Jiang Nan couldn’t help but laugh at the nickname. The original host had only once helped catch a snake at school and then taught the canteen chef how to soak its gallbladder in wine. But her gossipy cousin had spread the tale everywhere, boasting that she was a “snake-catching expert” who earned her tuition by hunting snakes.
Even though she explained many times, teachers and classmates never changed their impression. They teasingly called her “Snake Girl.”
It was true she had caught snakes before and even sold dried gallbladders to the procurement station, but those were rare occasions. She only acted when she happened to run into one while gathering centipedes or digging for kudzu roots in the mountains—there was no avoiding it. Who would have thought that after ten years, people still remembered that nickname?
Jiang Nan smiled and said with emotion, “Principal Yang, you still remember me?”
Principal Yang replied with a mix of seriousness and humor: “I remember all the students with good grades. And besides, you had such a distinctive skill.”
Jiang Nan gave a helpless smile. Then Yang added, “But remember—personal memories are one thing. Official business is another. I won’t go easy on you just because you were once my student.”
“Of course,” Jiang Nan nodded. She was confident in herself and didn’t want her efforts to be dismissed as favoritism or backdoor dealings.
So the trial lecture began. Principal Yang arranged for a class of eighth graders to attend. These students already had some English foundation, so they could judge whether the teaching was good or not.
The moment Jiang Nan spoke, Yang looked up in surprise, adjusting his glasses. He had high standards for an English teacher’s basic skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Seeing her fluent pronunciation and quick, accurate blackboard writing, he nodded with satisfaction.
Her knowledge base, the way she designed situational dialogues, and her ability to encourage shy students to speak English all impressed him deeply.
The forty-five–minute class left both students and the evaluating teachers wanting more. Naturally, Jiang Nan passed unanimously. Principal Yang immediately issued her acceptance certificate and even had the logistics teacher show her the teacher’s dormitory, afraid she might slip away.
Jiang Nan smiled helplessly, confirmed her start date, thanked them, and finally left. Outside the school gate, she held the certificate up to the sunlight. Her smile was radiant—this was her first true step into a new life.
To celebrate, Jiang Nan treated herself to a hearty meal at the commune’s state-run restaurant before taking the bus back to the family housing area.
Instead of going straight to the Cheng household, she went to find Aunt Guo. Sharing the good news, she also told her that the person for the job exchange could now come to hand over the position.
Aunt Guo was thrilled, showered her with praise, and promised to bring the person over the very next day. The two agreed on a time and place to meet, and Jiang Nan returned to the Cheng household.
Even before she entered, she could hear Lu Xiaoxiao sobbing with hiccups. When she opened the door, everyone in the living room glanced at her, then turned back to what they were doing. Cheng Yixin was holding the child, patting and soothing her, while Mother Cheng stood to the side, angrily complaining to Father Cheng.
“…I told you the Duan family wasn’t good. Look at how that girl bullied our Xiaoxiao—just look at the state she’s in!”
Jiang Nan set her textbooks and lesson plans on the cabinet by the entryway, washed her hands in the kitchen, and listened to the commotion.
It turned out that Duan Hua’s transfer of clothing to the Cheng family had somehow been discovered by his daughter. She thought the down jacket on Lu Xiaoxiao was hers, demanded Lu Xiaoxiao take it off and return it, and even called Cheng Yixin a “fox spirit.”
Lu Xiaoxiao grew angry and refused, so Duan Hua’s daughter tried to snatch it herself. The two girls ended up grappling with each other.
Jiang Nan found it amusing. Coming out of the kitchen, she looked around and, not seeing Cheng Hao, asked Mother Cheng where he was.
Mother Cheng complained, “I don’t know where he’s gone off with Mingsheng. If he were here, Xiaoxiao wouldn’t have been bullied like this!”
Jiang Nan was quite pleased her son hadn’t been involved. She snorted and said to Mother Cheng, “Didn’t you say Cheng Hao’s hands are too heavy? If he had stepped in to help Xiaoxiao and hurt that Duan girl, whose fault would that be?”
At once, both Mother Cheng and Cheng Yixin recalled the scene when Jiang Nan had pressed them for money the other day, and their faces turned pale.
Jiang Nan continued, “From now on, don’t let Cheng Hao get involved in Xiaoxiao and Mingsheng’s affairs. Otherwise, one day I’ll be visiting him in prison.”
“Xiao Jiang!” Father Cheng barked, unwilling to hear her curse his eldest grandson like that.
Jiang Nan shrugged, fell silent, picked up her books, and headed for her room. Just as she turned, she saw Lu Xiaoxiao glaring at her through hiccuping sobs.
Jiang Nan stopped, looked down at her, and said, “Xiaoxiao, your eyes seem to have a problem. Do you want me to dig them out and fix them?”
Terrified, Lu Xiaoxiao buried her face in Cheng Yixin’s arms. Cheng Yixin grew angry. “Sister-in-law, how can you say such things to a child!”
Jiang Nan chuckled coldly. “Even if I raised a wolf for two or three years, it wouldn’t look at me with eyes like that.” With that, she ignored the family’s reaction, turned, and went back to her room.
The next day, Jiang Nan met Aunt Guo at the factory gate. The person taking over her job was a thin, half-grown boy—certainly not yet eighteen.
Jiang Nan didn’t ask the boy for his personal details directly. She only told him, “Once you’re inside, just say you’re my aunt’s cousin. I couldn’t keep working in the workshop because of health reasons, so I transferred the job to you.”
The boy nodded. Jiang Nan took him to the personnel office to complete the paperwork, moved her own file out, and then handed him over to Aunt Guo.
