The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 189 - 184: A Crazy Idea

Chapter 189: Chapter 184: A Crazy Idea

Before the rain stopped as quickly as it had come, sending temperatures plummeting by several degrees. Lu Jingqiu was now layered with thermal underwear under her clothes, as training at the military base intensified.

Recently, Lu Jingqiu had received another assignment from the cooperative to paint a few bird-and-flower pictures.

Her second cousin and Wei Jincheng had returned as well, and just yesterday they delivered sheepskin to the clothing factory to be urgently processed into woolen cotton coats.

Lu Jingqiu couldn’t shake the feeling that something was afoot in the army. This year was different; in the past, the thickest clothing they procured for the troops were heavy military coats to be worn over wool trousers.

Worried about her father, who hadn’t been home much lately, Lu Jingqiu traded several yards of velvet cloth coupons with Luo Xinyue and went to purchase cotton from Xue Jianian.

She had made cotton pants for her father and Jiang Nanzhou, and even for her uncle.

Since it was Xue Jianian’s first year as a new bride, she had followed Lu Jingqiu’s example and prepared two sets for Wei Jincheng.

No sooner had Lu Jingqiu arrived at Xue Jianian’s place, than Jianian asked if she wanted some mutton chunks.

"Of course, how much do you have?"

Xue Jianian pointed to the beef, sheep, pig meat, and poultry on the floor, pushed them around a bit, and there must have been at least seven or eight hundred pounds.

Lu Jingqiu had come specifically to buy beef, but upon hearing there was dried meat available, naturally, she wanted some.

"An entire sheep, but I don’t have any fresh meat; it’s all been made into mutton chunks. I’ve seen Jincheng running around with the leaders recently, and I don’t know what he’s busy with. The food outside can’t always be timely, so I thought of making some mutton chunks. It’s my grandmother’s craft. I made plenty. Do you want some? Five dollars per can."

"Yes, I’ll take two cans."

"By the way, do you know about the neighbors next door? Lately, they’ve been bringing their students over every day, bustling about for more than two weeks. During the daytime, they had two nearby neighbors help out, ones with sewing machines. They paid an extra ten cents per coat. In two weeks, they made more than two hundred pieces."

Some neighbors bought them too—a wool army coat for forty-two, and a cotton-padded jacket for thirty-eight. "Tsk tsk, they really do make money."

"Oh, so this time Gao Shu didn’t get angry with her."

"I wouldn’t know about that, I haven’t heard them fight. But there was this one night when it was too late and one of her students ended up staying at their house. The next day, I don’t know what happened, but after a few words, I saw Gao Shu storm out and he didn’t return all of last Sunday."

Lu Jingqiu blinked, not having lived there, she couldn’t appreciate the neighborhood drama.

After buying two cans of mutton chunks and leaving Xue Jianian’s house, she’d only walked a few steps before running into Yang Linghua, who was coming from the outside.

As soon as Lu Jingqiu thought of Yang Linghua’s school, she immediately understood why she was here.

"Hey, Comrade Jingqiu, my brother hasn’t returned to the unit yet. The doctor said he needs at least a month or two to recover."

"Oh, I heard Jiang Nanzhou mentioning he had visited Company Commander Yang at home. Is there something he’s lacking?"

"With Big Brother Jiang there, you don’t have to worry. Last time he visited, he even gave me a fountain pen. He also said... he said..."

"What did he say?"

"Comrade Jingqiu, I should know that Big Brother Jiang doesn’t like you, right? It’s only because of your father’s position that he tolerates you. Now that my brother has done him a favor, we’ve been getting closer these past couple of weeks. Do you understand, Comrade Lu?"

Lu Jingqiu laughed scornfully. She hadn’t got a taste of others’ melons, but unexpectedly stumbled onto her own. Seeing Yang Linghua’s provocative look, she feigned ignorance, "I don’t understand."

"You..."

Yang Linghua could see Lu Jingqiu was doing it on purpose and hastily said, "I can tell that Big Brother Jiang likes me. Shouldn’t you be smart about this and not use your father’s power to cling to him? This is an era of openness; oppression is not allowed. Us common people will resist too."

"I wonder how you got into university. You really have a problem intellect, I suggest you go to a hospital."

"Lu Jingqiu, I like Big Brother Jiang. Don’t you understand?"

"You want me to step aside just because you like him? How entitled you are."

"My brother saved Big Brother Jiang’s life, and based on that alone, if my brother asks him to marry me, he wouldn’t refuse."

"Oh, so your family’s planning to take advantage of his debt of gratitude?"

Yang Linghua fell silent, so what if they were? If she could get Jiang Nanzhou to marry her, she’d become a battalion commander’s wife. Then she’d see if those people from school would still dare to look down on her, and also her uncle’s family—who had been suppressing them for years, all because they had a military officer in their family.

