"When is Xiao Xue, the educated youth, planning to marry Gu Da? Look at Xiao Li, the educated youth, and our He family's boy, they got married so quickly, just a few days ago, and now the young couple is living a very prosperous life."

The speaker was He Luosheng's distant cousin, who worked at the commune's supply and marketing cooperative and enjoyed playing matchmaker for young men and women.

Since Li Jing married He Luosheng and moved out of the educated youth settlement, Xue Fu hadn't heard from her for a long time.

At other times, Xue Fu might have thought, "Wow, they're the male and female leads from the original novel, they're just so lucky."

But now, they're using Li Jing and He Luosheng's examples to pressure her into marrying Gu Chong!

Xue Fu said bitterly, "...Oh, right, right, right."

"When are you going to do something good together? We're all free right now, it's the perfect time to do something nice. It'll be so much more fun if we all get together to do things."

My aunt smiled broadly, her eyebrows curving upwards with laughter.

Several aunties and grandmas knitting sweaters and sewing shoe soles nearby also looked up and chimed in, "That's right, how good is Old Master Gu! He's reliable and capable, and we've all seen how good he is to you, Xue, the educated youth."

"Little Xue, don't you dare follow those bad influences. Chairman Mao said that anything not intended for marriage is just playing around. Don't you dare play around with Gu Chong like that."

Xue Fu, who had been accused of 'being a hooligan,' fell into a deep silence: ...

!

Xue Fu hadn't even thought about marriage yet.

She's only eighteen, such a vibrant age, why is she getting married!

These are not things she should be considering!

She was speechless when asked the question, choking back tears for a long time without knowing what to say.

"I know you, Little Xue, aren't the kind of person who looks down on us rural people, right?"

Of course, the people in their village are biased towards their own people.

They all have stereotypes. They always think that educated youth are restless and dishonest, and even if they get married, they won't be able to settle down. If they are able to return to the city in the future, people will think that they will abandon their wives and children.

Such examples have occurred in these communes before.

I heard that there was a male educated youth in Hongxing Commune before. His family used connections to get him a job in the city, so he could be transferred back to the city.

This male educated youth had been living in Hongqi Village, Hongxing Commune for two years. His wife from the village was pregnant and due in a few months. Yet, he still abandoned her and stole her identity document in the middle of the night to run back to the city.

This matter caused quite a stir back then; the woman's family even called the police to go to the city to demand an explanation.

After months of back and forth, nothing came of it, and the male educated youth never returned. He also pretended not to know about the child his wife had given birth to, as if the child never existed.

You can't stop someone who's going to run.

An aunt glanced at Xue Fu, who hadn't spoken, frowned, and then continued, "But I don't know either. After all, you're from the city, Xue Fu, and you're well-off... Gu Chong is from our rural area, and he's a bit poor."

"There's no elderly person in the family to help out, but there is a young one..."

"Once you marry into this family, you're stuck with a rural household registration..."

"......"

These aunties chattered on, each word piercing the heart.

In particular, her words implied that Gu Chong was indeed not good enough for her.

These words made Xue Fu feel very uncomfortable.

Unable to bear their belittling of Gu Chong any longer, she impulsively blurted out, her face flushed, "Of course we'll get married!"

Her bold words startled the aunties who had been chattering away. They all looked at her with a look of satisfaction, as if to say, "What a good child who knows her mistakes and can correct them."

"Oh my, the eldest son of the Gu family has come to pick up his little wife."

An aunt standing at the very edge had the sharpest eyes and spotted Gu Chong walking over to pick up Xue Fu. She exclaimed "Oh!" which drew the attention of everyone else, and then they all started teasing each other.

The laughter made Xue Fu blush.

The aunt standing closest to Xue Fu deliberately nudged her, pushing her towards Gu Chong, and teased, "We won't keep you two young couple any longer, we aunties can chat by ourselves."

Xue Fu blushed even more, especially when she met Gu Chong's dark, deep, and meaningful gaze. She recalled her bold words just now and felt like digging a hole and disappearing into it.

Of all things to do, I had to hear it!

Gu Chong walked over with a straight face, looking somewhat serious, but inside he was overjoyed.

Knowing she was easily embarrassed, he coldly came to her rescue, pulling her out of the group of aunties: "Aunties, we're going back now."

"Hey, let's go back, let's go back. Don't be angry with us, Little Xue. Auntie just likes to joke around. You should go back now!"

Xue Fu: ...!

On the way back, there was a moment of silence.

Xue Fu was shy, while Gu Chong found it difficult to speak. Either way, it would seem like he had ulterior motives and was trying to cover something up.

In silence, Xue Fu took several deep breaths to slowly adjust her mindset.

But recalling the scene just now, Xue Fu couldn't help but frown, especially since she remembered what the matchmaker had said at the Gu family's door last time, which implied that she disliked Gu Chong and said that he was too old.

She hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help turning her head to look at Gu Chong, her gaze sweeping over his features and expression. She asked sincerely, "Are you in a hurry to get married?"

She hadn't considered this before.

In her opinion, Gu Chong was only twenty-two years old. How could he be considered old? He was in the prime of his life!

But if viewed from the perspective of their time, it's a different story.

He is indeed considered an older youth.

Is he in a hurry?

Needless to say, he was definitely dating her with the intention of marrying her.

But Xue Fu has no plans to get married for the past two years, at least until she turns twenty-two.

Xue Fu looked at Gu Chong intently, carefully observing his expression and demeanor.

Gu Chong shook his head, his gaze softening further: "No rush."

Gu Chong felt that she was still young and could guess what she was thinking. It was normal that she didn't have any intention of getting married. He understood and didn't want to put pressure on her.

And indeed, he wasn't in a hurry.

He felt that what he could give her now was not enough.

Are you really not in a hurry?

Xue Fu tiptoed closer to look at his face, trying to find the answer in his face and eyes, to verify that he was not lying.

Gu Chong lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling under her gaze before curving into the shape of a crescent moon. He smiled and said, "Mm."

He teased her on purpose to ease the tension: "Of course, if you're willing to marry me now, I'd love to take you home."

Xue Fu immediately opened her eyes wide, her fox-like eyes bulging out, and glared at him coquettishly: "Dream on!"

He chuckled softly. "Mm."

He certainly had a very beautiful dream.