“Congratulations to you both!”
“Thank you!”
Bai Ping accepted the marriage certificate handed to her by the staff member with a sweet smile. She looked up at Song Guoping beside her, whose face remained expressionless.
“Guoping, we’ve finally gotten our marriage certificate.”
Song Guoping’s gaze swept over the thin piece of paper. His eyes moved slightly.
That such a simple piece of paper could serve as proof of one’s ideology—Song Guoping thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Unfortunately, that was just how things were. If someone hadn’t been so damn foolish as to report his situation to the higher-ups, he wouldn’t have had to give up the person he loved and marry this girl in front of him.
Although, for now, this Bai Ping seemed like someone he could work with.
“Yeah, it’s good. Give me the certificate later. I’ll take it home to show my parents. They’ll be very happy.”
Bai Ping nodded eagerly. “Yes. Oh, by the way, my grandmother’s whole family is at my house today. Why don’t you come with me and meet them?”
Song Guoping wanted to refuse. His marriage to Bai Ping had been agreed upon from the start as merely a mutually beneficial arrangement. He didn’t want to get too entangled with her family.
So he shook his head directly, took the marriage certificate, and headed straight home.
Bai Ping’s face fell instantly. She thought to herself that Song Guoping was really hard to please. But then she reconsidered—no matter how hard to please he was, they had already gotten their certificate. From now on, things were no longer up to him.
Meanwhile, Song Guoping soon arrived home.
He had barely stepped through the door when he saw his father and mother putting on their coats, clearly about to go out.
“Dad, Mom, you’re going out now?”
It was only around ten in the morning. He had purposely woken up early to get the marriage certificate with Bai Ping.
Factory Director Song noticed the marriage certificate in his son’s hand as soon as he saw him.
“You got the certificate so quickly?”
There was something strange in his tone. Song Guoping looked at his father with confusion, but Factory Director Song had already composed himself. He said directly, “You come too.”
With that, he led his wife out the door.
Seeing this, Song Guoping didn’t have time to put down the certificate. He crumpled it up, shoved it in his pocket, and immediately followed.
—
At the same time, Bai Ping had already boarded the bus home. More than ten minutes later, she got off and made her way smoothly back to the courtyard.
At this hour, no one in the courtyard knew she had gone out this morning to get her marriage certificate.
Because Bai Ping had been coming and going from the courtyard quite frequently these days—sometimes staying there, sometimes going back to her dorm—no one paid much attention to her arrivals and departures.
Everyone was sitting in the courtyard right now, listening to Bai Lan’s maternal grandmother talk about this year’s harvest in the countryside. Some were even asking her how much the pigs assigned to their village for public submission weighed.
Seeing that the whole courtyard was either talking about farming or raising pigs, Bai Ping curled her lip. She thought to herself that country folk were just country folk—eight out of every ten words out of their mouths were about farming. Luckily, she had married into a factory director’s family. In a while, once she had a child, she would have Factory Director Song transfer her to the steel plant. She had had enough of that crummy newspaper office.
“Hey, Xiao Ping, your grandmother was just talking about the arrangements for your wedding. If you have any thoughts, speak up now!”
Just as Bai Ping was lost in thought, Auntie Qian crept up to her ear and whispered.
Bai Ping immediately snapped to attention. Her grandmother, eldest uncle, and second uncle had come today to discuss with her mother what dowry to prepare for her wedding. Her father had already said what the family would provide. But the dowry from her grandmother’s family would be extra.
With this in mind, Bai Ping immediately pushed through the crowd, went up to her grandmother, and started talking about what she wanted.
Seeing how direct Bai Ping was, Auntie Qin’s smile never faded. A woman should be like this—say what she wants. There would always be someone willing to give it to her.
—
“Bai Ping…”
Just as the courtyard was lively, the Song family of three walked in.
Bai Ping had been delighted that her grandmother was being so agreeable today, and also proud of the envious looks from those around her. Seeing the Song family of three suddenly arrive was an even more pleasant surprise.
She thought to herself that it hadn’t even been an hour since they parted. Song Guoping, who hadn’t wanted to come to her home just now, had brought his parents along. Didn’t that mean he actually cared about her?
Thinking this, she fluttered like a colorful butterfly over to Song Guoping.
Before Song Guoping could speak, Bai Ping had already announced loudly, “Everyone, since you’re all here today, I want to announce some happy news!”
The crowd in the courtyard immediately started cheering. Some shouted their approval, others made teasing remarks. The scene was momentarily very lively.
“I… today, I got a marriage certificate with Comrade Song Guoping!”
After announcing it excitedly, Bai Ping looked at Song Guoping. “How about eating lunch at my house?”
Song Guoping glared at Bai Ping, who had grabbed his hand. Uncomfortable, he pulled away. Then he said, “We came because someone called our house.”
