“So, what did Da Tou tell you?”
That night, Bai Lan sat at the desk in her room, writing and drawing under the lamplight. Bai Ping came in after her bath and asked directly.
Bai Lan looked up at her and shook her head. “Nothing much…”
Actually, there was something. But she didn’t want to tell the family just yet. After all, the information Da Tou had dug up was just hearsay. There wasn’t any solid evidence to speak of.
Bai Ping shrugged. “If something’s really going on, remember to speak up…”
Bai Lan said, “Don’t worry. If something really happens, I won’t stand on ceremony with you!” As she spoke, she saw Bai Ping walk over to her own bed and pull the bed curtain shut.
Yes, the two of them shared a room. Their Bai family’s home, Courtyard No. 3, was a two-section courtyard. Three families lived in the front section. The back section, where they were, had eight families in total. Compared to other shared courtyards, theirs had relatively few households.
Her family lived in the three best main rooms in the entire courtyard—and they owned the property rights. Word had it that the house originally belonged to her father Bai Xiaoniu’s master. The old master had no family of his own his whole life. Later, he took in her father, who had come from the countryside to make a living in the city, as his apprentice. He taught her father the art of pastry-making and was taken care of by his apprentice in his old age. So the house was left to Father Bai.
But the Bai family had many members. Even with three main rooms, they could only fit two people per room. Even so, their living conditions were still better than most.
Bai Lan shared the right-side main room with her third sister Bai Ping. Normally, since the second and third sisters were twins, they would have shared a room. But Bai Ping didn’t like rooming with her twin. So she stayed with her little sister instead. The eldest sister Bai Lian and second sister Bai Li shared another room. The largest main room in the middle was where Bai Lan’s parents lived. Of course, half of that room was partitioned off to serve as the main hall.
The kitchen was built right onto the covered walkway. That was basically how every shared courtyard did it. As for the bathroom, they had to use the public toilet at the end of the alley up ahead.
When Bai Lan first transmigrated, she was somewhat unused to this living environment with so little privacy. Fortunately, her third sister was smart and had good boundaries. Bai Lan treated sharing a room with her like having a roommate.
—
Bai Lan sighed and continued with what she was doing.
Thanks to what Da Tou had told her that evening, she now had a clear plan for what to do next.
Since that so-called “good match” already had someone he liked, she wasn’t going to get involved. But Da Tou had also said that he’d heard this information from the street loafers around the steel factory area, and he’d confirmed it with an acquaintance. If you went and asked the older aunties at the steel factory, every single one of them would speak highly of the guy.
So no wonder her father was tempted by this marriage arrangement. Even her eldest sister, who worked in the steel factory’s Women’s Federation, probably rarely heard anyone say a bad word about him.
Taking all this together, Bai Lan decided to take matters into her own hands first. If the guy had any sense, he would properly resolve this “arrangement” himself.
She took one last look at what she’d written and drawn, nodded with satisfaction, turned off the lamp, and went to sleep.
That was also why she didn’t notice her third sister on the bed across from her, staring at her through the bed curtain with complicated eyes.
—
The next morning, after breakfast, Bai Lan did as she’d planned the day before. She called Qin Yan and Da Tou, and the three of them set off straight for the steel factory.
The steel factory was in the suburbs. It took an hour by bus from their courtyard, or nearly two hours by bike. The three of them took the bus. On a weekday morning, the bus was pretty crowded. On the bus, Qin Yan whispered to ask Bai Lan if she really intended to go directly to the factory to find the guy.
Bai Lan nodded. She wasn’t going to pick a fight—just to call him out for a talk. Da Tou, meanwhile, rolled his eyes and said that in a situation like this, they should just go and confront him directly. Who keeps discussing marriage arrangements while already having a sweetheart?
Da Tou was angry, sure. But once they arrived, he did as Bai Lan asked. He went straight to the steel factory’s guardhouse and said he needed to see Song Guoping, an officer in the sales department.
Bai Lan and Qin Yan didn’t follow him. Instead, they stood across the street from the guardhouse, waiting for Da Tou to bring the guy over. If they went along, word would probably spread through the entire steel factory within half a day that two female comrades had come looking for the factory director’s son.
Soon, Da Tou brought Song Guoping over.
He had a square face, a buzz cut, stood 1.8 meters tall with a straight back, and radiated an air of righteousness. Song Guoping looked exactly like the ideal man of the era. Even Qin Yan, who already knew the truth, couldn’t help but gasp when she saw him in person.
Bai Lan wasn’t particularly impressed by his looks. She found him a bit too stern.
—
Song Guoping frowned at the situation before him. “Who are you people?”
As soon as he said that, Da Tou looked like he was about to throw a punch. Qin Yan’s earlier expression of admiration also turned sour. Bai Lan, however, remained perfectly calm. After all, this so-called “marriage arrangement” had come together rather hastily.
Bai Lan had thought it was a bit strange before. After hearing what Da Tou said yesterday, she wasn’t surprised anymore.
After all, this man named Song Guoping had a female comrade he liked. Unfortunately, that young woman had gone to the countryside because of her family’s class background. Word was that even after she went down, Song Guoping sent her money and care packages every month. He showed no sign of giving up on her.
But about half a month ago—right around the time this marriage arrangement was being discussed—those actions seemed to have stopped.
Although Da Tou hadn’t been able to find out why, Bai Lan suspected that someone had discovered Song Guoping’s involvement with a female comrade whose family background was problematic.
