"I……"
Qin Yaqing's personality was rather gentle, and she hesitated to reveal the rest of her story.
Song Lan didn't urge her. She continued, "Sister, you have to understand, compared to Zhou Zhiqing's family background, our family isn't much worse off. Take his family's professions, for example. His parents are cadres, while our father is more than just the deputy director of the steel factory."
He's still the chief engineer in the R&D department, and your older brother is also the deputy director of the machinery factory. Although I, your sister-in-law, am just a junior doctor at the machinery factory's staff hospital, my medical skills are quite good.
As for your second brother and sister, and your youngest brother and sister, they are all very bright, and in my opinion, their future is definitely promising! While it's true that your second brother and sister are still young and need the family's support, that's not a burden for you. You have Dad, your eldest brother, and me.
Our combined salaries are not a small amount; it's more than enough to support my younger brother and his family, and to pay for their education.
Qin Yaqing's eyes reddened: "Sister-in-law, don't say that. When I'm looking for a partner, whether it's the person himself or his family, if any of them are snobbish, I don't want that kind of person or that kind of family."
"I'm relieved that my younger sister has thought things through so clearly."
Song Lan smiled sincerely and said, "However, based on what Zhou Zhiqing told you in his letter, I think it's all true. It's clear that he's sincerely pursuing you and wants to be your boyfriend."
"Sister-in-law~"
Qin Yaqing blushed shyly.
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore. If you and Zhou Zhiqing can get married, it means you two are truly destined for each other. Your sister-in-law will send you her sincerest blessings!"
As Song Lan was about to get up, Qin Yaqing quickly stood up and reached out to help her, saying, "Sister-in-law, please take it easy."
"It's okay, I was careful."
Straightening up, Song Lan smiled and said, "Come on, it's cool in the courtyard, let's go sit for a while."
"good."
Qin Yaqing helped Song Lan out of the room.
At the same time, in Qiaoxingtun, Heilongjiang Province.
In the small courtyard next to the brigade leader's house, Wen Qiming casually made himself some dinner to fill his stomach, then scrubbed the pots and pans and washed the dishes in the dark. After tidying up the stove, he sat on the bamboo chair in the yard, looking at the sparse stars in the night sky, his eyes soon filled with regret and resentment.
His regret undoubtedly stemmed from breaking up with Qin Yaqing. He hated himself for being too heartless, which led him to miss out on Qin Yaqing, a wealthy heiress from a good family who was devoted to him.
Wen Qiming felt aggrieved because he never expected that he would be forced to marry Guan Xing'er by the brigade leader's family. Moreover, since their marriage, the brigade leader's family had only built two mud-brick houses for him and Guan Xing'er next door and surrounded a small courtyard with stones from the mountain. They had not provided him with any other assistance.
Mingming had said that if he married Guan Xing'er, he would try to arrange a job for him as a primary school teacher. Even if that didn't work, he would arrange a job for him to record work points or to guard the warehouse and distribute farm tools at the brigade headquarters.
And what was the result?
He was forced to marry Guan Xing'er before the New Year, and they held a wedding banquet and lived together. To this day, he still works in the fields like other educated youth in the educated youth compound.
What's most outrageous is that Guan Xing'er had only been married to him for two months when she started giving him the cold shoulder and refusing to do his laundry or cook for him. Meanwhile, she went to her parents' house next door where she had food and drink, kept a notebook to record her work points every day, and sat in the shade of a tree when she felt hot. It was as if he wasn't the person she had shamelessly clung to and insisted on marrying.
Yes, he admitted that he hadn't given Guan Xing'er a kind look ever since Qin Yaqing left Qiaoxingtun, but if Guan Xing'er minded, she could simply ignore him. Why did her family have to step in and force him to get a marriage certificate with her?
Does getting something mean you can stop appreciating it?
Because of Guan Xing'er and the brigade leader's family's attitude towards him, Wen Qiming has been feeling extremely resentful since his marriage.
It was precisely because of his frustration and resentment that he inadvertently learned that Zhou Shiyang and Qin Yaqing were communicating. Not long after, he learned that Zhou Shiyang had enlisted in the army, and jealousy grew wildly in his heart like weeds.
He felt that Zhou Shiyang had stolen his girlfriend, completely forgetting that he was the one who took the initiative to break up with Qin Yaqing and accept the captain's daughter Guan Xing'er's advances. In Wen Qiming's opinion, the fault was not his, but all the fault of others, and that others had wronged him!
Filled with resentment and regret, Wen Qiming learned from Li Qiu, a greedy female educated youth in the educated youth compound, about Qin Yaqing's address at the machinery factory and what she did for a living. He then began writing letters to Qin Yaqing.
The letter was filled with regret and self-blame, yet it also contained sweet words.
He sent out letter after letter, and even though they were returned one after another, Wen Qiming persisted.
When Wen Qiming finally received a reply from Qin Yaqing, he was so happy he felt like he could fly.
Unexpectedly, every word in the letter was utterly indifferent.
Tell him to stop wasting his time!
Wen Qiming did not give up. Through the female educated youth who loved to take advantage of others, he learned about the Qin family's situation from Li Qiu. He learned that Qin's father had been brought back to Beijing before the new year to resume his work and that he was also serving as the deputy director of the steel plant.
He desperately wanted to return to the city, and the only way now was to repair his relationship with Qin Yaqing and have her ask her father to arrange a job for him at the steel factory. That way, he could return to Beijing openly and legitimately.
More than a week has passed since he sent his last letter, and he doesn't know if it has reached that person yet.
"Qin Yaqing, you still love me, don't you?"
Wen Qiming gazed at the night sky and murmured silently, "I regret it, I regret it a long time ago. If you had told me that your father had been brought back to Beijing and had resumed his job... how could I have broken up with you, how could I have accepted Guan Xing'er, a country girl, showing me affection?"
Footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate. Without listening closely, Wen Qiming knew who the footsteps belonged to.
Have you eaten?
Guan Xing'er walked into the courtyard and, by the dim moonlight, saw Wen Qiming sitting there. She couldn't help but ask him a question.
The only response she received was the chirping of insects in the grass in the corner of the wall.
Feeling wronged, Guan Xing'er couldn't help but ask again, "I asked you if you had eaten, why didn't you answer me?"
Shouldn't she have listened to her mother and sisters-in-law? Should she have given this person the cold shoulder, ignored her, and made him feel threatened? Then he would have been devoted to her and stopped thinking about Qin, the educated youth who had left the village more than half a year ago.
But she was about to give up. Every now and then, she would do as her mother and sisters-in-law told her: ignore her husband to avoid spoiling him and making him take her for granted. Sometimes it did work, but after a while, he would just let her do whatever she wanted and not care about what she did.
"Whether I eat or not is none of your business?"
Wen Qiming withdrew his gaze from the night sky and looked at Guan Xing'er: "Since you don't care, why pretend to care about me?"
"I, I..."
Guan Xing'er said with chopped chili: "How could you do this? If you weren't so indifferent to me, would I be running back to my parents' house for meals every day?"
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