Cannon fodder of the era strives to rewrite their lives, part 4. Please add to your favorites, muah...
Chen Yang was spoiled by her mother and used to spending money lavishly. How could she bear it when her mother suddenly stopped subsidizing her?
She ran back to her parents' home and had a big fight with her brother and sister-in-law. Chen Shan was the apple of her father's eye, and he couldn't stand being scolded by this brat Chen Yang.
She pointed directly at Chen Yang's nose and told her to get out: "Your mother spoils you so much that you've become a problem. What family has a daughter who's married off like you, like a leech, always thinking about dragging her back to her husband's family? A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl; don't come back to this house too often."
Chen Yang covered her face and left crying. She hated her father's preference for sons over daughters, and she hated her mother even more for hiding in the house without saying a word when she clearly heard her being scolded.
She always acted like a loving mother to her daughter, making her almost believe it. But when it came down to making a choice, she still chose to sacrifice her own daughter.
Chen's mother had no idea that her beloved eldest daughter had come to hate her. Hearing Chen Yang being scolded by Chen's father, she felt heartbroken and kept wiping away tears in the room.
Chen's mother was already dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law Yu Lili, and after this incident, her dissatisfaction with Yu Lili turned into resentment.
However, since both Chen's father and Chen Shan sided with Yu Lili, she could only keep her dissatisfaction to herself.
But as the mother-in-law, Chen's mother naturally occupies the moral high ground. If she wants to find fault, no matter how well Yu Lili does, she can still find something to criticize.
She would turn even the smallest things into chaos, which her neighbors in the same residential compound found quite entertaining.
The two families that were at odds with Chen's father, who had previously envied his family for having a vocational school graduate, were now gloating over his misfortune.
"Serves you right for treating your third daughter so badly all this time! It's truly gratifying!"
"That's right. When their third daughter got into a vocational school, Old Chen was so proud of her. Now that the golden phoenix has graduated, she's flown away. He can't be proud of her anymore!"
"That girl Chen Xia is quite bold. The conditions in the southwest are much better than in Beijing. She's really willing to go all out to get away from the Chen family."
"She was forced into this situation. I heard that Old Chen's wife has spread the word that she wants to marry Chen Xia and the bride price is a thousand."
"That's a thousand yuan. What family can afford to marry a daughter-in-law who's all gold and silver? Chen Xia won't be able to get married. Even if she has a job, she'll just be kept under Old Chen's thumb and tormented."
"I also heard that after Chen Xia started working, her wife had to send 30 yuan of her monthly salary home to help Chen Yang."
"If Old Chen had treated Chen Xia any better, she wouldn't have been forced to leave for another place and end up getting nothing in return!"
"Serves them right. Who told them to mistake a fish eye for a pearl? With the personality of their eldest son, Chen Yang, Old Chen's wife is probably dreaming if she's relying on him."
"Old Chen's wife is confused. She drove away the capable Chen Xia. Now she has to do all the housework herself. I heard a noisy argument at her house yesterday. Old Chen's wife was crying so sadly. No one in the family helped her. That daughter-in-law of hers, tsk tsk tsk, I never saw it before!"
While things were in chaos at Old Chen's house, Chen Xia got up early, turned on the valve of the safety stove, boiled a kettle of water, brewed a jar of malted milk powder, took out a meat bun and an egg from her spatial storage, and a simple and nutritious breakfast was ready.
After finishing her meal, Chen Xia changed into her new work clothes from yesterday, packed a new enamel mug with a lid, a packet of tea, two new lunchboxes, and a book on radio into her canvas bag, and then went to work.
When she arrived, she found that she had come at just the right time, neither too early nor too late. After greeting her colleagues, she went to get water and wiped down her desk, and swept the floor as well. After finishing, she picked up the office thermos and filled it with hot water.
After finishing her work, Chen Xia would sit down and read. As a newcomer, Chen Xia humbly learned from everyone in the office and worked hard to improve herself.
She always completed the tasks assigned to her by her superiors quickly and well, and soon she established herself in the technical department.
Chen Xia is hardworking at work, and in her personal life, she is just like everyone else—simple and frugal. She eats breakfast at home, lunch at the cafeteria, and in the evening, she buys two steamed buns from the cafeteria to take home, cooks some porridge, and prepares the vegetables in advance in her space.
Considering the current food shortage and the fact that most people are underweight, she specifically bought slimming pills from the system's online store, and her weight has remained at around 80 pounds.
The crops in the space had high yields, so Chen Xia didn't plan to trade them on the black market. After harvesting a batch of wheat and rice, she turned over the soil in that one-acre field and planted corn and potatoes.
In order to get fresh vegetables, Chen Xia bought a height-adjustable frame from the system store and placed it on the ranch. He then put rectangular planting boxes on it, so that he could grow vegetables without affecting the chickens on the ranch.
Leftover vegetables are made into pickles and side dishes, which are indispensable on the dining table at every meal, since this is how every household does it at this time.
Time flies, and Chen Xia has been in Southwest China for over a year now. As everyone knows, she is a famously diligent girl in the family compound, and the vegetable garden allocated to her behind the building is lush and green thanks to her.
She has a high level of education, a high salary, and a good temper. Many older women have introduced her to potential partners, but Chen Xia rejected them all, saying that she had just started working and wanted to study hard for a few years to become an engineer, and did not want to find a partner for the time being.
