Chapter 2 – The Mischief Queens of Sujin
If there was one thing that terrified Sujin's adults more than tax season, it was Lin Yue and her gang holding a secret meeting.
Their headquarters? An old wooden shed behind Granny Mai's herbal shop, once a tool shed, now upgraded with a broken TV, a pink plastic table, and a wobbly fan that only worked when you kicked it just right.
They called it "The Base."
"Operation: Banana Slip is a go," Yue announced, tapping away on an old second-hand tablet she used for keeping "top secret files."
"What's the target again?" asked Shu Fen, munching on instant noodles straight from the pack.
"Village Chief Bao. He banned chewing gum after Tao Lin 'accidentally' spit hers into his beard."
"Accidentally," Tao Lin grinned, totally not sorry.
Yue pulled out a bag of overripe bananas. "We make the town hall steps a hazard zone. We film the whole thing for our gang archives."
They did. Later, they gathered around the old TV in Yue's house, watching grainy footage from Tao Lin's dad's hand-me-down phone, laughing until their bellies hurt. Chief Bao's wobbly fall would become legend.
Despite living in a small village, the kids weren't strangers to the outside world. They wore jeans, graphic T-shirts, and some even had cheap knock-off sneakers with lights on the heels.
TVs showed old dramas and talent shows. There was barely any signal for phones, but that didn't stop them from pretending to record "vlogs" or playing downloaded games during boring chores.
Still, Sujin had its own rules—and Yue's gang knew how to twist them.
One day, the girls formed a fake secret society:
"The Order of the Underwear."
Initiation? Sneak into a boy's backyard and steal one item of underwear from the drying line. Yue drew a fake "mission log" on her tablet with doodles and fake rankings.
Mei Qi failed spectacularly when she panicked and grabbed her cousin's swim trunks. She claimed it was "a surprise training dummy."
But Shu Fen returned victorious—waving a lacy silk boxer from Madam Yin's prized husband.
They buried it in a tin lunchbox under the shed and declared it a sacred relic.
They weren't always troublemakers. When Farmer Yun slipped a disk, Yue and her gang helped tend his fields. Dressed in mismatched overalls and T-shirts, they carried buckets, pulled weeds, and got into mini wrestling matches with the chickens.
Yue even wore a headset like a CEO and directed everyone like a boss lady in charge.
"We fight weeds today!" she shouted into a disconnected microphone. "Tomorrow, we conquer Chief Bao's cabbages!"
Then came the infamous "Boys' Beauty Contest."
Every year, the village's young boys were judged on their grooming, grace, and posture. It was a big deal. The girls loved it.
Yue, naturally, took it a step further.
She entered Lan Yu under the name Ladyboy Sunshine—and glamorized him in his sleep.
When he woke up, he looked in the mirror and screamed, "I look like a sparkly turnip!"
"You look amazing," Yue declared. "Now go win hearts."
He didn't win, but he went viral… at least, within the village's group chat app.
Even in a village with old tech, small markets, and slow Wi-Fi, Lin Yue made her mark. No one cared that they couldn't stream the latest shows or order bubble tea with an app. They had imagination, trouble, and Lin Yue's wild ideas.
And though she had no idea yet, deep inside her…
Something ancient and powerful slept quietly—waiting for her sixteenth birthday.
But for now?
She was just a 9-year-old ringleader with a banana stash, a dream, and the best gang in Sujin.