This spot at the corner was usually very quiet when no one was entering or leaving the village.
Sure enough, the two of them had probably been entangled there for several minutes already, yet no one had noticed.
Yun Su couldn’t be bothered to watch what they were doing. But then she heard Gu Zhengrong’s stern voice.
“Yun Feng, let go. To be honest, I really can’t understand why you would do this. You were so brave back then, saving my mother when danger struck. How could someone as kind as you do something like this behind people’s backs? Instigating your own uncle’s family to steal your other uncle’s job? How could you do such a thing? This is wrong to begin with. And to put it bluntly, what benefit could you possibly gain from this?”
His words were blunt but true. Gu Zhengrong truly couldn’t fathom Yun Feng’s motives.
An important reason he had agreed to marry Yun Feng was that she was willing to treat his family well. Plus, she had genuinely saved his mother—her character had been proven.
But now, with Yun Feng doing something like this, Gu Zhengrong had to doubt her true nature. Was this kind of person suitable to marry into his family?
He was often away on missions. At home, there was only his elderly mother, two teenage sisters, and a young adopted son. If he actually married Yun Feng and she took advantage of his absence to mistreat his family, Gu Zhengrong wouldn’t even be able to do anything about it in the moment.
His family’s well-being had always been his top priority.
Yun Feng’s kindness was the quality Gu Zhengrong valued most. But today’s events made him realize he had misjudged her.
Thinking this, he steeled himself and used his free hand to pry Yun Feng, who was clinging to his leg, completely off.
“Someone like you—I’m afraid that if we get married, there will be conflicts with my family. Keep these gifts. As for everything else, let’s call it off.”
Gu Zhengrong had come today to discuss marriage arrangements with Yun Feng’s family. Now, it seemed that wouldn’t be necessary. He wanted to leave the gifts he had brought with Yun Feng, as a clean break.
“I don’t want your things. What I want is you. I can explain all of this. I can explain everything.”
Yun Feng’s tone was desperate, as if she might fall apart at any moment. Afraid Gu Zhengrong would leave, she hugged him again. This time, she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind—just like one of those melodramatic scenes Yun Su had seen in shows.
“You know my family situation. My parents have always had a bad relationship with my third uncle. This whole thing—my parents made me do it. As a daughter, I couldn’t disobey. And now that it’s been exposed, I certainly can’t tell the truth. Otherwise, my parents won’t be able to hold their heads up. Can you understand my suffering? We’re both people who are filial to our parents—we have no choice!”
Hearing this, Gu Zhengrong felt very upset. He was filial to his mother, but he had never gone so far as to lose sight of right and wrong. Besides, he didn’t believe a single word of what Yun Feng had just said.
“I can’t trust what you’re saying now. My family has always come first in my heart. When you asked me to confirm our relationship, I told you that my family comes first. You agreed to that. So now that you’ve done something like this, I’m worried my family will get hurt in the future. So I’m sorry, Comrade Yun Feng. Let’s end things here. If you find a good match, marry him quickly.”
With that, Gu Zhengrong hardened his heart again. He broke free from the arms wrapped around his waist and left Yun Family Hollow Brigade without looking back, leaving Yun Feng collapsed on the ground, wailing.
Seeing this outcome, Yun Su felt both satisfaction and a flicker of curiosity. Had the novel’s heroine just had a falling-out with the hero? The future story might become much more interesting.
But no matter what happened between them later, just watching Yun Feng, who was crying her eyes out as if the sky were falling, made it all worth it.
—
That evening at the dinner table, Yun Su told her family everything she had witnessed at the village entrance.
After hearing it, Yun’s father made a rare comment: “Second Brother probably never imagined that Yun Feng would throw all the blame onto him and his wife behind their backs.”
Second Uncle Yun, who was used to stirring up trouble from the shadows, would probably be furious if he knew Yun Feng had made him the scapegoat.
Yun’s mother snorted coldly. “No one in the second branch is any good. This time, they even tried to instigate the eldest branch to cause trouble. Hmph. Even if the eldest sister-in-law hadn’t tipped us off, our family’s job wasn’t something that could just be snatched away.”
The others nodded. It was because the eldest branch had cooperated this time that things had been resolved so quickly.
So their family would give the eldest branch some help.
Take Yun Huaikang, who had come today to complete his household registration. His registration had temporarily been placed under Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun. The eldest branch still had an old house in the village, built when they were young.
That afternoon, their family had helped the eldest branch clean up that old house and settled Yun Huaikang into it. Of course, no one felt comfortable letting him—a young man a month younger than Yun Su—live alone. Grandpa Yun, seeing how much had happened at the second branch’s home that day, simply moved himself and Grandma into the old house with him.
Besides helping clean the house, Yun’s father also took the eldest branch’s family of three to visit the brigade cadres at the headquarters—a form of introduction and showing respect.
Afterward, Yun’s father also agreed that once Yun Huaikang was settled, he could take him out to sea each time to broaden his horizons.
There was no expectation that Yun Huaikang would learn to fish. The young man lacked direction; his purpose in going on the boat was merely to see the sights.
—
Meanwhile, unlike the third branch, which was busy helping Yun Huaikang, the second branch had made such a spectacle of themselves that day that even though Yun Feng came home carrying many gifts, no one in the family paid her any mind.
In fact, with Grandpa Yun and Grandma Yun moving out, Liu Zhaodi felt free to “attend” to her daughters without restraint.
From the moment Yun Feng returned, Liu Zhaodi’s tirade never stopped. She was addicted to cursing her daughters with all sorts of vile language, even involving body parts.
She even snatched away all the gifts Yun Feng had brought back, and as she did so, she didn’t forget to curse that Yun Feng didn’t deserve to eat such good things.
