The invitation was delivered by the postman just before dark. Generally, letters were delivered in the morning — it was the first time one had come in the evening.
Because of all the commotion over the Hu family’s daughter-in-law, no one had paid much attention to the letter. That was, until the eldest sister came home happily with her two daughters. The two children got curious about the unopened letter on the table. The eldest sister casually picked it up and opened it — and immediately saw the invitation written on bright red paper.
On the invitation were written the names of the couple getting married: Qin Shengli and Wang Juan.
Just those two names made everyone in the room’s expressions change.
The two children were still young and didn’t really understand what was happening. Xiao Fen, the older one, recognized Qin Shengli’s name and pointed at it obliviously: “Mommy, Mommy, look! That’s Daddy’s name.”
Xiao Fang, the younger one, heard the word “daddy” and her eyes lit up. She immediately looked at her mother: “Mommy, Mommy, where’s Daddy? Where’s Daddy?”
The warm atmosphere suddenly turned heavy because of these repeated calls for “Daddy.”
Bai Lan thought this kind of situation was particularly difficult to handle. The two children were six and four. Because the adults had deliberately kept things from them, they didn’t really know that their parents had divorced.
Since the divorce, the two children had hardly seen Qin Shengli. Every time they asked, the adults said Daddy had gone away for work.
And indeed, he had gone away for work.
As Bai Lan understood it, because of the fallout from the divorce, Qin Shengli had spent almost the entire first month after the divorce on business trips. After returning, he hadn’t shown his face to the Bai family. Everyone had thought he’d just fade away. But now, out of nowhere, he’d dropped a bombshell on them.
—
“Really — getting married and actually having the nerve to send us an invitation?”
Father Bai glared at the bright red invitation, grinding his teeth. He felt Qin Shengli’s skin was as thick as a wall. If he wanted to get married, fine — the Bai family didn’t care to know.
Bai Lian quickly redirected the two children’s attention from “Daddy” to something else. Once the children had gone into the inner room to play, Bai Lian smiled and said: “No need to be angry, Dad. We’re already divorced. He has the freedom to remarry. It’s just that sending the invitation here is a bit disgusting.”
Bai Lan couldn’t agree more.
Bai Li asked: “Big Sister, you’re not going, are you?”
Bai Lian immediately shook her head: “Of course not. What would I go for? To invite gossip and get nothing out of it? It’s good that he’s remarrying. That unreasonable mother of his won’t be fixated on Xiao Fen and Xiao Fang anymore.”
After the divorce, her former mother-in-law would sometimes run into her two children on the street and make little nuisances. It wasn’t that she wanted to take the children back — she just wanted to be spiteful. Bai Lian truly hoped that woman would stop targeting her kids.
Now that Qin Shengli was remarrying, the new daughter-in-law could give her former mother-in-law ten or eight grandchildren. Then she’d have no time to bother about Bai Lian’s children.
The rest of the Bai family agreed that this invitation must have been sent specifically to spite them. But they’d just throw it in the trash and act like nothing had happened.
As for attending his wedding banquet? Not a chance.
—
Just as the atmosphere in the Bai household was returning to normal, voices rose in the courtyard.
Bai Lan looked out through the open door and saw that the Qin family had returned. Some neighbors were asking where they’d been all day, and Aunt Qin laughed it off.
A sharp-eyed person noticed Qin Tang wasn’t with them and asked curiously.
Bai Lan, equally curious, pulled Qin Yan into her room and sat her down. As soon as she got back, Qin Yan had come looking for her.
“Where’s your brother?”
Qin Yan slouched in the chair without any decorum. Hearing the question, she said directly: “My brother stayed at my eldest cousin’s house.”
Bai Lan was taken aback at the words “eldest cousin,” but quickly realized: “Your family was at Qin Shengli’s house today?”
At the same moment, Qin Yan was also speaking: “I’m telling you, my eldest cousin is getting married!”
They’d spoken in unison, and both things were about Qin Shengli. The two of them were momentarily speechless.
Qin Yan scratched her head in agitation. Thinking about all the messy business at her eldest cousin’s house, she decided to ask about something else first.
