This time, Su Qing didn't argue with Aunt Wu. Instead, she cried and insisted that Wu Zhigang was having an affair and that she had to go to the army to find out the truth. Her insistence made Aunt Wu a little scared. She didn't understand things in the army, but she remembered her son saying that making a scene would ruin his future.
Wu Zhigang was furious, realizing that Su Qing was threatening him. He had initially harbored some childhood affection, but this incident had completely destroyed it. He looked at Su Qing with a disapproving expression and explained the situation to Yang Yongqing, hoping he wouldn't issue Su Qing a letter of introduction.
Upon hearing this, Su Qing immediately retorted, "If I can't go to the army, then I'll go to the commune. There's bound to be a place that can take care of me. They can't ruin my reputation like this without any evidence, and they can't just break off the engagement at my age like this. I can't live like this. I'll demand an explanation before I die!"
Feng Yuying said angrily, "You come to my house during the New Year and talk about death? What bad luck! Zhigang, how do you plan to resolve this matter? We can't interfere in this matter. If you can resolve it, go back and resolve it yourself."
Wu Zhigang nodded and said, "Auntie, we will handle this properly."
Wu Zhigang asked Aunt Wu and Little Sister Wu to pull Su Qing away. After a brief argument, they finally left. Xu Zifan and Yang Wanyun came out of the house, and Feng Yuying sighed, "It's a good thing we didn't let you two come out, otherwise Su Qing would have made a fuss about it. I think Zhigang is out of options; he's been entangled by Su Qing."
Yang Wanyun helped her tidy up the yard and said, "Mom, Su Qing is so persistent, we can't do anything about it, let's give up."
"Okay, let's think about what you're going to Beijing with. Make sure you bring everything you need, so you don't forget anything."
Xu Zifan closed the gate, listening to the two talking. The noisy courtyard returned to its cozy state. He hadn't come out or interfered. Su Qing seemed a bit off; if he ruined things this time, she might do something even worse. This era was special; it was far too easy for a woman to marry a man.
Wu Zhigang has already seen Su Qing's true colors, and whether or not he marries her is ultimately his own choice. If he were the kind of person with a strong personality, he would rather change careers than marry her if Su Qing threatened him like this. But if he is the kind of person who doesn't care much about who he marries, he could just marry Su Qing as a decoration and continue pursuing his promising future. After all, marriages in this era are rarely based on love.
When faced with a choice between marriage and future prospects, only the individuals involved can weigh the relative importance of each.
Xu Zifan thought for a moment. If he were in that situation, he would probably teach Su Qing a lesson so badly that she would run away at the sight of him and would never again have the thought of marrying him or threatening him. All the problems would then be solved. However, Su Qing's fate was not his concern, and he had no interest in interfering.
After Su Qing's outburst, the Wu family naturally dared not take her words lightly again. Wu Zhigang offered Su Qing 500 yuan as compensation, but Su Qing refused. Aunt Wu was so angry that she cried. She couldn't understand why Su Qing insisted on marrying into their family. They clearly disliked her so much now, yet they were still willing to give her money, but she refused to break off the engagement. There was really no way to deal with her.
Su Qing had only one request: to register their marriage during Wu Zhigang's family visit leave. Whether or not they held a wedding banquet was irrelevant; the marriage certificate was a must. She would never agree to annul the engagement. Her reason was simple: she was fiercely independent and would rather die than accept an annulment.
There are indeed girls like that. At this point, engagement is practically the same as marriage. In some families, the girl can even stay at her future husband's house after the engagement. Of course, it's not something that can be canceled so easily. Some strong-willed girls would jump into a river if their engagement was broken off, but Su Qing doesn't seem like that kind of person at all.
Aunt Wu didn't believe Su Qing would jump into the river, but if she chose a time when there were people around, she might not die, but the Wu family would be branded as heartless, heartless, and forcing the woman to her death. Would Wu Zhigang and Wu Xiaomei still be able to arrange their marriage? How would their family live together? People sympathize with the weak, and now that they insist on breaking off the engagement, wouldn't Su Qing become the weak one?
In the end, Wu Zhigang decided that getting the marriage certificate was no big deal. But he also said that his family's house was not big enough, and his mother and sister were afraid of noise and were not used to living with others. So, after they got married, they would have to live in Su Qing's dilapidated house.
Su Qing naturally had no objections; she wasn't even keen on living with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. However, Wu Zhigang needed to apply for marriage first. After discussing it, he went back to his unit to submit the application. He had planned the wedding during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but had postponed it after receiving a letter from Aunt Wu. All the necessary documents were ready, and his superiors were aware of the matter. Moreover, Su Qing was a model farmer with no bad background, so the review was quick. After the application was approved, Wu Zhigang took a few days off to go home and register their marriage with Su Qing. They had no intention of holding a wedding banquet and left the day after registering their marriage.
The villagers felt that Wu Zhigang had come and gone in a hurry, marrying Su Qing so quietly. Moreover, Wu's mother even fell ill after their wedding, making it the least joyous occasion in the village's history. The strangest thing was that the marriage was practically nonexistent; Wu's mother continued to raise her daughter, and Su Qing continued to live alone in her dilapidated house. It was as if nothing had changed except for the formal title. The villagers were unsure whether they should consider them family.
