Director Wu considered the arrangements she could make and waited for someone to speak, but unexpectedly, Yu Jingqiu made a request that took her by surprise.
"What did you say? You want your daughter to attend the army's recent social dance?"
Director Wu was genuinely surprised. He turned to look at the equally surprised Feng family girl beside Yu Jingqiu and couldn't help but ask again, "Comrade Yu, do you know what a social dance party is for?"
Bincheng has a military garrison and a military academy. Every year, it organizes several social dance parties to help single men in the military find partners. Various units in the city recommend outstanding young unmarried women to participate.
Yu Jingqiu held her daughter's hand, signaling her to calm down, before nodding and smiling at Director Wu, "I know the dance is a matchmaking event. My daughter Mingshu is eighteen this year, the age when she can go on blind dates. She has a high school education, a gentle personality, and a decent appearance, so I'm taking the liberty of asking Director Wu for a ticket to the event."
Listening to Yu Jingqiu's evaluation of her daughter, Director Wu looked at the bright-eyed, blushing young woman opposite him and couldn't help but click his tongue.
This mother is being too modest. This girl is not just pretty, she's a beauty, but she has a youthful, student-like air about her. If she dressed up, she would be even more captivating and attract countless young men.
However, being pursued by too many people these days is not a good thing. You can easily run into trouble and have nowhere to cry.
When it comes to protecting people, there is no better place than the military.
Director Wu suddenly understood the plans Yu Jingqiu had made for her daughter; after all, she was also a mother.
She also thought of the annual ball, where there were always a few clueless or arrogant officers who would then complain about the organizers for not being conscientious enough.
Director Wu snorted inwardly, having made up his mind. He smiled and said to Yu Jingqiu, "No need for admission tickets. There's a social dance party at the Hongxing Auditorium on Jinxi Road next Sunday. I'll wait for Ming Shu at the entrance at 2 PM and personally escort her in."
After listening to her mother and Director Wu discuss the dance in a daze, Feng Mingshu followed her mother away in a daze.
When they reached a secluded spot, she grabbed her mother's hand and said urgently, "Mom, I don't want to get married, I want to stay with..."
She wanted to say she would stay by her mother's side, but realized it would be difficult to do so, so she changed her mind and said, "I will go to the countryside. I will go to the countryside voluntarily. I can choose a place that is not so hard."
She wants to volunteer to go to the countryside before May next year, which will not only help her avoid the chaos but also give her political advantages, which will benefit her mother and younger siblings who remain in Bincheng.
Yu Jingqiu shook her head: "Silly child, how can it not be hard to leave your hometown?"
"Mom, it's okay, I can adapt. It can't be any harder than those fifteen years." Feng Mingshu was confident. There was no freedom on the farm where she was sent down, but not in the countryside.
"Zhuzhu, in an unfamiliar place, besides the hardship, you should pay more attention to your own safety." Yu Jingqiu gently stroked her daughter's fair and beautiful face, her eyes filled with worry. "You've grown up so well, how can your mother feel at ease letting you go to a strange place without any support?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Mingshu recalled the greedy gazes from his past life and shuddered.
Seeing her daughter's face suddenly turn pale, Yu Jingqiu didn't press for details. Instead, she hugged her daughter tenderly and said, "Zhuzhu, I'm not sending you to the ball because I want you to find someone to marry. It depends on fate. If you find someone you like, you can bring them back for me to see. If you don't like any of them, just consider it a trip to clear your head."
"Mom, the way you're saying it makes it sound like if I like someone, they're guaranteed to like me back." Feng Mingshu blushed and snuggled into her mother's arms.
"In my mother's eyes, my daughter is the best, and no one could dislike her."
"Mom, you're just like Wang Po selling melons, praising your own wares."
"Mom grew some great melons, of course we have to praise her."
Feng Mingshu was in a good mood because of her mother's praise, and before she knew it, she agreed to go to the tailor shop to make new clothes the next day.
Actually, she had no intention of getting married, but her mother had planned so much for her, so she just went through the motions and came back to tell her mother that no one else wanted her.
Firstly, she had no desire for marriage. Secondly, given her current social standing, even if she married someone, any unrest would drag her husband down, and if she had children, it would be even more troublesome.
In her previous life, during her time on a farm, she saw many people who were abandoned by their spouses because of their class background, and some even had to struggle to survive on the farm with their children.
If that's the case, why create trouble for yourself?
Therefore, she would rather go to the countryside to gain political advantages for her family. If this face would still cause trouble, then she would just cut it open like she did in her previous life.
Having made up her mind, the next day she did not go to the old tailor her family knew, but instead chose the state-owned store closest to her home, and also refused her mother's company.
Before long, she picked out a piece of gray-blue work cloth, which was also the cheapest fabric.
She picked up the fabric and was finalizing the size and style with the apprentice in the shop when a voice feigning surprise suddenly rang out behind her.
"Cousin, is that really you? You're getting clothes made here too? The fabric you're using is cheap; it doesn't suit your status."
Feng Mingshu turned around and, unsurprisingly, saw Chu Xuanxuan and Zhang Yunxiao behind her. The latter looked somewhat hesitant, as if she wanted to say something.
With just one glance, Feng Mingshu looked away, met the scrutinizing and questioning gazes of the people in the tailor shop, and smiled slightly: "What identity could I possibly have? Aren't we all just working people, perfectly suited to this work cloth?"
Feng Mingshu was extremely afraid of the cold. Seeing that the weather was gloomy, he put on a cotton-padded jacket and wore ordinary black cloth shoes, which were as plain as could be except that they had no patches.
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