No change could be more impactful than marrying her boyfriend’s uncle.
Lin Wan hurriedly finished breakfast and returned to the bedroom to search carefully. Coming back to look with a different outcome in mind, she discovered even more.
The beige wardrobe was divided into four sections. In the innermost section hung men’s clothes, shirts, and a few Zhongshan suits—simple and elegant in style, deep and low-key in color. These clothes were indeed not Fu Mingjun’s style; rather, they seemed very much like his uncle Fu Xiuhuai’s.
The other three wardrobe sections were entirely filled with brightly colored women’s clothing.
Lin Wan saw among them no shortage of her own old clothes—plaid shirts, floral short-sleeve tops, solid-color dresses made from cloth bought in past… as well as a large portion of high-end ready-made garments made of exquisite fabric, expensive clothes sold in department stores, each piece seemingly in her size.
And in the desk drawer there was also a notebook with a cover wrapped in yellow calendar paper. The handwriting on the pages flowed like clouds and water—it was hers.
Her slender fingertips gently brushed the notebook that had accompanied her for many years. As the pages flipped with a rustling sound, Lin Wan saw a prenatal checkup slip tucked in the middle, clearly stating the name Lin Wan and her relevant information—17 weeks pregnant. And on the notebook was also written the matter of an October 5th prenatal checkup, likewise in her own handwriting.
Above the desk were also piled several poetry collections and novel collections that had accompanied her for years.
It seemed everything of hers had truly settled into this strange place.
When Lin Wan found a bright red marriage certificate in the drawer, she couldn’t help but be stunned, frozen in place. On the marriage certificate were prominently written her and Fu Xiuhuai’s names, and beside it was even a two-inch photo of the two of them.
In the photo, her brows and eyes were soft, the corners of her lips carrying a faint smile.
Pressing down the various doubts in her heart, Lin Wan changed out of her nightgown. Avoiding the rows of high-end ready-made clothes, she picked only a blue plaid dress made from cloth bought the year before last.
Because she was only three months pregnant, her belly wasn’t showing. In the mirror, Lin Wan was slender and thin, her oval face fair with a rosy tint, looking energetic and in good spirits. Her slender waist, concealed by the dress, showed no sign of her being pregnant at all.
Although she was in a strange environment, fortunately there were many familiar objects in the room. Lin Wan finally left the house carrying the cloth bag that had accompanied her for several years, planning to find familiar relatives and friends to inquire about the situation.
Before yesterday, Lin Wan had never been to the Fu family villa. She only knew that Jiangcheng had developed rapidly after the Reform and Opening Up, with tall buildings rising one after another in the south of the city.
Six-story department stores, commercial housing, and villa districts created the wealthy area in the south of the city. And Jiangcheng’s richest family, the Fu family, was at Cuihu Villa in the south of the city.
Cuihu Villa was completed four years ago and was Jiangcheng’s first villa district, surrounded by green shade, with white villas situated within, separated left and right by the rippling Youxin Lake. When newly emerging commercial housing in Jiangcheng was seven or eight hundred per square meter, the villa district was already as expensive as two or three thousand per square meter—any single villa was a sky-high price of four or five hundred thousand.
In the past two years, Lin Wan had seen advertisements for various garden villas in newspapers and magazines, only sighing at the high prices, beyond what ordinary people could afford.
Only families like the Fu family, who seized the opportunity in the spring breeze of Reform and Opening Up—the first batch of quick-witted merchants—had rapidly grown rich and had the means to move into the villa district.
The beautiful villa district was too large, and even farther from the bus station. Even taxis were rare. Those who lived here were either rich or noble—how could they not have private cars?
Lin Wan walked along the tree-lined path for about ten minutes when she suddenly heard the honking of a car horn.
A black Santana sedan stopped in front of Lin Wan. The window rolled down, revealing a pretty face.
A young woman with her hands on the steering wheel, bright-eyed, smiling, greeted her warmly: “Lin Wan, where are you going? Is this how Fu Xiuhuai treats his own wife? Not a bit of tender care.”
Lin Wan didn’t recognize the woman before her, but could roughly guess this person was probably a neighbor in the Fu family villa district, someone she had met during this mysteriously vanished year.
