Chapter 109 Silence
With a smile still lingering on his face, Zhou Anping pushed open the gate to his courtyard.
Song Lanxin, the mother, stood in the shadows of the entryway with her arms crossed. Her hair was neatly combed, her face was stern, and her eyes were fixed on Zhou Anping.
"Where did you go? It took you so long to get home after get off work?"
The relief that Zhou Anping had felt upon seeing his friend subsided, replaced by a dull ache.
Ever since her brother Zhou Zhengping left with the army, her mother has poured all her restless desire for control and her anxiety about her "marriage" onto her.
They want to know exactly what time you get off work, how long it took you to get there, and who you met.
She took off her snow-covered coat and said in a calm voice, "The road was slippery, so I walked a little slower."
She and her brother had a tacit understanding that they would never mention Nan Zhiyi's marriage to Gu Xiao to their mother.
Song Lanxin harbored a kind of obsessive hostility and jealousy towards Nan Zhiyi, or rather, towards anyone who might "outshine" the Zhou family, or whom she believed had "corrupted" her children.
They all knew that letting their mother know that Nan Zhiyi not only married well but was also pregnant with Gu Xiao's child would only bring endless trouble and harsh words.
Song Lanxin snorted coldly, clearly unconvinced: "Walking slowly? I bet you came from the Gu family's place across the street..."
Zhou Anping's heart skipped a beat, his face tightened, and he vehemently denied it: "No! I was just passing by and happened to see Aunt Wu sweeping snow. I said a few words to her at the door."
She dared not look her mother in the eye and lowered her head to change her shoes.
Song Lanxin clearly didn't believe it, but she didn't delve any deeper into it; however, her displeasure only intensified.
"Don't wander around after work tomorrow. I'm taking you to meet someone."
Another blind date.
Zhou Anping felt a lump in his throat, a feeling even worse than if he had eaten leftovers.
She looked up and protested, "Mom, I'm not going. I told you, I don't like this."
"dislike?"
Song Lanxin's brows furrowed tightly, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world, and she was filled with deep disappointment.
“Anping, you used to be so obedient. What happened to you? Have you been spending too much time with people like Nan Zhiyi? Her carefree and reckless attitude has corrupted you!”
"It has nothing to do with Zhiyi!"
Zhou Anping blurted out, his voice rising slightly with excitement, but he quickly swallowed it back down under his mother's stern gaze.
She took a deep breath and tried to reason with him: "Mom, I just... don't want to just do it casually..."
"Just any old thing?" Song Lanxin interrupted her, her face full of earnest advice. "I'm doing this all for your own good! This time it's Deputy Political Commissar Chen's nephew! He was just promoted to battalion-level officer, young and promising, with a clean family background and a bright future! So many people would love to be his equal! Would I ever harm you? I'm just planning for your future! And you, you think you can just turn it down with a simple 'I don't like it'? Do you think you can be so willful?"
“For my own good…” Zhou Anping’s tongue tasted bitter.
Gu Yan's carefree smiling face flashed through her mind. Her fragile thoughts, under the heavy pressure of her mother, were so vulnerable.
Song Lanxin seemed oblivious to the struggle in her eyes and concluded, "It's settled then. Come back early after work tomorrow to change your clothes, don't keep people waiting."
Zhou Anping leaned weakly against the shoe cabinet, finally asking the question that had been hidden in his heart, "Mom...my brother has already married Lu Linlang, isn't that enough? Why does our family still need to sell our daughter to climb the social ladder?"
Song Lanxin's well-maintained face flushed red instantly, and her body trembled with anger.
"I've gone to great lengths to find you suitable, promising young men who are well-matched in terms of family background and future prospects! And you, ungrateful as I am, accuse me of selling my daughter?!"
Her pent-up resentment and the embarrassment of having her thoughts exposed erupted, and she raised her hand and slapped Zhou Anping hard on the shoulder.
"Zhou Anping! You are heartless and ungrateful! Just like your ungrateful father! There isn't a single good person in your Zhou family!"
Zhou Anping staggered from the impact, his shoulder blade throbbing with pain.
She bit her lower lip, remained silent, and simply lowered her eyelids, staring at the tips of her slippers.
It's always like this.
Whenever things didn't go her way, her mother would attack her, her father, and her brother with the harshest words, as if the whole family owed her something.
She was all too familiar with this kind of hysteria.
Silence was the only form of resistance she could offer.
Zhou Anping's silence was like a bucket of cold water, slightly extinguishing Song Lanxin's out-of-control anger.
She took a few quick breaths, and looking at her daughter's lowered head and tightly pursed lips, that feeling of "it's for your own good" gave way to her resentment.
She softened her tone, her voice filled with anguish:
“Anping, you are my only daughter. Would I ever harm you? I want you to marry a promising and reliable man so that you can live a comfortable and respected life! Look at you, you're almost twenty-five! Girls your age in the compound already have children old enough to run errands! If you don't hurry up, gossip will drown you! Who will want you then?”
"Mom went to great lengths to choose the right men for you. Every single one of them had a bright future and a respectable family background. Marrying them would mean a life of luxury! And you, you're so picky, not satisfied with any of them!"
Zhou Anping finally raised his eyes, weary and unwilling: "Mom, I know you mean well. But those people... they all have their own faults, and I don't like any of them."
"Don't you like him?" Song Lanxin stared intently at her. "Nothing is perfect. If you keep picking and choosing, all the good ones will be taken! Then tell me, who do you like?"
Zhou Anping's throat tightened; the name almost slipped out, but she swallowed it back down.
Seeing that she didn't deny it, Song Lanxin's eyes lit up, and a sudden inspiration struck her: "Is it Gu Xiao?"
She started analyzing to herself, "Gu Xiao is good, young and promising, now a regimental commander, and Commander Gu values him highly, his future is limitless! It's just that he's a bit old, three years older than your brother, he'll be thirty after the New Year... But being older means he knows how to care for people. It's just that he has high standards, so many girls have tried to woo him over the years but he hasn't taken a liking to any of them... Do you think he would like you?"
She looked her daughter up and down, seemingly assessing the possibilities, her tone now tinged with eagerness, "But if we could really get married into the Gu family... that would truly be the best marriage in the compound..."
Zhou Anping felt a chill run down his spine, thinking that his mother had gone completely mad.
"Mom! What nonsense are you talking about! Fifth Brother... Fifth Brother is already married!"
"Married?" Song Lanxin's calculating expression froze, filled with astonishment. "When did this happen? How come the Gu family didn't make a sound at all? So quietly? Which family's daughter did she marry?"
She fired off a barrage of questions, her eyes filled with suspicion.
Zhou Anping broke out in a cold sweat instantly, cursing himself for losing his composure. He forced a vague answer and said, "I... I heard Gu Yan mention that they got married in the military, very discreetly."
"Married in the military?" Song Lanxin wasn't satisfied with this answer, frowning as she wondered which girl had the ability to win over Gu Xiao, this unattainable beauty. "Not a word got out..."
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