“Hey, how are things going between you two? How much bride price are you giving her? Where will you hold the wedding banquet? How many tables will you book? Where will you live after getting married? And when are you planning to have children?”
Jiang Ye took out a box of matches and said, “Why do you have so many questions?”
Despite his complaint, he answered them one by one.
“The bride price is fifty yuan. I’ll also buy a sewing machine. We’re planning to have two tables at the state-run restaurant. As for where we’ll live, we’ll talk about it later. It’s up to her. If she wants to stay at home, she can stay at home. If she wants to live with me in the dormitory, she can do that too. I don’t mind. As for children… if we have them, we’ll raise them.”
It wasn’t as though he couldn’t afford to support them.
He struck a match against the striker, and just as he was about to light his cigarette, he heard someone shouting outside.
“Xiao Jiang, come out quickly! There’s a beautiful young woman here looking for you!”
Jiang Ye frowned. In the end, he didn’t light his cigarette.
“Go and see if your girlfriend has come to visit you!”
“Exactly! At this hour, who else could it be besides your girlfriend?”
Jiang Ye casually tucked the cigarette behind his ear and walked out of the security department’s office.
“Uncle Ma, who’s looking for me?”
“Didn’t I already tell you? A beautiful young woman!”
The original owner of Ji Yang’s body had been naturally sensitive, insecure, and timid. She often lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, trying not to attract attention. Even though she possessed eight points of beauty, her mannerisms brought her down to a mere six.
In her previous life, Ji Yang had been a famous actress. She had learned how to manage her presence and demeanor from professionals. Simply standing somewhere was enough to draw people’s attention. Her six points of beauty could easily be elevated to eight.
That was why the gatekeeper had described her as a beautiful young woman.
Come to think of it, the timing of Ji Yang’s transmigration was precisely what had made her family think she had suffered such a devastating blow that she had given up on everything and gone completely crazy.
If she had transmigrated at an ordinary point in the story and had to spend every day pretending to have the original owner’s personality, it would have been painful in the long run.
After all, their personalities were simply too different.
Since the woman looking for him was his girlfriend, Jiang Ye decided he should at least show her a little courtesy. He followed the old gatekeeper toward the factory entrance.
Along the way, Uncle Ma chatted incessantly. He told Jiang Ye that he was lucky to have found such a pretty girlfriend and reminded him not to forget to invite him to the wedding. He only stopped talking when they finally reached the gate.
Ji Yang looked at the man who had walked out alongside the gatekeeper.
He was very tall, probably around 186 or 187 centimeters. He wore a sturdy work uniform made of labor cloth, with every button fastened neatly despite the scorching weather.
His hair was cut extremely short in a crew cut, emphasizing the sharp contours of his face and giving him an intimidating, almost aggressive presence. His eyes were particularly striking. They were narrow and elongated, with small pupils, yet his gaze carried a powerful sense of oppression.
Her first impression was that this man was not someone to mess with.
She clenched her fists to encourage herself, then smiled and said, “Comrade Jiang, I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Jiang Ye stopped a short distance from the entrance and narrowed his eyes as he examined Ji Yang.
He recognized this woman. She was his girlfriend’s older sister. He had met her once when he visited his girlfriend’s family.
He had no idea why she was looking for him alone.
The gatekeeper felt that his task of calling Jiang Ye out was complete, so he returned to his little stool. He no longer bothered reading the newspaper. Instead, he picked up the metal mug beside him, removed the lid, and took a couple of sips of water. Then he looked up at the two of them with a cheerful smile.
“Comrade Jiang… could we speak somewhere more private?” Ji Yang asked when she saw that Jiang Ye wasn’t moving.
Jiang Ye withdrew his gaze and led the way farther away.
Not far from the factory was a dead-end alley. A willow tree grew in one corner, and it had clearly been there for many years. Its branches and leaves were thick and lush, providing enough shade to block out the scorching sunlight. The shade also kept the summer heat at bay, making the area feel pleasantly cool.
“What do you want with me?”
Ji Yang carefully considered how to phrase her words. She wondered how she should explain everything, but after thinking it over, she decided that sincerity was the best weapon of all.
