Chapter 34: Who Did It?
“Xuyang, go apologize to Lin Wan tomorrow. While you’re at it, find her husband. Since they are both in the military, it’ll be a lot easier to talk things through.”
“As long as your attitude is sincere.”
“I believe this matter can be resolved.”
“Also, give her some appropriate financial compensation. After all, you did lay your hands on her!”
Guo Xuyang’s paternal uncle advised him with profound earnestness. Seeing Guo Xuyang nod, he patted his shoulder and stood up to take his leave. “It’s getting late. Brother, Sister-in-law, we’ll head back first.”
“The boy knows he was wrong, and the marriage is already official. Don’t make things too difficult for the kids.”
They had already registered the certificate, so what else could be done? Getting a divorce right after marriage would severely impact his political career.
Clearly, Father and Mother Guo were well aware of this fact too. That was exactly why they felt even more miserable. Being forced to accept this daughter-in-law felt just as repulsive as being force-fed flies.
“Sister, don’t be angry, and don’t get worked up with the child. Xuyang is just the type who can’t tolerate a single speck of dust in his eyes…” Mother Guo’s younger sister also stood up with her husband to take their leave.
“Xuyang, your mother’s health isn’t good. Stop infuriating her.”
“She’s your own biological mother, so is there anything you can’t discuss with her properly? Even if your mother disapproved, shouldn’t you and your wife have worked hard to perform well and earn her approval?”
“What biological parents would ever want to harm their own child?”
“They are all doing this for your own good!”
With that, she cast a glance at Zhang Qin and let out a heavy sigh in her heart. Cowering and causing trouble only to do nothing but shed endless tears—she simply wasn’t a good match for Xuyang at all. Moreover, her looks were completely ordinary, barely counting as pleasant. She truly couldn’t fathom what exactly Xuyang had seen in her.
Once the outsiders had all departed, the eldest sister-in-law, Jiang Fang, asked Mother Guo softly, “Mom, what would you like to eat? I’ll go make it for you.”
Mother Guo shook her head. “I have no appetite.”
The second sister-in-law, Huang Hui, coaxed her, “You must eat a little no matter what, otherwise how can your body take it?”
“How about I boil some noodles? Dad, would you like some noodles?”
Father Guo didn’t have any appetite either, but since his daughter-in-law had asked, he gave a light nod.
Zhang Qin hurriedly spoke up, “I… I’ll go boil them.” She looked hesitantly toward the two sisters-in-law.
Jiang Fang scoffed sarcastically, “We wouldn’t dare trouble you!”
“We’ve been thoroughly accustomed to doing chores at our maternal homes, so we aren’t nearly as precious as you!”
Huang Hui helped clear the enamel mugs from the table. “Exactly. Little Sister-in-law, go ahead and rest. When Eldest Sister-in-law and I were at our maternal homes, we washed the entire family’s clothes, cooked the meals, watched over our younger siblings, and took care of our nephews and nieces… We are entirely used to it.”
Zhang Qin wasn’t stupid. How could she fail to hear that the two sisters-in-law were crowding her out! They were practically spelling out that letting her do any chores would be framed as them bullying her!
Grievance struck her, and her tears began falling uncontrollably.
Huang Hui rolled her eyes, heading into the kitchen along with Jiang Fang.
Guo Xuyang, his mind completely consumed by worry, didn’t notice these matters at all. He sat slumped on the sofa facing his father, possessing absolutely no spare energy to care about Zhang Qin’s predicament.
Zhang Qin just stood there helplessly, not daring to sit down either. She was intensely terrified.
The sight of her only infuriated Mother Guo, who completely ignored her, treating her as if she were completely transparent. Father Guo also treated her like air.
He couldn’t just ignore his own son. The anger had been spent, but he still had to clean up the mess for him.
“You mentioned that girl is highly greedy for wealth, so just give her a bit more money.”
Mother Guo added, “I’ll go with you.” She truly couldn’t rest easy regarding her son. Her son was clearly mature and level-headed, yet the moment he got involved with this Zhang Qin, it felt as though he had left his brain back in the womb. She genuinely wanted to deliver a ferocious slap to his face to wake him up.
No one in the Guo family flew into a rage at Zhang Qin, nor did anyone declare right to Guo Xuyang’s face that they wouldn’t recognize her as his wife or their sister-in-law. She was simply completely and utterly ignored.
When the noodles were ready, the bowl given to her was exactly the same as the ones for Father and Mother Guo, featuring a poached egg.
How could Zhang Qin possibly possess the mood to eat? Yet not eating would make her look ungrateful, while eating would make her appear completely heartless. In the end, she could only swallow a whole stomach full of grievances along with the tasteless noodles.
After finishing the meal, she wanted to help tidy up and clean, but neither of her sisters-in-law would allow it. Not only that, they even presented her with wedding gifts—each giving her a pair of pillowcases and a pair of towels.
