Su Qiao was dragged outside by her eldest uncle’s wife, and then she saw Xiao Qifeng standing at the gate of the courtyard, dressed in a military uniform.
He was tall, with broad shoulders and long legs. Because he was wearing a military cap, his facial features couldn’t be seen clearly.
Bathed in sunlight, he looked from a distance like a poplar tree, straight and upright, carrying the bearing of a soldier. At first glance, he seemed reliable.
This was the match her eldest uncle’s wife had arranged for her?
Someone who looked like this?
Su Qiao was stunned for a moment.
In her previous life, she had never seen this man.
She could no longer clearly remember how Wang Lanxiang had introduced him to her back then.
At the time, the moment she heard that she would not be allowed to take the college entrance exam and was instead supposed to stay home and get married, she couldn’t listen to anything else anyone said.
She had exploded on the spot, crying and making a scene, falling out completely with Wang Lanxiang, and then she was locked up.
Later, while her mother and sister-in-law were out, her cousin Su Xiaona had quietly told her some things about that man through the window.
She said he was a cripple, nearly thirty years old, with a widowed mother at home and a three-year-old boy.
She also said that if Su Qiao married that man, she would have to become a stepmother the moment she entered the household.
Hearing this, Su Qiao felt utterly wronged and, of course, was even more unwilling.
After her repeated crying and pleading, Su Xiaona softened, and at the risk of being discovered by her mother, quietly opened the window for Su Qiao.
For that, Su Qiao had been grateful to her for a long time.
But—
Su Qiao looked Xiao Qifeng over again, no matter how she tried, she simply couldn’t connect him with the image her cousin had described, old, crippled, and divorced.
Lowering her gaze, she let out a cold laugh, and immediately understood the reason she had never thought of in her previous life.
Su Qiao shook off Wang Lanxiang’s hand and walked straight toward Xiao Qifeng. “Comrade from the People’s Liberation Army, what do you want to talk to me about? Shall we go outside to talk?”
Hearing that form of address, the vein at Xiao Qifeng’s temple twitched again.
Although he and Su Qiao weren’t close, they had met several times before. He didn’t expect that she would have no impression of him at all.
He raised his head and met Su Qiao’s gaze. There was an indescribable complexity in his eyes.
“All right, then let’s take a walk nearby,” he replied calmly.
Su Qiao didn’t notice Xiao Qifeng’s mood. At this moment, all she could think about was finding her younger sister.
She didn’t know the exact time when her sister, Su Lan, had been taken away by human traffickers, but it couldn’t be more than a day or two. Right now, all she wanted was to ensure her sister’s safety as soon as possible.
Hearing Xiao Qifeng agree, Su Qiao let out a sigh of relief. She smiled at him, then quickly reached out and hooked her arm through his, almost dragging him as she headed out of the courtyard. “Let’s talk outside.”
In this era, even men and women who had already confirmed their relationship wouldn’t walk around arm in arm like this in public. But Su Qiao had just returned, and her mind was elsewhere, so she clearly overlooked this.
As for Xiao Qifeng, he only glanced at the hand looped around his arm and didn’t say anything to remind her.
The two of them left the Su household together like that, looking quite intimate.
Wang Lanxiang had agreed to let Su Qiao talk with Xiao Qifeng because she had already accepted the Xiao family’s betrothal money, and because he had witnessed that earlier scene, she was afraid he might call off the engagement.
She knew her niece didn’t have much else going for her, but she did have a pretty face, one of those foxlike faces that could enchant any man.
The Xiao family had taken a liking to her in the first place. With her going to talk to Xiao Qifeng again, there was no way this marriage would be called off.
But what she didn’t expect was that as the two talked, they actually ran off arm in arm!
“Pah, pah, pah, shameless! Just a moment ago they were talking about selling her off, and in the blink of an eye she’s getting that close to him. What a thing! Little vixen!” Wang Lanxiang cursed viciously.
Yet curse as she might, what she really wanted now was for the two of them to go straight from raw rice to cooked rice, so that her three hundred yuan wouldn’t slip away.
So she only called out hypocritically from behind, “Where are you going? Just take a stroll nearby, don’t go too far!”
She didn’t follow them out.
After walking some distance and making sure no one from the Su family could see them, Su Qiao released the arm she had been holding onto around Xiao Qifeng’s.
She nodded to him and said sincerely, “Thank you, Comrade from the People’s Liberation Army. Thank you for helping me out so much just now. I have something urgent to take care of and have to leave first, if there’s anything, can we talk about it another time?”
As she spoke, she was about to leave.
Seeing her like this, Xiao Qifeng also stopped walking. He stood there silently, looking at her without saying a word.
Only then did Su Qiao remember what their relationship was supposed to be, and what this man had come out with her to talk about. She immediately felt a little awkward.