Su Qing was overjoyed to receive her marriage certificate, but then she discovered she still had to suffer in the village. When she said she wanted to join Wu Zhigang in his military unit, he said there was no place available and approval couldn't be granted immediately; she'd have to wait. She didn't know if it was true, but she was now Wu Zhigang's wife, so of course she couldn't cause trouble at the military base; she had nothing left to threaten Wu Zhigang with!
Moreover, Wu Zhigang didn't give her the allowance at all; those allowances were...
She would send money to Aunt Wu, only asking Aunt Wu to give her five yuan a month. What could five yuan buy? Even for a village woman at that time, five yuan was a lot, but for her, it was far too little, less than what she could earn on the black market. She married Wu Zhigang with great joy, but ended up with nothing?
It could be said that this marriage was worse than her previous one. She still had to do everything herself, but she couldn't even see her husband anymore. Su Qing suppressed her anger and could only comfort herself with the promise of a better future. Then she continued to work hard every day, walking early to the county's black market to sell her wares.
The villagers gossiped about Su Qing and the Wu family for a while, but that was it; everyone was busy with their own affairs and didn't have time to pay attention to them. Meanwhile, Xu Zifan was also taking Yang Wanyun and three other villagers who were going to study in Beijing.
The night before they set off, Yang Yongqing mysteriously approached Xu Zifan, handed him a letter, and whispered, "Fanzi, the old man in the cowshed wants you to deliver a letter to someone. What do you think?"
Xu Zifan wasn't very surprised. During this time, he had noticed that Yang Yongqing was secretly taking care of the people living in the cowshed. Yang Yongqing was a truly kind person with sound values. He didn't think those people had done anything wrong, so he wouldn't mistreat them. Instead, he felt sorry for them and secretly helped them out.
Xu Zifan had observed the situation. Among the special individuals in the cowshed were a founding general with a high rank, and an elderly traditional Chinese medicine doctor, a highly skilled physician. The others weren't particularly remarkable. He noticed Yang Yongqing was cautious in his interactions with them, and they didn't seem to have any ulterior motives, so he didn't pay much attention. This time, the general suddenly asked him to deliver a message; something must have happened.
Yang Yongqing was clearly a little scared. He gave him the letter and then took it back. "Why don't you just not send it? We don't know what the higher-ups mean. If they crack down hard, you'll be in danger."
Seeing his conflicted expression, Xu Zifan asked, "Dad, do you know why you're sending a message?"
Yang Yongqing sighed, "A few days ago, that person somehow received news that his grandson was critically ill, and this letter seemed to be able to save his life. I told him it was difficult to deliver, but he... sigh, he said you're a smart man, there's definitely no problem, otherwise he wouldn't have asked you for help. I was thinking of asking you what you mean..."
Xu Zifan stroked his chin, put the letter away, and laughed, "Of course I'll send it. This is a connection that came to us on a silver platter. It would be a fool not to take it. Dad, don't worry, just pretend this never happened. I'll take care of everything else."
"Really? Well, okay then. Be careful, and if anything seems wrong, burn the letter. Your safety is the most important thing."
"I know, Dad, don't worry."
The journey to Beijing was arduous, the train rattling incessantly, but no one complained. Except for Xu Zifan, it was the first time for them to leave their hometown and visit the capital city of Beijing for the first time, and their excitement completely overshadowed any discomfort.
Xu Zifan, carrying the letter of introduction, led them to their place of study, settled them into their lodgings, and showed them around to the dining and water-fetching areas, helping them to ease their sense of unfamiliarity. Yang Wanyun stayed by his side the whole time, observing him intently and listening carefully to how he greeted the strangers. After Xu Zifan left, she would be leading the villagers, and she couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
After settling them in, Xu Zifan took Yang Wanyun to the university where Xu Xiaofen studied, and soon met Xu Xiaofen.
Xu Xiaofen had cut her long hair into a student-style bob, clipped it with a black hair clip, and although her clothes were old, they were very clean. She looked like a very energetic college student. As soon as Xu Xiaofen saw them, she smiled and said, "Zifan, you're finally back! This must be your wife, right? I'm Zifan's older sister. Zifan is so lucky to have you taking care of him. He looks like he's doing very well."
Yang Wanyun said shyly, "Big sister, Brother Fan is very capable. I didn't take care of him at all; he's always been the one taking care of me."
Xu Xiaofen held her hand and said kindly, "Zifan said you're going to stay here for a while? Don't worry, I'll come to see you when I don't have classes and show you around Beijing."
Yang Wanyun glanced at Xu Zifan somewhat awkwardly and quickly said, "Big sister, you're busy with your studies, don't worry about me, I'll be fine on my own."
"Hey, a little time won't make a difference. You're still submitting articles and writing, huh? That's impressive. I'll take you to meet a professor, maybe you can even attend a few classes. It would be best if it could help your writing."
Xu Zifan had written to Xu Xiaofen beforehand to give her instructions; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to let Yang Wanyun stay in Beijing. He sensed Yang Wanyun's eagerness to improve herself, so he specially arranged this opportunity to provide her with a nurturing environment for growth.