"According to what you're saying, doesn't that mean Brother Song is going to marry a troublemaker? If that's the case, I'm afraid Uncle Song and Aunt Song won't have an easy time. Maybe...maybe she'll even cause Brother Song to have a falling out with his second brother and Guoqing."
Not hearing Song Lan speak, Qin Bo continued, "Sister-in-law, I don't recommend that Brother Song marry that woman."
"Sister-in-law understands. I'll talk to my brother about it later and see what he thinks."
It seems... she needs to find out some things about Han Bailan and the Han family, especially anything related to Han Bailan. Ideally, she should find out if she had a secret relationship with that man before the marriage. If she is lucky enough to get some leverage, she can ask her to cancel the marriage with Song Qingbin.
After her thoughts drifted to this point, Song Lan said, "Before we left the town's middle school gate, Comrade Han seemed to have mentioned wanting to call off the engagement, right?"
"That's right."
Qin Boyan responded.
Song Lan: "If she can really do it, it will save my family some trouble, but it might affect my older brother's reputation to some extent."
Qin Boyan: "For men, reputation... reputation is not important. Besides, this is not a feudal society. Even if it were, men in the old society would not have a serious impact on their lives if their reputation was tarnished."
"You're wrong."
Song Lan said, "In feudal imperial society, if a man's reputation was ruined, he would not be qualified to take the imperial examination. In other words, he would never be able to enter officialdom and would be despised by the villagers. Once the news spread, he would be despised wherever he went."
Qin Boyan: "But this is not the feudal imperial era that you mentioned, sister-in-law. We are now in a new society."
Song Lan: "Yes, men in the new society don't really care too much about some harmless reputations, but what about women? What will a woman face if her engagement is broken off?"
This world is so much better than her original world. Women and men are equal in status, but... in some things, it is still not very friendly to women. For example, if a man breaks off an engagement, or if a couple divorces for some reason, it is inevitable that the woman will be pointed at and gossiped about.
Yes, just as Song Lan thought, in the 1960s and 70s, and even in the following decade or so, a girl who was jilted or divorced, especially in rural areas, had a terrible reputation.
Take, for example, what she had just heard in the village. A female educated youth was unexpectedly rescued by a local hooligan. Within half a day, gossip about her spread throughout the village, forcing her to marry the hooligan who saved her within just two or three days.
Otherwise, you'd be drowned in spittle if you didn't live.
The reason she decided to marry that good-for-nothing was probably because the educated youth was afraid to take a gamble; she feared that the gossip would suffocate her and drive her to despair.
She just wanted to live!
Actually, Song Lan heard about this from Li Jumei.
While the mother and daughter were chatting, Li Jumei mentioned some gossip in the village, including the story of Er Gouzi marrying a female educated youth. Out of curiosity, Song Lan asked about it and learned the reason.
"this……"
Qin Boyan was at a loss for words.
"Second brother, even if the woman is in the right in this matter of annulment, she will probably be affected to some extent. However, compared to feudal society, women in our new era are definitely better off."
In the world she lives in now, if the woman is in the right in breaking off the engagement, she might get a few idle comments from some busybodies, and getting married again won't be difficult.
However, in her original world... regardless of whether a woman was in the right or not, her reputation would suffer. If her elders were old-fashioned, the woman would either spend her life as a Buddhist nun or be rumored to have died suddenly. In any case, Song Lan felt that her original world was too unfair to women!
Indeed, it's a patriarchal society where men are superior to women. Women are merely appendages of men, tools for procreation, and are treated by men like "clothing."
Composing herself, Song Lan was about to speak again when she heard Qin Boyan say, "Sister-in-law, if Brother Song and that woman break off their engagement, the fault doesn't lie with Brother Song. It's that woman's unreasonable behavior that caused their marriage to fall through. You don't need to pity her."
Without a doubt, the "she" Qin Boyan was referring to was Han Bailan.
"Making trouble out of nothing?"
Song Lan smiled and said, "Second brother, Comrade Han is just throwing a tantrum at her boyfriend. Although it's a bit unreasonable, I don't think my parents would agree if my eldest brother really proposed to break off the engagement for this reason. Besides... we don't even know what my eldest brother is thinking!"
Breaking off an engagement is no small matter, and Song Lan really couldn't guess what Song Qingbin was thinking at this moment.
"Sister-in-law, so what you mean is..."
The car had already entered the old residential area of the machinery factory. Qin Boyan frowned slightly, unable to figure out what Song Lan meant for the moment.
"If my brother wants to break off the engagement, the woman has to have a clear fault."
Song Lan replied.
"It's difficult."
Qin Boyan understood. The woman had to be at fault, and clearly at fault, unless... unless she was two-timing, or did something morally reprehensible, or even illegal. In that case, it would be perfectly reasonable for the man to propose annulment.
After a moment's thought, Qin Boyan said, "If that woman falls in love with another man before marrying Brother Song, and we happen to find out about it, then all the problems will be solved."
Song Lan's lips twitched almost imperceptibly: "..." Is this kid's mouth blessed? In the original storyline, Han Bailan cheated on Song Qingbin, and that started before their marriage, didn't it?!
The town's grain station has a large courtyard at the entrance. Behind the courtyard are several bungalows, which are the dormitories provided by the grain station for its employees. However, there are not many employees living in the dormitories.
It's not that they dislike anything; the employees at the grain station either live in the town or in a village near the town. Living in their own homes is naturally more comfortable than living in the dormitory.
"Tell me the truth, what exactly happened between you and Lanlan that made her run home crying and making a scene?"
Han's father sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Song Qingbin, asking a question.
"Bai Lan didn't say?"
Song Qingbin sat in the chair in front of his desk, his expression unchanged, which made it impossible for Han's father to guess what he was thinking.
After a moment of silence, Han's father spoke: "I only heard Lanlan say that it was related to your sister, but Lanlan didn't mention the specifics to me or your aunt."
"Alright, I'll tell you the truth..."
Song Qingbin did not hide anything. He truthfully recounted what happened between when Han Bailan saw him and Song Lan standing at the entrance of the town's middle school and when Han Bailan ran away crying, including what Han Bailan said to him and Song Lan, and what he and Bailan said to Han Bailan.
The more Mr. Han listened, the uglier his face became. He felt increasingly ashamed. He knew that his daughter had been raised innocently by him and his wife, and that she had a bit of a temper, but he never imagined that she was not mentally sound. How could she... how could she speak without thinking?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
