Chapter 2

The third brother looked calm, and the passersby behaved as usual.

Ye Manyi hesitated for a while, thinking that the fleeting golden words were too absurd, so he just thought that he was dazzled and saw it wrong.

"Sister-in-law, I understand your feelings."

"How am I feeling?"

"You can't bear to part with my third brother! You and my third brother have been married for less than a year, it's normal for you to be reluctant to part."

Huang Li raised his eyebrows slightly.

Did this sister-in-law suddenly change her personality?

Ye Manzhi is the sixth child in the family and the only child born after her parents-in-law remarried.

When she was born, the eldest sister and fifth brother brought into the family by Chang Yue'e, as well as the second sister, third brother and fourth brother from Ye Shouxin's side, were already sensible children.

Therefore, as an important link connecting the reconstituted family, this sister-in-law has been spoiled and loved by the Ye family since she was a child.

Whether based on the author's description or Huang Li's own experience, Ye Manzhi is a very self-centered person.

It's weird that the other party actually thinks about her!

"Sister-in-law, it's so glorious to be sponsored to study abroad! My brother is honored, and we as his family members are also blessed. What's more, my third brother will only be gone for three years and will be back." In order to make the other party feel better, Ye Manzhi did not hesitate to expose her own scars, "Look at Zhou Mu! He's been away for five years, and I still support him to study abroad!"

In addition to major state-owned factories, the Ministry of Education will also select recent graduates from high schools and universities to study in the Soviet Union.

When Ye Manzhi was young, he attended a kindergarten run by the "Soviet Overseas Chinese Association". Because of his early learning, his Russian language performance was always outstanding.

As soon as the selection news was announced, she made an appointment with Zhou Mu to study in the Soviet Union together, and even helped him practice oral English two months in advance.

Unfortunately, fate played a trick on her. Zhou Mu was selected as he wished, but she herself was eliminated because she failed the physical examination!

Hearing her mention Zhou Mu, Huang Li asked subtly, "Are you really comfortable letting Zhou Mu go for five years?"

"Don't worry," Ye Manzhi said shyly, "I'm only eighteen. It would be fine if I could get married in five years."

Huang Li smiled faintly and nodded, but what he was thinking in his heart was——

[Zhou Mu wasn't a good guy either. He had an ambiguous relationship with Xu Yingxue while studying abroad. After returning to China, he even cheated on her while Ye Manyi was pregnant. He's a complete scumbag!]

Fish seek fish, shrimp seek shrimp. These three are not easy to deal with. It's just hard for Ye Mantang, a good-looking and good-natured young man, and the male lead. He has been divorced three times because of his sweet stepmother and troublesome sister!

[Until Ye Manzhi was imprisoned for intentional injury and completely disappeared, he was able to remarry the heroine and enjoy a few days of good times...]

Huang Li's mental activities were unusually active, while Ye Manyzhi was frightened by the sudden appearance of lines of small characters and could not make a sound for a long time.

Zhou Mu was her childhood sweetheart. He was an excellent student, with a bit of a spoiled temper and occasional foolish behavior. His selection to study in the Soviet Union was a testament to his ability to withstand numerous tests. Ye Manzhi refused to believe that he had any issues with his conduct.

Besides, she was happy to see her third brother's happy marriage. How could she possibly hope for him to get divorced, especially after three divorces!

The most important thing is, she doesn't even dare to kill a chicken, so who can she hurt intentionally?

*

Ye Manzhi pondered over it for half the night but still couldn't figure out whether it was his own eyes that were blurring out or whether his third sister-in-law's newspaper had become a spirit and had really grown words on her forehead.

After the experience of the previous day, she was really a little afraid of her sister-in-law.

So, when her third brother and his wife started arguing about divorce early in the morning, she had no intention of getting involved and just ran out of the door with her schoolbag on her back.

Many schools nowadays implement a "two-part system".

Due to the limited number of classrooms and teachers, the school will have students in the first and second year of high school take turns attending classes in school for half a day and studying at home for the other half day.

Ye Manzhi's classes this semester are all scheduled in the afternoon.

She first went to the factory hospital to check her eyesight. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with her bright big eyes, she went to school with mixed feelings.

When they were almost at the door, Lin Qingmei caught up with her from behind, took her arm and teased: "Why did you come to school alone today? Didn't Zhou Mu learn Russian with you?"

"The province has arranged a Russian language preparatory class for international students, and they have Soviet teachers."

