“What’s wrong with a fishing village? Everyone is just a worker striving to build our nation. What, just because you live in the military family compound, does that make you nobler than everyone else?”
Mother Ji’s powerful voice cut through the lively courtyard, startling the few gossiping women.
They looked up—oh no. Mother Ji was standing right behind them, and standing in front of them was none other than Doctor Xiao Ji. And beside Doctor Xiao Ji was the young woman who must be his date today.
Well, this was awkward…
“We didn’t say fishing villages are bad. But isn’t it a mismatch in status? This is Doctor Xiao Ji’s partner, right? She looks like she’s from the city…”
The person speaking was the one who had just made the “at least she’s not from a fishing village” comment.
She was a woman around fifty years old, plump, with a kindly face. Who would have thought she could say such ugly things?
“Auntie Bai, this is my partner. She comes from a fishing village. If you have any problem with fishing villages, please leave now.”
Ji Xiangtian put down the gifts he was carrying, pulled Yun Su to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, and, with his back to the courtyard gate, faced the crowd of neighbors in the yard and announced loudly:
“This is my partner—the person I love. Her background has nothing to do with any of you. She is kind, intelligent, brave, and decisive. If any of you have a problem with us, kindly leave my home. Our family does not welcome such guests.”
His words were too blunt. Several neighbors who had wanted to smooth things over found themselves at a loss for words.
But Mother Ji, watching her son’s firm defense of the person he loved, thought of something and her eyes grew slightly moist. She took a deep breath and said loudly, “Well said. We’re just neighbors. If there’s anything about our family you don’t like, please leave.”
Auntie Bai was completely humiliated by the mother and son’s consecutive remarks.
She gritted her teeth, shook off the people trying to hold her back, and stormed out of the Ji house.
The others fell silent. But no one else left.
After all, the Ji family was the most well-off family in the compound. Not only were the husband and wife both department heads at the hospital, but the husband was also the hospital director. Such high-ranking officials, both of them doctors—they were not people these logistics family members could afford to offend.
—
Yun Su, at this moment, didn’t care what these people were thinking.
She was moved by how Ji Xiangtian and Mother Ji had defended her.
Ji Xiangtian was her partner. Standing up for her in front of outsiders, speaking with such firmness—it was incredibly attractive.
And Mother Ji—to Yun Su, she was still a stranger. Yet she was willing to defend her. This showed that this elder was a person of principle. Moreover, she must be a mother who deeply loved her child. Only a mother who loved her child would be willing to stand up for her son’s partner, whom she had never even met.
In short, though the start wasn’t perfect, it was far better than Yun Su had expected.
And because of this small incident, Yun Su found that her subsequent interaction with Mother Ji became quite natural.
—
“Sit here.”
“Have some tea and snacks.”
“You must be tired. Xiao Tian is like this—sometimes his words come out a little blunt. But he’s actually very meticulous.”
“Xiao Su is really beautiful.”
Following Ji Xiangtian into the living room, Yun Su was greeted warmly by Mother Ji.
Without what had happened earlier, Yun Su might have felt a bit awkward hearing these things. But because of what had just occurred, she now felt quite fortunate.
Thus, two intelligent women quickly hit it off.
Yun Su even got to see photos of Ji Xiangtian as a baby.
Baby Ji Xiangtian looked completely different from the adult version. As an infant, he looked soft and easy to bully. It was hard to imagine he would grow up to be so cool and handsome.
“We’ve printed two sets of these photos. If you like any of them, you can take a few.”
Seeing how enthusiastic his mother was, afraid she might overwhelm Yun Su with her warmth, Ji Xiangtian quickly interjected and asked, “Where’s Dad?”
They hadn’t seen his father anywhere since entering the house, despite all the neighbors around.
Mother Ji sighed helplessly: “The hospital called him in. It’s not for surgery though—he should be back for lunch. Xiao Su, I’m so sorry…”
Hearing it was hospital business, Yun Su quickly shook her head. It wasn’t intentional—there was no need to blame anyone.
“Xiao Tian, show Xiao Su around the house. I’ll go check on the kitchen…”
She had some friends helping out in the kitchen, but Mother Ji didn’t feel right just sitting back and doing nothing.
“Come on, I’ll show you around.”
Yun Su nodded. She was also curious about the layout of the house.
—
They had registered their car at the main gate of the compound, which was staffed by a guard. After passing through the main gate, there were several smaller residential compounds within.
The Ji family lived in Compound No. 5.
This was a newly built compound, with even better conditions than the previous ones. The earlier compounds mostly housed higher-ranking military leaders and their families—the first groups to arrive on the island for its development. Compound No. 5, by contrast, was mainly for those transferred in later.
