Section 010: Reporting the Case and the Pei Family in the County Seat
After obtaining the certificate, Yu Yin hurried to the county seat.
She was lucky—just as she left the village entrance, she ran into a tractor from the neighboring village that had traveled to the county seat overnight to buy fertilizer and pick up educated youth.
Since the two villages were quite close and most of the villagers were simple and kind-hearted, when they saw Yu Yin about to walk to the county seat alone, the brigade leader and the tractor driver from the neighboring village invited her to ride along.
Yu Yin hurriedly thanked them and took out the dried sweet potatoes that the village chief’s mother had slipped into her hands before she left, sharing them with the two men.
Actually, Yu Yin would have preferred to give them money, but upon second thought, she held back—people’s hearts can’t withstand such tests.
After a little over three hours, the tractor arrived in the county seat just before ten o’clock.
Yu Yin politely declined the neighboring village’s brigade leader’s offer to stay with his relatives and, holding her certificate, went to the county’s only guesthouse.
Upon arriving at the guesthouse, in addition to booking a room, Yu Yin paid fifty fen for a pen and a few sheets of paper.
That evening, while talking with Zhao Ping’an, Yu Yin recalled that Yu Nan—who appeared so successful and had excellent grades in public—was actually a scumbag.
Later in the book, there’s a separate epilogue dedicated to the female protagonist’s family, which includes a description of Yu Nan’s life.
Since childhood, Yu Nan had been praised for his intelligence, but this wasn’t the kind of intelligence that followed the straight and narrow—it was the kind of devious, petty cleverness.
For example, the reason he was able to get into high school wasn’t because of his own hard work, but because he used sweet talk, deception, and bribery to manipulate a girl from a rural background just like him. He promised her a bright future and convinced her to write his name on the exam.
The girl had excellent grades, which allowed Yu Nan—who had taken her place on the exam—to smoothly gain admission to the only high school in the county seat.
And for two years now, that girl has remained unaware that Yu Nan—that scumbag—has been using the same tactics behind her back to exploit yet another girl.
Yu Nan’s current ranking among the top three students in the class is once again the result of him deceiving another high-achieving girl in his class.
Yu Yin’s counterattack this time involved turning the tables on the parents of this second girl in the county who had taken the exams for him.
The parents of this girl from the county were no ordinary people; they worked at the county Education Bureau. Although they were no longer eligible to take the college entrance exam, they were, after all, officials.
The book mentions that the girl’s parents have always placed great importance on her academic performance. If they found out that their daughter had been taking exams for that scumbag Yu Nan for two whole years—allowing him to earn the title of “Outstanding Student”—…
Yu Nan would be finished for sure.
But—
Yu Yin’s hand paused as she wrote.
But should she write that the reason Yu Nan was able to get into high school was because of another girl?
If she did write that, it would inevitably implicate the other girl.
Although Yu Yin looked down on this kind of love-struck mindset, if she wrote down the real reason Yu Nan got into high school, that girl would surely be dragged into it as well.
At the very least, the parents of the girl from the county seat would take their anger out on her.
Yu Yin paused for quite a while, took a deep breath, tore up the paper she’d just written on, and took out a new sheet to start over.
Yu Yin decided not to report Yu Nan’s cheating on the high school entrance exam to the girl from the county seat’s parents.
However, she would write a separate letter to the girl from the countryside, telling her about Yu Nan’s actions in the county seat.
As for what choice the girl from the countryside would make, that was none of Yu Yin’s business.
After finishing the two letters exposing Yu Nan’s misdeeds, another half hour had passed, and Yu Yin was already exhausted.
She splashed some cold water on her face and lay down on the bed to sleep.
She needed a good rest; not only did she have to mail the letters first thing tomorrow morning, but she was also getting married.
She was actually getting married in the 1970s… for no apparent reason at all……
Yu Yin’s vision grew increasingly blurry. The dim light from the lamp above cast a long shadow over her……
……
The shadow stretched longer and longer under the light. Sheng Siyang couldn’t sleep; dragging her frail body out of bed, she continued tidying up and was startled when she saw the elongated shadow.
“Who’s there?”
Immediately, a figure flashed through her mind: “A-Zhan?”
“Mom, it’s me. Why aren’t you asleep yet?” Pei Zhan put down the dishcloth he was holding and went over to help Sheng Siyang into the dining room to sit down.
Sheng Siyang took a moment to steady her heartbeat, her voice faint. “I can’t sleep. Why aren’t you asleep either? In a few hours, you’ll be going to pick up your bride. You can’t afford to be tired.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go to sleep as soon as I finish cleaning up.”
The dim yellow light was still fairly bright. Only after sitting down did Sheng Siyang notice that the dining room, which had once been piled high with wedding supplies, had been cleared out completely.
The Pei family home was a typical Xiguan-style building. Although its layout had changed somewhat over time due to the times, the basic structure remained intact.
The “three-room layout” began with the living room; behind it was her bedroom and that of her late eldest son, followed by the dining room and her youngest son’s room, with the courtyard and storage room at the very back.
