Liang Xin slowly descended the stairs, holding an enamel tray.
Wang Hongyan and Wei Yuanyang stared wide-eyed, their hands trembling uncontrollably beneath their sleeves. Their minds went blank, their pupils nearly shattering from shock. Their faces, originally flushed and glowing with excitement and joy, rapidly turned deathly pale within mere seconds.
“Liang Xin, has Chongfeng eaten?”
“He has.”
“Just put the tray on the table. No need to wash the bowls.” Hu Fenglian stood up and walked to the dining table, pulling a bag of Fuchun flour and a net bag of white and rock sugar from the nearby cabinet. “There are also two jin of pork—70% fat and 30% lean—in the kitchen. I’ve already asked the Director of the Service Agency to reserve two chickens for me. Later, Xiao Shi will accompany you to pick them up.”
The faces of Wei Yuanyang and his mother instantly turned ashen again, their eyes bulging with shock as they stared at Liang Xin.
Liang Xin looked at the trembling mother and son and smiled. “Thank you, Mom.”
“Ah!”
Hu Fenglian quickly turned her head to look at Wang Hongyan, who had suddenly cried out. “Hongyan, what’s wrong?”
“I… I-I…”
Wang Hongyan instinctively glanced at her son, only to find his expression more astonished than frightened, his eyes firmly glued to Liang Xin, unwilling to look away even for a moment. Panicked, she grabbed his arm. “I, um, just remembered—I forgot to close the coal briquette stove damper! It’s in the teacher’s dormitory. Yes, the coal briquette stove damper isn’t closed. I need to hurry back and close it!”
Hu Fenglian looked puzzled. “Is it really that urgent?”
“How could it not be? Our situation is far worse than yours. Our coal ration for the month is so limited—we have to save every single coal briquette. If the fire goes out, we’ll have to borrow from someone. Besides, there’s water boiling on the stove. If the pot burns dry, it’ll just waste more money.”
Wang Hongyan, her hands trembling, pulled her son—who was still staring in disbelief at Liang Xin—almost dragging him as she tried to rush him out.
Suddenly, Liang Xin spoke. “Auntie, cooking in the teacher’s dormitory is usually done in the hallway, and there’s typically a telephone installed there. Making a call would be much faster.”
Wang Hongyan froze stiff. Upon hearing Liang Xin’s voice, Wei Yuanyang, who had finally managed to look away, immediately turned his gaze back to her, his eyes filled with disbelief and profound shock.
He had thought it was a dream.
Even when his mother’s grip hurt him, he still couldn’t believe this was reality.
But Liang Xin’s voice again—a living person, a living voice, once so familiar to him—forced him to accept that this was truly Liang Xin!
The Liang Xin who had once yielded to his every demand, tolerated his every whim, and been utterly devoted to him… had married!
She had married another man!
“Oh, that’s right!” Hu Fenglian hurried over to the sofa and picked up the telephone on the side table. “What’s the number for the teacher’s dormitory? I’ll dial it. Calling is much faster than you going back.”
“N-no! The other teachers don’t have our keys. We… we’d better hurry back!”
At that moment, the marriage arrangement Wang Hongyan had been so fixated on was completely forgotten in her panic. Grabbing her son, who was stunned and disoriented, she practically flew out of the Lu residence.
“Well…”
Hu Fenglian watched Wang Hongyan’s hasty departure. “They’re already leaving?”
“Back in the barracks, he was always frugal. I never imagined he’d maintain that habit all these years.” Chief Lu sighed. “I suppose life must have been difficult for them all this time.”
“Shouldn’t be the case, right?”
Hu Fenglian gazed at the doorway where the mother and son had disappeared. “Back when things were toughest, after Battalion Commander Wei sacrificed himself, they received over five hundred in pension according to regulations. The division scraped together another five hundred. Besides, they only had one child back then, and Battalion Commander Wei had no family left in his hometown. He should have saved up quite a bit from his salary. After Hongyan remarried Xiao Li, the division arranged their wedding, and everyone gave generous gifts – that must have totaled several hundred at least. Though she lost the martyr subsidy after remarrying, Yuan Yang still received his. Just Yuan Yang’s martyr subsidy alone could match a worker’s monthly wages. You arranged for Xiao Li to be transferred to the military academy, where he earns fifty or sixty monthly including allowances. He’s only been assigned to the countryside for three or four years at most. They might not be wealthy, but they shouldn’t be struggling.”
Liang Xin listened without showing any reaction.
The plot she knew, aside from her own perspective, was mostly just general outlines.
According to her mother-in-law’s account, Wei Yuanyang’s life in the countryside really shouldn’t have been so impoverished.
Yet he genuinely lived in hardship. The martyr subsidy only lasted until eighteen, and he was sent to the countryside around that age.
“Never mind, let’s not dwell on it.” Hu Fenglian turned to Liang Xin. “Liang Xin, I’m sorry. If Chongfeng were alright, I could accompany you back to your parents’ home with him. Now you’ll have to go alone.”
Chief Lu interjected, “I’ll take you to the bus station later.”
Liang Xin was taken aback.
“Would you have time?” Hu Fenglian said happily. “If you have time, why not take Liang Xin all the way home? We never even met the in-laws before the wedding because we kept it from you…”
“No time.” Chief Lu snorted coldly. “And you have the nerve to mention that!”
“No need. There’s a direct bus from here to the station. It’s very convenient.”
“I’ll see you off.”
Chief Lu’s authoritative face delivered these stern words.
Liang Xin didn’t refuse further. This wasn’t the main issue now. She turned to face them properly. “I have something to say to both of you elders.”
“How could she be here!”
