Mother Qiao was delighted at once.
“Wonderful! When are you planning to go?”
She no longer minded how much meat her daughter had eaten. In fact, she wanted to give Qiao Yan another piece of chicken. Her joy was written all over her face.
“How about this afternoon? You’re not working anyway. I’ll call your Aunt Liu right now!”
Mother Qiao’s eagerness stood in stark contrast to Song Zhenzhen’s displeasure.
Song Zhenzhen pursed her lips at this. She didn’t dare grumble loudly, but muttered under her breath, “Who knows what sort of ideal son-in-law she’ll manage to find?”
Sitting closest to her, Qiao Xiaolong heard his wife’s remark and couldn’t have agreed more.
Exactly!
He knew his younger sister better than anyone.
With a temper that bad, what normal man could put up with her?
No one at the table paid any attention to the couple’s petty thoughts.
Although Father Qiao wasn’t as eager as his wife about their daughter changing her mind and wanting to visit the matchmaking agency, he also thought it was a good idea.
At least their daughter wouldn’t be following Chen Guangzong around anymore, would she?
Besides, Liu Meixia from the matchmaking agency was his superior’s wife, and he knew her well.
The eligible young men registered with the agency were all decent men with proper jobs. They were far better than the likes of Chen Guangzong and Song Lei.
As a father, Father Qiao wanted his daughter to find a good husband, after all.
He nodded in firm agreement. “All right. If you’re going, go sooner rather than later. But you must give your Aunt Liu a proper apology this time. On your previous visits, Aunt Liu introduced you to the best candidates she had, yet you didn’t take a liking to a single one.”
Qiao Yan thought, It was the original owner who didn’t like them. That’s hardly my fault.
Still, when all was said and done, circumstances left her little choice.
Before the “head of the household,” Qiao Yan could only obediently admit her mistake.
“I understand, Dad. I’ll apologize when I see her.”
A rare look of satisfaction appeared on Father Qiao’s face, and peace finally returned to the dinner table.
…
Half an hour later, in the kitchen.
As Mother Qiao washed the dishes with the water used to rinse the rice, she asked Qiao Yan, “Tell me the truth. Do you really want to go, or are you just pretending?”
Qiao Yan was helping her mother wipe down the stove. At those words, she protested in an aggrieved tone, “Of course I really want to go! Mom, would I lie to you?”
Mother Qiao scolded her. “You little girl, haven’t you lied to me enough already? Every one of those times, you told me you were going out to look for work, only to turn around and go looking for that Chen fellow.”
Qiao Yan ducked her head guiltily. “Well, I wasn’t thinking straight back then!”
“And you are now?”
“Yes, I am. After all…”
To put Mother Qiao’s mind at ease, Qiao Yan played her trump card. “Chen Guangzong is already married.”
“What?!”
Mother Qiao nearly dropped the bowl in her hands.
“Married? When did that happen?”
“Maybe a year ago. I’m not too sure either.”
“…” Mother Qiao was speechless with anger, her face turning ashen. She pointed a finger at her daughter and, after a long moment, choked out several repetitions of “you.”
“You, you, you… This is outrageous! How did I raise a daughter like you?!”
Qiao Yan tucked her head down even further, feeling terribly guilty. “Stop scolding me, Mom. I know I was wrong.”
Mother Qiao still hadn’t calmed down. After all, even in this era, when marriage and divorce had become very common, being a mistress who broke up someone else’s marriage was still deeply shameful.
And her own daughter had nearly become one.
Mother Qiao certainly wouldn’t forget this for at least six months, if not a year.
Still, that brought her back to another point.
“You’ve given up on him completely now, haven’t you?”
“Yes, completely.” Qiao Yan put down the cloth in her hand, washed her hands, and hurried to pat Mother Qiao’s back to help her calm down. “Don’t worry, Mom. I promise you, I really have given up on him completely this time. I didn’t know he was married before, but now I do. Surely I’m not going to become his mistress? I’m not taking the blame for that.”