She cleared her throat and spoke again. “Comrade, you saw what happened today—I was tricked into coming back. To be honest, I have no intention of getting married at all right now, so I definitely won’t agree to this marriage. But I know you’re also a victim in this. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get the betrothal money back and return it to your family. As for today, consider it that I, Su Qiao, owe you a favor. As long as it’s within my ability and doesn’t involve anything illegal or criminal, you can ask for anything.”
After being President Su for so many years, Su Qiao still had this much confidence.
Although she didn’t have much ability right now, that didn’t mean she would never have any. So when she said this, she didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty.
Hearing her words, Xiao Qifeng looked at her deeply, then smiled.
He didn’t dwell on the topic, but instead asked, “You said you have something urgent, what is it?”
That question immediately reminded Su Qiao.
“I’m going to look for my sister. Let’s leave it at that for now, comrade. Once the betrothal money is retrieved, I’ll get in touch with you again, don’t worry. Goodbye!”
Su Qiao made the promise solemnly, then walked off quickly toward the eastern end of the village without looking back.
She moved so fast that Xiao Qifeng didn’t even have time to react.
He wanted to tell her about the plan he had been considering earlier, to let her know she didn’t need to worry about this marriage, that he would find a way to handle it himself.
But Su Qiao didn’t give him the chance at all.
Xiao Qifeng shook his head, let out a soft chuckle, and turned to head home. After going only a short distance, however, he stopped again.
He thought of the bruised purple marks he had just seen on the girl’s exposed wrist, and then of the ruthlessness the Su family had shown toward her.
If he insisted on calling off the engagement, would her uncle’s family take her and trade her off in another marriage?
At the thought, Xiao Qifeng frowned. No matter what, he felt he had to warn Su Qiao about this and not let her remain in the dark.
He turned around and followed in the direction Su Qiao had gone.
Xiao Qifeng’s thoughts were unknown to Su Qiao; at this moment, all that filled her mind was her younger sister.
Judging from the Su family’s reaction just now, she could at least be sure that at this moment Xiao Lan was still safe and hadn’t been abducted yet. If she hurried over now and brought her sister home, that nightmare should be avoided.
The more she thought about it, the more agitated she became, wishing she could sprout wings and fly straight to her aunt’s house.
But she hadn’t gone very far when she heard a familiar voice ask in surprise, “Sister Xiao Qiao, why are you at home? When did you get back?”
Su Qiao came to an abrupt stop.
She looked up at the boy in front of her, dark-skinned and sturdy, a slingshot in one hand and several homemade darts in the other, and a complicated emotion flickered in her eyes.
This boy was Li Zhuang, her cousin, the one who, in her previous life, ended up in a vegetative state after a fight with her brothers.
But in fact, before that incident, there had been no real conflict between her siblings and Li Zhuang. On the contrary, this kid had been fairly respectful toward her, his high-school–aged older cousin.
“Where are you heading?” Su Qiao asked instead.
“Over to that little grove to catch birds.”
Li Zhuang shook the slingshot in his hand boastfully, then held the darts up in front of her to show off. “Sis, look at the darts I made, aren’t they sharp?”
At the sight of the darts, the image of the deep scar slashed across her younger brother’s face flashed before Su Qiao’s eyes, and anger surged straight up from the pit of her heart.
Her vision darkened with rage, and her body swayed uncontrollably.
She snatched the darts out of Li Zhuang’s hand and demanded sharply, “Where’s Xiao Lan? Where is Xiao Lan?!”
Li Zhuang didn’t expect his cousin to snatch his darts away, let alone to lose her temper at him for no apparent reason. He was startled at first, then reached out indignantly to grab them back. “Give them back! Those are mine!”
Su Qiao shifted aside, gripping the darts tightly in her hand, and pressed on, “Where is Xiao Lan? Say it clearly and I’ll give them back to you.”
“Where else could she be? She’s obviously at home!” Li Zhuang said impatiently.
As he spoke, he kept reaching out, trying to snatch the darts back.
In her previous life, when Su Qiao was seventeen, a family tragedy struck. In the end, only she and her younger brother Su Peng, deaf, mute, and disfigured, were left to depend on each other.
The bullying and abuse she endured went without saying.
Later, once she was financially able, she immediately went to learn women’s self-defense, training for more than a decade.
Although her current body had slender arms and legs and was still frail, the techniques were something she would never forget.
So despite all Li Zhuang’s efforts, he still couldn’t wrest the darts back from Su Qiao.
Hearing that her sister was still at home, Su Qiao finally let out a sigh of relief.
But she continued to press, “Who’s at home with her? Your dad or your mom?”
To her surprise, as soon as she asked this, Li Zhuang suddenly showed a very strange expression.
He cast a timid glance at Su Qiao, then, clearly guilty, shifted his gaze away.
Seeing this, Su Qiao’s heart instantly sank.