“Ruan Xining, I think you did this on purpose. My cousin doesn’t have a man at all. I don’t want my cousin to get married.”
After seeing Director Sun leave, Ruan Nianzhi turned around and glared viciously at Ruan Xining.
Seeing how fiercely she was defending Song Huizhi, Wen Yunru’s heart grew even colder. No wonder she had always felt that, although Nianzhi was her own daughter, there seemed to be an invisible barrier between them.
Before, she had thought it was because she was biased and simply loved her eldest daughter more. Only now did she realize that Ruan Nianzhi had probably known who her biological mother was from an early age, which was why she had always kept her distance from her.
“Nianzhi, tell me, is your Cousin your biological mother, or am I your biological mother?
“Why have you been clinging to your Cousin ever since you were little?”
Wen Yunru’s expression darkened as she questioned her.
“Mom, are you saying that my sister isn’t your biological daughter?
“But my sister does look more like Dad and Cousin. Now that I think about it, she really doesn’t look much like anyone from the Wen family.”
Ruan Xining covered her mouth and exclaimed in feigned surprise.
Cold sweat broke out across Ruan Jianwei’s forehead.
“Your Cousin is a relative from our side of the family. Of course your sister would naturally resemble her.”
“But I don’t think you and Cousin look alike at all, Dad.”
As Ruan Xining spoke, she secretly pinched Huo Tingyuan.
True to his military background, Huo Tingyuan’s powers of observation were far sharper than ordinary people’s. Ruan Xining only had to give him a meaningful glance, and he immediately understood what was happening.
He followed her lead and said solemnly, “I think your sister looks like the child of your father and your Cousin.”
His words instantly exploded among the crowd. Even Ruan Xining had not expected him to be so direct.
Wen Yunru stared at Huo Tingyuan in shock.
Ruan Jianwei’s face turned green with rage, but more than anything, he was filled with panic and unease.
“Huo Tingyuan, shut up!”
After shouting at him, he hurriedly turned to Wen Yunru and explained, “Huizhi and I are relatives, and Nianzhi resembles people from our side of the family, so naturally she looks more like Huizhi.”
“Jianwei, why are you getting so worked up? I didn’t even say anything. You and Huizhi are cousins, so how could you possibly do anything improper? Even if other people say such things, I wouldn’t believe them.”
Wen Yunru put on an understanding expression.
Ruan Jianwei finally breathed a sigh of relief, but once something was overheard, people could always embellish it and spread it even further.
Especially with Ruan Xining adding fuel to the fire.
“Did you hear? Song Huizhi has a man outside.”
“I know about that. I heard her sister-in-law caught them red-handed while they were in bed together!”
“Exactly! How embarrassing. Even our neighborhood director knew about it and told them to hurry up and get married. Isn’t that immoral and a violation of proper conduct? But who is the man? Song Huizhi certainly kept him well hidden.”
“Who else could it be? Hmph, it could only be Ruan Jianwei that kept the man. The whole cousin excuse is nothing but a cover. I heard Song Huizhi was Ruan Jianwei’s fiancée back in their hometown.
“Ruan Jianwei married Wen Yunru entirely for the money of her maternal family.”
“Exactly, exactly. I’ve long suspected that something was going on between Song Huizhi and Ruan Jianwei. I’ve caught the two of them going out alone several times. Who knows if they were sneaking off somewhere to fool around.
“Just look at how much Nianzhi resembles Song Huizhi. She must be their daughter, born to Song Huizhi and Ruan Jianwei and then handed over to Wen Yunru to raise.”
In less than a day, the rumors had spread everywhere, with everyone saying that there was something improper between Ruan Jianwei and Song Huizhi.
Ruan Xining and Wen Yunru still knew nothing about this. At noon, Huo Tingyuan had lunch at the Ruan family home. After spending some time alone with Ruan Xining, he reluctantly prepared to leave.
“Comrade Ruan Xining, I’ll submit the marriage application as soon as possible. Once it’s approved, I’ll come and take you home.”
Huo Tingyuan’s lips were pressed into a cold, firm line. His expression remained impassive, but his gaze lingered on her, unwilling to move away.
“I’ll wait for you!”
Ruan Xining’s clear eyes were filled with sincerity. The thought of finally meeting Huo Tingyuan again only to have him leave so soon filled her eyes with reluctance.
