Returning to the Shao family home once again, Wen Yu did not know how she should conduct herself.
She and Shao Wenye had not yet obtained their marriage certificate. Originally, the plan had been to hold the wedding banquet first and wait until her household registration was transferred over before officially registering the marriage. By then, her grain ration and all related paperwork would also be transferred here, avoiding a great deal of trouble.
Since de facto marriages were recognized these days, Wen Yu had never thought there was anything wrong with this order of events.
After all, many people held wedding banquets without ever obtaining a marriage certificate.
But now, the wedding ceremony had not been completed, and there was no marriage certificate either.
So what exactly was she to Shao Wenye now?
His wife?
Or merely his fiancée?
Looking at the bright red flower pinned to her chest, Wen Yu suddenly found it unbearably glaring. Raising her hand, she removed it and clenched it tightly in her palm.
Seeing Wen Yu remain silent, Wang Xuemei felt both anxious and angry inside.
Wenye and Wenqing had always been close brothers, so it was only natural that Wenye cared deeply for Xu Wan and Shao Rong. But no matter what, he should never have left his bride behind at the wedding.
In front of so many people, Wenwen had suffered such humiliation. How miserable must she feel?
“Wenwen, what happened today was Wenye acting impulsively. When he comes back, Mom will scold him properly and make him apologize to you. Don’t be angry with him. As for the banquet, we’ll make it up when Wenye gets his next leave. We definitely won’t let you suffer any grievance.”
Wen Yu lowered her gaze to the red flower in her hand, suppressing the tears burning in her eyes.
“Auntie, I want to know why Comrade Shao suddenly agreed to fulfill the marriage agreement. When I was eighteen, my father once brought up the marriage. If I remember correctly, he refused at the time.”
After that, her father never again mentioned marrying her to Shao Wenye. Instead, he encouraged her to follow the trend of the times and pursue free love like everyone else. He even said that with a housekeeper at home, she did not need to worry about taking care of the family, and as long as she was willing, she did not have to limit herself to finding a partner within Shanghai.
But for some reason, two years later, it was the Shao family who took the initiative to bring up the marriage again.
The word “Auntie” made Wang Xuemei’s heart skip.
Could it be that Wenwen no longer wanted to marry Wenye?
“You two were engaged since childhood. You should have gotten married long ago. How can this be considered sudden?”
“The reason you didn’t marry earlier was because Wenqing had only just passed away. Wenye still hadn’t recovered from the blow. At that time, he could barely take care of himself, so how could he possibly be a good husband?”
Wang Xuemei held Wen Yu’s hand gently.
“Mom knows you’re angry with Wenye, but don’t overthink things. Wenye and Wanwan grew up together. To Wenye, she’s only an older sister from the neighborhood whom he’s close to. There’s absolutely nothing else between them.”
“Wanwan has had a hard life too. Her parents divorced when she was little, and she lived in the countryside with her mother the whole time. Only after her mother passed away did her father bring her to the compound.”
“She also has a younger sister named Xu Rou, born to her stepmother. That girl has a fierce temper. Since Wenye and his brother always liked standing up for others when they were young, and they saw how pitiful Wanwan was, they naturally started including her whenever they played. Later, Wanwan married Wenqing. Now that Wenqing is gone, the family naturally pays her more attention.”
“Wenwen, don’t worry. In this family, we definitely won’t favor one over the other. You and Wanwan are the same to us.”
Wen Yu’s thoughts became even more chaotic.
She truly liked Shao Wenye.
Ever since the age when a young girl first begins to understand love, from the moment he happened to help her catch a thief during a mission trip to Shanghai, she had already fallen for him.
At the time, Shao Wenye had not recognized her, but she recognized him instantly.
The person who helped her was the fiancé she had been promised to since childhood.
The photograph taken when he was eighteen was still at her home in Shanghai. Uncle Shao had mailed it to her father back then, so of course she had seen it.
Taking a deep breath, Wen Yu said, “Auntie, I want to go to the hospital.”
Wang Xuemei froze for a moment.
She had imagined countless possibilities, but never expected Wenwen to make this request.
Did she not believe her words?
“Alright, Mom will take you there.”
“No need. I know the way to the military hospital.”
Wen Yu lifted her eyes.
“Auntie, I want to go by myself… and spend some time alone.”
She did not want to hear what others had to say.
She wanted to see for herself.
To ask for herself.
To hear Shao Wenye’s thoughts directly.
Wen Yu was proud by nature. She would never allow herself to live in confusion.
If he had been forced into agreeing to marry her, and even now still did not want to marry her, then she would return to Shanghai and never come back to the southwest again.
Although jobs in the city were difficult to find these days—every position already occupied like radishes planted in their own pits—fortunately, she knew foreign languages. Even if she could not enter a factory as a worker, she could still find a respectable position at a newspaper office.