The Pei family rarely stored items in the storage room—since it required crossing the courtyard—so almost everything ended up in the dining room, making it look quite cluttered.
On top of that, Sheng Siyang had been growing weaker over the past two years, and her youngest daughter, who was mentally disabled, couldn’t help out. With her juggling work and caring for her young grandson, the house had become even more chaotic.
She had tidied up a few days ago, but recently she’d bought quite a few wedding supplies and piled them here, so the place had reverted to its original state.
Of course, the wedding house couldn’t be a mess, so Sheng Siyang, unable to sleep, decided to tidy it up again.
Little did she expect that her youngest son would beat her to it.
Pei Zhan had only rushed back from the military this afternoon. She had originally thought her youngest son was still angry about the marriage she’d arranged for him, forcing him to return to get married.
But she really had no other choice—her eldest son and daughter-in-law were gone, and her youngest son was stationed in the military and rarely came home. Her own health was deteriorating; her youngest daughter was mentally disabled—even at fifteen, she was still like a three- or four-year-old—and she had a grandson who was only three…
If she were to pass away, what would become of this family?
“Zhan, Mom is so sorry,” Sheng Siyang said, her voice choking with emotion. “If you’re angry, take it out on me. Mom doesn’t have much time left to live, but your new wife is innocent. Even though she’s a country girl, she’s married into our family after all—we can’t mistreat her.”
“Mom, what are you saying?” Pei Zhan furrowed his brow; the scar on his eyebrow looked menacing in the lamplight.
He crouched down, clasping Sheng Siyang’s hand to comfort her. “Mom, you’ll get better. As soon as I got back, I sent Dayang to find Liu Guoshou. You know Liu Guoshou—he’ll definitely cure you. As for what you said about the new bride…”
It would be a lie to say he didn’t harbor any resentment.
Even though Pei Zhan had never fantasized about a partner of his own, anyone would want the person they’d spend their future with to be like-minded and someone they truly loved—not—
“Since I’ve decided to come back and get married, Mom, I’ll fulfill my responsibilities as a husband and treat her well.”
Sheng Siyang wanted to say something, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
She could only pat Pei Zhan’s hand with a choked voice, offering silent comfort.
Pei Zhan didn’t want this awkward atmosphere to continue. He stood up and helped Sheng Siyang back to her room. “Mom, I’ll clean up here. You go back and rest. Otherwise, if you don’t get enough rest, people will start to wonder.”
Sheng Siyang nodded hurriedly. “Right, right, right. We can’t let the new daughter-in-law get the wrong idea.”
Pei Zhan’s brow, which had just begun to relax, furrowed tightly once more, but in the end, he said nothing.
After helping Sheng Siyang back to her room, he returned to the dining room, which he had already tidied up; only the bridal chamber remained.
The lights in the bridal room were white, brighter than those in the dining room.
Pei Zhan stood at the doorway of the bridal room for quite a while before turning off the dining room lights and heading toward his own room.
His room didn’t really need much tidying up; he just had to replace the bedding and pillows with the bright red ones used for the wedding.
After finishing all this, Pei Zhan still couldn’t sleep. He sat down at his desk, took out paper and a pen, and decided to write a letter to his new wife, whom he had never met.
He didn’t know when he would have to leave; he’d returned this time because his mother had previously been given a critical condition notice, and he’d been granted special permission to come home.
His current unit and rank did not allow him to leave his post at will.
Pei Zhan had a premonition that he would be leaving soon.
A new bride would naturally feel anxious and lost upon moving in; if he were to leave suddenly, she would surely face many difficulties.
Pei Zhan wasn’t a man of many words, but since he’d decided to marry her, he was determined to give her a future. So he decided to leave his new wife a letter, and also…
Pei Zhan rummaged through his backpack and took out the bonus he’d earned for his recent act of military merit, along with his salary from last month.
Pei Zhan usually transferred his salary to his mother, Sheng Siyang, at a set time and date, but since he’d returned in such a hurry this time, he hadn’t deposited it into her bank account, fearing he might need the money urgently.
It turned out to be a good thing he hadn’t. He’d just been promoted to battalion commander; his current salary was eighty-three, plus a hundred from his last mission bonus. After deducting the cost of his train ticket home and other expenses, he now had one hundred seventy-eight yuan left.
Pei Zhan had originally planned to put it all in the envelope, but then he realized he still needed to buy his return train ticket and would need some money for the wedding procession, so he put 100 yuan in the envelope and kept the rest for emergencies.
If there was any money left over later, he’d add it to the envelope then.
After finishing everything, Pei Zhan lay fully clothed on the wedding bed. He still couldn’t sleep, his mind filled with thoughts of tomorrow’s wedding procession, and also… on his way back today, he’d vaguely heard that his second uncle’s family seemed to be getting a new bride as well.
Logically speaking, since he was getting married tomorrow and had given a month’s notice, their wedding shouldn’t have clashed with his.
He must have heard wrong.