Besides, if the two of them were really going to get married, they needed to lay everything out in the open from the beginning.
If they ever ended up divorcing in the future, she didn’t want the reason to be that either of them had concealed something important.
With that in mind, she got straight to the point.
“Comrade Jiang, you might not know this yet, but your girlfriend and my boyfriend have gotten together behind our backs.”
The amount of information packed into that sentence was considerable. Jiang Ye turned the words over in his mind twice before asking uncertainly, “My girlfriend… and your boyfriend… have gotten together?”
“That’s right.”
Ji Yang studied Jiang Ye’s expression, but unfortunately, there was nothing to read. His face revealed absolutely nothing.
She wasn’t disappointed, though. Instead, she explained the situation in detail.
“Last night, when I was coming back from a friend’s house, I saw your girlfriend and my boyfriend together in a corner downstairs…”
As she spoke, she raised her hands and brought two fingers together to demonstrate.
“You understand, right?”
Jiang Ye looked at her without saying a word.
Seeing his reaction, Ji Yang blinked and said, “I think… no man would be willing to have another man put a green hat on his head. Comrade Jiang, you seem awfully broad-minded about this.”
In Chinese, wearing a green hat means being cheated on by one’s partner.
Jiang Ye stared steadily at Ji Yang, and a faint sense of irritation suddenly rose within him. Although he hadn’t developed much affection for the woman he had only known for a few days, that didn’t mean he could be happy about her cheating on him.
Ji Yang noticed a slight change in the man’s expression and tentatively proposed her idea.
“Comrade Jiang, since your girlfriend has gotten together with my boyfriend, I don’t think it’s actually that big a deal. You could get together with her boyfriend, too.”
“Sorry. I’m not interested.”
Jiang Ye turned his head toward the entrance of the alley. He felt that if the young woman had nothing else to say, he should leave.
Ji Yang pretended to be curious.
“Comrade Jiang, your younger male cousin stole your girlfriend. Are you really not angry at all?”
“Wait. Who did you say?”
Ji Yang’s lips curled upward.
“Your younger male cousin, Jiang Zhiyuan! Your cousin Jiang Zhiyuan has gotten together with your girlfriend that is, my younger sister, Ji Man.”
Jiang Ye’s father had two brothers, making three brothers in total. His father was the second son, while Jiang Zhiyuan’s father was the eldest. Their third uncle didn’t live in Beijing.
Although they were biological brothers, Jiang Ye’s father and Jiang Zhiyuan’s father had a poor relationship. One could even tell from Jiang Ye’s and Jiang Zhiyuan’s names.
Normally, male cousins in the same generation would have names following a shared naming pattern. But in their case, they didn’t.
The bad blood between the two families went back a long way.
As the saying went, even the five fingers on one hand weren’t the same length. Parents naturally had their favorites, and Jiang Ye’s paternal grandparents had placed great hopes in their eldest son.
As a result, when their eldest son grew up, they had invested heavily in his marriage, helped him find a job, and supported his household in every way.
When it came to Jiang Ye’s father, however, they refused to contribute much toward his bride price and did nothing to help him find work.
Eventually, Jiang Ye’s father became so angry that he sought out Jiang Ye’s mother, Zhao, whose family had no sons. After they married, he moved straight into his father-in-law’s home and took responsibility for supporting his wife’s parents through their old age.
Unfortunately, Jiang Ye’s father had an excessively stubborn temperament and had always carried a grudge in his heart. Years of exhausting physical labor damaged his health, and he died when he was only in his forties.
After that, Jiang Ye was left to live with his mother, Zhao, and his several older and younger sisters.
In other words, Jiang Ye believed that his paternal grandparents had played a part in causing his father’s early death. As a result, he had little regard for them.
That was also why his expression darkened even further when Ji Yang told him that Jiang Zhiyuan was involved.
Ji Yang pressed her advantage while the iron was hot.
“They showed us no loyalty, so why should we show them any? So, Comrade Jiang… how about you and I get together instead?”
Even Jiang Ye, whose expression had already been rather grim, was stunned for a moment. He lowered his head and looked at Ji Yang, his eyes practically screaming one question:
Are you out of your mind?!