1973, Hongqi Brigade.
“Ma, everyone in the brigade saw Lu Yan kiss Sijia. She has no choice but to marry him now.”
Song Jianshe hung his head as if he had encountered a monumental problem.
“No, Lu Yan and Siyi were engaged long ago. If he marries Sijia, won’t Siyi become the laughingstock of the whole village? How do you expect her to get married in the future?”
Although she said that, her mind was actually calculating for Song Sijia. That Lu Yan might be scholarly and fair-skinned, but he only earned a couple of work points a day. It would be a miracle if he could support a family.
But Sun Hongmei and the others couldn’t understand Li Yufen’s thoughts and only assumed she disagreed.
“Ma, even though you dote on that girl Siyi, Sijia is also your biological granddaughter. You can’t just watch Sijia die, can you?” Seeing Li Yufen’s disapproval, Sun Hongmei immediately grew restless.
She was starting to talk nonsense.
Her tone was urgent. “Why don’t we have Siyi and Sijia do an exchange marriage? That way, both of their marriages will be settled, and we’ll have an explanation for the men’s families. Everyone will be happy.”
“This…”
Li Yufen truly hadn’t expected such a solution and was momentarily stunned.
Song Sijia immediately agreed, “I’m willing.”
Li Yufen couldn’t understand. That was the brigade leader’s family, the family with the best life in the entire brigade.
Although that Xie Family’s Son was injured, even if he was discharged from the army, he could still be assigned a respectable job in the city.
With the whole family watching, Li Yufen couldn’t show too much favoritism. She turned her gaze to Song Siyi.
Song Siyi met Li Yufen’s gaze, her expression calm. “I’m not willing.”
Hearing this, Song Sijia flared up instantly. “Why aren’t you willing? If that incident hadn’t happened, how could an orphan like you ever hope to marry into the brigade leader’s family?”
“Since the brigade leader’s family is so great, why did you get involved with Lu Yan? And as I recall, you know how to swim.”
A flash of panic crossed Song Sijia’s heart, but she quickly regained her composure. “Cousin, you’re wronging me. I fell into the water by accident and my foot got tangled in the weeds. Educated Youth Lu had no choice but to save me.”
“Then it’s even less of an issue. It was a matter of life and death, I’m sure everyone can understand. This is a new era; we can’t be bound by those old-fashioned ideas.”
Song Siyi wore an expression that said, “I don’t mind.”
Seeing that she was impervious to persuasion, Song Sijia grew anxious. Could it be that Song Siyi actually liked Lu Yan?
Song Sijia’s eyes immediately reddened. “Cousin, you have no idea what people outside are saying about me. Are you really going to watch me die?”
Song Siyi’s face showed not a hint of being moved. “You’re the one who made the mistake. You want me to do an exchange marriage just because you say so? Marriage is the most important event in a person’s life.”
Sun Hongmei pulled Song Sijia aside and glared viciously at Song Siyi. “What will it take for you to agree to the exchange marriage?”
This little bitch was dragging things out for no other reason than to get some benefits.
If this were the past, she would have slapped her long ago. But thinking about becoming the mother-in-law of a future tycoon, what was a little forbearance now?
Song Siyi dropped her casual attitude. “It’s simple if you want me to do the exchange marriage. First, give me the pension from all these years as my dowry. Second, sever family ties with me.”
The moment Song Siyi said this, everyone in the room was stunned.
Li Yufen slammed her hand on the table. “Siyi, girl, don’t be ridiculous! We are all family. How can you say something like severing family ties?”
The other branches of the family also hurried to mediate. Eldest Aunt said, “Siyi, you can’t talk about severing ties. We are your maternal family. Even after you marry, do you think you’ll have a good life without your family to back you up?”
Severing ties wasn’t a big deal in itself, but that pension absolutely could not be given away. That was all their money.
Besides, this was a matter concerning the fourth branch’s marriage; what did it have to do with them?
Song Siyi spread her hands. “These are my two conditions. Otherwise, I won’t do the exchange.”
Li Yufen pointed at Song Siyi, her chest heaving with anger. “You! We raised you since you were little. Who do you think you’re answering to by saying such things today?”
Song Siyi’s gaze swept over each member of the Song family, her eyes holding not a trace of warmth, only cold indifference.
“I started cutting pig feed for work points when I was three. For so many years, I’ve washed your clothes and cooked your meals. I’ve served this entire large family of yours. Even if you hired a maid, you’d still have to pay her wages.”
“What’s more, I’ve earned full work points every year since I was fifteen. And has a single cent of my father’s pension ever been spent on me? Who has been supporting whom, exactly?”
Even though she had already lived through one lifetime, Song Siyi’s nose still tingled with sorrow as she spoke of these things again.
How could they bully her like this? Was it just because she had no parents and was a girl?
As she finished speaking, the entire Song family fell silent.
In the past, they never felt anything was wrong. Times were hard for every family, but they were still raising her and giving her a place to live. They felt it was only right that she did some work.
But they had completely forgotten that Song Siyi had a pension, and that money was more than enough to support a young girl like her.
“You all discuss it. Those are my two conditions. If you agree, I’ll do the exchange marriage.”
After speaking, Song Siyi turned and left, leaving a room full of Song family members staring at each other in dismay.
Eldest Aunt Lin Hui was the first to disagree. “Ma, severing ties is fine, but the pension is not.”
Second Aunt Li Juan wanted to speak but was pulled back by her husband, Second Uncle Song Jianguo. Thinking of the pitiful child Song Siyi was, Li Juan ultimately said nothing.
The atmosphere in the room instantly dropped to a freezing point. Song Sijia clenched the hem of her clothes. It was all that little bitch Song Siyi’s fault, but the exchange marriage had to happen.
After returning to her room, Song Siyi locked the door from the inside and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Just now, when she heard Song Sijia propose the exchange marriage, she was certain that Song Sijia had also been reborn.
In her previous life, she and Song Sijia had married at the same time. It was only after the wedding that she learned Lu Yan wanted to marry her solely because he saw how capable she was. He couldn’t stand the daily toil of earning work points in the fields, and she was a capable orphan who wasn’t valued by her family.
In the future, even if he returned to the city, he could abandon her without any scruples.
And things had indeed turned out just as he’d planned. She worked like an old ox, earning work points to support him, while he blatantly slacked off, sometimes not even going to work at all.
She had resisted and wanted a divorce, but the Song family thwarted her every time.
Because of the Song family’s attitude, Lu Yan treated her with even more disdain, even refusing to share a bed with her under the excuse of being impotent.
Once, she couldn’t hold back and slapped Lu Yan, only to suffer even more violent retaliation from him.
It was also on that occasion that both of their blood fell onto her peace talisman at the same time, unintentionally activating the space.
Only then were the two of them forced to be bound together for life. Later, they relied on the space to become the wealthiest people around, but she never had a single happy day.
She was, however, incredibly grateful that Song Sijia had killed her, giving her a chance to start over.
Thinking of the peace talisman, Song Siyi quickly took the talisman from around her neck.
It was a perfectly ordinary peace talisman, resembling an ancient coin. It was made of brass, with the character for “peace” carved on both the front and back.
It was truly unremarkable, and it was precisely because of its plainness that it hadn’t been snatched away by Song Sijia and the others.