“Lin family! I’ve left the keys to the old house in the living room. From now on, we’ll go our separate ways. Don’t come looking for me if nothing’s wrong—and especially don’t come looking for me if something is.”
Lin Daheng shouted toward the neighboring house before opening the passenger door of the truck and quickly climbing in.
The old neighbors were still gathered outside, unwilling to leave.
After all, it wasn’t every day that they got to witness a father and his biological son severing ties so the father could choose his stepson instead.
Some people could live their entire lives without ever seeing something like this happen.
Wang Fenglan gently urged Lin Zhaoyang into the seat behind the front passenger seat.
Lin Xinhua sat directly behind Zou Zhengting. The naive boy was still touched that Zou Zhengting had voluntarily come to help.
“Brother Zhengting, you’re a good person. I won’t badmouth you anymore.”
Lin Xinhua fidgeted in his seat, touching everything around him like an excited country bumpkin seeing the big city for the first time.
Zou Zhengting chuckled quietly.
So the kid had just confessed that he’d spent the last two years talking behind his back.
“Uncle, we’re going to Qinghe Street, right?”
Naturally, Zou Zhengting assumed he was about to become Lin Zhaoyang’s neighbor.
To his surprise, Lin Daheng shook his head.
“No. We’re going to the factory dormitory. Your Aunt Zhaoyang’s mother and I applied for employee housing.”
Zou Zhengting was genuinely surprised.
A trace of disappointment crossed his heart, but he said nothing and simply drove the truck toward the Agricultural Machinery Factory.
About fifteen minutes later, the truck stopped downstairs at the dormitory building the Lin family had been assigned.
After parking, Zou Zhengting got out, walked around to the back, climbed into the truck bed, and began handing the luggage down to Lin Daheng and the others.
Lin Zhaoyang stood behind her parents with her brother, waiting her turn.
After Lin Xinhua took his load and walked away, she reached out both hands.
Zou Zhengting had already picked up something to hand over.
But the moment he saw her fair hands and looked up into her face, he pulled his hands back.
“Go sit in the truck and rest. We’ll carry everything. You’re a young lady—don’t get heatstroke.”
“Just give me something light.”
If she really sat in the truck while everyone else worked, how would that look?
Zou Zhengting glanced around, found two washbasins, and placed them in her hands.
Holding the two empty basins, Lin Zhaoyang laughed in exasperation.
She lightly tapped him on the head with one of the basins.
“Do you think carrying these is any different from carrying nothing at all?”
Back when they were dating, he had always been like this.
No matter how much there was to carry, if he could manage it himself, he’d rather overload both arms than let Lin Zhaoyang carry anything.
Even after getting bonked on the head, Zou Zhengting merely laughed softly.
Only then did he bend down again, grab several pots, bowls, and kitchen utensils, and place them inside the basins.
The apartment Lin Daheng had been assigned was on the third floor.
It was a two-bedroom unit in an excellent location.
Recently, some employees had been transferred, leaving several dormitories vacant.
Those units had become the object of fierce competition among workers waiting for housing assignments.
For the past few days, people had been bringing gifts to the factory leaders’ homes in hopes of securing one.
Originally, no one had considered Lin Daheng a competitor.
Yet in the end, he not only received one of the vacant apartments first, but also got the best two-bedroom unit.
Many people at the factory were green with envy.
Still, envy was all they could manage.
Lin Daheng and Wang Fenglan had worked there for more than twenty years.
They had qualified for factory housing long ago but had voluntarily given up their eligibility because they already had somewhere to live, allowing workers in greater need to receive housing first.
Now that Lin Daheng had severed ties with his family and urgently needed a place to live, combined with both spouses’ seniority and Lin Daheng’s status as a senior technician, no one could honestly accuse the factory leaders of favoritism.
However, because so many people had been watching those vacant apartments, news of Lin Daheng severing ties with Lin Rende spread through the factory almost immediately.
Naturally, word also spread that Lin Zhaoyang’s cousin Nini had stolen her fiancé yet again.
Carrying the washbasins upstairs, Lin Zhaoyang found her doorway completely packed with neighbors.
