“That works too. The injury on your arm will require some recovery time anyway. This is a good opportunity to let Aunt Zhang properly nourish you.”
As Jiang Hongqi spoke, he turned and spotted a familiar figure.
“Old Gu, look quickly! Isn’t that your mother’s nephew from her maiden family? That bastard is grabbing that female comrade’s arm – isn’t this outright hooliganism?”
To be fair, that Li fellow had decent taste. Just judging by her back profile, this female comrade was quite a beauty.
He was still waiting for Gu Ciyuan’s response when he saw a figure swiftly pass before him. A long leg lifted and kicked that Li fellow right in the chest, sending him stumbling several steps back before he crashed to the ground, moaning in pain.
Damn, if his stepmother found out about this, there would be no peace.
He hurried over, never expecting to see the person he’d been thinking about for days here.
His worried expression instantly transformed into a somewhat foolish-looking grin.
“It’s you, comrade! Weren’t you in the fishing village? What brings you to Jingdu?”
Last time Gu Ciyuan had left in too much of a hurry and forgot to ask the female comrade’s name. Thankfully, heaven had eyes and let them meet again.
This time, he couldn’t miss his chance again.
Su Wantang nodded at him, rubbing her wrist where that Li fellow had gripped her painfully. Her gaze turned to Gu Ciyuan. “Comrade, thank you. You’ve saved me again.”
But this situation was rather troublesome – she had thoroughly offended Comrade Li now.
She was still staying at the Gu residence, and Li Cuiping would likely treat her even worse now.
“Don’t mention it. Serving the people is our duty,” Jiang Hongqi said with a wide grin. “By the way, comrade, we didn’t get to ask your name last time. Why have you come to Jingdu?”
“I…”
Su Wantang had just opened her mouth when that Li fellow climbed up from the ground. Humiliated and enraged, he pointed at Gu Ciyuan’s nose and shouted, “Gu Ciyuan, you hit me again! I’m going to tell Aunt and Uncle and have them teach you a proper lesson!”
“Gu Ciyuan?”
Su Wantang was completely stunned, utterly incredulous.
This man who had saved her twice was actually the very person she was looking for!
Heavens, what a joke this was.
Instead of feeling excited as she should have been, Su Wantang couldn’t feel any happiness at all.
“You know me?”
Gu Ciyuan frowned deeply, his eyes filled with confusion as he questioned Su Wantang.
“No…” Her mouth moved faster than her brain. “I know you.”
No wonder he had said those things last time, looking down on people with poor class backgrounds. Thinking about it now, he indeed had the qualifications and reasons to say such things.
But what should she do now?
Should she really take the other path – find some place where nobody knew her, hide in her Space until she gave birth, then emerge claiming the child was one she found?
For a moment, everyone was lost in their own thoughts.
That Li fellow probably wasn’t being disciplined by Gu Ciyuan for the first time. Though resentful at being ignored, he only dared to utter empty threats without any actual action.
But Su Wantang’s denial of knowing Gu Ciyuan had been heard by him.
Forming his own plans, he turned and ran, not forgetting to throw back a final threat: “Just you wait!”
Until his figure disappeared from sight, Jiang Hongqi rolled her eyes and withdrew her gaze. She nudged Gu Ciyuan, who was standing in front of Su Wantang, aside and said, “Comrade, the bad guy has been driven away by us. It’s not safe for a girl like you to walk alone at night. Where do you live? We’ll escort you back.”
“No… there’s no need. Thank you both for helping me today. It’s getting late, I should head back now.”
Jiang Hongqi asked, “Comrade, I still don’t know your name?”
Su Wantang, who had already turned to run off, didn’t hear this at all. She slapped her own mouth in frustration.
Damn it, why did she just say she didn’t recognize him?
What should she do now? When Gu Ciyuan returns home and sees her, how is she going to explain herself?
The more flustered she became, the more mistakes she made. How annoying.
