The two women went straight to the guesthouse and called Song Yunli’s mother. With plenty of embellishment, they reported everything that had happened.
Tang Jin knew nothing about it. Perhaps because of her pregnancy, she was exhausted. Earlier, she had checked the facilities and discovered that the guesthouse only had communal bathrooms and toilets.
She wasn’t used to that, so after washing up in her space, she went straight to bed.
When Tang Jin woke up, Song Yunli had already brought breakfast over. Before he could hand it to her, however, Song Yunting and Wenfang—who had clearly been keeping an eye on them—rushed over uninvited.
“Brother, I called Mom last night. She absolutely refuses to approve your marriage to this woman. She’s not worthy of you!”
Song Yunting pointed a finger so close to Tang Jin’s face that it was downright rude.
Tang Jin frowned and grabbed her finger. Before Song Yunting could react, she twisted it hard.
“Ahhh!!!”
Song Yunting gasped in pain, tears instantly springing to her eyes.
She had never imagined Tang Jin would dare act so boldly right in front of her brother. Letting out an ear-piercing scream, she cried:
“Brother!!!”
“Comrade, please let go. Yunting is really hurting.”
Gone was Wenfang’s haughty attitude from the previous night. In front of Song Yunli, she always cared about maintaining her image and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Brother Yunli, please persuade her. Yunting was only standing up for me. She didn’t mean to offend Comrade Tang Jin.”
Tang Jin turned to look at Song Yunli, still gripping Song Yunting’s finger. She wanted to see where he stood.
“Song Yunting, apologize!”
Song Yunli showed no favoritism toward his sister. His expression was cold.
“You were disrespectful to your sister-in-law first.”
“Brother, are you even my real brother? How can you side with an outsider?”
Song Yunting’s eyes reddened from the pain. She tried desperately to pull her hand away, but Tang Jin’s grip was surprisingly strong—completely at odds with her delicate appearance.
“Apologize!”
Song Yunli’s voice carried unmistakable anger.
Firmly standing on Tang Jin’s side, he left Song Yunting with no choice.
“Sorry.”
“Too quiet. I didn’t hear you.”
As Tang Jin spoke, her gaze shifted to Wenfang.
Wenfang’s face flushed red under that look. She had a strong feeling Tang Jin was doing it on purpose.
“Sorry! Sorry!”
Song Yunting shouted through tears.
Only then did Tang Jin release her hand.
Looking at her reddened finger, Song Yunting felt even more aggrieved.
“Song Yunting, whether Tang Jin is worthy of being my wife is for me to decide. No one else has the right to judge!”
Song Yunli took Tang Jin’s hand and declared firmly:
“The problem isn’t whether she’s worthy of me. It’s whether anyone else is worthy of her. She is worthy of heaven, worthy of earth—and more than worthy of me!”
Wenfang: !!!
She had never seen Song Yunli so emotional before.
But that tenderness wasn’t directed at her.
The realization struck her like a knife. She sucked in a sharp breath, feeling as though she were trapped in a nightmare.
Song Yunting was equally stunned by her brother’s seriousness.
She looked at Tang Jin in disbelief.
Admittedly, Tang Jin was exceptionally beautiful…
“Thank you.”
Tang Jin hadn’t expected Song Yunli to say something like that.
With renewed confidence, she looked at Song Yunting and Wenfang.
“See that? It’s not me begging him to marry me. Don’t come annoying me again.”
“Let’s go downstairs and eat.”
Song Yunli led Tang Jin away by the hand, leaving the two women staring blankly after them.
“Waaah…”
Wenfang covered her face and burst into tears.
“Song Yunli has gone too far!”
“Sister Wenfang, don’t be upset. We still have my mother. As long as she doesn’t agree, those two won’t get married.”
Shaking her aching hand, Song Yunting felt furious. Yet thinking of her mother’s personality reassured her somewhat.
“You’re right. Whether they can actually get married is still uncertain. It’s too early to say who’ll have the last laugh.”
