Chapter 4, Section 4: Establishment of the Agreement
"Sis, you're finally back! I missed you so much!"
Since enlisting, Cheng Ying has been stationed in the military for four years without taking a single day of leave to visit her family, due to the special nature of her unit. Cheng Xue had not seen her sister for four years. Upon seeing her, she excitedly went forward to help her with her luggage while also taking a good look at her sister.
Four years later, Cheng Ying, who used to be fair and thin, had tanned to a honey color due to training, and her long, black, shiny hair had been cut into a short bob.
She has long, narrow eyebrows, a high nose bridge, and slightly red lips. Her features are more refined and beautiful than before, and she has an innate heroic air about her. Her gaze is sharp and piercing. Paired with her military uniform, she is both beautiful and cool, giving people the feeling that she is a leader in a management position and not someone to be trifled with.
Cheng Ying felt Cheng Xue's gaze, casually patted her head, and said, "It's been four years since I last saw you. You've grown taller and prettier. I've missed you a lot. These past few years while I've been away, I'm sorry to have troubled you to take care of Mom and Dad for me. While I was away, did your uncles, your third uncle, Cheng Chunfu, and Cheng Chungui bully you and Mom?"
Cheng Ying has always been strong-willed since childhood, insisting on doing and shouldering everything herself. This is not only because she is inherently strong, but also because she was born into a family that favored sons over daughters.
Her grandparents were sexist and favored sons over daughters. Her mother only gave birth to two daughters, her and Cheng Xue, and no sons. She was constantly bullied and suppressed by her uncle's family and her grandparents.
Cheng Ying's grandparents always called her mother a barren hen and tried to cut back on their family's food rations from a young age. They would often beat and scold her and her sister when her parents weren't looking.
Her father was a blindly filial son. When Grandpa Cheng and Grandma Cheng beat and scolded him, he would not utter a sound and let them beat and scold him. He also worked as a postman and could only stay at home for three to five days a month at most. He was often not at home.
Faced with Cheng Ying's mother's tearful complaints about being targeted and bullied by her in-laws, her father's most frequent response was: "Just bear with it. We're all family. If I argue and fight with my parents for you, and things get out of hand, I'll become an unfilial son in the eyes of the villagers, and I'll lose my job as a postman. We've already separated from my parents. Although we still live together, we'll eventually buy a house in the commune and move out on our own. Then you won't have to live at my parents' mercy anymore."
Her mother endured year after year for his promise to buy a house. But when she finally saved enough money to buy a house in the commune, her grandmother found out that the second branch of the family had money. She cried, made a scene, and even threatened to hang herself in front of her father, forcing him to lend her the money to help her third uncle get married.
Her father, with a soft heart, lent out the money. As a result, her third uncle, after getting the money and getting married, didn't pay it back for more than ten years. Her mother got so angry that she developed many health problems and had a lot of arguments with her father, causing many conflicts. Now, the couple's relationship has reached a freezing point.
Living in such an environment, Cheng Ying had to be strong and independent in order to support her mother and prevent her family from being bullied by her grandparents, uncles, and other relatives. She became a strong-willed woman recognized by everyone in the village. In the end, despite everyone's objections, she forced her father to write a letter to the commander he had saved and enlisted in the army as a female soldier.
After she became a female soldier, her grandparents, uncles, and third uncles no longer dared to bully her mother and sister, because they knew what kind of person she was. If they pushed her too far, she would do anything. She was a ruthless person who meant what she said.
Cheng Ying has a fiery and strong personality. She has never been good at speaking kind words or yielding to anyone since she was a child. This makes her seem cold, hard, and unapproachable. No one else in the Cheng family likes her.
Cheng Xue's personality is the opposite of hers. From a young age, Cheng Xue has been cheerful, generous, and gentle. She is very kind-hearted and simple-minded, making her easily bullied and trusting. This personality is destined to cause her a lot of unspoken losses.
In her past life, Cheng Xue couldn't resist her grandmother's tears and instigation, and eventually married the son of the village headman from the next village. He seemed to be from a well-off family, but actually had many problems. He bullied and tormented her, and even beat her to death.
When Cheng Ying learned of her sister's ordeal, she took off her military uniform and personally beat the scumbag's family to a pulp. She rescued the half-dead Cheng Xue, saving her life, and then forced the two to divorce. Only then did Cheng Xue gradually come back to life.
However, this marriage dealt a heavy blow to Cheng Xue. Her body also suffered many problems because her ex-husband's family kept pressuring her to have children. In the end, her heart was damaged, her hair turned white at a young age, and she developed severe depression and anxiety, causing her to do foolish things on several occasions.
Later, she finally met a man who truly loved her, but due to Wei Muchen's interference, their marriage lasted less than two years before ending. Wei Muchen drove the man to his death, and Cheng Xue became somewhat mentally unstable...
"Sister, don't worry. With your letter, they won't dare to do anything to me or Mom. You're a soldier, protecting our country. If the rest of the Cheng family dares to bully us, I'll report it to the commune secretary. They'll be in deep trouble. They can only secretly trip us up and curse at us, but they won't dare to do anything too outrageous."
