The man shot Ji Xiangtian a glance. “I’ll wait until you actually get married. That way, I only have to give one gift.”
They chatted and laughed for a while, then Ji Xiangtian said goodbye and went home.
On the way back, Ji Xiangtian deliberately looked around. The Gu household was quiet, and there was no sign of Gu Zhengrong. It seemed he had already composed himself.
—
And so the busy day passed. The next day, the sun rose, and a new day began.
Yun Su woke up in a good mood, only to hear Liu Zhaodi’s shrill yelling from the second branch’s house across the way.
“Sleep, sleep, sleep—sleeping all day long. A girl your age—if you were lucky, you’d already be a mother. And you still have the nerve to sleep in. Do you even deserve to sleep late? Get up, all of you, and go to work!”
Yun Su checked the time. It was barely past six in the morning. She was up early because she was used to it. If Liu Zhaodi were her mother and spoke to her like that, Yun Su would feel utterly suffocated.
After going inside to do some stretching, Yun Su went to the yard to draw water and wash her face. She saw Liu Zhaodi leading her daughters, all carrying sickles and baskets—clearly heading to their private plot to work.
This family was truly something. The men never lifted a finger on the little bit of land they had. The women did everything. If women could do the work of fishing, Second Uncle probably would have become a kept man.
What Yun Su didn’t know was that although they obediently went to the private plot, none of Liu Zhaodi’s daughters were happy about it. Sure enough, once at the plot, Yun Feng hid in a corner. She claimed she was weeding, but she didn’t pull much. Liu Zhaodi, still mindful of Gu Zhengrong’s status, held back from saying anything too harsh.
So the other three daughters became the punching bags once again.
In the past, at times like this, the three daughters usually kept silent and worked hard to meet Liu Zhaodi’s demands.
But today, something had given them courage. Yun Yan, the second daughter, suddenly jumped up. “If you keep cursing me, I won’t support the family after I marry!”
Liu Zhaodi: “Oh my, have you lost your mind? How dare you—”
But before Liu Zhaodi could finish her tirade, Yun Yan let out a cold laugh. “Mom, you still treat Yun Feng like a treasure, don’t you? You don’t know? Commander Gu doesn’t want her anymore…”
“What…”
At these words, not only did Yun Feng’s family freeze, but the people working on nearby private plots also stopped what they were doing.
—
Good heavens! What were they hearing so early in the morning?
Yun Yan stared at Yun Feng, whose expression had suddenly turned fierce, and said with undisguised provocation, “Yesterday, when First Aunt-in-law exposed all the rotten things Yun Feng did, Commander Gu saw it happen. Then our ‘big sister’ chased him all the way to the village entrance. She was practically on her knees, but he said she had bad character and wanted to break up with her.”
Thinking of the scene she had witnessed yesterday, Yun Yan felt a thrill of satisfaction—better than drinking iced water on the hottest summer day.
This was exactly right.
Yun Feng, that master of pretending, never deserved such a good match.
Yun Su had just strolled over to the private plot with her elder brother and little brother when she caught these words from Yun Yan.
Before she could even reflect on the fact that she hadn’t been the only one watching yesterday, she saw Yun Feng rush at Yun Yan like a madwoman, pinning her to the ground and swinging both fists.
She struck with a ferocity reserved for mortal enemies.
Fuzai watched the punches land and couldn’t help stepping back two paces. He muttered, “Big Brother, women are terrifying when they’re vicious. I think I’ll just stay single.”
Yun Huaimin had been in a foul mood at the sight of Yun Feng, but his little brother’s childish words made him laugh. He ruffled the boy’s messy hair. “What is there to be afraid of? If you walk the straight and narrow, you don’t need to fear even ghosts and goblins.”
Despite his big brother’s words, Fuzai still made a funny, grimacing face.
Because over in the fight, Yun Yan, with the help of her twin sister Yun Que, had flipped over and was now on top of Yun Feng, slapping her across the face just as fiercely.
For a moment, the usually noisy private plot fell completely silent. The only sound was the crack of palm striking cheek.
—
Liu Zhaodi, their mother, was even more interesting.
With her daughters fighting, she stood there like nothing was happening. She even joined the crowd of onlookers, watching the mutual destruction with a cold expression.
Seeing this, the neighbors shook their heads inwardly, but none of them said anything out loud.
After Yun Feng’s deeds were exposed yesterday, it wasn’t without consequence in the village. The biggest impact was that everyone now knew this family wasn’t as virtuous as they appeared. If Yun Feng, who used to have such a good reputation in the village, could do something like this, then the parents couldn’t be of much good character either.
Liu Zhaodi didn’t care what others said. She wasn’t about to stop her daughters from fighting. Her attention was fixed on the news that Yun Feng and Commander Gu had broken up.
For this match, her family had made so many concessions. They had even offended people at the supply depot, causing the village to be unable to buy goods there for a long time. That other family had been workers from Yangcheng and had offered a bride price of 300 yuan.
Now, they’d failed to secure the commander’s family and lost the worker’s family too.
Thinking this, Liu Zhaodi wished she could beat Yun Feng to death herself. So of course, she didn’t stop the twin daughters from pummeling Yun Feng.