The visitor was friendly and warm, so she could only smile faintly: “Just going out for a bit, something came up.”
“Let me give you a ride.” The Santana owner warmly invited. “Get in, quick.”
Having walked so long without reaching the bus station, and with not a single taxi in sight, Lin Wan had never been one to make herself suffer. Getting a ride was a good thing.
“Sorry to trouble you. Just stop at the nearest bus station outside.”
“No need. It’s just a matter of me braking a bit more. Where are you going? I’m not in a hurry.”
Hearing this, Lin Wan didn’t decline further: “Qinglian District, Hushan Street.”
Hearing the address Lin Wan gave, the woman drove out of the villa district and turned left, casually chattering: “You should also have Fu Xiuhuai buy you a car. He earns so much money, he should spend it on his wife… Oh, no, you’re newly pregnant now, so better wait until after you have the baby.”
Hearing her and her boyfriend’s uncle Fu Xiuhuai’s names linked together again and again, Lin Wan’s ears burned, and she felt utterly uncomfortable.
But no matter how uncomfortable, she still had to inquire about the situation.
On the way from Cuihu Villa to Qinglian District in the north of the city, Lin Wan made some tentative inquiries and found out the background of the warm Santana owner.
The car owner He Yanni and her husband were precisely the Fu family’s neighbors. He Yanni’s husband had business dealings with Fu Xiuhuai, and the two families were close.
And the young He Yanni seemed to hit it off especially well with her. When Lin Wan got out of the car, she even invited Lin Wan to go shopping in a few days.
Lin Wan vaguely agreed, thanked her, and headed straight to the home of the roommate who had been closest to her during university.
The north of the city was the earliest developed area of Jiangcheng. The train station, bus station, and the tube-shaped apartment buildings that were all the rage in the ’70s and ’80s were mostly in this area.
Lin Wan’s parents worked at the garment factory in the north of the city. After more than ten years of work, they had been allocated a thirty-square-meter, two-room tube apartment.
And Lin Wan’s roommate He Qiumei’s family was also in the north of the city, six people crammed into a tube apartment of just over thirty square meters.
Today happened to be Sunday. He Qiumei wasn’t at work. When she saw Lin Wan suddenly come over while busy at home, she couldn’t help but be pleasantly surprised.
“You came all this way while pregnant—aren’t you tired?”
From her roommate’s first words of gentle concern, Lin Wan felt a faint worry—it seemed she and her boyfriend’s uncle Fu Xiuhuai’s marriage had not been unwilling?
“I’m fine. Qiumei, let’s go out and talk for a while.”
Lin Wan and He Qiumei walked along the riverside in the north of the city, talking as they went. It was from this trusted friend that Lin Wan learned she had truly married her boyfriend’s uncle Fu Xiuhuai five months ago.
He Qiumei still found it unbelievable, but respected her friend’s decision: “Although you didn’t say what exactly happened with Fu Mingjun, and you even married him… married that Mr. Fu, as long as you’ve thought it through, that’s fine. Actually, when Fu Mingjun confessed to you back then, you didn’t like him that much anyway. Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Lin Wan recalled the scene from the first semester of her junior year, when the dashing Fu Mingjun confessed to her playing guitar.
After the Reform and Opening Up, young people who had grown tired of listening to revolutionary songs could no longer hold back and fell in love with decadent music. Later, pop songs became popular, rock swept the nation for a time, and playing guitar while singing artistic songs became the most common sight on university campuses.
Fu Mingjun was tall and handsome; confessing with a guitar was indeed eye-catching. But Lin Wan truly hadn’t planned to accept at the time. If she hadn’t later learned of an old matter, she wouldn’t have softened and agreed.
After the two confirmed their relationship, Lin Wan discovered Fu Mingjun was even more immature and lively than she had imagined—carefree to the point that all his energy went into eating, drinking, and having fun.
Later, Lin Wan, annoyed that he disturbed her studying and part-time work to earn money, strictly limited the number of times he could come find her to eat and chat, making Fu Mingjun complain endlessly.