Cheng Xue, carrying her package, walked out with Cheng Ying, saying, "Sister, you don't know, when I sent you the telegram, the doctor at the county hospital gave Mom a critical condition notice for Dad, telling her to prepare for the worst. Mom and I were terrified, that's why I sent you the urgent telegram. But why did you come back from the army? If Mom finds out, she'll be so heartbroken."
Because Cheng Ying was serving in the army, she sent money back to her mother every month, which helped her mother straighten up and occasionally dare to challenge Cheng's family.
Now that Cheng Ying has retired from the military, I wonder how her mother will suffer at the hands of Old Mrs. Cheng's family in the future.
Wan Shuhui, their mother, is currently taking care of Cheng Jiantong at the county hospital.
“I came back from the army to take over Dad’s postman job and take care of her and you. What’s she upset about?” Cheng Ying said, walking with Cheng Xue along the old cobblestone road in the county town toward the county hospital.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the county hospital.
Because she was wearing her retired military uniform, hospital leaders greeted Cheng Ying as soon as she entered the hospital.
Upon learning that her father was Cheng Jiantong, a rural postman, the doctor in charge of treating Cheng Jiantong said, "Comrade Cheng, your father fell from the mountaintop into a ravine, suffering multiple fractures and severe injuries. In particular, his coccyx nerves have been permanently damaged. Even if we surgeons operate on him, his nerves will not be able to fully recover. You need to be prepared that your father may become paralyzed on one side, bedridden, and unable to go anywhere."
Cheng Ying nodded without any surprise, "I understand, thank you for telling me this."
Hearing the doctor's words, Cheng Xue's face turned pale instantly. She followed Cheng Ying into Cheng Jiantong's ward, "Sister, what if Dad really becomes paralyzed on one side?"
“He’s become paralyzed on one side, so he’ll stay home and recover. I’ll take over his work.” Cheng Ying said as she opened the ward door.
“But Chunfu, he…” Cheng Xue hesitated.
In the ward, Cheng Jiantong had regained consciousness, and Wan Shuhui was feeding him a lunchbox filled with white porridge.
Both of them were stunned when they saw Cheng Ying walk into the ward.
"Dad, Mom, I'm home." Cheng Ying placed the package she was carrying on the bedside table and turned to ask Cheng Jiantong, "Dad, how are you feeling?"
Cheng Jiantong was of average height and build, and was in his early forties. Due to years of delivering mail regardless of the weather, his skin was tanned dark, and his face was weathered and wrinkled, making him look like a middle-aged man of fifty-five.
When Cheng Jiantong came to his senses, before he could even feel happy, he saw the red sash with "Glorious Discharge" on her body. The words stuck in his throat, and after a while, he said in a muffled voice, "I'm fine. The doctor has already performed surgery on me and told me to rest well in the hospital. Xiaoying, why did you suddenly retire?"
“I had a very long dream in the army. In the dream, Cheng Chunfu was running the mail with you. When you were scraping the mud off your shoes on the mountain path, he pushed you off a cliff, trying to kill you and take over your postman job. After that, a lot of things happened. For example, Grandma cried, made a scene, and even threatened to hang herself, forcing you to transfer your job to Cheng Chunfu. She forced Cheng Xue to marry the son of the village head in the next village, making Cheng Xue's life worse than death. She also forced you to divorce my mother and sent my mother back to my maternal grandmother's house, leaving her to fend for herself.” Cheng Ying took off the red sash and big red flower from her body, put them in her bag, and stood by the hospital bed, recounting her past life in the form of a dream.
Cheng Jiantong and the other two were stunned, because what she said was too absurd and nonsensical.
Wan Shuhui was the first to react, "You mean, Chunfu suddenly wanted to run the mail with your dad because he wanted your dad's job as a mailman, and deliberately pushed him down the mountain?"
Cheng Jiantong's first reaction was, "Impossible! Chunfu is a good kid, he couldn't possibly do such a heinous thing!"
Cheng Jiantong is a typical easygoing and honest man of this era. In his eyes, his daughter and wife are far less important than his parents, brothers and sisters.
No matter what kind of people his parents, siblings, or relatives were, or what they did to his family, he always believed that they did not do it on purpose. He always remembered the kindness of his parents in raising him when he grew up with them and never held a grudge against them.
He also valued his siblings' children highly, simply because he lived in a family that favored sons over daughters. He sincerely felt that sons were the root of the family, while daughters were just weeds, and that daughters would eventually marry into other families, so they were far less important than sons.
With his eldest brother having two sons, his third brother having two sons and a daughter, and him having only two daughters, he was constantly brainwashed by his mother: "Jiantong, you have to give more of the money you earn to your eldest brother and third brother, and be nicer to your nephews. Your two daughters will eventually marry out and become part of other families. Only your nephews will take care of you in your old age. If you don't treat them well now, what will you do when you get old? How will they take care of you in your old age?"
Therefore, no matter how his nephews bullied the Cheng sisters, Cheng Ying and Cheng Xue, he would always try to smooth things over, publicly reprimanding his nephews but never actually punishing them.
He firmly believed that his four nephews were all good kids and would never do anything to harm others, so he found it hard to believe what Cheng Ying said.
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