“Who said we weren’t eating them?”
Mother Qiao shot Qiao Yan a resentful glare.
Seeing that Qiao Yan had already put the chicken wing into her mouth, Mother Qiao quickly picked up the last wing with her chopsticks and gave it to Qiao Xiaolong. Only after her precious son said, “Thank you, Mom,” did she breathe a small sigh of relief.
Qiao Yan acted as though she hadn’t noticed Mother Qiao’s dagger-like glare and continued enjoying her chicken wing, even humming a cheerful little tune as she ate.
But her good mood didn’t last long.
As they did every day, the family continued eating, and midway through the meal, the conversation inevitably turned to Qiao Yan’s marriage.
It wasn’t because Qiao Yan had eaten a drumstick and a chicken wing today for the first time ever, eating the family into poverty so that they had to throw her out.
Rather, ever since her sister-in-law became pregnant two months ago, the question of where Qiao Yan would go had become a problem.
The Qiao family had moved to Shen City in early 1980 amid the wave of reform and opening up and the development of special economic zones. Father Qiao was a civil servant at the Land Bureau, so their move could just about be considered part of the effort to recruit skilled personnel.
One reason they had come to Shen City was government policy. Father Qiao firmly believed that Shen City would have better prospects for development.
The other reason was that the government allocated apartments in family housing blocks to any civil servants willing to relocate to Shen City.
For the Qiao family, who owned no property back in their hometown at the time, this was undoubtedly a powerful incentive.
And so, in 1980, as soon as the Shen City Special Economic Zone was established, Father Qiao answered the country’s call to support its development and moved his entire family there, traveling over a thousand li to reach Shen City.
The good news was that after he started working in the special economic zone, his salary increased, and they were indeed allocated subsidized housing.
The bad news was that the apartment measured only sixty-five square meters in total.
At first, before Qiao Xiaolong got married, the family had managed reasonably well.
Father Qiao and Mother Qiao shared one bedroom, while the two younger family members shared the other. Although a boy and a girl ought to have separate quarters, a piece of cloth hung between them had allowed them to get by without too much trouble.
That lasted until Qiao Xiaolong got married and Song Zhenzhen moved in.
Their modestly sized home suddenly became woefully short of space.
Later, when Song Zhenzhen became pregnant, the apartment felt even more cramped.
Anyone could see that this home couldn’t possibly accommodate even one more person. But Song Zhenzhen had just become pregnant. Surely they couldn’t make her put the baby back?
After considering every possibility, marrying Qiao Yan off was indeed the only solution.
After all, she was the daughter, destined to be an “outsider.”
“Qiao Yan, you’re not getting any younger.”
They had barely eaten half their meal before Mother Qiao’s face clouded with worry. No matter how lavish the food before her was, she couldn’t bring herself to eat another bite.
She put down her chopsticks and looked at Qiao Yan anxiously. “Are you going to keep wasting your time on that Chen fellow?”
That Chen fellow.
He was the novel’s male lead, the man whom the original owner of this body had constantly pestered. His name was Chen Guangzong.
Everyone in the Qiao family knew that Qiao Yan’s life had changed completely ever since Chen Guangzong appeared before her.
First, she quit her job.
She spent every day trailing after Chen Guangzong’s ass.
Later, she even stopped eating, going on about how she needed to lose weight because Chen Guangzong liked slim women.
In short, Qiao Yan had become obsessed with Chen Guangzong, as though she were possessed. Whenever her marriage came up, she acted as though she would marry no one but Chen Guangzong.
This gave the entire Qiao family a terrible headache.
Especially Father Qiao.
The moment he heard the words “that Chen fellow,” Father Qiao reacted as though he’d heard something utterly inauspicious. He immediately lost his temper and slapped the table.
“I should never have let that brat through our door!”
“Calm down, calm down.” Seeing her husband lose his temper, Mother Qiao hurried to soothe him. “The children are eating.”
“What’s so good about that Chen fellow, anyway?”
Whenever Chen Guangzong came up, Father Qiao looked exasperated by his daughter’s failure to see sense.
