“No! I won’t agree to it. Why should we break off the engagement? They’re the ones at fault—Li Shuhua’s family didn’t keep an eye on their own daughter, and she ran off!”
Chen Yibin said helplessly, “Mom, Li Yuerong’s already run away. What else can we do besides end the engagement? Am I supposed to go all the way to the capital, drag her back, and marry her?”
He and Li Yuerong had never had much of a relationship. Not only was there an age difference between them, they had barely even met.
Their match had been arranged through a matchmaker. Besides, Li Wenhua had saved his life when he was a child, which was why the two families had arranged their engagement.
So as far as Chen Yibin was concerned, it made no difference whether he married her or not.
Truthfully, deep down, he didn’t want to marry someone he had no feelings for, either.
Luckily, Li Yuerong was still too young, and he hadn’t submitted a marriage application to the army.
So he could accept breaking off the engagement—and he was even a little secretly pleased.
Mother Chen suddenly remembered something she’d heard from someone on her way out.
“I heard Li Shuhua’s biological daughter has come back from the capital. That means the engagement between our families has to go ahead. You’re bound to have a wife!”
Chen Yibin’s younger sister, Chen Xiaolan, chimed in under her breath, “Mom, we haven’t even seen what Li Shuhua’s biological daughter looks like. What if she’s as ugly as a female dinosaur? Wouldn’t that be ruining Big Brother’s life?”
Li Wenjing: (You’re the one who looks like a dinosaur. Your whole family looks like dinosaurs.)
Mother Chen was speechless…
Fortunately, her own daughter was clever enough to remind her. “Xiaolan’s right. I should go over to Li Shuhua’s and see what the situation is. If his biological daughter’s pretty, then our engagement can go ahead. If she’s ugly, forget it—we’ll break it off!”
Mother Chen was the sort of person who acted the moment an idea struck her. As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up, took a black headscarf from the table, tied it around her head, and headed straight for Li Shuhua’s house.
“Mom!”
Chen Yibin tried to stop her, but his legs weren’t up to it. He’d barely gotten to his feet before she was out of reach, and he nearly fell because he’d stood up too quickly.
What did his mother take him for? Did she think Chen Yibin chose a wife based only on her face?
At Li Shuhua’s home.
Xia Yulan had made Li Wenjing a bowl of hand-rolled noodles from pure white flour, topped with a fried egg and minced meat sauce, with chopped scallions floating on top.
Just the smell told you they had to be delicious.
Wasn’t Li Yuanbing, standing right there beside them, practically drooling?
Li Wenjing really liked this younger brother of hers, who looked cool but was a little awkward.
She teased him on purpose. “Bingzi, want some?”
Li Yuanbing rolled his eyes and stubbornly said, “I don’t want any!”
But what he was really thinking was: Is this new Older Sister who just came back stupid? In these times, forget pure white-flour noodles—even eggs and minced meat are precious. They couldn’t get a bowl like this even for the New Year.
Li Wenjing kept teasing him. “But I’m pretty sure I saw someone drooling!”
Bingzi immediately wiped his mouth with his sleeve, only to realize he’d been tricked.
He glared at Li Wenjing in annoyance. “Are your eyes bad?”
Li Wenjing…
The little guy was mad!
Watching the siblings, Xia Yulan smiled. “Jingjing, don’t mind him. Go ahead and eat. You haven’t eaten properly these past few days. I’ll have his ready in a moment!”
Only Li Wenjing’s noodles were made with pure white flour; everyone else’s were made from a mix of black flour and cornmeal.
Now that Jingjing was back, they also had to break off the Chen family engagement. That ungrateful girl had taken the betrothal money, and they would have to find a way to pay it back.
Li Wenjing was so much older than Bingzi. How could she eat the good food while he just sat there watching her? She couldn’t do that.
She took a bowl from the cupboard, divided half the noodles into it, cut the fried egg in half, and added some of the meat sauce.
“Bingzi, could you do your older sister a favor? I already ate some buns earlier, and I can’t finish all these noodles. Could you help me eat some?”
Bingzi looked at Li Wenjing in disbelief, then said awkwardly, “I’m only eating because you asked me to help. It’s not because I’m hungry!”
Li Wenjing laughed and ruffled his hair. “Right, you’re absolutely right. I’m the one who asked you for help. Hurry up and eat them for me.”
As she worked, Xia Yulan watched Sister and her younger brother interact, feeling relieved.
She’d been afraid that the family wouldn’t be able to accept Jingjing right away, and that Jingjing might not fit in with them, either.
Just then, Mother Chen pushed the door open and came right in.
“Yulan, what are you making? It smells so good!”
Xia Yulan almost addressed her as “in-law,” then corrected herself. “Sister-in-law Chen, what brings you here? Well, Jingjing only just got back today, and she’s traveled such a long way. She surely didn’t eat well on the road, so I thought I’d roll out some noodles for her to eat and regain her strength. But the girl insisted on giving half her noodles to Bingzi!”
After coming in, Mother Chen sat down directly across from Li Wenjing. Looking at her fair, delicate face, she was very pleased.
This girl looked like someone blessed with good fortune. It was just unfortunate that she’d run into so much trouble.
Mother Chen practically looked Li Wenjing over from head to toe, as if she had a magnifying glass and were turning her around to inspect her from every angle.
As she rolled out the noodles, Xia Yulan chatted with Mother Chen, unaware of the look in her eyes.
“Sister-in-law Chen, how’s Yibin’s leg recovering?”
Mother Chen replied with a smile, “It’s almost all better. If you have any work to do, just let him know and he’ll come help. A son-in-law is half a son, so don’t go easy on the poor kid just because you’re his mother-in-law. Put him to work however you like!”
At Mother Chen’s words, Li Wenjing stopped eating and stared at her in surprise.
Li Yuerong had run away, so how could Xia Yulan still be his mother-in-law?
Besides, even if Li Yuerong had acknowledged the engagement, her mother-in-law would be Wang Jinju. What did Xia Yulan have to do with it?
Could the Chen family be setting their sights on her?
Were they thinking of making her marry Chen Yibin in Li Yuerong’s place?
No way!
Surely the Chen family wouldn’t do something so outrageous!
Wasn’t Chen Yibin an officer in the army?
Would he really go along with his mother?
Xia Yulan also stopped working and said to Mother Chen, “Sister-in-law Chen, this really was our family’s fault. The children’s father and I didn’t raise our daughter properly, and she’s done something like this. We’re truly sorry. Your Yibin is capable; he should be able to track her down. Once you find her, you can do whatever you like with her—beat her, scold her, whatever you want. If that doesn’t work, you can even report her and accuse her of fraudulently getting engaged.”
“Her father and I have discussed it, too. If we really can’t find her, we’ll take responsibility for the betrothal money and pay it back. Money doesn’t grow on trees, after all. Don’t worry—we’ll find a way to repay every last cent!”