Su Wantang stopped in her tracks, realizing that in her panic, she had made another error.
With so many people at the Gu residence, it would be even more difficult to explain her identity and behavior to him. She should take advantage of still being outside to find him and clarify everything.
If he wasn’t interested in the marriage arrangement, she could simply take her leave without having to return and face that smiling tiger Li Cuiping.
Su Wantang quickly turned back to look for Gu Ciyuan, but found that he was already gone.
On her way back, her heart was filled with unease.
She waited at the main gate for a long time, but Gu Ciyuan never appeared. Finally, she entered the house with trepidation.
Li Lan gave her a cold, mocking smile, clearly taking pleasure in her distress.
Su Wantang could easily guess that either someone surnamed Li had already tattled on her, or Gu Ciyuan had returned and exposed her in front of everyone.
She could only hope that Gu Changsheng was also home.
When Gu Changsheng was present, Li Cuiping would at least pretend to be decent.
But heaven wasn’t on her side.
Only Li Cuiping and her nephew were in the living room. Particularly her nephew, who upon seeing Su Wantang enter, looked like he had found his accomplice, wearing a cunning expression.
“Aunt, she’s back!” Li Mingxin’s eyes lit up.
Su Wantang smiled, “Auntie, you’re still awake?”
“Stop pretending! Gu Ciyuan appeared right in front of you and you claimed not to know him. You didn’t even dare to say you recognized him in his presence. I think you’re not actually his relative at all. If you know what’s good for you, you’d better confess who you really are and what your purpose is for staying at the Gu residence?” Li Mingxin questioned Su Wantang with conviction.
“I have no ulterior motives. I am indeed Gu Ciyuan’s relative. You must have misheard. If you don’t believe me, call him out and ask him yourself.”
Surprisingly, Su Wantang had calmed down by now.
Whether this would work out or not, she had already made plans for herself. It all depended on Gu Ciyuan’s decision.
Since he had already returned, if the marriage arrangement fell through, she would leave immediately. She wouldn’t have to interact with these people anymore, and naturally wouldn’t need to keep trying to please them.
Su Wantang hadn’t even realized it herself, but deep down she felt this marriage was unlikely to happen.
The reason she still wanted an answer was probably because she had invested too much time and couldn’t accept giving up without closure.
Or perhaps, even if it was just a slim hope, she wanted to grasp it.
After all, given her background, if she couldn’t marry Gu Ciyuan, the only way to perfectly protect herself through the coming ten years would likely be to hide deep in the mountains.
As a female comrade, she naturally felt anxious about this.
Li Mingxin hadn’t expected that even at this point, Su Wantang could still be so self-assured.
Li Cuiping remained remarkably composed—after all, the older ginger is spicier. With her opening words, she struck right at Su Wantang’s Achilles’ heel.
“In that case, let’s have the Tail-Cutting Society investigate. A capitalist’s young lady posing as our relative, sneaking into the Army Family Compound and living here for half a month—I’m sure the Tail-Cutting Society can help us determine whether Su Comrade is truly our relative or not.” Li Cuiping smiled as she asked Su Wantang, “What do you say, Xiao Su?”
Before Su Wantang could respond, Li Mingxin grew anxious. “No, Aunt! I genuinely want to marry this girl. If the Tail-Cutting Society gets involved, whether it’s true or false, no one will come out unscathed—then wouldn’t I lose my future wife?”
It wasn’t that there were no pretty female comrades around, but few could rival Su Wantang’s beauty—and even if there were, they wouldn’t be available to him.
Li Mingxin knew his own limitations well and was counting precisely on Su Wantang having no one to rely on.
He had initially worried that Gu Ciyuan might return and make trouble for him, but who would have thought Gu Ciyuan didn’t even know her?
Heh heh!
This made the young girl even easier to control.
But Li Cuiping paid no attention to Li Mingxin, keeping her gaze fixed on Su Wantang.
The threatening tone sent a chill through Su Wantang’s heart.