Bai Ping was confused. “Who?”
…
“I—”
A loud voice shattered the lively atmosphere in the courtyard. Everyone had been congratulating the Bai family, but now they fell silent, turning in unison toward the sound.
There stood Bai Lan, wearing a beautiful long navy wool coat and a wine-red corduroy hat. She was looking at them from the moon gate. Beside her stood Xu Jianbei, wearing a matching coat.
And behind the two of them stood an entire family of three.
Those with sharp eyes immediately spotted Qian Chunyun. And those with good memories quickly recognized the middle-aged man standing next to Qian Chunyun.
Wasn’t that the old Qian family’s son-in-law, the factory director from Haicheng?
Of course, normally everyone would have gasped in surprise at seeing the Qian family’s son-in-law, who hadn’t set foot in the courtyard for twenty years. But right now, everyone’s attention quickly fell on a young man.
“Hey, hey… that… why does that young man look so familiar?”
Auntie Wan patted Old Lady Wang and pointed at the young man standing by the moon gate, momentarily at a loss for words.
Many people had the same reaction as Auntie Wan.
And Widow Hu, who had seen a lot in her time, had already turned her head to look at the two middle-aged men standing under the eaves of the Bai family’s house.
“The resemblance is uncanny. Damn uncanny.”
Widow Hu’s voice broke through everyone’s shock. They all looked at Bai Lan’s two maternal uncles, then back at the young man. Then someone asked, “Aihong, is he a relative of yours?”
Bai Lan’s mother, He Aihong, was also too shocked to speak!
She had known that Bai Lan had gone to Haicheng with Xu Jianbei. The reason Bai Lan gave was to buy things for their wedding. She hadn’t thought much of it—a girl only gets married once in her life, so it wasn’t strange to go to Haicheng to shop. And the family had the means to provide for it.
But could someone please tell her why the young man standing behind her youngest daughter looked so much like her eldest and second brothers!
“Xiao Lan…”
Bai Lan’s maternal grandmother was the most decisive. She stood up, shoved Auntie Qian who was blocking her way, and quickly walked over to Bai Lan.
“Xiao Lan, who is this…”
Bai Lan smiled and introduced them. “This is Auntie Qian’s son-in-law, Factory Director Fang. And this young man is Comrade Fang Baowei.”
—
“Hey, do you suppose that Fang Baowei really is the Qian family’s grandson?”
Auntie Wan looked at the Bai family’s tightly closed door and whispered to the other neighbors.
Ten minutes ago, first the Song family of three had arrived. Before anyone could even ask why, Bai Lan had shown up with Qian Chunyun and her family of three.
It was eerily coincidental.
But what was even more coincidental was that the Qian family’s grandson looked just like the Bai family’s uncles.
Widow Hu curled her lip. “Have you forgotten? Back then, Qian Chunyun and He Aihong gave birth in the same delivery room at the same time.”
The very same words were being spoken in the Bai family’s main room. The speaker was none other than Bai Lan’s maternal grandmother.
“Qian Chunyun, back then my daughter and you went into labor around the same time and entered the delivery room together. My daughter was carrying twins. I heard that when she was at the hospital for a checkup and heard you were about to give birth, she got anxious and went into labor herself. Isn’t that right?”
Qian Chunyun looked utterly dazed and completely ignored Bai Grandma’s words.
Bai Grandma wasn’t looking for an answer anyway. Everyone in the entire courtyard knew this story.
Back then, the delivery had been quite urgent. The only person from the family at the hospital at the time was Auntie Qian.
By the time the rest of them heard the news and arrived, her daughter had already given birth. Qian Chunyun had given birth as well. At the time, they had all remarked on what good friends the two women were, having their babies together. What a remarkable bond!
Bai Grandma had arrived at the hospital too. When she got there, she learned that her daughter had given birth to two daughters, and Qian Chunyun had given birth to a son. Throughout the entire delivery process, only Auntie Qian had been present.
But the ones who hadn’t been there at the time—didn’t the doctors and nurses know whether a son or daughters had been born? Why hadn’t anyone mentioned anything?
Of course, those were matters to be pursued later. Right now, the people they needed to hold accountable were Auntie Qian and her daughter.
—
Seeing that her grandmother was full of fighting spirit, Bai Lan didn’t say anything. She sat with Xu Jianbei, drinking water and resting.
She had deliberately timed her return from Haicheng by train. Getting Qian Chunyun to come back with her had taken a great deal of effort. The fact that she had managed to bring the Qian family, the Fang family, the Song family, and her grandmother’s family all together at once was extremely satisfying.
Of course, she had some idea why Factory Director Fang had chosen to come along.
But that was the Fang family’s business, and she wasn’t going to meddle. What she needed to deal with was making the Qian family pay.
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