“Su Nian’an! Shut up! What nonsense are you talking about?!”
Su Nian’an’s words just now successfully provoked Su Nianxi into speaking up.
“Oh my, Su Nianxi, so you actually can speak normally? I thought your voice was always going to be as tiny as a mosquito’s.” Su Nian’an did not show Su Nianxi the slightest bit of courtesy and openly mocked her.
As soon as Su Nianxi heard this, she quickly wiped the vicious expression from her face. Then she leaned against Liu Cuilian and said in a tearful voice, “Mom! You need to do something about Su Nian’an! How… how could she say something like that about me?!”
Naturally, Liu Cuilian could not bear to see her precious daughter being bullied. She hurriedly hugged Su Nianxi and glared angrily at Su Nian’an.
“Nian’an! What nonsense are you talking about?!”
Su Nian’an immediately turned her gaze toward Liu Cuilian, the woman who was related to her by blood but had never shown her the slightest bit of motherly affection.
“Am I really talking nonsense? Su Nianxi may have grown up by your side for many years, but is she really your biological daughter?”
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the other three people present instantly turned ugly.
At this moment, both Su Aiguo and Liu Cuilian suspected that Su Nian’an’s adoptive mother and aunt had been too careless with their words and had told Su Nian’an about the matter. Otherwise, how could Su Nian’an possibly know?
Sensing that something was wrong with her parents’ reactions, Su Nianxi became flustered.
Could it be… that she really wasn’t her parents’ biological daughter?
“Su Nian’an, you… what evidence do you have?”
“Evidence?” Su Nian’an looked coldly at Su Nianxi before continuing, “Su Nianxi, you’ve occupied someone else’s place for so many years. Then tell me, given the Su family’s circumstances, what reason would they have had to send one of their daughters to the countryside?”
Su Nianxi could not refute her.
Although the Su family was not considered a wealthy or prominent household in Beijing, both Su Aiguo and Liu Cuilian worked at state-run work units, and they were even in management positions. There was no way they could not afford to raise a daughter.
“Since you already know about this, then that’s even better. You are the daughter of our Su family, so the marriage arrangement between the Gu family and the Su family should naturally be fulfilled by you.”
Su Aiguo finally spoke, but he was still insisting that Su Nian’an take Su Nianxi’s place in the marriage.
“Sure.”
Su Nian’an agreed without hesitation.
The moment she said this, the other three were stunned again.
After a while, Liu Cuilian rushed over to Su Nian’an, grabbed her hand, and asked excitedly, “Nian’an, are you serious? You agreed?”
Su Nian’an slowly pried the woman’s hand away from her arm.
“I have conditions.”
“What conditions?” Su Aiguo asked.
Su Nian’an stated her demands without hesitation.
“I want twenty thousand yuan in cash, fifty jin of meat coupons, thirty jin of cloth coupons, and one hundred jin of grain coupons. If you can agree to these little requests, I’ll agree to help the Su family fulfill the marriage arrangement and marry into the Gu family.”
Su Nian’an did not have any particularly impressive abilities. The one thing she was good at was making desserts and pastries.
But after traveling through time into an era where people could barely get enough to eat, trying to survive by relying on her old profession would be incredibly difficult.
For starters, she could not even gather the necessary ingredients.
So instead of struggling, she might as well lie back and get married, solving everything in one step.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the male lead, Gu Qingyu, and his entire family were currently down on their luck and being sent to the countryside for re-education through labor.
In just half a year, Gu Qingyu would become someone the Su family could never hope to reach.
Su Nian’an did not have much ambition. Rather than working herself to death like an ox or a horse, she might as well find a man to rely on.
If he turned out to be unreliable, then after things opened up a couple of years later and private businesses began to flourish, she could start a small business of her own.
In any case, if she endured these six months of hardship alongside the male lead, perhaps she might become prosperous together with him in the future.
And if, by some chance, Gu Qingyu still had no feelings for her, she could simply get some benefits from him and divorce him. That wasn’t impossible either.
People in this era did not dare to divorce because they were afraid of losing face, but Su Nian’an, who had come from the twenty-first century, certainly wasn’t afraid of that.
The more she thought about it, the more Su Nian’an felt that marrying Gu Qingyu was the best choice for her right now.
Otherwise, with her current identity, the Su family did not welcome her, while her original owner’s aunt could practically be said to have abused her.
Su Nian’an had absolutely nothing at present. In this era, going anywhere required a letter of introduction just to take a train or find a job. The difficulty of surviving was practically ten stars out of ten!