At those words, Mother Qiao finally let out a long sigh of relief. Her daughter had finally come to her senses, and as her mother, she was deeply gratified.
But once she had calmed down, something occurred to her, and her shrewd eyes darted sideways. “That Chen fellow! How dare he deliberately string my daughter along!”
Qiao Yan: “…”
It seemed she had accidentally made the male lead take the blame. In the original novel, Chen Guangzong had actually told the original owner that he was married the second time she expressed her interest in him.
But Qiao Yan didn’t think it was much of a problem.
First, the male lead wouldn’t know. Second… to be honest, she did harbor some resentment toward him.
The Qiao family had ended up in such a miserable state later on.
Of course the male lead had had a hand in it.
Otherwise, how could it have been such a coincidence that Father Qiao was among the thirty-four civil servants dismissed across the entire special economic zone?
But in all fairness, Father Qiao hadn’t treated the male lead badly.
Although he hadn’t accepted the male lead’s lavish gifts or manipulated things behind the scenes to help his project, he hadn’t singled him out for different treatment when the male lead later participated in an open tender, either. He had never put the slightest obstacle in the male lead’s way. On the contrary, he had voted in favor of the male lead’s company because he believed it was genuinely capable.
The male lead should have known perfectly well that Father Qiao was an honest worker. Yet because of Qiao Yan, he had caused Father Qiao to lose his job and the reputation he had built over a lifetime.
So what was wrong with making him take the blame for something he hadn’t done?
Qiao Yan thought this particular accusation wasn’t nearly damning or serious enough!
“Exactly! He’s gone too far!”
She echoed her mother.
Mother Qiao sneered. “Wasn’t it all so his project could get through your father’s approval smoothly? People are so rotten these days. For their own interests, for a bit of money, there’s no limit to what they’ll do to hurt others.”
Qiao Yan: “…”
She felt a little guilty, but only a little.
Mother Qiao turned and saw the hesitant look on her face. Assuming Qiao Yan was still angry, just as she was, she reassured her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll tell your father what that Chen fellow has been up to. Our family may not be rich or powerful, but we’re certainly not people he can push around.”
Qiao Yan nodded vigorously. “Yes, exactly!”
Seeing her daughter’s attitude, Mother Qiao became even more convinced that Qiao Yan no longer had any feelings for Chen Guangzong. She immediately believed Qiao Yan’s claim that she wanted to visit the matchmaking agency to find a partner.
So, as she continued washing the dishes, Mother Qiao changed the subject.
“When you go to the matchmaking agency later, you need to be smart about it.”
“What do you mean by smart?”
Qiao Yan asked.
Mother Qiao said, “Are you silly? Do I really have to teach you that? Being smart means choosing a good match, of course. With a whole square full of fine young men to choose from, surely you wouldn’t pass them over for that street punk from the Song family?”
“…Street punk?”
“Your sister-in-law’s younger brother, Song Lei.”
Mother Qiao looked disdainful.
Qiao Yan understood. “Oh, I see.”
“Hmph. Don’t think I don’t know what Song Zhenzhen is planning. Her brother is such a poor prospect that he can’t find a partner elsewhere, so she’s set her sights on you.”
Mother Qiao understood the situation perfectly. It hadn’t been appropriate to make her position clear at the dinner table, but now, with the kitchen door shut and both Song Zhenzhen and Qiao Xiaolong out of the house, she was naturally going to spell it out.
“I’m telling you, you have to listen to me on this. You’re not to have anything to do with that fellow from the Song family. Do you hear me?”
“…I hear you.”
Qiao Yan obediently agreed.
She remembered now. This part of the story had appeared in the novel too.
In the original novel, although the original owner had constantly chased after the male lead, the Qiao family had opposed it all along.
Mother Qiao had opposed her pursuit while urging her to go on blind dates.
Meanwhile, her sister-in-law, Song Zhenzhen, had repeatedly brought up her unmarried younger brother.
