“Huh?”
The crowd let out gasps of disbelief, “Little girl, are you foolish? Even if this comrade isn’t a combat hero, he’s handsome and upright. Following him would be better than following parents like yours.”
The mouth of the female cadre from the neighborhood committee pursed like a blade, angrier than anyone, “Female comrade, I warn you…”
Her most respected father was also a combat hero. How could she tolerate someone embarrassing a combat hero in public?
“What do you want to warn her about?” Huo Ying frowned and interrupted, reaching for Jiang Yan, his voice doting, “Come here.”
Jiang Yan was momentarily dazed.
In her past life, the moment she heard him say these two words, her heart would flutter, and she would run into his arms like a puppy, crying about all her grievances.
He wouldn’t say anything, just deeply caress every inch of her body.
She would fall asleep contentedly in his arms, and he would then get up to resolve all her grievances, even breaking ties with his highly influential father, even being demoted by his superiors to a remote town, leaving the hero with no place to use his talents!
Jiang Yan took two steps back and bowed deeply, “Thank you for what happened today.” She straightened up, lowered her eyes slightly, and said firmly, “However, we had no relationship before, and we will have no relationship in the future.”
After being reborn, she understood one thing: the root of all her suffering in her past life was not only the tragic death of her adoptive parents but also her indecisiveness and timidity, which harmed herself and others!
While Huo Ying was still a proud and arrogant man, making him lose face in public with cold-hearted indifference would make him let go of her.
As expected, the man’s hand froze in mid-air, and anger gradually welled up in his eyes. He suddenly turned and left. The onlookers immediately parted to make way.
“Don’t walk so fast with an injury on your head,” Director Zhao glared at Jiang Yan with hatred for her not seizing the opportunity, and quickly chased after Huo Ying, “Wait, I’ll take you to the hospital!”
“This little girl is too much!”
The crowd pointed and chattered about Jiang Yan. Section Chief Zhu’s eyes flickered, her biological mother was completely bewildered, and her stepfather was also baffled.
But this was not the main point now.
The main point now was that the female cadre from the neighborhood committee was glaring at Jiang Yan as if she wanted to breathe fire.
He needed to quickly add fuel to the fire and send the dead girl to the furthest and harshest place for re-education, so that today’s events could be resolved.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Yan spoke before him, “Auntie, where is the furthest and harshest place for re-education? I want to respond to the country’s call and go to the vast countryside to receive re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants, undergo a complete transformation, and make new contributions to the new era!!”
The stepfather’s open mouth could fit ten large duck eggs.
What was going on? The dead girl had already guessed what he was going to say?
No, no, that’s not the point. The point is that the dead girl was terrified of going to the countryside. They had used the excuse that Section Chief Zhu could prevent her from going, which was why they had tricked her here?
The female cadre was also stunned.
When the country first called for people to go to the countryside, all the young people responded enthusiastically. But later, fewer and fewer people wanted to go, and now it had to be allocated to each household.
With the young girl being so enthusiastic, she felt a little reluctant.
Shi Hongmei felt she had grasped the key point and suddenly jumped out, “The furthest and harshest place is naturally South Province. Jiang Yan, if you really want to go, you should have gone to the neighborhood committee to fill out the application form at the beginning of this month. Don’t flatter yourself now!”
Jiang Yan looked quite wronged, “Sister, I didn’t go to the neighborhood committee to sign up for re-education at the time. Others don’t know the reason, but don’t you know?”
“Didn’t Mom and Dad keep the household registration book from me so I couldn’t sign up? They wanted to force me to marry Section Chief Zhu so that he could arrange a good office job for you, and you wouldn’t have to go to the countryside.”
In her past life, she had been so afraid of going to the countryside. Later, she learned that her adoptive parents were not just dismissed and asked to write self-criticisms, as they had said, but were sent to the most remote South Province, where they suffered greatly and died tragically.
There wasn’t much time left before they met their fate. Let alone going to the countryside, even if it was going through hell, she wished she could grow wings immediately and fly to the side of the elderly couple.
Shi Hongmei was speechless. The female cadre looked at the stepfather and the others with a stern expression, “Do you dare to persecute a promising young person who wants to contribute to the country like this?”
Her biological mother only knew to shrink her neck and say, “She’s talking nonsense. We gave her the household registration book, but she refused to go!”
Section Chief Zhu vehemently denied, “I am a state cadre, I would never do such a thing. You can investigate, I haven’t arranged any jobs for anyone in their family.”
Fortunately, no arrangements had been made yet, and they hadn’t been caught in the act today. As long as he denied it, he would be fine.
The stepfather once again pulled out his trump card, “Comrade, I must confess to you. Jiang Yan grew up with her adoptive parents and only came to our house at the beginning of this month.”
“Her adoptive parents not only had overseas connections but were also involved in colluding with foreign enemies to endanger the country. They have been arrested for investigation by the relevant departments. Such people are morally corrupt, and the children they raise are naturally prone to lying. Please, do not be deceived by her.”
The female cadre gasped and looked at Jiang Yan, “What he said is true.”
A tidal wave of anger surged in Jiang Yan’s heart.
How could the character of her adoptive parents be tarnished by a clown like her stepfather?
But it was ineffective to defend her adoptive parents now. She would only do what was effective.
Jiang Yan lowered her head and rubbed her eyes, as if wiping away tears, her voice low as if crying, “So just now, I couldn’t admit…”
Her voice abruptly stopped. She looked up, her eyes already red, “Auntie, I was abandoned at birth and couldn’t choose who would raise me.”
“However, I have already cut ties with the past, otherwise my mother wouldn’t dare to bring me back.”
“You can disbelieve everything I’ve said for now. When I get the household registration book from Mom and Dad, I’ll come to you to fill out the application form to go to South Province for re-education, and then you’ll believe me.”
She said it with absolute certainty, completely unaware that a certain man who had just left in a huff had quietly reappeared at the doorway. Hearing this, his eyes darkened.
That made sense. The crowd nodded repeatedly, “Abandoning their child at birth, what good things could such people do?”
“They only do bad things for profit. So the young girl is right. If she hadn’t cut ties with her adoptive parents, they would absolutely not dare to bring her back.”
The female cadre’s gaze towards Jiang Yan also softened.
She could guess what Jiang Yan had left unsaid: So just now, I couldn’t admit to being the combat hero’s girlfriend, because I didn’t want him to be implicated by my family.
I’ll bear all the pain myself.
What a kind child.
The stepfather continued to gape.
The dead girl could not only weave stories but also act?
“Don’t believe her sweet talk…”
“I don’t believe anyone’s sweet talk!”
The female cadre interrupted with a cold face, “What’s your name and where do you live? I’ll give you and your wife three days. Bring her with the household registration book to sign up for re-education. If you don’t come, then today you were trying to persecute her, and I will definitely unite with Director Zhao to deal with you seriously.”
“My name is Shi Ronggui, and my wife’s name is Liu Manli…” The stepfather said meekly, “Don’t worry, accepting re-education from the poor and lower-middle peasants is a good thing for her, and it brings us honor. We will definitely bring her to sign up within three days.”
Now, whatever the female cadre said, they had to obey. They couldn’t create any more trouble. They would find a way to deal with the dead girl when no one was around.