Chapter 7: Choosing a Man Is, of Course, All About the Face
Huang Guixiang’s face practically bloomed with joy upon hearing this. “When it comes to choosing a man, the absolute most important thing is that he must be tall and handsome. That way, the children you have in the future will be beautiful too!”
“Your father was handsome, and look how gorgeous you are!”
Men.
They were just tools for having babies. The face and the physique were what mattered most.
Lin Wan was astonished. “But Uncle Zhang isn’t exactly good-looking!”
At most, he wasn’t eyesores or ugly. He just had the kind of honest, plain look that faded right into a crowd.
Huang Guixiang let out a sigh. “Well, it’s not like I had a choice back then!”
“Back then, your grandmother’s massive family was trying to strip us of our livelihood because your father left no male heir. I couldn’t fight off their whole family by myself, so I was kicked out with you in tow.”
“Out of all the men who wanted to marry me back then, your Uncle Zhang was the easiest to manage!”
“I brought you with me to remarry so that you could live a good life, not so I could serve a huge household at someone else’s place and let you be mistreated…”
Lin Wan felt a pang of sorrow in her chest.
As the memories flooded her, everything in them felt so vivid, as if she had personally lived through it all herself. It was truly bizarre.
System, come out and explain.
Why does the original host’s past feel so familiar to me, like it was my own life?
The system replied: [Because she is you from a parallel universe! Otherwise, if the soul and the body didn’t match perfectly, you wouldn’t have been able to transmigrate at all!]
[I am a product of a technological world, not a fantasy one. I don’t know anything about body-snatching.]
Lin Wan: “…”
So, her mom really was her biological mom!!!!
Lin Wan’s eyes instantly turned red. She threw her arms around Huang Guixiang and choked out, “Mom, you’ve suffered so much!”
Sob, sob…
She wasn’t an orphan. She was someone who had a mother’s love.
Hearing that something was wrong with Lin Wan’s voice, Huang Guixiang quickly patted her back to soothe her. “Mom didn’t do it entirely for you. Even without you, I still would have chosen your Uncle Zhang. A second marriage, especially for a widow, is really hard to pull off well.”
“Only your Uncle Zhang is selfish and detached, never giving a thought to his own children. Whatever I say goes…”
“Let’s not talk about me. Your mom isn’t stupid; I can live a good life no matter what. Anyway, tell me all about Huo Xiao.”
Lin Wan took a deep breath, knowing she couldn’t dodge this topic.
Before, when the real Huo Xiao hadn’t shown up, she could spout whatever nonsense she wanted, practically hyping him up to be the Jade Emperor. But now… she had to keep a low profile!
“Mom, Huo Xiao is an ace pilot. His status is incredibly precious. He’s a deputy regimental commander at such a young age.”
“We absolutely cannot make a scene about it. What if someone gets jealous and ruins this great match for me?”
“Plus, what if Eldest Brother, Eldest Sister-in-law, Second Brother, and Second Sister-in-law try to ride his coattails? Even though Huo Xiao definitely won’t help them, they could still use his name to flex their muscles outside! When the time comes and they get too cocky, I’ll be the one getting screwed!”
With that, she struck her own head in annoyance. “It’s all my fault. I got carried away for a moment and gloated in front of Eldest Sister-in-law and the others!”
Huang Guixiang pushed Lin Wan back and puffed out her chest. “What’s there to fear? With me around, no one’s going to stir up trouble!”
Lin Wan pulled out two lunchboxes packed with meat buns and roast chicken, setting them on the table. “My boyfriend sent these over to me. The weather is too hot to keep them for long, so let’s all share and eat!”
She had secretly retrieved them from her system space after Huo Xiao left.
The moment the Zhang family saw the buns and roast chicken on the table, their eyes gleamed like a pack of starved wolves.
In this day and age, every household was short on food, and filling one’s stomach day to day was a struggle. Eating a white flour steamed bun was a luxury, let alone meat buns and roast chicken! They hadn’t tasted meat in six months!!
Not to mention, they had been stuck eating sweet potato broth for days on end!
The moment they saw this food, half the resentment they harbored toward Huang Guixiang vanished into thin air.
Huang Guixiang felt a wave of sheer heartache. This wretched girl hadn’t even asked her before bringing out the roast chicken and buns! For such precious delicacies, they obviously should have closed the door and eaten them in secret themselves!
But at this point…
Since the food was already out, she could only clutch her aching chest and say testily:
“The buns and roast chicken were sent by Wanwan’s boyfriend. Wanwan could have eaten them all by herself, but she kept the family in mind. She held back and insisted on bringing them back so everyone could enjoy a little treat!”
Humph, eating meat today would keep them satisfied for at least three days. For the next three days, she would put two fewer sweet potatoes and two extra ladles of water into the cooking pot! That way, the family’s sweet potatoes could stretch a few days longer, barely carrying them over until Zhang Aimin received his wages.
Huang Guixiang let out a sigh of relief internally.
Zhang Aimin quickly flattered, “Wanwan is kind-hearted, just like you!”
