Lin Wanying was reborn on the exact day her sent-down-youth husband divorced her to go find his first love, and she was absolutely furious. In her past life, she’d thought it was simply that she and her husband had incompatible personalities and couldn’t make it work, the discord was real, but Xu Youcheng’s divorce was actually so he could go back and find his first love, whose case had just been rehabilitated!
Fine, so this was about disgusting her on purpose? Wanted to go back to the capital and live a shameless little life together?
Then she’d go too. She’d stay in the capital as well, find the other wronged party, Gu Liansheng, and shack up with him!
“Wanying, you can’t go. Two couples divorcing and then swapping partners to remarry, isn’t that embarrassing?”
“If Xu Youcheng can be with Li Qiuzhen, then I can be with Gu Liansheng. Whoever can’t make their life work is the embarrassing one. I’m going!”
“That’s just wishful thinking on your part. Will this Gu Liansheng even be willing?”
“If he’s not willing, I’ll come back. But not even trying isn’t my style!”
It was now 1979. The market was in a half-open, half-closed state, there were some scattered street vendors selling snacks, but not many, and if the transaction amount got too big, people would still get reported. Some places no longer required a letter of introduction to get a hotel room, but some still did.
Better bring everything just in case. Lin Wanying entrusted her house to a neighbor, packed her things, took her money along with the travel and marriage certificates issued by the village, brought her younger brother along, and set off for the capital!
…
A young, pretty girl traveling with a half-grown boy, wasn’t that dangerous on the road? Not really.
Her father was a martial arts master and had passed the tradition down to her. Lin Wanying looked gentle and delicate, but was actually quite rough, otherwise, with her fair skin and good looks, how could Xu Youcheng have ever run off? It was simply that he found her too fierce, not gentle or considerate enough, and she wouldn’t listen when he talked. But having learned martial arts from her father, Lin Wanying had no regrets about it.
…
On the road, they happened across a shootout between police and bandits. Seeing injustice, one should draw one’s sword ((seeing an injustice on the road, one should draw a blade to help (lù jiàn bù píng, bá dāo xiāng zhù), 路見不平，拔刀相助), Proverb, a folk maxim praising righteous intervention, historically tied to wandering swordsmen/knights-errant who stepped in to defend strangers from wrongdoing whenever they witnessed it, used here to justify Lin Wanying jumping into a stranger’s fight), and thinking of how Gu Liansheng was also a policeman, Lin Wanying acted without warning, knocking a bandit unconscious with one punch, then chatted a bit with the officer once the fighting stopped before continuing on with her brother.
Lin Huinan idolized police officers so much he kept turning back to look. “Sis, if I had a police brother-in-law, I’d smile in my sleep. So act gentle for once, or no man will ever marry you.”
Lin Wanying refused to accept this. “Am I fierce? I think I’m plenty gentle. Dad always said my temper was too good!”
Lin Huinan rolled his eyes. “In Dad’s eyes you’ve got no faults at all, but that’s not reality. Wise up!”
Lin Wanying let it go. She really wasn’t fierce, she only scolded people because they hadn’t done things right. Take Xu Youcheng, he couldn’t even cook rice properly, time after time. Who could stand that without scolding?
She’d heard his first love was also useless at everything, unable to tell grains apart. This time she’d get a close look in the capital and see whether their love really looked as sweet as it seemed from the outside!
…
They rushed all the way there, cutting ties with everyone else along the way, but when they actually arrived at the gate of the shared courtyard compound where Gu Liansheng lived, Lin Wanying lost her nerve and hesitated outside the door.
Lin Huinan couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Sis, we spent all our travel money getting here. You can only go forward, not back.”
Lin Wanying glared at him. “Why didn’t you talk me out of this before we left?”
Lin Huinan just laughed. If he could have talked her out of it, she wouldn’t be his real sister!
…
Something big had happened in the courtyard compound that day. Gu Liansheng, whom several families had watched grow up, had just been unilaterally asked for a divorce by his wife.
