“Ah.” Su Yi placed the broom she was holding by the door.
The dried chili peppers hanging nearby swayed slightly.
She carried the eggs inside, and when she came back out, she filled the now-empty basket with sweet potatoes.
Aunt Zhang refused to take them, insisting that Su Yi keep them.
“Auntie, there’s no such thing as going out with an empty basket. They’re not very valuable. You just take them,” Su Yi said.
“Your Yi Yi is giving them to you, so just take them. If it were me, I wouldn’t even bother giving them,” Wang Guifen joked.
Only then did Aunt Zhang take the basket. She set it by her feet and whispered, “Guifen, Yi Yi is delicate. You really need to make sure she gets proper nourishment. Those women outside—none of them mind their words—are saying she’s too weak to conceive, just waiting to see your family humiliated.”
Wang Guifen paused her work. “Even if they’re disappointed, my Yi Yi won’t just be able to conceive… she’ll carry twins.”
Aunt Zhang assumed it was just Wang Guifen speaking out of stubborn pride and shook her head with a smile.
Picking up the basket by her feet, she said, “I should get going; I need to help Meili make fish soup,” and left.
Still, Su Yi had overheard their conversation.
Sitting on the kang (heated bed) in her room, she blankly rubbed her belly, not fully aware of what she was thinking.
That evening, the fish soup was very fresh.
Usually, Wang Guifen would remind Su Yi to eat more, but tonight, even before Wang Guifen said anything, Su Yi had already eaten two bowls—and wanted more.
“Yi Yi, that’s enough, don’t eat more,” Wang Guifen said, noticing something seemed different about her daughter-in-law tonight.
Su Yi slowly put down her bowl and rested her hands under the kang table.
After a long pause, she whispered, “Mom, if I drink more fish soup and nourish my body properly… will I be able to have children?”
Clearly, Su Yi had overheard the conversation between Wang Guifen and Aunt Zhang earlier.
Wang Guifen sighed, smiling softly.
“Yi Yi, you already are pregnant. Not only that… it’s twins.”
Su Yi froze, slowly lifting her head.
Wang Guifen nodded. “It’s true.”
“But…but we only… only spent one night together,” Su Yi said, disbelief in her voice.
That day, her uncle had come with a few men to attend a Su family banquet.
That night, feeling restless and feverish, she had ended up with a man her uncle had brought, doing that… intimate thing.
Afterwards, her uncle forced the man to marry her.
That man was Wang Zhijun.
Tall, around 1.89 meters, tanned skin, sharp brows, thin lips pressed together, strong muscles pressing against her.
That night, his veined hands tightly held her waist, taking her over and over again.
She cried, pleading him to stop, but he kissed away her tears.
He continued until she passed out, only then releasing her.
The next day, her uncle forced him to marry her.
She then realized he had also been drugged.
In the end, he married a woman he didn’t even like.
The next day she was taken to the Tanghe Brigade. Overnight, her family was investigated, her parents vanished, and she herself became a “capitalist’s daughter.” She didn’t want to leave, but her uncle told her to stay calm.
Normally, she should have been sent down for re-education, but since she married Wang Zhijun, she could go with him.
Thus, she became a daughter-in-law in this family.
Now, with her mother-in-law saying she was already pregnant, it should be around three months along.
“Mom isn’t lying. You’re pregnant. Twins. Already three months. Don’t listen to the gossiping women outside. The first three months are critical—only we mother and daughter-in-law need to know. Later, when Zhijun has the chance to take a family with him to the army, I’ll take you with him to live in the military compound,” Wang Guifen said, holding Su Yi’s hand gently.
Su Yi’s eyes reddened. “But… Mom, Zhijun was forced to marry me. He doesn’t like me.”
“He likes you. He does. He’s just… like a muddle-headed gourd, and he likes delicate, lovely girls like you,” Wang Guifen quickly reassured her.
If he truly didn’t like her, she would have beaten him up herself and stayed with Yi Yi alone.
“In a couple of days, I’ll take you to the city hospital to check if the twins are stable. Twin pregnancies are rare, so we have to be careful.”