cause trouble at the distillery, I’ll go talk to them right now and make it clear that none of it was true. I made it all up."

Lin Lan snorted. "I don’t believe a word from someone like you..."

Seeing Lin Lan getting angry again, Sun Xiuhua said frantically, "Don’t worry, I swear! From now on, if anyone dares to ruin your reputation, I’ll go deal with them myself.

If I’m telling even half a lie, may my... may my Jinbao fail to get the job and be a bachelor his whole life."

Lin Lan paused for a moment, then said ominously, "The gods are always watching. You’d better remember the oath you just swore."

Sun Xiuhua breathed a sigh of relief and quickly tried to prove her sincerity. "Little Lin, you can rest assured. I’ll go find Zhang Yazhen in a bit and warn her not to spread nonsense." Then she added with a fawning smile, "Let me tell you, Little Lin, the one you need to watch out for is Zhang Yazhen. That troublemaker was the one who egged me on to cause you trouble!"

Lin Lan tapped her palm with her cattle whip and snorted. "You’re no saint either!"

The crisis averted, Sun Xiuhua gently pulled the door open a crack and gave Lin Lan an embarrassed smile. "I don’t have a bad heart, I’m just hot-tempered and have a bit of a big mouth!"

Lin Lan gave her a cool glance. "Go on, then. Take back what you said."

Sun Xiuhua glanced at the two sisters-in-law working in their private plot over by the pig farm, took a deep breath, and walked over to them.

She told them she had just been making things up and that they shouldn’t spread it around.

The two women glanced at Lin Lan, who was standing there holding the cattle whip, and hastily promised they absolutely wouldn’t say a word.

Lin Lan didn’t care how they looked at her. She had seen plenty of people like this before—people who prey on the weak and fear the strong.

She also understood a simple truth: when dealing with such people, as long as you weren’t afraid of them and were willing to be more ruthless than they were, they wouldn’t dare to provoke you.

A widow’s doorstep is a magnet for trouble. She would rather people call her fierce than think she was weak and easy to bully.

With a reputation for being fierce, those gossips would have to think twice before wagging their tongues.

After speaking with the two sisters-in-law, Sun Xiuhua came trotting back to Lin Lan, an obsequious, sheepish grin on her face. "Little Lin, don’t you worry, I’ve taken care of it."

Lin Lan glanced at her. "I’m not worried. Anyone who makes my life difficult, I’ll make sure their life is miserable too."

Sun Xiuhua forced a smile. "You’re right, that makes sense. We’re all in the same production team and see each other every day. We should get along."

Lin Lan looked at her coolly. "We’ll each go our own way. You stay out of my business, and I’ll stay out of yours."

Sun Xiuhua agreed profusely. "Yes, yes. We’ll stay out of each other’s way."

Lin Lan turned and went to the drying ground, put the cattle whip back in the cowshed, and then, carrying her back basket and sickle, went to the foot of the mountain. She quickly finished her morning’s work, then cut some paper mulberry leaves and mugwort before heading home with them on her back.

Dahuang was lying at the courtyard gate. Seeing Lin Lan return, he wagged his tail and greeted her enthusiastically, following behind her and occasionally rubbing his head against her heel.

Lin Lan gently nudged him away with her foot. "Dahuang, stop circling my feet. Don’t yelp if I step on you!"

"WOOF! WOOF!" The little guy thought Lin Lan was playing with him, so he dropped to the ground and wagged his tail nonstop.

Lin Lan put down her back basket and saw that Zhao Dehai and two masons were already repairing the roof over the kitchen. It looked like they would be able to finish the roof repairs in less than an afternoon.

’People from this era are so honest in their work,’ she thought. ’They never cut corners or slack off.’

She remembered that craftsmen from the eighties and nineties were better. And especially the ones hired after the millennium—when they renovated a house, even if the owner was watching, they’d still milk the clock. A job today’s masters could finish in a day, they would drag out for three.

Lin Lan looked around. The front and back of the house were littered with rotten bamboo leaves swept from the roof, as well as unknown plants that had taken root up there.

She checked the thermos on the small table and saw there was still hot water inside. After greeting Zhao Dehai, she went to the woodshed to tie up the mugwort and hang it on a bamboo pole to dry.

The bamboo pole was already full of mugwort. In a few days, the mosquitoes and other insects would become more numerous, so she needed to smoke them out from the front and back of the house with it.

In the countryside, especially around bamboo groves, there were many "wheat gnats," a type of mosquito smaller than a sesame seed. They were fierce, vicious, bloodthirsty, and almost invisible.

They made no sound when they bit you. You wouldn’t notice until you were overcome with an unbearable itch, only to find your exposed skin covered in tiny red welts.

After hanging the mugwort to dry, she grabbed some paper mulberry leaves, tossed them to the piglets in the pen, and went next door to the Xiong family’s house. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The Xiong family’s courtyard gate was open. Lin Lan knocked on the doorframe.

"Who is it?" Zhang Yazhen walked into the courtyard and saw Lin Lan standing at the entrance, staring at her coldly.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Lin Lan, her slightly large nostrils flaring continuously. She looked utterly shocked. After a moment, she finally asked, "What do you want?"

Lin Lan crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at her. "Shouldn’t you be asking yourself that question?"

Zhang Yazhen remembered what Sun Xiuhua had told her earlier, and her lips trembled. "You’re the one who came looking for trouble!"

Lin Lan shot her a sidelong glance. "Aren’t you the one who stares at what’s in other people’s pots like a stray dog all day long and goes to the joint defense team to file reports?

What kind of skill is it to run around making trouble behind the scenes? Well, I’m standing right here now. Come on, bite me!"

Zhang Yazhen’s face went pale, but she stubbornly tried to deny it. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"You, with the surname Zhang, walk down dark roads too often and you’re bound to run into a ghost!" Lin Lan stared at her, her gaze cold and fierce.

Zhang Yazhen remembered how Sun Xiuhua had come to find her half an hour ago and told her the little widow was a madwoman who acted without thinking of the consequences.

She had also warned her not to spread bad rumors about the widow, or if she messed things up for her family, she wouldn’t be so polite next time.

Looking at Lin Lan’s cold, fierce expression, the color drained from Zhang Yazhen’s face bit by bit. She lowered her head, not daring to meet those dark, almost eerie eyes.