It was infuriating, back when his family’s political status was bad, she married in and suffered no hardship, the moment the family was rehabilitated, she started making a fuss to divorce him. Gu Liansheng had gone chasing thieves in another province, nearly getting himself killed, and the moment he got back, she divorced him. Good riddance, tomorrow they’d introduce him to someone new!
Gu Liansheng’s godmother, Zhao Xiuzhu, saw an unfamiliar girl lingering by the gate and warmly asked, “Girl, who are you looking for?”
Lin Wanying might be tough, but that didn’t mean she had no sense of shame. She’d acted on impulse after being reborn, and now found it hard to speak up. She stammered, “Looking for a relative, seems like they don’t live here. I’ll look elsewhere.”
Lin Huinan stamped his foot in frustration. What was there to be embarrassed about? They’d already come this far, just try! Otherwise they’d have wasted the travel fare for nothing and would have to spend it all over again just to go home to nothing.
Risking a beating, Lin Huinan spoke up. “Auntie, my sister got divorced, and she’s been courting a policeman named Gu Liansheng. He didn’t lie to her, did he? He’s divorced too, right? My sister and he agreed to make a life together, and now that we’re right at the door, she’s suddenly gotten shy.”
Zhao Xiuzhu was overjoyed. This girl in front of her was even more spirited and good-looking than Li Qiuzhen! Divorced, no kids, just a younger brother, same situation as Gu Liansheng. No wonder the two had taken a liking to each other.
It didn’t matter that she was from the countryside, marrying Gu Liansheng would get her capital residency. As long as she knew how to manage a household, Gu Liansheng’s salary was enough to feed four mouths.
As for building a life together, that could come slowly, first they needed a wife.
Zhao Xiuzhu hurried to lead her to Gu Liansheng’s door and told Gu Liansheng’s younger brother, Gu Shuisheng: “Shuisheng, you have a new sister-in-law. Don’t you dare misbehave, I’ll go call your brother.”
…
Lin Wanying complained to her brother about acting on his own: “This is basically fraud. If we get caught, it’ll be so embarrassing.”
Lin Huinan had no shame and didn’t find it embarrassing at all. He comforted his sister: “Your brother-in-law lied to divorce you with a fake excuse. Gu Liansheng’s wife probably used a fake excuse to divorce him too. So you tricking Gu Liansheng into marrying you, no need to feel embarrassed about that either.”
“But that makes Gu Liansheng so pitiful,” said Lin Wanying.
Lin Huinan gave his sister a look. “Aren’t you pitiful? Aren’t I? Sis, you’re so pretty, as Gu Liansheng’s wife, he gets a beautiful bride for his second marriage without spending a cent. What’s pitiful about that?”
Lin Wanying was instantly convinced by her brother. That scumbag and scummy woman who’d abandoned their original spouses didn’t feel any shame, so she needn’t either.
…
Five years ago, another one of Gu Liansheng’s godmother’s families had been raided and their property confiscated. Not wanting Li Qiuzhen to suffer along with them out on a labor farm, they’d rushed to arrange the marriage.
A few days ago, the godmother’s family had been rehabilitated. Li Qiuzhen made a huge fuss, saying she’d only married out of necessity back then, with no real feelings, and that if he didn’t divorce her, she’d starve herself to death. So, divorce it was.
He’d rushed back in a hurry, and had just finished the divorce paperwork, standing there dazed with the certificate in hand.
Another godmother from the courtyard came trotting over, cheerfully scolding him for keeping his mouth so shut: “Aren’t you something, quietly finding yourself a remarriage wife without telling anyone! This is wonderful news, what’s there to be shy about? She’s already at your door, hurry back.”
Gu Liansheng: …This wasn’t right, was it? He hadn’t found himself a wife at all. Which relative of his had gone and done this on their own? That was way too reckless.
But it wouldn’t hurt to look. Li Qiuzhen had been so happy getting the divorce certificate, there was a man waiting somewhere off in the distance who, from what he could tell, was waiting for the newly-divorced Li Qiuzhen. So why couldn’t he take a look at the wife who’d come knocking on her own initiative?
But looking was one thing, this was too absurd. He’d politely explain to the girl that this kind of thing wasn’t appropriate, and see her off properly.