Even so, half a year after they confirmed their relationship, Fu Mingjun was already thinking about meeting each other’s parents. He familiarly showed up at the Lin family’s door with all kinds of expensive gifts, making Lin Wan’s parents beam with joy. When he was about to have Lin Wan visit his home as a guest, before Lin Wan had a chance to tell him that his mother had privately approached her, it was already a year later.
Having confirmed the current situation, Lin Wan, though puzzled, could only calmly analyze and try to find answers from her friend: “Qiumei, don’t you think it’s strange that I married my ex-boyfriend’s uncle?”
If there was anyone she might tell her inner thoughts to, it would most likely be He Qiumei. However, based on Lin Wan’s understanding of herself, such a somewhat bizarre and shameful matter was almost impossible for her to dissect her heart about to anyone.
Lin Wan’s self-awareness was very clear. He Qiumei indeed didn’t know the reason: “Strange as it is, you won’t say more about it. But what does it matter? If you’re willing to marry, then marry. Who you marry doesn’t affect our relationship.”
Lin Wan felt warmed in her heart, squeezed her friend’s hand, and tentatively spoke: “By the way, how’s your work now?”
“It’s alright. I just entered the steel factory three months ago. My parents are there too. There are many aunts and uncles I know, and they all take care of me.” He Qiumei held Lin Wan’s hand, still puzzled by another decision of hers. “What about you? How’s the garment factory? But the factory director values talent the most and thinks highly of you—you’ll be cultivated as a cadre in the future. After all these years of studying, we’ve finally made it.”
Lin Wan nodded. So she had been assigned to the garment factory after graduation.
Jiangcheng Garment Factory was one of the top state-owned factories, with good benefits—especially employee welfare. In an era when fabric was scarce, employees could get extra feet of fabric, making countless people envious.
Entering the garment factory after graduation, as a key cultivated university student, she would surely develop toward factory leadership—a good path indeed.
Having inquired about news from her friend and confirmed that she had truly married her boyfriend’s uncle Fu Xiuhuai five months ago, was three months pregnant, and even seemed to have done so willingly, Lin Wan took a taxi back to Cuihu Villa. In the exquisitely decorated bedroom, her thoughts were in turmoil.
Waking up from sleep, she suddenly had a husband. This person’s identity was extremely awkward for her—what should she do?
Lin Wan understood herself. Even if she and Fu Mingjun broke up, it was impossible for her to have anything to do with his uncle.
Especially now with a child in her belly, three months along. Lin Wan suddenly found life’s problems coming one after another.
She quickly found the storage box where she habitually kept her savings. In the iron box deep in the wardrobe were her things, and also over a thousand yuan.
Lin Wan clearly knew her total savings in ’94—a little over two hundred yuan, all earned from part-time work during winter and summer breaks. Now there was so much more out of nowhere? Thinking carefully, her current self had graduated three months ago. If all went well, she should already be working—perhaps it was saved-up wages?
Too many questions. Lin Wan had a headache. And the most important thing right now was that she was hungry again…
During her school days she often forgot to eat and sleep, but now because of pregnancy she felt especially hungry.
Things being what they were, better eat first.
Only with a full belly would she have the strength to solve problems.
Auntie Wang was quick and efficient. She set out lunch on the table—all dishes Lin Wan loved.
“Madam, Mr. Fu instructed me to make only what you like to eat, dishes that won’t make you uncomfortable. Try them quickly.”
Auntie Wang said “Mr. Fu” with every other word. Lin Wan felt uncomfortable.
Eating clear-braised beef, Lin Wan pondered how to deal with this baffling marriage, and as for the child in her belly…
Until Auntie Wang’s joyful call interrupted her thoughts.
“Madam, Mr. Fu is back!” Auntie Wang had gone to the yard to collect clothes. Seeing the villa’s master return home, she quickly called to the mistress in the dining room.
Hearing this, Lin Wan’s hand holding chopsticks nearly lost its grip. She abruptly looked toward the villa entrance.
Her current nominal husband, her boyfriend’s uncle Fu Xiuhuai, had returned!
At the villa entrance, a man in a dark gray Zhongshan suit, with long, narrow phoenix eyes and deep eye sockets, was gazing at her, walking slowly toward her.