Mother Guo handed her one thousand yuan, her expression looking rather strained. “Although I don’t like you, you are the wife Xuyang selected, and we respect Xuyang’s choice.”
“No matter how massive a trouble you bring him, since you two are married, I will still give you what ought to be given.”
“When your eldest brother, eldest sister-in-law, second brother, and second sister-in-law got married, I gave them this exact amount.”
“However, the money to compensate your stepsister must be resolved by you young couple yourselves. Old Guo and I cannot interfere.”
“After all, if we look after you, it wouldn’t be fair to Eldest and Second son.”
“In truth, how could anything be perfectly fair anyway? With the disaster you caused this time, your father, your eldest brother, and your second brother will have to go around putting on plastic smiles, delivering gifts, and relying on connections everywhere…”
Mother Guo stood up and went back to her room after finishing her piece. Her frame looked thoroughly hunched and withered, as if she had suddenly aged ten years.
Watching Mother Guo’s retreating back, the guilt deep within Guo Xuyang’s heart reached its absolute peak at this precise instant.
“Mom…”
Mother Guo waved her hand, never turning back.
Holding the money, Zhang Qin felt completely at a loss. She didn’t understand why things had turned out this way. Her heart ached intensely, yet there was simply no outlet to vent her grievances.
Back when she was at the Zhang house, she could at least blame Lin Wan for being overbearing and tyrannical. Zhang Qin didn’t know that these were soft daggers—soft daggers sliced through flesh more painfully, leaving one completely unable to voice their bitter suffering.
After returning to their bedroom with Guo Xuyang.
The man held her tight, murmuring softly, “Qinqin, everything will turn out fine.”
“You saw it too—my mom and my two sisters-in-law are all very decent people.”
“Run your life well with them in the future; they won’t make things difficult for you!”
Zhang Qin nodded through her choked sobs.
A mother-in-law was different from a stepmother. Even though she had dragged Guo Xuyang into such a mess, her mother-in-law hadn’t directed a single harsh word at her. If it were switched to her stepmother, she would have been cursed to death.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, she would rather be cursed, or even beaten, than feel the way she did right now.
Zhang Qin felt that something was wrong with her. A gentle mother-in-law and polite sisters-in-law—wasn’t this exactly what she had anticipated? That noisy home where she would face scoldings at every turn was the suffocating house she had fought so hard to escape. Yet she hadn’t anticipated that this place would feel even more suffocating.
Where exactly did it go wrong? No, no, no, she was being too greedy. Brother Xuyang had sacrificed so much for her sake, yet she was still finding fault with his family; it truly was wrong of her.
If anyone was to blame, it could only be Lin Wan. Why did she have to blow such a tiny, trivial matter completely out of proportion! Clearly, Brother Xuyang hadn’t even held it against her when she instigated Jin Cuicui to drug him…
Just like Guo Xuyang, Zhang Qin refused to believe Lin Wan was innocent, even though the evidence was ironclad. Because Jin Cuicui was Lin Wan’s friend. Even if Lin Wan hadn’t explicitly said it, she must have dropped hints to Jin Cuicui.
She was already married. Why did she still refuse to leave her alone?
…
The moment the alarm rang, Lin Wan got out of bed. It was her first day on the job, and she certainly didn’t dare be late.
She went to the state-owned restaurant for breakfast, ordering a massive fried dough stick and a thick bowl of soybean milk. It had to be said that although the service attitude of the state-owned restaurants in this era was terrible, the food was genuinely solid—tasting excellent and using abundant ingredients. A single dough stick filled her up completely.
She packed the remaining two dough sticks into her aluminum lunchbox to bring back for Comrade Huang Guixiang and the little kid Zhang Hongqiang.
Arriving at the post office, Lin Wan enthusiastically greeted Old Uncle Ge, the gatekeeper.
Old Uncle Ge held a deeply vivid impression of this young girl who had given him high-grade cadre cigarettes.
He also flashed a wide smile. “Little Lin is here to report for work?”
Lin Wan fished out a pre-wrapped oilpaper packet and secretly shoved it into his hands. “Uncle, my mom bought some sponge cakes. Eat them to fill your stomach if you get hungry.”
Two egg sponge cakes made without a drop of water. They weren’t considered expensive to Lin Wan; the cake shops on the street corner back in her era charged ten yuan per jin and offered a buy-two-get-one-free deal, so she had purchased a massive batch and tossed them into her system space. But who told this to be an era where people couldn’t even eat their fill?
The old uncle stowed it away with a beaming smile, then lowered his voice to speak to her, “Little Lin, brace yourself psychologically. The actual situation of your family has already spread everywhere.”
It was originally supposed to be an internal recruitment slot, and the unwritten rule for allocating positions relied entirely on connections. Therefore, this was a case of someone deliberately plotting malicious moves.
Lin Wan shoved a pack of Daqianmen cigarettes straight into the old uncle’s hand, asking in a lowered voice, “Who did it?”
