Chapter 6: How Dare You Defy Me

After Lin Xiaodou took the Divine Strength Pill, all her hidden ailments healed without treatment! The fractured left leg was fully restored! Her face was no longer sallow; it even appeared slightly rosy! And there was more. Her body had become incredibly robust! She felt strong enough to kill a bull with a single blow! Lin Xiaodou thought this—and did just that.

With a thought, she summoned a large yellow cow that was grazing in the field. With one punch, the cow shot up into the sky. The yellow cow spun three and a half times in the air, then crashed to the ground and fainted on the spot.

The cow: ??? What did I do wrong? Why are you treating me like this?

But beating up a cow wasn't enough for Lin Xiaodou. She still wanted to test her strength. Stepping out of the wooden hut, she lifted the entire massive structure with one hand, effortlessly. Wuhu! Lin Xiaodou’s eyes shone brightly. It truly was divine strength—how amazing!

Feeling exhilarated, she ran over to the dozen or so stone houses nearby to try her hand. Easy as pie—not heavy at all. She could lift one in each hand and even dance the third routine. Lin Xiaodou was as excited as a child, lifting everything she passed. She turned the entire space upside down.

“This isn’t enough—I need to try it out on people!” Lin Xiaodou took a hot bath, changed her clothes, and left the space. She was now wearing the original owner’s old clothes, with a bandage still tied around her leg as a pretense.

Opening the door, Lin Xiaodou hobbled out of the room. In the living room, her father, Lin Guoqiang, was sitting on the sofa, reading the newspaper and listening to the radio. Her mother, Wu Guiqin, was bent over sewing a shoe sole, making cloth shoes. Her older brother, Lin Dawei, was holding hair gel bought from the supply store, posing before the mirror.

When Lin Xiaodou came out, neither her father nor her brother spared her a glance. Only her mother snorted through her nose.

“You worthless girl, you dare to come out? Hurry up and go wash the dishes! If you don’t clean them properly, you won’t get any food tomorrow!”

The original owner’s life was bitter, and her mother bore the greatest responsibility for it. This woman was sharp-tongued, vicious, domineering, and quarrelsome; she had fought with every neighbor and was infamous as a shrew in the area. Simply because the original owner was a girl, her mother hated her from the start, always calling her a financial burden. When others mocked and cursed the original owner, her mother would laugh along, egging them on, making it easier for others to bully her.

She still didn’t know that the original owner wasn’t her biological daughter—yet she was willing to marry her off to a violent idiot. One could only imagine how heartless and cold-blooded she was.

Dealing with such a person, Lin Xiaodou felt no psychological burden. Never mind that Wu Guiqin wasn’t her real mother; even if she were, everything she had done was enough for Lin Xiaodou to kill her several times over.

“What are you standing there for? Go wash the dishes! Do you need a lesson?” Wu Guiqin raised her head, annoyed, and met Lin Xiaodou’s murderous gaze, freezing in place. How could this worthless girl’s eyes be so terrifying? Had she been pushed too far?

Wu Guiqin’s gaze shifted to that frightening face, and her expression changed instantly. “You worthless girl, why are you showing your face? Don’t you know how terrifying you look? Go back and wrap your face in a scarf! If you keep coming out and scaring people, I’ll beat you to death!”

Lin Dawei had finished styling his hair by then. His short hair was parted down the middle, plastered to his scalp, looking greasy and ridiculous. Yet he didn’t seem to mind, smugly declaring, “Lin Xiaodou, don’t ever tell anyone you’re my sister. I’m so handsome; the young women want to approach me, but as soon as they see you, they run away scared. If it weren’t for you, ugly freak, I’d have married long ago.”

Lin Xiaodou glanced at Lin Dawei and sneered, “With your squinty eyes, bull-like nostrils, big buck teeth, and monkey face, you call that handsome? You can’t find a wife because you’re ugly. If you want to blame someone, blame your parents for making you so hideous!”

Lin Dawei was twenty-one this year. After finishing junior high, he never went back to school and spent his days loafing around. He could afford to be idle because the family had three workers: Lin Guoqiang and Wu Guiqin worked at the canning factory, and Lin Xiaodou was a temporary worker at the brick and tile factory.

It was 1970, and the movement to send youth to the countryside was in full swing. Many passionate single young people volunteered to go work in rural areas. Lin Dawei, spoiled and lazy, had no intention of going.

But according to policy, the family had to send someone unless everyone had a job or was married. Employment was out of the question—Lin Dawei’s attitude made him unemployable. The only way was for him to get married quickly.

Over the past two years, the family arranged several blind dates for Lin Dawei, none of which succeeded. The women he liked didn’t like him. He was ugly and had no proper job—who would marry him? Yet Lin Dawei refused to see the truth, always blaming Lin Xiaodou for his failed matches. Whenever she was around, he called her ugly and told her to stay away.

Early this year, word spread that the neighborhood office was enforcing the countryside policy, and Lin Guoqiang and Wu Guiqin grew anxious. They couldn’t bear the thought of their son suffering, so they set their sights on Lin Xiaodou. Their plan was to have their son take over Lin Xiaodou’s job, sending her to the countryside instead.

But then a matchmaker brought news: a family was willing to pay three hundred yuan as a dowry for Lin Xiaodou. Three hundred yuan was a fortune in those days! The parents were overjoyed and immediately agreed.

The matchmaker explained: it was a widowed mother living with her thirty-something idiot son. The son, rumor had it, had married twice before—one wife beaten to death, the other crippled and sent back to her family. This time, the widow was interested in Lin Xiaodou because she’d graduated junior high and worked at the brick and tile factory, which made her more desirable. Otherwise, with Lin Xiaodou’s frightening looks, no one would want her.

Although the matchmaker hinted that the idiot son had violent tendencies, Lin Guoqiang and Wu Guiqin didn’t care. They were worried about their son’s predicament, and this was the perfect solution. As for their daughter? She was just a financial burden—letting her marry an idiot was doing her a favor.

The three hundred yuan would be used for their son’s marriage. With such a hefty dowry, which girl wouldn’t be impressed? They’d be begging to marry him! When Lin Xiaodou married the idiot and stayed home for childbirth, her job would go to Lin Dawei. Their son would have a wife and a job—a perfect outcome!

Lin Guoqiang and Wu Guiqin’s calculations clattered merrily. What they didn’t expect was that their always obedient daughter would rebel. Not only did she run away and break her leg, but now she dared to talk back!

Compared to the surprise of Lin Guoqiang and Lin Dawei, Wu Guiqin’s reaction was the fiercest. She threw the shoe sole onto the sofa and slapped her hard. “You’ve got some nerve! How dare you insult your brother? Are you asking for death?”