“Let me ask you this first — after my family left, did anything happen in the courtyard?”
Bai Lan was getting curious about why Qin Yan was being so evasive. What exactly had happened at Qin Shengli’s house? But since Qin Yan didn’t want to talk about it yet, Bai Lan first told her about everything that had happened after Gao Qingqing arrived.
When she heard that Gao Qingqing had actually come to her door wanting to give out wedding candy, Qin Yan was taken aback.
“She really has no shame!”
Bai Lan completely agreed. Gao Qingqing’s skin was indeed quite thick.
“Thank goodness my mom had my older brother take time off and stay over at the steel plant.”
Earlier, Qin Yan had thought her mother was overreacting. Now it seemed her mother had been downright prescient.
After they’d chatted on and off for a bit, Qin Yan finally slapped her own forehead and said with a grimace: “My eldest cousin Qin Shengli is getting married.”
—
When Bai Lan still looked perfectly calm after hearing this, Qin Yan was genuinely surprised.
“How can you have no reaction at all? Qin Shengli — your former eldest brother-in-law — is remarrying!”
Bai Lan sighed. “Our family received Qin Shengli’s wedding invitation today.”
Qin Yan jumped up. “That’s impossible! My eldest cousin wouldn’t send your family an invitation.”
Although Qin Shengli wasn’t a good man, he wasn’t a bad one either. And he certainly wasn’t petty. If he’d really sent an invitation to the Bai family, he wouldn’t have argued with his mother at the dinner table today.
Bai Lan could tell from Qin Yan’s reaction that something else must have happened.
And Qin Yan wasn’t about to be coy. She immediately started venting to Bai Lan: “You have no idea — my family went to my eldest cousin’s house today, and we found out their family might as well change their surname from Qin to Wang!”
Bai Lan immediately thought of a possibility. And Qin Yan went ahead and said it: “That Wang Juan is pregnant. They say it’s been over two months. So disgusting. She claims she got pregnant the very first time with my eldest cousin.”
Wang Juan had deliberately told Qin Yan these things herself. Otherwise, talk of men and women sleeping together wasn’t something the older generation would bring up in front of an unmarried girl like Qin Yan.
“She did it on purpose to spite me, because she knows I know Sister Bai Lian and that I’m her neighbor. The fact that your family got an invitation — I bet she’s behind that too.”
Bai Lan thought to herself — so it really is true. No wonder they suddenly announced they’re getting married.
Earlier, the so-called “one-time affair” had involved Qin Shengli trying to pay off the Wang family with money. But Bai Lan had snatched that money away. After that, Bai Lan didn’t know how Qin Shengli had settled things with the Wang family.
She’d thought that the past two months of quiet meant Qin Shengli had successfully handled the Wang family. She never expected them to drop a bombshell on him instead.
This was really…
Oh well. Whatever happened in the Qin family, her family wasn’t going to that damned wedding banquet anyway.
Actually, Qin Yan had wanted to tell Bai Lan that Qin Shengli didn’t look like he wanted to get married at all. When they’d eaten lunch at the Qin house, Qin Shengli’s expression had been particularly awful — dark and sour, not a smile to be seen. And at the table, it was the Wang siblings and her eldest cousin’s own mother who had been discussing all the wedding arrangements.
It was as if the person getting married wasn’t her eldest cousin at all.
All in all, while they’d managed to avoid Gao Qingqing the burr today, going to Qin Shengli’s house hadn’t exactly been a good thing for her family either. It was too annoying. Still, the fact that her eldest cousin was willing to let her brother stay for a couple of days was at least good news.
The two of them chatted while watching the courtyard through the open door. From diagonally across, someone kept glancing toward their room.
—
“Aimin, why are Bai Lan and Qin Yan so close?”
Hu Aimin impatiently tried to close the window. “They grew up together. That’s why they’re close. It’s no big deal. Women’s friendships are all like that.”
With that, Hu Aimin used one hand to close the window while the other kept slipping under Gao Qingqing’s collar.
Feeling disgusted, Gao Qingqing temporarily forgot about looking for Qin Tang and started ducking and dodging away.