The novel hadn’t devoted many words to Song Zhenzhen’s younger brother, but her scheming had been perfectly obvious.
Given what her brother had to offer, there wasn’t even one foolish girl in all of Shen City blind enough to want him. That was why she had set her sights on the original owner.
Unfortunately for her, the original owner had remained devoted to the male lead throughout the story.
So she had never even met Song Lei.
Only after the Qiao family met their “villain’s ending” did this dear younger brother receive a one-sentence account of his own fate.
That happened after the original owner had been bailed out of the police station.
After her daughter’s stint at the police station, Mother Qiao finally gave up hope. Believing that her daughter would never find a good match again, she agreed to the proposal Song Zhenzhen had been making all along.
Unexpectedly, Song Zhenzhen, who had once been so eager to find her younger brother a wife, looked embarrassed.
As it turned out, her good-for-nothing younger brother, who collected protection money, had already been arrested a month earlier during a crackdown on crime and still hadn’t been released.
Apparently, he was facing at least three to five years in prison.
Under those circumstances, no matter how much Song Zhenzhen favored her younger brother, how could she dare introduce him to Qiao Yan?
The matter could only be dropped.
“Don’t worry, Mom. Your daughter isn’t stupid.”
Qiao Yan said, “This time, I guarantee I’ll find you a good son-in-law with a house, a car, and a promising future!”
Naturally, Mother Qiao didn’t believe her.
“If you really thought that way, I’d have to burn incense before the Buddha in thanks!”
To her surprise, Qiao Yan looked serious. “I mean it, Mom.”
Qiao Yan wasn’t making empty claims this time. She really did think that way.
Ever since realizing she had transmigrated into a novel, Qiao Yan had been making plans for her future.
Staying with the family was definitely out of the question.
Her sister-in-law Song Zhenzhen’s belly would soon start growing, and the Qiao family’s home was so small that it couldn’t possibly accommodate so many people.
To put it bluntly, Qiao Yan had already spotted the extra folding bed in the living room. When the time came, if she didn’t sleep in it, was her sister-in-law supposed to?
Qiao Yan certainly wasn’t willing to do that.
Although she hadn’t been some pampered young lady in 2025, she still hoped to have at least her basic living needs met in 1995.
Besides, finding a job and moving out wasn’t a particularly viable option either.
This was the rapidly developing Shen City.
In theory, there should have been plenty of job opportunities.
But Shen City in this year naturally couldn’t compare with Shenzhen in 2025.
Qiao Yan didn’t know much about it herself, but judging from the setting described in the novel, finding a decent job that provided both meals and accommodation in Shen City that year wouldn’t be easy.
That also brought up the issue of the original owner’s educational qualifications.
The original owner was only a high school graduate.
Of course, educational qualifications in 1995 hadn’t yet lost as much value as they had in 2025, when people studying for master’s degrees and doctorates were everywhere.
But even in 1995, a high school graduate couldn’t find a particularly good job.
What’s more, the original owner had quit her job at the hypermarket and had now been unemployed for over six months, making it even harder to find a good job.
After thinking it over, Qiao Yan decided that Mother Qiao was right! She should find a good match and get married as soon as possible.
After all, the Qiao family was still reasonably respectable at this point.
Qiao Yan was also young and pretty. On her previous blind dates, she had been the one to reject the men. There had never been a case of a man rejecting her.
So, given what she currently had to offer, finding a good match at the matchmaking agency actually wouldn’t be difficult.
Besides, Qiao Yan came from 2025. She knew very well how things would develop in the future.
With her perspective as someone from the future, surely she could spot a man with potential among all the unmarried young men at the matchmaking agency?
So…
“Just leave it to me, Mom!”
Author’s Note:
The Shenzhen policies mentioned in the first three chapters were researched with reference to this book: My Time as Mayor of Shenzhen by Li Zibin.
There were indeed civil servants who were dismissed at the time. However, this novel isn’t documentary literature, so the later plot will combine fact and fiction, with everything serving the needs of the story and its characters~