Gu Liansheng’s guess was right, his elder brother and sister-in-law had secretly gotten divorced. Although nothing was said outright, he guessed his sister-in-law had gone into hiding back home to have a second child, divorcing without actually separating households, so as not to jeopardize his brother’s job, planning to come back after the birth.
His elder brother had to work, and there was no one to look after the household, his niece was only in primary school, and once his sister-in-law had the baby, she’d need someone to help with that too. Their mother, soft-hearted, had already decided to go back and help, afraid of Lin Wanying’s scolding.
No more scolding this time, scolding once and not changing anything meant scolding again would be useless.
Lin Wanying was building a life with Gu Liansheng, as for her mother-in-law, she could live with whoever she wanted, but the elder brother and sister-in-law shouldn’t expect that once Mom got old and couldn’t work anymore, they could just ship her back over.
Lin Wanying said, “Mom already spent five years at Elder Brother’s place, the next five years she’ll be at mine. Now Elder Brother wants to take Mom back to work for you again, do you think I’m a fool? Why should I let you? If you say Mom’s doing this willingly, then let Mom and Gu Liansheng go back to being aunt and nephew. We’ll still give five yuan a month for her upbringing debt, but I don’t trust you and your wife, so that money won’t go to you, it’ll go to Shuisheng, saved up for Mom.”
Gu Yaoqiang was furious and started cursing wildly, calling on Gu Liansheng to speak up: “Liansheng, is your wife the one running the household now?”
Gu Liansheng spread his hands: “Doesn’t your sister-in-law run your household too? Why’s it strange that my wife runs mine? Brother, you’re being awfully unreasonable.”
The compound neighbors, who respected and admired Lin Wanying, all chimed in on her side.
His godmother, unwilling to give up, still tried to persuade her mother-in-law: “Wenju, you know your son and daughter-in-law best. If you go help raise the second child until he’s old enough for school, that’s six or seven years. Right when you can’t work anymore, even if they’re decent enough not to kick you out, they’ll still give you attitude. You’re so comfortable staying with Liansheng and Wanying, don’t go.”
Ji Wenju knew all this, but her love for her son and granddaughter won out.
“On the surface I try to treat them equally, but Yaoqiang is my own flesh and blood, while Liansheng is just my younger brother’s child, I really can’t let it go. And besides, elder care duties should fall to one’s own son. I won’t trouble Liansheng in the future, going back to being his aunt is fine by me.”
Her godmother sighed. People, why do they insist on walking a bitter road even when they know it’s bitter? Since she couldn’t bring herself to be firm about it, her godmother stopped trying to persuade her.
…
With notarization from all sides, the legally binding department, both workplaces, the street office, Gu Liansheng and Ji Wenju formally adjusted their relationship, calling her back to being his aunt. The aunt went to the elder brother’s household to help with laundry, cooking, and looking after her granddaughter.
Shuisheng was quite downcast about it. Lin Huinan advised him: “Don’t be foolish, you can’t go back. At the elder brother and sister-in-law’s place, you’d end up like Auntie, just fuel for them to burn through. Stick with your sister and brother-in-law, and your future won’t be bad.”
Gu Shuisheng was upset: “I’m worried about my mom, choosing to go suffer instead of enjoying the good life she has here.”
Lin Huinan said, “Because Auntie loves you. Elder Brother and Sister-in-law aren’t living as well as your brother and my sister right now, so Auntie wants to go help them. Kind-hearted people always suffer more than cold-hearted ones. Back in our village, the most filial ones were often the least favored, while the most doted-on were the ones with no conscience at all, that’s just human nature. Now that you understand it, be a bit more hard-hearted, and don’t let Elder Brother and Sister-in-law take all the advantage.”
…
Lin Wanying had already thrown herself into her work, putting up a number of stalls in the market, with three walls built along the edges to form an enclosed shape, making things even more orderly.
Following the rules she’d established, she had Ji Pingxiang choose a category, and she picked children’s clothing, setting up a sewing machine to make and sell her own designs. Gentle by nature, she made kids’ clothes that were both pretty and comfortable, priced fairly, and demand quickly outstripped supply, requiring advance orders.