Wenfang wiped away her tears.
“Yunting, that woman looks like a temptress. She’s completely bewitched your brother.
I’ve never seen him protect someone like this before. If she marries him, your family won’t have peaceful days ahead.”
“Sister Wenfang, you’re the one who truly cares about my mother and me. My brother is completely heartless.”
Song Yunting found her words very convincing.
The two returned to their room to discuss countermeasures.
Meanwhile, Tang Jin was already sitting in a vehicle, slowly eating the steamed buns Song Yunli had brought.
“Urgh…”
The moment she smelled the meat filling, nausea surged through her.
Fortunately, she had filled her military canteen with well water from her space. So she took a bite of bun, then a sip of water, forcibly suppressing the urge to vomit.
“If you can’t eat it, don’t force yourself. I’ll take you to buy something else.”
For the first time, Song Yunli realized just how difficult pregnancy could be for a woman.
Whenever he glanced at her, his eyes were filled with concern.
“It’s fine.”
Tang Jin sipped her water slowly before asking:
“Where are we going?”
“To get our marriage certificate.”
The corners of Song Yunli’s lips lifted slightly, as though he feared she might change her mind if they waited any longer.
Tang Jin: ???
She stared at him in shock.
“Didn’t you just submit the marriage application yesterday?”
“My commander has always worried about my personal life. The moment he saw I was willing to get married, he immediately approved it—afraid I’d change my mind.”
Song Yunli lied with a perfectly straight face.
He conveniently omitted the part where he had practically stuck to Commander Huo all day yesterday, following him from office to office collecting signatures and seals under the excuse of “special circumstances.”
“Your commander must think highly of you.”
Tang Jin thought of her own family background.
It wasn’t exactly ideal.
Song Yunli must have put in quite a bit of effort for this.
“He does.”
Song Yunli parked outside the local Marriage Registration Office and handed a stack of documents to the staff.
Marriage procedures in those days were remarkably simple.
After the couple recited Chairman Mao’s quotations together, they were issued two marriage certificates that looked more like award certificates.
Tang Jin had barely held hers for a moment before Song Yunli collected both.
“I’ll keep them for now. I still need to show them to my commander.”
“Huh?”
Tang Jin looked puzzled.
Did marriage certificates really need to be shown to a commander?
Without changing expression, Song Yunli explained:
“We’ll need them when applying for housing.”
With the certificates safely in hand, there would be no chance for her to ask for a divorce.
“Oh, then you can keep them for now.”
Tang Jin didn’t think much of it.
A moment later, Song Yunli stuffed a stack of coupons into her hands.
“Since we’re married, we can’t skip the Three Turns and One Sound. The coupons for a watch, bicycle, sewing machine, and radio are all here. I’ll go buy them with you.”
“No need.”
Tang Jin wanted to say she already had all those things in her space.
Unfortunately, she had no reasonable way to explain where they came from.
“Ajin, if others have something, you should have it too. And if others don’t have it, I still want to give it to you.”
Song Yunli thought to himself:
If I treat her well enough, maybe she won’t keep thinking about divorce.
…
Back in the capital, Song Mother slammed down the phone and declared furiously:
“Yunting, don’t worry! My daughter-in-law can only be Wenfang. I won’t acknowledge any random stray woman!”
After hanging up, she smacked the table hard.
“This is outrageous! Some girl from a backwater place dares treat my daughter like this?”
“What are you throwing a tantrum about now?”
Hearing the commotion, Grandma Song came out of her room.
Song Mother immediately began complaining.
“It’s all because of Yunli. Wenfang is such a wonderful girl, yet he doesn’t know how to appreciate her. I’m worried sick.”
“The child is grown now and has his own thoughts.”
Grandma Song spoke calmly.
“You may think Wenfang is good, but Yunli may not feel the same way. You should respect the child’s choice.”
In truth, Grandma Song wasn’t particularly fond of Wenfang.
That girl’s nose was always in the air, and her ambitions were far greater than she let on.