Seeing this, Hu Aimin’s expression darkened. This time he put some force into it and slammed the window shut with a bang. Then he lunged straight at Gao Qingqing.
Gao Qingqing raised her hands to block him and quickly said, “Dinner is about to be served. Let’s eat dinner first…”
Hu Aimin refused to let go. “We have time to do it once before dinner too.” With that, he leaned in slobberingly to kiss her.
Gao Qingqing quickly raised her hand to block him, then shoved him away and ran to the main room.
Hu Aimin immediately chased after her. But Gao Qingqing had already pulled Widow Hu aside and whispered a few words to her.
After that, Widow Hu curled her lip in displeasure but ultimately told her son to behave himself for the next few days. Gao Qingqing’s body was going to be uncomfortable for a while, so he shouldn’t pester her.
With Widow Hu laying down the law, the night was somewhat more peaceful. But Gao Qingqing didn’t dare fall asleep at all, terrified that the person next to her would reach out for her.
—
Compared to Gao Qingqing’s fearful anxiety, the Bai family was much more composed.
After finding out why Qin Shengli was getting married, Bai Lan told the whole family. Everyone sighed again, saying how fortunate it was that Bai Lian had divorced him early. If this baby had come out while they were still married, it would have been a huge scandal.
With that relief, everyone slept even better.
The next morning, the Bai family acted as if nothing had happened — those who had to go to work went to work, those who had to go to school went to school. They thought the matter was over. But then, the next evening, Qin Shengli showed up at their door.
When he arrived, many families in the courtyard were eating dinner, so hardly anyone saw him come. As soon as he stepped inside, the whole family was stunned — except for the two little girls.
Xiao Fen and Xiao Fang were overjoyed to see their father. They chattered away with him for quite a while. After Bai Lian had Bai Li take the two children out for a walk, she finally sat down and asked Qin Shengli why he’d come.
“The wedding invitation was sent secretly by my mother.”
Qin Shengli explained about the invitation right from the start. Bai Lan observed him from the side.
To be honest, he looked considerably thinner than before — his cheeks had sunken in. He also had dark circles under his eyes, suggesting these past days hadn’t been treating him well.
Qin Shengli didn’t waste words. His next sentence was: “Bai Lian, I want you to come to this wedding banquet.”
Father Bai, who had been restraining himself up to that point, finally couldn’t take it anymore. He jumped up and grabbed a enamel mug, ready to throw it. But Bai Lian stopped him: “Dad, let him finish.”
Bai Lian felt that Qin Shengli’s state of mind wasn’t right. There was something in his eyes that she couldn’t quite read.
Qin Shengli didn’t explain much. He just said, “Bai Lian, you have to trust me. I didn’t originally want you to come. But my mother already sent you the invitation… heh.”
He let out two cold laughs, then took a thick brown paper envelope from the bag he was carrying and handed it directly to Bai Lian. “This is for the two children. Keep it safe.”
Bai Lan could tell at a glance that it almost certainly contained cash and ration tickets. A package that thick — at least a thousand yuan. For him to suddenly bring over that much money was suspicious.
Bai Lian asked directly: “Where did you get so much money?”
Qin Shengli shook his head. “Don’t ask. The money is from a legitimate source — there’s nothing wrong with it. I just want you to keep it for the two children. I have something to do, so I’ll be going now. Remember, you absolutely must come to the steel plant this weekend. I’ll give you another big gift.”
With that, before the Bai family could react, Qin Shengli disappeared into the night.
“Is he… is he going to do something stupid?” After a long moment, Father Bai, who had been so angry moments ago, asked this.
Bai Lan also felt that Qin Shengli’s state of mind just now had been off — beneath his calm exterior, there was a hint of madness.
Bai Lian had lived with Qin Shengli for years and naturally knew him better. She knew that something must have happened. Even though they were divorced, he was still the father of her children. She didn’t want anything to happen to him.
She decided to go find Qin Shengli the next day and ask what was going on.
But Bai Lian was destined to be disappointed.
Because over the next few days, Qin Shengli wasn’t at his workplace — he’d taken leave for personal reasons.
This result only made Bai Lian more uneasy.
And so, amid this tense atmosphere, the weekend arrived.
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