She rose onto her slender toes and suddenly pressed her soft lips against his.
The moment he felt that softness against his lips, Huo Tingyuan’s body stiffened. His heart suddenly burned, while a mixture of sweetness and astringent happiness surged through him.
“Okay!”
His heart was pounding, yet because of his insecurity, he did not dare raise his arms to embrace her. After saying that, he fled as though escaping.
Only after watching him leave did Ruan Xining return to her room and open the red envelopes Huo Tingyuan had given her.
There were six red envelopes in total.
Each one was thickly packed. When she opened them, she saw stacks of ten-yuan notes.
Two of the red envelopes contained twenty notes each, two others contained a total of 666 yuan, and the remaining two were stuffed completely full, adding up to another 1,000 yuan.
These days, even in the countryside, paying more than one or two hundred yuan in bride price for a wife would be considered extremely generous. Even in the city, the standard wedding necessities, together with the bride price, would probably cost around 1,000 yuan.
A family that could afford those wedding necessities along with the bride price was certainly not an ordinary family. Ruan Xining was still somewhat astonished that the Huo family had actually brought out so much money.
Wasn’t the Huo family supposed to be from the countryside, with no one in the family holding a proper job and barely enough money to get by, with the entire family relying on Huo Tingyuan?
Thinking about the savings book Huo Tingyuan had given her the previous day, Ruan Xining had not yet had a chance to look at it.
Now she opened it, and when she saw the amount written inside, she was dumbfounded again.
A full 2,000 yuan.
In the past, Ruan Xining had never really understood the value of money. But in her previous life, after giving her entire fortune to the Su family in order to please Su Zhixu, she had finally learned just how expensive everyday necessities were.
The Su family had three people with stable jobs, yet without her financial help, they had only managed to save 1,000 yuan over all those years.
Huo Tingyuan had to support an entire household by himself. How had he managed to save so much money? Did he never eat or drink?
And the money the Huo family had given her alone was nearly 2,000 yuan.
What Ruan Xining did not know was that, among the money in the Huo family’s red envelopes, 1,000 yuan had come from Huo Tingyuan himself. In the countryside, one or two hundred yuan was usually enough for a man to marry a wife.
But the elderly Huo couple wanted to show their respect toward the Ruan family, so they scraped together more than 800 yuan from everywhere they could.
The remaining 1,000 yuan had been prepared by Huo Tingyuan out of his guilt toward Ruan Xining and his desire to let her marry him with honor and dignity.
Ruan Xining had not even had time to put the money away when the door suddenly opened.
When Ruan Nianzhi saw the stacks of ten-yuan notes scattered all over the bed, she rubbed her eyes again as though she had seen a ghost.
“Sister, where did you get so much money?
“Could Mom have secretly prepared your dowry?”
“If Mom has already prepared a dowry for you, why would she still ask Dad to prepare another one?”
Ruan Nianzhi was furious.
Every bit of money given to Ruan Xining meant one less bit for herself.
“I’ll go tell Dad right now.”
She angrily ran into the other room and told Ruan Jianwei everything.
“Yunru, what do you mean by this? Why didn’t you tell me that you prepared a dowry for Xining?
“And you still wanted me to prepare another one for her separately. If Nianzhi hadn’t seen it, were you planning to keep this from me?
“No wonder Nianzhi isn’t close to you. What kind of mother favors one daughter this much?”
Wen Yunru looked completely bewildered.
She had indeed intended to prepare a separate dowry for her daughter. After all, if she did not give it to her daughter, wouldn’t it only benefit outsiders?
But she had not even had the chance to prepare anything yet.
“I haven’t prepared a dowry for Xining. Nianzhi, you’re becoming more and more skilled at lying.”
“Dad, look at how biased Mom is. If that huge pile of money on Sister’s bed wasn’t prepared by Mom, then who else could have given it to her?”
“Of course it was given to me by my fiancé today as my bride price.”
Ruan Xining’s expression turned cold, and she deliberately raised her voice.
“Nianzhi, I don’t understand why you’ve suddenly changed, becoming someone who lies about everything.
“You didn’t want to marry Huo Tingyuan, so I married him in your place. Now that you’ve seen how much bride price Huo Tingyuan gave me, are you jealous again?”