Sheng Siyang furrowed her brow in worry. Just as she was about to say something, an itch suddenly struck her throat, and she coughed violently several times without warning.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough—!”
Pei Zhan, who had just walked in, hurriedly handed her some water. “Mom, drink some water.”
Sheng Siyang was coughing so violently that, for a moment, she felt as if she might cough herself to death.
She clutched Pei Zhan’s hand tightly, as if she were grasping the only piece of driftwood in the vast ocean.
After finally managing to gulp down a few sips of water, the dry, itchy sensation in her throat subsided somewhat.
But she was still coughing. Between coughs, she said to Pei Zhan, “Cough, cough… Where did you go? Didn’t you say you were going to pack up and leave?”
It was rare for Sheng Siyang to speak to her son like this, so Aunt Cai quickly gave Pei Zhan a meaningful look, signaling him to comfort her.
Pei Zhan, of course, knew exactly what she meant. He quickly handed the water glass back to Sheng Siyang, urging her to take a few more sips to soothe her throat.
But Sheng Siyang refused.
Pei Zhan explained, “Comrade Yu… Yu Yin just called, so I stepped outside to take the call.”
“I explained my situation to her, and she said she understood. ”
Sheng Siyang’s eyes lit up for a moment. “Comrade Yu called?”
“She really understands you—no, no… doesn’t mind?”
Pei Zhan looked at the blue veins standing out on his mother’s hand as she clutched his. He lowered his gaze to hide the sting in his eyes and gave a soft “Mm-hmm.” “She also said she’d help me take care of the household.”
To say she’d take care of the household under these circumstances shows just how kind and considerate she really is.
“All right, all right.” Sheng Siyang finally let go of Pei Zhan’s hand and flashed her first smile of the day. “Mom doesn’t need her to take care of me. As long as she understands you and supports your work, that’s enough.”
“Mom can take care of herself.”
Pei Zhan seized the opportunity to persuade her, “Then, Mom, please don’t let your mind wander. Just focus on getting well.”
“Exactly, Siyang. You’re about to welcome a new daughter-in-law into the family, so you need to take good care of yourself. Zhan will need your help raising the children in the future,” Aunt Cai chimed in to support him.
Perhaps having put some of her worries aside, a slight flush spread across Sheng Siyang’s pale face, and she nodded repeatedly. “I understand. I understand everything.”
“As for the banquet… Mom, don’t worry about the others. If they don’t come, they don’t come. Later, I’ll have Cao Yang bring his team over—we can still celebrate just the same.”
Cao Yang was a squad leader at the local police station in Lihe District, and the guys he’d bring would all be police officers.
Sheng Siyang wanted to say that this wasn’t a good idea.
But before she could finish, Aunt Cai clapped her hands in delight and relief. “That’s great! I’ll have your uncle invite the leaders from the logistics department, too.”
“The more, the merrier!”
Zhou Han immediately stood up. “Then I’ll go tell Cao Yang right now.”
No one gave Sheng Siyang a chance to refuse; she was just too soft-hearted and too kind.
Good people get taken advantage of.
You should fight back with force against bullies.
The decision had already been made; it was useless for Sheng Siyang to argue. But this time, she didn’t feel guilty.
Everyone else was stepping all over her son—why should she still care about that little bit of family affection?
……
“Sis, where should we go wait now?”
Stepping out of the post office, Ye Dong looked at the clearly sulking siblings… oh, wait—it was just his older brother, Zhao Ping’an, who was too proud to speak up.
He looked at the two of them and felt it was time for him to step in. “Should we wait at the entrance to the county town?”
Yu Yin’s foot, which had been heading toward the steps, came to an abrupt halt.
Damn it. Because of that male cannon fodder’s probing earlier, she’d forgotten to ask where to wait for the person picking her up.
Embarrassment spread across Yu Yin’s face; even blinking couldn’t erase it. She cleared her throat. “How about… we just wait here?”
“I think they’ll probably come pick me up at the post office.”
After all, she’d called from there—anyone in their right mind would think of that, right?