In this era, that kind of behavior was quite sensitive. If handled carelessly, even the factory director’s family could find themselves in trouble.
Bai Lan suspected that this marriage arrangement had been set up by the Song family to divert attention and defuse a crisis.
In fact, her guess wasn’t far from the truth.
So when she explained her reason for coming to Song Guoping, she wasn’t surprised at all to be rejected.
“My father agreed to this match. Your father didn’t object either. The two families were about to finalize things. I’m not going to oppose it now.”
His righteous, high-minded words made Bai Lan’s mouth twitch. But she couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. Since getting him to agree to call it off directly wasn’t going to work, she had no choice but to lay her cards on the table.
“And why do you think I came to find you in person? Those packages you send out every month…”
Before she could finish, Song Guoping glared at her angrily. “What do you know?”
—
Bai Lan shrugged and met his gaze head-on. “What’s there to be afraid of people knowing? Anyway, I know you don’t want to marry me. And as it happens, I want even less to do with you. So you go tell your father to pretend this whole thing never happened. I’ll go back and tell my father the same. Then we’ll both tell everyone outside that there’s no such arrangement, and that the rumors are all false. That way, nobody loses anything…”
After hearing this, Song Guoping’s expression grew even uglier. He stepped forward to say something, but Da Tou had already moved to block him. Qin Yan also looked at him warily.
Their actions finally helped Song Guoping, who had been getting hot-headed, calm down.
He looked at the determination in Bai Lan’s eyes and suddenly said, “Aren’t you afraid for your father’s job? Or your eldest sister’s…”
His family was the factory director’s family, while her old man was just a cook. If it really came down to a confrontation, she would definitely be at a disadvantage. Even if their work systems were different, it would still be a problem if he constantly caused trouble for her father. And that wasn’t even mentioning her eldest sister, whose family—three generations of them—were all employees of the steel factory. The factory director could cause trouble for a worker far more easily than for a cook.
But Bai Lan wasn’t one to be taken advantage of. Everything had been fine. They could have just gone their separate ways and called it a day. Yet this man, who looked so righteous on the surface, had resorted to threats. Since that was the case, Bai Lan decided not to be polite with him either.
“Don’t think you can threaten me like that. Have you forgotten about your sweetheart’s family situation? Hmph, hmph…”
Bai Lan didn’t say anything more. Just those two sentences were enough. Song Guoping, who had a pure, untouchable love in his heart, couldn’t stand it.
His face changed color again and again, rivaling a paint palette. In a stiff tone, he asked, “What do you want?”
“I don’t want anything. Just pretend this so-called marriage arrangement never happened. Tell everyone outside that the arrangement was just a rumor. And also—find me a job. It doesn’t have to be anything great. A temporary position is fine. But I need a job as compensation. Otherwise…”
Song Guoping could threaten her, and she could threaten him too. Even if he didn’t follow through, she would never actually report that girl in the countryside. But when it came to putting on a verbal front, Bai Lan knew she wouldn’t lose.
—
“So, you handled the whole thing by yourself? And you even landed a job?”
Father Bai looked at his youngest daughter in disbelief, wondering if he was just too tired from work and had misheard. Hadn’t he only been at work for a single day? He hadn’t even made a move yet. How had his youngest daughter already done something this big?
Seeing the look on her father’s face, Bai Lan grinned and nodded. In fact, it wasn’t just her father. Qin Yan and Da Tou, who had gone with her, had also looked utterly incredulous on the way back. After all, Bai Lan had only said at the start that she wanted to cancel the marriage arrangement. Neither of them had expected her to come away with a job at the end.
A job. Such a precious thing.
“Hold on! That kid doesn’t have the ability to find you a job.” After saying this, Father Bai suddenly had a flash of realization. His eyes widened as he looked at his youngest daughter. “You got something on that kid?”
If she didn’t have something on him, there was no way he would have agreed. And even now that he’d agreed to the job, he’d still have to rely on his father, Factory Director Song, to make it happen.
At this point, Mother Bai said with exasperation, “You went out first thing in the morning and did all this? And you had the patience to wait until your father and sisters came home to say anything?”
Bai Lan looked at her second and third sisters, who also had shocked expressions, and grinned. She just didn’t want to explain the same thing several times, so she had forced herself to wait until her father and sisters got home from work.
“Yeah! So that Song Guoping…”
Bai Lan quickly explained everything clearly—how Song Guoping had a pure love in his heart, and how he had tried to threaten her.
“So asking him to find me a job isn’t unreasonable at all. But Dad, I’m afraid the longer we drag this out, the more problems might come up. Shouldn’t you go find Factory Director Song and have a talk as soon as possible?”
Father Bai nodded. He immediately stopped eating, changed his clothes, and headed out the door to go to the steel factory and “have a talk” with Factory Director Song.
After watching her father leave, Bai Lan happily continued eating. During the meal, her second sister Bai Li still looked stunned, occasionally casting amazed glances at her little sister. Her third sister Bai Ping, on the other hand, had an expression that was a mix of relief and something more hidden—in short, very strange. Bai Lan noticed it but didn’t pay it much mind. Anyway, all she had to do now was sit back and wait for that job to come to her.
With this job, her father wouldn’t have to worry so much. And if possible, once he had some breathing room, maybe he could even help Qin Yan find a temporary position or something.
As for Da Tou, who had been a huge help, he probably wouldn’t care much about the job. She would just treat him to a nice meal later!
Father Bai, of course, had no idea that his daughter had already arranged everything so neatly. Right now, he had just arrived at the steel factory.
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