In the end, it was the surrounding neighbors who couldn’t bear to watch any longer and pulled the three sisters apart before it was over.
But things ending at the private plot didn’t mean Yun Feng’s troubles were over.
By midday, the whole village was spreading the news that Yun Feng had been dumped by her regiment commander boyfriend.
Along with this news came the stories of how Yun Feng had tried to harm Yun Su and how she had tried to get the eldest branch to steal the third branch’s job.
This news made Yun Feng infamous throughout the surrounding brigades. And the reputation was particularly ugly.
Of course, some people did feel sorry for Yun Feng’s plight. They thought she wasn’t that kind of person and that there might be circumstances they didn’t know about. But these people only talked; none of them actually stepped forward to defend her.
In any case, Yun Su quickly noticed that Yun Feng’s days had become difficult.
All the household chores had fallen on her shoulders alone. Everyone else did nothing. If Yun Feng could handle work on a boat, Liu Zhaodi would probably have thrown her onto one to labor.
Worse still, Liu Zhaodi had already spread the word in the village, asking everyone to help find a match for Yun Feng—this old spinster of twenty.
As long as someone could come up with a bride price of 500 yuan, no matter their family circumstances, Yun Feng would marry them immediately.
At this, some soft-hearted villagers went to Yun Feng and quietly told her what was happening. The more clever ones advised Yun Feng to beg Gu Zhengrong to take her back. If he wouldn’t, she should go back to that short, stocky former suitor, Chen Pingshun.
Anything was better than letting Liu Zhaodi sell her off like this.
The truth was, it wasn’t that Yun Feng didn’t want to beg Gu Zhengrong. She simply couldn’t find him. After managing to scrape together enough money for the bus to the military district, she couldn’t get in—and on top of that, she learned that Gu Zhengrong had already left on another mission.
As for that “short winter melon” who had come to the village for a matchmaking visit before, Yun Feng refused to settle for someone like that.
—
But Yun Feng’s refusal didn’t mean others weren’t willing to entertain the idea.
And so, another weekend arrived. Today, Ji Xiangtian had come to Yun Su’s house early, ready to spend the last weekend before their engagement here. The next weekend would be the engagement day.
But he had barely arrived and sat down to eat breakfast when a commotion broke out outside.
“Seems like your village has had an eventful week.”
Yun Su laughed. As soon as she and Ji Xiangtian met, she had told him everything big and small that had happened in the village over the past week.
The highlight, of course, was First Aunt-in-law publicly condemning the second branch and shredding Yun Feng’s reputation to pieces.
She also recounted the fight between the Yun sisters at the private plot and the scene of Yun Feng’s breakup with Gu Zhengrong. Yun Su described it all with great enthusiasm.
Ji Xiangtian smiled and told her about running into Gu Zhengrong that day as well.
“He looked utterly dejected. I thought he would stay home for a while. But then I heard he’d left on another mission just two days later. Apparently, he volunteered for it—he had to ask someone else to give it up. According to regulations, after returning from a mission, he was supposed to have a long break. My mother heard that his family was originally planning to hold a wedding celebration.”
Yun Su understood immediately. This Commander Gu seemed like an upright man. Unfortunately, he had run into someone like Yun Feng, who only appeared good on the surface.
The two chatted as they walked to the kitchen. They each took a bowl of fragrant rice noodles and sat under a tree in the yard, eating while watching what was happening outside.
—
They didn’t have to wait long. Soon, they saw several people on bicycles stop right in front of the house across the way. Quite a few villagers followed along, all wearing expressions of someone enjoying a good show.
“Why does this scene look familiar?”
Yun Su muttered to herself as she watched. When she got a clear look at the person on one of the bicycles, she immediately knew what was going on.
That pockmarked face, resembling the lunar surface. That short, squat figure. Wasn’t that the young man Chen Pingshun? Yes, the same one who was Chen Xiangye’s nephew. The same Chen Xiangye who had stirred up trouble at the supply depot and ended up transferred to the middle of nowhere.
Chen Xiangye hadn’t come this time. Among the group were two middle-aged men and one middle-aged woman—probably Chen Pingshun’s parents and perhaps an uncle and aunt.
Yun Su wasn’t the only one who recognized him. Many in the village did. Aunt Lin was already pulling aside the village women, chattering away about the last time the Chen family came to the village, including how they had caused the village to be unable to buy goods at the town supply depot.
If it weren’t for Yun Su’s capability and her writing skills, their village would still lack a supply depot and wouldn’t have earned such a good reputation across the region.
“So, these people are coming back for seconds?”
The only person in the village with any connection to them was Yun Feng, Chen Pingshun’s former matchmaking prospect.
This remark made many of the onlookers nod. Aunt Lin looked as if she had expected this all along.
Hearing this, Yun Su shook her head with an inscrutable expression.
—
Seeing this, Ji Xiangtian asked with amusement, “So you know something that nobody else does?”
