15
Jiang Suisui had actually thought many times in secret about how to tell Song Weizheng that she didn’t really like him—that the drowning and the engagement had all been a twist of fate, and that she wouldn’t use it to cling to him.
Now the opportunity had come. She stood face to face with Song Weizheng, and he had just said that marrying him would bring trouble.
But for some reason, the words wouldn’t come out…
Earlier, Zhang Wenfang and Li Daidi had spewed a whole bunch of bad things about Song Weizheng’s family. If she went along with it now and called off the engagement, it would actually be a good thing.
But for one thing, in this era and in the countryside, a girl’s reputation being tarnished was a serious problem. Although she wasn’t afraid of gossip, she also didn’t want to be bothered to the point where she couldn’t even leave the house.
For another, if the engagement fell through, Grandma Jiang would definitely pressure her to find the next match and get married off quickly. She had no desire to experience the terror of being pushed into marriage, nor did she want to just marry some random man.
But beyond these reasons, there was also a faint, subtle feeling stirring deep in Jiang Suisui’s heart—a feeling that had surfaced the moment she saw Song Weizheng just now.
She suddenly realized that Song Weizheng also carried pain and struggle over his family and background. He, too, felt lost and uncertain about the future and about marriage.
A gentle breeze brushed past her face, blowing stray strands of hair across her cheeks. Jiang Suisui tucked them behind her ear with a finger and said softly to the man before her, “You don’t need to overthink it. Things will only get better with time.”
Things will only get better with time—that was something Grandma Jiang had been saying to her repeatedly over the past few days, and Jiang Suisui deeply agreed. As someone from the future, she might not have the power to change history, but she could at least use the little foresight she had to encourage someone who occasionally felt lost.
“You’ve been working hard all along to make life better, haven’t you? Treating your mother’s illness, raising your little sister to grow up well.” Jiang Suisui still remembered how he was described in the original novel—losing his father, being saddled with debt, his mother gravely ill, his little sister still young—his thin shoulders bearing the weight of the entire family. And then, starting from nothing, he went into business and built his own commercial empire from the ground up.
A few sentences could sum up a lifetime. But only by seeing it with her own eyes did Jiang Suisui truly feel that the so-called winner in life, so lightly described in the book, had first gone through pain and struggle.
“Even though these words might sound a bit hollow right now, you can try to believe that later, soon everything will get better.”
Song Weizheng was startled, and a complex flicker passed through his eyes. He hadn’t expected Jiang Suisui to say all this.
This girl seemed different from before…
Once, she had been arrogant and willful, never considering anyone else’s feelings, even threatening to make him abandon his mother and sister and marry into her family.
Song Weizheng was a patient man, but that only applied to ordinary people and matters. Once his family was involved, he would bare his fangs like a provoked wolf.
That time, his face had turned cold and his gaze murderous, scaring Jiang Suisui off. After that, she hadn’t bothered him for a long time.
The next time they met was during the drowning incident, when Song Weizheng jumped into the water and pulled her up after she had already sunk. He still remembered clearly the way her eyes had lit up the moment she opened them and saw him.
Were her words now her way of saying she wanted to work together with him to make life better?
And just now, she had cut ties with her childhood friends to defend him.
Maybe she really did like him…
The thought suddenly surfaced in his mind. His hands, hanging at his sides, suddenly didn’t know where to go, and he couldn’t help lifting them to grip the straps of his bamboo basket.
He pressed his lips together and finally said, “Of course. You don’t need to tell me—I’ll make life better.”
After saying that, he felt a twinge of regret—it sounded too cold, too dismissive. Frowning, he pressed his lips tighter and fell silent again.
But Jiang Suisui didn’t take it to heart. After all, Song Weizheng didn’t like her—he probably didn’t even want to talk to her.
She nodded and said, “Of course, I believe you will.”
To set his mind at ease, she added, “Don’t worry—I won’t pester you like before. Even though we’re engaged, you’re still free. We can just be like ordinary friends.”
Hearing this, Song Weizheng’s heart stirred. He couldn’t help looking at Jiang Suisui, confusion and surprise in his eyes.
Jiang Suisui didn’t notice his expression and continued on her own: “The wedding hasn’t been set anyway, so we can drag it out. If someday you meet a girl you like, just tell me, and I’ll take the initiative to call off the engagement. As for now, I’ll keep my distance too, so no one gossips and causes trouble for you.”
It’ll take some time for the female lead and the male lead to develop feelings for each other, right? She’d use this engagement to ride out the storm of gossip in the meantime.
Sorry about this—I promise, once everyone’s mostly forgotten, I’ll bow out cleanly from the protagonists’ world. Jiang Suisui said silently to herself.
However, she overlooked the fact that this era was nothing like the future internet age, where information overflowed and gossip churned out endlessly—new scandals constantly replacing the old until people gradually forgot. In this time, news traveled slowly, there was little entertainment, and even a scrap of gossip could spread through the entire village. Old tales were chewed over and rehashed again and again. The gossip about her and Song Weizheng probably wouldn’t blow over so easily.
