Yan Sisi followed Aunt Chen through the narrow, crowded alleyways, careful not to trip over the clutter stacked along the passage. The air was filled with the chaotic din of voices, and at any moment she could bump into piles of miscellaneous items left in the walkway.
“Watch out! If you break my stuff, you’ll have to pay for it!”
“Who told you to leave your things at the door? The corridor’s this narrow, and you block the way with all your junk. How is anyone supposed to walk?”
The constant chatter and arguing bounced off the walls, making Sisi feel as if her ears were about to burst. She didn’t expect a place like this: low, dilapidated houses, noisy neighbors, and filthy, cluttered floors.
In her dream, even though she hadn’t agreed to marry into this family, the gossip had been so overwhelming that it drove her to suicide. Thinking about that, her face went pale. Aunt Chen, noticing her expression, looked back and asked with concern, “Xiao Yan, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, Aunt Chen. Have we found their house yet?” Sisi asked, feigning calm.
“The house up ahead is it. Don’t be afraid, we’ll just take a quick look and leave,” Aunt Chen said, patting her hand gently when she saw how pale the girl had turned.
Sisi followed the direction Aunt Chen pointed and saw a group of five- to seven-year-old children running out of a run-down house, with the mother of Zhou Jiajun, the boy who had come to her home that day, following behind.
Sisi was about to duck away with Aunt Chen when a familiar loud voice rang out across the street. “Oh, isn’t this Jiajun’s girl? Come to see Jiajun?”
Su Dani, ignoring Sisi’s reaction, grabbed her hand and pulled her forward, introducing her to the neighbors: “This is our Jiajun’s girl, pretty, right? And she’s still in high school. Both her parents work, and she’s an only child.”
Su Dani proudly showed off to the neighbors, as if to say: you all laughed at my son for not finding a girl before, but now look, no one in this courtyard can compare to the girl he found.
After finishing her introduction, Su Dani turned her gaze to the neatly dressed Sisi, thinking that once the rumor got out, the girl would figure it out for herself, sure enough, she had come here on her own.
Sisi, whose arm was tightly held, yanked her hand back forcefully. Aunt Chen quickly blocked her behind herself. Facing the scrutiny of the neighbors, Sisi explained coldly, “I’m not Jiajun’s girl. I’m here on business, is he home?”
Aunt Chen peered into the house, seeing only two girls quietly sweeping the floor inside. She shook her head at Sisi and whispered, “There are only two children in the house, no adults.”
Yan Sisi’s face tightened as she heard this, unwilling to leave empty-handed.
Earlier, Su Dani had been glowing with pride, but now she was publicly humiliated, and her expression immediately turned cold. The neighbors who had long disliked her laughed outright, mocking, “You claim she’s yours, but she doesn’t even acknowledge it.”
The girl’s skin was snow-white, her lips red and teeth gleaming, her appearance strikingly beautiful. How could she possibly be that brat’s girl? Even Su Dani couldn’t convince herself.
Su Dani’s face darkened. “Not now doesn’t mean never. Besides marrying my son, who else could she possibly marry?”
As expected of a pampered daughter, bold and defiant, she wouldn’t back down even if you pushed her. Su Dani turned to Sisi with a mocking tone: “And anyway, you say you’re not my son’s girl, so why come looking for him? Are kids today really this shameless, just showing up at a young man’s house?”
If she refuses to admit it now, whether she can later will depend entirely on Su Dani’s approval.
Yan Sisi was still just a young girl. Although her dreams had given her some insight, in reality she was still well-protected by her family. She had never faced a scene like this before, and her face went pale as she froze in place.
Aunt Chen, battle-hardened and not willing to let them continue defaming the girl, shouted, “I think you’re losing your mind wanting a daughter-in-law! I came for your son, does that make me his girlfriend? This girl is with me. You just tell us whether your son is home.”
Then she whispered reassuringly to Sisi, “It’s okay, don’t worry. With me here, no one’s going to take advantage of you.”
Su Dani glared viciously at Aunt Chen. She had come with backup, but hadn’t realized whose turf this was. If her son weren’t determined to marry the “fox spirit” in front of her, she wouldn’t bother dealing with these people at all.
Thinking this through, Su Dani sent her youngest grandson to fetch her third son, planning for a confrontation between the two men, show this girl that her only option was to marry into their family.
Neighbors who had just finished work noticed the commotion and crowded around, discussing eagerly in the narrow corridor.
Seeing the crowd grow, Su Dani raised her voice with more authority. “The day before yesterday, you came to my house to propose, and today you show up looking for my son, does that mean your family has agreed?”
Before Yan Sisi could answer, Su Dani continued, “I’m not that kind of wicked mother-in-law. My son’s only a temporary worker, so it’s your good fortune to marry him. Don’t even think about a bride price. You don’t work, so there’s got to be a dowry, otherwise my son will get the short end of the stick.”