Zhao Ping’an turned to stare at Yu Yin as if he’d caught her in the act. His face, which had been sullen and gruff just moments ago, now betrayed a hint of surprise and smugness. “You didn’t ask, did you?”
“Of course I did. We’ll just wait here.” Yu Yin was too proud to admit her mistake.
However, the person sent to pick up Yu Yin didn’t know she was at the post office entrance—and Pei Zhan hadn’t mentioned it either—so, following common sense, they went to the county town entrance to look for her.
But after searching the area, they couldn’t find her.
In the end, Zhao Ping’an, still worried, sneaked over to the county town gate to check—only to discover that the person had already arrived there.
Yu Yin felt both embarrassed and awkward, silently cursing the unreliable Pei Zhan a hundred times in her mind.
“Achoo!”
“Boss, did you catch a cold?”
“What are you talking about? It’s definitely the new bride missing her boss. Boss, isn’t that right?”
The two subordinates who had come to pick up Pei Zhan teased him with grins. Pei Zhan rubbed his nose, thinking to himself that she certainly wasn’t missing him—she was most likely cursing him.
As for what she might be cursing him about, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it just yet.
“Sorry, sorry,” Yu Yin hurried over to the entrance of the county town. “I’m Yu Yin. I didn’t expect you to be waiting here. I just finished calling Pei Zhan—I thought you’d be at the post office.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
The person who came to pick up Yu Yin was Ding Meng, a former comrade-in-arms of Pei Zhan’s from his military days. A native of Ning City, he happened to be working on a joint case with Guang City recently.
After finishing his work for the day, he’d learned of Pei Zhan’s wedding and had planned to go to Guang City to give a report—and celebrate on the side.
But unexpectedly, Pei Zhan received a last-minute notice from the military to return to his unit. With no other option, he had to call Ding Meng to ask him to pick her up.
Ding Meng was a burly guy, over 1.8 meters tall and muscular; even in his police uniform, his muscles were visible beneath the fabric.
When he saw Yu Yin apologizing to him, he quickly stepped back. Even more embarrassed than she was, he scratched his head. “Sis-in-law, my name is Ding Meng. Don’t worry about it. I should’ve checked with the boss before coming—it’s my fault.”
As he spoke, he actually bowed to Yu Yin in apology.
Yu Yin: “……”
Zhao Ping’an and Ye Dong, who were watching from the sidelines: “……”
The scene was truly bizarre. Since Jeeps were a rare sight in Ning’an County, Ding Meng—dressed in his public security uniform and driving a Jeep—had parked right at the entrance to the county town, instantly becoming the center of attention.
More and more people were gathering around them.
Feeling uncomfortable and afraid of drawing unnecessary attention, Yu Yin suggested saying goodbye to the village chief and leaving.
Ding Meng naturally agreed, since it took about four hours to travel from Ning’an County to Guangshi City and then on to Lihe District.
And that was assuming there were no unexpected delays; if something went wrong, it would take much longer.
Of course, Ding Meng gave Yu Yin plenty of time to say her goodbyes.
Ding Meng assumed that, in addition to bidding farewell to the village chief, Yu Yin would also need to say goodbye to her family, so he set aside a little extra time.
But to his surprise, when Yu Yin said she was going to bid farewell to the village chief, that was truly all she intended to do.
Among those seeing her off, aside from the young man she’d initially referred to as her younger brother, it seemed no one else from the Yu family had come to bid her farewell.
Ding Meng, being observant, noticed this, but he didn’t bring it up.
He quietly made a mental note of it, intending to contact Pei Zhan later to remind him.
Yu Yin had no idea that Ding Meng, who looked so rough around the edges, could be so observant, much less that he would tell Pei Zhan.
The fact that she was able to leave Cuizhu Village smoothly this time was due not only to Old Master Ye’s help but also, above all, to the support of the village chief’s family.
Yu Yin took out some candies she’d bought at the supply and marketing cooperative while waiting for everyone earlier and handed them to the village chief. She said solemnly, “ “Uncle Village Chief, thank you. Thank you for taking care of me all this time.”
It wasn’t just the help she’d received these past few days, but also the support he’d given the female supporting character in the past.
