Cao Wenliang replied matter-of-factly, "Of course. If I didn't care about my own family but the greater good, why would I get married?"

The purpose of marriage is to establish a small family and break away from the extended family. If things are still the same as before marriage, it would be better not to get married in the first place.

"Since you've asked this far, I might as well tell you the truth."

I send ten yuan home every month, without fail, without fail, for years.

The money I've saved is all in the bank. They all thought I only made about thirty yuan a month and never asked about it.

The ten yuan I give each month is for my parents' retirement. As for how my parents distribute this money, I don't care.

Even after we get married, I'll only have ten yuan a month, no more, unless there are special circumstances. And I won't touch your money.

Your money is still yours, and I will give you the rest to support your family. If you don't believe me, I can write a guarantee.

Cao Wenliang stared intently into her eyes, afraid of missing even the slightest hint of dissatisfaction on her face.

"Are you speaking from the bottom of your heart?"

Cao Wenliang looked intently at her and nodded.

"I am speaking from the bottom of my heart, seriously, very seriously."

"Okay, I'll believe you this once. Now come home with me and repeat what you just said to my parents."

Then, in front of them, write a guarantee.

It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that men have two different faces before and after marriage.

Your hometown is so far away, and it also involves where you'll spend the New Year in the future. I must protect my own legal rights.

I don't want my standard of living to decline because of getting married; if that's the case, I'd rather not get married at all.

What do you think?

Cao Wenliang had just said something similar, so he could understand Ye Zhen's difficulties, given her family's circumstances.

How could he possibly compare? If he couldn't make her feel a sense of belonging, there was really no need to continue.

Having figured this out, he immediately nodded, "Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative and see if there's anything we need to buy."

Ye Zhen's expression remained unchanged, but she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Judging from this, perhaps this man is someone I can entrust my life to. The next step is to find out about his family background."

That evening, after Cao Wenliang left, Ye Zhen mentioned the incident to her parents.

“My brother and my younger brother have many comrades-in-arms from Northeast China. I think they should ask around first. If that doesn’t work, we’ll go there ourselves.”

The parents naturally agreed, "Then don't write a letter, just call them tomorrow, that will be faster."

Ye Zhen's older brother, Ye Fan, is two years older than her. He was born in 1938 and is 25 years old this year. He is currently serving in the Western Military Region of Gansu Province.

Her younger brother, Ye Mao, is three years younger than her. He was born in 1943 and is now twenty years old. He graduated from high school at seventeen but failed to get into military academy.

However, because he had been swimming since elementary school and was an excellent swimmer, he had won gold, silver, and bronze medals in swimming at city and even provincial sports meets since childhood.

He was later incorporated into the navy and has been serving in Zhoushan for three years. Because he has to go to sea, the time he spends in the military is actually limited.

Ye Zhen called Ye Fan at her workplace, but couldn't get through to Ye Mao; he had indeed gone out to sea again.

For safety reasons, letters were sent to both individuals, providing even clearer details about Cao Wenliang's home address and family information.

Even Ye Fan was unusually serious about his marriage.

As expected of someone with a background in reconnaissance, Ye Fan wrote down and repeated the basic information about Cao Wenliang's family after Ye Zhen only gave it to him once.

"Don't worry, I'll ask around when I get back. There are so many people in the army, there must be some in that area. If there are, I'll be able to find out."

——

Tang Cuihua never expected to run into Tang Youjin and Li Qingqing at the health center.

Tang Youjin's leg was broken, and Li Qingqing's face was covered with scratches. She was dressed in tattered clothes and looked rather pitiful.

Moreover, they looked more than ten or twenty years older, their hair had turned completely white. It had only been a few years, and they had fallen to this state.

Upon closer inspection, they were all over fifty years old, which is not young. So how did they get these injuries?

The two had heard that their niece worked as a nurse at the health center, and at first they thought she was just trying to provoke them.

I only found out today that it's not only true, but judging from her skillful technique, she seems to have been working here for a long time.

Compared to their arrogance in earlier years, they have suddenly become cautious, and even when they see her, they don't act aggressively or say anything out of line.

This made Tang Cuihua take another look at them. Something was off; they didn't fit their personalities at all.

Only after they had finished their medical treatment and had their leg and face wounds treated did the two men suddenly call out to her.

"Cuihua, you're doing pretty well these days?"

The one asking the questions was Tang Youjin. When Tang Cuihua saw this uncle, she thought of her own father, who had been missing for so many years and must be dead.

Ever since their beloved son, Tang Jiabao, died, this family seems to have suddenly become quiet.

At the same time, the eldest branch of the Tang family and the other branches of the family had a complete falling out and rarely interacted.

However, they remained as domineering as ever. Tang Jiabei, the second son of the Tang family's eldest branch, and Tang Jiaqian, the third son, respectively occupied Tang Youtian's house and the house where the Tang sisters had been burned down. After repairing them, they moved in.

Their original intention was to have their house renovated so they could get married, but the reputation was so bad that they did get married in the end, but the wife they found was...