“Hey, ha, Yun Su. Ha, you’re eating at the commune!”
Yun Su looked at the bustling, crowded state-run restaurant and then at the newcomer, a bit speechless.
“Yes, First Aunt-in-law. I’m here to eat. Did you come to buy some braised pork?”
First Aunt-in-law held an aluminum lunch box in her hand. The lid wasn’t on yet. At a glance, the pork inside was golden in color and aromatic—very tempting.
Maybe noticing Yun Su’s gaze, First Aunt-in-law instinctively pulled the lunch box closer to her chest and quickly put the lid on. Then she tucked her hair behind her ear a little awkwardly. “Yes, yes. The family needs an extra dish… an extra dish…”
Seeing her like this, Yun Su felt unimpressed. This aunt had been the same for decades—always afraid that others might take advantage of them.
“If there’s nothing else, my fiancé and I still need to eat.”
With that, Yun Su couldn’t be bothered to deal with her anymore.
But unexpectedly, First Aunt-in-law, clutching her box of braised pork, sat down right next to her. She looked at Yun Su with an awkward smile. “Um, Xiao Su. So this is your fiancé, right?”
Yun Su nodded indifferently, wanting to see what First Aunt-in-law was really after.
“So here’s the thing.” Yun Su had almost finished her rice noodles by the time First Aunt-in-law finally spoke in a low voice. “A few days ago, Yun Feng called your First Uncle’s work unit.”
First Uncle Yun was an ordinary clerk at the commune. Whenever the family needed to reach him, they could call his work unit from town.
Hearing this, Yun Su immediately realized that Yun Feng had probably done something.
Sure enough, the next moment, First Aunt-in-law blurted out the whole story.
It turned out that after the brigade captain announced the processing factory’s selection list a few days ago, Yun Feng had run to town and called First Uncle. On the phone, Yun Feng had gone on a spiel. Her main point was that Yun Huaimin had gotten a position at the factory. If Yun Huaikang still didn’t have any prospects, then Yun Huaimin should give up his factory job.
After all, Yun Huaimin had always been a fisherman in the village and was used to that kind of life. He probably wouldn’t adjust to working in a factory anyway.
Since Yun Huaikang was trying to avoid being sent to the countryside, taking over the job would actually be doing Yun Huaimin a big favor.
Yun Su’s expression darkened instantly.
—
Seeing this, First Aunt-in-law suddenly felt that her husband was actually quite clever.
It turned out that when they first learned Yun Huaimin had gotten a job, First Uncle and First Aunt-in-law had been very tempted. They had tried to use their connections to get a factory job for their younger son, but couldn’t manage it.
So, a few days earlier, they had already transferred their son’s household registration out of the city. They planned to move it back to Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun’s registration.
That process was halfway done. The only thing left was for the village to accept the household registration.
Since Yun Huaikang was transferring his registration back to the countryside, no one objected. A city youth who should have been sent to the countryside had become a rural person. Naturally, his quota for being sent down disappeared.
At the time, First Aunt-in-law hadn’t thought much of it. If they hadn’t transferred the registration to Yun Family Hollow, given how her younger son could only handle easy tasks and avoided hard work, if he ended up being sent to some harsh place to labor, he might not survive.
But they had barely transferred the registration out when they received Yun Feng’s tip-off.
The couple had deeply regretted it. But in the end, First Uncle made the decision: stop dwelling on it. What’s done is done. Instead, they might as well tell Third Brother’s family about this and do them a favor.
Yun Feng had always liked to play the good girl and curry favor since she was little. They had thought she was just a little girl fighting over things. They never imagined Yun Feng would secretly try to instigate their branch to snatch Third Brother’s branch’s job.
Not that they hadn’t been tempted, of course.
So, the couple planned to bring their younger son, Yun Huaikang, back to the village tomorrow to complete the registration process. Before returning, they had come to the state-run restaurant to buy some braised pork to add to their meal. They never expected to run into Yun Su and her fiancé.
First Aunt-in-law had heard about Yun Su’s temperament and that her military doctor fiancé was quite capable.
That was why she gritted her teeth and spilled everything in advance—things she had planned to say tomorrow. Her goal was naturally to do them a favor so they might look after her younger son in return.
—
“Xiao Su, this is the absolute truth, not a single word of it is false. After your First Uncle and I heard about it, we definitely would not listen to Yun Feng. What kind of people would that make us? Your big brother finally got a chance to become a factory worker. No matter how awful we might be, we wouldn’t take that away from him.”
Listening to First Aunt-in-law speak in such a sincere tone, Yun Su found her rather amusing.
She could roughly guess what First Aunt-in-law was going to say next.
“You must tell your parents about this when you get back. Yun Feng’s behavior is wrong.”
Hearing Yun Feng’s name again, Yun Su’s expression soured once more.