The Ji family had come to the island when the military region was first being built. They had originally lived in Compound No. 1. But after some incidents, they had moved to Compound No. 5 instead.
The Ji family’s current home was an ordinary two-story brick-and-tile house with a small yard enclosed by a wooden fence. The yard was about thirty square meters—quite spacious.
As for the building itself, the two floors combined totaled over two hundred square meters. On the first floor were a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and two rooms—one bedroom for Father Ji and Mother Ji, and a study.
Seeing a flush toilet, Yun Su was thrilled.
Her family had a toilet too, but it wasn’t the squat kind. It was a pit toilet lined with cement. They could flush it manually, and the house had a drainage system—at least they didn’t have to use public latrines.
The second floor had three large rooms. Ji Xiangtian occupied one. The other two were used as a storage room and a guest room.
The whole house was simply whitewashed, but it was spotlessly clean and bright—a very pleasant space.
“Ahem, my parents have already discussed it. If you don’t mind after we get married, we can just live in my room. They’ll clear out the storage room next to it to use as a study for the two of us. And after we have children, the guest room can be converted for them.”
It wasn’t that Ji Xiangtian didn’t want to buy a new house. But the hospital was very close to the compound. A lot of hospital staff lived in Compound No. 5.
Finding a suitable house was not easy these days. And getting housing through the hospital was even harder to arrange.
Yun Su didn’t mind this at all.
Just from seeing Mother Ji’s demeanor earlier, she could tell she was easy to get along with. She hadn’t met Father Ji yet, but he probably wouldn’t be difficult either. Moreover, Yun Su had noticed that the yard was bare—just dirt—and that many of the neighbors seemed quite distant from Mother Ji.
All of this clearly stemmed from the fact that Father Ji and Mother Ji were too busy with work.
The whole family was busy. Even living together, they probably had very little time together.
Since private home purchases weren’t easy right now, there was no point in making things difficult. Once the market opened up, houses would be available everywhere.
The two chatted for a while, not daring to stay inside too long. They stood on the second-floor balcony, speaking quietly, occasionally looking down at the yard.
That way, no one could accuse them of hiding indoors to be intimate.
—
Yun Su soon noticed someone downstairs staring at her. But she didn’t care much. She had nothing to hide and wasn’t afraid of anything.
Among those staring at her, some were commenting on her appearance—saying she was very pretty and looked especially good standing next to Doctor Xiao Ji.
Others said she was too glamorous and didn’t look like a proper person.
No matter what they said, most were guessing about Yun Su’s family background.
Unfortunately, Mother Ji kept a tight lip. No one could get anything out of her.
But some people did get answers—elsewhere.
At this moment, Auntie Bai was at the Gu family’s courtyard, a few dozen meters away, grilling Mother Gu for information.
“No way! She’s really your future daughter-in-law’s younger cousin? Those two cousins are something else…”
After being driven out of the Ji house, Auntie Bai was very bitter. She had only spoken the truth. And yet the Ji mother and son had run her off. She was furious.
The moment she left the Ji house, she headed straight to the Gu family. Not for any other reason—she suddenly remembered that she had seen Yun Su before.
It was during that firewood pile collapse at the cafeteria. That incident had caused quite a stir. If it hadn’t been for that fishing village girl, someone might have died.
Auntie Bai was a cafeteria worker. She had witnessed that incident and had naturally seen Yun Su when she came to deliver goods.
So the moment Yun Su appeared, she recognized her.
But she was afraid she might be mistaken. So she ran to the Gu house to confirm.
“Of course. Both sisters know how to seduce. Otherwise, tell me—why don’t the sons in this compound like any of the many girls here, yet both fall for those two from fishing villages?”
This struck a chord with Auntie Bai.
She had a twenty-year-old daughter who worked at the military hospital’s cashier’s office. In terms of both age and job, she was a perfect match for Doctor Xiao Ji. Auntie Bai hadn’t thought of this before. But now that Doctor Xiao Ji had been transferred back to the island, her daughter worked in the same hospital as him. A couple where both were employees—they’d have an easier time getting housing after marriage.
But now, all those plans were ruined.
“Honestly. Women like that shouldn’t be allowed into our compound.”
Mother Gu thought exactly the same. But she didn’t want to continue this topic out loud. Before her son left for his mission, he had repeatedly told her not to talk about Yun Feng outside. Since she was going to marry into the family eventually, saying nasty things would only make the family lose face.
So Mother Gu had been keeping a low profile lately. The only exception was the other day when Yun Feng had come to the compound acting crazy—Mother Gu had simply pretended not to know and made things difficult for her.
Auntie Bai had no idea what Mother Gu was thinking. She just kept chattering away. Anyone listening would think she was Ji Xiangtian’s mother instead.
—
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