Being busy and earning an income, her mental state improved a great deal, probably in a few more months she’d be able to rent a proper storefront and open a real tailor shop.
As director of the market management office, Lin Wanying earned a lot of praise both for how she’d arranged things for Ji Pingxiang and for how she’d let her own brother easily resolve a stall dispute.
Even Ji Pingxiang told her aunt and uncle: “Director Lin is really impressive. If I were a man, I’d admire and like her too, no wonder Gu Liansheng fell for her right away.”
His master’s wife comforted Ji Pingxiang: “You’re not doing badly yourself now, a fresh start. Once some time passes, let’s find you a proper match, your uncle’s workplace has plenty of outstanding young men, surely one of them will suit you.”
Lu Chengye flinched, worried this might upset his wife’s niece who’d just started recovering, and couldn’t bring himself to say no outright, but privately resolved not to go matchmaking blindly.
Ji Pingxiang shook her head: “Auntie, I know you mean well for me, but forcing things doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. Compared to before, what I have now already feels almost too good to be real, holding onto this happiness carefully feels like the safest thing to do. As for marriage, let it be fate. Auntie, could you please not push for it?”
His master’s wife felt for her deeply, thinking of how her niece had been blind to bad character in her last marriage, and stopped pushing, letting her niece take things as they came.
Lu Chengye felt quite moved, thinking the atmosphere at the market Lin Wanying ran was really good, he decided it was best not to rent a storefront for now, letting her stay in the lively market and heal her heart properly first.
…
Lin Wanying managed the market so well that it helped drive economic growth. The district held a representatives’ conference, and she was invited as an outstanding worker to attend, even giving a speech on stage.
Xu Youcheng sat in the audience. Lin Wanying’s gaze passed over him normally, not lingering, and once the meeting ended, she went straight home.
Soon, Lin Wanying was up for a promotion, an opportunity to take a position at the district level. But right at this time, her mentor called with an urgent matter, wanting her to come.
Between the job opportunity and her mentor’s matter, Lin Wanying didn’t hesitate at all, she chose to go to her mentor.
Xu Youcheng actually came looking for her, asking: “Lin Wanying, are you not going because I’m working at the district office? This is a rare opportunity, it’s not worth giving it up because of me.”
Lin Wanying: …What did this have to do with him?
“It’s not that. It has nothing to do with you. My mentor called me to Pengcheng to be his bodyguard for a while. I think he might be facing some kind of threat. I don’t know when I’ll be back, that’s why I declined, it’s not because of you.”
Xu Youcheng looked awkward, held back for a moment, then asked: “What kind of trouble is your mentor in?”
Actually, her mentor could handle his own troubles just fine, she was going for another reason entirely, and didn’t want to explain, so she only gave the surface-level reason.
She said, “I don’t know yet myself. You can call him and ask.”
…
Gu Liansheng had already gone out once to throw away the trash, and now went to check the kitchen, saying: “We’re out of soy sauce, I’ll go buy some.”
Lin Huinan said, “Brother-in-law, could you calm down a bit? My former brother-in-law probably thinks my sister’s giving up this promotion because of him, you’re about to storm off red-faced any second now.”
Gu Liansheng was afraid his wife still had lingering feelings, love or hate, toward her ex-husband. In fact, in living their own life, he hoped his wife would treat her ex-husband’s whole family like strangers.
He felt too embarrassed to go out again, and decided to trust his wife, trust that he was better than Xu Youcheng.
…
Lin Wanying arrived in Pengcheng, where her mentor had arranged a driver to pick her up and take her to the hospital, asking her to visit, on his behalf, a woman named Zeng Lancao, thirty-eight years old, who had suddenly gone into a fit of screaming madness. Her mentor had come across the scene on the road and had the driver intervene before sending her to the hospital.
Whoever her mentor trusted enough to be his driver had a few standout qualities, physically fit, strong, sharp-eyed, and absolutely never asked questions beyond what he should.
At the hospital, he only told Lin Wanying: “Director Ji is busy, and asked you to represent him in visiting her, ask if Zeng Lancao needs any help. Come find him once you’ve finished up.”
