013: The Phone Call and Marrying a Daughter-in-Law
After finishing breakfast and mailing the letters, the three of them sat in a row at the bus stop at the entrance to the county seat.
As time passed, the sky grew brighter and brighter, and the crowd grew larger and larger.
Especially at the entrance to the county seat, many people from nearby villages were coming in carrying goods on their shoulders. There were loads upon loads, as well as oxcarts and tractors pulling people—there seemed to be an unusually large number of oxcarts and tractors today.
Yu Yin asked, “What’s the occasion today? Why are there so many people?”
“It’s market day,” Ye Dong replied. “Today is the county town’s market day. Oh, right—it’s also the day they welcome back the educated youth and those who were sent down to the countryside, so there are especially many people and vehicles today. Some people from our village have come too.”
Yu Yin asked, “Who’s here?”
“The village chief, the village secretary, and the brigade leader definitely won’t be here,” Ye Dong said, pursing his lips.
Chen Shan, as village secretary, would certainly never do this kind of backbreaking work involving transporting people, and Brigade Leader Zhao Liqiang—Chen Shan’s brother-in-law—would also refuse to do it, given his status.
So all the tiring, thankless work in the village fell to the village chief or the accountant.
Oh, right—the accountant was actually Ye Dong’s own father. He’d been pushed into the position back then; otherwise, the role would surely have gone to someone from the secretary’s camp.
Don’t let Ye Dong’s young age and carefree demeanor fool you—he knows more about village affairs than anyone else.
“Sis, should we go tell Uncle Village Chief?” Ye Dong asked Yu Yin.
Yu Yin thought for a moment. “Let’s wait a bit. If the people from the provincial capital arrive and the village chief hasn’t left yet, we’ll go over and say hello.”
“That’ll take forever.”
Actually, it wouldn’t take that long. If the groom-to-be had already received the assignment notice, he should have contacted a comrade on a business trip nearby to come pick him up. At the same time, he would have had relatives on the matchmaker’s side go to the village to notify everyone of the sudden change in the wedding plans.
Sure enough, the very next second, Yu Yin saw a somewhat familiar figure rushing over on a bicycle.
Yu Yin immediately stood up and went over to stop him.
“Hey, sis, where are you going?” Seeing Yu Yin stand up, Ye Dong also stood up and called out.
But before he could fully rise, a sudden tug pulled him back, and a sinister voice rang out from behind him, “Who are you calling ‘sis’?”
“Stay right there! Don’t move!”
Then, a figure darted out from behind Ye Dong—it was Zhao Ping’an, who had been following him.
Ye Dong scratched his head; he couldn’t shake the feeling that his older brother had been giving him the cold shoulder these past couple of days.
It must be his imagination.
“Hello, are you on your way to Cuizhu Village to find the eldest brother of the Yu family?”
The man on the bicycle was the matchmaker’s nephew. After Yu Yin stopped him, he asked in confusion, “How did you know?”
“I’m a member of the Yu family. Here’s my proof.” She handed him the certificate issued by the village. “Did something happen on your way from the provincial capital to pick up the bride?”
She deliberately left her name and the reason she knew about the incident vague.
Fortunately, the man was careless and didn’t notice this detail.
Seeing that the Yu family was actually in the county seat—which would save him the trouble of cycling out to the countryside—his mood instantly improved.
“So you’ve come to the county seat, then? That’s perfect. We just got a call from the provincial capital saying the groom suddenly received a notice from his unit to return to duty. He can’t make it here, so he asked you to wait in the county seat for his comrade to pick you up and take you to the provincial capital.”
“Since you’re here, I won’t have to make another trip. By the way, do you want to call the groom? He probably hasn’t gone far yet. It wouldn’t be right for you two to be separated so soon after getting married.”
The man had been paid to go to the countryside to deliver the notice, but since he’d run into the person he was supposed to notify before even leaving the county, he felt a bit guilty.
After all, the other party had paid him handsomely.
“Call him?” Yu Yin hadn’t expected this turn of events.
“We’re not calling!” Before Yu Yin could answer, Zhao Ping’an, who had caught up with them, overheard the conversation. He realized that the groom wasn’t even coming to pick her up—how dissatisfied must he be to refuse to do so? This arranged marriage was indeed problematic.
The Yu family certainly had ulterior motives.
Zhao Ping’an glared fiercely at the man and pulled Yu Yin behind him.
The man was startled. It was the first time he’d seen such a vicious little wolf cub, and he felt a chill run down his spine.
