The house wasn’t large, and the furnishings were simple. Compared to the spacious and bright courtyard of the Lu family, everything here felt stifling.
She plopped down on the edge of the bed, growing angrier the more she thought about it, her eyes turning red.
When Huo Guoan got off work and pushed the door open, he saw his wife like this. His brows furrowed slightly, though it was barely noticeable.
Although he felt some impatience inside, he still put on a concerned smile and walked over, softening his voice: “Lanlan, what’s wrong? Who upset you?”
He was at a critical stage of his career advancement and still needed the connections from the Sun family, so naturally he couldn’t fall out with her.
Seeing him, all of Sun Lanlan’s accumulated grievances finally found an outlet, and tears immediately streamed down her face.
“Who else could it be? It’s my so-called good cousin, Ruan Wen!”
She exaggerated everything that had happened at the Lu family that afternoon, deliberately omitting how she had been the one provoking things, only saying how Ruan Wen had humiliated her.
“You didn’t see it. The Lu family treated Ruan Wen like some kind of living Buddha! They treasured a broken chair they repaired for ages. The whole family teamed up to embarrass me. In the end, they were just looking down on us—and on you!”
Huo Guoan listened quietly. His expression didn’t change much, but his eyes narrowed slightly.
From Sun Lanlan’s description, he sensed wealth and power.
That capitalist young lady Ruan Wen, whom he looked down on, had actually been lucky enough to marry into the Lu family.
“What is it? Is that really worth getting upset over?” he said after collecting his thoughts, comforting her gently.
Sun Lanlan’s crying paused. She looked up at him. “Not worth it?”
Huo Guoan curled his lips into a faint, disdainful smile. “What kind of family is the Lu family? A high-ranking cadre household. It’s normal for them to have some old foundations. But so what? This is the new society now. What matters is ideological progress and serving the people. Their kind of flaunting old relics is typical capitalist decay—backward and vulgar! We’re not on the same path as them. No need to compare ourselves to them.”
Sun Lanlan was gradually persuaded by his words and felt a bit better, though she was still unwilling. “But they were still bullying me!”
“That’s why I say you’re foolish,” Huo Guoan’s tone turned heavier. “You knew what kind of people they are, yet you still went looking for trouble. Isn’t that just asking for humiliation? Stay away from them in the future. Don’t lower our own status.”
Seeing that Sun Lanlan stopped speaking, he softened his tone again and pulled her into his arms, gently patting her back.
“Lanlan, don’t argue with them. It’s meaningless. A chair can’t feed you, and it can’t get me promoted. None of that matters. What matters now is that you help me focus on my work. Once I’m promoted to section chief, then division chief, we’ll move into a proper apartment. You’ll have whatever you want.”
His grand promises sounded sweet and enticing.
Leaning in his arms, Sun Lanlan’s anger gradually cooled by those empty assurances, and she stopped crying.
Huo Guoan held her, but his gaze drifted toward the window, deep and thoughtful.
Ruan Wen, the Lu family—it seemed he would have to find a way to “properly” build some connections with this cousin in the future.
Although Huo Guoan’s promises were tempting, they ultimately couldn’t be eaten.
Sun Lanlan tossed and turned in bed. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the warm jade bracelet on Ruan Wen’s wrist. Jealousy burned in her like a small fire, tormenting her until she could not sleep.
Early the next morning, Huo Guoan went to work. Sun Lanlan looked at the empty room and the plain porridge on the table, and the anger inside her flared up again.
She couldn’t understand—why could Ruan Wen, that jinx, live such a good life?
No, she couldn’t just let it go.
Her eyes rolled, and a plan formed in her mind.
She changed into a green apple-colored dress, carefully drew her eyebrows in front of the mirror, and painted her lips a vivid red before leaving the house.
This time, however, she didn’t go to the military compound to make a fool of herself. Instead, she took a bus to the city’s department store.
She didn’t go shopping. Instead, she went straight to the post office across from the department store, found a corner, took out paper and pen from her bag, and began writing at the public desk.
The recipient was her mother, Liu Shufen, who had been sent down to a labor farm.
In the letter, she first cried about her hardships after marrying into the Huo family, portraying Huo Guoan’s relatives as man-eating demons and herself as a wronged, enduring white lotus.
After laying the groundwork for a long while, she finally shifted to Ruan Wen.
“Mom, you don’t know. Ruan Wen is living very well now. She married into the Lu family, living in a big courtyard. The Lu family treats her like a treasure. Yesterday when I went to see her, she was wearing the Lu family’s heirloom jade bracelet. Their house even has some pre-revolution huanghuali chairs. The whole setup is even more impressive than our family used to have! She said she bought that chair for five yuan at a second-hand market—I don’t know what kind of luck she’s had…”
After finishing the letter, Sun Lanlan carefully dried the ink, sealed it in an envelope, stamped it, and personally dropped it into the mailbox. Only then did she finally feel a bit of relief, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.
Her mother, well—she could tolerate her own life being bad, but she could never tolerate Ruan Wen living better than her or Sun Lanlan.
This letter was like tossing a spark into a pile of dry firewood—it would surely keep Liu Shufen awake at night, fuming.
Ruan Wen, let’s see how long your good days last!
……
A few days later, Lu Jingheng returned from training.
Before he even entered the courtyard, there was an impatient eagerness on his darkened face.
He had tanned and slimmed down, his training uniform covered in mud and grass stains, looking somewhat weather-beaten. Yet his eyes were unusually bright.
He pushed open the courtyard gate and immediately saw Ruan Wen sitting under the eaves, reading with her head lowered.
Beside her was the huanghuali chair that had been repaired by Lu Yongjie. A washed-out blue printed cloth was draped over it, and a small table nearby held a glass of cooled boiled water.
Afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows over her, making the scene peaceful like a painting.
Lu Jingheng’s heartbeat inexplicably skipped a beat. Standing at the gate, he looked at the tranquil scene. The fatigue accumulated from days of training seemed to wash away instantly.
“I’m back,” he said slowly, his voice slightly hoarse.
Ruan Wen looked up upon hearing him and paused slightly when she saw his appearance, then stood up. “You’re back? Go take a shower first. I’ve left food for you in the pot.”
That simple sentence made Lu Jingheng’s heart feel as if it were filled with honey—sweet to the point of overflowing.
He grinned widely, revealing a row of white teeth, and chuckled foolishly. “Alright!”
He rushed into the house in a few quick steps, grabbed his change of clothes, and went into the bathroom. Soon, the sound of running water could be heard.
Qin Lan poked her head out from the kitchen upon hearing the noise. Seeing her son’s silly expression, she couldn’t help but shake her head and lower her voice to Ruan Wen: “Look at him—no ambition at all!”