Zhao Jingxiang and Qin Jinshen glared at each other, then turned their heads away with different expressions.
They were all shouting at each other, each one louder than the last.
"I am the real one!"
"What are you really doing?" Qin Jinshen was half a head shorter than him, but his imposing manner was undiminished. "I think your face looks fake. My grandfather is a well-known philanthropist. Who doesn't know that? How could he have a grandson like you who is so stingy with the villagers?"
"When did I ever act stingy? Are you some kind of super generous person?"
For the first time, Zhao Jingxiang felt like he was about to go crazy with anger, and his hand was trembling as he pointed at Qin Jinshen.
Qin Jinshen, however, looked at him with a knowing expression and said confidently, "Don't think I don't know. The other educated youth all say that you hide in your room eating dried meat every day and don't share a single piece of meat with the other educated youth. Aren't you stingy?"
"Don't think that just because your father is a commander, you can arbitrarily claim the opportunity for someone to repay their benefactor. I am the real fiancé!"
Zhao Jingxiang glared at the gossiping educated youths, then tried to calm down and mocked them, "Me, stingy? Are you the one who's generous? You look like a sissy, you can't even earn a single work point, and you still want to get married?"
"Me, stingy? Go ask around, I paid for all the houses at the educated youth settlement! And you think I'm effeminate? Go ask around in the village, how many young girls have flirted with me..."
Guard Ma also excitedly retorted, "That's right! My nephew has been voted the most handsome man in Stone Village these past few months. You're just jealous of how popular my nephew is!"
You know, Qin Jinshen's face was modeled after a very handsome guy in their Hong Kong city, how could he be slandered like this?
The group was arguing fiercely when Ling Huanwu shouted to stop them, "I said I have a way to verify your authenticity, so why are you still arguing? Are you afraid you're all fake?"
The three of them immediately fell silent, staring at Ling Huanwu, completely bewildered as to how she could possibly discern the truth.
Qin Jinshen couldn't help but feel a little guilty at this moment.
Although he knew that the older generation of the Zhao family had no one to testify for them because they were nomadic.
Moreover, he bribed someone in the Ling family to copy the marriage certificate that Old Master Zhao had given to the Ling family as a child groom, and clearly stated that what they gave to the Ling family was a pendant shaped like a small rabbit.
But he was ultimately a fake, fearing that Ling Huanwu would hate him even more if she found out.
"How can we verify this, Comrade Ling? Tell us quickly!"
The two agreed in unison, and the people around them chimed in with jokes, "There's no evidence at all, how can we verify it? Are we going to send them to the Buddha to determine who's real and who's fake, like with the real and fake Monkey Kings?"
Ling Huanwu looked at the two completely different types of men in front of her, and smiled, revealing two shallow dimples. "What you said earlier is right. My grandfather once said that Old Master Zhao was a kind and charitable man. After I saved Old Master Zhao in the river, the two of us traveled together. Old Master Zhao gave his money to villagers who were in need along the way."
"With such a kind-hearted old man, his grandson must be charitable, so... I want to try living together!"
"Trial marriage?"
The surrounding villagers, bewildered, were in an uproar. Zhao Jingxiang and Qin Jinshen blushed, their minds already wandering into inappropriate thoughts.
In ancient times, everyone knew perfectly well what the purpose of trial marriage was.
Ling Huanwu spread her palms down, calming the restless crowd. "Folks, don't misunderstand. I didn't mean to use myself as a trial marriage girl for them. What I meant was that these real and fake fiancés would be my trial marriage. As for the content of the trial marriage, I'll decide. I'm confident I can find out who the real Zhao family member is within a week!"
"Really? That's great!"
Zhao Jingxiang patted the dirt off his hands, his face beaming with joy.
Ever since yesterday, when he heard this woman speak English more fluently than he did, he inexplicably believed everything she said.
Qin Jinshen screamed like a groundhog in his heart, his soul nearly fainting from fright. All the energy he had just had to call black white had vanished.
If Ling Huanwu discovers that his identity is fake, wouldn't he just want to kill himself if he took off his clothes?
But he also had some expectations: what method would Ling Huanwu use to find out who the real members of the Zhao family were?
*
On the military training ground.
The soldiers ran in unison, chanting slogans, their eyes also fixed on Zhou Jiuzhen and the fashionable woman walking side by side beside the training ground.
"Who's that woman next to Commander Zhou? They seem to have a special relationship."
“I just noticed that she seems to be the sister of our former Independent Regiment Commander, named Su Haiting. It seems that Commander Su sacrificed herself to save Commander Zhou back then, which is why Commander Zhou was transferred to the island to take care of Commander Su’s family.”
"Oh, I see. I always thought that Su Tuan was interested in Zhou Tuan. The way she looked at Zhou Tuan was like my sister looking at pork belly, haha..."
"Keep your voice down. It's a good thing Zhou Tuan has amnesia now. If he still remembered, he'd probably be so guilty he'd hide somewhere and cry!"
The soldiers whispered amongst themselves and ran off into the distance.
On the tree-lined path to the military base.
Su Haiting smiled and reached out to take Zhou Jiuzhen's hand. "Brother Zhou, it's a good thing you took on this mission for me, otherwise I don't know what I would have done."
Zhou Jiuzhen reacted quickly, immediately taking a step to the side to avoid her touch, "I haven't agreed yet, I need to go back and think about it some more!"
"Um, it's nothing," Su Haiting's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, and she awkwardly withdrew it. "But I hope you can give me an answer as soon as possible. After all, you know that my parents' health hasn't been very good since my brother passed away. They've always hoped that I could marry a military officer. It just so happens that I've been assigned to a mission this time, and I'm really scared. You're the only person I know in the army, so I wanted to find you to have a fake marriage..."
Su Haiting's voice choked with emotion, and her eyes reddened.
Zhou Jiuzhen was at a loss, and felt inexplicably distressed.
When I met her at Zizai Foreign Trade Company and heard her introduce herself as her older brother, my heart felt like it was being stabbed with needles.
For some reason, he always felt indebted to this female comrade.
He sighed deeply, "You know I have a girlfriend now, I have to go ask her."
Upon hearing this, Su Haiting stopped crying and smiled, urging them to go see Ling Huanwu together.
Along the way, Su Haiting talked about the funny things that happened when the two first met, and also mentioned that her older brother had tried to match them up back then.
She concluded by lamenting that if her older brother hadn't had that accident, the two of them would definitely have been together long ago.
Zhou Jiuzhen was stunned as he listened, wondering why his comrade Ling didn't have such a good older brother who could bring them together.
As soon as the two arrived at the No. 1 field of the production team, they saw Ling Huanwu, who stood out the most among the crowd, not far away.
Zhou Jiuzhen unconsciously smiled and his feet flew towards her as if on their own.
The next second, however, he froze in his tracks as if struck by lightning when he heard her two startling words.
"Trial marriage!"
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