“He’s a profiteering businessman who won’t earn an honest living and thinks only about giving gifts and using connections to get ahead. What kind of spell has he put on you?” Qiao Jianguo demanded angrily.
Qiao Yan blinked and thought, I’d like to know that too.
But the problem was, that was simply how the author had written it!
Still, Qiao Yan did have some idea of the answer.
Apart from the demands of the plot, which had turned the original owner into a supporting female character obsessed with romance, Chen Guangzong’s appeal also had much to do with how the novel portrayed his appearance and personality.
The book described Chen Guangzong as a tall, handsome man with thick eyebrows and large eyes, the sort rarely seen in a crowd. He even bore some resemblance to Andy Lau, the Hong Kong pop superstar who was at the height of his fame at the time.
Looks like his were already quite a rarity in 1994.
What’s more, the original owner’s family had been arranging one blind date after another for her at the time.
At an age when romantic feelings were just beginning to blossom, what young woman wouldn’t want a boyfriend who was tall, handsome, and considerate?
Television dramas showed love stories between handsome men and beautiful women.
The romance novels from Hong Kong and Taiwan sold at roadside stalls featured deeply devoted couples.
Yet when it was her turn, every man sitting across from her on a blind date was either unbearably ugly or shorter than she was.
With those comparisons in mind, the original owner naturally thought the tall, handsome Chen Guangzong was wonderful!
According to the original novel, his appearance in her world was practically like a divine warrior descending from heaven, lighting up what had previously been her gloomy existence.
Besides being handsome, Chen Guangzong was also generous.
As mentioned earlier, the entire Qiao family lived on Father Qiao’s salary alone and had to scrimp and save. They rarely even ate fruit, let alone meat.
Later, after Qiao Yan graduated from high school and started working at a hypermarket, she did earn some wages of her own.
Unfortunately, as soon as she received her wages, Mother Qiao would take them under the pretext of “helping with household expenses.”
As a result, not a single cent of the two or three hundred yuan the original owner earned each month ever stayed in her own hands.
Whenever she spotted some tanghulu she wanted to eat at a roadside stall, or some socks or accessories she wanted to buy, she would reach into her pockets only to find them completely empty.
No money.
Even at twenty years old, Qiao Yan still didn’t own a single decent accessory.
But Chen Guangzong? The moment he gave her a gift, it was a pearl necklace!
That pearl necklace was still hanging around Qiao Yan’s neck. The perfectly round pearls hung from a silver-colored metal chain, shimmering beautifully.
Although the original owner knew perfectly well that Chen Guangzong had bought the necklace because he wanted her father to do him a favor, she didn’t care about any of that.
She liked the necklace, and she also liked Chen Guangzong, who was generous, handsome, and willing to give her a necklace the very first time they met.
So what if Chen Guangzong was married?
Couldn’t married people get divorced? Even Ziling and Chu Lian could fall in love!
In love, the person who wasn’t loved was the real third party.
The original owner firmly believed this, so she boldly pursued Chen Guangzong.
Qiao Yan didn’t want to judge whether that view was right or wrong. But now that she was the one in this situation, she had her own way of handling it.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I won’t pester Chen Guangzong anymore.”
She spoke unhurriedly after slowly swallowing a mouthful of food.
Sure enough, everyone at the table was startled by her words. Qiao Xiaolong, in particular, looked utterly incredulous.
“Seriously? Weren’t you crying just last night, saying you wouldn’t marry anyone but Chen Guangzong?”
That was what Qiao Yan had said during her phone call with her best friend, Ye Mengxue, the night before.
It was true.
But Qiao Yan gave Qiao Xiaolong a mild roll of her eyes. “Can’t I have come to my senses this morning?”
“Sure, sure!”
Grinning, Qiao Xiaolong picked up a piece of chicken and popped it into his mouth. Although he agreed aloud, he was thinking, Keep pretending, little girl. Let’s see how long you can keep it up.
Mother Qiao and Song Zhenzhen, however, had very different reactions to those words.
Mother Qiao didn’t believe her at first either.
After all, as her mother, she knew her daughter’s temperament better than anyone.
Qiao Yan had everything going for her. She was pretty, clever, and tall. Her only flaw was her mule-headed stubbornness. Whatever she did, once she fixed on an idea, she refused to budge.
