Chapter 17: Contract Marriage
“Lin Wan, you spread the news that you’re marrying me. How do you plan to wrap this up?”
Huo Xiao’s deep, ink-black eyes locked onto her. Lin Wan felt an overwhelming sense that she would never be able to escape his grasp.
“I’ve already passed the exam for the job at the Huacheng Post Office. Now that I have a job, I don’t have to go to the countryside anymore.”
“Later on, I’ll just tell my mom and the family that we weren’t a good match and broke up.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t hold you back!”
The corners of Huo Xiao’s lips curled into a cold smirk. “Comrade Lin Wan, even a breakup requires a valid reason.”
“I am an active-duty military officer!”
“Conduct and morality are of paramount importance in the military. If someone seizes upon the fact that I called off a marriage for no apparent reason and reports me for loose moral conduct, playing with a young woman’s affections, my entire future will be ruined!”
Lin Wan truly hadn’t thought about that layer of consequence.
A wave of intense guilt welled up inside her, and she hurriedly apologized, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I had a total slip of the tongue and didn’t think it through. I’ve caused you so much trouble!”
“How about this—we push the blame for the breakup entirely onto me. I’ll say I felt the two of us weren’t a good match and insisted on calling it off.”
Huo Xiao slightly lifted his eyelids, his long eyelashes obscuring the faint glint in his eyes. “Given my qualifications, what could possibly be your reason for breaking up? No matter how grand or high-sounding a reason you give, it won’t hold water. Because dating without the intention of marriage is nothing short of hooliganism! The reasons people deduce on their own will be more than enough to completely destroy your reputation! If that happens, not only will you lose the job you just tested into, but if someone decides to add fuel to the fire and report you, you might even be dragged through the streets for public shaming.”
Lin Wan: “!!!!”
Holy crap!
She really hadn’t thought that deeply into it!
Without even looking far, the nosy aunts and older women in their family compound would definitely start whispering: If she’s pushing for a breakup with a guy of Huo Xiao’s caliber, she must have done something incredibly shameful to cause it!
Lin Wan wanted to slap her own mouth.
Stupid mouth! Why do you always love to talk absolute nonsense?
She racked her brains until her head ached, but she couldn’t come up with a single solution.
She asked weakly, “Then… can the two of us get married for real?”
“Get married first, then get a divorce later.”
“We can just frame it as domestic conflict and an irreconcilable breakdown of affection.”
“That way, no one can gossip, and no one can catch a flaw to use against us!”
Huo Xiao let out a soft, mocking scoff.
He shifted his gaze away and looked straight ahead at the road.
Lin Wan quickly pressed her palms together, pleading pitifully, “I am truly, deeply sorry. I really didn’t expect a slip of the tongue would bring so much trouble to you!”
“I know I was wrong, and I will definitely change in the future!”
“It’s my fault for turning you from a single young man into a divorced man. I… can I compensate you financially?”
She had money. She had piles of supplies. She had ration coupons. Although she didn’t dare pull them out right in front of Huo Xiao, this was the ultimate source of her confidence.
“Once I start working, I’ll give you my entire salary!”
“How about I give it to you for three consecutive years?”
She had checked the details with Big Sister Gao. An apprentice worker—which was essentially a mail carrier on probation—earned 26 yuan a month, which would increase to 35 yuan once they became a permanent employee. The apprentice period lasted for a total of two years.
During the first year, they would shadow someone to deliver mail, and in the second year, they would deliver mail independently before taking an evaluation to become a permanent employee.
An apprentice’s salary amounted to 312 yuan for the first year, making it 624 yuan for two years. After becoming permanent, it would be 420 yuan for a year, bringing the total to 1,044 yuan.
A thousand yuan was an absolute fortune in this day and age. But using it to buy out Huo Xiao’s first marriage… it still seemed like Huo Xiao was getting the short end of the stick.
Seeing that Huo Xiao remained silent, Lin Wan’s confidence dwindled even further. She slowly extended one more finger. “How about… four, four years?”
Her voice carried a faint, reluctant whine.
Huo Xiao’s heart suddenly softened.