Her mentor clearly had a deeper reason behind this, and the driver, loyal enough not to pry, made Lin Wanying feel touched, her mentor must have picked up on some similarity between Zeng Lancao’s situation and her own, and wanted her to look into it, while he himself continued to feign ignorance.
…
Lin Wanying brought a bowl of beef noodles to visit Zeng Lancao, only to find her hospital room packed full of her children and in-laws, leaving her to stand outside.
Her children, one twenty and the other eighteen, both already adults, were earnestly trying to persuade their mother not to keep fighting and disturbing the household’s peace.
“Mom, you already agreed to let Auntie come do her confinement month at our place, and when you lost your job a year ago Dad didn’t say a word. Now you’re being so cold to Dad’s own sister, no wonder Dad brought up divorce. If you just agree, Dad won’t divorce you. Surely you don’t want the two of us growing up without a father?”
“Auntie’s always been so good to us, always buying us things. It’s just one month for her confinement, Mom, why won’t you agree?”
Lin Wanying listened for a while and mostly pieced together what was going on.
Zeng Lancao’s sister-in-law wanted to come stay at her house for her confinement month. Her husband, mother-in-law, son, and daughter had all agreed, and at first she had too, then suddenly she’d flipped and refused. Her husband gave her an ultimatum between divorce and agreeing, and she chose divorce. Then her husband’s family and her own children came to reproach her, trying to make her change her mind.
Zeng Lancao was resolute, willing to break with her husband and her children both, beyond refusing to let her sister-in-law stay for confinement, she also demanded her mother-in-law leave her house, or else it was divorce.
For Zeng Lancao to be this decisive, she must have been reborn just like Lin Wanying, and the path where she’d chosen to let her sister-in-law come stay must have been extraordinarily hard, quite possibly ending with no one, in the end, saying a good word about her.
Lin Wanying stood up and, starting with the outermost person, grabbed them one by one and hauled them all out, scolding: “She already said if her conditions aren’t met, it’s divorce, do you not understand human speech? All of you, get out.”
“Who are you? This is our family’s business, none of yours to interfere with.”
“I’m Zeng Lancao’s long-lost sister.”
…
Lin Wanying drove everyone out, then opened the lunch box, having Zeng Lancao eat some noodles to keep her strength up.
“Sister Zeng, my mentor is busy and sent me to check on you, see if you need any help. Just now, in the heat of the moment, I had no choice but to say I was your sister, please don’t take it to heart.”
Zeng Lancao would be only too glad to have such a formidable sister. She had her own difficult reasons and needed a bodyguard during her divorce proceedings, so she asked Lin Wanying:
“Thank you for having your mentor send me to the hospital, and thank you for coming to see me. Are you busy, little sister? I’d like to ask you to be my bodyguard for a few days, is that all right?”
…
Lin Wanying agreed, staying by Zeng Lancao’s side the entire time she went through the divorce.
Zeng Lancao had been married to a man named Cao Mengping for twenty years. Everyone opposed her divorcing him, and if she insisted, she’d have to walk away with nothing, neither of her children would go with her.
But Zeng Lancao was firm about the divorce. She gave one sentence each to her ex-husband and her children:
To her children, she said: “You’re both adults now, I have no more obligation to raise you. Whether you understand me or not doesn’t matter. I hope you both meet good people in your future and that your paths are smooth, but if you hit some rough patch, put yourself in my shoes and think about why I chose to divorce.”
To her ex-husband, she said: “From now on, whoever’s parents they are, that person takes care of them, whoever’s sister she is, that person looks after her. Fulfill your own filial duties, I owe you nothing.”
With Lin Wanying there, her ex-husband and his family didn’t manage to lay a single finger on Zeng Lancao.
Once everything was settled, Zeng Lancao called back to the capital and had her father send three hundred yuan to Lin Huinan, and Lin Wanying gave Zeng Lancao three hundred yuan on her end too.
Zeng Lancao kept a hundred for travel expenses, and gave two hundred to Lin Wanying as bodyguard fees for these past few days, a generous, straightforward person, and Lin Wanying accepted it.