"I'm talking nonsense?"
Lin Anning raised an eyebrow: "Am I wrong?"
"You..."
Lin Anjie was extremely angry but couldn't refute Lin Anning, and her hatred for her deepened.
Lin Anning shook off Lin Anjie's hand: "Alright, I didn't say anything about you, why are you frantically dragging me? I still have to fetch vegetables and cook."
Lin Anjie immediately let go.
Lin Anning looked at Lin Anjie: "Sister, why don't you go fetch the vegetables?"
Lin Anjie quickly waved her hand: "No, I won't go."
She immediately ran into the yard and then burrowed into the house, fearing that Lin Anning would drag her to fetch vegetables.
The cellar was dirty and smelly, and going in there meant getting her clothes dirty, which she didn't want to suffer through.
Watching Lin Anjie run into the house, Lin Anning squinted, looking down on her sister's character even more.
She thought to herself, God really must be blind. Why give someone lazy and dumb like Lin Anjie a chance to be reborn?
But now, with her around, no matter how many times Lin Anjie is reborn, she won't let her have a good life.
Touching her chin, Lin Anning turned and left. She fetched the vegetables from the cellar and went to cook breakfast.
There were leftover corn pancakes from last night. She just needed to reheat them and make a soup.
Lin Anning put water in the pot, reheated the pancakes, added shredded radishes, salt, and once the radish soup was cooked, she added a bit of sesame oil and some coriander.
After cooking, she went to call Lin Aiguo and his wife, and the soundly sleeping little brother Lin Anping, to eat.
As for Lin Anjie, whatever happened, happened. Who cares about her?
The simple radish soup wasn't tasty, and the pancakes, made from coarse cornmeal, scratched her throat a bit, but Lin Anning didn't mind and slowly finished her meal.
Lin Anjie came out of the house and saw the bland meal, her face instantly darkened.
"Is this all we are eating?"
She had just been reborn yesterday, and her memories were still of many years later when, though life was tough, the food was much better. There was never a shortage of meat or eggs, and she usually ate wheat buns. It had been years since she ate coarse foods like corn pancakes, so seeing them now, she was full of disgust.
"What's wrong with it?"
Lin Aiguo slammed his chopsticks on the table: "At your age, you only know how to sleep in and be picky, eat it or get lost."
Lin Anjie was stunned.
Seeing Lin Aiguo's angry face and thinking of his obvious favoritism towards Lin Anning, tears fell from her eyes. She felt incredibly wronged, mistreated by her family just because she wasn't as good at pretending or playing the White Lotus like Lin Anning.
Her husband was stolen by Lin Anning, and her potential wealth and glory became Lin Anning's.
Thinking of this, Lin Anjie glared at Lin Anning: "Don't be smug, I won't let you succeed."
Lin Anning sat meekly with her head slightly bowed, looking frail and pitiable: "Sister, if you don't like this, I can make something else for you."
As she was about to get up to cook, Lin Anping quickly held her back: "Second sister, please sit."
Lin Anning, with teary eyes, looked at Lin Anping.
Lin Anping smiled at her, then looked up and glared fiercely at Lin Anjie: "I'm telling you, as long as I'm home, you won't be able to bully second sister."
Lin Anjie clutched his chest and stepped back, looking deeply hurt.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing and said to Lin Anping, "You, you... even you take her side. You all favor her, you all like her, I hate you all."
He stepped back a few steps and turned to run into the house.
Then there was a loud bang; Lin Anjie must have slammed the door shut.
Lin Aiguo's expression became even gloomier, and he lost all appetite, pushing his bowl away: "Why bother eating, I'm already full of anger."
Wang Cuixhua quickly tried to mediate: "Anjie is still young, he doesn't understand."
Lin Aiguo angrily said: "He's young, but isn't Anning even younger? Anning, after finishing school, helps around the home with this and that, washing clothes and cooking at such a young age. What does Danni do? Nothing but find faults, and now complains about the food, refusing to eat cornbread. What does she want to eat, chicken, duck, fish, meat? Why doesn't she just fly to heaven?"
Lin Anning stood up: "Dad, don't be angry, I'll go see what big sister wants to eat and I'll make it for her."
"No, don't go."
Lin Aiguo, taking out his old smoking pipe, took a puff and tapped it: "Whether she eats or not is up to her, if she doesn't eat, let her starve. Hunger will make her eat anything."
Lin Anning sat back down and served another bowl of soup to Lin Anping: "An Ping, eat some more."
Lin Anping smiled, took the bowl, thanked Lin Anning, and started slurping the soup.
Wang Cuixhua sighed: "What will we do when Danni gets married with that temper of hers?"
"Let it be."
Lin Aiguo, growing increasingly cold towards Lin Anjie due to his recent behavior, said: "Once she marries into the Su family, she becomes their problem, and since we can't see her, it saves us worry."
Lin Anjie, lying on his bed, heard Lin Aiguo's cold and heartless words outside, so angry it hurt.
She thought, scold me all you want now, but just wait until I marry Zhiqiang. In a few years, when the Su family becomes wealthy, you'll all come crawling back to me.
She also thought of Lin Anning's pretentious innocent demeanor, which fueled her hatred even more.
Lin Anjie resolved herself that she absolutely would not let Lin Anning have an easy life.
Lin Anning was thinking of attending university, dreaming too beautifully. She would not allow her to marry Zhiqiang nor let her get into university.
Lin Anning cleared the dishes and started preparing to take stuff to school.
It was the afternoon, and she needed to bring many things. She prepared two bottles of pickles, baked two pancakes, and packed a set of cotton clothes to change into.
Just as she was stuffing clothes into her backpack, she heard a commotion outside the door.
Lin Anning stuffed the clothes into her bag, put on a thick cotton coat, and went out.
At that time, many people had crowded into the Lin family's yard.
Leading them was a dark, burly young man.
His face wore a smile, revealing a row of big white teeth when he grinned.
He stood beside a bicycle, with several more people behind him.
Lin Aiguo was talking to the young man in the yard: "Alright, it's freezing cold, come in and have a seat quickly…"
Lin Anning glanced over, turned around, and went to boil some water.
After boiling the water, she made a pot of tea and carried it into the living room.
She saw several young men sitting in the living room chatting. When they saw Lin Anning come in, their eyes brightened eagerly, all of them showing pleasing smiles.
"Anning..."
The dark, burly young man, who was probably Su Zhiqiang, also showed a pleasing smile to Lin Anning. As Lin Anning brought him a cup of tea, Su Zhiqiang, nervously sweating, said: "Thank you, you don't need to fuss over us, we'll just sit for a while and then leave."