Lin Qingmei said with envy: "I heard that after arriving in Moscow, they can live in apartments, watch ballet, and drink milk and eat bread every day..."

"Yeah, it looks like they'll also give out tiger-skin coats, suits, and leather shoes and socks!"

"My math grades are average, so it's normal that I didn't pass the exam. Why are you so disappointing?" Lin Qingmei pinched her fair face. "You don't look malnourished. Even Xu Yingxue from the next class passed the physical examination, so why didn't you?"

Ye Manzhi and Lin Qingmei were playmates who grew up together catching fish and playing in the water. They had talked about a lot of "organizational secrets" in private, and Xu Yingxue's affairs were just child's play.

Ye Manzhi then bluntly said, "I suspect she used to take sick leave so often because she was actually trying to avoid classes! What's with all that sickness talk? It was all fake!"

The winter in Moscow is long and cold. When selecting international students, the country not only attaches importance to political review and test scores, but also is extremely strict with physical examinations.

Common problems such as malnutrition, anemia, high blood pressure, and hypoglycemia will all be crossed out.

Xu Yingxue is a famous sickly beauty in the school. The fact that she could pass such a strict physical examination only shows that she is very healthy and her weak appearance is just an act!

Lin Qingmei said sourly, "Luckily, Liu Guoqing, who comes from a working-class background, was chosen. Otherwise, if these precious study-abroad spots were given to Zhou Mu, the deputy factory director's son, and Xu Yingxue, the deputy chief engineer's stepdaughter, respectively, they would have given people a lot of cause for criticism!"

Years of tacit understanding made it easy for Ye Manzhi to understand her hidden meaning - the selection results might be unfair.

She herself didn't even pass the physical examination, so it was not her responsibility to worry about the selection of students studying abroad, and therefore she never cared about how they were selected.

But once the mind is opened, it is really hard not to think too much.

This made her heart, which had been hanging since last night, even more restless and uneasy. She just wanted to confirm some of her guesses with Zhou Mu as soon as possible.

However, before she could take any action, the other party came to question her first!

The preparatory class has recently been training on foreign etiquette. Zhou Mu was wearing a neat suit and had a slicked-back hair.

As soon as they met, he angrily asked, "Did you register Xu Yingxue's house as a tailor shop? Isn't this detrimental to others and not benefit yourself? We are all classmates, it will be so awkward to get along with each other in the future!"

Ye Manzhi took a while to react before she remembered that her second brother-in-law Xu Dajun seemed to be Xu Yingxue's cousin.

She frowned and said, "Xu Yingxue remarried with her mother a long time ago. What does the Xu family's tailor shop have to do with her? When Xu Dajun wrote a letter of complaint against me, why didn't you speak up for me?"

"That's a different matter! It's not a big deal if you don't make clothes, but if her uncle's family is classified as a small business owner, it will likely affect her eligibility to study abroad!"

Political reliability is a very important indicator when selecting international students.

Ye Manzhi rolled her eyes at him and said, "Do you have any common sense? The Xu family doesn't employ any workers, so how can they be considered small business owners? Even if they are truly classified as small business owners, it's her cousin's fault. Who told him to secretly write a letter of complaint to our family? Besides, this is a matter between our two families. What does it have to do with you?"

Zhou Mu angrily said, "We were engaged as children!"

Ye Manzhi said "Oh" and said with a half-smile: "Looking at how furious you are, if I didn't know, I would have thought Xu Yingxue was the one you were engaged to..."

"I'm doing this for your own good. After all, you're both relatives and classmates, and you'll be visiting each other often in the future..." Zhou Mu's tone weakened a bit. He handed the cloth bag he had been carrying forward and changed the subject, "Forget it. I don't care about your family's affairs. This is for you."

Ye Manzhi opened his pocket, and inside lay a large brown loaf of bread with a diameter of 30 centimeters.

"This is black bread, specially supplied by the Friendship Store. It's only sold to people with Soviet passports. I asked my Russian teacher to buy it for me. I'll consider it a thank you gift for helping me practice my Russian!"

Ye Manzhi broke off a small piece of bread crust and chewed it. The burnt aroma of rye instantly filled her mouth, but her mind was not on the bread.

Other people’s arranged marriages were between childhood sweethearts, but she and Zhou Mu were bickering lovers from childhood.

Every time they quarreled, they were at loggerheads and neither of them gave in.

