July 7, Minor Heat.
By a small stream at the foot of the mountain behind Aoli Village.
"I'm sorry."
Zhou Weimin looked at the girl standing three steps away from him with eyes full of guilt, "If I could, I wouldn't want to break off our engagement, but..."
"I don't accept it, and I don't want to listen to you."
The girl was fair and delicate, like a Fairy Girl standing under the willow tree by the stream, her whole body seemingly glowing. She said this with a tense face before turning around and walking away.
"You... can't you just let me finish what I'm saying?"
The guilt in Zhou Weimin's eyes deepened, and at the same time, he felt extremely helpless, thinking that the girl was being capricious again. He couldn't help but raise his voice, "Even if you resent me for breaking off our engagement, is it necessary to treat your lifelong happiness as child's play?"
"Mind your own business!"
The girl retorted angrily but didn't look back or stop walking.
"Marrying a man who has been married before, becoming a stepmother to three kids, you are simply out of your mind, asking for trouble!"
Zhou Weimin shouted after her, his tone full of disapproval.
"It's my choice."
The girl stopped in her tracks, turned around to face her former fiancé who stood still, her watery fox-like eyes filled with anger as she burst out,
"Zhou Weimin, you listen to me, I hate you! We have been engaged for three years, and our wedding feast was just around the corner,
and then your family suddenly found fault with my health, worrying that I couldn't bear children for you after marriage, and insisted on breaking off the engagement at my home. Your mother even said in front of my family,
to not delay you, lest you have no children in the future and become the laughing stock of the village. Zhou Weimin, why don't you speak, where were you earlier?
You shamelessly pestered your mother to propose to me, and in just three years, you secretly became involved with Educated Youth Su from the Youth Educated Institute. Don't think nobody knows!"
Her eyes turned sour, yet, the girl held back her tears from falling.
Having said that, she turned and continued on her way.
"I..."
Zhou Weimin's mouth twitched, his gaze complex, wanting to say something more but was unable to speak the rest. Unexpectedly, as he hesitated whether or not to chase after the girl, he saw her seemingly slip, and she toppled backward.
"Li Bao..."
This was the girl's nickname, the name by which her family and fellow villagers had called her from a young age.
Zhou Weimin, with a worried expression, called out to her repeatedly as he ran toward the girl who had already fallen face-up.
-
Kang Li was woken by the noisy cicada's buzz and the fluctuating sounds of an argument.
Her eyebrows knitted slightly as she was about to open her eyes, an extra segment of memory suddenly came into her mind.
Oddly enough, this memory wasn't Kang Li's own, and following that, a book appeared in her mind...
"I said no, and that's final. The only way my daughter would marry a twice-married man and become a stepmother is over my dead body!"
Cai Xiufen, who is Kang's Mother, said while wiping away tears, "Li Bao agreed to marry that twice-married man just because she was angry with that bastard Zhou Weimin and didn't think it through.
And you? What's your excuse? Li Bao is also your daughter, Kang Laigen. How can you agree to her marriage without even thinking about it, in front of Director Wu at the Commune, trying to pair our Li Bao with that Luo Yanqing fellow?
The other party clearly already has three kids and is nearly ten years older than our Li Bao. Aren't you just pushing our Li Bao into a pit of fire?"
At this moment, the main room was full of people, men and women, children too, everyone pursing their lips, with solemn expressions, listening to their mother (mother-in-law, grandma) accusing their father (father-in-law, grandfather).
"Listen to what you're saying..."
Kang Laigen was the head of the family, as well as the Team Leader of Aoli Village, and at this moment, he only felt a great headache. He thought he was considering his daughter's interests when he casually mentioned to Director Wu during a chat,
that an old leader of his in North City had asked him a favor to find a partner for a returned oversea scientist named Luo Yanqing. If he didn't think highly of his daughter, would he even bring up such a matter?
And he, after considering the conditions of Comrade Luo Yanqing described by Director Wu, would he agree without a second thought to marry his own precious daughter to Comrade Luo Yanqing, who expects her to become a stepmother as soon as she enters his home?
"Although Comrade Luo Yanqing has been married before, has three children, and is a bit older than our Li Bao, he's making significant contributions to the country, and he's not even thirty yet.
His three children, the oldest is almost five, and the younger pair are twins, a boy and a girl, who lost their mother at birth and are about three years old now. They're all very well-behaved little ones, and if Comrade Luo Yanqing wasn't so busy with his work,
hardly being able to take time off to come home and look after his children, and because of a succession of nannies not taking good care of his children, he wouldn't even be considering remarriage.
Moreover, didn't I tell you yesterday, Comrade Luo Yanqing earns a fair income, and he gets various coupons every month. Director Wu said, once our Li Bao goes there, Comrade Luo Yanqing will hand over his salary book to Li Bao to manage,
all the coupons too, and he has only one request for our Li Bao, to take good care of the three kids at home."
Cai Xiufen was not persuaded: "This isn't looking for a wife, this is finding a nanny for the home. Don't think you can persuade me, Kang Laigen, I've said no and that means no!"
Her Li Bao, a perfectly good girl, how could she marry a twenty-seven-year-old man on his second marriage? No, she absolutely refused to agree!
"I really am thinking of Li Bao's best interest. Her mother, think about it, with Li Bao's health condition, the doctors have all said, in this lifetime... it will be quite difficult for her to have children of her own,
Right now, we, as her parents, can still move and spoil Li Bao, taking care of her properly is not an issue, but when one day we can't move..."
Captain Kang hadn't finished speaking when he was interrupted by his eldest son, Kang Guowei: "As long as I have a bite to eat, Li Bao will have a bite to eat."
The meaning of his words was clear; when the old mother and father pass on, he, as the elder brother, would absolutely take care of his sister.
"You shut your mouth for your father!"
Giving a severe look to his eldest son, Captain Kang scolded angrily.
The brat is only making things worse!
Seeing the eldest brother scolded by their father, the other brothers—except for Second Brother Kang, Kang Guosheng, who was in the army—Third Brother Kang, Kang Guoqiang, Fifth Brother Kang, Kang Guoan, and Fourth Brother Kang, Kang Guofu, who had rushed back from the County Transport Team early in the morning,
were about to echo the eldest brother's words but swallowed their remarks before speaking out.
To avoid being indiscriminately targeted by Captain Kang, their father.
"Mom, don't argue with Dad any more, I'm willing to marry Comrade Luo Yanqing voluntarily." Kang Li, who had gotten off the kang at some point, was now standing by the doorframe of her own room, addressing everyone from there.
She looked around at the family members in the main room and finally turned her gaze to Cai Xiufen, her mother in this lifetime, her eyes clear and earnest as she said:
"I'm not acting out of spite against anyone. I just think that with my health as it is, marrying Comrade Luo Yanqing might not necessarily be a bad thing."