His godmother urged him to hurry, going on about how good-looking the girl was, saying he’d like her the moment he laid eyes on her.
He didn’t believe it. Back then, it was precisely because he’d found his ex-wife beautiful that he’d entered this mistaken marriage, paying for the error with five years of his life. He wasn’t twenty anymore, he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
He’d just take one look, ask a few questions, then send her home. That much courtesy he owed her.
…
The courtyard compound was lively, since everything from Gu Liansheng’s divorce to his new bride showing up had happened in a single day. Gu Liansheng hesitated at the gate, and Zhao Xiuzhu pushed him in, he was a divorced man about to remarry, what was there to be shy about?
Gu Liansheng was nervous. His godmother must be exaggerating, turning a five out of ten into a perfect ten, you couldn’t just go by looks when building a life together. His ex-wife had been gorgeous, and yet their days together had turned into an ice cellar, and in the end they’d divorced anyway. Better to find a wife who understood warmth and care.
Why was he even thinking about this? None of it was realistic. He was a policeman, the most important thing was to figure out how this girl had ended up here and what she wanted, then send her back.
Lin Wanying was growing nervous too. This tangled relationship, her ex-husband’s first love’s husband, she must have had her brain short-circuit during rebirth to come running over here on a fit of pique.
She and her ex-husband had both married at eighteen, her ex-husband’s first love’s husband had also married at twenty, same as Xu Youcheng. When Xu Youcheng divorced her, he’d said he’d been young and ignorant, but was twenty still ignorant? Just excuses, all of it.
There was no point thinking about any of this now. She couldn’t leave at this point anyway, so she might as well just take a look. If he complained, well, she’d brought it on herself, and once she left, whatever gossip got said wouldn’t travel back to her hometown anyway.
…
Lin Wanying and Gu Liansheng, surrounded by the crowd, were walked face to face, and both were shocked speechless at the sight of each other.
Looks-wise, they were both clearly pleasing, handsome man, pretty woman, but this was wrong. How could it be this person?
Lin Wanying’s regret multiplied infinitely. In her past life her luck had been bad, had she really thought being reborn would make her luck good?
On a fit of impulse, she’d wanted to find her ex-husband’s first love’s ex-husband and shack up with him, arranging a chance encounter halfway through to expose old secrets, and now this, it was infuriating!
Gu Liansheng was stunned by the coincidence. He’d rushed back to get his divorce, and on the road he’d met a heroic girl who mentioned she was coming to the capital to marry someone a relative had introduced her to, same name, same surname, same profession. He’d thought it a coincidence, but it turned out she’d really come for him, wasn’t that fate?
But which relative had made the introduction? Why didn’t he know about it? There were plenty of suspicious points here.
The girl was pretty, more spirited than his ex-wife, exactly his type. Might as well chat with her and see…
“Look at them, still being shy with each other? What’s there to be shy about after a divorce? The girl has nowhere to stay, I say let’s just get them married today.”
Married today? Lin Wanying was startled, then looked over at Gu Liansheng, was that all right?
She was prepared to go home if it didn’t work out anyway, so she asked right away: “Get married? When I left the village, I brought all the necessary documents with me.”
Gu Liansheng: …Divorced in the morning, married in the afternoon, was there ever such a thing under heaven? This girl in front of him was clearly not normal. Of course they couldn’t get married this fast.
Gu Liansheng said, “Isn’t this too quick? I only just got divorced.”
The most important reason: he didn’t know her at all. What if it turned out to be another mistake, he couldn’t very well divorce again, could he? What would that make him?
Lin Wanying never dragged her feet. When Xu Youcheng had gone to the countryside as a sent-down youth and collapsed in the fields to the mockery of the villagers, she’d asked him, will you marry me?, just as bluntly.
Xu Youcheng shook his head and said no. She left just as cleanly, and that very night, Xu Youcheng showed up at her house saying he was willing to marry after all, and it certainly hadn’t been her forcing him!
Lin Wanying said, “Never mind then, sorry to trouble you.” She grabbed her brother and turned to leave.
Gu Liansheng, not knowing what had come over him, blurted out and called after her: “Fine, let’s get married!”