But just now, when the relationship between Xu Yingxue and him was mentioned, Zhou Mu actually backed off...

Ye Manzhi looked at him calmly, broke off another piece of bread and handed it to him, then asked casually, "Did Xu Yingxue tell you that the Xu family was registered as a tailor shop?"

"Yeah, we talked about it during recess today."

"You two talked quite a lot," Ye Manzhi scoffed. As the other man was biting his bread, he suddenly asked, "So you also know about her physical examination, right?"

Zhou Mu, caught off guard, subconsciously wanted to nod, but stopped mid-move and asked with a slightly alert tone, "What happened to her physical examination?"

"What do you think? The news has already spread, why are you still playing dumb?"

Ye Manzhi didn't know what happened to Xu Yingxue during the physical examination, but she managed to keep her composure.

His little face was tense, his eyes were sharp, he didn't smile or speak, his aura was comparable to the red armbands used to interrogate enemy spies!

Zhou Mu was most afraid of seeing this expression on her face. After a few minutes of confrontation, seeing that she had no intention of backing down, he tentatively asked, "Where did you hear this gossip?"

Ye Manzhi said mysteriously, "Don't worry about where I heard it. Since you already knew it, why didn't you tell me?"

"How can I tell you something like this?" Zhou Mu's eyes dodged. "Xu Yingxue begged me not to tell anyone about this. If anyone knew she had faked her medical examination, she would be doomed. She cried so pitifully at that time..."

"Just because she cries pitifully, you can't tell right from wrong? What good has she done you?"

Ye Manzhi used to think that his compassion for the poor and weak and his kind heart were rare qualities.

At this moment, I just feel that this person is easily influenced and his stance is not firm enough!

"What good can she do for me? I just feel sorry for her. She followed her mother to remarry, and her life was not easy. I don't want to push her into a desperate situation."

Zhou Mu tried to seek her approval, but Ye Manzhi was indifferent and just stared at him with a frosty face.

When they were young, they played the game of fighting the Japanese together. Every time, Ye Manzhi was the commander and he was the Japanese soldier.

Zhou Mu was very familiar with this look that seemed like it was about to shoot him.

Unable to bear the pressure, he hesitated for a long time before finally mumbling, "I'm keeping her secret. It's the lesser of two evils. You didn't pass the physical exam, and you didn't take the subsequent exams. Even if you do get her removed, the higher-ups won't consider you. They'll just let the students who rank lower take your place."

Ye Manzhi was confused by him and her heart beat faster. She wanted to ask him what he meant, but she was afraid of alerting him, so she had to continue staring at him.

Zhou Mu was already feeling guilty, and was fooled by her deception. He thought that she already knew the truth and wanted to settle the score with him today!

Therefore, when he talked about this matter, he was less cautious and just wanted to coax the other party to calm down first.

"Things have already come to this. Xu Yingxue is also trying to find a way to compensate you. In fact, your family is not at a disadvantage. I have already made an agreement with my father. After graduation, you will work in the factory union office, and your brother can also go to the Stalin Automobile Factory for an internship."

The leaves on the branches were as if struck by lightning, and they couldn't help but open their eyes wide.

She originally thought that the worst that could happen was that Deputy Chief Engineer Zhang used his connections to help his stepdaughter pass the physical examination.

I didn't expect that she could reveal such a big secret with just a casual lie!

Her chest bulged, and she asked in disbelief, "You mean, Xu Yingxue's medical report is actually mine?"

Zhou Mu was nervous and didn't notice the strangeness in her question. He evaded the main point and said, "Wouldn't it be more economical to solve your family's two major problems at once?"

The branches full of leaves looked like someone had poured a basin of cold water over them, and even their fingertips were chilled.

How could Xu Yingxue dare to do this? The medical examination process was so strict, how could she have the confidence to do this?

Zhou Mu clearly knew the truth a long time ago, but he colluded with the other party to deceive her!

A mixture of shock and anger surged up in Ye Manzhi's eyes, and they soon turned red.

She waved Zhou Mu's hand away, stood still for a long time, and forced her brain to start working again.

There was a lot of information in the conversation just now, but there were also many loopholes.

There are a few things that don't seem to make sense.

She asked suspiciously, "The person who forged my medical report was Xu Yingxue, right? Why should your family compensate me? Not only did they arrange a job for me, but they also arranged for my brother to go to the Soviet Union for an internship!"

"It doesn't matter who compensates..."

"It's different! Explain to me clearly, what's going on?"