Naive and optimistic, Jiang Suisui carried a hint of guilt for using the male lead and wronging the female lead. She gave Song Weizheng an awkward smile and said uneasily, “So that’s that. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now—I’ve still got chores to do at home.”
With that, she waved at Song Weizheng and turned to leave without looking back.
Leaving Song Weizheng behind, full of confusion and stirred emotions.
After parting ways with Song Weizheng, Jiang Suisui walked for a while. Once she was sure she was out of his line of sight, she broke into a panicked little jog down the mountain, as if someone was chasing her.
“Phew, that was tense!” Walking along the empty path, she patted her chest and muttered to herself. “I’ve made all those promises now—I should be fine from here on out, right?”
After a couple more steps, she suddenly smacked her forehead in frustration. “Ah! I totally forgot to ask him about Song Yuxue!”
She’d been worried about Song Yuxue ever since they met a few days ago. Over the following days, she had gone up the mountain every day and wandered around the area, but she never ran into Song Yuxue again.
Just now, she’d had the chance to ask the male lead, but she’d missed it.
“Never mind.” After thinking it over, she shook her head. “Asking him would make it seem like I’m deliberately prying into his family.”
Song Weizheng’s house seems to be pretty close to mine, doesn’t it? Tilting her head in thought, she decided to go check it out tomorrow during the day, when he wasn’t home.
“Suisui!”
A call snapped Jiang Suisui out of her daze. She instinctively answered, “Coming!”
Looking up, she saw Grandma Jiang standing at the courtyard gate, craning her neck to look for her.
Jiang Suisui hurried over with a little jog. “Grandma, I’m back!”
Grandma Jiang muttered, “Where’d you go off to play again? Coming back only now?”
Jiang Suisui linked arms with her as they walked and said, “Zhang Wenfang and Li Daidi came looking for me earlier, so I went out and chatted with them for a bit.”
Hearing those two names, Grandma Jiang’s face soured. “Always goofing around with them again!”
“Grandma! I wasn’t playing—we just talked for a little while, and then I came straight back.” Jiang Suisui explained, then asked with some confusion, “Grandma, don’t you like them?”
Grandma Jiang looked at her naive granddaughter and sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like them, but now that you’re older, you need to be careful. Don’t just believe everything others tell you, and don’t do everything they ask you to.”
Jiang Suisui nodded, beginning to understand. Grandma Jiang had probably already seen that those two friends of the original owner had never had good intentions.
“Grandma, actually, I had a fight with them when I went out just now.”
“What happened?” Grandma Jiang immediately asked. “Why did you fight? Did they bully you?” In Grandma Jiang’s heart, her granddaughter was always the one who got wronged.
Jiang Suisui nodded. “Yeah! They heard about me falling into the water, but instead of comforting me, they just treated the village gossip as entertainment. Then they came to me and said my engagement was a bad idea and that it would bring me trouble and bad luck!” She might have embellished a little, but that was the gist of it.
Grandma Jiang was furious the moment she heard that. “What nonsense!”
Fuming, she turned and headed outside. “I’m going to their houses right now and having a word with their parents—teach those two a lesson about keeping their mouths shut!”
“Grandma! Grandma!” Jiang Suisui quickly grabbed her. “No, no—I already argued with them.”
She soothed her grandmother, “I even told them I wouldn’t hang out with them anymore. From now on, I’ll stay home with you and help with the chores!”
Only then did Grandma Jiang calm down. A trace of relief appeared on her face as she nodded. “That’s right! It’s about time. Those two girls—one’s a brat who loves stirring up trouble, the other has no sense and sticky fingers, always coming to beg for things. I’ve wanted you to stop playing with them for ages.”
“Oh…” Jiang Suisui listened obediently and didn’t argue.
Grandma Jiang continued, “I didn’t say anything before because I was afraid you’d throw a fit. Now that you’ve come to your senses, that’s best. Listen to your grandma—I’ll never steer you wrong. Stay home and learn to do some real work. Cook, wash, keep the house tidy, and learn a bit of mending. Stop running wild outside all the time. When you get married, you’ll be able to live a better life.”
Jiang Suisui still couldn’t quite accept these old-school views. She couldn’t help but counter, “I know how to do housework, but I’m not getting married just to be someone’s servant. If a man marries looking for a maid, then I’d rather not marry at all.”
Grandma Jiang was full of disapproval. “Every woman who marries into another family has to work. You think you’ll still be in your own home, with people spoiling you? Look around—if any family ends up with a lazy wife, everyone calls it a misfortune for the household. I know you don’t like hearing this, but it’s for your own good! After you get married, and especially when you have kids, you’ll be even busier. Start learning now, so no one will have anything to gossip about later.”
Jiang Suisui opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately held back. It was hard to change the older generation’s way of thinking. Perhaps once she got into university and took her grandma to the city, slowly exposing her to a broader world and new ideas, things would get better.
**