She couldn’t even squeeze through.
“Excuse me, uncles and aunties. Please let me through.”
The crowd shifted aside, opening a path for her.
Huang Chunxiu, a neighbor from downstairs, looked Lin Zhaoyang up and down before asking,
“Lin Zhaoyang, your engagement to Yang Wen fell through too? Doesn’t that mean you’ve failed to get married twice now?”
There was obvious gloating in her voice.
Lin Zhaoyang heard it clearly, ignored her, and walked straight inside.
Huang Chunxiu hurried after her.
“I have a nephew on my mother’s side who’s only two years older than you. He’s honest and hardworking. With me acting as matchmaker, he definitely won’t mind that you’ve almost gotten married twice. How about you two meet tonight?”
Ever since everyone learned that Lin Zhaoyang’s marriage to Yang Wen had fallen through, quite a few people had wanted to introduce someone to her.
Once Huang Chunxiu spoke up, those who had been hesitant suddenly thought:
If she could shamelessly recommend a man like her nephew, why shouldn’t they?
“Zhaoyang, don’t listen to Huang Chunxiu.”
Another aunt squeezed in.
“Her mother’s family is a complete mess. More than ten people are crammed into two tiny rooms. If you marry into that family, you’ll only suffer. And her nephew loafs around all day. How is he honest?”
She grabbed Lin Zhaoyang’s arm.
“I have a nephew you should meet. He’s your age. His education and job aren’t as good as yours, but he’s truly honest. He doesn’t drink or smoke, loves his family, and is very filial…”
Huang Chunxiu immediately exploded.
“My nephew’s no good? Then what about yours?”
She spat on the ground.
“Other people may not know because you’ve hidden it well, but you can’t fool me. Your nephew gambles! His salary isn’t even enough to cover his gambling debts. Didn’t you lend money to your family just last month to pay them off?”
“And your nephew is any better?”
The other woman shot back.
“Why don’t you mention how he’s always flirting with the widow in his alley? Or how he climbed over her wall in the middle of the night and broke his leg?”
The two women began arguing right in front of the Lin family’s door.
Seeing the chaos, a younger aunt quietly pulled Lin Zhaoyang into the kitchen.
“Zhaoyang, neither of their candidates is any good. Let me introduce someone. He’s my older sister’s son. He doesn’t visit prostitutes, doesn’t gamble, and has no bad habits. My sister’s family is fairly well-off too…”
Just then, Huang Chunxiu followed them in and happened to overhear.
She immediately sneered.
“Your sister’s son doesn’t gamble or fool around, sure—but why don’t you tell everyone he’s shorter than Lin Zhaoyang?”
“If he’s really such a great catch, why hasn’t he found a wife yet? A grown man who’s not even five foot three—what’s the difference between that and being disabled?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” the younger aunt shouted angrily.
“My nephew is five foot four!”
“Round it off and he’s still only five foot three!”
Huang Chunxiu scoffed.
“And you have the nerve to introduce someone like that to Lin Zhaoyang? What kind of intentions do you have? Aren’t you afraid she’ll end up having dwarf children?”
“I’m going to rip your filthy mouth apart!”
The three women refused to back down.
Within moments, they were actually fighting inside the Lin family’s new apartment.
Furious, Lin Zhaoyang slammed the two washbasins together with a loud clang and shouted,
“If you want to fight, get out of my house and do it somewhere else! Who are you putting on a show for here? If you don’t stop, I’m calling the factory security office!”
Downstairs, Lin Daheng and Wang Fenglan had been stopped by neighbors trying to chat with them.
The moment they heard the commotion from upstairs, they hurriedly brushed everyone aside and ran up.
“Zhaoyang! What’s going on?”
Pushing through the crowd at the doorway, Lin Daheng saw his daughter trying to shove Huang Chunxiu and the other two women outside.
“Lin Daheng!”
Huang Chunxiu snapped.
“You’ve spoiled your daughter rotten! She’s got absolutely no manners! What kind of person shouts at her neighbors and pushes them around like this?”