She vowed in this life to marry a capable man and trample those people beneath her feet.

"The fountain pen was for Company Commander Yang. As for you, you are not his type. My fiancé is right, you do have a problem. I advise you to go to the hospital. Also, when you go back, tell Yang Minting, if he really thinks like you said, then tell him for me, gratitude is gratitude, and everything else is separate."

Yang Linghua hadn’t expected to encounter Jiang Nanzhou at that moment. Hearing his cold tone, she shivered and felt profoundly embarrassed.

"I...I..."

"Get lost, if I catch you bullying my girl again, I might not normally hit women, but push me too far, and I’ll still make a move."

Xia Lin had felt his steely, straight-male protection for the second time, and he certainly didn’t spare any face for other women.

That was true; previously, by giving Yang Linghua face, she just courted disaster. What could she do about it?

In fact, she had already seen Jiang Nanzhou and Wei Jincheng earlier, but hadn’t expected them to come over together.

Seeing Yang Linghua heading towards Xia Lin’s house with a bag, Jiang Nanzhou hurried over, wanting to grab her hand.

Thinking of the trouble he caused with his admirers, Jingqiu couldn’t help but turn away in annoyance.

Wei Jincheng chuckled on the side, gave Jiang Nanzhou a look, and went straight home.

Jiang Nanzhou didn’t pay any more attention to Wei Jincheng. He quickly took over the items in his girl’s hand and followed, hurriedly explaining, "Jingqiu, I really have nothing to do with Comrade Yang Linghua. I actually despise her, but we can’t just treat people wrongly. Don’t be angry; I will go and have a proper talk with Company Commander Yang tomorrow. If his sister stirs up trouble again, I don’t mind having him relocate her."

"Don’t do that. If you take action like that, it will make people more suspicious that I took the opportunity for revenge and made my dad misuse his authority."

Jiang Nanzhou saw her getting a little temper, quickly caught her hand, and said with a smile, "Come on, don’t be angry, people like that aren’t worth it. Let’s go watch a movie."

"I’m not going."

Jiang Nanzhou placed the items on the bicycle’s front bar, signaling her to sit: "Then let’s go to the park, I’ll take you to clear your mind."

The park, huh? It seemed they hadn’t been to the park together yet.

...

Xia Lin had already seen through the crack in the door: the argument between Yang Linghua and Xia Lin, but she didn’t know that Yang Linghua had actually taken a fancy to Jiang Nanzhou.

Heh, such people who don’t know their own worth, how could she have misjudged at school.

She herself, just a few days before, had kindly let her stay overnight at her house, and what did she do? She actually set her sights on her man.

It was like wanting to play the saint after setting up a brothel.

When Yang Linghua, flushed with anger, tried to enter, Xia Lin directly blocked the door: "Classmate Linghua, I have already found someone else, so starting today, you don’t need to come and sew clothes anymore. Please leave."

Yang Linghua was stunned on the spot, saying, "Xia Lin, didn’t you compliment me on my meticulous work just a few days ago? Why suddenly don’t you need me?" She had earned over ten dollars in the past two weeks sewing clothes for Xia Lin at five cents apiece, and her mother was so happy to hear about it.

She could also use this money to buy some hairbands, vanishing cream; she even planned to work for a month to buy a new piece of clothing for herself.

"If I say I don’t need you, then I don’t need you. Do I need to spell it out any clearer?"

Hearing this, Yang Linghua suddenly felt guilty. That day, unbeknownst to Xia Lin, her man had returned. In the early morning courtyard, when a handsome Comrade appeared, she only complimented him a bit and asked if he had a partner.

Who knew it turned out to be Xia Lin’s man? She didn’t truly fancy Xia Lin’s man; in her heart, it was someone like Jiang Nanzhou that she liked.

Yang Linghua wanted to explain further, but Xia Lin had already shut the front door from the inside.

Gao Shu was inside helping Xia Lin organize clothes when he heard the noise and quickly came out to ask, "What’s wrong?"

"Don’t you dislike that classmate of mine? I just drove her away. Now, I have no more helpers around me."

Gao Shu quickly tried to please her with a smile: "I’ll help you, I’ll help you. Just tell me what you want to do, and what you want to eat for dinner, I’ll make it."

Xia Lin teasingly said, "Eat you."

"OK, I’m at your disposal, deal?"

The reason Gao Shu hadn’t opposed Xia Lin doing these things this time was because of Gao Da. Knowing that Gao Da often dealt in goods at the transport team, although he didn’t agree, he couldn’t persuade him otherwise. This time, knowing that Gao Da had run into trouble, as his best brother, how could he watch his big brother struggle?

He could only ask his wife for help.

After this incident, Xia Lin finally got a firm hold on Gao Shu. If she wanted to do business in the future, she really couldn’t do without Gao Da.

With Gao Da standing in front, Gao Shu would definitely not be as resistant as before.