Chapter 4: First time at the Yan family, yes, I am from the countryside
The weather in the capital is hotter than in their countryside. It is already autumn, and the sun is hanging high in the clouds, as if it is going to melt people.
As soon as Xu Xiaoyue got out of the car, she was instantly hit by a heat wave. She was holding her luggage in her left hand and the note that the driver gave her before leaving in her right hand, which contained the address of the Yan family.
Although the driver had already told Xu Xiaoyue that someone from the Yan family would come to pick her up after she got off the train, Xu Xiaoyue just asked and left the station without any hesitation.
Of course she knew that the Yan family had sent someone to pick her up, and the person they sent was none other than her nominal fiancé, Yan Shuli.
In the original novel, Xu Xiaoyue believed what the driver said and waited foolishly at the station for four hours before her fiancé finally showed up.
It was already nine o'clock in the evening when they arrived at Yan's house. The table of food that had been prepared since early in the morning had been left to cool down. Yan Shuli did not explain and let Yan's mother and father misunderstand Xu Xiaoyue, thinking that she was deliberately using Qiao to delay her return in order to spend more time with Yan Shuli.
The first meeting left a bad impression on the Yan family.
Now that she was here to break off the engagement, she no longer had to worry about where Yan Shuli was fooling around.
The military compound was much more lively today than usual. Several women gathered together, chattering, spitting everywhere and gesticulating when they were excited.
Liu Ye looked over and curled the corners of her mouth. There were only a few topics of conversation in this compound. She didn't even need to go over to listen to know that they must be talking about their Yan family.
Speaking of this unfortunate incident, the blame lies with Mr. Yan, who ate two meals at the Xu family when he was a sent-down youth in the countryside. He felt that he was being favored, and seeing that the Xu family's daughter-in-law was pregnant and about to give birth, he immediately decided to arrange a marriage for the child.
Originally, only they and the Xu family knew about this matter. The old man had been talking about his childhood engagement with Xu Xiaoyue for years, and he even wrote many letters to that small place for this purpose.
When Liu Ye found out about this, she almost went crazy. Her good son was inexplicably betrothed to a little country girl, and she had many quarrels with her husband over this.
When the old man was still alive, all the letters written to the Xu family were handled privately by Liu Ye. Fortunately, the Xu family was tactful and never disturbed them over the years.
I thought that with the passing of the old man, no one would care about this dusty past anymore, but I never expected that there were witnesses to this child marriage.
Now her husband Yan is about to be promoted, but it was revealed that the Yan family is untrustworthy. When they went to the countryside, they promised child marriages to local villagers in order to get free food and drink, but now that they have become rich, they have forgotten about them.
This matter was not a big deal, but it was not a small deal either. It soon became known to everyone.
In order to calm the situation, the Yan family could only send a telegram to the Xu family in the countryside to bring up the old matter again.
Liu Ye admitted that she was a little selfish. She had raised such a good son, a handsome man who was also a national intellectual. If he really married an illiterate country woman as arranged by the old man, she would not be able to sleep well at night.
She would rather give money to that country woman than ruin Yan Shuli's life.
She was extremely reluctant in her heart, but with so many eyes watching in the compound, Liu Ye couldn't make a fool of herself even if it was just for the sake of face. Knowing that her daughter-in-law was coming today, she took the nanny and went straight to the west city vegetable market early in the morning and bought chicken, duck, fish and meat.
"You're back?"
Liu Ye was complaining in her heart when she heard steady and powerful footsteps coming from upstairs. It was her husband Yan Jianguo.
"There are quite a lot of big and small bags. Thank you for your hard work." Yan Jianguo's eyes fell on the bags in the woman's hands.
Liu Ye sat down, took a sip of tea, and took a deep breath.
"Just now, I was carrying my things all the way here, and the way those aunties in the compound looked at me was like when the female comrades in the art troupe pursued Shuli, none of them were interested in him."
"Now you ask him to marry a country girl. Not to mention whether he is willing or not, I don't know where to put my face."
Yan Jianguo sat on the sofa and waited for his wife to finish talking before folding the newspaper in his hand and putting it on the coffee table. "Okay, stop calling me a country bumpkin. Why talk so early when you haven't even met the person yet?"
"I reckon it will be here soon, so Aunt Wang can start preparing dinner."
The clock hand moved slowly on the wall. Aunt Wang had just finished preparing the last dish and put it on the table, but there was still no movement at the door.
"Why haven't you come back yet?" Yan Jianguo raised his hand to look at his watch. As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud knock on the door of Yan's house.
"I knocked for so long that I thought you were not at home."
The woman who was speaking had fashionable curly hair and a playful smile on her face. She turned her gaze to Liu Ye beside her and said, "Director Liu, you didn't go to work at the hospital today?"
"Yes, I didn't go. Is there something you need that you come here for?" Liu Ye asked unhappily.
The woman in front of her just came to laugh at her, thinking that Yan Shuli was ignorant for rejecting her daughter. Now that she heard that the Yan family had found a country woman as a daughter-in-law, she immediately ran over to watch the fun.
"Hey, we're all neighbors, why can't you come and visit if you have nothing to do?"
The woman ignored Liu Ye's gloomy expression, pushed the door open and went in, wondering in her heart, wasn't it said that the child engagement arranged in Yan's hometown would arrive today? How come there was no one there at this time?
"Xiao Ye, I'm not saying anything bad about you. Although Old Master Yan has arranged a marriage for your family's letter to a girl from the countryside, you shouldn't stop people from coming up. This mule or horse will have to be taken for a walk sooner or later."
Liu Ye pinched the palm of her hand with her fingertips, her face gloomy.
After finally seeing Liu Ye's deflated look, the woman wanted to say a few more words, but the open door of Yan's house was knocked again.
"Excuse me, is this Comrade Yan Shuli's home?"
The girl holding the gift looked at the few people. Liu Ye paused when she saw the fair little face and said, "Lady, who are you looking for?"
"Director Liu, this is not a very fair thing to do. Now that the person is at the door, who else can you look for? You must be looking for that kid Yan Shuli."
The curly-haired woman came to watch the fun and stared at Xu Xiaoyue's palm-sized face. She thought to herself that she had never heard of a female comrade with such a distinctive look in the art troupe. Could she be new?
"What a coincidence! Yan Shuli has gone to pick up his fiancée from the countryside. How about you go to your aunt's house and sit for a while?"
The little devil in her family had just reached the age where he had been arranged to marry several people, but he was not satisfied with any of them. Now, looking at the bright little face in front of him, he suddenly had an idea and said it out loud.
Liu Ye frowned, not accustomed to the woman's behavior. Before she could stop him, Xu Xiaoyue said, "Aunt, you are joking. I just took the train from the countryside to find Yan Shuli."
"Are you Comrade Xu Xiaoyue?" Yan Jianguo's voice came from behind.
"Yes." Xu Xiaoyue replied crisply with a smile on her face.
Not only Liu Ye was stunned, but even the curly-haired woman who was watching the fun nearby was dumbfounded.
What’s going on? Is this pretty girl the fiancée from the countryside that those people are talking about?
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