The neighbors, unaware of the full story, immediately started whispering among themselves.
“That girl’s wearing the new wool boots from the supply and marketing cooperative, ordinary people wouldn’t even buy those. Looks like the Zhou family’s son has really hit the jackpot.”
“Not necessarily. She’s well-dressed and attractive, why would she even look at that Zhou Jiajun kid?”
Immediately, someone in the shadows let out a sly chuckle, “Isn’t it obvious? That Zhou Jiajun kid must have done something, otherwise who would let their daughter marry into a family like that?”
The neighbors, all familiar with each other’s households, knew the Zhou family was large. They had only two permanent workers and two temporary workers but had to support over a dozen people, barely enough to eat, let alone provide a wife for their third son.
All those people lived in just three cramped rooms. Even if the third son got married, there’d be nowhere for him to live.
Yan Sisi stood with a porcelain-white face, trying not to laugh in anger at what Zhou Jiajun’s mother said. Did she really think her son was some kind of celestial being? Expecting her to come without a bride price, even bringing a dowry, her voice soft but tinged with icy firmness: “You must be far too confident in your son. I would rather not marry at all than marry him.”
Aunt Chen, having heard the story from Yan Sisi that morning, immediately mocked, “You call that a proposal? Moving your lips without bringing anything, going empty-handed. That’s not proposing; that’s taking advantage of someone for nothing.”
The onlooking neighbors, surprised to hear Zhou’s family supposedly proposing, realized it had been empty-handed all along. Their expressions toward Su Dani immediately changed.
Seeing the situation turning against her, Su Dani quickly hit back, “Your whole body was soaking wet and my son carried you, what kind of pure girl do you think you are? You should count yourself lucky we don’t reject you.”
“Unbelievable… such a beautiful girl…”
“At such a young age and so careless with herself…”
“Shameful! If that were my daughter, I’d beat her myself.”
Yan Sisi listened to the gossip around her, her eyes reddening with anger. She had fallen into the river in the chill of autumn, wearing all those clothes, and been carried together with a man, what was wrong with that?
Although she thought this, she knew speaking up wouldn’t change anything.
The social climate was extremely conservative. If a young woman got even slightly close to a young man, people would gossip. And since she had been rescued after falling into the river, in their eyes, her innocence was already ruined.
Aunt Chen, standing beside her, listened to the chatter and said angrily, “You all know nothing and yet spread rumors like this, a bunch of gossiping women.”
The two sides continued shouting at each other, and as the crowd pressed in, people at the back slowly parted to make space. It turned out that Zhou Jiajun, called back by his eldest brother, had returned. The neighbors, seeing the main person arrive, started calling out, “Jiajun’s back!”
A few busybodies even shouted, “Is this girl your girlfriend?”
Zhou Jiajun pushed through the crowd and immediately spotted Yan Sisi standing at the doorway, looking well. Hearing the neighbors’ teasing, he gave an embarrassed smile but didn’t say anything to explain.
Aunt Chen, standing in front of Yan Sisi, examined him carefully. At first, she wasn’t sure, but when she noticed the birthmark on Zhou Jiajun’s neck, she grabbed Sisi’s hand and shouted, “That’s him! This is the person who kicked the one who saved you into the river and then ran off with you!”
Seeing Aunt Chen confirm it was the same man, Yan Sisi’s porcelain-white face relaxed considerably. As long as he wasn’t the one who had truly rescued her, she no longer had to worry about this family sticking to her own.
Zhou Jiajun, confronted with the truth, suddenly went pale. His eyes then fell on the woman standing next to Yan Sisi, and he realized with shock how coincidentally they had ended up together.
Su Dani glared and yelled, “Nonsense! My son was saving her, there’s no way he kicked anyone into the river!”
Zhou Jiajun stubbornly denied it too, claiming innocently, “Auntie, I have no quarrel with you. Don’t speak recklessly. Besides, I don’t even know you.”
Aunt Chen rolled her eyes at him. “With your vicious nature, who would want to know you? Do you dare swear on your chest that you didn’t kick someone into the river?”
Yan Sisi lowered her gaze, not wanting to waste words on them, and just wanted to resolve the matter quickly. She turned to the neighbors watching the commotion and asked, “Did anyone see this Zhou Jiajun on the night of the 11th?”
Four days had passed since she fell into the water, so her only hope was that a neighbor had seen him that day.
From the gathered crowd, someone immediately shouted back, “I saw him! His top was a little wet, I was wondering why someone’s clothes would be wet in this cool autumn weather.”
Yan Sisi pressed further, “Do you remember if his whole outfit was wet or just the top a little?”
Although she didn’t remember the event clearly because of her head injury, she had heard from her father what happened: her head was bleeding, and a temporary worker from their factory had brought her downstairs. Fortunately, it was dark and there weren’t many people on the road. Her father sent the worker away and carefully brought her back home.