That damned Yun Feng. Stirring up trouble again and again, simply unable to stand the sight of their family having anything good.
Yun Su thought for a moment, then had a sudden inspiration. She pulled her about-to-leave First Aunt-in-law aside and whispered a few words. The woman looked reluctant at first, but after Yun Su spelled out what she wanted in return, she reluctantly agreed.
“Don’t worry, First Aunt-in-law. As long as you do your part, I will keep my promise.”
After seeing off the thoroughly conflicted First Aunt-in-law, Yun Su and Ji Xiangtian returned to the car.
As the car started up and warmed, Yun Su looked at Ji Xiangtian. “Do you think I’m a bad person?”
She had just made a deal with First Aunt-in-law. If her aunt did what she asked, Yun Su would agree to have her family help look after Yun Huaikang.
That was right—despite all the rambling, her aunt’s real goal was Yun Huaikang, her younger son.
A mother always wants to pull in every advantage for her child. Since Yun Huaikang was moving his household registration back to the village, he would naturally need the support and care of elders like Yun Su’s father. Grandpa and Grandma were getting on in years.
Ji Xiangtian shook his head and reached out to hold Yun Su’s soft little hand.
Legend had it that people with soft hands were also soft-hearted.
Ever since Su Su had saved him, Ji Xiangtian had witnessed Yun Feng causing trouble many times. People like that never changed unless they truly hit rock bottom.
What Su Su had just proposed would only make that person suffer a bit.
Seeing the look on Ji Xiangtian’s face, Yun Su immediately smiled.
This man was always so understanding.
——
Back in the village, it was still early. Ji Xiangtian stayed at the Yun household until four in the afternoon before leaving. Before he went, he told Yun’s father that the bride price was ready. On the day of the engagement, he would have a truck bring it over.
Yun’s father was naturally delighted that his future in-laws were moving so quickly. It proved they truly valued his daughter.
Only after Ji Xiangtian left and the family gathered around the dinner table that evening did Yun Su tell them about her encounter with First Aunt-in-law.
After hearing it, the whole family looked quite upset.
Yun Huaimin, whose job had been schemed against, was especially furious. He wanted to rush across the way and beat Yun Feng to a pulp.
“Big Brother, don’t be so angry. Isn’t she just jealous of your job? Just work hard, get assigned a housing unit as soon as possible, and become a leader at the factory. Then won’t she be hopping mad with jealousy forever?”
After saying this, Yun Su saw her brother’s expression soften. Then she told them about her agreement with First Aunt-in-law.
“Will that actually work?” Yun’s mother was skeptical that her sister-in-law would cooperate.
Yun Su nodded. “We won’t lose anything either way. If she does her part, then Mom and Dad, you just need to keep an eye on Yun Huaikang. If she doesn’t, then we’ll pretend this never happened.”
After all, their family had never been close with First Uncle’s branch. Decades of being treated as potential moochers by relatives—no one would feel familiar with people like that.
Yun Su’s certainty made the family’s mood even lighter. Yun’s father, who rarely got involved, even joked, “It looks like taking the day off from fishing tomorrow might let me witness something entertaining.”
Yun’s mother shot her husband a glare. “Good that you’re taking the day off. Let’s see just how badly your eldest niece messes herself up.”
——
The next day arrived quickly.
Mornings went as usual: watering the private plot, cooking breakfast, eating. After breakfast, Yun’s mother even went to the threshing ground to sort out some storage records before leisurely heading home.
She hadn’t even reached the house when she heard that her eldest brother, his wife, and their younger son had arrived from the village entrance.
Yun’s mother quickened her pace. When she got home, she saw her own family standing in the yard. Her eldest brother was holding his younger son’s hand, while her sister-in-law stood at Second Uncle’s door with her hands on her hips, shouting.
“Second Brother, Second Brother’s wife! Come out now! Come out!”
“What’s going on? What’s going on?” Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun came out of their house and immediately saw their eldest daughter-in-law yelling loudly.
“Mom, Dad, this doesn’t involve you. Just stand over here and watch.” First Uncle darted over from the side and pulled his parents aside.
“Oh my, Eldest. Why aren’t you at work? What’s happened? Why is Kangzi here?”
First Aunt-in-law raised her voice even more. “Second Brother, Second Brother’s wife, come out! I know you’re both home. Come out right now. I have something to tell you clearly.”
Inside the house, Liu Zhaodi tugged at her husband. “Look at your eldest sister-in-law. She’s gone crazy. What’s she screaming about at our door this early? And your parents are useless too. They didn’t say a word out there, just stood there like mute. What, do they think they won’t need us to support them in their old age?”
Second Uncle Yun had finally gotten a day off and had wanted to sleep in. But with all the commotion his sister-in-law was making outside, even a dead man would have jumped up.
“Have you done anything to provoke her lately?”
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