The female supporting character was constantly bullied by the Yu family, and outsiders couldn’t always intervene.
So whenever the female supporting character was being severely mistreated by the Yu family, the village chief would secretly assign her lighter chores to keep her from working herself to death.
These were all acts of kindness, and Yu Yin remembered them all on the female supporting character’s behalf.
She thought to herself that she would find an opportunity to repay him.
Village Chief Chen Dahe frowned as he looked at the black plastic bag Yu Yin handed him. He didn’t even need to open it to know what was inside—fruit-flavored candies sold at the supply and marketing cooperative in the county seat.
Candy was a luxury item, and fruit-flavored candies cost even more ration tickets.
Chen Dahe refused to take it and scolded Yu Yin, “What’s the point of buying this stuff? You, really…”
Realizing they were surrounded by outsiders and that it wasn’t appropriate to speak too plainly, Chen Dahe’s weather-beaten face grew stern. “Spend your money sparingly. From now on, you’ll be on your own. Take good care of yourself. And in the future… don’t come back.”
A lump rose in Yu Yin’s throat. She neither nodded nor shook her head; instead, she simply pressed the bag of fruit candies she’d picked out into his arms.
“This is a small token of my appreciation—not just for you, Village Chief, but also for all the uncles and aunts in the village who’ve been so kind to me. Since I’m getting married today, I’d like to ask you, Uncle Village Chief, to take this back for me so they can share in the joy.”
“Uncle Village Chief, thank you for everything you’ve done for me all these years.”
“I’m off now.”
With that, she really did leave, running toward where Ding Meng had parked the car.
Yu Yin really dreaded goodbyes. When she reached the jeep, she hurriedly pulled out the clothes she’d secretly bought for Zhao Ping’an from her new backpack and shoved them into his arms.
“I’m off. Remember to write to me.”
“Don’t forget.”
With that, she opened the car door, got in, and closed it.
The whole sequence happened in one fluid motion.
Zhao Ping’an stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly at the extra bundle in his arms.
Afraid she might start crying, Yu Yin said to Ding Meng, “Comrade Ding, we can go now.”
“Ah, oh, oh, okay.” Ding Meng was also taken aback and immediately started the engine and drove off.
It wasn’t until the car had driven a dozen or so meters away that Zhao Ping’an finally snapped out of it.
He took a couple of steps while still clutching the clothes, then quickly forced himself to stop.
Ding Meng felt inexplicably uneasy. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he asked Yu Yin, “Sis-in-law, why don’t we wait a little longer? We actually still have time.”
“No need. This is fine. It’s not like we can’t see each other again later.”
“By the way, Comrade Ding, you haven’t had lunch yet, have you? I bought you some meat buns—would you like one?”
While waiting for someone to pick her up, Yu Yin had been quite busy. Besides going to the supply and marketing cooperative to get herself a new outfit, she’d also been worried that the person coming to pick her up hadn’t eaten lunch, so she’d secretly swapped grain coupons with someone and bought a few large meat buns to bring along.
Ding Meng scratched his head sheepishly; he really hadn’t eaten lunch.
In fact, he hadn’t eaten much for breakfast either—after all, he’d been working on the case until just a moment ago.
Although the case was now closed, there were still some formalities left to wrap up.
If Pei Zhan hadn’t come to pick up his bride, the bureau wouldn’t have sent him over specifically to help.
He’d originally planned to go hungry for a while and wait until he reached the provincial capital to eat.
He hadn’t expected his new sister-in-law to be thinking of him—he felt a bit embarrassed.
Ding Meng scratched the back of his head. “Thanks, sis.”
“You’re welcome. I bought five—is that enough for you?”
“That’s plenty, plenty. I don’t eat much…”
And then, he finished all the buns, leaving not a single one behind.
Yu Yin chuckled to herself, thinking how adorable soldiers really were.
Hmm… except for a certain someone.
Author’s Note:
Pei Zhan: …I feel like I’m being deliberately disliked.
Pei Zhan: The kind with proof.
Author, chuckling and nodding wildly: ……Exactly.