Yun Su chuckled merrily. She didn’t keep him in suspense. Lowering her voice, she said, “That day when you drove me to the military district, remember I told you I saw some familiar faces on the road? Well, one of them was him…”
Yun Su raised her chin toward Chen Pingshun, who was unloading gifts from his bicycle.
The look on Su Su’s face told Ji Xiangtian that what she was about to say was pretty shocking. He played along and asked, “Who was he with?”
Yun Su smiled. “Why don’t you guess it’s Yun Feng?”
Ji Xiangtian shook his head with a smile. “Definitely not her. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be grinning so mischievously.”
Yun Su was even happier to hear this. She realized that this man understood her very well. He knew all her little quirks, all her little thoughts.
Back when she was single, she used to think that kind of soul-deep understanding in a relationship was kind of terrifying. After all, if the other person could see right through you at a glance, wouldn’t you have no secrets left?
But now that she had actually met such a person, Yun Su only felt her heart swell—full and warm. She didn’t know what word to use to describe this feeling. She could only say that her heart felt very, very full, no longer empty.
And so her smile grew even brighter. Slowly leaning close to the man’s ear, she whispered, “The other person was Yun Yan.”
As she spoke, Yun Su noticed that the man’s earlobe was slowly turning red from her breath.
She found this incredibly amusing and couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch his thick earlobe.
Ji Xiangtian’s spine stiffened at her touch. He didn’t dare move. He was afraid that if this continued, he might do something wrong.
He could only clear his throat dryly and say, “Well, that’s quite surprising.”
Heaven knew he had already lost the ability to think about when those two had gotten together. His mind was filled with nothing but Yun Su’s soft, airy voice.
In the end, it was a sudden burst of noise from across the way that broke the intimate atmosphere.
Yun Su let go, a little embarrassed by her own impulsiveness.
But she immediately looked toward the commotion across the street.
—
As it happened, she saw Yun Feng standing at the entrance of her yard, her face flushed red.
“What are you doing here? There’s nothing between us. Don’t think you can come with all those gifts and expect—”
Before Yun Feng could finish, a middle-aged woman’s impatient voice rang out: “Young lady, last time we introduced Comrade Chen to you, you looked down on him. So why are you popping up now? We’re not here for you.”
This remark stunned the villagers. They stared at the middle-aged woman, desperate to know who she had come for.
As for Yun Feng—seeing a matchmaking prospect she had previously rejected showing up at her door with bags of gifts, she had assumed he had come to win her back. Though she was secretly pleased at how sought-after she was, she would still refuse. She only wanted to marry Gu Zhengrong.
But before she could finish speaking, the matchmaker had cut her off.
Yun Feng recognized the matchmaker. She was the same one who had brought Chen Pingshun last time. Back then, she had spoken earnestly, trying to match Yun Feng with that short man.
How much time had passed? And now her tone had turned so harsh.
She said they weren’t here for her. If not for her, why were they stopping at her doorstep? Thinking this, Yun Feng’s expression suddenly changed drastically.
The only other unmarried girls in the family besides herself were the twin sisters.
Those sisters had always loved to compete with her since childhood. If it were them…
At this thought, Yun Feng’s face grew even more unpleasant. Even if she didn’t want something, it shouldn’t go to her younger sisters Yun Yan and Yun Que.
But no one cared about her feelings.
Soon enough, Liu Zhaodi came out of the house beaming, shoved Yun Feng aside from the gate, and grabbed the matchmaker’s hand with a smile. “Oh my, sister, we really are fated to meet! Come in, come in. Yun Yan has already prepared tea inside. We’ve been waiting for you!”
At these words, a collective “Wooow” rose from the surrounding crowd.
Yun Feng’s face turned ashen, as if she might explode and start hitting someone at any moment.
Catching sight of her out of the corner of her eye, Liu Zhaodi snorted coldly. “You turned him down. Now he’s interested in your younger sister. If you have any sense, go find a corner to hide in and don’t stand here being an eyesore.”
—
The family soon picked up their bags and bundles and followed Liu Zhaodi inside. This time, no one followed them in to watch the spectacle.
The truth was, this news was simply too shocking.
It’s one thing for a man to fail to match with an older sister, only to turn around and match with the younger sister. Such things did happen, but very rarely. People cared about face and generally wouldn’t do something like this.
Because once this kind of thing came out, people would only say that your daughter wasn’t worth much, being picked over and chosen among.
“That family really has no sense of propriety…”
Aunt Lin stared wide-eyed for a long moment before finally blurting out these words.
The others surnamed Yun also felt their faces burning. Outsiders wouldn’t know the details—they would only say that the Yun family had no decency.
Several people immediately hurried toward the brigade headquarters, apparently to find the brigade captain and the clan elder.
Yun Su had watched the whole thing unfold. She had known it would come to this.
After all, every family cared about face.
She was a little curious about how Yun Yan and Chen Pingshun had gotten together in the first place.
As for Chen Pingshun, Yun Su remembered that the last time she went to the Yangcheng department store with Ji Xiangtian, she had seen him at the fabric counter with a matchmaking date, buying fabric. From their conversation, it seemed they planned to get married soon after buying the fabric.
How much time had passed since then? And now he was with Yun Yan.
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