Chapter 2: They’re Here to Drag Sister Down to the Countryside!
“Mom, do I have to die too?” Lin Wan took a deep breath and opened the door, only to see seven or eight-year-old Zhang Hongqiang tugging at Huang Guixiang’s hem as he asked.
Zhang Hongqiang was thin and frail, wearing oversized, worn-out clothes covered in patches from top to bottom.
The equally gaunt Huang Guixiang rolled her eyes and testily shoved him away. “Who told you your last name is Zhang? If we die, we all die together!”
He didn’t get angry at being pushed away by his own mother. He just gave a mindless “Ow,” turned around, and spotted Lin Wan. The little boy’s face lit up with a grin, and he ran toward her in a flash of pleasant surprise. “Sis, you’re awake?”
“Mom! My sister is awake!”
“Sis, are you hungry? Mom steamed egg custard for you. I’ll go fetch it for you right now…”
Hearing that Lin Wan was awake, Huang Guixiang quickly marched over to her, intending to support her back into the room. “Oh, my sweet ancestor! The doctor said you have some kind of concussion and need to stay in bed and rest quietly. Get your butt back in the room and lie down. What are you doing out here?”
With that, she kicked Zhang Hongqiang. “What are you standing around dazed for? Hurry up and get the egg custard for your sister!”
Zhang Hongqiang twisted his bottom and dodged the kick with practiced ease, slipping off to the kitchen in a flash.
Her stepfather, Zhang Aimin, walked over, dragging a tear-streaked Zhang Qin along. “Wanwan, don’t do anything reckless again. Your sister knows she was wrong. She agreed to give up her boyfriend to you!”
As he spoke, he gave Zhang Qin a shove. “Hurry up and apologize to Wanwan!”
“It’s just a man. If he’s gone, you can find another one. Do you really want to tear this family apart before you’re satisfied?”
“How did I give birth to such an ungrateful wolf like you!”
After saying his piece, Zhang Aimin cast a cautious, placating look at Huang Guixiang.
He truly doted on Huang Guixiang.
Ever since before Lin Wan’s father died, he had held a secret crush on her. He had assumed that for the rest of his life, he could only secretly watch her from the shadows, keeping his humble affection buried in his heart forever.
Who could have guessed?
Her husband actually died!!!
In order to marry Huang Guixiang, Zhang Aimin had acted as a hopeless simp without any boundaries, simping for her from before their marriage straight through to the present.
Zhang Qin, covered in tears, felt like she was about to shatter completely. Her head hung low as massive tears crashed onto the ground. After being shoved a few more times by her biological father, she choked out, “I’m… I’m sorry… I’ll… I’ll go to the countryside. I’ll give Xuyang up to you.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she buried her face in her hands, sobbed uncontrollably, and turned to bolt outside.
Lin Wan was quick on her feet and grabbed her tightly.
“No need to give him up!” Lin Wan said.
“I’ve changed my mind!”
“That block of ice Guo Xuyang is only a treasure to you. I don’t care for him anymore!”
“Marrying him means having to follow him to the military base! Whoever wants to go to that godforsaken place can go, because I’m definitely not going!”
“Once you’ve had enough of that life, getting a divorce won’t even be easy…”
No one in the room believed Lin Wan’s words. Lin Wan went back on her word far too often; she changed her mind every other minute. Just because she claimed she didn’t want him now didn’t mean she wouldn’t flip-flop again later.
Besides, every time she snatched Zhang Qin’s things, she would throw them away in disgust after getting them. Then, seeing Zhang Qin pick them back up, she would turn around and demand them back. Incidents like that had happened more times than anyone could count.
Huang Guixiang paid no heed to Lin Wan’s words and instead fiercely barked at Zhang Qin, pointing at the mess she had smashed all over the floor. “What are you standing around like a log for? The room is a total disaster and you don’t even know to clean it up? Are you waiting for me to do it?!”
Weeping, Zhang Qin went to grab a broom and a dustpan to clean the room.
Huang Guixiang grumbled in disgust, “Cry, cry, cry. All you know how to do from morning till night is cry. All your good fortune is being cried away by you!”
“A jinx like you brings bad luck to anyone who marries you. When Meng Jiangnü cried at the Great Wall, the wall collapsed; you cry at home, and you’re going to bring the whole house down!”
It was far too noisy!
Lin Wan’s head buzzed, her temples throbbing with pain. She hurriedly pulled Huang Guixiang into the bedroom.
