Chapter 5: A Great Match
Su Yongshi laughed to ease the tension. “Xiao He, your grandma just has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. She was just joking with you, don’t take it to heart.”
Su He smiled but didn’t respond.
Today wasn’t even a rest day—Su Yongshi wouldn’t have come back for no reason.
Old Madam Su suspected her second son had something to say, so she pulled him into the east room and shut the door behind them.
Su Xiaoman peeked her head out from the west room, crouched low, and tiptoed to the east room door, pressing her ear against it to eavesdrop.
Su He: “…”
This little girl was clearly a veteran at this—she must’ve done it plenty of times before!
Then… Su He joined her.
“Yongshi, why didn’t you bring Jinbao back? I’m dying to know if my precious big grandson has gotten chubbier!”
“Mom, Jinbao’s in school! I’ll bring him back during the holidays to see you. But this time I came back because I have some great news to tell you.”
Old Madam Su’s eyes lit up. “What great news?”
“Our textile factory’s Deputy Director Zhao has a son named Zhao Bin. He’s twenty-five this year, tall, handsome, gentle, and refined. He’s just been picky and hasn’t found the right one to marry. I think he’d be perfect for our Su He.
I brought it up with Deputy Director Zhao, and he was very pleased with the idea too.
So I was thinking of taking Su He to the county for a proper introduction. If this works out, she’ll have landed herself in a goldmine!”
Old Madam Su’s eyes sparkled. “Really? That dead girl could actually be this lucky?
You probably don’t know yet—yesterday she jumped into the river and got saved by some wild man. I’ve been worrying no one would ever marry her!
Besides, she’s useless at everything, always looking like she’s in mourning—how could the Deputy Director’s son like her?”
Su Yongshi had already heard about Su He’s river jump from his father-in-law at the commune. People in Huangxi Village had been spreading it around like juicy gossip.
He’d originally been worried the plan wouldn’t work, but now he felt like even the heavens were helping him.
“Ma, we don’t even know for sure if that person was a wild man. And even if he was, so what? This is a new society—we don’t follow the old-fashioned thinking that just touching someone means you’ve lost your virtue.
Besides, city boys aren’t like village boys. Once he heard Su He was from the provincial capital and saw how pretty she was, Deputy Director Zhao’s son was very interested.
I’m just worried Big Brother and Sister-in-law won’t agree, since Su He only just got taken back into the family. They might want to keep her around a few more years.”
“They don’t know a damn thing! Marrying a daughter well is the most important thing. And besides, it’s not their place to make the decisions in this house! Leave this to me. Tomorrow morning, you take that dead girl to the county!”
…
Su He didn’t keep listening. She quietly returned to the west room.
Su Xiaoman blinked and followed behind.
She said sourly, “Sister Ruyi says marrying into the county is the best thing that could happen. You’ll be eating and drinking well for the rest of your life. This really is, like, that ‘blessing in disguise’ thing!”
Su He looked at her jealous, bitter little face and was speechless.
This little brat had been completely corrupted by Shen Ruyi.
Luckily, she was still young—there was time to straighten her out.
“You mean blessing in disguise, right? You’d better study hard, or you won’t even be able to say a full idiom.
Also, rely on the mountain and it’ll crumble, rely on the river and it’ll flow away—only when you become strong yourself will you have nothing to fear.
Take that sponge cake in your hand—right now, you can only eat it when our grandma allows it. But if you were capable, you could buy as many as you want.”
Su Xiaoman didn’t quite buy it, but looking at the sponge cake in her hand, she figured it was better not to provoke this mean older sister, in case she took it back.
So she said insincerely, “Mm, you’re right. Well then, I’m off to school!”
And with that, she jumped out the window.
Su He: “…”
Turning this little girl around was going to be a long journey!
But right now, she was more concerned about what Su Yongshi had said.
Originally, Su He had only clicked on that webnovel out of curiosity—because the side character had the same name as her.
But flipping through it, she realized the book’s morals were completely warped, and it annoyed her so much she quit halfway, so she couldn’t remember all the details.
It was only just now, when Su Yongshi mentioned Zhao Bin, that the plot came back to her.
Shen Ruyi didn’t have prophetic abilities—she had no idea the original Su He had been driven to jump in the river by her words.
So, while passing through the county, she arranged a vile scheme.
Zhao Bin was indeed outwardly handsome, but he was a beast in human clothing.
The year before, he had assaulted a young woman and drove her insane.
The Zhao family paid to shut her up, claiming they were dating and that she’d always been mentally unstable, and the whole matter was swept under the rug.
When Zhao Bin saw the original Su He, he became infatuated with her beauty.
Su He had only had eyes for that scumbag Qi Yuansheng and treated Zhao Bin coldly.
She never expected Zhao Bin would drug her soda.
Though he didn’t succeed in assaulting her, Su He suffered a major psychological blow and was left deeply traumatized, becoming terrified of being touched by men.
Worse yet, Zhao Bin spread rumors everywhere that Su He had tried to seduce him. Her reputation was ruined, and she didn’t even dare step outside for a long time.
At that part of the book, Su He had been so furious, she wanted to crawl into the novel and kill Zhao Bin herself.