As a child, she could sulk at her mother from Monday all the way through Sunday over wanting a lollipop from the little shop.
After she grew up and fell for Chen Guangzong, she became even worse.
She refused to attend any of the blind dates Mother Qiao arranged or listen to a word about them. She even dared to go on a hunger strike in protest.
So Mother Qiao certainly didn’t believe that her daughter had simply given up on Chen Guangzong for no apparent reason.
After all, back then, her daughter had only tearfully given up on that lollipop after Father Qiao gave her a beating.
Still, since her daughter had said as much, Mother Qiao’s dark brown eyes darted around thoughtfully.
“Then, since you don’t like that Chen fellow anymore, why don’t you stop by your Aunt Liu’s?”
Liu Meixia was the Qiao family’s neighbor and a veteran matchmaker at the Futian Matchmaking Agency.
But the words had barely left Mother Qiao’s mouth when her daughter-in-law, Song Zhenzhen, picked up the conversation before Qiao Yan could reply.
“Why go to Aunt Liu’s? There’s no need to go to all that trouble. Didn’t Qiao Yan turn down all those men she introduced before?”
There was something more behind Song Zhenzhen’s words.
Mother Qiao couldn’t quite figure out what she meant.
By all rights, shouldn’t Song Zhenzhen, who was pregnant, be the most anxious to see Qiao Yan married off?
Why was Song Zhenzhen speaking up for Qiao Yan instead?
Before Mother Qiao could ask what she meant, Song Zhenzhen revealed her entire plan in a coy, sugary voice.
“Instead of wasting money on a matchmaking agency, why not consider my younger brother?”
“Your younger brother?”
“Yes! Song Lei is twenty-four this year, and Qiao Yan is twenty-one. They’re just right for each other, and it would bring our families even closer.”
“…”
Mother Qiao was speechless for a long time. If her son and daughter hadn’t both been present, she would have wanted to overturn the table.
Song Zhenzhen’s scheming was so blatant that the beads of her abacus were practically flying into Mother Qiao’s face.
What nonsense about bringing their families closer. She simply wanted Qiao Yan married off to Song Lei, figuring that, out of consideration for Song Zhenzhen, the Qiao family would be too embarrassed to ask for a bride price.
As for Song Lei himself…
Never mind Qiao Yan. Even Mother Qiao didn’t think much of him!
It would have been one thing if he had merely reached his age without finding a girlfriend or getting married, but he didn’t even have a steady job. He spent his days doing odd jobs and liked smoking and drinking.
To put it bluntly, Song Lei was little better than a street punk.
She had heard that he even collected protection money on the streets. Didn’t that make him a gangster?
How could a daughter of hers, Wang Derong’s daughter, possibly marry someone like that?
In any case, Mother Qiao would never agree.
She was going to put that idea out of Song Zhenzhen’s head once and for all, right here at the dinner table, so the Song family would stop setting their sights on Qiao Yan.
But before Mother Qiao could work out what to say, Father Qiao interrupted their conversation.
“Whether she gets married or not isn’t important. Qiao Yan, your priority now is to find a job and work on improving yourself.”
“…”
With the head of the household having spoken, both Song Zhenzhen and Mother Qiao naturally had to set aside their plans to find Qiao Yan a husband for the time being.
But today, Qiao Yan seemed to have forgotten to take her medication.
Normally, those words from Father Qiao would have left Qiao Yan overjoyed and overwhelmed with gratitude.
She wouldn’t have to go on blind dates or marry Song Lei.
What could be better?
Dad really was the best. As expected of a good public servant, he knew what truly mattered!
Today, however, after listening to everyone at the table express their views, Qiao Yan glanced at the clear chicken stew and blanched vegetables on the table, then at the old bed set up in the living room and the battered secondhand Changhong television.
She lowered her eyes, her long, thick eyelashes trembling slightly.
After a long while, Qiao Yan picked up some salted pickled vegetables with her chopsticks and put them into her mouth, saying listlessly, “Actually, I think Aunt Liu’s place is pretty good too. I’d like to go and have another look.”