Shortly after the thought crossed his mind, Xiao Xun brushed it aside.
How could that be possible? Ending a family visit leave early was a military order from the organization—how could a young girl like Comrade Jiang Tang know about it in advance?
Pushing his thoughts away, Xiao Xun caught sight of Song Chenchuan walking past him.
Song Chenchuan seemed to have something heavy on his mind, looking somewhat distracted and absentminded.
Upon seeing Xiao Xun, Song Chenchuan merely cast a cool, brief glance in his direction before looking away.
Xiao Xun didn’t take it to heart. He could tell that Song Chenchuan was thoroughly displeased with him being his superior officer.
However, his promotion was entirely in line with regulations, so he couldn’t care less about Song Chenchuan’s dissatisfaction—as long as he could accomplish his missions properly, nothing else mattered.
While Xiao Xun paid it no mind, Jiang Sijie, on the other hand, was furious.
Though Jiang Sijie held a lower military rank than Song Chenchuan, it didn’t stop him from stepping forward to block Song Chenchuan’s path.
“Comrade Song, seeing a superior officer right here—is this your attitude toward your superior?”
Jiang Sijie couldn’t quite explain why, but in short, the moment he saw Song Chenchuan, he felt deeply annoyed. He was certainly not standing up on Xiao Xun’s behalf, or so he told himself.
Song Chenchuan originally had no intention of showing Xiao Xun any respect. Since they were not currently at the military post, he could easily pretend not to see him.
However, having Jiang Sijie call him out right to his face made him feel extremely awkward.
He had initially wanted to argue with Jiang Sijie, but the realization that Jiang Sijie was Jiang Tang’s brother made Song Chenchuan quell his rising temper.
“Comrade Jiang is right. It was wrong of me, and I shall apologize to the superior officer right away.”
Regardless of how much sincerity lay behind Song Chenchuan’s words, he did indeed offer a formal apology to Xiao Xun, only taking his leave after receiving permission.
Song Chenchuan’s reaction took Jiang Sijie completely off guard. He hadn’t realized Song Chenchuan could actually be so easy to deal with.
Once Song Chenchuan had walked far out of earshot, Jiang Sijie said awkwardly, “Uh, I didn’t mean to stick up for you or anything. I just couldn’t stand his arrogant, snubbing demeanor.”
The corners of Xiao Xun’s lips curved up slightly into a subtle smile as he nodded right away: “I understand. Big Brother was simply stepping in to champion justice.”
Hearing that “Big Brother” again made Jiang Sijie’s ears burn with heat.
Even though he had deliberately insisted that Xiao Xun call him that earlier, being addressed this way by Xiao Xun on a public train still felt somewhat uncomfortable to get used to.
Embarrassed, Jiang Sijie rubbed his nose and lowered his voice: “Uh, you don’t need to call me that in public from now on.”
“Alright, I understand. I’ll only call you Big Brother in private then.”
Jiang Sijie let out a soft cough and hurriedly turned his gaze toward the window, pretending nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Xiao Xun was in an exceptionally wonderful mood. This trip had gone smoothly, allowing him to find his fiancée—who happened to be precisely the kind of person he liked.
On top of that, his fiancée’s family members were all delightful, and his future brother-in-law was remarkably easy to get along with.
Xiao Xun looked forward immensely to the day his fiancée would travel to the military post to join him in a short while.
Gazing out the window, Xiao Xun felt that the days ahead were filled with bright sunshine, much like his fiancée, who seemed to radiate light from head to toe.
……
When Jiang Tang arrived home after work, she saw the note left behind by her brother.
Sure enough, just like in her past life, her brother had returned to the base early at the exact same time.
Sang Suxiang walked through the door behind Jiang Tang. Learning that her son had left ahead of schedule, a shadow of disappointment flickered across her eyes.
Jiang Tang could thoroughly understand her mother’s feelings. Although her mother claimed aloud that she hoped her children would move on to live their own lives, she couldn’t bear to part with them either.
There wasn’t much Jiang Tang could do except spend as much quality time as possible by her parents’ side before her own departure.
In the blink of an eye, the day to pick up the photographs arrived. After finishing her work shift, Jiang Tang took the receipt and retrieved the developed photos from both photo studios.
Looking down at the photos in her hands, she couldn’t help recalling the scene on the day they were shot.