Zhang Hongqiang followed them while holding the egg custard, only to be shut out the door.
“Sis, the egg custard!” Zhang Hongqiang shouted from outside the door, swallowing his spit.
Lin Wan: “You eat it. I don’t have an appetite!”
Zhang Hongqiang’s eyes lit up instantly. Oh my god… this is egg custard!
The little kid began inhaling it into his mouth like crazy. In no time at all, he had licked the bowl entirely clean, terrified that if he ate too slowly, Lin Wan would regret it.
When it came to regretting things, his sister was a seasoned professional.
Zhang Aimin edged close to the door and asked cautiously, “Guixiang, if everything’s fine, I’m heading off to work. Taking too much time off will get my wages docked.”
“Beat it!” Huang Guixiang’s impatient voice rang out from inside the room. Zhang Aimin let out a sigh of relief and headed to work with peace of mind.
Inside the room.
Lin Wan brought Huang Guixiang over to sit by the bed and explained in a low voice:
“Mom, I don’t want Zhang Qin’s boyfriend.”
“I absolutely won’t back out this time!”
“Everything I said to Zhang Qin is true. I don’t want to follow the military. If I do, I won’t be able to see Mom anymore!”
For some reason.
From the exact moment she laid eyes on Huang Guixiang, she didn’t feel the slightest bit of unfamiliarity. Instead, she felt a sort of… emotional rush, like a long-awaited reunion with a family member.
It was as if… Huang Guixiang had been her biological mother all along.
Moreover, Lin Wan was certain that this feeling wasn’t an influence from the original host at all.
Having been an orphan for nearly thirty years, suddenly possessing a mother made Lin Wan want to cry! Even if this mother was a massive cannon fodder villainess in the book!
Huang Guixiang dismissed it easily. “What does that matter? If you join the military, I’ll just come along as your luggage. Just take me with you! When the time comes and you have children, I’ll still have to raise them for you. I certainly can’t bear to watch you wash diapers…”
The more she spoke, the more excited she became. “Wanwan, let me tell you, I’ve had my eye on Guo Xuyang for a long time! He’s a deputy regimental commander at only twenty-four years old—his future is incredibly bright! Besides, I’ve inquired about it; a commander’s monthly allowance is ninety-five yuan!”
“Your Uncle Zhang is a level-seven worker, making eighty-nine a month, and that income easily supports this whole massive household!”
“He had to muck around in the factory for decades and practically have one foot in the grave before he managed to climb to a level-seven worker and get that wage. Guo Xuyang is only twenty-four! And he still has plenty of room for promotions!”
“Not to mention Guo Xuyang comes from a great family background. Both his parents are cadres, and his brothers’ jobs are each better than the last. He spends his allowance all on himself. Once you marry him, what’s his will be yours, and you can spend it however you like!”
“A catch with these conditions can’t be found even if you look with a lantern. Don’t be foolish!”
Lin Wan sighed. “But he doesn’t like me. Even if Zhang Qin is willing to hand him over to me, if he doesn’t agree, there’s nothing we can do. He’s a soldier, not someone we can force!”
Huang Guixiang patted her daughter’s hand with a beaming smile. “Don’t you worry about that. I’ve already thought it through. Later on, we’ll use that dead girl Zhang Qin’s name to call him over to the house, then give him some tea laced with medicine. Once the deed is done, if he tries to back out, I’ll report him for forcing himself on a woman!”
“Unless he throws away his future and his life, he’ll have to marry you obediently!”
“Let me tell you, women use their brains to date, but men use their lower halves. As long as you roll around in bed together, whatever feelings or lack thereof are all complete nonsense!”
“Back in the day, that’s exactly how I bagged your father!”
Lin Wan pressed a hand to her forehead.
This path is absolutely determined to veer right back into the main plot!
“Mom!”
“I have a much better target. He’s a full regiment commander!”
In order to convince Huang Guixiang, Lin Wan had no choice but to rack her brains to extract such a figure from the plot, temporarily managing to bluff her own mother.
Before Lin Wan could even share the details of this grand promise with Huang Guixiang, two distinct sounds suddenly arrived.
[Ding!]
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The system arrived unexpectedly.
Right outside the door, Zhang Hongqiang screamed at the top of his lungs:
“Mom, Sis, things are bad! The people from the neighborhood subdistrict committee are here!”
“They’re here to drag Sister down to the countryside!”
