“What are you doing!”
Song Zhiyi didn’t answer. With trembling hands, she quickly undid the buttons of her clothes.
The lights weren’t on in the room; it was pitch-black.
The man pinned beneath Song Zhiyi stiffened. “You hussy! Get off me! Shameless!”
“Comrade, my apologies.”
Song Zhiyi hadn’t wanted to do this either.
But she had been reborn—reborn on the very day her stepmother drugged her and sent her to Xie Xingwen’s bed!
In her past life, she had been forced to have relations with Xie Xingwen and could only marry him afterward.
But after the wedding, Xie Xingwen couldn’t have cared less about her.
Her mother-in-law dumped all the chores on her, and her mentally disabled brother-in-law abused her and took advantage of her.
In the end, while eight months pregnant, she was beaten to death by that same brother-in-law.
So this life, no matter what, she could not have relations with Xie Xingwen again.
But she had already been drugged. In her desperation, she had no choice but to grab a random man to relieve herself.
Sleeping with anyone was better than being set up and dying a miserable death like in her previous life.
Right now, Song Zhiyi’s entire body was scorching hot, as if a wicked fire was burning within her.
When she touched the man’s firm, muscular body, a numbing tingle shot through her as if she’d been electrocuted.
A scalding tear slid from the corner of Song Zhiyi’s eye.
With a soft plink, it landed on the man’s solid chest.
Song Zhiyi sobbed, her voice laced with an irrepressible allure.
“Comrade, I’m sorry, I have no other choice…”
Only then did the man realize that the woman on top of him was abnormally hot.
“You’ve been drugged?”
“Comrade, you’re a man. You won’t be at a disadvantage in a situation like this.”
“I’m begging you, can we just pretend this never happened? I’m sorry, so sorry!”
“You asked for this!”
With a single motion, the man flipped over, no longer able to restrain himself as he pressed Song Zhiyi beneath him.
The red quilt tumbled, and they spent a night of tangled passion.
The next morning, before the sun had risen.
The room was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Song Zhiyi groggily awoke beside the man.
Without a moment to think, she hurriedly dressed and fled the room in a flash.
The entire time, she didn’t even dare to spare the man a second glance.
She had already made it clear to him last night that theirs was just a fleeting affair. Why should she look at his face?
It would only bring more trouble in the future.
Song Zhiyi left the room without a backward glance.
By the time she returned to the Song residence, the sky was already bright.
The moment Song Zhiyi pushed the door open, her stepmother, Wen Shufen, came forward to greet her.
“Zhiyi, a letter came from Village Chief Xie of Beiqiao Village.”
“He said the marriage application for you and Xingwen has already been submitted to the authorities!”
“In three days, they’ll be hosting a meal for friends and family in the village to hold the wedding for you two.”
“Mom bought you a new dress. Come out and try it on, so you’ll look nice when you meet your in-laws.”
A layer of frost coated Song Zhiyi’s eyes.
In her previous life, it was also her stepmother, Wen Shufen, who had taken matters into her own hands, accepting the betrothal gift from the Xie family and marrying her off to them.
Fearing she would refuse to marry Xie Xingwen, she had drugged her.
Wen Shufen excitedly took her hand to try on the dress. “Oh, my, my precious daughter is all grown up. She’s going to marry a soldier and become a bride.”
Song Zhiyi coldly pulled her hand back.
In her past life, she had also believed that Wen Shufen wanted her to marry Xie Xingwen for her own good.
In reality, Wen Shufen wanted to marry her off and drive her out of the Song family to make room for her own daughter, Song Yating.
She had passed the exam for a clerical job at the Steel Factory, but Wen Shufen had found out about it first.
In the late 1970s, a job at the Steel Factory was an “iron rice bowl”—a secure job for life that countless people fought tooth and nail for.
And so, Wen Shufen had hatched her own little scheme.
Wen Shufen suppressed the news and intercepted the acceptance letter before she could get it.
She told her to her face that she hadn’t passed the exam, then immediately began plotting to marry her off to the Xie family.
Song Zhiyi calculated the time. Based on what she later found out, her acceptance letter was due to arrive within these few days.
This time, no matter what, she would not marry into the Xie family.
And she certainly wouldn’t let Wen Shufen get her hands on her acceptance letter first.
Wen Shufen wanted to play mind games with her, did she? Well then, let the games begin!
Wen Shufen also noticed that Song Zhiyi was acting strangely.
Logically, she had drugged Song Zhiyi last night and sent her to Xie Xingwen’s bed.
Song Zhiyi should have slept with Xie Xingwen.
Given Song Zhiyi’s shy and face-saving nature, she should have come home today clamoring to marry Xie Xingwen.
But what was wrong today?
Could it be that her plan last night had gone awry, and Song Zhiyi hadn’t slept with Xie Xingwen?
But the situation was urgent, and Wen Shufen couldn’t be bothered to overthink it. Getting Song Zhiyi out of the house was the top priority.
She said, as if to herself, “Once you’re married into the Xie family, you won’t be able to come home often. You must serve your in-laws well at home, understand?”
Song Zhiyi lowered her gaze and gave a scornful smile.
“Aunt Fen, isn’t this marriage a bit too rushed?”
Wen Shufen was taken aback. What was wrong with Song Zhiyi today?
She usually called her “Mom.” Why was she being so distant today, calling her “Aunt”?
“With the Xie family’s standing, countless people are fighting for a chance. What are you dissatisfied with?”
Although Xie Xingwen was a soldier with a respectable and stable job that many couldn’t hope to attain, he actually had a childhood sweetheart he couldn’t get over!
The entire village knew he wouldn’t marry anyone but his childhood sweetheart in this lifetime.
If Wen Shufen hadn’t accepted a one-thousand-yuan betrothal gift from them, such a “good thing” would never have fallen into Song Zhiyi’s lap.
“The marriage with the Xie family is indeed good. Aunt Fen, you really know how to look out for me.”
Seeing that she wasn’t pressing the issue, Wen Shufen secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly went along with it.
“Exactly! Hurry and try on the dress.”
But Song Zhiyi changed the subject, her tone innocent. “But Aunt Fen, I’ll be in an unfamiliar place when I marry into Beiqiao Village. I’m scared.”
“Besides, life in the village is hard. I’m afraid I won’t live well. If I don’t have some money of my own, people will look down on me.”
Wen Shufen placed Song Zhiyi’s hand on her own wrist in an intimate gesture. “How could Aunt Fen let you suffer?”
“The family has already prepared a one-hundred-yuan dowry for you, plus a sewing machine. You won’t find a better dowry in any of the surrounding villages!”
Song Zhiyi sneered inwardly.
Wen Shufen had accepted a one-thousand-yuan betrothal gift from them.
Compared to that, what was a one-hundred-yuan dowry?
Moreover, she thought one hundred yuan was enough to buy out her iron rice bowl at the Steel Factory?
What a pipe dream!
“Aunt Fen, I want a ten-thousand-yuan dowry.”
“If I don’t get ten thousand yuan, I won’t marry him.”