Time truly flew by.
Jiang Tang placed the prints from both photo studios side by side for comparison; as expected, the studio on East Street had turned out better-looking shots.
However, the photos taken on West Street were quite nice as well—after all, both Xiao Xun and her big brother were handsome men.
Naturally, she wasn’t bad-looking herself either.
Just as Jiang Tang was pondering picking out a few photos to send to Xiao Xun’s family, she remembered that she had forgotten to ask Xiao Xun for his home address.
Without an address, her only option was to bring the photos to the military post first and let Xiao Xun mail them back himself.
Jiang Tang mounted her heavy-duty 28-inch bicycle and headed back, running into Su Yinyin along the way home.
Beside Su Yinyin stood a sharp, capable-looking woman. Though she carried a heroically refined aura, a gentle kindness was clearly discernible within her facial features.
While Jiang Tang was still guessing the identity of this lady, she heard Su Yinyin speak up: “Auntie Fu, this is Jiang Tang. She was separated from her birth parents before she was even a year old and was raised by two workers at the textile factory. She never received a proper education, is crude and vulgar in her conduct, and currently works at the textile factory as well. There isn’t a single thing about her whole person that is worthy of your son.”
As Su Yinyin’s words reached her ears, Jiang Tang understood everything in an instant—the woman in front of her was likely Xiao Xun’s mother, Ms. Fu Wenci.
Xiao Xun had mentioned that his family had served in the military for generations, and even his mother had served in the military encampments, having actually been on the battlefield before.
No wonder Jiang Tang could sense a formidable presence on Ms. Fu that ordinary people lacked.
However, Jiang Tang was uncertain about Ms. Fu’s attitude toward her. After all, from an outside perspective right now, she was merely an ordinary girl who had just graduated high school to work at a textile factory, while Xiao Xun had already achieved accomplishments in the military camp.
While Jiang Tang was still observing Ms. Fu’s stance, she saw the corners of Ms. Fu’s lips curve into a gentle smile as she spoke in a warm, friendly tone.
“You must be Jiang Tang, right? The moment I received my son’s telegram, I rushed over without stopping for breath. Who knew that rascal would be called away early on an urgent assignment? Since I had already arrived, I thought I’d come over to meet you. Would you find Auntie a bit overly intrusive?”
Su Yinyin was completely dumbfounded. She had clearly seen Ms. Fu looking stern and solemn earlier, and upon hearing her ask around for directions to Jiang Tang’s home, Su Yinyin had eagerly volunteered to guide her.
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect Ms. Fu to treat Jiang Tang with such enthusiasm! Did this mean Jiang Tang was truly going to marry Xiao Xun?
The mere thought of Jiang Tang living a better life than her made extreme jealousy swell inside Su Yinyin, making her wish she could grind her teeth to dust.
Fu Wenci and Jiang Tang walked and chatted side by side, paying no heed whatsoever to Su Yinyin’s presence or reaction.
As for Su Yinyin, apart from stamping her feet in a fury, there was nothing she could do.
Su Yinyin gritted her teeth in secret. She had to force Jiang Tang to transfer her factory job over to her as soon as possible, send Jiang Tang packing off to the countryside immediately, and absolutely prevent Jiang Tang from marrying Xiao Xun!
At this moment, no matter how deeply unwilling Su Yinyin felt, she could only watch helplessly as Jiang Tang walked further and further away into the distance.
Catching sight of the distorted expression on Su Yinyin’s face out of the corner of her eye, Jiang Tang found it genuinely amusing in her heart.
This female protagonist of the book was truly strange—instead of finding ways to bring about her own marriage with Song Chenchuan, she insisted on fixating on her and refusing to let go.
However, with Su Yinyin driven to such a state of rage this time, she would likely push hard to have the job transferred over as quickly as possible.
It seemed she needed to settle this matter as quickly as possible.
Fu Wenci took an immediate liking to Jiang Tang, insisting on taking her out shopping for supplies the very moment they met.
Jiang Tang tried to decline, but wasn’t able to turn her down.
Fu Wenci said: “Even if you’re going to join the military post, certain preparations ought to be made in advance. If anything is inconvenient to carry along, just leave it behind for your parents to use. We’re all family—there’s no need to stand on ceremony over such small things.”