Then, with a face full of smiles, he turned to Lin Wan. “Ah, this old Uncle Zhang is riding on our Wanwan’s coattails today. This is the very first time in my life that I’ve received a treat from the younger generation! Your older brothers and older sister have never once thought to bring back any good food to show some filial piety to me as their father!”
Hearing this, Zhang Qin lowered her head in shame. Guo Xuyang had taken her out for nice meals too, but she was too embarrassed to eat and take leftovers home. In this regard, she truly fell short compared to her stepsister Lin Wan.
No wonder her father favored her.
A look of shame also surfaced on the faces of the brothers, Zhang Hongqi and Zhang Hongjun. They had hoarded private savings and secretly taken their wives and children out for a treat before. Although it didn’t happen often, they really had never once thought about bringing something home for their biological father.
But asking them to keep the household in mind from now on was simply impossible. There were too many people in the family, and their meager private savings couldn’t possibly cover it. Since they had wives and children, didn’t they have to look out for their own small families? Furthermore, even if they gave it solely to their old father, he would just turn around and use it to please their stepmother, and then their stepmother would still end up scolding them for three days and three nights straight!
Huang Guixiang merely let out a sarcastic chuckle and didn’t pick up the conversation.
Zhang Aimin’s face was entirely full of obsequiousness.
Lin Wan’s eyes ached just looking at him.
Just then, Huang Guixiang slapped her chopsticks down and announced, “The boyfriend Wanwan found is incredibly capable. He’s a driver.”
“What?”
“A driver?”
“Didn’t Wanwan say he was a regiment commander? An Air Force regiment commander at that!” the eldest daughter-in-law, Bao Yan, asked in surprise.
Huang Guixiang didn’t blink an eye. “You must have misheard. Wanwan said her boyfriend is a driver who drives for a regiment commander!”
Both daughters-in-law couldn’t help but roll their eyes internally. Misheard, my foot. Lin Wan explicitly said it herself. They should have known long ago that not a single word out of this stepsister’s mouth was true.
Heh~
Turning a driver into a regiment commander—she really knew how to brag. Her vanity was simply too excessive. Besides, how could someone driving a car compare to someone flying a plane!
Huang Guixiang spoke up, “Alright, the matter isn’t finalized yet, so no one is allowed to go gossiping outside. If anyone’s big mouth ruins this good marriage for Wanwan, watch how I deal with you!”
“If Wanwan ends up going to the countryside, half of your father’s monthly wages and coupons will be sent to her from now on!”
These words were an absolute checkmate.
The expressions of everyone in the Zhang family shifted collectively.
Zhang Aimin immediately declared like a loyal sycophant, “If Wanwan goes to the countryside, I’ll send the vast majority of my wages to her! Life in the rural areas is tough; we can get by somehow here in the city!”
“Eldest and Second son have been working for so many years now, it’s about time they start supporting me in my old age anyway!”
Hearing this, the sons and daughters-in-law of the Zhang family felt their souls nearly leave their bodies out of sheer terror. They hurriedly followed suit to state their positions, promising that they absolutely wouldn’t go blabbing outside, would resolutely safeguard Lin Wan’s interests, and would definitely not let her go to the countryside.
Only Zhang Qin felt an incredibly complicated mix of emotions in her heart.
A driver?
Would Lin Wan actually settle for that? Could this just be a smokescreen thrown out by Lin Wan to lower her guard, with the ultimate goal still being to steal Guo Xuyang? Perhaps out of fear that Guo Xuyang wouldn’t agree, she was planning to arrange their weddings on the exact same day to pull off a partner-swapping trick?
Lin Wan had no idea what was running through Zhang Qin’s brain. If she did, she would definitely suspect whether her stepsister was a webnovel author who had transmigrated here too! This wasn’t the ancient era—partner-swapping, and involving a military marriage at that, how could it possibly be that easy!
Unless she was the author of the original book.
Writing absolute garbage!
Zhang Aimin spoke up again, “Wanwan has found a boyfriend, and he works in a highly sought-after profession, so her future won’t be bad! Now, neither of the two daughters in my Zhang family has to go to the countryside! It’s a cause for massive celebration!”
“I actually have another piece of good news here, so it counts as a double blessing!”
Zhang Hongqi quickly asked, “What good news, Dad?”
Zhang Aimin broke into a hearty laugh. “Our Factory Director Tao pushed his wife’s oldest nephew onto me to be my apprentice. He promised that as long as I train him well, he’ll let me take the exam for a level-eight worker next year!”
The moment everyone heard this, they instantly grew ecstatic, and all previous unpleasantness vanished in a flash.
A level-eight worker!
The monthly wage could rise to over a hundred yuan, and various ration coupons would increase as well. Crucially, the retirement pension would be significantly higher too! This was truly a piece of news even better than Lin Wan finding a boyfriend.
Only Lin Wan was left utterly flabbergasted.
They were completely done for!
How was this a good thing? It was clearly a massive, gaping trap!!! It was a major turning point in the book right before the Zhang family became total cannon fodder!