Aunt Guo brought him to the workshop to find Uncle Guo, asking him to guide the boy for a few days until he got used to the work.
Afterward, the two went to Guo’s home.
Aunt Guo gave Jiang Nan the two hundred yuan for the job exchange. Jiang Nan immediately pulled out the ten yuan she had promised Aunt Guo.
Smiling, Aunt Guo accepted it, then spoke about the boy: “He’s from a production brigade under Hongshan Commune, not yet seventeen. His father passed away, his mother is frail and can’t do heavy labor, and he has a younger brother and sister to support. His uncle can’t take care of them forever, so he found this job for him.”
As for the uncle’s identity, Aunt Guo didn’t say.
Jiang Nan didn’t ask further, only inquired, “This money didn’t come from the boy himself, did it?”
Aunt Guo quickly shook her head. “His uncle paid it. If his family could afford that much, they wouldn’t be struggling.”
Jiang Nan nodded. That was fine.
An apprentice earned eighteen yuan a month—barely over two hundred a year. If the boy’s family was already in hardship, paying two hundred meant he’d essentially work for free that year, making the burden even heavier.
With the money received and the matter settled, Jiang Nan went home to pack her things. She still had much to do that day.
Cheng Denglin hadn’t expected that after a full day at work, half of his wife’s belongings would be gone—and the divorce referral letter already prepared.
She rubbed her shoulder and told him, “Tomorrow you’ll go get the referral letter. Take half an hour off. I’ll wait for you at your unit’s gate. Once it’s done, you can go straight back to work.”
Jiang Nan was exhausted after the day. She had already moved a box of books and most of her daily necessities to Hongshan Middle School, completed her onboarding, and asked Principal Yang to issue her a referral letter.
This was a plan she had only changed yesterday, after her pleasant conversation with Principal Yang.
Originally, she had intended to finish all the procedures first and then bring her luggage to Hongshan Middle School for onboarding. But she realized that if she requested the referral letter from the factory, they would surely send people back and forth to mediate, persuade, or even reject her application. So Jiang Nan decided to take a gamble on Principal Yang.
Sure enough, once Principal Yang confirmed that she wasn’t divorcing because of “lifestyle issues,” he decisively issued her the certificate.
Although all the bus rides back and forth were tiring, Jiang Nan felt it was worth it—she had avoided a great deal of trouble.
Cheng Denglin said nothing after hearing this. He stayed silent for a few seconds, then agreed. Ever since that day when he realized how much his wife had changed, he no longer wanted to force her to stay. This family had been too exhausting; better to let her be free.
Getting Cheng Denglin’s referral letter was not easy. His supervisor refused to approve the divorce. “Xiao Cheng, you’re a public servant. You must know that divorce will affect your political future and your child’s prospects!”
The supervisor valued him highly and didn’t want him to ruin his career.
At that time, divorcing for “emotional breakdown” was condemned as “petty bourgeois sentiment.” Just a few years earlier, such a reason could have led to public denunciation. The revolution had only recently ended, and the environment hadn’t fully changed. His supervisor’s thinking hadn’t shifted either.
But Cheng Denglin insisted. He refused to leave the office until the approval was given. In the end, the supervisor, frustrated and disappointed, reluctantly signed off.
Jiang Nan waited outside his workplace for quite a while. If she had known about his argument with the supervisor, she would have told them: in just two years, the Marriage Law would be reformed, truly granting freedom of marriage. All those worries and consequences they feared would no longer exist.
The two went to the police station to process the paperwork. As expected, they were urged to reconcile. They sat calmly, listened, and then firmly repeated their decision to divorce. The clerk grew exasperated: “Why are you two so stubborn?”
With no other choice, the clerk processed it.
After they left, another staff member said to the clerk, “You wasted your breath. This couple didn’t quarrel or fight. They had no disputes over property or child custody. Clearly, they had already discussed everything and were determined to separate. No amount of persuasion would have worked.”
Jiang Nan and Cheng Denglin received their divorce certificates. One went home, the other returned to work.
Before parting, Jiang Nan told him in advance, “When you go home, I won’t be there. Please take good care of Cheng Hao. I’ll come see him at the end of the month.”
Cheng Denglin said nothing, only nodded, and walked away in quiet sorrow.
Jiang Nan returned home to collect her things. Father Cheng, Mother Cheng, and Cheng Yixin were all there, watching her move in and out.
Mother Cheng kept complaining: “She’s even taking the washbasin? Why doesn’t she just move the whole house! And she dares to take half of Denglin’s savings—does she even know how little her salary is!”
Father Cheng looked helplessly at his wife. “Then go ask her to give it back?”
Mother Cheng fell silent. She wasn’t foolish—Jiang Nan still held leverage over their daughter. She didn’t dare provoke her again.
Jiang Nan made several trips, loading everything onto the tricycle cart she had called. She patted Cheng Hao’s head, said softly, “I’m leaving,” then climbed aboard without looking back, leaving the Cheng family stifled and frustrated.
The tricycle driver helped her move the belongings onto the bus before taking his payment and leaving. Jiang Nan found an empty seat and waited for departure.
“Sis?!”
Just as she was about to close her eyes for a rest, she heard a familiar voice. Opening her eyes, she saw—it was the original host’s troublesome cousin.
He was supporting a tall man wearing a stretch mesh cap, excitedly leading him over. After settling the man into a seat, he turned back to Jiang Nan. His smile froze, and he blurted out in shock, unable to control his voice: “Sis, you’ve already given birth?!”