She had already made her rejection so obvious, yet people still rushed to act as if they couldn't understand her, trying to play matchmaker. Feeling impatient, Chen Xia, taking advantage of the fact that she lived far away and no one knew her situation, started making up stories and trying to smear her reputation.
Reasons include having many siblings on one's own side, heavy burdens, and having to send half of one's salary home to support one's parents before and after marriage.
To convince others of her claims, Chen Xia always wore work clothes to work. She even made several sets of imitation work clothes using fabric she bought herself for easy washing.
She ate cheap food at the cafeteria at noon, living like an ascetic, which scared away most of the men who wanted to pursue her.
Chen Xia has no plans to date for the time being. She is rather selfish; she either won't get married at all, or she has to marry someone whose salary is no lower than hers and whose family can't be a burden.
There's no need to introduce her to men whose parents are old and whose younger siblings depend on him for support; she's getting married, not helping others.
Once Chen Xia laid out her requirements, most of the older women who were eager to play matchmaker for her gave up.
If there were someone who met Chen Xia's requirements, would they need to act as matchmakers? However, there was still a small group of people who took her refusal as an excuse and took every opportunity to persuade her earnestly.
Xia, you're not getting any younger. The sooner you start looking, the more time you'll have to find someone suitable. If you wait a few more years, all the good ones will be taken, and you'll regret it then. Take my advice, if you meet someone suitable, go ahead and meet them!
Chen Xia smiled and said, "Of course I can meet someone suitable. Sister Wang, you have a lot of connections, can you introduce me to someone suitable?"
My requirements aren't high: own their own home, and their salary can't be lower than mine. No family burdens, and after marriage, they should give me control of their salary. They should have good character and be good-looking…”
After hearing Chen Xia's conditions, Wang Meixiang glanced at the candidates she had on hand and decisively backed down. Weren't these requirements high enough? With such good conditions, she could have introduced them to her niece instead of Chen Xia.
I thought that with such demanding conditions, no one would introduce me to anyone for a while, but I managed to escape the introductions from my older female colleagues, but I couldn't escape the social gatherings arranged by the organization.
This social event was organized to help single employees from several nearby factories and soldiers from the nearby military bases resolve their personal problems.
After the news spread, many young women in the factory, especially Chen Xia and her fellow graduates who were sent to help with the construction, were eager to join the effort.
These days, marrying a soldier is considered an honor. I heard that all the women who came for matchmaking this time are officers, with high salaries and good benefits. They all have jobs, and they live quite close to the military base. Even if they don't meet the requirements for accompanying their husbands to the military after marriage, they won't have to live apart.
Time quickly came to the day of the social gathering, which was held in the factory auditorium at 6 p.m. Chen Xia planned to just go through the motions, so she arrived a little late and dressed very casually.
Her plan was to arrive later, find a corner to stay in for a while, and then leave early, making an excuse that she hadn't met anyone suitable. She was attending the social gathering; she just needed to get past the director's complaints.
After entering the auditorium, Chen Xia went straight to a quiet corner. She had only taken a few steps when someone waved to her: "Chen Xia, here, here."
Chen Xia walked over and saw two female colleagues from the publicity department, Li Wanyu and Tang Siyu.
Li Wanyu enthusiastically grabbed a handful of melon seeds and stuffed them into Chen Xia's hands: "Come, come, let's sit down and chat. I can tell you're just like me, not planning to find a partner at this matchmaking event. Siyu and I are the same."
Chen Xia glanced at Tang Siyu. Judging from her carefully dressed appearance, she didn't seem like someone who didn't want to find a partner.
Tang Siyu was also quietly observing Chen Xia. Seeing Chen Xia dressed in ordinary clothes and without makeup, she felt confident that she had the upper hand.
In her past life, she and Liu Shengli were very close. Although she attended this social gathering, she left early on.
Later, when she heard that Chen Xia had married a regimental commander with two sons, she scoffed at the idea, thinking that a perfectly good young woman had married a divorced man.
It was only later that I learned that it was Guo, the head of the delegation at the social gathering, who fell in love with Chen Xia at first sight and pursued her relentlessly for a long time. Finally, with the help of the older sister from the trade union, he successfully won her heart.
When she married Liu Shengli, she thought she had married for love, only to later realize that poverty-stricken couples face endless sorrows.
Liu Shengli is the eldest child in his family, with three younger brothers and sisters. After the couple got married, Liu Shengli had to give half of his salary to his parents to support the family.
His younger siblings needed money for school and marriage, and he relied on Liu Shengli to pay for everything.
They argued and bickered for decades. Later, she saw the elegant and intellectual Chen Xia while watching the news. She was wearing a proper suit and her husband, a major general in military uniform, was standing next to her.
She asked her granddaughter to look it up online for her. The regimental commander Chen Xia married is now a major general in the military. Her two stepsons are an air force colonel and a billionaire.
The two children are very filial to Chen Xia, especially the second son. In an interview, he frankly said that he was naughty and did not study hard when he was in school. Without his mother Chen Xia's earnest guidance, he would not have achieved his success today.
Chen Xia's biological children are also remarkable; her son is a politician, and her daughter is China's youngest national hero. Tang Siyu envies Chen Xia's good fortune and regrets missing her blind date with that Commander Guo.
Tang Siyu, filled with regret, was reborn after reading the news report, back to when she had just started working. Determined to steal Guo's thunder, she resolutely rejected Liu Shengli, who was pursuing her, and focused on her work, patiently awaiting the arrival of the social event.
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