Only after walking far from the West Yard, far enough to escape the crowd and hide in the Cryptomeria forest, did Wang Hongyan dare to speak.
As she spoke, her whole body trembled with residual fright. Her voice carried not just panic but also brimming anger.
“She called Auntie Hu… Mom.”
Wei Yuanyang said this himself, astonishment washing over his face again. “Mom, did you hear? Liang Xin called Auntie Hu ‘Mom’!”
“I heard. It was hearing her call Hu Fenglian ‘Mom’ that made me cry out in shock.” Wang Hongyan patted her chest, catching her breath, when suddenly she remembered something and gasped again. “Ah! The television ticket!”
“She called Auntie Hu Mom… she called Auntie Hu Mom…” Wei Yuanyang muttered like a soul possessed, repeating it to himself like frost-bitten eggplant – limp and wilted. “Liang Xin got married…”
“And you swore to me that Liang Xin was devoted to you, that she’d mail the television ticket to the school within a week. Now look! That television ticket must have become part of her dowry!”
Wang Hongyan’s blood rushed to her head, her previously pale face flushed crimson with rage. “You haven’t even become the Lu family’s son-in-law yet, and she’s already become their daughter-in-law!”
“Impossible!” Wei Yuanyang’s confidence crumbled, his state bordering on madness. “How could this be! Liang Xin was so sincere with me, her feelings were genuine. She loved me so much, how could she marry another man!”
“She’s already in the Lu residence, clearly calling Fenglian ‘mother,’ and you’re still here talking about her loving you! I told you back then we shouldn’t have given her the television ticket, but not only did you give it, you even gave her a hundred yuan! Now it’s all become her capital to marry another man!”
“I don’t believe it! I’m going to ask her!”
Seeing her son turn and run like a madman, Wang Hongyan’s expression changed and she quickly chased after him, grabbing his arm.
“Have you lost your mind! Does it even matter now whether she’s married? What matters is that Liang Xin has become the Lu family’s daughter-in-law! Everything we just said has become lies. If the Lu family finds out about your past relationship with Liang Xin, you’ll never become their son-in-law!”
The last sentence struck Wei Yuanyang like a thunderbolt.
Slowly, he emerged from his distraught state.
“This is absolutely unbelievable,” Wang Hongyan scolded her son while gradually calming down from her panic. “The Lu family’s standards are so high now, how could she possibly climb into this marriage? Even if Chongfeng is sick and they need someone to marry him to ward off bad luck like in the old days, why would they choose someone as distant as her?”
Sick!
Wei Yuanyang’s eyes suddenly lit up.
Yes, Lu Chongfeng is sick.
Even if Liang Xin is married, she’s still Liang Xin.
Wei Yuanyang’s emotions instantly calmed, and rationality regained control of his mind. “Mom, don’t be afraid. What we’re afraid of, Liang Xin should be afraid of too.”
Wang Hongyan looked at her eldest son in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Do you think Liang Xin would tell the Lu family about how she treated me before?”
“Absolutely not!”
Mother and son exchanged glances, the panic in their eyes completely replaced by delight.
“Putting everything else aside, just based on what I know about how good Liang Xin was to you – most people couldn’t do what she did. Didn’t she say last time that she had evidence for every time she mailed you things? She has it, and you have it too. She would never tell the Lu family everything about your relationship. If she did, she wouldn’t have been able to marry into the Lu family!”
Suddenly seeing great hope in the situation again, Wang Hongyan’s heart raced wildly:
“I know Aunt Hu very well – her thinking isn’t nearly as open-minded as mine. She’s deeply traditional and feudal at heart. If she knew how Liang Xin treated a man before marriage, she would never choose her as her only daughter-in-law! No matter how sick Chongfeng is, it would be absolutely impossible!”
Wei Yuanyang smiled. “From what you’re saying, I don’t think Liang Xin will be valued much in the Lu family either. Mom, I was somewhat reluctant about this marriage before, but now I’ve figured it out.”
Wang Hongyan looked at her son and gave a hollow smile. “You’re not really after Yueji – I can see you’re actually after Liang Xin.”
Wei Yuanyang only smiled without speaking.
“Well, it’s fine. I know how Liang Xin treated you. Chongfeng is sick anyway. If you can really win her over, it would be like having an ally in the Lu family…”
At this point, Wang Hongyan suddenly stopped, spat contemptuously, and said with a disdainful expression, “Forget it. With her background—just a peasant’s daughter from the countryside—managing to cling to the Lu family, she’s nothing more than a ward off bad luck (through marriage) token. How could she possibly be valued in the Lu family? I think it’s better to first threaten and intimidate her to secure the marriage…”
Before she could finish, the mother and son hiding in the Cryptomeria forest spotted a mottled green military vehicle.
The window was half-open, and in the passenger seat sat the imposing Chief Lu.
In the back, reserved for the chief, sat only Liang Xin.
Both mother and son froze as if someone had choked them, staring blankly as the military vehicle drove out of the Military Compound.
The Cryptomeria forest fell into a long silence.
Apart from the rustling of falling leaves, not a sound was heard.
Wei Yuanyang’s eyes once again filled with disbelief.
Wang Hongyan tried to speak but stumbled over her words.
“This…” Wang Hongyan forced a complex, jealous smile. “This actually works in your favor. As long as you can win over Liang Xin, there’s hope for your marriage to Yueji. If Liang Xin can really play a role in your wedding, then… after marriage, you might truly have powerful backing in the Lu family.”
Remembering what Hu Fenglian had just given to Liang Xin, today should be the third-day post-wedding return visit.
“I’m going to the station to find Liang Xin right now!”
Wei Yuanyang threw out these words, disregarding the dignified demeanor he had maintained as a university teacher these past few days, and sprinted away with all his might.