So choosing to marry the male lead, Gu Qingyu, was still better than throwing herself into a river, right?
She didn’t want to die a second time.
However, before marrying Gu Qingyu, she had to make the Su family pay her a hefty price.
Sure enough, when everyone heard Su Nian’an’s outrageous demands, they were all shocked.
“Su Nian’an! Are you crazy?! Do you even know what you just said?” Su Nianxi spoke before Su Aiguo and Liu Cuilian could say anything.
“I know. I just made a small request. First, you need to understand that if I accompany the Gu family to the countryside, it won’t be an ordinary life in the countryside. What kind of situation is the Gu family in right now? They’re being sent to the countryside for labor reform. You don’t really think that just because I’m going to live in the countryside, I don’t understand what that means, do you?”
Su Nian’an’s words successfully silenced Su Nianxi.
After all, this was exactly what she was afraid of.
Being sent to the countryside for labor reform how terrifying was that?
Su Nianxi had even accidentally dreamed about such a scene in the middle of the night and been frightened awake.
She turned toward Su Aiguo and called softly, “Dad”
Su Nian’an nearly got goosebumps from that coquettish tone.
No wonder her father and mother doted on her. Just that one sweet, coquettish “Dad” was something Su Nian’an knew she could never bring herself to say in this lifetime.
Su Aiguo let out a sigh. Then he took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and began smoking.
“Nian’an, it’s not that I don’t want to give you the money. Our family simply doesn’t have that much.”
Hearing this, Su Nian’an let out a cold laugh before saying, “Then if you want me to take Su Nianxi’s place and marry into the Gu family, you can’t expect to give me nothing in return, can you? Have you raised me for even a single day during these eighteen years? Now you want me to take Su Nianxi’s place and suffer hardship in her stead, so at least show me some sincerity.”
Seeing how serious Su Nian’an was, Liu Cuilian gave an awkward laugh before speaking stiffly.
“Nian’an, That’s not how you should put it. You are our biological daughter…”
Before she could finish, Su Nian’an immediately interrupted her.
“Fine. Then announce to everyone that I’m your biological daughter and Su Nianxi is your adopted daughter. Once that’s made public, even if you force me to marry, there’s nothing I can do about it, right?”
“No! We can’t announce it!”
Panic immediately appeared on Liu Cuilian’s face.
Although Su Nian’an had not read all the way to the end of the novel, she knew that Su Nianxi was a vicious female supporting character. At the beginning, she was unwilling to marry Gu Qingyu after he was sent down to the countryside. Later, when she saw the Gu family rise to prominence, she tried to cling to them again.
But the fact that she was a fake daughter was real. Su Nian’an simply had not read to the end, so she did not know who Su Nianxi’s biological parents were.
However, seeing how unwilling Su Aiguo and Liu Cuilian were to publicly acknowledge Su Nianxi as their adopted daughter, Su Nian’an guessed that Su Nianxi’s identity must be something they could not afford to have exposed.
That was even better.
It meant she had even more leverage over the Su family.
“Since that’s the case, then either let Su Nianxi marry him herself. I believe the Gu family knows that the person originally engaged to them was Su Nianxi. Or”
Su Nian’an’s attitude remained firm.
“You can agree to my demands and give me the money and coupons. Otherwise, there’s nothing more to discuss!”
Su Nian’an refused to back down. Liu Cuilian had no choice but to turn her gaze toward Su Aiguo, who was sitting in the seat of honor.
Su Aiguo simply picked up another cigarette and smoked one after another. The atmosphere became extremely awkward.
But Su Nian’an had always lived by the principle: “As long as I’m not embarrassed, then the embarrassed one is someone else.”
She sat down as well and quietly waited for the Su family to consider their options.
Suddenly, as though she had thought of something, Su Nian’an added, “The Gu family has been sent down to the countryside, yet you still insist on honoring this marriage arrangement. Isn’t it because you want to preserve your good reputation? But you definitely don’t want to remain connected to the Gu family, do you? Give me the money, and I can sever my relationship with you. That way, you can preserve your reputation without having to worry about being dragged down by the Gu family. How does that sound?”
As soon as Su Nian’an said this, the situation changed completely.
Su Aiguo immediately crushed the cigarette in his hand and finally spoke.
“I’ll give you five thousand yuan, twenty jin of meat coupons, twenty jin of cloth coupons, and thirty jin of grain coupons. Nian’an, it’s really not that your father doesn’t want to give you more. Our family truly doesn’t have that much.”