His voice involuntarily grew a fraction gentler, and the frequency of his fingers tapping the steering wheel slowed down. “I agree to the marriage.”
“However, the next few years are a critical phase for my career, so we cannot get a divorce.”
“Let’s sign a three-year agreement.”
“Within three years after marriage, we cannot divorce for any reason whatsoever. Furthermore, we must cooperate with each other to fulfill the social and family responsibilities expected of a married couple!”
Lin Wan nodded rapidly like a chicken pecking at grain.
In this matter, she truly didn’t possess a single shred of leverage to bargain.
Huo Xiao continued, “My parents have rather high expectations for my significant other. My father listens entirely to my mother. After I marry you, she will likely make things difficult for you and your family because I married without her consent. If you encounter that kind of situation, you and your family don’t need to be polite to her.”
“Of course, if you can’t accept this, we don’t have to marry. But Comrade Lin Wan, you’d better come up with a better alternative solution!”
Lin Wan couldn’t think of a single alternative.
If Huo Xiao phrased it this way, his mother must be an incredibly difficult and formidable person.
She asked tentatively, “Is it really okay to not be polite? She is your biological mother after all.”
Huo Xiao turned his head to lock eyes with her earnestly. “No need to be polite at all!”
Lin Wan felt as though her brain had short-circuited; she actually caught a fleeting flash of anticipation in his eyes.
What the hell? She must have misseen it!
“I was raised by my grandparents!” Huo Xiao added. “Aside from my grandparents, you don’t need to show consideration or politeness to anyone else.”
“Of course, if there are any difficult matters, just push them onto me. I’ll handle them!”
Lin Wan nodded hurriedly. “I get it! Loving and devoted in front of others, but completely managing our own affairs behind closed doors!”
The two of them reached a consensus.
Lin Wan pulled out her notebook and drafted a handwritten marriage agreement. Huo Xiao offered a few minor suggestions, and both parties signed their names and pressed their thumbprints onto it.
Huo Xiao gathered Lin Wan’s copy as well. “Let me keep it. If this kind of document ever leaks out…”
Lin Wan quickly raised her hand. “I know, if it leaks out, the impact on your career will be catastrophic!”
“Anyway, aren’t you investigating me? Since you’re marrying me, does that mean you no longer suspect me of being a foreign spy or a bad element?”
“Marrying me… you aren’t planning to use me as bait to fish for something, are you?”
If so, he wouldn’t catch a damn thing! Besides, she didn’t want to be constantly watched. If she was being monitored, how was she supposed to take supplies out of her space to liquidate them for cash?
Huo Xiao let out a soft chuckle. “The organization has already thoroughly cleared your background.”
The suspicion was completely lifted? Lin Wan instantly grew ecstatic.
As she was about to step out of the car, a thought suddenly struck her. “I’m not following the military base, okay!”
She had just secured this job; she needed to max out her system points before considering switching maps! In order to investigate the movements of Xu Hui and Luo Yong just now, her points had already been scammed down to almost rock bottom by the system.
Huo Xiao stepped out of the car and handed her the mesh bag containing the aluminum lunchboxes. “That’s fine!”
“Go to the neighborhood subdistrict committee this afternoon to get a marriage referral letter. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning to register our certificate.”
Lin Wan swung the mesh bag in her hand and nodded. “Alright!”
Watching the retreating view of Huo Xiao driving away, Lin Wan felt a thoroughly complicated mix of emotions in her heart. She muttered to herself as she walked back.
“No wonder he let me order whatever I wanted even though he wouldn’t let me eat it.”
The corners of her lips curled up uncontrollably, utterly impossible to suppress. Humming a tune, she bounded up the stairs. “What a beautiful jasmine flower…”
“Little Wan is back?”
“My word, why are you so happy?”
“So many lunchboxes! What kind of wonderful thing happened to you?”
The neighbors swiftly swarmed around her. Lin Wan said with a beaming smile, “I tested into a job!”
“A job at the post office!”
The neighbors: “!!!!”
Holy crap!
A job at the post office!
Just her? Lin Wan actually passed?
A girl who used to get goose eggs on her school exams can actually test into the post office?