Of course, the fact that Gu Zhengrong wanted to break up with Yun Feng was unknown to everyone in the village except Yun Su’s family.
So Liu Zhaodi didn’t dare to actually lay a hand on Yun Feng, afraid that Gu Zhengrong might show up and be displeased. They were ordinary commoners—of course, they wouldn’t offend Gu Zhengrong if they could help it.
Yun Feng saw right through her mother’s thoughts and felt secretly pleased. Retreating to her bed, she lay there thinking about how she could win Gu Zhengrong back.
The last time Gu Zhengrong agreed to marry her was because she had saved his mother. Now that things had blown up like this, she would probably have to save Gu Zhengrong or his entire family to turn things around.
But no matter how difficult, Yun Feng wouldn’t give up. Her instincts told her that her future husband was Gu Zhengrong.
As for the eldest branch and third branch of the family, who had brought her to this state, Yun Feng would not forget any of them. Someday, they would pay.
—
Just as Yun Feng was scheming about how to reconcile with Gu Zhengrong, he was making his way home under the cover of darkness.
“You’re back! Have you eaten?”
When Gu’s mother saw that her son had been out all day and only returned in the evening, her face fell into a long scowl. This son of hers was filial, yes, but he also had a strong will of his own. He had only returned yesterday, still looking haggard, and immediately started making arrangements to go to that damned fishing village to see that damned Yun Feng, saying he needed to discuss marriage with her family.
Normally, as his mother, she should have been the one to go. But Gu’s mother wasn’t willing to give Yun Feng that face. That morning, she had watched coldly as her son left with bags and parcels, holding no expectations for this so-called marriage discussion. With a son as outstanding as hers, the other family would have no choice but to agree.
Gu’s mother thought to herself that she wouldn’t offer a single cent of bride price, and that family would still eagerly marry their daughter off.
Gu Zhengrong instinctively shook his head when his mother asked. But as soon as he shook it, he realized that was a mistake. However, Gu’s mother had already exploded: “Good heavens! It’s almost seven o’clock. You haven’t had dinner yet? What’s wrong with that family? They made you come home hungry? Do they not want to form an alliance with our family?”
Hearing the condescending tone in every word, Gu Zhengrong reached up and massaged his temples.
What had happened in Yun Family Hollow today had left him feeling utterly exhausted. He didn’t know how to tell his mother, so he hadn’t come straight home. Instead, he had wandered around the neighborhood all afternoon, only heading back when he felt enough time had passed. As for dinner—he had truly forgotten.
He had spent the entire afternoon thinking about how to explain today’s events to his mother.
The words he had used to convince her earlier now felt like a slap in the face.
Who would have thought Yun Feng was that kind of person?
“That whole family is despicable. They’re trying to manipulate you, aren’t they? They didn’t even feed you. No way. Someone like that is not setting foot in our house.”
Several times, Gu Zhengrong almost opened his mouth to say that he and Yun Feng were done. But hearing his mother’s furious tone, he ultimately closed his mouth again.
He thought to himself, never mind. He would bring it up after she had calmed down in a few days.
“Mom, I’m going to get something to eat. You get some rest early.”
With that, Gu Zhengrong walked out of the house again, intending to check the cafeteria to see if any leftovers remained. If he stayed home, his mother would be too agitated to sleep.
—
Just at that moment, Ji Xiangtian also stepped out of his house. Unlike Gu Zhengrong, who was famished, Ji Xiangtian had already eaten his fill at the hospital cafeteria before coming home. He had rested at home for a while, then thought about going to Family Courtyard No. 1 to ask about the gold bars.
As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Gu Zhengrong looking dejected. Ji Xiangtian immediately realized that the man must have discovered Yun Feng’s true nature.
At that thought, Ji Xiangtian couldn’t help but show a faint smile.
Su Su’s plan seemed to have been very effective. Otherwise, Gu Zhengrong wouldn’t look so crestfallen.
Although his family and the Gu family lived not far apart, they didn’t have much of a relationship. So when Gu Zhengrong glanced his way, Ji Xiangtian only gave a slight nod in greeting, nothing more. He felt that anyone who could be deceived by Yun Feng was probably not someone he would see eye to eye with.
Gu Zhengrong wanted to ask Ji Xiangtian whether he knew Yun Feng’s real nature. After all, Ji Xiangtian was dating Yun Feng’s cousin, and word was they were getting engaged soon.
But the way Ji Xiangtian quickly walked away made it clear he didn’t want to interact with him.
Moreover, from Ji Xiangtian’s body language, Gu Zhengrong suddenly realized that this man had probably known about Yun Feng’s true colors all along.
Thinking this, Gu Zhengrong couldn’t help but cover his eyes with his hand. A bitter, ironic smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He really had been blind.
—
Unaware of Gu Zhengrong’s inner turmoil, Ji Xiangtian quickly arrived at Family Courtyard No. 1 and found his friend.
“You’ve come at the right time. Those gold bars are indeed problematic.”
The two sat in a small study, and that was the first thing out of his friend’s mouth.
Ji Xiangtian wasn’t surprised. If there had been nothing wrong with them, they probably wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to search for them.
“I can’t tell you the specific problem yet. But I need you to explain the origin of these gold bars again.”
Ji Xiangtian nodded. If there really was a problem, he understood that details couldn’t be disclosed to them. He didn’t want to know too much either—some things weren’t his place to investigate.
So Ji Xiangtian recounted the origin of the gold bars once more.
After taking notes and putting the documents away, his friend’s demeanor changed completely, and he said lightly, “You sure know how to make trouble for me.”
The stern face from just moments ago, now that official business was done, had turned thoroughly disgusted.
“Haha, aren’t we good brothers? By the way, I’m getting engaged at the end of the month. We’re keeping it small—just our two families having a meal together. I won’t invite you.”
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