“Ping’an,” Yu Yin patted Zhao Ping’an on the shoulder and said to the man, “I’m sorry, my brother has a bit of a misunderstanding.”
The man gave a dry chuckle. “I understand, I understand.”
Though he said that, he hurriedly took two steps back.
Yu Yin placed both hands on Zhao Ping’an’s shoulders, making him look at her. “Ping’an, he’s a soldier. It’s perfectly normal for him to have to leave on short notice for a mission.”
Zhao Ping’an’s face remained cold.
On one hand, he wanted to be understanding—after all, the man was a soldier, and he admired soldiers more than anyone.
But on the other hand, the man had been disrespectful to his sister. Although he’d always refused to call Yu Yin “sister,” in reality, he’d long since come to regard her as his own flesh-and-blood sister—his only family in the world.
Zhao Ping’an snorted and turned his face away.
Yu Yin sensed that Ping’an’s attitude had softened. She patted his head soothingly and asked the man who had delivered the message, “Sir, I’m sorry, but could you give me his phone number?”
Yu Yin’s impression of the male supporting character was based entirely on the book’s description. Since she had now married into his family, regardless of what the future held, she wanted to get to know him better if possible.
“…Sure, sure.” With that, the man quickly pulled out the phone number he’d jotted down and handed it to Yu Yin.
Yu Yin took it and said thank you.
After the man left, Yu Yin took Zhao Ping’an by the hand—with Ye Dong trailing behind them like a little tail—and headed to the post office.
The post office was now fully open for business. Yu Yin paid the fee and entered the only phone booth inside.
Yu Yin was a little nervous. She’d wanted Zhao Ping’an to come in and keep her company, but the young man was still sulking; he was standing at the door of the phone booth with Ye Dong, refusing to come in.
With no other choice, Yu Yin had to steel herself and make the call to her future husband, who was being dragged into this against his will.
‘Beep, beep, beep—’
The phone rang several times before someone picked up.
“Hello, who’s calling?”
Yu Yin took a deep breath. “Hello, sorry to bother you. I’m looking for Comrade Pei… Pei Zhan. Is he still there?”
Zhao Ping’an, standing outside the door, pricked up his ears to eavesdrop.
The voice on the other end of the line was so loud that even Zhao Ping’an, eavesdropping from outside, could hear it through the receiver.
“Who are you? He just got a mission assignment and is about to leave.”
So he hadn’t left yet. Yu Yin took another deep breath to sound calmer. “Hello, I’m Yu Yin, Pei Zhan’s new wife. Could you please ask Comrade Pei Zhan to come and take this call?”
“Ah, so you’re Zhan’s new wife?!”
“All right, all right. Hold on a moment—I’ll have him come over to take the call right now.”
Immediately afterward, there were two clangs—perhaps he’d bumped into something in his haste—followed by a call of “Zhan!”
“Zhan, your new wife is on the phone—”
Yu Yin: “……”
Zhao Ping’an and Ye Dong, who had been eavesdropping: “……”
What a feisty old man.
Pei Zhan, who had been about to leave, froze. “My wife?”
“Yeah, who else would it be but your wife? Hurry up! Don’t worry about what’s going on here—those with black hearts will get what’s coming to them someday.” With that, the old man shot a fierce glare at Zhang Guihua, who was standing nearby, rounding up relatives and sending them off.
Over there, Zhang Guihua had long since noticed the commotion, especially after hearing that Pei Zhan’s country wife had actually called the provincial capital on her own—she was just waiting to see the show.
This country wife calling must mean she’s about to cause a scene because Pei Zhan didn’t go to pick her up.
Let her make a scene—it would be well worth the money they spent on the matchmaker to find him a “good wife.”
If she made a complete fool of herself on her very first day of marriage, no one in the Pei family of Guiyuanfang would ever compare her to that sickly wretch, Sheng Siyang, again.
What bad luck.
Zhang Guihua, gloating over his misfortune and disregarding her status as Pei Zhan’s second aunt, shouted, “Zhan! Your wife is on the phone—you’d better explain yourself properly. Don’t start a fight on your very first day of marriage.”
When Zhang Guihua shouted that, even those who hadn’t been paying attention to Pei Zhan’s side turned to look.
It was quite a bustling scene at Guiyuan Fang today. No one had expected that two branches of the same Pei family would be holding wedding ceremonies on the same day—one marrying a country girl from a remote mountainous area, and the other marrying a girl from the provincial capital.
Now, the show was about to begin.